Iowa
updated
8:21 p.m.
Most everyone knows the story of how Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed. And sure enough, Peter, when asked if he knew Jesus, shook his head and exclaimed, “I did not know the man.” Something akin to that is happening in GOP land these days. People are furiously removing [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - 2:04 p.m.
The Iowa Attorney General's Office has advised the Iowa Department of Public Health that a married lesbian who gives birth cannot list her spouse on the child's birth certificate, according to Michael Gartner's must-read scathing commentary in this week's Cityview. Excerpt: [Attorney General Tom] Miller's lawyers based their advice on the fact that the decision made no direct reference to the ...
Bleeding Heartland - 9:40 a.m. - 2 clicks 
I’ve never been one to let the lack of knowledge stand in the way of an opinion. After all, speculation is a time honored pursuit. I would agree, that in some circumstances it might be prudent to announce before hand that one is engaging in the fancies of one’s own mind rather than relying on [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Sat 9:26 a.m.
Happy Independence Day to the Bleeding Heartland community! I'm hoping for dry weather today after rain soaked parade-goers in West Des Moines last night. How are you celebrating the holiday? Charles Lemos listens to the Broadway musical 1776 every year on the 4th of July. Sounds like a good tradition. Over at Slate, Troy Patterson made the case against fireworks . I enjoy big fireworks dis...
Bleeding Heartland - Sat 7:42 a.m.
I speak only for myself as a Top Comments diarist, but I am more than happy to lend my 2 Top Comments diaries this week to topics related to the environment. That said, I wanted to write about a more local issue tonight - we hear a lot about national issues and even state-specific issues, but we don't always hear about the good stuff that's going on locally. I thought I'd try to change that up a ...
DailyKos (Iowa) - Fri 11:24 p.m.
If you had asked me to guess which Republican governor would resign on the Friday before 4th of July weekend, I would have put money on Mark "I met my soul mate" Sanford of South Carolina. But surprisingly, it's Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who announced plans to resign without giving a coherent explanation . I haven't been right about everything , but I always knew John McCain did Democrats...
Bleeding Heartland - Fri 1:46 p.m.
The smoking rate among Iowans has delcined from 19% in 2007 to 14% in 2008. From Bleeding Heartland ... ...it's been a full year since the Iowa Smokefree Air Act went into effect. The public smoking ban was one of the most controversial bills considered during the 2008 legislative session, and advocates praised the law's success at a press conference this week. According to a recent Iowa De...
Century of the Common Iowan - Fri 11:22 a.m. - 5 clicks
An Iowa man, whose only previous encounter with the law was a 2006 operating-while-intoxicated conviction, was sentenced to the maximum allowed by state law for failing to disclose to a one-time intimate partner that he was HIV-positive. The case, which has not resulted in the one-time partner actually contracting HIV, has been used as evidence by some who say it's time that state criminal transmi...
Iowa Independent - Fri 10:27 a.m. - 5 clicks
A friend sent me an e-mail she received from the Iowa Farm Bureau. Excerpt: Mary Kay Thatcher, AFBF director of public policy, tells Agriculture Online that Farm Bureau doesn't anticipate the massive climate change bill passed by the House last week to pass the Senate this year. And the New York Times reported Tuesday that opposition from Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups threatens to k...
Bleeding Heartland - Fri 10:27 a.m. - 4 clicks
From time to time, I get asked the question: Why are you so against fundamentalists? Doesn’t this cut against your basic belief that people have a right to believe as they wish in terms of God? Goodness knows your particular conclusions are unique from mainstream ideas. And there is truth to that. I personally wouldn’t care [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Fri 10:02 a.m.
Iowa communities of all sizes will hold public celebrations of Independence Day this weekend. Most of the parades take place on July 4, but a few cities, such as West Des Moines, schedule a parade for the evening of July 3. As I wrote here a year ago , I encourage Bleeding Heartland readers to volunteer with your local Democrats on this holiday. Parades are a fun way to spend an hour or two with ...
Bleeding Heartland - Fri 8:08 a.m. - 7 clicks
I mentioned in this post that it's been a full year since the Iowa Smokefree Air Act went into effect. The public smoking ban was one of the most controversial bills considered during the 2008 legislative session, and advocates praised the law's success at a press conference this week. According to a recent Iowa Department of Public Health survey, 14 percent of Iowans smoke. In 2007, IDPH re...
Bleeding Heartland - Fri 12:41 a.m. - 8 clicks
Republicans are not being honest with Iowans about the state of the budget and have chosen to play politics instead of working to overcome challenging economic realities, Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday....
Iowa Independent - Thu 5:21 p.m. - 2 clicks
After attending the very touching groundbreaking ceremony with about 110 concerned folks at the new Shelter House location yesterday afternoon, I feel the need to convey some information that you may not know. As a "truth in advertising" statement, I was a Shelter House Board member until this past month. My opinions to follow do not represent the views of the Shelter House or its board members. ...
Popular Progressive - Thu 3:49 p.m.
Things have been busy in the Meadow for the last couple of days, and one thing that had to be put on hold was blogging. That’s getting more difficult to do, since I realize that I now think of myself as a “blogger.” Not as in, “what do you do most on your computer,” but more [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Thu 3:02 p.m.
Democrats and Republicans in the state capitol have drawn a line in the sand this summer over whether Gov. Chet Culver should call a special session of the legislature to balance Iowa’s budget, and the debate shows no signs of quieting down. The Iowa Constitution requires the state to balance its budget at the end of [...]...
Iowa Independent - Thu 12:02 p.m. - 9 clicks
Senator Chuck Grassley has been holding town-hall meetings around the state this week, and the Iowa Democratic Party highlighted a fun clip from his June 30 meeting in Waukon. A constituent wanted to know why his health insurance policy was so much more expensive than Grassley's, despite having less generous coverage. The senator advised the questioner to "go work for John Deere" if he wante...
Bleeding Heartland - Thu 12:01 p.m. - 7 clicks
Embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should resign, not only for the sake of his state but for his family, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats said in an interview with the Carroll Daily Times Herald. Sanford confessed last week to secretly traveling to Argentina to carry on an extramarital affair. “I think what it is [...]...
Iowa Independent - Thu 9:42 a.m. - 6 clicks
An Iowa sisterhood that developed out of shared grief has no interest in increasing its numbers. In fact, the five founding Iowa women are hard at work to decrease their prospective membership pool. Tiffan Yamen, Kate Safris, Janet Petersen, Jan Caruthers and Kerry Biondi-Morlan discovered one another in 2003 after each had experienced the death of an infant daughter, and their shared experiences...
Iowa Independent - Thu 9:42 a.m. - 9 clicks
Iowa's 2009 fiscal year ended on June 30, and if the Legislative Service Agency's projections are correct , net revenues will fall well short of what legislators anticipated when they approved the 2009 budget. The Legislative Service Agency puts the possible shortfall at $161 million , whereas Iowa's budget director Dick Oshlo says things don't look that bad: Total gross receipts for FY 2009...
Bleeding Heartland - Thu 9:41 a.m. - 11 clicks
Bob Krause, who is running for U.S. Senate next year against five-term incumbent Chuck Grassley, was in the news last week with some sensible comments about health care reform. He encouraged Grassley to demand higher reimbursement rates for Iowa health care providers in exchange for dropping his opposition to a public option in the Senate bill: Iowa ranks 49th in Medicare reimbursement, Krause...
Bleeding Heartland - Wed 8:01 p.m. - 12 clicks
Iowa could end the 2009 fiscal year with $161 million less in net revenues than expected, according to estimates by the Legislative Services Agency. That could force Gov. Chet Culver to call a special session to balance the budget....
Iowa Independent - Wed 2:01 p.m. - 3 clicks
In announcing his candidacy for governor, 32-year-old Christian Fong has managed to shake up an already contentious Republican battle to unseat Gov. Chet Culver. With no formal political experience, Fong’s positions on the issues are still a mystery to most voters. Unlike his GOP competition, who have endured numerous campaigns and been thoroughly vetted, Fong is [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 9:52 a.m. - 10 clicks
Gannett Co. Inc., parent company of The Des Moines Register, will eliminate between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs in the coming weeks, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The paper reports cuts will come from the U.S. Community Publishing division, which consists of more than 80 local dailies, citing an anonymous source within the [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 8:48 a.m.
In a previous report, The Iowa Independent detailed the criminal case of a Bremer County man who was charged and convicted to 25 years in prison under the state's criminal HIV transmission law. Although this case was by no means the first to be prosecuted under provisions of the statute some consider archaic, its details have provided a springboard for Iowa's launch into a larger national debate r...
Iowa Independent - Wed 8:48 a.m. - 2 clicks
July 1, 2009 is a big day: the 4,800 residents of Windsor Heights are no longer divided by three zip codes. It couldn't have happened without Congressman Leonard Boswell's legislative efforts last year , and that probably wouldn't have happened without Ed Fallon's primary challenge . (Note: WHO's Dave Price attended last night's event celebrating our new zip code .) Don't feel left out if yo...
Bleeding Heartland - Wed 7:13 a.m. - 8 clicks
UPDATE: The Des Moines Register reports that Franken will headline Senator Tom Harkin's steak fry on September 13. The 2008 elections finally ended today. Norm Coleman conceded the U.S. race in Minnesota following a unanimous state Supreme Court ruling in Al Franken's favor. Talking Points Memo posted their Top 10 moments from the mostly infuriating, sometimes comical Franken-Coleman saga ....
Bleeding Heartland - Tue 5:42 p.m. - 4 clicks
Christian Fong, a 32-year-old Cedar Rapids resident, announced Tuesday via Twitter that he will be a candidate for governor in 2010. Rumors of Fong’s impending candidacy had been circulating for weeks, but it was his appearance at the Republcian Party of Iowa’s “Night of the Rising Stars” event that kicked the gossip into overdrive. That night, [...]...
Iowa Independent - Tue 2:37 p.m. - 4 clicks
You know you wanna. I mean, it’s been too long without the Sarah fix hasn’t it? And who better to dish the dirt than Vanity Fair’s own Todd S. Purdum. Nobody does it better and just everybody reads Vanity’s exposes’ of the celebrity best. This one is actually very good. You’ll get lots of real insight into [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Tue 11:49 a.m.
June 29 was exactly 120 days since the federal government released highway funds to the states as part of the economic stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Smart Growth America marked the occasion by releasing a review on how wisely states are spending the transportation money . The 120-day mark is significant because it is the point by which states and territories are requ...
Bleeding Heartland - Tue 1:17 a.m. - 9 clicks
The I-JOBS Board met in Cedar Rapids today and awarded money for the first time, approving eight flood recovery projects worth $45.5 million. All of the projects are in Linn County except for $500,000 awarded to help the city of Elkader build a new fire station. More details are in this press release from the governor's office , which I have posted after the jump. Attacking the I-JOBS bonding pr...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 6:04 p.m. - 8 clicks
Michael Jackson is dead. Just in case you have been traveling the outer planets and missed the news. I don’t mean to be cruel or unfeeling by the way. He wrote some great songs, was a great dancer, was a superb showman. He was also filled with self-loathing which translated into some of the worst [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Mon 10:09 a.m.
The good news is, the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame event on Saturday night raised close to $200,000 , twice as much as the Republican Party of Iowa brought in with last Thursday's "Night of the Rising Stars." Even better, Democrats paid reasonable prices (starting at $35, I believe) for heavy hors d'oevres and a ticket to hear Tom Vilsack, Christie Vilsack and Sally Pederson. In contras...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 8:24 a.m. - 6 clicks
From HealthReform.Gov ... THE HEALTH CARE STATUS QUO: Why Iowa Needs Health Reform Congress and the President are working to enact health care reform legislation that protects what works about health care and fixes what is broken. Iowans know that inaction is not an option. Sky-rocketing health care costs are hurting families, forcing businesses to cut or drop health benefits, and strainin...
Century of the Common Iowan - Mon 2:48 a.m. - 6 clicks
I just had the perfect lunch: a big orange local tomato sliced with olive oil, fresh basil, Northern Prairie Chevre and a little salt. Since summer is the best time of year for salads, I thought I'd invite you to share your favorite recipes in this thread. What do you love to pour over a leafy green salad? We've been getting fantastic greens from One Step at a Time Gardens , and I keep making...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 2:48 a.m.
Today, the right-leaning news aggregator The Bean Walker ran a headline: THE CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF TODAY. The link and reference refer to a GOP fundraiser in Sac County this morning that brought together four likely candidates for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Those men are Rep. (and former Speaker of the House) Chris Rants of Sioux City; 2006 Lt. Governor candidate Bob Vander Plaats ...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 2:48 a.m. - 6 clicks
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued reports on Friday detailing the problems with the "health care status quo" across the country. You can find the reports at HealthReform.gov . The report for Iowa is here , and I've also posted it after the jump. Among other things, it shows the percent increase in family health insurance premiums since 2000 and the percentage of uninsu...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 2:48 a.m. - 4 clicks
Nothing is ever as easy as you think it will be, and when something is advertised as “easy” you really better watch out, because you’re really in for it. More about that in a minute. I’ve been going every week to work on the church library. We’ve been cataloging books. We now are working on thirteen [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Mon 2:48 a.m.
Sometimes when I read or listen to someone tell me why they no longer believe in God, or at least Christianity, I feel so very sad. Sad, because at least in my case, God continued to bug me even when I ignored him in my agnostic splendor. I’ve come up against a good many “issues” with [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Mon 2:48 a.m.
The Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) barely passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a 219-212 vote today. As you can see from the roll call , Iowa Democrats Bruce Braley (IA-01), Dave Loebsack (IA-02) and Leonard Boswell (IA-03) voted for the bill, while Republicans Tom Latham (IA-04) and Steve King (IA-05) voted against. King claimed ACES "could be the most col...
Bleeding Heartland - Jun 26 - 5 clicks
Here's a quote from Sen. Jay Rockerfeller (D-WV) about bipartisanship and health care reform... "But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health care plan? That is the choice." -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), quoted in the Charleston Gazette , expecting little Republican support in passing health care reform. Sen. Grassley, howev...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 26 - 4 clicks
Last night, as tributes to the late performer Michael Jackson covered mainstream media, I observed that the "man" was not the point of any talking heads' discussions. Michael Jackson the "brand" was. As a phenomenon, there are very few that can parallel Michael Jackson. He was arguably the most successful artist of his generation. In terms of record sales, Pepsi and other product endorsements, ...
Popular Progressive - Jun 26
All week I've been trying to decide what to write about the upcoming vote on HR 2454, the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). The U.S. House is scheduled to vote today, so I better not delay any longer. Some arguments for and against the bill are after the jump. Al Gore and most of the big environmental organizations are encouraging people to ask Congress to vote yes on...
Bleeding Heartland - Jun 26
The Des Moines Register announced yesterday that Kathie Obradovich will be the paper's new political columnist. Her first column will run this Sunday. Obradovich has covered Iowa politics for many years and been the Register's political editor since 2003. She replaces David Yepsen, who earlier this year left to become director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois Unive...
Bleeding Heartland - Jun 26 - 4 clicks
What a shockingly busy day it was yesterday for news. Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both die. I’m not good at talking about the “breaking news” first because I am not that quick on the button. Face it, you’re not here to get the latest news. I need time to synthesize things a bit, and [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 26
From University of Iowa Student President and current Sierra Club staffer Mark Kresowik: Friends, tomorrow a remarkable bill will be voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives. It's called the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), was drafted by Congressmen Waxman and Markey, with some excellent work by our own Congressman Braley, and would be the first time our U.S. Congress made ...
Popular Progressive - Jun 25 - 6 clicks
Here's a screenshot from Fox News's coverage yesterday of South Carolina Governor, Republican Mark Sanford's press conference. Sanford admitted to having an affair after going missing for 6 days when he was seeing his mistress in Argentina. Notice anything wrong with the with the ticker Fox News showed in this picture? ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 25
Okay, perhaps I have too much time on my hands. But this issue has been bugging me for a couple of years at least, and I have never had an answer from anyone. And I’m not particularly sure where to look anyway to find an answer, other than plowing through obvious tracts on brain physiology [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 25
We watched Edward Scissorhands the other night, and I was struck I think this time by issues I hadn’t thought of previously. As you no doubt recall, Edward, played by the wonderful Johnny Depp, (who is playing the Mad Hatter, I have just learned in the new “Alice in Wonderland,” by the eclectic Tim Burton) is [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 24
From Matthew Yglesias ... There’s a lot of political concern in Washington about public anxiety about budget deficits. Substantively, the public’s concerns don’t really make sense , as deficit-reduction amidst a severe recession will only make the recession more severe. But Stan Collender, whose deficit hawk credentials should not be in question, observes that the political problem ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 23
Sitting here in Iowa, even without knowing what is the unvarnished truth concerning the outcome of the Iranian presidential election, it is still hard not to speak about the obvious horrors going on within the borders of Iran. There are some points of clarity that can be seen even half a world away: - Brave people of conviction are marching by the thousands in Tehran, other Iranian cities, and in...
Popular Progressive - Jun 22 - 3 clicks
The weather here in Iowa is atrocious. What’ new? It’s sweltering here with humidity through the roof. To make matters so much worse, the monitor went out on the computer. So I’m hooked up to a 14 inch one, having to reconfigure everything, and most of it won’t work right. My reader now doesn’t allow me to [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 22 - 5 clicks
John Hodgeman spoke at the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner over the weekend and discects the culture of war of our time: jocks vs nerd. Hodgeman concludes that the Obama administration is the first nerd presidency. ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 22
The Des Moines Register wrote this editorial this morning about the merits of a public option. So how do you decide whether a public option for health insurance is a good idea? Ask people who already have it. And you won't have any trouble finding them. About one-third of Americans - nearly 100 million people - already use Medicare and Medicaid, which together cover seniors, the disabled and ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 21 - 3 clicks
If you are like me, you’ve been keeping a close eye on Iran, and the results of the last election. I at least, have remained measurably hopeful. I don’t suppose that is very realistic. A country that cheats as inelegantly as Tehran has done, probably is not likely to respond with a “my bad” when their [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 21
Matthew Yglesisas explains the paradox of health care reform that left must overcome... The big problem, politically speaking, with health care is that you basically have people on the left arguing both sides of the question. On the one hand, insofar as your plan is “big government” that’s left-wing. But insofar as your plan is expensive, that’s also left-wing. Which is because people normally t...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 21
I've been taking some time away from blogging because, let's face it, problems never really go away and everyone needs a chance to chill out. In my absence, the national health care debate rages on. Many people actually thought there was a national health care bill ready to go when President Obama was elected. Certainly his plan was shopped publicly when he was running for the office. But apparent...
Popular Progressive - Jun 20
Yesterday, State Rep. Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City) posted on Twitter that he plans to file exploratory committee papers so he can being raising money and officially campaign for the 2010 race for governor. Here's more from the Des Moines Register ... Rants, who has been meeting with GOP activists for months about a possible campaign, said he had met his early target for fundraising pledge...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 20 - 3 clicks
Today we continue in our series based on BEattitude’s post, “Losing my religion. Why I recently walked away from Christianity.” You can visit his blog by linking along the sidebar under the category “atheism.” I continue to post comments on his blog, not because his posts are particularly intriguing, but that he has a large following [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 20
Mother Nature seemed particularly mean-spirited this morning as she shook our little piece of paradise. I hadn’t been up long when the skies began to darken and Channel 9 kept interrupting GMA to show us a rather ugly band of storms headed our way. There was plenty of red in the storm, so we expected it [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 19
Sen. Grassley appeared on MSNBC today to discuss economic regulation where he said greed is human nature . And when asked if the banks are in any position to protest if they're not going to make as much money, Grassley comes back with this: Greed is human nature. We shouldn't blame greed any more than you'd blame gravity when a plane has an accident and goes down. I'm sorry Senator, but I th...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 19 - 2 clicks
Howard Dean has a petition online where you can send a letter to your Senators telling them to support a public option in health care reform. Sen. Grassley needs to hear from you. ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 19 - 6 clicks
I’m a mongrel, and frankly, I’ve never been very happy about that. I guess plenty of others are fine with being the product of the great “melting pot” but I rather yearned to be “something.” There are claims that on my father’s paternal at least, Scotland might figure, but I find the claim dubious. Rather, I [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 19
It wouldn’t be an issue that married Republican Senator John Ensign had an affair with a married woman, but for the fact that said Governor was also a “born-again” Christian and active in Promise Keepers. Isn’t it tiresome to see folks telling the rest of us how to be “moral” when they themselves are the worst [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 17
While trying to follow the GOP's line of argument against including a public option in health care reform, I found myself sniffing the rear end of Wile E. Coyote in an underground tunnel just outside of Alburquerque. Go figure. Scott Bateman: John McCain versus Health Care ...
Political Fallout - Jun 16 - 2 clicks
Image via Wikipedia Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will probably be a frequent visitor in Iowa over the next couple years. From Political Wire ... Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who has decided against running for a third term in 2010, "will spend the next two years traveling the country to see if he can build enough support to run for president in 2012," his associates ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 16 - 6 clicks
Oh it was a good Sunday past for me. Hope it was for you as well. A couple of things made it special for me. First of all, I was a chalice bearer for the first time. I had a fifteen minute training in all the issues that come up with serving the cup. I [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 16
Forgive me if this comes out somewhat disjointed. But in order to figure this out I need to set it down. It’s one of those living with the questions type things, and I don’t really expect an answer to be spit out so much as I want to finger the parameters of question. You see, I [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 15
The Des Moines Register published this story about the poor air quality in the state, saying that pollutant level are nearing federal limits, which would require the state to mandate costly improvements from bussinesses. The air across Iowa is so polluted that the state is perilously close to violating new federal limits aimed at protecting human health. Yet Iowans have no way of knowing what ch...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 15 - 5 clicks
John Yoo, who has written legal memo stating it is legal for the president crush a child's testicles , has been ordered to testify in court regarding torture and the Jose Padilla case. From Andrew Sullivan (via the NY Times)... Encouraging news - and just as encouraging, the NYT's linguistic shift: A federal judge has ruled that John Yoo , a former Bush administration lawyer who wrote cruc...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 14
In our first installment, we ended with the question: does this mean the bible is worthless? The answer is of course not. When we realize that sacred scripture is not God’s handbook of do’s and don’ts, but rather a reflection of ordinary people like ourselves on their walk with God, we are really to grow up [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 13
Last fall I read Tribes by Seth Godin . It is an inspriring book. This week Godin posted this video on his blog . My favorite part happens just before the first minute mark. That's when guy #3 joins the group. Before him, it was just a crazy dancing guy and then maybe one other crazy guy. But it's guy #3 who made it a movement. Initiators are rare indeed, but it's ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 13
From MyDD ... U.S. manufacturers spend more per hour on health care than their competitors in Canada, Japan and the UK combined. When the uninsured can't pay for doctor and hospital visits and have no where else to turn, the cost is shifted to those who have insurance coverage. ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 12
Okay, I got some splainin’ to do before I get to the point. Trust me, it helps to understand the context. So, we have rules in my household. I get up at 7:00 am each morning. I am not a happy person when I arise. I stumble to the kitchen and put water on to boil [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 12 - 2 clicks
I ran across an article in the NYTimes today, that caught my eye. (Isn’t that an odd remark though? I don’t want anything really to catch my eye. It sounds like it would hurt!) I digress again. The Times has an embedded gizmo that when you hover over a word, it hyperlinks it to the dictionary [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 11
What do you get when you take one criminally-indicted Democrat, one under ethics investigation and 30 power-hungry Republican state senators? A majority. This makes Texas politics look sane. Popular Progressive- Putting People First "Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people...
Popular Progressive - Jun 10
Apparently $11,764,705.88 per prisoner is the going rate for not allowing trials for Guantanamo prisoners to occur. Since the US Senate said "no" to housing detainees in the United States, the US plans to banish 17 Chinese Muslim captives from the Guantanamo Bay prison to the remote North Pacific archipelago of Palau (Palau comprises of a number of scattered islands over 500 miles east of the Phil...
Popular Progressive - Jun 10
From Rebuild Iowa Office RIO : Governor Chet Culver, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Congressman Dave Loebsack (IA-2) yesterday announced that Iowa will receive $516.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for disaster recovery. This brings Iowa’s funding from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to nearly $800 million to date. The f...
Popular Progressive - Jun 10 - 3 clicks
Given that the Iowa City Consolidated School District board of directors have elected to close Roosevelt school, here is a suggestion. Reopen it as an alternative learning center for those kids who are behind the learning curve . Educational research shows that kids who are behind by the third grade seldom catch up. If the children in the primary grades in the ICCSD who are falling behind had a...
Popular Progressive - Jun 10 - 4 clicks
I am a huge fan of Bart Ehrman’s, and have reviewed another of his books here, namely the NYTimes, best seller, Misquoting Jesus. He has, as they say, hit another one out of the ball park with his latest book, Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don’t Know About [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 10
I ran into a blog a few days ago, one that you can link to by following the sidebar link, or by following this one. The title of the post was “Losing my religion. Why I recently walked away from Christianity.” I read the post which listed twenty reasons why the poster, a “BEattitude” decided that [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 9
Despite the amount of time and effort that supporters for keeping Roosevelt School open have put into presenting a counter-argument, the alternative options that have been presented appear much more complicated than cracking open a fresh piece of ground and building a new, state-of-the-art school. From the school board's viewpoint, the benefits are numerous and include: - less disruption to studen...
Popular Progressive - Jun 9
Dear Senator Grassley: My monthly health insurance premiums are killing me, literally. I wish I was speaking hyperbolically. And no, I’m not a hypochondriac: Who could afford to these days with skyrocketing health care and insurance costs, especially in the midst of an economic crisis? One of my biggest fears, other than Congress sabotaging a golden opportunity to reform health care (If only ...
Political Fallout - Jun 9 - 4 clicks
MoveOn asked that bloggers like myself post this request: It's 2009. Democrats have ample majorities in both houses of Congress. President Obama campaigned on the promise to tackle climate change and boost our economy by investing in clean energy. So why on earth is Congress considering an energy bill that: - Would weaken current law, repealing President Obama's authority to crack down on di...
Popular Progressive - Jun 9
From Stateside Dispatch... With Iowa lawmakers facing not only fiscal problems similar to many states, but the need to pass flood and tornado recovery bills, lawmakers met both challenges by the end of the session. However, the rest of the agenda for progressives saw a mix of wins and losses, with most high profile reforms falling short, but many good progressive policies becoming law. And, th...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 9 - 4 clicks
I don’t know if anyone caught this, but our ol’ friend Steve Deace made a splash on the national news - for coming up with a justification for murder. “Maybe the fact that we have a lawless society that has not protected these babies from infanticide created the Scott Roeders of the world, who in very [...]...
Iowa Underground - Jun 8
Helllloooo there alien persons, or creatures, or whatever you might go by. I cannot tell from the anatomy whether you be girls or boys, but much bowing and welcoming gestures I convey. We have long awaited your presence on our little blue ball in the sky, in fact a few of us have been sure [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 8
The upcoming Iowa Arts Festival in Iowa City reminds me that during the Great Depression, artists were brought together to produce some of the greatest art of this or any century through the Works Projects Administration (WPA). Grant Woods' murals in the Iowa State University Parks Library stands magnificently, as do Edgar Britton's in Waterloo's public library. As I learn more of schools and un...
Popular Progressive - Jun 8
A new study says that Americans with health insurance pay $1,000 in a hidden tax to cover the health care of those who are uninsured. "I don't think anybody has any idea about how much they are paying because of the need to cover the health care costs of the uninsured," said Ron Pollack, the group's executive director. "This is a hidden tax on all insurance premiums, whether it is paid by bu...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8
Howard Dean says to forget bipartisanship on health care... "If Republicans want to shill for insurance companies, then we should do it with 51 votes." We need real health care reform that eases the economic burden off of businesses and helps our economy get back on track. ...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8
Kay Henderson from Radio Iowa is reporting that Jackie Norris has been replaced as Michelle Obama's Chief of Staff by one of the First Lady's long-time friends. According to news release issued late today by the White House , Jackie Norris will no longer work for the first lady, but instead will serve as senior advisor to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Norris met the Obamas...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8 - 3 clicks
Rep. Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City) is running for Governor even though he hasn't officially announced it. From the Sioux City Journal ... Republican state Rep. Christopher Rants said Wednesday he's edging closer to running for governor, saying the party wants someone who can bridge gaps between social and fiscal conservatives. "I think people realize that we need a candidate who has...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8 - 4 clicks
Ezra Klein makes a great point in a story at the Washington Post. ...most workers think stagnant wages mean their employer is paying them less. They don't know that the main reason for stagnant wages is that their wage increases are going to pay for their health insurance premiums. If they did -- if they realized that compensation is pretty much a zero-sum endeavor and their employers don...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8
Image by DopT via Flickr An agriculture expert spoke at Marshalltown Community College about the benefits of buying food locally . Ken Meter, President of Crossroads Resource Center based in Minnesota completed a study of food production in Marshall County. He discussed the potential economic benefits for the county of buying more food locally. He noted that, according to numbers from...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 8
Our new rector preached her first sermon to us today. I really liked it. It was of course about the Trinity. Now some Christians don’t believe in it, and one would be hard pressed to prove it by the Bible. But plenty do believe in it, and if it’s not actually true, well, God missed a [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 8
Everyone knows that you don’t watch Foxy Newsless for news. You watch it for comedy, and to discover just how well your favorite politico is doing. (Hint: the more Foxy pundits are yelling your guy is destroying America, the more progress he’s making toward your goal.) So I am confounded when I see polling that suggests [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 8
The logo at the left is also located as you can see at the top of the right hand sidebar with the title “Westminster Books” beneath. If you click on the name below the banner, you will be connected with Westminster Bookstore. That is great in and of itself since they have a lot to offer [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Jun 8
Iowa City has been a nuclear free zone, a free speech city, and hopefully a sanctuary city (if Father Rudy Juarez and other compassionate people have their way) where immigrant workers will not be hounded by the local police to do the work that ICE is responsible for to enforce antiquated federal law. As it stands, most of these workers are not taking jobs from hardworking Americans, but taking ...
Popular Progressive - Jun 2 - 3 clicks
So imagine you have a vaccine that needs to be refrigerated and you are in a place without electricity like sub-Saharan Africa. Check this out from Adam Grosser at TED . Popular Progressive- Putting People First "Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It's...
Popular Progressive - Jun 2
Marc Ambinder poses the question should Obama install Mitt Romney as GM's chairman. Obama has said The government can't hope to fix G.M. and sell it off without getting under the hood. Over decades now of restructuring plans at the company, two things have demonstrably not helped get much done: Money and time. The government can't simply give more of each to the automaker. What's needed is forc...
Century of the Common Iowan - Jun 2
