Stay Calm... Stay Calm...

OK QCI-ders... I'm trying to stay calm. Many of you who know me from my campaign past... I've always been a federal guy. You know... Congress, Senate & President... it makes it simpler for my brain and mental health... you know... because Federal issues are things, that you could talk to just about anyone about... right?

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I'll tell ya... because I gots some emails about it.

"Yea, what's up with dat? You givin a crap about state stuff?"

Now you're getting it... I don't know why... something just snapped... hence the "Damn It Rants" or DIRs for you cool kids who are in the know...

Now... for some reason... I always felt that state issues were a bit more complicated... I would have to give a ring to couple of buddies and ask, "Am I f'ing getting this right? This thing would mean this... so this would happen and then BOOM... shitstorm, right?" Then my pals would say, "Yup... just like that." Then I would be like, "Cool, so I half way understand what I think I'm talking about."

This post could have totally ended up in a complete DIR today... no question... but kind of feelin' like Jules at the end of Pulp Fiction today... you know, because Lent starts tomorrow... and I'm narrowing down my list of stuff to give up... (and yes, I always try to pick the hard things to give up, so get off my ass)...

I'm trying to stay calm about what's going on in the State Senate... but... alright... then sudden Teen Wolf moves begin to happen...

What in the Hell?!?!?!?!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN IITTTTTTTTTTT!

Didn't we already go through this?!?!? DAMN IT! THE FRIGGIN' ELECTORIAL F'ING COLLEGE!!!!!!!! Call me John McEnroe because I'm saying, "YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS!!!!!!!'

I'm getting f'in releases from press peeps because we have abosolutely nothing else to do, but make our state irrelevant!!! DAMN IT! This is some twisted "Way Way Way Before April Fool's Joke"... right? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?!

Thanks a lot... now you did it... E - LECT - ORAL F- ING COL-LEGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT!

Awesome, that's really awesome. Yup, this is the best idea ever... yup... wow, I'm sure glad those peeps up in the Senate have all figured out. Cool. I feel so better now... because... you know... DAMN IT!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT!!! DAMN IT!!! DAMN IT!!!!!

[Bam... crash... glass breaking...]

G$ - DAMN IT!!!

[sound of walls getting holes put in them with George Brett signature Louisville Slugger]

G$ - ARRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!! DAMN!!!!! IT!!!!!

[neighbors outside gathering in front of building]

Neighbor 1: Dude, what's going on with G$?

[window smash]

Neighbor 2: Dunno man... either he's watching a Chiefs game or he's watching the news... he's political you know...

G$ - SON OF A.... [crash]

Neighbor 1: Nah man... it ain't football season... it's a politcal thing or something...

Neighbor 2: Oh yea man... cool... man, remind me not to talk to him during football season...

G$ - ARRRRRGHH!!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!! [smash]

Neighbor 1: Yea or this Erectial... Erectal... Electoral... College or something he's talkin' man...

Neighbor 2: Yea man... he really flips his lid man...

G$ - DAMN IT!!!!

[sound of snapping 2x4s]

Neighbor 2: [yelling] Yo G$, man... you need a beer man?

[demolition noises stop]

[G$ comes out of door... with a death glare that could cut cement]

[Neighbor 1 throws G$ an ice cold Milwaukee's Best Light Tallboy]

[G$ slams beverage... lights cigarette]

Neighbor 2: Man... the land lady is gonna be pissed, man...

G$: [smirks] You dudes have a broom I could borrow? Maybe a Shamwow?

Neighbor 1: Yea man... Whoah... when did you grow out all of that sweet hair man?

G$: It's a mullet thing...

[Neighbor 1 high fives G$]

Neighbor 2: Nice man... that's like the greatest haircut in American History... let's get you that broom, man....

Down Goes Prevailing Wage...

It's over for now...

From Twitter:

@EricAlan Rule 75 is withdrawn - McCarthy changes his vote so it is 49-49 with 2 abstaining and the House adjourned.

@KentSorenson McCarthy switched his vote to no so it can be reconsidered.

@ReneeSchulte Gavel down for Monday session. Prayer and pledge to come. "Hope you had a good night sleep" from Murphy. MTR for HF 333 an option

From the House GOP...

Taxpayers Victorious Over Prevailing Wage Bill

(DES MOINES)—67 hours after the Speaker of the House decided to leave the voting machine open, House File 333 has officially been defeated.

On Friday, lawmakers debated the bill for five hour debate. On the final vote, five Democrats joined Republicans in opposition to the bill. House Democrats’ took unprecedented measures to strong arm the organized labor bill through the Iowa House. When Democrats did not receive the number of votes they needed to pass the bill, they announced they would be leaving the voting machine open for the entire weekend.

Monday, the Speaker closed the machine and the bill failed with a final vote of 49 to 49.

“I’m pleased the will of Iowans triumphed and sank House File 333 which would have raised property taxes, hurt disaster victims, and put small town contractors out of business,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen. “While Iowans were victorious today, it is my hope that we will not see any version of this bill in the future. Even amended, this bill will hurt Iowa’s economy and raise taxes. Republicans instead believe it’s now time we start focusing on how to put 80,000 Iowans back to work, how to energize our economy and how to cut government spending to balance our budgets.”

During the weekend, the voting machine shut down three times. House Republicans took turns maintaining a presence in the House, watching the voting machine.

###

WU: Feelin' Kinda Sunday...

Alright... "Because I'm feelin' kinda Sunday... Sunday... Feelin' kinda Sunday... Sunday..." Come on everyone sing along!

Awe yea... just a great tune... So... has anything changed? Nope... Does this mean we won't be able get random? Awe hell no. We's still gots some stuff... So let's get to it.
RANTS N' RAVES - Yea man... we gotta give some props to our main man Chrsitorpher Rants. His blog has provided some keen insight and helped connect the stories together from an insider prospective. And not to get all corny on you... but anyone else think his updates are like those letters you read from the Civil War? You know... like that's how you got reports from the front line? I think so anyway... good job out of him.
TWITTER ME THIS - So yea... I am going to say it... a good byproduct of this Weekend Long Temper Tandrum will be that GOP activists will get to know the coolness and cool ways to utilize Twitter. For real... it takes a little time to figure it out... then when you do... its pretty cool. If you are just a news junkie in general... you'll love Twitter. You can follow you favorite reporters, sports teams... even Darth Vader! (he's @darthvader)... so yea... out of a stupid stupid weekend, gives you good stuff.
SPEAKING OF THIS STUPID THING - So here's a quick wrap from last night... of course this is recovered from accounts from the millions of sources at the disposal of the World's Crappiest Blog... enjoy:
"Dude... you got a spitter?" "Nah man... all I gots is this cup." "Cool, that'll work." Now this isn't an official transcript... but you might guess this was a paraphrased discussion from some dorm floor... um nope, so around 11:37pm last night the "substitute speaker" was getting his chew on... no worries... he had a spitter... so its all good. You know... because aren't state buildings supposed to tobacco free? Don't get any on that new carpet... oh here we go again...
Machine Shuts Down a 2nd Time - I thought the crap in Palm Beach County was Crazy... yea.. the voting machine shut down AGAIN about 5 hours ago. Come Mr. Speaker... 1 time is cool... but twice?
Traditional Media... so if you caught the news last night... they did alright... there's no outrage... why would we think there would be? Anyhoop, checking out the DM Register... and was happy to find that this story is in the Metro section... second page! and not on the front page... Yea... wouldn't want it on the front... because... nothing else is going on... the Meatheads ae in town... but nope nothing else... it was like they were waiting for Shawn Johnson to sneeze... but she didn't, so there wasn't much else to put on the front page... sigh...
College Republicans Rule! So the ISU CRs delivered more goods... man... good job out of you kids.
So there you have it... that's all that's up now.
MY MAN MITCH - Oh hell yea... one of my favorite Governors, Mitch Daniels, was on Face the Nation this morning. Dudes... if you only knew of the things he's doing in Indiana... man... Iowa GOP Gov Candidates, please take careful notes on this guy. Not only is he a true reformer... he's a Governor that makes his state proud... just ask any Hoosier... you'll prolly get a decent review out of them... go to mymanmitch.com for all of the stuff he's up to...
We ain't done yet... stay tuned.

WU: Still Here... And Get This...

**Updated ... again @ 11:22

...there is still not a 51st vote. Nice work out of everyone... especially the House GOP... for real... if we ever pulled something like this back in the day... the other side would still be talking about it in campaign mail pieces...

We are now experiencing what will be known as the "World's Longest Pissing Match in Statehouse History"... Not sure who is competing...the egos of the House Majority or something else? Hmm... tough call. All we know is... the longer the wait... the dumber this looks.

Anyways... big ups for the good guys who are filling in on shifts... like Chris Hagenow right now... he's on Twitter... follow him on @ChrisHagenow.

Some quick random thoughts and randomness here before... we, here at QCI HQ get to shut down...

SO IS THIS GOING TO BE THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME? Meaning... are going to see this crazy game of grab ass everytime the Majority can't get the votes on issues that they must have signed contracts in blood? Makes for fun drama and media... but makes you puke that all you have to do is put on a weekend long pitty party because your prom date didn't show up... um because... they weren't going with you to the prom anyway.
I'M IMPRESSED - Yea... how good is the new leadership in the Minority? Man... I mean... not only just this whole train wreck that's going on... but things in general... good job out of you...

SMALL SCHOOLS RULE... Yea... you heard that right Senator McCoy... So.. got to catch a little 13 tonight... Yea... gonna scale back your idea on the School plan? How about talking about things you know about Senator... like as in... not small schools... yea... this isn't the last we'll post on this...

**OUR BAD... So yea... Rep. Linda Upmeyer is at the Capitol too... no disrespect at all maam... although... get this... quick QCI Fact! Did you know that Rep. Upmeyer was in the same Art History Class at NIACC back in the day with the editor of the World's Crappiest Blog? Yup... as Adrianne always sez... "True Story..."

Wii BOWLING - Man... I really suck at this game... yup... up in God's Country, Iowa this weekend celebrating my Pop's Birthday... a little beer... a little prime rib... a little 93.3 KIOA... and whole lots of a little getting my ass kicked in Wii Bowling!!!! And... MY SISTER is beating me! (although I suspect... she's palyed this before...) DAMN IT! Anyways... good times... it's a lot of fun... gotta roll back... I think we know the song on Dick Bartley's Solid Gold's greatest hits... what's the number again? Oh yea... 1 - 8 8 8 - 222 - 1965!

More to come... stay tuned...

WU: What We Know Now...

Alright QCI-ders... let's get you updated... get random... and let you know what's going down... QCI has its ears to the ground... as well as does the rest of the LBC... So let's try to get you up to date and give you some tips.... This is collected from around the LBC and other sources... if I'm missing some stuff... feel free to add it in the comment section.
VOTING STILL GOING - Now you all know the machine shut down, per the last update... they just opened it again and plugged in the votes... so... there are some wiery warriors from the good guys' side standing watch...Our Homeboy Erik Helland is standing watch now...
NOTHING SAYS LOVE THAN FOOD - So yea... Helland is there now... we can report that the ISU College Republicans are bring down care packages... food and goodies... which you should all do the same. Check down and see who's there... and order them some pizzas... time for you chruch ladies to send some caseroles! For real... they are standing guard... hook them up... if you House Peeps have any requests... let us know... we'll post what you need. Or if you are running arrands... pick up some Red Bull... pick up some coffees... they're gonna need it.
LARRY MAREK - Wow... this guy is the buzz of the week... QCI can confirm that there were a lot of out of stateplates (Illinois for the most part) of "interested" parties who wanted to voice their opinions at his forums this morning... but get this... MAREK IS STANDING FIRM AND TOLD HIS PEEPS... HIS VOTE IS STILL NO. From a source: "Larry Marek just pledged at a public form less than 5 minutes ago that he will not switch his vote.

You should drop a line as well as the others... tell them to stand firm, and don't forget to thank them:

mckinley.bailey@legis.state.ia.us - doris.kelly@legis.state.ia.us - LARRY.MAREK@LEGIS.STATE.IA.US - dolores.mertz@legis.state.ia.us - brian.quirk@legis.state.ia.us and one who is a vote no yet to vote - geri.huser.legis.state.ia.us
ROLLLING JUST LIKE INDIANA JONES - Hu Hu Hu Huge Props to McKinley Bailey (represents Stanhope). When push came to shove... he knew what to do... here's a recap from Rant's n Raves last night:
Ok, follow along as best as you can. After five and a half hours of debate, the voting machine opened. Right off the bat Democrats Bailey, Kelley, Marek, Mertz and Quirk vote "no." Bailey was out of the chamber before his light had turned red.

QCI can report that there was a car running out side of the Capitol waiting for him... kind of like trying to avoid the huge boulder rolling down the cave that is the House Leadership... dude... nice move...

CALL THE SPEAKER AND SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:
If you haven't already... call 515-281-5566. Tell him... even the machine itself said enough is enough...
That's all we got now... keep it going... did I miss anything? Use and abuse the comment section this week. Wow... somewhere the West Wing writers are taking notes for a hot new drama...

TWITTER - Some of you have emailed for instant updates... my best advice is get on Twitter... start up an account and follow some of the good guys on mine... @grantyoung72 Seriously... you'll get the scoop faster than the blogs and reporters.

More updates to come... Woot!