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I find this upsetting if Romney had any part in it.

Matt: when talking about the Flea Market in Mason City and the management out there. I remember that one of the problems was the lack of advertising for the dates of the flea markets. I believe the flea market is this weekend Oct 19,20,21 2012. I DID see you advertise the flea market on here a few months ago. I think I only saw it advertised for that ONE weekend only. my question is this. was, or is, the advertising for that flea market free? and also have you been asked, or notified to advertise each month? thank you

“management out there” If your talking about David Green. Let me just say this. David Green was the best hire the Fair has ever done. He is dedicated to the effort to rebuild. He has had to make tough decisions due to past management. Problems he inherited. Take the time to talk with David, see his vision, see his efforts and then write your opinion. I know their budgets are limited. Due to numbers from past fairs, getting carnivals and other events are next to impossible. North Iowa is also guilty of complaining but sitting on it’s hands. Mr Green would welcome donations/help.He has a strict budget unlike the city of MC who spends theirs on statues.

So please investigate before placing an opinion.

Hi Tina: first off I have never seen David Green in person. I have emailed with him however. I was interested in the dates of the flea market as I HAVE NOT seen the dates advertised. I also wrote “one of the problems was the lack of advertising”. Was… meaning in the past.
You are correct in saying “He has had to make tough decisions due to past management”. I WOULD like to see his “visions” but need to see advertised dates in order to be able to SEE those visions. This most recent comment from me was only concerning if any advertising had been placed with Matt at NIT. In another blog I mentioned how things had been ran in the past and hoped that things would change for the future. You say David is trying to do a good job. Good… more power to him and I hope he succeeds. But if there is NO advertising, then all your stuck with is the locals. And thats not enough to be succesful or profitable. I remember some years ago. 5,6,7,???? years I dont remember. the vendors paid for their own advertising for a month or two, and the outcome was wonderful. That was in hopes that the fairgrounds would see the difference and do some advertising. As I recall, that was even before the former female manager, that was fired. So in closing, its hard to “investigate” if nobody knows when to. Just stating the facts

Hi Tina, me again: I am definately NOT against David Green, or the job he is trying to do. But like you said. Do some investigation, so I did. While looking thu NITs calander of events for Mason City and north Iowa. I see that the calander of events must have started in the middle of Febuary 2012. I see the flea market advertised for march and April. And then not again with the exception of June. When did David Green start his job??? OOPS just doing some investigation like you suggested and telling the truth. thanks for talking me into investigating

50 miles: Does advertising cost money? If this money is not in the budget due to restraints, how can it be spent. David is not B Obama? THE ANSWER is you become a sponsor of the Fair, $2,000 per year for 3 years..then the budget to advertise will be there..so the question is are YOU willing or do you just want to complain?

Tina: there are many places on the internet where advertising is free. almost everytime I do a show somewhere I advertise on craigslist. I know for a fact that it works as I have sold items to people that say they saw my ad online. one person in lincoln nebraska told me he wouldnt have known about the show if it wernt for my FREE ad. Like i said before, the vendors did some of their own advertising a few years ago and the results were good. I thought there was an agreement at one time to use a portion of vendor fees twards advertising. that advertising needs to be SMART advertising targeting the people that will come out to the fairgrounds. The Mason City area has many antique dealers and in the past has had many shops. yet VERY FEW OF THEM SUPPORT the NI flea market. In the “circut”, the north Iowa flea market is known as a joke. I would say because of management and not because of the town.

UPDATE:>>> I just called the hamptom Reminder news paper office for a quote. A 1 inch 4 line ad will only cost $4.60 per week. This FREE paper is distributed from just south of the Mason City
limits, south to include the town of Ackley. East to include the town of Aplington and west to include the towns of Aredale and Dows. lets say $5 per show x 4 different directions. thats only $20 per show. Less than the rent of 1 space. these papers are where people already look for something to buy and for a list of auctions. IE.. the people you want. $20 well spent in my mind. If it only brings in 1 NEW VENDOR it has more than paid for itself. So… there is no way in “help” that I should donate $2000 to people that cant budget their money worth a crap.

so you’d “like to see his vision” but you “have never seen Mr. Green in person”…

“I’d like to have a new car” but “I’ve never visited
an auto lot”

Tina: You missed my whole point I was trying to make. maybe I didnt explain it very well. Yes, I would like to “SEE” his efforts but I cant if I dont “SEE” and ad for the flea market to bring me in to start with. Now do you get what IM talking about? how would you like to buy a new car from the dealer having a sale if he doesnt advertise the sale. This is not MC Donalds or any other well known buisness. Nobody knows when or where it is. people in Mason City know it to be the North Iowa event center. But not all people from surrounding towns know the name change. just to name another point.

My last point:

Talk with anyone who works alongside David and ask them about his drive. You talk direction, my friend is on the fair boards, she said the excitement David id bring to the table is great.

Hockey is back after the overcharge debacle of years past. The main building will have concerts rolling thru it very soon. Exhibitors who where treated like garbage in the past have had fences mended, David has done speaking engagements all over North Iowa. Changes are taking place. This is due to David Green/ Dennis Higgins and many boards and volunteers.

Did anyone attend the debate in Lake Mills last night? I would love to hear people’s perceptions of that.

see you dropped the story 20% wage increase for the fat cat inion city employees – must have been too agreeable with the public !

It was the County union, not the City union.

They asked for a 5% raise for each of the next 4 years. That is not a 20% raise. It also won’t be what the two sides finally agree to. Trying to stir up a little controversy? Must be a romney fan.

@Bodacious –

Your thoughts about the Union coming into Forest City? I for the life of me can’t figure out why the City Council has allowed the Mayor to back them into a corner like he has.

You are correct it isn’t 20%

It is 21.55%

unanonymous – not sure I understand “Your thoughts about the Union coming into Forest City?” comment. Care to explain? and anonymouse – As I said originally, it is a starting point. The two sides will come up with something in between 5% and 0%. And a four year contract makes it a lot easier to project costs which allows better long term budgeting.

@Bodacious…Aren’t the city guys Unionizing in FC? That’s what I heard.

I see it two ways; the mayor picked a fight I’m not sure he can win and we are all really screwed if we get snow and ice this winter.

Last year was the exception, but one of my favorite past times is watching the cars slide backwards down the hill on J Street when its really slick and all the city guys are sitting up at Hardees. I also love when they plow down Clark Street and leave the 4ft wall of snow on both curbs just daring people to actually try and patronize those downtown businesses. Just try it, we dare ya.

Seems like Forest City is trying to euthanize its downtown businesses anyway. They really should just get it over with though. Watching the tortured slow death is awkward. Poor things keep trying to get something going but no one cares.

I am very concerned about MC. If you take a drive from the south end to the north end and seriously look at the buildings and businesses, it should make us all concerned. The Sears Mall is half there. The small bank drive thru out front of Sears,is not leasable so it remains empty for years. Buildings next to Pritchards Auto are plain gross. We have Harley Davidson half used buildings on the east side of hwy65. The Party Store that needs a facelift.The old Pizza Hut delivery building that still has danger cones out front.Used cars for sale parked everywhere. Open lots across from Kum and Go. ……and I won’t even get into the north end…disgusting ..business owners/property owners that have simply no pride in there buildings.THIS IS BAD PEOPLE.

I agree! It’s a disgrace! But in a lot of the cases we need to blame the economy. Small business owners just can’t afford to make these improvements right now. Not true, however, in the case of Harley Davidson. I’d like to hear THEIR excuse. C’mon, we even gave them money!!

Give a rich man money to fix up his business and let the hard working class left to fix there own how sweet!

Disagree..any business that has not enough pride to make their store fronts respectable..should close

I just heard that the North Iowa Fairgrounds is no longer going to support the flea markets that have been held out for years. And are now only to have them 2x a year. I enjoy going out there once a month to look, visit and sell. If you think this unjust, please inform the fair board and the “new” manager your opinion on this matter, I know I am.

What? No flea markets that are geared to everyone? But the fairgrounds support and endorses Night Storm dances which are NOT an appropriate venue for teen agers in the community. Again, there needs to be some house cleaning done with the fair board.

how much ya want to bet that with only two dates to pick from in a full year. the fairboard will still pick the same date as another long established show. For many years the people running the flea market have chosen dates that conflict with other shows in the area. A sucessful show needs to have both customers and vendors. and if all your quality vendors are at another, better show, what does that leave you with?????? Also, the fairboard should have hired a good experienced flea market manager, and then stayed the HELL out of the flea market buisness. One last thing. I remember grinning ear to ear when the Mason City fire dept was out there removing the chains off the exit doors. How stupid can these people be. having all the exit doors chained shut during the flea market and auction

..I hear people complaining BUT nobody is donating money or volunteering. Hypocrites.

..the fair board can only do so much with the money it’s allowed. So volunteer or shut up.

hey Bailey…I will look for your name on the Fair website as a volunteer or pledge…right…that’s what I thought..neither will happen…so you just sit back and complain….watch out!!!the sky is falling.

Tina: MY remark from above about the fairboard hiring an experienced manager was NOT intended for David Green. I have in the past supported, “volunteered” in my own way at the north iowa fairgrounds as a vendor. I HAVE done my OWN advertising for the flea market to help promote it. Which seems to me, to be more than the fairboard has. “fairboard” in this case,meaning anyone involved with the operation or management of the flea market. I do not know who you really are, but have we read your name with a monetary donation? good for you if you have. So, to end here I will let you, in your own words, have the last statement.
tina
October 18, 2012 at 10:25 am

Disagree..any business that has not enough pride to make their store fronts respectable..should close

Ya! but the pamphlet i got in the mail today about why i should vote for the local option sales tax, sure paint a pretty picture for what it has help Mason City with the last years!Like better strees and community improvements. Makes ya wonder where the money is going cause the streets are horrible and like you pointed out the building up and down federal need alot of help! yup im voting NO!

@poop-vote the way you wish but even though I am dead set against new taxes, this is not one. The advantage to this is when people come to Mason City and buy stuff they will have to pay a tax which helps off set our local taxes. Our taxes will go up if this is voted down because the government never gives back revenue.

Tina
I have to agree. Mason City has hit rock bottom. Buildings falling down, empty, no business anywhere.
People are leaving this town in record numbers. Yesterday on N.I. reality site, listed over 400 homes in Mason City for sale. That does not count those being sold by owner.
What few young people who are left here, leave after school to NEVER return.
Mason City has spent all time and all of our MONEY on things very few people care about, FLW, Music Man, library etc. These things were the past of Mason City, not the future. Young people and familys could care less about those things.
The only thing going to save Mason city is JOBS! There are NONE! How can communitys like Hampton, Charles City, Garner and Osage all land new busines, and Mason City NOTHING.
It is VERY sad, but this town is in decline and quickly sliding down hill. Makes me sick.

Dear sad,

I agree with most of what you said. The library needed an update. Did we need another downtown remodel? statues?.

Is it right Mercy is pushing people off their properties? Is it right the Mayor accepted numerous checks from Mercy employees? Is it right Mercy is buying up all lease sites were new businesses need to locate instead of building new?

Town is in trouble.

Is anyone aware that Obama sent US troops to Jordan last week? Does anyone care how many countries he has sent our troops?

Do you know why we sent troops – not armed troops by the way- to Jordan? And what exactly do you mean by your statement on how many countries he has sent troops to? Do you know something you think we should know? Or are you just trying to stir up controversy where there is none?

Judy, give me a break! The current wars were started under GW Bush! Yes, Obama added to our troops in Afghanistan, but only because BUSH had already started the trouble in Iraq. It had spilled into Afghanistan and it was getting worse.

Really? Bush put us in Libya? Bush was implementing drone attacks?

Obama criticized Bush for financing wars off budget. In his first year Obama had a big supplemental-funding bill – broken promise.

The Afghanistan war has expanded out of control, and the war makes no sense. The government says there are 100 Al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan, and so the troop levels are higher, more people are dying and they want to stamp out the opium trade. They can’t even stop people from buying crack four blocks from the White House.

Meanwhile, Obama is drone-attacking Pakistan. He’s expanded this war greatly. One or 2 million Pakistani refugees have had to leave the Swat Valley. It’s one of the greatest refugee crises since Rwanda. Obama’s bombed Yemen; he’s bombed Somalia; he even threatened Eritrea, this tiny little country near Ethiopia, with invasion.

In a normal country, when your government says it might invade another country, people have a clue, but we’re at war so much with so many countries no one even knows any of this stuff.

And on Iran, Obama continues to be belligerent when he caught Iran “red-handed” with that Qom nuclear facility. Iran reported that they had this facility that they hadn’t really started working on yet, according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which the National Intelligence Estimate, the administration, and the International Atomic Energy Agency all say Iran’s basically following the law? Note that Netanyahu/Isreal disagree with this assertion.

Warrantless surveillance has continued, and it’s been normalized. The TSA outrages have gotten worse. Now the Left thinks that you’re crazy if you oppose the police state, and the Right is finally realizing the federal government shouldn’t get to touch us like that.

Detention without charge has continued. Habeas corpus is gutted.

Even when they said they would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civil court, the administration’s position was We’ll try him, and we’ll convict him, and if we don’t convict him we’ll still detain him.

Renditioning, this outsourcing of people to be tortured, has continued, at least on some level.

The drone attacks are through the roof; there’s robot killing. Bradley Manning, the likely whistleblower with WikiLeaks, has been detained. And Obama used to say his administration would protect whistleblowers. I guess he meant protect them with steel cages. That guy that made the video that did not spark the attack in Libya but was blamed to high heaven was arrested for doing nothing but exercise his 1st Amendment rights.

We have the same basic trajectory on war, on spending, on civil liberties, on foreign policy; the Defense Department is as bloated as ever.

Normally I would call you ignorant but in this case I will call you just plain stupid. You said the war in iraq spilled over to Afghanistan, I hate to tell you this but these wars are OUR wars against the terrorists that attacked us, you remember 9/11? Afghanistan was first then 2 years later came iraq, which was completely justified. We were complacent before the attack, and here we are 11 years later and we are back to complacent. These a$$holes attacked us on our soil, killed OUR people, and you just want to let them go. They will never go away, matter of fact as soon as we pull all our troops out and bring them home these a$$holes will follow them here and we will be fighting these terrorists on our soil, in our back yard. You think it is costing us alot right now just wait till they start blowing up more buildings, killing more americans right here.

@MAYBE Please tell me you have served in the military. I still won’t agree with you but I will at least Respect you. The war in Iraq was not justified it was based on faulty intel that officals testified they were pressured by Dick Cheney. Your probably just like old Dick he loves starting wars and claims to be a big patriot. How many college deferments did he take to keep himself out of harms way. I have no dought that we will be attacked at home again but keeping our troops in Iraq and Afganistan is not going to change that fact.

@anonymous…you said,

“The war in Iraq was not justified it was based on faulty intel that officals testified they were pressured by Dick Cheney. Your probably just like old Dick he loves starting wars and claims to be a big patriot. How many college deferments did he take to keep himself out of harms way.”

You do realize that the intelligence for Iraq came from the international community and not just US intelligence? You also realize that the UN was blasting its intention to send inspectors to Iraq weeks before they actually showed up? You realize that weapons could easily have been moved into Syria? You remember Syria right? They are the ones committing genocide against its own citizens…not unlike Sadaam Hussein?

Also, this sounds quite similar to the Obama administration’s recent declarations that they blamed the video for the attack in Libya due to faulty intel. So does Hillary Clinton love starting wars and only claim to be a patriot?

I spent 12 years in the military, the last 1 1/2 years in iraq. I saw biological weapons that saddom had, I saw reports of serin gas being used against american soldiers, I saw thousands of people on the side of the road begging for food or water. From what I saw over there, the war IS justified. I saw al quada training camps that have been there for years. I saw terrorists from all over, jordan, iran, somolia, yemen, even from the united states; so called celebrities that went over there to lay down in front of our vehicles. You couldn’t imagine what I saw and if you did see it you would think differently about OUR war over there. People say that the terrorists went there because thats where we were at, think about it, if we were not there they would come here. When I see people talking out of their a$$ about the war like they actually think they know what they are talking about it pisses me off, you have no clue. Just because we are not there anymore doesn’t mean the war is over, whoever gets the presidency next will end up sending more troops over there because it is starting up again. It was a political move and a mistake to bring all the troops home.

What a disaster Sat. night at Ruby Tuesdays was. We had some waitress named Alexis and I am not sure why she was there, but obviously, not to do her job. Four of us went there to eat and we had to end up getting our own silverware since she didn’t even make sure we had some. Then she brought our drinks and no rolls and never came back. We had to go up to the bar to get refills on drinks and ask for some rolls. She was worthless! On the way out the door, we complained to the girls at the front desk and they looked at us like we were from another planet. Another place to write off our list! The girl should have gotten the hint from the tip she got, but I doubt it even registered!

We had a family gathering there some time ago. They mixed up our orders; we haven’t been back.

We had brunch on sunday. We had Liz wait on us, she was great.Guess it was our luck of the draw.

I go there a lot and I have never had bad service or bad food. You should have gone to the front entry, asked for the manager, and requested a different waitress instead of blasting a restaurant on here when it was a bad waitress and you didn’t even bother to complain to anyone while you were there. I’m sure they would have preferred to know about the bad service while you were there and made it right then. How is the manager supposed to know he has a bad employee if no one tells him at the time? You should always complain about bad service, bad food, etc., because they can’t fix it if they don’t know it’s broken. They don’t want people to go away mad. You sound like a competitor trying make them look bad.

Katie you are on here whining and complaining everyday. You lump together all liberals, Democrats and anti business people as idiots then when someone lumps you in with the anti gay bible thumpers you are offended. Give me a break you don’t rule the world. If management was doing their job they would have noticed people getting drinks and silverware for themselves. Not for you to tell people how to show their displeasure with anything.

Excuse me, but I have owned a few businesses over the course of my life and as a business owner, I think I know HOW I would want to find out if my business was not fulfilling a customer’s needs. A manager can’t always be hovering in the dining room watching everything that is going on. He may be training in the kitchen or in the bar. If you owned a business, would you want people to just badmouth it all over town instead of coming to you and telling you what the problem was? You’d be furious if your livelihood went down the drain because of one bad experience that you weren’t allowed to make right.

So correcting the record that I’m not anti-gay or a bible thumper means that I was offended? I’m also primarily pro-choice. You can add that to your next diatribe against me. I’m an independent thinker. A fiscal conservative with some liberal philosophies. Libertarian about many things. I would like government to leave me alone and go back to the founders’ basics. I have already voted absentee and I did not vote a straight Republican ticket. How’s that for being a rebel?

FINALLY, someone else noticed that Katie is the Queen Of The Forums. UGH… But on another note, we’ve always had good service when we’ve gone to Ruby Tuesday, it just seems like we don’t get out of there for less than $50 for 2 of us.

Complaining about a waitress DURING the meal turns the whole experience to shit quick. Go to their website and tell your story OR their Facebook Page. Good luck.

@katie I am an Independent and liberal on some issues and conservative on other issues. You continually make fun of whole groups of people like they all think alike. Hollyloons I believe was one of your recent remarks. Some how your opinions are more knowledgeable or right then theirs. John Voight is a conservative as many others in hollywood. Do you think they like being stereotyped any more than you do. When the Dixie chicks voiced their opinion of Bush they were tormented by people like you telling them to just shut up and sing. I was at the surf a couple of years ago when Ted Nugent said Obama could suck his dick. Neither comment bothered me as I truly believe in the first ammendment. I to have expierence in the restaurant business and many people don’t say a word about bad service, they pay and never come back. If you don’t have a manager working the dining room constantly asking people if everything is alright and watching your staff that is the risk you take that something like this will happen. Pissed off food workers do terrible things to peoples food sometimes and some people don’t want to risk complaining. I will leave a minimun tip if I get bad service but will usually go back and hope for a better expierience if my return visit turns out the same I won’t go back because management is not doing a good job.

I don’t like this practice of calling people out by name for bad service on this site.

Maybe you did get bad service or maybe you were a pain in the ass and played your part.

Either way, the server isn’t here to defend themselves and give their side. Is Matt going to bring these posts to Ruby Tuesday’s attention?

No, I don’t think Matt should have to contact them. Why don’t you just take care of it for us?
Please report back as soon as you let them know what happened and then let us know what they say too. Make it snappy too. Thanks!

Hey @Alex

Since you seem to have missed it, my point was people were on here badmouthing a person by name at a restaurant that is being named. This could potentially affect this person’s and restaurant’s business and reputation.

I was questioning that practice as I highly doubt that it is Matt’s job to notify any restaurant about the complaints he’s receiving here. But defamation is a subject he may have a vested interest in keeping out of NIT.

Libel and slander are both forms of defamation. Defamation is a common law tort, governed by state law, in which an individual makes a “publication” of a defamatory statement of and concerning the plaintiff that damages the reputation of the plaintiff. The distinction between slander and libel comes in the form of the publication.

Slander involves the oral “publication” of a defamatory remark that is heard by another, which injures the subject’s reputation or character. Slander can occur through the use of a hand gesture or verbal communication that is not recorded. Libel, on the other hand, is the written “publication” of a defamatory remark that has the tendency to injure another’s reputation or character. Libel also includes a publication on radio, audio or video. Even though this would be considered oral, or verbal, communication to someone it is actually considered to be libel because it is published in a transfixed form

Next time eat at Whiskey Creek and sit in Kelly’s section. She’s awesome!!!!!

I disagree. I’ve eaten at Whiskey Creek a few times and only once was the food good. I’ve also sat in Katie’s section and she was rude, never came back to our table to check on us. I’ll never go back there.

G Jean. I didn’t say Katie, I said Kelly. And The Creek is a great restaurant. Jay and his staff are top notch.

This article talks about what really happened concerning the coverup blame game on the attack on our embassy in Libya. It also says there were no budget cuts on security because there was no BUDGET! There was no budget because the Democratic-controlled Senate would not pass one. Democrats also were the ones who signed off on the cutting of overseas security funding for diplomats.
http://www.examiner.com/article/administration-plays-confusing-blame-game-with-libyan-attacks

It was brought up a few weeks ago about the crime on the north end, to start a program of citizens patroling the streets working with the police, like the guardian angels of New York City. I have had several meetings with the police and the police advisory board on this subject. The chief of police likes the idea but hasn’t said yes yet, after him it goes to the city administrator for approval. As of now we have come to the conclusion that whoever wants to volunteer for this will have to go through the citizens police academy. This class is 1 day a week for 10 weeks. I am taking the class right now and the next class is this spring. They are taking their time making a decision because in the spring is when they do the training for the park watch and the neighborhood watch so they will do the training for us too, once approved. What we do need is for people to contact the city adminisatrator or the city counsel to show their support for this project. The more volunteers we have the better our chances are.

Mitt Romney is using more Propaganda.

Obama is a lying liar that lies.

At least he doesn’t lie!

Florida has set different requirements for different races and other criteria in its schools! It breaks them down into Asian, White, Hispanic, Black, and other groups based on poverty and disability. Whereas it requires 92 percent of Asians to be proficient at or above grade level, it only requires 74 percent of Blacks to be proficient. Read the article. What do you all think of this?

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/10/12/florida-passes-plan-for-racially-based-academic-goals/

I left out the words at math. It should read they have to be proficient at math.

It’s to bad all you people that have such great grammar and spelling abilities didn’t go into the profession of being teachers. Maybe if you had their wouldn’t be so many mistakes on here. Not everyone is perfect.

“and the fact that nobody is mining the store as i referred to was meant for bush II and Obama not investigating these practices.”

You can investigate them all you want, and fix prices. That however comes with ill results for the consumer in the long run. The consumer currently has choices. One is to avoid so-called captive markets, such as those near Interstates.

When it comes to pricing of commodities, the last thing one wants is government control. Iowa already has it in the form of milk and tobacco. Such price fixing would be illegal if a group of retailers got together and set prices. And I do not see where gasoline retailers do that as a group. So much for the idea of there being an evil cabal.

Obviously, gasoline for retailers is not a big profit item. Not when inside the store they see 24 to 70% profit on some items. It may be with some retailers a loss-leader.

Back in 2001, I sat and watched as one retailer posted $4+ gas. No one drove in and pumped a single drop. This independent became a perfect example of pricing himself out of the market.

Gasoline consumers are very picky, and overall, few hold brand loyalties now-a-days.

Hey fellow Mohawk fans, let’s welcome former football coach Dave Holdiman back tonight as the Mohawks take on Marshalltown!

How long have you been on food stamps and why?

Get a job and stop living off the government.

They government is not slashing food stamps for EVERYBODY, just those who are AlSO getting home heating assistance. Seems they think if that heating bill is paid for by other tax payers you should use that money you didn’t have to pay to by food.

Seems legit to me, especially since you can afford internet to get on here and complain about it.

“The bipartisan bill making its way through the Senate would trim benefits by about $90 a month for about 500,000 households, the budget office said, largely by eliminating automatic enrollment for some households receiving nominal aid under federal home-heating assistance programs.”

Here’s my question, do you smoke? I really cannot feel sympathy for people on assistance but can afford cigarettes.

I have a friend that is on disability, injured in iraq. His son is on disability also, autistic. There income combined is around a grand a month, he used to get 250 a month food assistance for the 2 of them now they get 35 a month.

It’s illegal to sell prescription narcotics online black market. I hope Matt and the staff from NIT report these spammers to the attorney general’s office and also the FCC.

If Romney is elected, how much influence will the Mormon church have on running this country?

http://exmormon.org/d6/drupal/Mitt-Romney-Mormon-Secrets

It could never be as much as the Muslims have now.

you misspelled your own name. Should read Mr. Oblivious.

How much influence did the Catholic Church have on JFK’s administration?

And just maybe it would better if the Mormon Church had an influenc on our Govn.; as the local churches have members (men, women and child) give the sermons on Sundays.

religion has NO buisness in any government. PERIOD. just think of all the wars fought because of religious beliefs

50 I wasn’t really wasn’t pressing for the the Morman (or any) religion to be included in our Govn., but the fact that the local churches have no Priest (Fathers, Vicars etc.) for their Sunday worship. They instead require the members to give the lessons. If we could, in someway, require (beyond voting) societies members to be active in our Local (at the very least) government in such an personal way don’t you think it would improve society as a whole?

Your link doesn’t even work! At least the Mormons I have known are good, honest human beings with a lot of self-discipline. One of my friends was brought an alcoholic drink by mistake and she was so distressed because she never, ever wanted to taste it. I find their religious beliefs and some other things quirky, but no stranger than any other religion. Dwight Eisenhower was a Quaker. Why didn’t people worry about his religion? The Mormons were persecuted by this country to the point they were told to leave. They finally had to give up polygamy in order to live in harmony with our laws, which was a good thing.

Katie, you seem to know everything except how to use your computer. maybe you could take a class or something? My link works, just checked. As for the other comments, really? Comparing to muslims and jfk in 1963? really? Please Please Please at least google and read about Mormon’s before you comment again.

The link worked fine for me also. I get the impression that Katie knows something about everything or at least she thinks she does.

I swear to Maroni I tried that link a half dozen times and got gobbledy gook over and over. I tried it just now and it worked. There is nothing particularly shocking to me in that article. I have read about Mormons before. Did you know they believe that Native American Indians were Jews? I’d love to see DNA prove that. I am much more afraid of Born Again Christian Ultra Conservative Nut Jobs who take the bible literally. Too many people are afraid to stand up to them because they are “Christians”.

Well lets weigh the options. Muslim extremists, who have been proven to go unchecked by a Muslim sympathizing President, raping and murdering our Ambassador, killing our citizens, overthrowing nations and imposing Sharia Law (the real war on women)…VS….A Mormon President and Mormon practioners who will do what? Ride their bicycles around your neighborhood, knock on your door and ask if they can pray with you? Hmmm….

you really have no clue do you?

I really do. That your problem isn’t it? Can’t spew your bigotry as easily when people do know and recognize what you are doing.

Katie,

“I am much more afraid of Born Again Christian Ultra Conservative Nut Jobs who take the bible literally. Too many people are afraid to stand up to them because they are “Christians”.

I agree, you are right. what you need to do is listen to your heart and that little voice in your head that has been talking to you.

It has been a great playoff run.

I am back in town and didn’t see the Mohawk football scores for our games against Hoover. Varsity won, but how did the sophs and freshman do?

“My comments were about the current republican party and the oil companies rigging gas prices.”

Really? How could they do that? The oil companies do not own the supply do they? Well they may own about 25% or there abouts. But who really owns the majority? If you say OPEC, you are correct. They supply over 40% of the crude we use.

Thanks to the Department of Energy, every dollar you spend for gasoline is broken down thus:

ºTaxes 13¢
ºDistribution and Marketing 8¢
ºRefining 14¢
ºCrude Oil 65¢

Who sets crude oil prices? Ask the folks at the New York Merchantile Exchange. Those who control the crude oil, do not control the prices.

So it’s higly doubtful that a political party, or an oil company can “fix” prices with so many involved in the process.

late last night I had a long responce to your reply. However the captcha code didnt read and it was all lost. So here is the short version. the oil companies I was talking about would be Exxon, BP, ect and NOT OPEC. we buy our gas from the local station ran by companies like Exxon and BP just to name a few. so all your comments meant nothing about what I was talking about. which is the relation between crude oil prices and the pump prices. how can they rise in a day when crude rises and not drop for a month after it falls. why does the pump price rise during the holidays and weekends when crude stays the same. also why did pump prices rise in Orange City during a recent RV convention and then return after all teh RVs had filled up? these are just a few simple exmples of price rigging. basicly check the chart in the link below and explain why gas is so high now compaired to Dec 2011 when crude was actually higher than now, but the prices at the pump was extreemly lower. your figures just dont add up. by your thinking pump prices should stay basicly the same percentage as crude prices, well they dont. and thats the problem
http://gasbuddy.com/Crude_Chart.aspx

forgot to mention the republican party remark was for another poster thinking I was a bush basher. which I am, but did not intend to do it in my article. I also strongly believe that the president can and should check into the high price of gas. and why the pump prices raise overnight for no apparent reason. I can only assume that there is way too much money flowing into the politicians reelection funds

Gas prices at the pump are the result of many events. What a distributor purchased the gas for, what he offers it at the rack, and what others in the area are charging.

The retailer has people in an office who negotiate contracts, set specs, and distribution from the rack. They also watch the local markets, and price accordingly.

Had observed prices locally change three and four times in one day on orders from the home office. In all cases, large companies will not allow any deviation in pricing at the local level.

Independents such as Cenex, even though it is a branded store, are not so governed, and will price according to what he thinks they can get away with.

I will add also, that with some chains, the head office controls the actual pump price remotely. So local stores/stations don’t even have the option.

I recently traveled along an Interstate. I always go into a town to look for gas. I saved .36/gallon at one stop by doing this. It was $4.00 by the ramp and $3.64 four blocks away. Stations charge what they think they can get away with. I’m not that stupid.

Also, if you hit the back button, usually your reply will still be visible if the captcha code fails. I have never had to rewrite a reply. Or, if that doesn’t work, copy your response before you try to submit it so you can paste it if it isn’t there when you hit the back button.

Katie: what you discribed is what i am calling price rigging. observer wrote “The retailer has people in an office who negotiate contracts, set specs, and distribution from the rack. They also watch the local markets, and price accordingly” this is also what I am talking about. these are the very people who are setting these rigged prices. you also wrote “Independents such as Cenex, even though it is a branded store, are not so governed, and will price according to what he thinks they can get away with”. In your own words you said “what he thinks they can get away with”. also confirms my statement of price rigging/gouging. and the fact that nobody is mining the store as i referred to was meant for bush II and Obama not investigating these practices. It is also my belief that lower gas prices alone would turn around this country. almost everything has raised in price because of high fuel costs.

So you get recognized for who and what you are and get pissy about it?

anonymous: if you were talking abut me? I was only stating the facts as i see them. not trying to be pissy in any way.

I think it’s in observance of Columbus Day..

So, there’s no news on Columbus Day?? I find that hard to believe with the upcoming elections. I think it’s a financial decision by the Glob.

There is no news on christmas either.

And let’s not forget St. Swithins Day!

What a lame excuse. Columbus day shouldn’t even be celebrated for the things he did.

I heard on CNN the other morning, that there was talk of trying to change it from Columbus day to Exploration Day. Either way, should it really be a federal holiday.

Back in the 70’s, it was called Explorer’s Day for a while. And we had one holiday in February that was called President’s Day instead of two. I don’t know when they changed all that back to the way it had always been.

They use to only take Christmas off now it is every holiday. I am sure it is because of cutting back. Matt said a while back that the globe would be charging for on line paper well he was right. It will be $4.99 I think a month to get it on line. I don’t pay for the paper now I read it when I go to the restaurant in the morning. I will not be paying for it on line not worth it. One of these days kids are going to be asking what was a newspaper

It must have some value if you admit to reading it every morning.

I stopped subscribing to, advertising in and reading the Globe all long time ago because of their content.

http://www.france24.com/en/20121007-rich-businessmen-pulling-out-france-tax-hit-looms
Rich business people are leaving France for countries with lower tax rates on capital gains. That is what happens when you put a high tax burden on the wealthy. They pull out their investments and leave for another country that doesn’t tax their investment income heavily. Unemployment in France will skyrocket and their deficit will get worse than it is now.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/liberals-fret-is-obama-bored-does-he-want-a-second-term-maybe-not./article/2510054#.UHGwYJhufGZ
I have wondered for some time if Obama really wants a second term. I read a couple weeks ago that he is negotiating to buy a retirement home in Hawaii to be ready in January 2013. He has never stuck with anything for very long and I would not be surprised if he does lousily at the next debate, either. He made unbelievable errors in the first debate. I wish Romney would have asked him if he got his information about tax deductions for moving jobs offshore from hoax emails! That is how ridiculously uninformed he was. He clearly doesn’t understand the tax code or how the economy works.

ive always thought that schools should grow there own food maybe not all of it but a large amount it could save money and be a useful teaching tool

And the kids and teachers are going to go to school all summer to harvest, freeze, and can it? Ya, right.

Don’t be so quick to discredit something you obviously know little about as is your habit. North Dakota has been a forerunner in creating a local food initiative in their schools. It works well; it provides a market for local producers; it provides students with real life learning and it is healthy.

http://www.nd.gov/ndda/program/local-foods-initiative

I don’t disagree that it would be a great idea. I just don’t see it working around here. People already bitch and moan about teachers’ salaries and the length of the school year. I can’t see anyone around here volunteering to work all summer in gardens, teaching gardening, or students being willing to give up summers to spend in gardens or in school learning about gardening. Get the program started if you think it would work here. I’d love to buy some ground cherries!

many schools are doing this and it’s successful

many schools do this already

Another well intentioned idea. But growing enough food for an entire school is a large undertaking. Certainly there will be parents who balk at the idea of raising and butchering animals so the school either must go to a strictly vegetarian diet or purchase its proteins elsewhere.

The garden will need to be fairly large, is it grown on school property? Some schools have room but many do not, so where do they plant their gardens? What about greenhouses? Then the school could potentially grow year round. Who pays for that?

Then there is the amount of labor involved in preparing the ground, planting, weeding and maintenance, watering, harvest and winterizing the ground. Who does all that work? Are child labor laws now involved?

What if you crop fails? Does the school have crop insurance? Were budgets written to account for this possibility? If one school in Iowa has a bumper crop and another school’s crop fails can the state then redistribute the vegetables?

What is grown in the garden? Is it organic or will there be pesticides used? One kid sick from pesticides = lawsuit. One kid sick from parasites or mycotoxins = lawsuit.

How are these crops being stored for the winter? Freezing? Does the school have adequate freezer space? Canning? Who is doing the canning? One student injured in a canning accident and we have a pressurized law suit on our hands.

The idealist and the realist need each other. It is the yin/yang of things. The idealist says “schools should just grow their own food” but they need the realist to figure out how to make the idea feasible. So instead of taking pot shots at each other over perceived habits or what someone else knows maybe simply open up a discourse, share what each of us knows and see if a movement finds it’s feet. There are many positives to be found in the idea of schools growing their own food, there are also some negatives. We are all too quick to poo poo the other sides contribution to the bigger picture.

Wonderful, thoughtful reply. I see lawsuits, too.

naysayers should stay in the house. never leave. never drive. never go to work. never start their own buisness or do anything at all because something bad might happen to them or others. what the hel would this world become if everyone thought this way.

@50 miles

Why are you so angry and intolerant of other people’s opinions? You and your need to insert ugliness into every debate is part of the problem with this country today. It costs you no more to simply state your opinion in a nice manner than it does to try to out-snark everybody.

Unanonymous: maybe I should just state my beliefs without any namecalling. If you really knew me you would see that I am usually a happy go lucky guy that is always cracking a joke. Untill certain people try to force their beliefs on me. Religion is one. The government, especially local government is another, imposing laws that that are one sided, or obviously made my a person that has never done a hard days work in their life, burns my ass higher than a 4 foot fire. I am NOT talking about you or this forum. it is an open forum and I “choose” to join in. however If you have the right to voice your opinion, then I also have the right to voice mine as I see it. As to your comment in question above. it had Nothing but negativity. therefore I was simply voicing my opinion.

My comment above was not negative. It was highlighting that there are two sides to the debate. At it pointed out that both sides need to work together and accept the validity in each others argument. That is not negative.

I never said you do not have the right to voice your opinion. I simply asked you a question based upon my observation of many of your posts in this thread.

Does anybody know how to find out who the members of the Mason City Human Rights Commission are?

It’s on the Mason City web site:

http://www.masoncity.net/pView.aspx?id=18164&catid=481

why?

Why is it that my post on Blogget was taken off? Did I say something wrong??

Dont you spanners have anything else to do then sit on your fat asses and spam!! Get a life!

Management has been notified, as have some close regulars also. This is not a joke. If it would have been a different bar, their name would have been given instead. The Willow is an outstanding establishment, and in no way am I trying to tear down their reputation. So, back to my original statement.

What an absolutely stunning Photo of the Day, the sunrise from N. Taft. Makes me sorry I’m not an early riser like David! Thanks so much for sharing.

From NIT Staff: The spammers are hitting hard, sorry about these posts. We delete them as fast as possible but a few seem to slip through. We also have software to block a lot of this.

Please tell me the NIT staff isn’t going to let ads like this sneak onto a legit site?! I hate this crap….next thing we will see “SWBF looking for a SBBM!” Geeeshh!

I agree! What is this nonsense? I hope NIT puts a stop to this. I haven’t even clicked on any of these, what if they are viruses?

Thanks! Your efforts are appreciated!!

Went to new tanning business in clear lake.I sun tan.open 24hours.wow.this is by far the best in the area.professional.modern.I couldn’t believe how many men tan there..great job.

I checked them out, but wouldn’t be worth the drive from Mason City to Clear Lake for a tan. Geeez…Just didn’t like having to pay a membership sign on fee and a 1 year commitment. They only have 4 beds, so be prepared to wait when people like to tan for the summer.

Isn’t there a better way to go about killing yourself than using a tanning bed?

Tan World is the best. Modern look not a used car lot/window appearance. But a tan is a tan I guess.

I wish it was still the donut place in Clear Lake instead of a tanning salon. Good luck to them, as people in Clear Lake tan at the….LAKE

FROM NIT STAFF: Let’s not continually trash a local business using different usernames. Thank you.

Skipper reminds me of that old cartoon character baby huey. Put skippy in a dipper and give him a rattle and you have the perfect image.

ever wonder why gas prices dropped from over $4.per gallon while Bush II was in office to $1.89 a few months before the election in 2008? $1.89 has been advertised lately in Rummys TV ads. Ever wonder why they dont use the gas prices from May 2008 rather than Nov 2008? check out this link yourself and try to figure it out. Use the 8 year chart for the real information. you tell me why this isnt price rigging. doesnt have a damn thing to do with inventory, expences, or any of the other bullsht excuses for the high prices. Plain and simple “NOBODY IS MINDING THE STORE” http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

Really? Still on the Bush thing? When exactly is the statute of limitations up on blaming Bush?

Bush should be blamed until we make a recovery from his failed policies. It took Bush 8 years to screw up this country it will take more then 4 to straighten it out.

Unanonymous you are a real idiot. My original intention (If you reread it)was not about Bush II. it was about the TV ads used by the CURRENT republicans, stating the $1.89 per gallon gas price during the november 2008 election. when in reality gas was $4.00 just a few months before that. and why not use those figures in the CURRENT TV ads? My comments were about the current republican party and the oil companies rigging gas prices. it had nothing to do with Bush II. however since you brought it up, using your thinking, when the heck will people stop blaming the kid from waterloo who stabbed and killed another young man a few months ago. when will the statue of limitations end for him? when will the people in Mason city stop blaming the mayor for his drinking. get off that damn statue of limitations shit. you cant undo stupid. AND BUSH II WAS STUPID. my first choice of words here began with an F and ended with K UP, but the blog didnt go thru

rukidding and 50 miles south, you both seem to be ignorant on who is to blame for this mess. It started with the Clintons putting pressure on the Freddie and Fannie to make risky lending. Read the NYT article from September 30, 1999.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html

Who’s to blame? The retarded Clintons and the sheepocrats that like to keep dumbasses like this and that Kenyan in office.

YOUR STUPID: the statue of limitations has ran out on that outdated article. 1999 would be before Bush IIs blunders. besides that article is only one persons opinion and not necessarily 100% acurate. remember that the power of the pen can sway the truth in any direction the author wants. If you dont believe me then read Mr Childrens opeds or some of the others here. gas prices were alot lower during clinton. everyone made money during Clinton. unlike during the Bush II years. Not as many soldiers were killed during Clintons years in office either compaired to Bush IIs years in office. and I will also pat myself on the back for not using profanity or calling people names this time. LOVE YOU TOO

“1999 would be before Bush IIs blunders” I know. That was my point, this all started back then with risky lending. Finally the system couldn’t fake it anymore and the bottom fell out of it… You can’t blame Bush II for it as it was before his time. And it was FACT that the Clinton put pressure on Freddie and Fannie not one or a hundred people’s opinion (why don’t you RESEARCH it). They did it and we are living the results of it now.

Good to know. Of course that means the Obama blaming will have the same shelf life as a jar of honey.

Love you too. And I truly hope some day you learn to discuss things without being a bully and name-calling. Have a wonderful day.

Well, consider the source Linden Dr. He has long since lost objectivity, and has become a mouthpiece. Sad because of his talent for writing.

Just a question. What is the best way to find out about upcoming local events? I keep missing things because I don’t know they are happening. thanks.

There’s a calendar here on NIT, one on the Globe’s web site. Chamber has a calendar on-line too, I believe.

Matt, you stated in an earlier post that if there is anything going on in Winnebago County – Forest City, Lake Mills, etc. give you a heads up. Might want to talk to some people about FC’s city council lowering the amount of money a group of citizens has to pay for installing a new sewer line in their neighborhood from $14,000 to $3,000. This will certainly raise rates for sewer and water for the rest of the city for the next 40 years and the city council’s response to those who want to know why is “Sorry you feel that way.” 2 members of the city council own homes in the area, however, they did abstain from voting to do so. But, there are many people in FC who aren’t real happy with the deal that was done behind closed doors.

The new sewer line is all about the golf course that they had to have for the benefit of the community. You feel benefited yet?

Most people know, all deals in Forest City are struck behind closed doors, and we aren’t talking about the doors of City Hall. And they aren’t really sorry that the people in town are upset. There is a small group of people who are running Forest City from behind the scenes. Guess where they hang out?

John K. made this into a company town and the citizens were happy enough to go along with whatever the big wigs wanted as long as the Hanson Foundation kept writing all those checks.

Oh and the city counsel are all bark, no bite. Don’t look to them for help. They don’t like what the mayor is doing but they won’t stop him either. Bad voting on that last mayoral election btw FC.

Most everyone in Forest City knows what is going on but until enough people are willing to speak out nothing will ever change. Everyone hate the way the town is but they are more afraid of the backlash and reprisals if they say anything too loudly.

Oh yes, the famous government cell phone. Your tax dollars are at work. It used to be if you couldn’t afford a phone, you used a pay phone or borrowed your neighbors. We never got or would have thought of getting a free phone from the government. Not everyone getting some kind of assistance if a mooch and no one is saying that. I have no problem for people to get assistance if they need it, but there are alot in this country that know how to milk the system and continue to do so instead of trying to help themselves. As far as Obama goes, I am a Democrat, but I am sick to death of him spending all our money while he and the family take all their trips and send billions of dollars of money out of the country instead of helping the people here. He blames Bush for the last four years so I guess if he gets in again, he will have to suck it up and blame himself for the last four years. It is time he took responsibility for what is going on in this country and quit blaming everyone else.

Yes but your kids can’t have seconds at lunch because that would be bad.

Is it true that kids can’t get second helpings at school lunches even if there is food left and the food gets thrown away? Wow. Don’t know why parents are letting govt control their kids via school lunches. I think it sets a bad example for the kids to have to follow along like sheep without parents stepping in. Parents can teach their children proper nutrition without “the state” stepping in. We are living in crazy times.

No wonder kids are fat….. If you don’t like it, pack their lunch for them.

Ya kids are fat because of what they eat at school lunch. Whatever. The program is a good way for some kids to make money, in Massachussetts kids were caught sneaking in chocolate syrup and a squeeze was going for 50 cents.

Then pack the kid’s lunch for them and send them out the door with a sack full of Ho-Ho’s and chocolate syrup.

Why should parents have to worry about packing lunches when they pay plenty of money via taxes to support the school lunch program? Vilsack said an answer is a snack–maybe we can have a snack program mid afternoon we can all pay for. How about the extra paperwork this program is imposing on schools for the lunch program? We end up paying for that in the form of extra hours for somebody to do it. What’s with the jerk comments? Can’t you converse with facts instead of insults? You must be a pleasure to be around at work.

Concerned Citizen, K-4th get snacks in the afternoon.

I never liked chili. I packed my own lunch or went hungry.

For me, its a little annoying that everyone has to be policed because a few cannot police themselves. Fortunately I can compensate for my children, and send lunch with them, but I feel badly for those families who cannot. I fear some of those children, who need the food the most, will be the ones going hungry. For some of them that is the only meal they get and now that meal is being limited.

A question that needs to be asked…. What happened to that “Fed Up” group that was started? They had a fundraiser at a dive bar in Belmond and I never heard if they raised any money or have done anything around the area. Thanks for any information that is provided, I just wanted to know where this group stood, as I hadn’t heard about them for a while.

The group is ‘nomore’, infact the founder (Tara) was spotted hanging with the very same groups she was Fed^up with!

Shocker! My opinion is it was just a ploy from the very start to steal money. It shouldn’t surprise anyone. Just look at the players.

Damn North End anyway.

What happened to the money she raised?

How about that flyer in the mail today?
Republican Blogett representing Democrat Doughterty??
Boy they must be worried about losing their control in the “good old boys” club.
And trying the dirty politics at that!
Two pees in a pod. Vote these people out!!

Anyone notice all these celebrities and big wigs claiming the rich should pay more in taxes are not all hopping a jet to move to France so they can jump on that new 75% rate? Whats up with that? I was sure they would be right on that so that they could show us how right they are.

I thought all the moochers should move there to get all that redistributed wealth.

Exactly! As an employed, tax paying, American I would be willing to allow my tax dollars to pay for sending them all over to France to live out their Socialist, redistributing dreams. Heck, they can even use our military troop transports if they want. One condition…no give backs!

I take seriously offense to the mooching comment.
I know there are people out there that abuse the system I know plenty of them!
But I have been on unemployment for quite a while, no food stamps or any other assistance. I was what is too commonly known as a budget cut, after working for over 25 years.
So, if you consider me a moocher, please send me to France to live!

If you are receiving assistance on a temporary basis and not as a way of life then I don’t understand taking offense to the “moocher” label.

Dems want to act as if Conservatives want to take away ALL assistance to those in need. This is a blatant lie. Oh I’m sure there are a few out there, but the majority of conservatives support the concept of temporary aid for people who find themselves in hard times. What we object to is those in this society who think government assistance is a way of life and not only make no effort to get themselves off of that assistance but they lobby against anyone telling them they can’t make it a way of life and then teach their children to do the same resulting in generational dependence upon the government.

You don’t like generalizations and being lumped in with the “bad seeds”? Neither do we.

Exactly.

And you just lumped all Dems with into a group that believes it is ok for some to make government assistance a way of life. Very far from the truth.

Actually I made a very clear distinction between those people on assistance. That was the whole point.

But point taken on the Dems thing. I ammend my statement to clarify SOME Dems.

Thank you

Uh-oh news revealed that Matt Damon’s new anti-fracking movie looks to be financed by an OIL rich nation UAE (United Arab Emirates). What an idiot, seriously?

The Obama free cell phone program has more than doubled in cost from 2008 until 2011. It cost $772 million in 2008 and 1.6 billion in 2011. The program started as Lifeline in 1984 and cell phones were not available for the program until 2008. A 2011 audit found a lot of fraud in the program. Gee, I’m shocked. And we, the consumers, pay for this program through our phone bills.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/where-do-obama-phones-come-from/article/2509203#.UGUPg_k9Qf8

You do realize that Obama wasn’t president in 2008, don’t you?

To clarify, this is the “Universal Service Fund.” a tax you pay on your phone bill. It was created to wire schools for Internet. (Remember Al Gore and Bill Clinton in that comercial pretending to be wiring a school?) This program has morphed to a welfare program. Remember, once a tax is in place, it never goes away.

All the druggies use this type of phone for their deals

Who cares who started it? Are you for the free cell phone for everyone program that is paid for mainly by the middle class or not? Notice how these snarky remarks get on here but they don’t say if they are for these free programs or not.

Yes. Of course I realize that. Cell phones were approved 3 months before the election. But that doesn’t excuse the huge increase in cost. There are no installation fees for trak phones, so the costs should be less. 262,000 people have 2 numbers! It is another program rife with abuse at our expense.

I’m sure that if the republican had won in 2008 this program would have been under budget for the last four years or better yet completely cut. Sarcasm is so fun!

Listen to this, and this is just the tip of the Iceburg of people that are allowed to vote.
http://www.whoradio.com/pages/simonconway.html?article=10441851

http://freebeacon.com/obamaphones-profiting-obamadonors/
The LifeLine TracFone company is owned by one of Obama’s big campaign donors.

I think it time for aarp or some other organisation to step in and do something about grandparents rights.Iowa does not have any rights for grand parents If a child places their child with the grandparents because of the problems in their life and then get mad at the grandparent and asked cps to remove the grand child the grandparent has no right to fight the decision and has to give the grand child over to cps ..the grandchild was in grand parent home for over month and was healthy and happy. just because the daughter was mad cps removed the baby and place him in foster care …iowa pushes the family life but caters to cps and brakes up families ….i feel that something should be done …..

As a foster parent and a concerned citizen I have a couple thoughts on this. I generally do not like the concept of creating more and more laws each time something happens we don’t like. We create all these laws with the best of intentions thinking that we are ensuring rights but fail to consider the unintended, unexpected and often unwanted consequences of those laws.

People complain about DHS when they remove children from their homes. People complain about DHS when they hear news stories about crimes against children or children in unhealthy conditions and demand to know why DHS didn’t do something sooner. There are too many children in need, social workers are over-worked, underpaid and have overwhelming caseloads, plus there are far too few people willing to become foster parents.

If DHS has to remove the child then they have to make sure the child is placed in a licensed or court approved setting. That is the law. If the grandparent is not a licensed foster parent or has not been appointed by the court as guardian of the child then DHS can’t leave the child with them. Depending upon how long the child will be in foster care the grandparent should be able to contact DHS and start the process of becoming a licensed foster parent which would allow DHS to place the child in their home.

If it should ever come to pass that parental rights are terminated then relatives are always more heavily favored in terms of adoption. In my experience, DHS really does try to keep families together as best they can.

thank for your reply but one point I don’t agree is why a grandparent should have to be a licensed foster parent to keep a grand child in the same family? This grandparent has had the daughters kids for over 7 years and has had no problems to me that should show the grand parent is more then capable of providing for the new grand baby to be placed with her.cps has visited with the grandparent and have found no reason for the removal of the baby except the mother of the child is vindictive and wants to hurt the grandmother
but when the grandmother went to court because the daughter lied she was escorted out of courthouse and was not even able to say anything to keep the baby ….but as Cps stated grandparents have no right in Iowa and i think this should be changed

A little confused. The grandparent has had some of her grandchildren for 7 years and has not legally had herself named guardian? And then her daughter had another baby which the grandparent took in, but for some reason it was only the baby that was removed?

If that is all true, and the grandparent has the means, I would suggest they engage an attorney for their sake as well as the sake of those children.

DHS is doing what they have to do. I know it doesn’t seem fair but they always have to err on the side of caution and place the child where they are most sure it will be safe until they can complete their investigation.

Do the grandparent know they are enabling their daughter by taking her children in without any legal agreement? I am truly sorry to hear this. While I wholeheartedly believe in children being surrounded by extended family, this notion that young parents have that they can just leave their kids with grandma/grandpa and parent when they feel like it is terribly unfair to the children and the grandparents.

yes the grand parent has guardianship of the 2 grand kids but the bay was put with the grandparent as a voluntary thing because the daughter was in several acts with the law and was afraid so she asked the grandmother to take the baby ,then got mad at the mother and told cps the baby would be better off in foster care grand mother has guardianship of the other two children .

yes the grand parent has guardianship of the 2 grand kids but the baby was put with the grandparent as a voluntary thing because the daughter was in several acts with the law and was afraid so she asked her mother to take the baby ,then got mad at the mother and told cps the baby would be better off in foster care grand mother has guardianship of the other two children .

As I see gas prices creep up and up and up, I think about common sense ways to tighten the belt, cut waste. I had to drive to a location in the western part of Mason City last night at about 10pm, and I noticed that I had to stop at a few lights where there were no cars on at the intersection, just me. It got me thinking. In smaller towns at a certain time, say 10pm or 11pm the lights in the main roads go a flashing yellow until 5 am or so, the reason, because it makes no sense to sit at a light with no traffic at an intersection. Is this a huge gas saver??? probably not, but I would think this would be something that with time, It could be a pretty inexpensive experiment. By the way, the town I think about with the flashing yellow lights, Boone IA. I believe Trout was the administrator there before Mason City IA.

That makes good sense, which is why it will never happen in Mason City. This is the only place I have ever been where the traffic lights are designed to stop the flow of traffic. If you can travel more than two blocks without having to stop you can consider your self lucky.

LVS; I was just in Chicago and took one of my old routes to the South Side. With all the traffic and numerous side streets and cross arterial streets, never got stopped but once in 12 miles. On top of that, the route took me through five different municipalities.

It’s all about timing and managing congestion. If additional hardware is involved, funds from USDOT in the form of grants are available for congestion reduction programs.

Back 27 years ago, we made a DOS program, sort of a game, to program traffic lights to reduce traffic/commute times. It included randomized cross traffic, variable traffic flow (randomized), and the occasional train. It worked pretty good for that ancient language. Technology today makes it far easier.

Golf icon Jack Nicklaus backing Romney. Jack says economy stopped him, as small business owner, from giving employees raises and forced him to cut his workforce in HALF. The people had been with him for decades.

Golf all over the US is down. There are to many up scale golf courses in the US now. Just look as close as Des Moines. They have maybe 4 up scale courses and 2 are either for sale or going bankrupt. I don’t think Mitt will do anything to increase the amount of play golf courses will have. I have played on 3 of Jack’s courses out west. The are all developed around some very high end housing developments. I don’t feel to bad for Jack. He could have used some of his money and kept his employees on. Isn’t that trickle down?

Come on over to Forest City. The geniuses in charge over here bought themselves a golf course. Many of us said plow it under, put in some crops and get the tax revenue. But noooo…they needed a golf course for marketing because that benefits everyone don’t cha’know? Pfft, benefits Winnebago and Waldorf.

They let the theater close down for a year and say they are finally getting around to “saving” it but we shall see. I think most people have figured out its just as easy to go up to Lake Mills for dinner and a movie and will probably just keep doing that.

Matt really should pay more attention to Stepfordville…err I mean Forest City. This place is a mess.

If you enjoy smoking anti-freeze, be my guest. The main delivery agent in these cartridges is glycol, which is anti-freeze! Kills dogs and cats when they drink it, inhaling it directly into you lungs??? hmmm
Don’t know bout dat… time will tell i’d have to guess.

If what your saying is true then I would strongly suggest that this family contact a good attorney, from outside of the area. Maybe from the ACLU.

If they were to break into my home unannounced someone would get hurt bad. I would not hesitate to shoot and I would probably get killed but at least one of them would go with me. This is a sign of a police state and one of the main reasons we will not give up our guns.

Funny how drug dealers know how much stuff was taken out of their home yet when they don’t get arrested they got away with it. They blame the cops, but then suddenly the US Marshals show up with fed papers. Just chill for a bit your time will come.

If this is true..find Joel Yunek..and sue their butts off them. They must have due cause to get a warrant, they must not leave their jurisdiction.
Sounds like an unconstitutional warrant. Good Luck

..sounds like the sheriff’s have been watching too much Hawaii Five-0, book ’em with a lawsuit.

You say they had the “task force” enter the home. I am curious about this. If it was the North Iowa Task Force then I am calling BS on much of your claim. Those guys are elite and I would wager good money they most certainly did announce themselves and who they were. Those guys are fathers and I know for fact that they go out of their way to be professional. Oh and they are designed to be regional and not limited to one county.

And if people don’t like the idea of cops busting in and scaring kids then maybe their parents shouldn’t be involved in any illegal activities that produce such an event.

I am dismayed to find the Mason City Police Dept. refuses to release any officer’s reports on cases that are closed. I believe that is public information. They say it is not. Has anyone else confronted this issue and how was it resolved?

Went downtown today to go to the reenactment. Pretty disappointing. Would have been nice if all the vendors would have actually stayed until after the 3:00 reenactment show.
And as far as the statues, what a waste of good money!

has any one else noticed that in most of the mugshots for the jailed men what they all seem to have in commen? facial hair

Did you ever notice most young men in the U.S. and the rest of the world wear facial hair and aren’t in jail?

Is there a place to get rid of an old small tv that does not work? Besides the dump

best buy

This isn’t good. New York Times reporting looks like electronic health records adding billions in higher costs to the Medicare program. Now what?

Article discusses may make it easier for providers to bill more for services, whether or not you got the extra care. Federal govt spent billions in incentives to get providers to do this. What a waste. Who wanted their personal info online anyway with all the hacking going on?

this issue alone is causing serious problems for the general practitioner. way too much expense for them, so prices go UP

The news people and morning show hosts on TV – I read Gayle King worth 20 million, Matt Lauer pushing for a salary raise from 17 million to 25 million. Some of them appear to be the 1 percent and they are harping to all of us?

isn’t Gayle King Oprah’s best friend? just wondering.

That sounds like something you will have to ask Oprah.

Like all “knowing all” liberals things pertaining to “regular” citizens doesn’t apply to them. They are the biggest egocentric bunch of hypocrites on earth! Their time is coming and they are too special to realize they caused the disaster! Democrats better get their heads outa their asses, if that’s possible!

Yeah those republicans and conservatives are all saints and they have no hand in the trillions of debt. Please you are just as big of a hypocrite as the Democrats or liberals. When you blame just dems or reps you are a joke. Try looking in the mirror we are all to blame for this mess.

There was such an uproar over CES but 3 all in close proximity to each other and downtown is ok? Does DNR monitor like they were going to watch CES?
Blue Zones is so concerned about weight issues, just want to make sure the air is okay too.

I have a question on postings on here about a crematorium in downtown Mason City. Is it true? Who okays that? Did neighbors get consulted about that being done? I can’t imagine that would help the property values of the neigboring properties. Anyone know if that is common to put them in cities. I have no idea, I never thought about it before.

Fullerton’s and Major Ericksons are right in there downtown buildings. I think it is pretty common.

doesn’t Hogan Bremmer have on too?

Hogan Bremer’s is outside the City limits. The crematoriums are regulated by the DNR.

I believe the one at Fullerton was the first and it was approved by either P&Z or the ZOning Board of Adjustment. It is very common for them to be in populated areas.

Now how would we know if there’s any problems? Somewhere on this site I saw a posting about black smoke? Would a neighbor have any particle residue on their home or car? Anything like that going on? Or does it all get pulvarized into air so there is no dust? I’m ignorant on this.

I believe violations are posted on the DNR’s web page.

I HOPE MATT WRITES A STORY ABOUT MITTS TAXES SOON!! CAN YOU BELIEVE HE PAYS IN 2,000,000 YESS THATS 2 MILLION PEOPLE THATS ALOT OF DOE!! ROMNEY 2012!!

He pays under 15% on money he doesn’t do anything to make. Intrest and dividen income say over $100,000 per year should be taxed higher than the poor guy who goes to work everyday and make 750,000 a year (Pres Obama) and pays over 20% in taxes per year. Seems to me the tax code is all screwed up. If you don’t work for the money it should have a higher rate thn the money you do real work for.

So is that Mitt’s fault or the tax code? Do you volunteer to pay more in taxes than you have to? Quit lying to yourself, every person in this country does what they can to avoid paying any more tax that you have to.

That goes to show that you don’t understand what drives this economy. Investing is what creates the jobs for the people who work. People invest in IRA’s and other retirement vehicles that help this economy grow and create jobs. You need to take a course in macro economics so you get a clue about how this country is supposed to function. Then take an income tax course. Then you might have some understanding about how the investments by the people who save money in this country HELP the people who need jobs. If you tax the hell out of income from investments, no one is going to save and invest. Period.

Katie…I understand economics and how it effects the US economy. You believe in the foolish republican trickle down economics. It didn’t work under the republican God, RR, and it didn’t work under W so why would any rational minded person think it will work now!!! I also understand the tax code and the fact that investment income is taxed at a lower rate. Explain to me why it is fair that you pay a higher tax rate on money you earn with your sweat and blood, than money you sit on your ass and do nothing for.

People who invest their savings into corporations risk losing it all. I believe the government taxes capital gains at a lower rate to make investing more attractive to people who have money. It’s not good if people prefer to keep their savings in CD’s, cash accounts, or under the mattress. If you don’t like it, write to your representatives in Washington. Romney didn’t make the law, so don’t blame him for it. There are and have been plenty of rich politicians in this country. People are playing the rich card on Romney because they can’t dig up any dirt on him. It’s getting real old.

I never said Romney was to blame or he cheated on the 2 returns he made public. I have contacted my representatives about this. What we need is more rational minded Iowan to also contact theirs about this. This is just another benifit of being super rich and I say it isn’t fair the the middle class working man or women. As I saw in a cartoon yesterday…the rich get 2 pieces of cake and the rest get their crumbs!!!

Did you know that Mitt doesn’t pay income taxes because he has refused to take a salary at many of his jobs? So not only has he worked for free, given away millions including his inheritance from his father, made his own millions, invested in the United States and US workers, he then had the gall to pay exactly what the US government and all those in Congress say he SHOULD pay in taxes. Then that rotten guy had the nerve to go out and give even more millions to charity after paying his legal tax obligation.

And gave 4 million to charities! But Iowans just hate any republican that’s done well (wealthy democrats don’t count) and will let the country to go to hell, instead!

The tax code is screwed up and I blame democrats and republicans. I’ll bet you can’t blame a republican since you think sunshine comes out their ass. This country has favored the white rich people since the constituion was written. All men are created equal meant white men that owned property and no one else.

“White rich” people are who made this country what it was. If you get off your ass and make decent decisions there’s no reason to be “poor” and hand outs to them is what’s screwing this country up and mindsets coming out of the ass, like yours, make this country what it is right now!

as seen from here@ So when did the boat full of white rich people land was that after yhe Mayflower and before Jamestown was founded?

Founders were men who wrote the constitution at the time of the revolutionary war! The “pilgrims” were immigrants seeking religious freedom from Europe, and still owed their allegiance to the crown, and were dead when the constitution was written. Read up on U.S. history and your ignorance won’t be so obvious.

Romneys new campaign slogan I’m white and rich! You owe me!

You didn’t say anything about the founders but we are all impressed with your knowledge of elementary American History. Doesn’t surprise me that you want to skip a few hundred years of history where the poor sacrificed to get a foothold on this continent. The founders did some great things and some horrible things. Thomas jefferson slave owner who could have stood up for what was right and paid people to work for him. Screwed his favorite slave and had an illegitimate child, but thats those Christain values that our country was founded on. The revolutionary army was probably all rich white people the poor just lazy asses who sat around on the porch watching to see how it turned out. Jump ahead to the civil war where the rich paid money to get out of the draft. Kinda like your hero George W who joined the National Gaurd to stay out of veitnam but no shame in that until he left his fellow soldiers to work on the Senate campaign of some rich white guy. The white rich men did do alot to make this country but the everyone else did so much more that you refuse to acknowledge. My heroes are Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett and yours are rich white guys who paid people to do all the heavy lifting that it took make this country great. If it all falls apart I will be happy living in a cabin with my family hunting,fishing and working hard while you will be trying to buy someone to do the hard work for you just like your heroes!

Anonymous, you implied the first europeans were the founders and you know it! The whole world was involved in slavery and still is to an extent. The entire world used and dealt in slaves and some places still do.The Africans sold their own people and still do. You and your kind need to study about slavery and one white founder “knocking “up” a slave girl is insignificant when compared to what went on in their own ranks. I’m certainly not condoning any of this but being realistic. You imply that anyone that wasn’t “rich” was poor? Most of our American heros were far from poor, including Boone and Crocket. The city I live was settled, founded and built by a “rich” European prince. Clinton was Never in the service nor Obama. Both Bushes were fighter pilots and in case you haven’t noticed the largest numbers of troops in the sand wars are national guard! Jefferson doubtful never had sex parties and got BJs in the capital building. Slavery had nothing to do with religion any more than stating that all Muslims are terrorists. It was a fact of life then. We gave thousands of our young men rich, poor and in between over slavery, so get over it. We don’t owe anyone a dime for slavery of 200 years ago. It will fall a part if you and your “poor” friends get control. You ever fed and housed your family working for a poor man, I haven’t! The rich aren’t the “poor are”, cause there’s no reason to be poor today in the U.S. if you’re a legal citizen!! Your last statement is so ridiculous it;s not worth any more comment.

I never implied anything about the founders that is you making your prejudiced assumptions. Never said anything about the poor either. I hate the welfare system for the poor and the rich. Plenty of people work for someone that is not rich, again your biases and arrogance that you know it all. I’m a middle class family man who thinks the poor and the rich are ruining this country. I don’t hate either one just think they should both should give up some of their perks that regular people like me don’t get. All income should be taxed the same rate no matter how you make it with no deductions. After one year on the governments tab you are done. They can eat at the soup kitchen and the church can take care of them for everything else. Unlike you I don’t hate the poor or the rich and I don’t sit on my high horse claiming that the conservatives are all great and the liberals are all scum. One thing I do know is ideaologs like your self are no help to the real problems this country faces.

I’ve noticed on here that most republicans like to debate and most democrats like to argue.

I guess you can be scared if you believe in this stuff. The Bible and Loran are books written by men to control other men. Even the Catholic church has admitted they have changed the scriptures to fit what they want. Believe it if you want but keep it to yourself. You are as bad as the Muslims.

What’s a “Loran”?

It’s a typo-try Koran. I would think someone as smart as you would have known this.

Hey LVS, way to push the error onto someone else like a good atheist liberal! Can you say Bush caused it? You made a mistake, now own up to it, assho–!

the bible is written by men inspired by the holy spirit. that is why the lord chose common men.

Hey JERK-I am not a atheist and am certainly not a liberal. So you are not as smart as you think you are. Just another tough guy behind a keyboard. What I am is a realist. Some people need faith which is really just wishful thinking to get by. I don’t. You should really check your facts before shooting off your mouth.

When people don’t want to be held to the accountability of religion it is just text written by ancient men. Perhaps the best comparison would be that they were reporters who were documenting the news of the day. Does that mean the news didn’t happen though?
When people want to discount creationism they point to Darwin, survival of the fittest and evolution. But when asked to then explain the cosmos they are eventually forced to admit that even their precious science can’t explain everything.
Interesting that a high percentage of people sitting on death row for heinous crimes, many of whom were devoid of faith and spirituality, find themselves turning to a higher power and embracing faith.
So often, it seems, people base their political, moral and ethical beliefs on those idioms and concepts that best validate their existence and the choices they have made and the choices they may wish to make in the future. It all seems to be more about keeping options open rather committing to a code of right and wrong or what is actually best for our society.

So we should all just live in fear??? I thought God was supposed to be a loving God, not a punishing God. And if all this nonsense is true, you can throw out the loving theory.

your seriously questioning god’s love…really.. “for god so love the world ,he gave his only begotten son….” would you give up your child for this world?

“There is no greater love then to lay down your life for your friends, YOU are my friends” -Jesus

Sometimes a little fear is a good thing. Humans have fight or flight programming hardwired into us. Sometimes fear is what saves your behind.

Am I the only one who received a letter from the water dept. that our water system recently violated a drinking water standard and has the presence of coliform bacteria? No wonder I drink bottled water so I don’t have to “consult with my doctor” if I have health concerns…

I received one as well. Not sure what it’s all about, but I haven’t heard of many people talking about it.

Sounds like a crappy deal. Hiyoooooooo!

Indeed, and the constant pumping of water into the alley from this building should also be looked into.

Can the city please cleanup the mess in the parking area next to the Old Pizza Hut Delivery. Someone is gonna get hurt from falling bricks.

Why should the Cty have to clean it up? The property owner is responsible.

Absolutely! The city doesn’t HAVE to clean it up, but for the safety of the population, COULD clean it up and charge the property owner. Believe it or not, there are instances when the property owner has to have his/her feet held to the fire in order for the right thing to be done. LOL!

The Obamas are setting Plan B into action because the President realizes he cannot win this election. They are in the market for a $35 million retirement home on Oahu that will be ready in January 2013 that was recently featured in an episode of Hawaii Five-O. They have no intentions of ever returning to Chicago to live. It will be interesting to see if this bit of gossip turns out to be true.

Drudge has link to story on China senior advisor calling for bond attack on Japan to cause money crisis if they don’t comply with what China wants. We need to get our own country’s debt under control. Time to quit spending and get energy independence.

I just read that China is ready to go to war with Japan over 3 islands. That’s all we need.

The second seal of Revelation is war, of which Christ says, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. . . . All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8).

Just throwing it out there. Something to think about.

Well, that’s no revelation. That has been going on forever and will always go on ad infinitum.

Who cares that China and Japan want to fight over an island? I wouldn’t have waisted my time reading that, as you did. You have WAY too much time on your hands. Must you comment on EVERYTHING?

Mediacom out in Ankeny, Ames, Boone, Ft. Dodge… no Internet. No tv. Sucks for them…

My buddy has been fighting these people for over 3 months on a simply theft claim. Check them out closely before insuring thru them. omg.

Why did a bunch of the kids leave the MCHS Homecoming dance early tonight?

I felt bad that so many people spent time and energy to prepare for the dance, only to have ungrateful kids leave and try to ruin the dance for others.

I bunch of them were told they couldn’t “grind” dance like they wanted to….silly rules….so they left.

Wow…a bunch of kids not used to having rules, so they couldn’t abide by rules for a few hours??

Who cares if you can’t “grind”. Dumb reason to leave a dance, after so many people have tried to make this a memorable week for the students.

Sorry you had to send out the email, Mr. Jumper.

@JamesJohn: Silly rules? Grinding? Why don’t you just hand out condoms, let them take their clothes off and have sex at the dance. Good grief. Some people have no boundaries.

Oops.. The sarcasm button wasn’t on. It was to be read like, “They pouted and took their ball and went home.” No, I think that they were very juvenile for tearing up stuff and pouting. Sorry I came off the other way. These kids have no future anyway.

If you listen to the kids that left there was more to the story and the email was a joke/not the truth. I’d love to hear what their “real” story is. But probably a bunch of spoiled kids never made to listen or repect any person in authority. Alot of kids that showed up a bit late didn’t even know the whole thing happened and had a great time.

It’s one ting for the kids to leave, but they didn’t need to destroy some of the decorations that others took time and effort into putting up. I hope all these kids get a suspension out of it.

Anyone been to the Pizza Ranch lately under new management? How was it?

I ate there today and commented to my mom about how great the service was. Very friendly and asked if we had any requests when we paid for buffet. Also came around asking if everything was ok so I put in another request!

Just ate there this past week for the first time in probably 5 years. Very good service. They asked if we had any special pizza requests, then brought the pizza to us before putting it on the buffet. They served us a slice of the pizza, then put it on the buffet. Expanded dessert pizza selection.

Would love to see ice cream added to their dessert station!

Is there place left in Mason City to play BINGO?

Senior Center, Monday, Thursday at 6:30. Saturday at 12:30. Hope to see you there!

Just read 40% of Chicago school teachers send their kids to private schools. Guess they can afford it.

Perhaps they cannot afford it, but in looking at the state of affairs within the schools, without an armed garrison at each campus, it behooves a parent to consider the safety of their children.

One or two armed police officers per school has little impact upon the safety of children who attend inner-city (as well as some suburban) schools today.

But what does one expect when kids are sent to school by their parents to be baby-sat instead of getting an education. The problem has only gotten worse in the past half century.

If they can’t afford to send their kids to private school how would they be there? Avg Chicago teacher salary $74,839. Avg Chicagoan with college degree $48,866. 2010 median household income in Chicago $46,877.
What’s wrong with this picture? Also new offer included 15% increase to salaries over 4 years for most. Ya I would say they can afford private school.

You’d be surprised at the amount of teachers in MC that send their kids to Newman. I could name about….5 teachers.

John Lee does. Who else?

I can tell you from experience, in big cities private schools are the norm for anyone with two pennies to rub together that care about their kids. The public schools are too violent and dangerous with low educational standards. People take out loans, find scholarships, borrow money from family, whatever it takes to get their kids into the private school system. I grew up outside a large city, and had many friends that were dirt poor but managed to attend private school.

I noticed in the Glob today that the three men from the YMCA are to appear in court. How come the administration of the Y never made a public comment???

Just filled my car up. These gas prices are bad. How can people afford this?

what i want to know how can gas station raise price on gas already in the tank.I understand if they put in new load of gas but they are raising prices on inventory already paid for >

plain and simple. its price rigging and nobody is doing anything about it. a few cents here and there, now and then, and nobody does anything. there is no real reason for gas to go up when a storm hits down south, or a refinery burns, ect. if the fuel companies have that low of inventory, that it effects prices within a day, then the world is in serious trouble. we are not, because it is just an excuse for the oil companies to raise prices. look at who was the in the top 10 profitable buisness last year. I believe 4 of the top 5 were oil companies. if gas prices were about $2.00/gal the country would rebound all by itself. think about it…this is my belief

This story demonstrates why you should not jump on a bandwagon against anyone unless you have facts, witnesses, and the truth on your side. If you don’t, you may end up in court with a huge judgment against you!

http://autos.aol.com/article/case-involving-cancer-patient-and-nissan-dealership-takes-unexpe/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D205622/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058?test=latestnews

Another Obama promise that did not come to pass:
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/09/14/FLASHBACK-Obama-The-Day-Im-Inaugurated-Muslim-Hostility-Will-Ease
Obama claimed that he understood Muslims intimately so that would be a powerful tool for him to reach out to the Muslim world in order to make us safer. Bah. They just see him as a weak president – dhimmitude.

Yes there is. Mason City Brewing. In the old Lundberg store building on State Street. Can’t wait!

This Hollywood Tan business is advertising “NEW BULBS” on klss radio, I just found out that the “NEW BULBS” were new in June…..that’s not new bulbs!

I’d be very upset if I was a May tanner being tanned under OLD bulbs.

kinda misleading Hollywood Tan………..

Nobody goes there anyway.Old beds.

agree. Sun Tan City and Oasis Tan are the best.Newest beds. This I Sun Tan place in Clear Lake is kinda weird, being nude in a room after regular hours with no supervision is not the setting I’d feel comfortable with…kinda eerie.

Who needs to pay for a tan when you can get one for free? Or is pride that important?

I have been to every tanning salon in town, this is my breakdown.

I Sun Tan: new beds,a little pricy, but nice place.

Sun Tan City: my favorite, good beds, great look and atmosphere,clean.

Oasis Tan: nice people,good beds,exterior looks junkie but great prices.

Hollywood Tan: not impressed, like Oasis Tan their painted windows look bad. Old beds.

everyone else isn’t a factor.

No, the question is who listens to KLSS? No one!

I listen to the radio on-line all the time.

@Tanner
I can not stand the pushy sales at Sun Tan City. Every time I would go there, buy this, buy that. I would have my new lotion in my hand and they try to sell me more. No one likes that. The owners are from out of state, so the $$ you spend there doesn’t stay in Mason City either. Last time I called STC to cancel my membership, you get an automatic answering machine and have to listen to crap and promps. I finally hung up and went in person. Not a single customer was there, but the girl can’t answer the phone? I’ll stay with Oasis Tan. The owner is ALWAYS there and even lets me tan and pay later when I get my check. It’s more about service really

Nice people yes but…It looks like a used car lot though. Faded posters and painted windows.Just cheap looking from the street. I never would go close to that place when that tattoo parlor was there. The new tanning place in Clear Lake is top notch.

I love Oasis Tan. Who cares if a Tattoo parlor USED to be in the office next door. The beds and the facility are extremely clean, and the beds are state of the art, much better than Hollywood tan would ever have. Sun City is a joke with memberships. If you like indoor tanning, I highly recommend Oasis.

I also think the Oasis people are by far the nicest. Agree the place needs some exterior sprucing up. Not attractive from the street, must hurt them for getting new clients. The tattoo people have been gone for some time now. Hootenanny Concerts is in there now and it’s all new.So, I still think Oasis is the best.

I used to work at Hollywood Tan. The owners are mean to employees and only care about MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. They would degrade you in front of customers. They are horrible people and not even local owners and from Cedar Rapids, so that is where your dollar ends up. Although, SunTan City owners are from Mankato also…

You had better have dates, facts, and witnesses willing to testify to back up your words or the owners can find out who you are and sue you for libel. People who spout off on here anonymously about private figures have no idea what can of worms they are opening up.

Tanning ages the skin. I hope you’re stocking up on some good wrinkle cream. Remember the pictures of the tanning mom that was in the news a few months back? Tanning is so bad for the skin, then when the tanners get older, they’re trying to cover the damage they did by tanning. Not worth it!

Naw, they will just get plastic surgery to hide their errors. God forbid they actually live with the body they were given. Such is the life of vanity.

Don’t care-go back to where you came from… proud infidel

I hope your not from MC you jackass, Don’t come on here and preach your garbage! Are you Muslim? GET OUT OF HERE HAVENT YOU DONE ENOUGH!!!! PRICK! POS

I have said it before and I will say it again. We are at war with Muslims. If anyone does not believe that just look at what is going on in the rest of the world. They hate us and we had better pay attention while we can. Vote out the GREAT HIDDEN MUSLIM in Washington D.C. and save our country. You can not apply our rules to those people. It just doesn’t work. It will come down to another war.

we are at war with terrorists who happen to be Muslims. Most Muslims are very peaceful law abiding people. There are some like in any group or culture who are bad. But to say we are at war with all Muslims is just plain wrong. We should also be at war with the bigots that are posting here. Where is all the hate coming from?

Maybe most people in this country believe in women’s rights. Pretty simple concept.

@Happyguy… It would help if the lame-stream media would quit telling us that the Muslim world is at war with America and at war with Christians. Everyone wants to slap our hands when we react to our embassies being razed, our countrymen and women being kidnapped/raped/killed, our country and values being mocked and ridiculed but its A-Ok for them to burn the bible, burn the flag, call for the murder of our people? And yet we are supposed to continue sending aid and are constantly told we need to do more to help other countries. I call bullsh*t. Bring our troops home. Let them see their family and friends. Let them protect our borders and our country. Everyone else can fend for themselves for awhile.

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Ok, I don’t really care for Romney. But this election is getting really nasty.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/11/larry-flynt-s-x-rated-plan-to-expose-mitt-romney.html

They have to play the rich card because they can’t find anything else to make him look unattractive to the jealous liberal voters. Being rich in this country is now a liability instead of an asset. Who the hell do they think buys and runs businesses that create jobs? Only the rich can do that and afford to fail once in a while. It’s for sure the middle class can’t do it in this government environment. The only reason I wouldn’t want him as our president is because it will take his talents away from starting and running new businesses in this country. We need talent like his running corporations like Bain Capital. But we also need more it running our country.If our tax code was more friendly to U.S. business, he would have kept his money here and done a lot more good with it creating more businesses and jobs in this country. What is wrong with a country that penalizes business success here with double taxation of profits, double taxation of lifetime income with proposed estate taxes, and unions that cripple school systems full of teachers that can’t even teach 8th Graders to read, yet turn down 16% pay raises that obviously aren’t deserved?

To bad you didn’t work at one of the companys he bought then liquidated to get rid of competition. Greed is ruining this country. When people are willing to put good people out of work so they can go from 8% profit to 16% is disgraceful. you claim the moral high ground when you bash same sex marriage while glorifying greed as a virtue. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins do you really think your God is going to care that you think being greedy is better than being gay.

anonymous will you give credit to Bain for making so much money for govt worker’s pension funds so that those people can live well? They made a lot of money for those workers. What about the companies Bain helped like Staples? Ever shop there or know someone employed by them? This one side of the story stuff is propaganda and you are helping spread it like a drone.

What! Yeah and Jerry Sandusky did so much good for the Penn St. football team. What a great guy that started a charity for kids and mentored the young.

I for one never got a job from a poor man that couldn’t pay my wages and benefits.

Anonymous, I have never bashed same-sex marriage. I also don’t believe in god, so don’t label me or hurl religious crap at me that I never mentioned. Send me a link to what the heck you are talking about concerning Romney.

How much does Romney give to charity? Seems like quite a bit. If he is such a greedy man why does he do that? Seems odd.

Anonymous 2 It is called a Tax write off!

Mitt can start the next ENRON or maybe sell all those bad morgages as AAA investments and when they go bankrupt ask the government to bail them out. Oh yeah I forgot that they also get 10 million and other benefits till the day they die when they leave the company in worse shape then when they took over. But keep trying to blame the union worker for making an honest living and raising a family.

Enough with the the “What about staples” argument. Look on the left pane of this webpage and SHOP LOCAL(LY)!

News flash!! Staples does employ people locally. Also what “local” store carries all the stuff Staples does for offices right in Mason City? Maybe local stores can order stuff but so can I on the internet. Obviously you have no idea what you are talking about. Try not to interview for an office admin job because you would require too much training AKA lacking common sense.

anonynmous if the tax write-off is so great for giving so much to charity wonder why successful Obama and Biden give so little to charity?

Katie…we don’t have to play a wealth card on Mitten. There are so many other cards we can play on him that his wealth isn’t even one. Dems don’t care that he is wealthy, we do care if he is hidding money and not paying taxes on it. I don’t know how old you are Katie but there was a TV show some 20 to 30 years ago about a trained dohlphine…his name could be Mittens nickname. The dohlphine’s name was flipper. I think that would be a great nickname for mitten. “they call him Flipper, Flipper” He sure does that a lot, flip tyat is.

@unhappy guy: Mitt has said he has paid all the taxes he owes. He has done everything legally. Also, yes, he had to flip on his stand on some issues in order to run as a Republican. I hate our 2-party system. Candidates have to conform to their parties’ platforms or not run. The fact that he had to flip on social issues should make liberals more comfortable and make ultra conservatives less happy. Mitt was always considered to be a moderate before he ran for president. He is not going to challenge abortion or gay rights if he becomes president any more than either Bush did. They were also social moderates who had to make conservative noises to appease the religious fanatics. If some right-wing social, religious fanatic were running, I would have to write someone in. I would love to see some of the candidates who drop out of the 2-party races run on other party tickets. We need more choices in this country.

@katie: I do agree that we need a strong Indepedent party. If the Dems and Reps thought that neither of them could be elected maybe they would do a better job. I believe Obama did everything legal on his birth certificate but that doesn’t stop the conspiracy theorists and nut jobs! Please tell me your not a birther? Socially I think Mitt will be bearable but who knows for sure he has been known to change his mind. Not saying thats bad it just makes me nervous.

Could we put the County Supervisors and Scott Tornquist in the YMCA steam room and lock the door!?!

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