Winners

We said Gov. Chet Culver looked like Mr. Incredible [“Caught on Film,” March 29, 2007] and apparently members of a panel on Playboy Radio agree. During a discussion about former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal a “doability” rating of other governors arose and our “Big Lug” was ranked fourth in the nation behind “The Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calf.), Jeb Bush (Fla.) and Jennifer Granholm (Mich.). The timing of the ranking is perfect, as Culver gets ready to unleash his physique during the hot Iowa summer. The June issue of Playboy is on newsstands now.

The United States Senate was right in passing Senate Joint Resolution 28 last week, supporting the measure that would block the Federal Communications Commission from relaxing longstanding safeguards prohibiting a single company from owning both a daily newspaper and broadcast properties in the same community. The FCC adopted safeguards against newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership in 1975 to prevent any one company from becoming too dominant in local media markets. To put it simply, it would not allow newspapers like The Des Moines Register to also own a radio or television station in Des Moines. The rule was born out of concern that if a single company owned a major daily newspaper along with a television or radio station in the same community, it would control too much of the content local citizens receive, and create an unhealthy business atmosphere whereby that company would have anticompetitive leverage to strangle the advertising marketplace. Across the country, daily newspapers already enjoy a monopoly of 99 percent of local communities and the FCC’s deregulatory scheme would ultimately force what remains of independent local media to merge for their survival and in essence would challenge our country’s principle belief in a free press. The bill now goes to the House.

Bend it like Sharpe? Whitney Sharpe, a soccer player for Valley High School, was named Iowa’s Gatorade girls’ soccer player of the year for the second straight year. Sharpe has scored 54 goals, 32 assists and 140 points (all school records) thus far in her career. This season, she has scored 13 goals and 8 assists, leading the top-ranked Tigers (14-0) in Class 2-A. The Tigers are also ranked No. 19 in the nation, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Sharpe has been a member of three consecutive state championship teams and will head to California in the fall to play for UCLA.

Losers

Arwel Wynne Hughes, who was dressed as Darth Vader, was arrested in Holyhead, Wales, after assaulting the founders of a group calling itself the Jedi church. Hughes allegedly attacked the church founder and his cousin with a metal crutch, and the incident was caught on film. Hughes later claimed he didn’t remember the attack because he drank a 2-1/2 gallon box of wine beforehand. He was ordered to pay $195 to each victim — or about the cost of two droids.

It isn’t that we don’t appreciate the donations of old, rich white guys (even if they’re trying to pad their obituaries), or that we’re so naïve as to believe that sometimes their pet projects need a shot in the arm with some public money to make them a reality, i.e. the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. But if you are a small arts business or non-profit group that struggles to pay your bills to make Greater Des Moines a hipper place, while lawmakers ignore Iowa’s ranking as one of the worst per capita supporters of the arts, you might have a hard time swallowing the Vision Iowa board’s decision to give $1 million to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in the Western Gateway Park. Yes, we understand that is Vision Iowa’s role, but the real beef is with lawmakers who need to consider opening the coffers to support for-profit entities, too. The $1 million grant will help pay for some of the landscaping, lighting and security costs of the $30 million public art collection. Imagine what that money would do for a struggling concert series, theater venue or art gallery? Jim Cownie, who is leading the project, was quoted in the daily newspaper as saying; “This is a jaw-dropping, magnificent amenity for the people of Iowa and visitors to our capital city. The response from the community has been resounding.” Jaw-dropping? Maybe the first time. Resounding response? Doubtful. Remember that when you drive by the park to spend your money at a small business or function hosted by a non-profit arts group that doesn’t have nearly enough support from those old, rich white guys.

More than 12,000 people were killed last Tuesday when a powerful, three-minute-long earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck the middle of China. Officials say it was the worst quake to hit China in three decades. Most of the deaths occurred in Sichuan, though it rocked several small neighboring cities and tremors were felt as far away as Vietnam. In Beichuan, for example, 1,000 students and teachers were killed when their seven-story school building was destroyed. CV

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