A Love Letter From Rev. Gordon to Mayor Hobart

From: Pastor Cary Gordon <CaryG@cornerstoneworld.org>
To: "ccouncil@sioux-city.org" <ccouncil@sioux-city.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:50:23 -0600
Subject: PeaceMakers Institute

Councilmen,



First – let me be very clear – I am not speaking on the behalf of Cornerstone World Outreach. I am speaking on behalf of myself, as the President of PeaceMaker's Institute, a corporation recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c)(4) with a connected political action committee registered in the State of Iowa – entirely independent and separate from Cornerstone World Outreach. For more information on my "stealth agenda" please see www.peacemakersinstitute.com <http://www.peacemakersinstitute.com/>  – you may click the "issues" button for your reading pleasure and continuing education.



Mr. Hobart, as one of the few persons most responsible for the success of the direct-election of the Mayor ballot issue, which gave YOU the opportunity to garner this important and privileged position in Sioux City - I share – WITH YOU, as does Mr. Rochester, a vested mutual interest in YOUR POLITICAL SUCCESS. It does neither me, nor this great city that I love so much, any service, to see you make mistakes of biblical proportions - in public media events.



With that said, please know that I did NOT appreciate being falsely and publicly accused of something tantamount to bribery, nor did I appreciate the way you maligned the church that both I and the Living Lord Jesus Christ, so deeply love. YOUR actions, in my humble opinion, were worse than "illegal"; they were hurtful, reckless, and undoubtedly sinful.



I am writing to inform you that ALL LEGAL OPTIONS are on the table. Legal action needs to be taken against both you, and the City of Sioux City, for public defamation of character. Do not make the mistake of thinking that I am like other pastors you have known. I assure you, I am not like them. I have no intention of being a doormat for any elected official in Sioux City who wishes to "feel their oats" at my expense… which is to say, I have no intention of "turning the other cheek" because this situation does not fit that context.



Personally, I am fed-up, beyond imagination, with the ungodly hostility and dishonor that my friends, family, and church have experienced at the hands of the likes of you!  I'm tired of veiled threats on Journal blog-sites, blatant anonymous threats in the mail from liberal democrat cowards, and media abuses from un-churched ignorant pundits who have an ax to grind, all while pretending to be "impartial".



Finally, I'm tired of uninformed people getting elected, only to become "constitutional wrecking-balls" because they don't comprehend fundamental American historical realities… THAT is my "stealth agenda", to replace and defeat such people, and I hope you'll share that with all of your coffee buddies who successfully pushed you out on this limb – because I am very inclined to CUT-IT-OFF!



You, sir, and the poor political counselors you apparently keep, are the embodiment of WHY I run a political action committee. If you view my influence in the political process as some form of anomalous nuisance, you only have yourselves to thank for my unbending dedication to the cause. Because without the Christian Bible, the Christian religion, and 19 men with Christian theological degrees who signed the American Constitution – America would not exist!  More importantly, without modern-day Christians, who are willing to remain politically active – America will inevitably be destroyed from the internal depravity and hedonism which emanates from the festering source of radical secularism.



That is why, in a nutshell, I cannot, in good conscience, allow your recent egregious behavior to discourage other Christian people from forming PACs and contributing to the political process. You did wrong – publicly – and that demands a public remedy. Whether that remedy is willingly offered, or legally forced through a messy lawsuit is entirely up to you. Of course, I can't speak for any of the other people provoked by your comments this past Friday.



You are on the WRONG SIDE of the American culture war!  You are WRONG about prayer, WRONG about me, WRONG about Cornerstone, WRONG about Mr. Rochester, WRONG about Brent Hoffman, and WRONG about the proper way to handle downtown partners.



You have 4 years ahead of you. I truly hope you will get "RIGHT" real soon. I mean that with every connotation that is possible. I would never have imagined that someone who so desperately needed the power of prayer would act so unreasonably opposed to its free exercise.



With all Due Respect,



Rev. Cary K. Gordon

PeaceMaker's Institute



P.S. You should have submitted your inappropriate interpretation of scripture to your Assembly pastor BEFORE attempting to justify your flawed position with it… in public. I can not imagine ANY pastor agreeing with your use of that particular verse, particularly on the heels of having just praised the "virtues" of secularism – something Jesus, and his contemporary rabbis HATED as much as I do.

Sen. Obama Victory Speech After Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3

Steve King at it Again

I just saw this and had to post it here. It's one thing to vote against it, but another to make fun of it, especially when many Repulicans did vote for it. And even worse to make fun of it in a 3rd grade manner. Regardless of whether or not you think SCHIP is right or wrong, at least show some respect for your fellow congressmen by not making an spectacle out of yourself on the floor of the House of Representatives. It's about respect, not ridicule.

An Airport Funeral...

Just saw the most somber thing. Was at the gate for a flight from Chicago O'Hare to Minneapolis and the inbound flight had a casket on it. 10 min before the flight showed up, 2 police escorts, a hearse and 2 vans showed up.

There were about 8 members of the armed forces, an honor guard, I think from the army. The plane showed up and a combination of the military guys and the Northwest Airlines employees climbed in to the plane and moved the casket onto the conveyor belt and then out so the honor guard could carry the casket to the hearse. A big crowd had gathered at the gate, maybe 100 or so, and when the casket came out of the plane, fully draped with an American flag, it went silent. They might have even shut off the PA. The same thing happened on the ramp. Everything stopped.

In a very dignified manner, with the police and NWA ramp employees standing at attention, the honor guard slowly carried the casket to the hearse and drove off. Later, on the flight, the pilot said the deceased person was a fallen soldier from Iraq, which I think is what everyone had already assumed. And all right before Christmas. Its so easy to forget until you see something like that...

David Bernstein from Blackberry

Direct Election of Mayor

I have nothing against a good plan to directly elect the Mayor here but, THIS PLAN IS NOT A GOOD ONE. We have a hard enough time attracting great candidates to run for council. The first thing that will happen under this plan is that the best, most qualified candidates will run against each other for the one position of Mayor. Only one will win, the others will no longer serve. We will no longer elect the 2 best candidates (according to the voters) but the best, and maybe the 3rd or 4th. A good plan could avoid this and would also have minimum service requirements so we don't elect someone with zero experience in City government. This plan is about ego and steering agendas, not about picking our Mayor in a smart manner.

Editorials about Warnstadt and others...

As the political season reaches its climax, the Sioux City Journal ran a bunch of editorials today about the election. The nuttiest of them all is one from Kathleen Hoffman (I believe wife of the head of the Iowa Republican Party), stating that Steve Warnstadt is basically anti-business and criticizing him for taking PAC money. She cites some bogus Independent Business PAC organization, with bogus figures. What a joke, as Mrs. Hoffman is, I am sure, extremely familiar with the sources of Warnstadt's opponent's funds also. Blanchard is getting a ton of $ from out of state PACs, to push the anti-gay agenda item (there is so much more to our state policy than this, isn't there???). Isn't there a saying about glass houses, and throwing stones?

Warnstadt recently was the victim of some bogus mailing by some group entitled "Republicans for Warnstadt". How low can the Blanchard supporters go? Do the ends justify the means when it comes to fighting gay marriage. Are bogus mailings and distortions of the truth acceptable if in the end they get the right person in office? There are a lot of crappy public officials out there. Steve Warnstadt is not one of them. This guy is incredibly hard working, honest, and loyal to Sioux City. Republicans and Democrats alike are supporting him, both financially and vocally. The misguided efforts of the bogus "Republicans for Warnstadt" should be illegal, as they deceive the public and reflect a lack of integrity on the Blanchard campaign (and I absolutely do not mean to imply that Mrs. Blanchard had any hand in this but, of course some supporters of hers must have). It's disgusting.

More on King from Midwestmom

In response to Midwestmom's comments below, I have to ask, "Did King compare immigrants to stray cats?" It appears from your comments that he did say a good chunk of what was printed in the Journal, but just didn't say it exactly as it appeared in the Journal, and didn't say "...lazy, just like illegal immigrants". Do I have this correct? I'm not really sure what kind of transcript would come from a meeting like this, or what exactly that means, so I believe you that no official transcript exists. I just am curious if, in general, what was printed in the Journal is more or less what King said?

It's obviously not grounds for an "October surprise" and I don't think we implied that when we posted this in the first place, we were just looking for some lively discussion, which we are now having. And we appreciate your comments as you are the first person that has commented that was actually in attendance at this meeting, and that perspective is important to us, so thank you for responding.

Response to post re: Steve King's stray cat analogy

I just received this response to the post we ran of the article from the Sioux City Journal which described comments Steve King did or did not make comparing illegal immigrants to stray cats:

"Dave & Tom,

There is no "transcript." Notice that none of the words attributed to King in the Journal article are actually in quotes.

I was at the Crawford County fundraiser. I challenge anyone to prove King uttered the phrase, "lazy, just like illegal immigrants."

The dufus who is the source for this garbage is also pretending he was not in attendance that night (never paid to get in and gives them impression in articles that he wasn't there) but I saw him there and other did, too. I can tell you exactly where he was sitting.

This is sleezeball politics at its best. Why did it take five weeks for this story to break if what King said was so repulsive???"

This issue has been clouded in mystery, as it took Bret Hayworth at the Sioux City Journal quite a while, as i understand it, to get anyone to go on the record re: this issue. We do understand there is no transcript, but also understand that multiple times now reporters have asked Mr. King about the comments and as far as we are aware he has never denied making them. Furthermore, about one week ago the Treasurer of the Carroll County Republican party called the campaign manager of one of Mr. King's opponents and confirmed that King made the statements, but that it was just a joke and that people at the meeting laughed thinking it was humorous (this person was upset that the Carroll paper did not report that people laughed, as it didn't represent the true spirit of the joke). Of course the comparison of illegal immigrants to stray cats is not a joke, its repulsive.

My guess, to answer your question, on why it took 5 weeks to break a story like this if so repulsive is that until a reporter with a lot of credibility (like Bret Hayworth) can get verifiable sources, he cannot print statements like this, and it took him quite a while to get sources he was comfortable with (my understanding is that he is very comfortable with the sources he finally got, but that they were all pretty nervous about repercussions).

I agree with you that this is very repulsive and the solution is very simple. Mr. King just needs to deny that he said it. Until Mr. King does that it is difficult to look the other way as we have a hard time buying into the concept that the paper would just randomly print things like this without significant research and backup. We all know that slander and libel are very real risks for papers, and that Mr. King, if wronged by the publishing of these statements, would have that as recourse.

Thank you for your response and please let me know if Mr. King has denied making these statements, and where that occurred as of course that would be extremely relevant, and until he denies them we must all question "why not"?

Amazing...

As published in the Sioux City Journal on October 13, 2006:

"A transcript of King's comments made at a Republican fundraiser in Boulders Conference Center showed he compared illegal immigrants to stray cats that wind up on people's porches. King said at first stray cats help by chasing mice, so people feed them. King added that the stray cats then have kittens, which are liked for their cuteness, but eventually the strays, fed by the people, end up getting lazy, just like illegal immigrants. King would not comment on what he said on that day."

Full Article in Sioux City Journal

Is Steve King a bigot?

Waterworld

The juxtaposition of young native american dancers performing with a backdrop of schoolchildren climbing a 50 foot wall was the spectacle that unfolded a couple of weeks ago at the Long Lines Family Center.

It seems that the annual Siouxland Multicultural Fair moved from it's normal venue at the Convention Center to the old Aud because the room rent was half of what the Convention Center charged. So here we have the CCAT competing against itself. Not very smart business.

The CCAT and the Convention Center, favorite whipping boy of just about anyone who wants to complain about waste in city government. Just ask Brent Hoffman(n).

But maybe in this case we have one city-owned venue too many. When the CC was built, during an orgy of convention center building that unfolded in cities large and small, it was touted as a much needed site that would attract activities large and small but would not compete with hotel and other private facilities. No, weddings or partys would not be solicited. Sioux City needed this facility to compete.

Now, the area home of dart tournaments and flea markets, is being undercut by other city owned venues and it continues to be a drain on the CCAT budget. Maybe it's time to think outside the box.

How about this idea: Give the facility to the Clarion Hotel with the understanding that they would build an indoor water park. Have you ever been to the Ramada in Sioux Falls with the waterpark. Talk about tourism. Ask anyone you know with kids under 12 and the chances are good that they have spent a "relaxing" winter weekend poolside there or at the Ramkota. It's one of the few things that Sioux Falls does better than Sioux City.

Maybe something like this will allow the Clarion to make a go of it (God knows their recent "renovations" aren't going to cut the mustard) and return a property to the tax rolls.

With the CC gone, the CCAT could focus on marketing the commercially viable venues, the Tyson Center and the Orpheum, and let the area hotels do what they do best, catering to weddings, parties, and small business gatherings which is about all this marketplace can support.

Plus, you can never go wrong with a waterslide or a big wave pool. Especially if you can get a Pina Colada at poolside.

The Gospel Truth

I've got to admit that my own prejuidices were on display in my last post regarding the Gospel Mission. The assumption I made was that the client base of the Mission is entirely made up of homeless men riding Schwinn's with plastic bags full of empty pop cans. After all, when you drive down 8th St. that's what you see. However, as a quick scan of their web site will show, their client base and function is way bigger than a flop house for the homeless.

Hungry children, shattered families, and battered women are just a few of the many other constituencies that they serve. And my guess (although I have no data to back this up right now) is that those groups are going to be found in greater numbers in the west side than in the Country Club district. Locating this facility close to its main client base is probably pretty important in choosing a good location for it.

I'm still not sure about the wisdom of changing the street pattern in the neighborhood, but a good facility for an important social service provider is a good idea regardless.

NIMBY or what?

Now here is a thought provoking concept found in the letters to the editor today:

SIOUX CITY -- A friend suggested a possible site for the Gospel Mission. He said it should be perfect as it is large, has a cafeteria/kitchen, indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, and lots of grounds surrounding it. Not to mention compassionate, civic-minded neighbors. The old Hoover Junior at Hamilton and Country Club boulevards. -- Larry Johns

Lets see them argue this one out. All of the reasons for putting the Gospel Mission in the old HyVee sound pretty valid but then so does this one. One argument against the Hoover site might go like this "well, the client base for the Mission isn't from this neighborhood." But this begs the question that is the client base from the west side neighborhood of the current Mission? Isn't the client base of the Mission by definition homeless? Couldn't they just as easily hang out around the northside location of Hoover? Soon there will be a great bike trail along Perry Creek that they could ride their old drop handle Schwinn Varsitys on. Or does this concept expose this as a case of NIMBY?

Could it be that the planners of this proposed development have had their prejuidices exposed? "The westside is pretty far down the property tax scale and the clients of the gospel mission are pretty far down the socio-economic scale so they should go together just fine."

Or how about this concept: leave the mission where it is and bag the concept of a "Wesley Way connector". What's wrong with W. 8th Street anyway? No stop lights between W. 7th and Hamiliton, nice and wide, and tree lined already. A top coat of asphalt and that street is good to go for years. Oh, thats right, the city wants to redevelop that "corridor" into big box stores and strip malls a la Singing Hills Blvd. A build it and they will come kind of deal. Might be a good idea, and what the hell, the Feds are going to pay for a big chunk of it all so lets go ahead and tear down a bunch of occupied structures to build a parkway. Maybe they can get the same guy who built the guard wall on the completed section of the parkway to finish off the new end. Whoever it was did such a beautiful job there.

Bummer For Us All

Gateway falls from Fortune 500 list. Maybe they should never have left...??

Oh well, we've always got IBP, I mean Tyson, oh thats right, they're in Springdale.

But you know, even with the Fortune 500 exodus, this town is still kind of rockin'.
Unemployment is relativly low, city's credit rating solid, major public improvements have been made including most recently the kick ass climbing wall.

And in terms of retail, have you been by Lakeport Commons. Parking lot gridlock. And while you are waiting, take a look at where all the cars are from, almost hard to spot a Woodbury County plate.

Yet it still kind of sucks about Gateway.

Is this heaven?

As others have noted, so often that it is scary, Sioux Cityans are about to have their fondest wish granted; an Olive Garden is about to open. Our culinary dream come true.

Apparently however, folks in the big town (NYC) seem to feel that our dining experience isn't degraded by a dearth of places to go but by a lack of service. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/dining/29feed.html

The money quote:

"All New Yorkers hold restaurant grudges. When something goes really wrong, you say, "Hold it! Do I live in Sioux City or New York City? There are too many other places that seat me on time or actually serve the entree within an hour of the appetizer or where the noise isn't deafening. Forget this place.""

This seems to me to be the perfect example of what is wrong with journalism. A journalist , in an attempt to use a pithy literary device, uses Sioux City as an example of the polar oposite of New York City (I guess it's that they are both citys) to make her point about bad service.

Now if she was commenting on the cuisine: the quality of the food, the range of choice in styles, the overall spectrum of what makes a town a great place for eating out, she would have had a valid counter-point. However, by limiting it to a comparison of service, she is showing her uninformed prejuidice.

Gernerally speaking Sioux City's diners do get decent service. It may not be as polished as Le Bernadin or Masa, but skill in taking an order and delivering plates to the table is not always about being able to say mango foam without giggling.

This isn't to say that you can't get terrible service in Sioux City, you truly, astoundingly can. I've waited an hour for a California Roll in an empty sushi joint here.

But to imply that service is bad just 'cause this is the sticks demonstrates a massive arrogance. Bash on us for what IS substandard (and there is plenty). However, you might want to check your assumptions before you presume to comment in a journal that aspires to be the nations "paper of record". It kind of leads to an assumption of that ya'll are guilty of arrogant elitism by us cow town hicks out here in the heartland.

School Daze

Is it just me, or does it seems like the Sioux City Community School District can't go a whole week without having a day off or an early out?

And now they want to make it official; every Monday school will be dismissed an hour early for "teacher in-service". I realize that there is a pretty complex issue here, invovling teacher pay, continuing education, etc, etc, etc, but there is also the issue that you can't teach a kid who isn't in the classroom.

Tony Blair on America

What A Great Answer

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American sentiment and negativity about our government and its policies, we should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words to his own people.


During a recent interview, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain was asked by one of his parliament members as to why he believes so much in America. And does he think America is on the right track?



Blair's reply
"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in ... and how many want out."

The Museum - The City vs. Everyone Else

The location of a new Sioux City Public Museum has been a hot(?) topic over the past few months and will quickly come to a head with presentations of prospective locations rollin out in the next few weeks.  Two sites are on the table...the lot next to the Art Center and the old JC Penneys building. 

In general the Council and City staff are pushing the Art Center location, presumably because they are intrigued by a new building, "synergies" with the Art Center (read elimination of positions down to one director, less maintenance, etc), and possibly future "better" use of the Penneys building for some large employer (or something).  

Pretty much everyone else under the sun outside of City Hall prefers the Penneys Building.  Thanks to a proposed donation of 1/2 of the space by the building owner, the pricetag of this option is roughly half of the Art Center site.  Behind the scenes there appears to be almost no support for the Art Center site. Representatives of the Museum Board and the AC Board both have expressed lack of interest in the AC site.  Since nobody with a vested interest appears to be stepping up to endorse the new building, and since someone will have to raise the $ for the project, the city should drop the AC location post haste (unless they want to toss in $4-5 million to make it feasible - which they don't) and embrace the Penney's location, giving the Museum some things it desperately needs like a big breath of fresh air, the ability to raise some form of endowment, and its own identity (since the museum entity would undoubtedly be absorbed over time by the AC in the other scenario). 

One thought in closing for the City and Museum Board - please spend a lot of time pondering and planning the content of the new museum and please DON'T just lob it off to some overpriced consultant to deal with.  The content is key and needs to be unique and Sioux City, we don't need the same science center crap everyone else has (a recent comment by someone closely involved suggesting a recreated stockyards exhibit with smell-o-rama and maybe animatronic cows getting slaughtered has great merit as it is our history - the smell of $).  Content is king.

And please don't try to raise private funds ($1 mil?) to reopen 4th Street as part of this project and campaign.  Let the City pay for that..

Welcome

Welcome to the Sioux City Blog. We aren't really sure where this blog will go, but the intent is to have a forum for subjects relevant to the Sioux City, Siouxland, and the Northwest IA/Tri-State Areas that aren't normally covered in the main stream media. We hope it will become another community sounding board, and that a diverse audience will find it interesting and accessible. We also hope that it will have some impact, and also at times provide some fun. It should be interesting...a senior high level City official, when informed of the formation of the Sioux City Blog, instantly and spontaneously developed a panicked look on his face, prior to getting somewhat excited about the prospects. Let's see where it goes...