Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Nevermind that the first time U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley called for corrupt and inept corporate executives to create their own final exit was September 2008. Today, in the wake of a national buzz about his direct call for American International Group (AIG) executives to “resign or commit suicide,” Grassley has told several national media outlets that he was speaking rhetorically.
“I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” Grassley said during an interview with WMT Radio on Monday. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.
“And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.”
In interviews today with MSNBC and CNN, Grassley stopped short of apologizing for the statements, but did say that he believed most people understood he was speaking “rhetorically.”
“Of course I don’t want people to commit suicide,” the Iowa Republican said. “But I do want an attitude in corporate American that’s similar to what they have in corporate Japan.
“[In Japan], people that run a corporation into a ground have violated their trust with the stockholders and maybe even the taxpayers — they take a very deep bow, they apologize, they are remorseful, they are contrite, they take full responsibility,” he added. “We have not heard the sort of apology, remorsefulness, contrition, that we ought to hear from corporate executives in America assuming full responsibility.”
Although legislation in response to the AIG scandal is expected to come out of the Senate Finance Committee today or tomorrow, it is unlikely that Congress can stop bonuses being given to executives of companies that have taken bailout monies.
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