That didn't take long.

Iowa Lawmakers of the Left are having panicky second thoughts about the reach of the shall-issue law. It's probably the blood bath all across our corny fields in the 54 days since shall-issue became the law. I mean, you've seen it on all the electric teevee news channels, haven't you? Mayhem in Muscatine! Slaughter in Spirit Lake!  Gun Gore in Graettinger!

Or maybe  it is the backlash from a few -- so far -- very loud local pols currying favor with their even-louder gun-hating constituents.  That move is for local bans on CCW holders carrying in public buildings,  parks,  and restaurants where you can get a  drink. (I don't mind repeating that Between Two Rivers is the best place to keep track of the local gun-banners.)

It may also mean that Democrats'  in high places are looking at their 2010 election disaster and wondering if they miscalculated.

There are regrets," said Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines. "That bill was supposedly a compromise for political purposes only - to try to neutralize the NRA."


I'm trying to imagine a more credible endorsement of the  political influence of gun owners and users. Can't. Nor can I contain my surprise that a grizzled old political operative like Hatch would openly admit to that level of cynicism.


---


The raft of legislative  measures to roll back the broad protections of the 2010 shall-issue law is probably going no where this session, what with a gun-friendly house majority and a governor who is at least not rabidly anti-gun.  I rather suspect Hatch and company are stirring the gun-fear pot in order to distract from the need to fix the financial mess they were instrumental in creating during their four years in full control of state government. 

Oh those crazy Hoosiers

The Hacienda restaurants in South Bend hustle for customers with billboards showing one of those goopy pink slushies containing a little booze, probably their conception of a margarita. That's banal but otherwise unobjectionable.  They should have stopped there, before adding:

WE'RE LIKE A CULT WITH BETTER KOOL-AID

The billboards are coming down after just two weeks.

The execs are jonesing for an ad agency with a better sense of history.
---

It may be okay to eat TexMex at Hacienda. I wouldn't know. But do your margarita drinking elsewhere. That honored drink is one part lemon juice, two parts Cointreau, and four parts tequila. ( Cheap, bitter, tongue-dissolving tequila. That's the reason for the salt.)  Capital punishment should be an option for any bartender substituting Rose's Lime Juice.

Glazed Plains

The  result of  several hours of freezing rain, garnished with about an inch of snow. Recorded with a three-volt cockroach masquerading as a camera.

Dang, can't remember if it's the Year of the Turtle

While the Wisconsin teachers continue their collective tantrum, a bunch of Iowa "educators" is heading for a nice vacation  conference in China. The news report glaringly neglects  to say who's paying, but it's a safe enough bet that they're not dipping into their own pedagogical pockets.

Local radio permits one of the teachers to explain the purpose:

“Everybody participates in a group and comes up with different projects to do, trying to flatten our world so that we can show the kids that we’re all just people,” (says Lisa Schaa, of Stratford Elementary School).


This tends to explain the Huckabee win in our most recent presidential caucuses.