Iowa

The Beast of 2008 Stirs

A Flood of Profits

The American Cookbook Project

Daily Flog: Smears and schmears; meltdowns on Wall Street and in the Arctic

Like Little Italy? Rolling Acres is the Place for You

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Obama Staff Party: "The Happiest People That Just Lost Their Jobs"

photo via Brooklyn Vegan Tuesday's swearing-in transformed Obama the candidate into Obama the President. But his two-year-long campaign didn't really end until late last night, when the new President hosted the last inauguration event of the week: The send-off ball for the campaign staff. The ba ... More >>

Zadie Smith's NYPL Lecture "Speaking in Tongues" Posted in Full at the NYRB

Photo by Peter Foley via WYNC Zadie Smith's NYPL talk "Speaking in Tongues, curiously excised of its references to Lil Wayne and its cute, "it gives me jokes" colloquialisms, is reprinted in full at the New York Review of Books. I wish she'd kept the line about "keeping it real." But I still thin ... More >>

More Wining

paul goyette @ Flickr Governor Paterson's proposal to widen wine sales throughout the state has gained yet another endorsement, this time from Newsday. A number of local newspapers have championed the idea, which would allow grocery stores in New York State to sell wine, a right that stores in 35 st ... More >>

ProPublica: AIDS Group Suggests BC Pills to Prevent HIV

Watchdog ProPublica's suspicions were raised by an ad at the New York Times website for a California HIV/AIDS-related non-profit which none of its friends on that scene had ever heard of. They became more suspicious when they found that the group, Center for AIDS Prevention, posted a flyer saying "t ... More >>

Allegedly 'Country' and 'Pop' Offerings From Arthur Russell

Watchdog ProPublica's suspicions were raised by an ad at the New York Times website for a California HIV/AIDS-related non-profit which none of its friends on that scene had ever heard of. They became more suspicious when they found that the group, Center for AIDS Prevention, posted a flyer saying "t ... More >>

City and Colour+William Elliott Whitmore

Watchdog ProPublica's suspicions were raised by an ad at the New York Times website for a California HIV/AIDS-related non-profit which none of its friends on that scene had ever heard of. They became more suspicious when they found that the group, Center for AIDS Prevention, posted a flyer saying "t ... More >>

Clark's Run Still Clouded

Why Didn't He Warn Us About War in Iraq?

Hard Rain on the Scarecrow

Why Didn't He Warn Us About War in Iraq?

Bush Abandons Scorched Earth Campaign

Drops Iowa Challenge

Dookie from Dubuque

Drops Iowa Challenge

All Quiet on the Northern Front

But a General Alarm Spreads Through the State

Bush Overshadows the Primaries

Pundits Continue Their Attack on Howard Dean

Forget the Debate

Democrats' Debate Fizzles; Dean Goes for an Image Make-Over

Sanctifying the Evangelical Vote

Democrats' Debate Fizzles; Dean Goes for an Image Make-Over

Tight and Neat

I always dreamed of living in a place like this. I sucked it up and paid the broker's fee.

Rightbloggers Angry Iowa is Making Them Get Gay-Married

Gay people are supposed to know about show tunes, so they'll understand when we say: There's nothing halfway about the Iowa way to treat you. The Iowa Supreme Court has unanimously said a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. New York and California have not done so much for the cause of mar ... More >>

Getting Our Reputation Back

People around the world who aren’t our enemies now distrust us as allies

Big Pork Blacklash--Times Op-Ed Writer Defends His Position On Small Farm Pigs

Photo by jere_me @ FlickrThe New York Times may have appended its recent op-ed piece on how small farm pork may be more prone to contamination than its industrially raised counterpart, but readers haven't quite yet recovered from the episode. And neither has the op-ed's author. James McWilliams cit ... More >>

Reality Shows I'd Like To See

​Sodom and Kimora. Kimora Lee Simmons drops by a circuit party and tastes some real depravity for a change. I Didn't Know I Wasn't Pregnant. This wacky reversal show would star women who wrongly assumed their big, fat belly was a bun in the oven--until the midwife couldn't seem to get it out! ... More >>

One More Reason to Buy Your Poultry at Area Farmers Markets

Though this video was surreptitiously shot by vegans from Mercy for Animals interested in converting you to their honey-free life style, it nonetheless demonstrates the inhumanity of factory-style poultry operations. The video was shot at Hy-Line of Spencer, Iowa, said to be the largest facility of ... More >>

Bloomberg Finances Playgrounds, Not from the Public Coffers, But With the Bodies of Obese Children

Sounds like an Onion headline, right? Unfortunately, it's sadly true that the mayor, while talking about a sugary beverage tax, invites the purveyors of those same beverages to prey on the city's kids by ceding soda machines prime real estate in the city's playgrounds. Many of the playgrounds don't ... More >>

Swine Flu Pet Scare Minimized, as Only the Pets Will Suffer

​In the wake of yesterday's revelation that a cat in Iowa had swine flu, U.S. News & World Reports rushes to assure us, "Rest Easy. When It Comes to Swine Flu, Your Pet Is Safe." The experts they summon, however, hedge their bets alarmingly. "This really is not a practical issue at this point, ... More >>

The Future Is Bleak for Foodies; Forget Jared. Meet Christine, Taco Bell's Diet Poster Girl

​The latest food recall comes from National Steak and Poultry in Oklahoma, which is recalling some 248,000 pounds of beef that might be contaminated with a strain of E. coli. The meat could be linked to illnesses in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota, and Washington. [ABC News] Wh ... More >>

Loser Lit: John McNally's After the Workshop, Peter Bognanni's The House of Tomorrow, and James Greer's The Failure

Failed again! Scribblers, orphans, and punks fumble through life in three new novels

SIMPLY IN-SEINE

French sisters' duo offer pained poetry

Morning Links: Egg Recall Now Massive; Miners Trapped Underground in Chile Are Alive; Gator Sighting in Astoria

​• Half a billion eggs are now being recalled in 17 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin) due to a salmonella outbreak traced back to two Iowa egg producers, Hi ... More >>

Dumpster Diving; More Tainted Beef

​Pastry chefs are using beer in their desserts, such as The Breslin's Chocolate Stout Syllabub, the Guinness Toffee Cake at Stanton Social, Colicchio & Sons' blackberry chocolate lattice tart with Belgian beer ice cream. [NY Post] A group of "freegans" gather weekly for Grub: "a cheap, simple ... More >>

The "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" Attack Ad (Video)

​It only took psychopaths from outside of New York City what, a month? The inevitable "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" attack ad has finally arrived. Via The Atlantic, it comes from a conservative PAC from Iowa, and yes, it's as gross as you imagined it to be.

Music

​It only took psychopaths from outside of New York City what, a month? The inevitable "Ground Zero Victory Mosque" attack ad has finally arrived. Via The Atlantic, it comes from a conservative PAC from Iowa, and yes, it's as gross as you imagined it to be.

Are Creative Writing MFAs a "Ponzi Scheme"?

​A Master of Fine Arts in creative writing in America is a curious piece of paper, one that says something about the person holding it -- mostly, that they survived an MFA program without killing themselves, which apparently isn't easy -- and also, in some circles, acts as a certification that ... More >>

Next Week Is Grains Week

bernat/Flickr​While the idea of local fruits and vegetables is now firmly entrenched in the collective conscience, the concept of local grains is still relatively novel -- it's easy enough to picture an upstate apple orchard, but less so to imagine a wheat field that isn't in Iowa or Kansas.

Ashton Kutcher Fights Human Sex Trafficking in Iowa Newspaper

​Did you know that Ashton Kutcher is the co-founder of the Demi and Ashton Foundation, which works to stamp out child sex slavery? Did you know that Ashton Kutcher is from Iowa? Both facts become glaringly obvious in the popular Twitter user and occasional actor's op-ed today in the Des Moines ... More >>

"What Is Going On in Egypt, Exactly?"

​"I mean, I've heard about some kind of stuff going down there, but I just can't figure out what it is!" This isn't a direct quote from anyone, but it's something you probably would hear in various bars around town, a lot of the clubbing populace not that big on reading about current events e ... More >>

Averie Carrion, 4-Year-Old Girl, Trudges Through Snow to Rescue Family

Averie Carrion, a 4-year-old Iowa girl, is our nation's newest hero. She walked a quarter-mile in the snow to get help for her mom and brother after their pickup slid off the highway and rolled on its side. While her mom was trapped, Averie, who got two scratches in the accident, dug through the sno ... More >>

This Week on the Gay Marriage Beat: Whoppers and Lies, Fence-sitting and Delays

​A gay couple can have a whopper of a hard time just trying to order a sandwich at Burger King, let alone trying to obtain a license to get hitched. Here are six more things you should know to keep it all straight.

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead: Weighed Down With Doc Cliches

​A gay couple can have a whopper of a hard time just trying to order a sandwich at Burger King, let alone trying to obtain a license to get hitched. Here are six more things you should know to keep it all straight.

Tornados Sweep Across Iowa; Qaddafi Forces Enter Strategic Town

​As many as 11 towns in Iowa were struck by tornados last night. [CNN] In Libya, Muammar Qaddafi's forces heavily bombarded the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiyah. [Reuters] The Times has this terribly sad story about babies born addicted to opiates. [NYT]

Michele Bachmann Mixes Up Iowa's John Wayne, Compares Herself to Serial Killer

In what's sure to be a year-and-a-half of high-profile, overanalyzed gaffes, Michele Bachmann, one of the down home candidates attempting to drive the Republican clown car, doesn't really know that much about American pop culture or geography, shouting out Waterloo, Iowa's John Wayne -- "that's the ... More >>

Pig Thieves Go On Porcine Crime Spree Across The Midwest

nerissa's ring, Flickr, CC​ How do you know the economy has gotten really bad? When people resort to stealing pigs like it's 1929 or something. The New York Times reports that pig theft is way up in the Midwest. One farmer, Ryan Bode, found that 150 of his pigs were missing on Sept. 16, result ... More >>

Iowa Still Ground Zero on Gay Marriage

​More than two years before New York got its shit together last summer, the über-progressive state of Iowa made same-sex marriage legal in 2009. The decision came from the state's Supreme Court, which drew from their state constituion's long history of being way ahead of the curve on civil ri ... More >>

Standing on Ceremony's Big Wedding Party

Eight playwrights whip gay marriage into a froth of fun

Food Banks Cut Help to Needy Families

​While some politicians think that poor people use food stamps for trips to Hawaii and that the program should be limited, aid for hungry Americans keeps dwindling.

Kim Kardashian Enters The Political Discussion On The Eve Of The Iowa Caucus

Ooh BURN!​Republican candidates are making their last moves across Iowa today as GOP voters try and decide who they will support in tomorrow's caucus. The Iowa Caucus doesn't really pick the official nominee, as much as it just kills off the struggling candidates. Essentially, a bunch of white ... More >>

Same-Sex Marriage Takes New York By Storm in 2011, Tosses Salad in Iowa in 2012

​Happy New Year. We're kicking things off here this January by taking a quick look at how same-sex marriage affected life in New York in 2011, and how it's shaping up primary politics in Iowa in advance of tomorrow's caucuses. Gay marriage, of course, just became official in New York last ye ... More >>