The irony was clear. Earlier this month, Michael D. Elliott came in third place by one vote in the Third Ward primary for Davenport City Council.

Elliott ran for Scott County Auditor - the election administrator for the county - in 2008 on a platform that included election transparency and integrity, including a push for post-election audits. The recount he requested in the city primary gave him the opportunity to test the system.

The recount returned the same results, and Elliott said by e-mail that he was satisfied with the policies and procedures put in place by Auditor Roxanna Mortiz, who defeated him and Steve Ahrens last year: "The process was thorough and documented. Obviously the counts came out correctly. I was also there at one of the precincts to watch the poll be closed, so I pretty much got to see the entire process in action. I am very confident that the system works as it should. ... Moritz was very open and patient and did an excellent job throughout this small election. I'd say it was a good trial before our larger municipal election" next week.

Two-thirds of proposed state-worker layoffs spurred by a 10-percent, $565-million across-the-board budget cut would be in the Iowa Department of Corrections, but Governor Chet Culver -- who gets the final say on the cuts -- said he wants to mitigate that before the plans become final.

"I disagree with some recommendations that cut services to children and vulnerable adults, as well as in areas of public safety," Culver said. "These cuts have a very disproportionate impact on public safety, an area I vowed to protect. ... I want to find a way to mitigate that situation."

The leader of Iowa's largest union for state workers declined immediate comment on the proposed layoffs, saying that AFSCME Iowa Council 61 is still reviewing the plans released by the governor's office.

"We want to reiterate our expectation that going forward, the state of Iowa should treat this current situation the same as it would a major plant closing, and provide all appropriate support to workers who are being laid off that is available to them," said Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Iowa Council 61.

Underdog Democratic U.S. Senate candidate David Hoffman has a new poll that purports to show that he's in the hunt, but the camp of primary Democratic rival Alexi Giannoulias says there's no way the poll is accurate.

Hoffman's survey of 505 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted October 2 through 4 by Hart Research Associates. The initial head-to-head has state Treasurer Giannoulias leading with 18 percent, followed by Urban League President Cheryle Jackson at 7 percent and 5 percent for former Chicago Inspector General Hoffman.

The Giannoulias campaign, however, points to a poll it took July 28 through August 2 that had their guy at 45 percent, with 17 percent for Chris Kennedy and 13 percent for Jackson. No way, they say, could they be as low as Hoffman's poll shows.

Many of the decision-making processes we engage in require some degree of trust. Trust characterizes nearly every relationship under the sun -- whether husband-wife, parent-child, teacher-student, doctor-patient -- including legislator-voter/taxpayer and media-consumer. With regard to this week's cover story subject -- the H1N1 flu virus and its vaccines -- the decisions made by Americans to accept the professed need for widespread immunization and the safety of government-procured vaccinations is based almost entirely on trust. People who take the time to evaluate and consider the risk-to-benefit ratio of immunization against any virus find themselves asking, "Whom should I trust?" Many of us depend upon the media for our information on this subject. Unfortunately, the dominant mainstream media is no longer worthy of our trust, most especially in matters of life and death.

The media has proven its wholesale complicity in deliberate manipulation of information/news in favor of its own agenda(s) and, more importantly, in favor of its commercial interests. The H1N1-virus controversy is no different.