The Newseum

Wanna see the new 250,000 square-foot "Newseum" that just opened April 11, 2008 in Washington D.C.? USA Today created an interactive, floor-by-floor model of the place! Take a peek here.

Tragedy in Iowa City

While getting ready for class this morning I received a Hawk Alert from the University of Iowa. The message stated that an "active shooter" was in Iowa City, a male driving a 1998 Toyota Sienna tan minivan, and that if spotted, witnesses should call 9-1-1 from a safe location.

I jumped online to get more information from local news sites. They did a very good job providing details, but I noticed a post by a female visitor in which she complained about the Hawk Alert being used this way. What?!! This is EXACTLY how and when it should be used. Unlike many university campuses across the country which sit isolated on their own property, the University of Iowa campus is integrated with the downtown area of Iowa City--something I appreciate for the vibrant variety and feeling of community. It's charming and eclectic, college kids mixing with residents, bookstores and churches mixing with lecture buildings and class halls.

I appreciated the Hawk Alert so I could proceed to campus with caution. The message was not alarmist but factual. [Note: Read the dispute by some students about the Hawk Alert failing to "tell them what to do".]

And the story is extremely tragic. The suspected shooter is Steven Sueppel (age 42), a man who had been charged with stealing $559,040 from the bank where he worked as a vice president. He apparently shot his wife Sheryl (also 42) and their four young children in their home at 6:31 this morning. Police received a call from a cell phone telling them to get to the residence ASAP, then disconnected. It was probably Steven. He was not at the home when the police arrived and the family's Toyota Sienna minivan was missing.

A short time later, a Toyota Sienna minivan was found smashed into a sign support along I-80 fully engulfed in flames at approximately 7:00am this morning. A lone figure could be seen in the driver's seat, dead. An autopsy will be conducted tomorrow to determine if this is Steven.

Coming home from class this afternoon--eerily, in my 1998 Toyota Sienna minivan, although mine is blue--I turned off my radio and reflected on this man, his family and his choices.

I'm sure when he was a little boy, he never thought he would get into this kind of trouble. I'm sure his wife Sheryl, active on their school's PTA and interviewed once for local radio, didn't imagine how her life would end and that her husband, the man to whom she'd said "I do" and shared dreams for a future together, that this man would fall into the trap of lies and deceit, nor that he would turn on her and their four precious children and kill them.

I'm sure his children, Ethan, 10; Seth, 7; Mira, 5; and Eleanor, 3 (all adopted), had enjoyed a fun Easter weekend with their grandparents and family in the area and had no idea what their daddy was capable of. His choices, each step of the way and concluding this morning, wiped out six people's lives--five of whom were completely innocent.

His choices, what he did in secret, eventually came out and destroyed him and his family.

If we think our choices do not matter, then we must think again.

And choose differently.

Global warming--not?

Could global warming actually be an ice age in disguise? And for those who think Iowa is made up of only cornfields and baseball diamonds, here's a shot of yesterday's traffic in a snow storm near Cedar Rapids. I drove home in that exact mess--I left the University of Iowa at 5:00pm and it took nearly 2 hours to drive 35 miles, due to the umpteenth snowstorm this year (I've lost track at this point). And yet another major storm system is headed our way. Yikes! Check out the snowfall totals where I live, or visit the National Climatic Data Center for details on storms across the northern hemisphere.

Caucus Night

My first Iowa caucus! What a night. It's a downright balmy 21 degrees outside, but windy. Brr. Our precinct, 4-2, met at Oak Ridge School with four other precincts. Precinct 4-2 shared the gym with Precinct 4-3, packed with probably 250+ people. Here are the results of the votes by these two precincts:

Precinct 4-2
Huckabee 52
Romney 30
Thompson 23
McCain 15
Giuliani 11
Paul 10
Hunter 0
Keyes 0

Precinct 4-3
Romney 41
Huckabee 35
Thompson 25
McCain 17
Paul 13
Giuliani 7
Keyes 2
Hunter 0

Local news stations are reporting the following numbers right now with 78% precincts reporting (9:10pm CST):

Republican
Huckabee 34%
Romney 25%
Thompson 14%
McCain 13%
Paul 10%
Giuliani 4%
Hunter 0%
Tancredo 0%

Democrat
Obama 36%
Edwards 31%
Clinton 30%
Richardson 2%
Biden 1%
Dodd 0%
Gravel 0%
Kucinich 0%

This is shaping into a very interesting election come this fall, wouldn't you say?

Iowa caucus and the UN-"Fair Tax"

Okay, the Iowa caucuses are coming in two days and I'm going.

However, I'm alarmed--I thought I finally found a candidate I could support until I learned this week about the "Fair Tax" legislation backed by some of America's presidential candidates (and click here to see who in Congress supports it from the Fair Tax Web site).

If you haven't heard about it, the "Fair Tax" act will eliminate income and business taxes BUT replace them with a 30% national sales tax. Supporters claim it makes taxes "fair," but analysis by FactCheck.org shows it will help only those who make more than $200,000 per year. How is this fair? It's not.

Don't be fooled--just because it's called a "Fair Tax" does not make it so. We all know this is a favorite tactic in politics--to name bills the opposite of what they really are in order to fool voters.

Under the "Fair Tax," all food is taxed. We will pay 30-34% tax on gasoline on top of current taxes (these will not be repealed). If you get sick, your visit to the doctor is subject to this 30-34% tax. If you buy a new house, you will pay a 30-34% tax on the purchase price. Everyone with a mortgage, credit card, or car loan will pay a 30-34% tax on all interest. How many low- to middle-income families can afford this?

"They assume spending will remain at current levels," Russ Gollnick said. "The fact is, a 30% jump in price will affect spending. I'm concerned the impact it will have on our economy--it will cause a severe recession, even a depression."

Ah, but the "Fair Tax" proponents say salaries will go up--because they calculate their numbers by assuming salaries will go up when businesses are freed from paying social security taxes and revenue taxes. Have they learned nothing from Enron? Businesses today do not pass along increased revenue to their employees by increasing salaries! That just doesn't happen. As a former human resources director I can tell you that corporate management hires employees at the lowest salaries they can to keep costs down and profits up. Supply and demand controls salaries as much as consumer prices.

So as Sir Francis Bacon declared, "Knowledge is power." Question the assumptions of the "Fair Tax" and empower yourself. I invite your comments.

Ice storm

Just in time for Christmas.... My family has made Iowa our home for eight years next month, but never before have we seen this kind of ice storm in which ice encases every twig, every blade of grass, every power line, every mailbox.

It rained liquid ice (literally) for nearly twelve hours straight on December 11th, followed by several snow storm systems since. Right now, we're hunkered down in our warm, cozy house catching up on games, blogs, and each other. :o)

Photos © 2007 K.S. Gollnick. Click to enlarge.

Dr. Jarvik

A comment I posted on John Mack's "Pharma Marketing Blog" is getting some attention. Art Harrison of Harrison Instruments emailed me with his appreciation for my post in which I reacted to Dr. Jarvik's television ads for Lipitor, where he breezily claims to be the inventor of the "Jarvik artificial heart."

However, the TRUTH is, his research is based on another man's work, a man Jarvik refuses to acknowledge--and I find it insulting that he's now on television promoting "his" artificial heart after the man died. You won't believe who the man is--he's a well-known celebrity. Read my original post here, and then visit this site. Spread the truth.

Virginia Tech Tragedy

It's been two days since 32 students and faculty members were murdered by Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-old loner who once signed a class list of names with only a question mark. He left everyone behind asking a lot of questions.

I have a few of my own:

First, although we're tempted to call Cho names like sicko, insane, psycho, disturbed, freaky, bizarre, twisted (and frankly, we'd be right)--isn't there a danger in doing so? By calling Cho names, we put him in a box, brush our hands with the satisfaction that we're nothing like him, and move on. Calling him names allows us to dismiss him as a freak and close our eyes from examining how he developed into this monster.

DO NOT get me wrong. I am NOT sympathetic toward Cho. From all the reports coming out now it's clear that Cho had serious emotional and psychological problems.

And that brings me to my second question. THAT'S what we need to understand--HOW did he get this way?

As a parent, I took time today to ask my own questions. About my own sons. How are they doing? Am I being the kind of parent they need? Am I too lax? Am I too busy? Do I make time for them and their concerns? Do I really listen?

I'm doing pretty good, but I can do better.

Starting right now.

This post also appeared in The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA) on Tuesday, 4/24/07.

Miracle in Missouri

Ben Ownby, the 13-year-old boy who disappeared while walking home from his school bus stop Monday afternoon, was FOUND alive and well yesterday, just four days later in an apartment 60 miles from his home in rural Missouri.

But he was not alone. Miraculously, officials found another boy, Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing for four years since his abduction while riding his bike to a friend's house in October 2002. He was 11 years old at the time. He is now 15.

Police took 41-year-old Michael Devlin into custody. Multiple charges are pending.

I must admit, by Wednesday my hope had faded that Ben would be found alive. My attention turned to the unknown perpetrator(s), praying for discovery and arrest. No one could predict that finding Ben would lead to the rescue of another missing child! Of course, these boys will need psychological assistance, particularly Shawn due to the amount of time he lived with his abductor. But what a double miracle to find these two boys alive, to give them freedom and reunite them with their families. Although too many abductions do not end with good news, that's all the more reason to rejoice that this one did.

Once again, average citizens helped break this case. Mitchell Hults, a 15-year-old student who got off the same bus as Ben, described for police the white pickup truck he noticed driving erratically and speeding away from the area. At least one neighbor admitted seeing the truck earlier that day driving up and down the rural road raising suspicions, but didn't write down the license plate number nor call to report the suspicious activity to police. If anyone had, Ben could have been rescued that same evening. A girl living in the apartment complex where the boys were found told her mother three months ago she thought she recognized Shawn Hornbeck's face from a flyer, but her mother told her, "This is serious, we're not playing." Another resident, Jeff Hadler, told reporters that police came to the complex on an unrelated case Thursday night and he pointed out the truck parked in the lot, wondering if it was like the one reported in the media. Police got a search warrant and swarmed Devlin's apartment the next day--and found the two boys alive.

Once again, regular citizens armed with information from the media made the difference. Those citizens who didn't take time or assumed that what they saw or heard wasn't important, delayed Ben's (and Shawn's) rescue. Fortunately, both Ben and Shawn are alive and back with their families this weekend because Hults and Hadler observed details they reported to police.

"The key to finding the boys was a beat-up white pickup truck spotted by a schoolmate of Ben's who got off the bus at the same time. The friend saw the pickup speeding away...."
Read the ABC News report.

Watch videos of this story, including an interview with Sheriff Gary Toelke (click "Top Videos" and the headline "Extremely Happy Ending").

Time "Person of the Year 2006" - YOU

Hooray for us! Bloggers and YouTubers became subject of concern in my journalism classes this year, which I suspect is true across the country. Why? Traditional journalist "gatekeepers" can't control the grass root reporter, and in my observations, you broke more stories more accurately more often this year (or at least more meaningfully) than big media.

Time Magazine announced last week: "...for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you."

I'm proud of you, and proud to join the effort.

Keep it accurate, keep it real, keep it up!

James Kim, CNET editor, a hero

James Kim died alone of hypothermia after hiking 15 miles in the wilds of Oregon in a desperate attempt to get help for his wife and two small daughters stranded in their car on a logging road blocked by snow and ice. I feel a bond--I'm from the Pacific Northwest and have traveled a similar route with my husband, trying to get from I-5 to the Oregon Coast. It's not easy. I'm also a parent and can imagine my family getting lost on a dark snowy night with tired children in the backseat.

And yes, I've had to deal with my impatience toward James--why, oh why, didn't he turn the car around sooner? (He drove approximately 15 miles into the wilderness on Bear Camp Road, then approximately another 15 on the fateful logging road spur, before they stopped to rest but got snowed in.)

This story is heartbreaking. I applaud the self-sacrificing efforts of the regular citizens--like the cell phone employees, Eric Fuqua and co-worker Noah Pugsley, and John Rachor, the helicopter owner--who all invested their personal time and resources to help find this family and provided key information. But I shake my head at officials who failed to find James because of assumptions, lack of sustained urgency, and failure to get heat-seeking National Guard helicopters in the air. Read what happened: "Confusion hampered search for Kims: Gaps in communication among agencies and leadership shortcomings proved costly."

It's a difficult read. I've followed many articles related to this story from various news sources, finding some less accurate than others. So I kept reading, looking for the confirmed and verified details.

Now it's tempting to assign blame, which I don't enjoy--but different officials and searchers assumed the Kim family didn't take that spur off the the road to the right and that someone else had checked out that spur. Their assumptions cost James his life.

I hate assumptions.

To read an uplifting piece about James Kim, CNET senior editor of technology, click here.

Don't read this (it might warp you)

When my Honors English professor announced last week that we must watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, for discussion in class next week, my heart sank. I posted my response on the class blog, and then decided to share it here, too.

Borat on YouTube was enough for me to "get it." But when the movie became an assignment, I did some research. (If you don't know about this movie, read a conservative review at PluggedInOnline.)

And I chose not to go. So what if it's meant to be funny? Just reading the reviews felt like sliding through sewer sludge. Blech. I have better things to do with my time and money, not to mention my mind. Life is too short.

I think I've hit on a new slogan: "BE BETTER THAN BORAT." How? One of the best ways to influence people's biases isn't to make fun of them, but befriend them (if they'll let you)--or do something kind for someone else to make our world a better place. So what if unselfish acts don't make the news or earn lots of moolah--what a difference it makes for those to whom we are kind or generous or supportive.

As for lawsuits, I just read an article about the villagers used in the opening scene of the movie: "They claim film-makers lied to them about the true nature of the project, which they believed would be a documentary about their hardship, rather than a comedy mocking their poverty and isolation." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?
in_article_id=415871&in_page_id=1770

Okay, so let's Be Better Than Borat. Who did you help--or befriend, or encourage, or be kind to--today?