Iowa
updated
9:29 a.m.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Terry Branstad’s position on immigration “goes further than other GOP candidates” around the country, according to Politico reporter Carrie Budoff Brown. In an interview earlier this summer with WHO-AM’s Jan Mickelson, Branstad said a U.S. Supreme Court decision that mandated states provide access to public education to the children of illeg...
Iowa Independent - 8:20 a.m.
In the three months after the Gulf oil spill, BP allocated three times more to its advertising budget than it did in the same three months last year, according to data released Thursday by a congressional committee. According to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is conducting an investigation into the Gulf oil spill, BP [...]...
Iowa Independent - 7:06 a.m.
Ben Lange, the Republican hoping to unseat incumbent 1st District U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, released a web video Thursday attacking his Democratic opponent and distancing himself from attack ads paid for by a nonprofit conservative organization. Des Moines-based America Future Fund (AFF) released an ad last week alleging Braley supported building an Islamic cultural center two [...]...
Iowa Independent - 6:09 a.m. - 3 clicks 
AUDUBON — Democratic congressional candidate Matt Campbell of Manning Tuesday night renewed his challenge to opponent U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, to debate in a formal, televised setting — something King has not done with a balloted opponent since winning his seat in 2002....
Iowa Independent - 5:03 a.m. - 3 clicks
State Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, told The Des Moines Register Wednesday that he is planning to organize a boycott of any businesses who purchase advertising on Jan Mickelson’s WHO-AM radio program in response to remarks he made regarding homosexuality and AIDS. As first reported by The Iowa Independent, Mickelson said on the air that AIDS [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 1:45 p.m. - 3 clicks
The Iowa Corn Growers Assocation's political action committee announced its support for 66 Iowa candidates today. Unlike the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, which endorsed 64 Republicans and just three Democrats , the Corn Growers' PAC is supporting 33 candidates from each party. For the governor's race, the corn growers took the unusual step of endorsing both Governor Chet Culver and his Republic...
Bleeding Heartland - Wed 1:45 p.m. - 4 clicks
The Obama administration has said its immigration policies are working to keep out illegal immigrants, and a study released by the Pew Hispanic Center today confirms that illegal immigration is down. The study found about 11.1 million illegal immigrants were in the country in March 2009, down from a peak of 12 million in March [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 1:04 p.m.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Republican candidate in Iowa’s 2nd District, recently called on Democratic incumbent Dave Loebsack to join her in opposing a tax law change linked to health care reform — something his office reports he’s already voted to change. “Miller-Meeks should do her homework,” a Loebsack spokeswoman responded after reading Miller-Meek’s sta...
Iowa Independent - Wed 11:47 a.m. - 4 clicks
Federal agents have paid another unannounced visit to two Iowa egg producers currently embroiled in a voluntary recall of Salmonella-tainted product. Wright County Egg, owned and operated by the DeCoster family, and Hillandale Farms, owned and operated by Orland Bethel, have come under increased government scrutiny in the wake of a voluntary egg recall of more [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 10:06 a.m. - 4 clicks
Former House Speaker and likely presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich says U.S. courts are “as fully anti-religious as any institution in the Polish dictatorship, and our elite culture is as frightened of Christ and the cross as any secular group in past radical regimes.” U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley is up on the air with a response to [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 10:06 a.m.
A lot of the focus on campaign spending during this electoral cycle has centered on outside conservative groups, partly because they are new and partly because they’ve announced they’ll raise and spend so much. Democratic-leaning independent groups, however, once dominated the game of using the tax code in novel ways to set up outside groups aiming [...]...
Iowa Independent - Wed 8:28 a.m.
President Barack Obama gave a televised address last night to announce the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. I didn't watch the speech, but I read the full transcript and posted it after the jump. Several commentators have noted that Obama did not declare victory in the speech, but he certainly put a positive spin on our foreign adventures. The gist was that he's kept his promise to end th...
Bleeding Heartland - Wed 6:26 a.m.
In 2008, supporters of Democratic Congressional candidate Rob Hubler donned chicken suits outside some of Representative Steve King's events, to highlight the incumbent's refusal to debate. At that time, King's excuse was that the League of Women Voters and Sioux City Journal would not provide "neutral" forums. He cited the Journal's alleged "attacks" on his character, perhaps referring to a ...
Bleeding Heartland - Tue 9:42 a.m. - 9 clicks
In the area of theology, the two that most interest me have always been liberation theology and feminist theology. I was so excited when New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views, appeared on my new book list. I am deeply indebted to SkyLight Paths Publishing, and Jennifer Rataj specifically, for sending me a copy for [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Tue 9:04 a.m.
Representative Bruce Braley's re-election campaign started running its first television commercial of the year Monday evening in the Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities markets. The ad responds to the misleading hit piece the American Future Fund began running in the same markets last week. The conservative group's commercial claimed Braley "supports" building a mosque at the site of the World Trade Ce...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 7:44 p.m. - 7 clicks
Representative Leonard Boswell's campaign held a press conference this morning to announce an endorsement from Mark Rees, who finished fourth in the seven-way Republican primary in Iowa's third Congressional district. Rees positioned himself as a moderate and mostly self-funded his campaign. He only won about 4 percent of the GOP primary votes . From a Boswell campaign press release: "Boswell...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 3:22 p.m. - 9 clicks
When the American Future Fund announced plans to wage a "six-figure" campaign against Representative Bruce Braley (D, IA-01), I figured low blows were on the way. After all, this 501(c)4 organization got off the ground with the help of some of the country's most notorious Republican media consultants . In 2008, the group ran misleading ads against many Democrats. The first salvo against Braley...
Bleeding Heartland - Mon 2:02 p.m.
Most of us were subjected to the annoyance of Beck and his Whitestock picnic on Saturday. Estimates ranged from the wild-eyed Michele Bachmann’s 1 million and Foxy Propaganda’s 500,000 to the more realistic and scientific CBS’s aerial photo estimates taken at the height of the love fest, numbered at 87,000 ± 9,000. Some attendees, upon [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Mon 10:20 a.m.
Iowa school districts are able to hire back more teachers as the academic year begins, thanks to the fiscal aid Congress approved earlier this month. That's the bill Terry Branstad avoided talking about for weeks , before finally admitting that he opposed extra federal money to support state education and Medicaid budgets . Republican governors who aren't in campaign mode understand how foolish ...
Bleeding Heartland - Sun 8:48 a.m. - 9 clicks
If you're a gardener or subscriber to a community-supported agriculture farm, you probably have an abundance of zucchini or other summer squash. The classic Fifty Ways to Cook Everything by Andrew Schloss and Ken Bookman has a whole chapter on zucchini. They start with a "basic zucchini mixture" that you are supposed to cook and freeze in 1-cup or 2-cup amounts, for use later in a variety of dis...
Bleeding Heartland - Sat 2:03 p.m.
I’m often befuddled by why the certain scriptures are joined together in the daily and Sunday readings. I often do not see the fit. Today, for better or worse, I do. Beware: I know not what this may mean. Either I’ve been enlightened, or what passes next will be worthless. In the first reading, Paul [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Sat 9:27 a.m. - 2 clicks
Coming off its worst week yet, Brad Zaun's campaign is hyping a new poll showing him leading seven-term Representative Leonard Boswell by 51 percent to 41 percent in Iowa's third district. The poll was commissioned by former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman's American Action Forum, and taken by Republican pollster Ayres, McHenry & Associates. The poll was in the field from August 16 through 18, before a...
Bleeding Heartland - Fri 10:05 a.m. - 12 clicks
Okay, so life has been a little stressful lately. Well, a lot stressful. It may surprise you, but when two people live together 24/7, it can get a bit dicey sometimes. Love can only take you so far ya know. At the center of our misery is the Bronco. A full week and nearly one-half [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Fri 8:47 a.m. - 2 clicks
The Sierra Club published its fourth annual "Cool Schools" report , which seeks to identify the greenest college campuses in the country. Researchers sent detailed questionnaires about sustainability programs to 900 colleges and universities, of which 162 responded. None of Iowa's state universities returned the Sierra Club's survey, and only two of the state's private colleges participated. The ...
Bleeding Heartland - Thu 7:23 p.m. - 8 clicks
The Environmental Integrity Project released a detailed report today on coal ash contamination in 21 states, including Iowa: Days before the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) kicks off a series of regional hearings across the United States on whether and how to regulate toxic coal ash waste from coal-fired power plants, a major new study identifies 39 additional coal-ash dump sites in...
Bleeding Heartland - Thu 10:08 a.m. - 5 clicks
The Federal Emergency Management Agency decided this week against providing federal funds to rebuild the Lake Delhi dam in northeast Iowa after last month's catastrophic breach: A written analysis by FEMA officials said the Lake Delhi Recreation Association is a private, non-profit association formed to provide recreational services. "The applicant does not provide any essential governmental ...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 26 - 7 clicks
My opinion of John Sydney McCain, admittedly, couldn’t be a lot lower. Once a reasonable man,who appeared to stand forth with principles intact, party-be-damned, he was a bright spot in the GOP firmament. All things changed for me, when I saw the lengths he was willing to go to gain the White House. In a [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 25 - 2 clicks
Last week the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation endorsed 67 candidates it views as "Friends of Agriculture." Only three Democrats, all incumbents, made this list: State Representative Geri Huser, State Senator Dennis Black, and State Senator Rich Olive. Huser is in the corporate-friendly "six-pack" of Iowa House Democrats, and her race in House district 42 isn't expected to be competitive. Black isn't...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 25 - 8 clicks
Catching up on some news from last week, I see former First Lady Christie Vilsack not so subtly suggested that Leonard Boswell should be ready to step down from Congress in 2012: Vilsack said during an interview at the Iowa State Fair that she is considering "other options" like running for congress. "I just turned 60, so timing is important - political timing as well as personal timing," she...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 24 - 8 clicks
Since I was about 15, I’ve seldom been without a pet. Mostly dogs, but I added cats to the mix quite a few years ago, and find them just as endearing. I also hate pets. Cats seem to spend their days looking for new places to throw up. It’s especially nice to step in in [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 24
Iowa's Republican National Committeewoman Kim Lehman stood by her false assertion about President Barack Obama's faith yesterday. As Bleeding Heartland discussed here , Lehman claimed last week that Obama "personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim. Read his lips." Sam Stein of the Huffington Post asked Lehman to clarify and got this response: "I was watching television when he was over ...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 24 - 6 clicks
Following up on my post about a very bad week for Brad Zaun's campaign , here's a piece by Civic Skinny with more details on Zaun's unpaid bills : According to Polk County District Court records, Republican Zaun ignored for years - until he decided to run for Congress - bills for $1,070.77 from Iowa Health Des Moines and $50.66 from Radiology PC. He was sued in March of 2005 and failed to appe...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 23 - 4 clicks
There is a new blogger named Ben who has a blog called 65-BitSarcasm. He’d a dude obviously and I think a young one–meaning he is probably under 30. He is amusing, and I found him through Cappy at Writer’s Block, which I find most amusing. Anyway, Ben wrote about seeing Eat, Pray, Love, the new [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 23
I was reading an article in the Boston Globe today, realized that I had never really talked much about how the Contrarian and I met and married. We first met via the Internet, a process that now comprises something like 22% of all heterosexual relationships. In our case, it was not via such things as [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 22 - 2 clicks
You come across the strangest things on Twitter sometimes: Yes, it's delusional to believe Politico is in the game to "protect" Barack Obama, but for now I'm more interested in Republican National Committeewoman Kim Lehman's claim that the president is Muslim. Presumably she was responding to Tim Grieve's August 19 report for Politico on the latest Pew survey about the president's religio...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 22 - 8 clicks
This thread is for anything on your mind this weekend. Anyone volunteered for an Iowa Democratic candidate lately? In honor of the Iowa State Fair, with its multitude of cooking competitions, I want to hear Bleeding Heartland readers' favorite ways to cook Iowa sweet corn. I don't ever get tired of eating plain old corn on the cob: shuck corn just before cooking, while bringing a pot of water to ...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 21 - 8 clicks
The truth is, I believe in dressing well, even for a day at the computer. As you can see, even a hat is de rigueur in my world. I went on yesterday about veiled conspiracies to subvert the economic recovery by corporations (banks and otherwise), giving up short-term gains to insure a Republican victory this [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 21
When Congress passed $26 billion in fiscal aid to the states, including $96.5 million in education funding and $128 million in Medicaid assistance for Iowa, Republican gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad avoided commenting on the issue. Scott Keyes of Think Progress was in Iowa recently and got Branstad to speak on the record about the issue. Click the link for the audio and the full transc...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 20 - 4 clicks
The Democratic National Committee voted today to keep the Iowa caucuses the first presidential nominating contest in 2012, according to Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Norm Sterzenbach , who's attending the DNC meeting. I'll update this post with more details as they become available. In July, the DNC Rules Committee approved the following calendar : Iowa caucuses on February 6, 2012;...
Bleeding Heartland - Aug 20 - 6 clicks
The late not so great US of A. The country that turned into a corporation and had a revolving door boardroom of like-seeing people. Total dedication to pursuit of the almighty dollar. Giving lip-service to the Christian right, purged of it’s bothersome ethnic, religious, and racial minorities. Imploding in a last gasp internal war between [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 20
Some days I wake up and taste the morning sunshine with my tongue. Okay, that was pretty figurative, but I’ve learned to test the waters before I open my eyes fully. Most days, as thoughts begin to stream into my consciousness (damn consciousness!), I decide I would prefer to remain unknowing. Yesterday proved to be [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 19
If you’ve hung out here for a long time, you know that I have some issues with “how are my stats?” I don’t think of that as a laudable thing, I really shouldn’t care. Blogs are supposed to be about what interests us, and damn anyone who doesn’t care. Yet, for a good long while, [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 18
And you thought I lived in rural Iowa! HA! Well, I do drop in now and then, mostly to rub elbows with the little people and remember what it’s like to be poor. Humbles me you know. Mostly, more and more that is, I live here. In my mansion, in Hawaii. Where it is sunny [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 17
I confess this news is a tad old, but only in some cases a few days. I’ve had other issues I wanted to attend to, and frankly I’ve been preoccupied. We are not getting DSL. We live in some kind of hell zone which cannot be reached. Truthfully, I expected it, and only let in [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 16
Hatred and bigotry have had an illustrious career in America. It did not originate here of course, earliest man soon found an angry god to blame for snow storms and drought. But American has certainly refined the concept better than most places in the world, if only because we have been oh so willing to [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 15
Of the 4,272 things wrong with the Tea Party movement, thing #235 is most egregious I suspect. It is the fact that individual “members” actually think that they are part of some grassroots movement and that this proves that they are smart enough, should be in charge of public policy. It is so well documented [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 14
We have been trying to keep Fridays a rant free zone. Usually we include a lot of humor. Today it’s a bit different. Paul Tillich is a superb theologian with broad credentials. In two books, The Shaking of the Foundations and The New Being, he collects some of his sermons upon request. I read [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 13
Things are quite bad here in Iowa. Rains continue at the rate of 4-5 days a week. We have gotten here an additional three inches plus in the last few days. It did not rain yesterday, nor is it supposed to today. Friday, more rain. In northern and western Iowa and in Des Moines, the [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 12
It used to be that to call someone a Neandertal, was to hurl a telling insult. You basically were saying, your kinda dumb, kinda out of touch with the world, and kinda doomed to extinction. No more. What I love most about science is it’s lack of certainty. Nothing is ever written in stone, but [...] ...
A Feather Adrift - Aug 11
So, come election day, I will get to vote here in Alexandria, VA - my new home. I was checking out the Alexandria voter registration site (because I'm a political dork, and that how I roll), and found out the following. 1. Alexandria has an electronic voting system (new to me - I was always an opti-scan voter in Iowa). 2. Virginia law requires you to produce a valid ID or sign an a...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/business/13auto.html?hp=&a Well, the "leaders" in the Senate decided not to bailout the Big Three. It is interesting to note that the White House and the Democratic leadership supported the bailout, but Republicans did not. We seem to be experiencing some weird ideological reverse-polarity here. While in the article, Re...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
You have now been elected to the toughest job on the planet. You have an uphill battle ahead of you, but the people have given you a chance. It is my sincere hope that you, and be extension, we, succeed. ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Fun on a bun! "While the nation debates the cost of climate change -- whether the price of electricity and gasoline should increase because of their greenhouse gas emissions -- the problem already has a price tag on the Chesapeake Bay. Sea levels are rising almost twice as fast in the Chesapeake region as in most of the world, and waterside communities are spending millions to keep the w...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Just for the record, I have no problem with Obama smoking the occasional cigarette. And now, on with our regularly scheduled day....
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Hello fellow voters! If you are voting on a touch-screen type machine, there were concerns in 2004, 2006, and now in 2008 about vote-flipping. What is vote-flipping? It is where you touch the portion of the screen for candidate X, but your vote flips over and it appears that you touched the screen to indicate candidate Y. Poor screen calibration, or malicious tampering can be the culprit. Your r...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
No, it's not my new porn-star name. It's rainy here in Virginia. April is the rainiest month they have, according to my wife. However, I've noticed something strange about the rain here. Whether it is a light right, or a driving downpour, there is always a mist that is coming down too. Weird. Perhaps Cthulhu related?...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/04/07/amer Good news on the economic front - consumers are reducing credit card debt. Bad news is that the Federal Reserve is still focused far too closely on artificially inflating demand by keeping interest rates too low for too long. This is what started the housing bubble that got us into this mess in the ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Interesting article from a long standing Republican operative, Ed Rollins (political director for Ronald Reagan, campaign manager for Mike Huckabee). My $0.02 worth: Obama has been masterful at the following campaign techniques: 1. Talking values more than policy ( most voters want to hear about values - only a minority want to hear about policy ). 2. Consistent delivery of campaign messages. 3....
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Cross-posted at http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2008/10/09/2012-presidential- 2012 Presidential Race October 9th, 2008 · Well, it’s never to early to start talking about the next Presidential Race. I’d like this to be sort of an open thread - letting people give their opinions about what traits or abilities we would like to see in our next presidential c...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04 From the picture of Ms Applebaum, I would put her in the 35-50 year old age catagory. This implies that she might recall living during the cold war, when the US, Britain, USSR, China, and France all had nuclear weapons on hair-trigger launch mode. On several occasions, we came perilously close to nuclear war...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Now that the election is over, I can review the truth about the upcoming Obama administration. Ok....not really, but the video is really funny!!!! http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_new_world_orde ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Indiana Jones, the American film icon. Nerdy archaeology professor and swashbuckling adventurer tough-guy, all rolled into one, and played by Harrison Ford. The question is: Are you Indiana Jones? If you are Harrison Ford, or some other buff guy, the answer is yes, you could be Indiana Jones. However, if you are a middle aged, doughy office worker taking the bus to the metro, the answer ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
I get campaign emails from the McPalin campaign. Why? I enjoy discomfort and cringing. Very life affirming. Anyhow - I enjoy the disclaimer at the bottom of each email the contains a fundraising plea to help defeat the "librul" media: "Because the McCain-Palin Campaign is participating in the presidential public funding system, it may not receive contributions for...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
As my first semester in grad school draws to a close, it is time for a bit of reflection. This first semester has been a real eye-opener, and a test. It has been an eye-opener in that so far, grad school seems a lot like my undergraduate experience, at least as far as schoolwork and level of instruction are concerned. While I remain cautiously optimistic about the caliber of future courses, ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2009/04/16/georgia-sen http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gov-perry-talks-success Well well, aren't the rednecks feeling their oats with all this "We lost the election because our ideas suck and so we're going to leave the union" jibber jabber? On the one ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Sadly, Michael Scheuer, author of this article in the Washington Post , does not seem to understand this. What is even more tragic is that his biographic info attached to the article reads: " Michael Scheuer, the chief of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999, is the author of "Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq." A summary of the article is this:&...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Great article in the Christian Science Monitor about Australia's proposed military buildup. Looks like its two greatest rivals are the worlds largest democracy, India, and the worlds largest communist capitalist dictatorship, China. Perhaps the old theories are right about balance of power relations being independent of ideology and styles of government? Of course, the opposition in Austral...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articl Ah, the BS is starting here locally. The area in question is heavily african-american.......but I'm sure that is just a coincidence. ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Introducing a new blog - Politics with Bex and Rizzo! Hello readers (all 4 of you!). You may have noticed a new blog in my list o' links. If not, please take some time to read Politics with Bex and Rizzo, which is a collaborative effort between Rebecca "Bex" Young and John Rizzo, two of my fellow students in the Graduate School of Political Management here at GWU. I ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Joe the Plumber got a lot of press for complaining to Obama that he couldn't buy his plumbing business because of the planned increase in the top personal income tax bracket from 36% to 39% From Wikipedia 'In the United States, the top marginal federal corporate rate for income over $18.3 million is 35% (it can be as low as 15% for income under $50,000). Most states also tax co...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Economic Investment ideas from the Green Party: From: http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=152 Greens offer six big steps for economic recovery GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org For Immediate Release: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
Poor McCain. I really feel sorry for him. In 2000, he ran contrary to his own party on some issues, and his own party eviscerated him for it. Karl Rove, via the Bush 2000 republican primary, pulled out one attack after another, destroying McCain's chances to be the Republican nominee that year. McCain then steadily moves closer and closer to Bush and his right-wing power base, just in time ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
One of the fathers of the modern conservative movement, had this to say about elections and related issues. This pretty much tells you all you need to know about the right wing in America, and what we are up against. ...
Towards a Green Future - Aug 10
This is a near quote of Michael Pollan on NPR’s Fresh Air this week: There is a real issue of perception of elitism, and it is one of ironies of our society that junk food being sold by multinational corporations like McDonalds and Kraft appears to be populist, and food grown by struggling, scrupulous farmers [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10
Everyone should know by now that Barack Obama is not a Socialist, not even close--c'mon look at the definition of the word. Socialism: An "economic, social and political doctrine which expresses the struggle for the equal distribution of wealth by eliminating private property and the exploitative ruling class. In practice, such a distribution of wealth is achieved by social ownership of the means...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
I’ve only been through Magnolia, Iowa once or twice, and I don’t know much about the town. Though, what I do know reveals a story all to common in the Midwest and Great Plains. Located in Harrison County in far Western Iowa, the population of the area reached its peak over 100 years ago, a [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10 - 2 clicks
Iowa City residents are rightly concerned that affordable housing policy changes could affect the quality of life in our community. Ironically, most concerns are founded on a misguided belief that balanced mixed income/housing stock neighborhoods are detrimental to overall quality of life. This in the absence of state and national data that support such reasoning. However, by inaction, de facto h...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
It appears from the conversations and so on that I've had with people who attended the Democratic and Republican Party district conventions that some didn't feel very well respected. Been there, done that. Political parties by their natures are fairly incestuous and are not really looking for new ideas, but rather new ways to sell the ideas they already have. Let's talk about you and me. Most peo...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
The issue of what to do about panhandling and other annoyances on the Ped Mall in Iowa City will likely to come to a head tonight with a group of ICCI and FAIR! members asking the city council to delay a vote on the issue citing a lack of data to make the decision. Council member Terry Dickens has largely led the charge for the Downtown Assocation (DTA) to make panhandlers, musicians and others to...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
I had the following oped published in today’s Des Moines Register: Livestock pollution turns off young Iowans BRIAN DEPEW, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER I recently returned from a visit to my family’s farm. While there, I was dismayed to learn that three more livestock confinement buildings are being built within 2 miles. Once complete, there will be 13 [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10 - 4 clicks
If you are a family farm pork producer, your action is needed before January 2. The USDA (under the cover of Christmas) is asking pork producers if they want to vote on the pork checkoff. If 15% of producers request it, a vote will be held within one year. You can read more here. The form producers [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10
My little brother sent me the below photo of our family farm this evening. He found it online at an aerial map service. I remember the aerial photo of my family’s farm that my grandparents used to have hanging on their wall. They paid an aerial photographer for it. Apparently such expensive endeavors are no longer [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10
Where we have arrived as a nation is a disdain for the Government we have elected, appointed, and volunteered to be a part of. But really, is it in lousier shape than say during the Civil War? In reality, the times we are now are experiencing is a lack of cohesiveness about national identity. Resistance to taxes, the belief that the government is creating more problems than it is solving and so on...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Guest Post by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin In the last few weeks I’ve traveled to over 26 cities and towns all over Iowa to meet face to face with residents and listen to their hopes, their concerns, and their feedback on the 2007 farm bill, which will strengthen investment and economic opportunities for our rural communities [...]...
Rural Populist - Aug 10
Image via Wikipedia Dear President Obama, You promised change and you have begun to deliver on that promise. By signing the Health Care bill, you have given people who have gone without health insurance the opportunity to be healthier and those who have been ill, the ability to once again have access to care without the onus of becoming bankrupt. And these are good steps. Harry Truman be...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
I attended last night's City Council meeting and it brought out a new understanding of how Iowa City's "diverse" downtown commercial interests are ruling the roost in Iowa City . In discussing the second reading of a more stringent ordinance to limit panhandling on the Ped Mall , the majority of city council members pooh-poohed 1st amendment concerns in supporting the ordinance, the curren...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
While glancing at the mirror the other day, I had the feeling that my hairline and the current state of American politics have a lot in common: hairy on both sides and empty down the middle. Yeah!--Huh? Follow along. The real Left and real Right are angry and looking for leadership to help them coallesce. In the meantime, like my hair, they fire shots across the bow of each other. The central poi...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
While out of state in Ohio this past weekend, I felt badly for missing Gov. Culver's visit to the Hamburg Inn for a chat with The People. Having not supported the Big Lug when he ran against Ed Fallon in the last go round, I am not particularly surprised at the way his first term has gone. When I attended the Labor Day picnic and watched him spend most of his time pitching E-85 to members of local...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
I'm not sure this is news, but Americans love their freedom of speech--mostly as it applies to criticizing others. Whether the criticism is for the President for choosing to appear on the View or the mayor for a quote he made, people online and "live" are all over it. Modern media probably couldn't exist without it and certainly is encouraging of it. Still, is it that people are afraid that th...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Uncle Sam's New Improved Economic Bailout Plan: Just add more tax $$$ (drowning CEOs sold separately) Looks like it’s politics-as-usual over at David Letterman’s Online Top Ten Contest Headquarters. The Paul Blart Mall Cop lobby has influenced this week’s winning entries once again by sleeping outside of its Hollywood caste and slummin’ with the independent film “Slumdog Millionaire.” Paul ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
The following information comes from Bill Hawthorne, Public Outreach Assistant at the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness Center. If you know anyone who has been affected by Mesothelioma, it is very expensive to afford the treatment because research has not found a cure for this type of cancer. My thanks to Bill and his organization. Health Care Reform Will Help Everybody Many Americans assum...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Satirists' Battlecry for past 8 years: "Speak, Bush, speak..." While Tuesday’s changing-of-the-presidential guard was billed as a day of Hope for most people, there was a melancholic ripple in the satiric force. Satirists, who could always depend on the former President George W. Bush to feed their muse in times of desperation, had their satiric crutches pulled out from beneath them with Bus...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Upon the heels of Easter weekend and the celebration of the resurrection of God’s only child, Jesus Christ, the Religious Right (alias GOP) grabbed their pitchforks and stormed the Iowa State Capitol Monday demanding that the Democratic majority put forward a bill that would change the Iowa Constitution by redefining marriage “between a man and a woman.” This begs the question: W.W.J.D.? Desp...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
When I think of teabagging, I can’t help but think about John Waters’ “Pecker.” I was first exposed to teabagging while watching John Waters’ “Pecker” on the big screen in 1998. The film’s protagonist, Pecker, a Baltimore sandwich employee becomes an overnight success when pictures of his eccentric family become the new rage in the modern art world. During a scene in a gay bar, Pecker whips out h...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Shirley Sherrod, the USDA employee who was summarily fired last week, as it turns out, is everything that America should embrace. She has overcome her own personal barriers and prejudices to help small farmers be protected by those that would take their land, regardless of color. Yet, this week, as Keith Olbermann nicely summarized was "thrown under the bus" by the Obama administration, t...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
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 - Aug 10
This is the fifth year or so that I've marched with my fellow Unitarian Universalist church members in in the Iowa City Pride Festival. This particular year, the parade was both eye opening and anger provoking. Perhaps because it is an election year, the turnout of Democrats running for office was very noticeable. Also noticeable were the outpouring of religious right folks who numbered around t...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Below is the transcription from the 5/10 Iowa City Council meeting which included a second consideration of an " aggressive solicitation " ordinance modification, the details of which can be found here . ITEM 18. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 8, ENTITLED "POLICE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 5, ENTITLED "MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES," SECTION 2, ENTITLED "AGGRESSIVE PANHANDLING," TO PROHIBIT SOLICITING...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
My favorite 4-letter F-word is, you guessed it: FREE. Despite the cautionary advice that “nothing is free” or “you can’t get something for nothing,” I’m a sucker for free stuff. What can I say, I’m a public school teacher, and I know better than to jump into the middle of a rabid teacher scrum when post-it pads are at stake. If anyone has mastered giving away free stuff with an invisible pric...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Al Franken said it best when addressing the Netroots Nation, " I know progressives are frustrated...because it feels at times not everyone in our party is pushing at the same pace." Al's absolutely right, it isn't even closer to the direction that many in the progressive movement thought that the 2008 election outcome would propel us. So far many things, from healthcare, the environment and globa...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
This week “The Stimulus Plan Dating Game” hits the Senate floor for another rousing round of monetary courtship between We the Taxpayers and our three contestants, who are vying to lay claim to the Taxpayer’s Mega- Jackpot. Before we begin, let’s meet our three contestants: Contestant No. 1: Like most American Taxpayers, Contestant No. 1 started his illustrious career with good intentions, ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Surprise, surprise: I've launched yet another blog, " Confessions of a Cold War Veteran ." Part memoir, part humor/satire, part pop-culture, and like our government's annual budget -- 50 percent Military Industrial Complex. Delay cadence/Count cadence/Delay cadence/Count! One!... I confess, dear Civilian, I am not a Catholic nor am I a war veteran, rather I am a veteran of the Cold Wa...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
PRESS CONFERENCE: FREE SPEECH ON THE PED MALL Iowa City, IA – On June 1, 2010, Iowa City Council will be considering a third reading to reduce the free speech zone of the Ped Mall to appease business interests that lobbied its members. We find this to be abhorrent to the 1st amendment Rights of all Iowa Citians and ask the City Council to reconsider passing this ordinance. On June 1st at 6:30 pm...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10 - 2 clicks
Primaries for me are difficult to generate excitement over, but this one is interesting on a couple of fronts. Locally. Janelle Rettig's "re-election" is an easy choice. She's doing a great job and has earned the opportunity to continue to serve. Besides, she and long-time incumbent Sally Stutsman are not being opposed by anyone except Write-In. In fact, other than the race for Dave Jacoby's House...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Masturbating motorists across Iowa were relieved to hear that the Iowa Senate did not include “masturbation” as part of its bill outlawing texting-while-driving. Unlike the Iowa House’s version, the Iowa Senate passed a tougher bill that would not only ban texting while driving but would put the kibosh on reading text messages as well (although the bill made no explicit distinction between te...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
The Iowa Assembly has set the stage for an epic battle-to-the-metaphoric-death between the state’s elderly population and the up-and-coming elected power mongers. Fearing the Elders may usurp their power, Iowa Lawmakers approved a bill changing the state’s Department of Elderly Affairs (DEA), not to be confused with the fed’s Drug Enforcement Agency, to the Department of Aging – or more aptly De...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
It was only a matter of time before somebody created a parody of the National Organization for Marriage hyperbolic ad “Gathering Storm”: ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
It was a great day to be a local incumbent in Johnson County as all of them made it through the primary either unopposed or winning by large margins. It was also a very good day for women candidates of all parties as US Senatorial candidate Roxanne Conlin, US House candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Iowa House candidate Sandra Greiner withstood multiple challengers. On the other hand, in stat...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
( Disclaimer : a satiric moratorium has been placed on the front end of this post. Anything that smacks of satire is intended to be non-hyperbolic truth and should be read as such.) In a long overdue historic move, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that overturned a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage, noting the latter violated the Constitution’s basic fairness and equal prote...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
The Clock Also Rises... In states that still participate in Daylight Savings, which may soon be nationalized by the federal government if Americans continue to lose confidence in daylight and are reluctant to spend their time, everyone bemoans the loss of an hour – namely because they could have used the hour to reset all the clocks in the house. But seriously, what would they have done...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
As the Iowa City Council gathers to decide whether to make an aggressive panhandling ordinance more rigid, a couple of different thoughts have solidified in my mind. 1) This ordinance radically changes who can speak and gather on the Ped Mall 2) How law enforcement officers will be challenged to fairly enforce the law. The panhandling ordinance has the chilling effect of lumping all "panhandlers"...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10 - 2 clicks
The Iowa City city council is considering a more restrictive aggressive solicitation ordinance that would keep panhandlers and street musicians at least 15 feet from each other, would limit the area within the Ped Mall to something like a putting green on a miniature golf course for them to ask for help, and disallows the use of obscene language on solicitation signs. In asking the city council to...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
When your livelihood is teetering between living on the fringe and living in obscurity, I guess there is no such thing as negative publicity. This may explain why the National Organization for Marriage sent a letter thanking Stephen Colbert for parodying t heir new ad , “The Gathering Storm”: "I've always thought Stephen Colbert was a double-agent, pretending to pretend to be a conservative, to...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Once again, Iowa Lawmakers are toying with the idea of prostituting Jackson Pollack’s “Mural” painting in exchange for cash to help pay for damages incurred by last summer’s flood on the University of Iowa campus. Sen. Matt McCoy, the new Fine Arts Pimp on the Block, proposed selling the painting “to help students mired in the state’s economic crisis.” The Real McCoy: "Pssssst. Hey, buddy...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
The folks over at Funny or Die (which by the way is not a slogan for biparisan health care advocates) unveiled an exclusive Public Service Announcement lampooning Big Hell th Insurance, which, for whatever reason, keeps sliding under the public ire radar. ( Sarcasm Alert: subjecting yourself to the following video may overload your sarcasm threshold, thus prompting immediate care from a ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
After reading the Washington Post's article about the so-called campaign finance bill, I was equally appalled by the fact that it would exclude players like the NRA, the US Chamber of Commerce from reporting large contributors in campaign ads, but also would allow corporations who win government contracts of less than $10 million could use those earnings to support candidates of their liking. T...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
I have posted many articles about the Iowa City Council and the Ped Mall, but what do people really think about Iowa City's Downtown? Take this short Click here to take survey . 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 about a...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10 - 2 clicks
Radicalism isn't a right or left thing, it's both. Folks who want to drown government in a bath tub exist on both sides of the political spectrum. People who want freedom without consequences are as prevalent on the right as they are on the left. What we can learn from radicals , left and right, is that their formerly extreme views often become our eventual mainstream ones. Consider how radical "g...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
Just when you thought former President George W. Bush had fully disappeared into the Texas sunset with the satirists’ shadow following closely behind, David Letterman’s “Late Show” posse resurrected him for this week’s Online Top Ten Contest. While most satirists have boxed up their George W. Bush satiric crutches and stored them in the attic, CBS insists we beat the “dead horse” and contemplat...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Like big fat bullies, Rush Limbaugh (dare I repeat myself?) and genital warts, some irritants never seem to go away regardless of how hard you try to ignore them or how much you douse them in vats of white vinegar. I’ve tried employing the former techniques when it comes to Sarah Palin, hoping she would disappear from the political landscape, forever, but to no avail. Although this may hold true ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
I appreciate those people who put in time and effort to help candidates to be elected for their parties. It is a noble calling. However, it is painful when their partisanship does not allow them to call on their elected leaders to do the right thing when they compromise away things that hurt their constituents. The argument I hear from my much more committed to winning one for the party friends is...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
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 - Aug 10
As the Iowa City Council will have one more vote on the extended panhandling ordinance tentatively on June 1st. Fair-minded people should ask: which is more dangerous, a panhandler with a sign or a city council that can't be swayed from a decision that they clearly do not have evidence to support the need of? The violations of the current aggressive panhandling ordinance has been numbered at zero-...
Popular Progressive - Aug 10
While the Health Care Reform debate ramped up during the past few weeks, with arm twisting on the left and Hyperbole bombs dropping on the right, the war in Iraq celebrated its 7th birthday -- a party that flew under the radars of all parties. BraVenew Foundation's latest new video commiserating the 7th anniversary of the war in Iraq . Iraq: Thousands Dead, $747.3 Billion Spent And Not Any...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
What’s in a name? That which we call a war By any other name would smell of death, destruction -- And a democratic resurrection Of burning flesh dipped in oil Buried deep in foreign soil… FADE IN: Uncle Sam’s hot-shot marketing machine (sponsored by the Military Industrial Complex: Where one soldier’s misery is another man’s bottom-line prophecy…), armed with the monumental task of re-brand...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Never in a million year did I imagine myself agreeing with former Vice President Dick Cheney, but I confess dear Civilian, I recently found myself taking my first step into the Dark Side by agreeing with Cheney that the military should repeal its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. However, truth be told, which is not an option for gays currently serving in the military, it was Cheney who ...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
I don’t imagine the 1.2 unemployed Americans waiting to see if their benefits will be extended another 30 days were amused by the latest episode of C-SPAN’s latest episode, “A Democracy of One,” on The Obstructionist (a spin-off from Seinfeld’s “show about nothing”) that aired the other night. If Seinfeld is a “show about nothing,” then The Obstructionist is “much adieu about nothing.” Flying...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
Preemptive Ingredients: 2 bloodied handfuls of WMD seeds 2 Congressional chambers locked-and-loaded with free-range Chickenhawks 1 Military Industrial Complex armed with a blank check (and no balances) 1 slightly tattered Constitution Ingredients: 120,000 to 170,000 homegrown pounds of American flesh (flak jackets not included) 2 million stockpiled missiles marinade in benzene-based n...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
The Obstructionist Party of No (OPN) may want to consider a new campaign strategy for November. Not too many folks like to be told "no" all of the time. Take for example a toddler who has been told "no" all day long, who in turn unleashes all of that pent-up anger in what is known as a temper tantrum. Now we have a bunch of grown-ups throwing collective temper-tantrums and calling them Tea Partie...
Political Fallout - Aug 10
