Gurgle Gurgle

The Kiwanis station wagon sleeps with the fishes as of some time this afternoon, making my earlier arrogant prediction only semi-moronic.

If John lost money he should consider it a cheap reminder to avoid believing known liars.

Iowa Shall-Issue CCW Law: Got It.

The Iowa House has approved the shall-issue bill 81-16. Minor amendments sent it back to the Senate which approved them 36-4.

It 's now up to Gov. Chet "Ya Big Lug" Culver, and virtually everyone is assuming he will sign it.

It may be of more interest to most readers that an apparently good reciprocity provision is part of the bill. While I haven't seen the final wording, it appears to be a straightforward invitation to come strapped if you have a permit from your own state. The House beat back an effort to complicate things with a state-by state review to make sure your permitting laws are as wonderful as ours.

Some details are here.

The Glory that Was

You can get your morning giggle in the day's opening business report where Reuters predicts your stocks will go up because Greece is selling some bonds to finance its spending habit. All the cool cats in the European business rackets helped arrange things because Greece, like Bernie Madoff, is just to big to fail, its experience at the hands of Rome a while back to the contrary notwithstanding.

Imagine that. Your RGR and SWHC going up or down based on whether Pappa Papadopalos can borrow enough for another shot of ouzo.

Are we absolutely sure this globalization business is such a good idea? :)

Plague

The TMR will not become a full-time Iowa political blog, despite the recent emphases. Can I help it if we are the center of world attention lately?

However I will report, as a matter of public service, so you can cancel your plans to visit, that It Has Begun.

We will be subjected this week to visits from both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. It's the price we pay for being first to hype presidential candidates through our intellectually impenetrable early caucus system, the scheme that gave you Obama.

Romney says the trip isn't political. He just wants to howdy us while signing his new book in Des Moines. (Believe it. Mormons are like Georgia peanut farmers. They would nevah lie to us.) Santorum is still attempting to construct a sentence containing a verb.

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THE SHALL-ISSUE BILL: It's still awaitinig House action after 44-4 Senate approval. It is supposed to pass easily, but it is now having to compete with last-minute maneuvering to grab what little tax money is available for lawmakers' pet causes. It's possible it could get lost in the shuffle. The rep critters could establish enough political cover by assigning it to a committee where it could be left to bleed out. We'll see.