Iowa Blogs - Politics

Votes for Sale

Sun, 24 May 2009 01:48:00 GMT

I wasn't going to post anything this weekend, but I was out doing yard work, listening to podcasts, and I listened to an episode of NOW about clean elections in Arizona called Votes for Sale.

Here's a clip...

Redlawsk leaving University of Iowa

Sat, 23 May 2009 10:04:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

Redlawsk leaving University of Iowa for Rutgers

University of Iowa political scientist David Redlawsk is leaving the state for a position as Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, NJ.

Redlawsk's Hawkeye Polls were frequent newsmakers in the caucus and general election season, and he also took a personal role in the political process. Redlawsk was elected as a national delegate for John Edwards in 2008, switching to Obama pre-convention, and was interim chair of the Johnson County Democrats through the late stages of the 2004 caucus cycle.

"My experience with JC Dems and the Iowa Democratic Party has been an amazing ride. I feel very lucky to have been a part of a great organization that is driven by a sense of purpose, to make this world a better place for all," Redlawsk said in an open letter to the county party's listserv. "And I feel doubly lucky to have been a part of the campaign that elected our great Congressman Dave Loebsack, something 'they' all said couldn't be done!" Redlawsk was Loebsack's campaign treasurer in the 2006 cycle.

As for the career move, Redlawsk said, "this opportunity is simply too good to pass up, representing both a promotion to full professor and an opportunity to try out something new and exciting for my own career development." The move is also a return to East Coast roots for Redlawsk, who came to Iowa from New Jersey in 1999.

Redlawsk said his wife, former school board member Aletia Morgan, plans to stay in Iowa City a few months past his September 1 start date at Rutgers.

Whig Party Revival

Sat, 23 May 2009 09:02:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

The Whigs Are Back

The GOP is rapidly turning into the Know-Nothing Party, but they no longer have exclusive rights to the Party of No label. The Whig Party, notable in its 1840's prime for avoiding issues and existing primarily to opposed Democrats, has been revived in Florida and New Jersey, reports Ballot Access News.

The national group, at modernwhig.org, claims chapters in 28 states, though in many the contact information is along the lines of "seeking a chair." The "modern Whig philosophy" is summed up as:

We represent moderate voters from all walks of life who cherry-pick between traditional Democratic and Republican ideals in what has been called the Modern Whig Philosophy.

This includes general principles of fiscal responsibility, strong national defense and bold social progression.

Public Option Depends on Us - Stand With Howard Dean in Des Moines Thursday, May 28

Sat, 23 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT

posted on Blog For Iowa

Public Option Depends on Us - Stand With Dr. Howard Dean in Des Moines Thursday, May 28

We just can't overstate the importance of everyone getting involved in the fight for health care reform. Here's where you can get started. Stand with Dr. Dean this Thursday in Des Moines. Find out what you can do.

The Public Health Insurance Option – A Prescription for Guaranteed, Affordable, Health Care for All

Hosts: Health Care for America Now, Democracy for America, and more

Join us for a special guest, Governor Howard Dean, who is offering up a prescription for change in health care reform this year. What is a “public option?” Why is it so important? What can we all do collectively to help win REAL changes in health care reform in 2009 that bring quality, affordable, health care for everyone in America?

Thursday, May 28, 2009
Time: 5:15pm - 7:00pm
Location: 1st Unitarian Church of Des Moines
Address: 1800 Bell Ave
City/Town: Des Moines, IA

Click Here to RSVP

Average person: fourteen seconds being waterboarded. Mancow: six seconds.

Fri, 22 May 2009 21:58:39 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

Like Christopher Hitchens before him, Mancow admits that water-boarding is torture…after it is performed on him.

Turns out the stunt wasn’t so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said.

He doesn’t want to say it because of the shame he feels for advocating such unethical and monstrous treatment of other human beings. And as the article points out “getting waterboarded for a limited duration under circumstances you control is nothing like being waterboarded as a prisoner”.

-mg

Huckabee will stump for Vander Plaats

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:04:07 GMT

posted on Politically Ppeaking

Might June 10 be the day Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City officially announces he’ll run for governor? There’s zero uncertainty that Republican Vander Plaats will run for the governor position up before voters in 2010, but to date he’s operated what is called an exploratory campaign. He’s talked of making it official in the summer and since he’s got a big guest coming to the state on June 10, I’ll surmise it could be the time to fully run.

What big guest? Mike Huckabee.

Former Arkansas govenor Huckabee won the January 2008 Iowa presidential caucuses, which gave him a kick in the national race for a few weeks. BVP was Huckabee’s Iowa campaign chairman and since that time has not been shy of touting his connection with Huckabee, who remains popular among Iowa Republicans.

I’ve got a call into Vander Plaats to inquire if June 10 will be his time to announce. You could make the case that he’d want to make the announcement in a metro area with tons of media, but if he’s got Huckabee in tow, it would be the logical opportunity. Or maybe theyll do the fundraiser in Spirit Lake, then fly to Des Moines or Sioux City to hold a press conference with the announcement.

The Vander Plaats/Huckabee fundraiser has tickets going for $100. The event, called An Evening of Politics in the Park, will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Spirit Lake. In a release, Huckabee said, “I’ve called Bob Vander Plaats ‘the next govenor of Iowa’ on many occasions and I’ve done it deliberately and with good reason.”

If you’re looking for more on who might be in on the GOP side, check out a major piece in the Sunday Journal that I and Charlotte Eby of the Des Moines Bureau are just now wrapping.

Friday Clips

Fri, 22 May 2009 08:46:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

Friday Clips

As Mississippi Gov, Haley Barbour prepares to come to Iowa next month, the National Journal looks at just how much the GOP has become a Southern regional party. Yee-haw.

Iowa Republican: "Either (Bill) Northey is about to run the most extensive and expensive Secretary of Agriculture re-election campaign in Iowa’s history, or he is exploring a run for governor." Staffing up with big names... the anti-Vander Plaats may have emerged. (And Chuckie Larson is officially out.)

And sorry, kids, but Godzilla-size monsters are officially biologically impossible; it's a volume to surface area thing.

Internet Not the Bogeyman of Newspapers' Demise

Fri, 22 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT

posted on Blog For Iowa

Free Flowing Internet Not the Bogeyman of Newspapers' Demise

Free Press

Big Media Myopia

by Timothy Karr

It’s hard to empathize with struggling newspapers when those running them continue to suffer from the short-sightedness that got their industry into a mess.

The editors at the Washington Post put on a display of such backward thinking on Saturday, when they published an op-ed by two lawyers from the influential D.C. firm Baker Hostetler.

In writing this op-ed, the lawyers hide certain conflicts of interest that should weigh heavily against their analysis. The Post ’s editors might have connected the dots for readers, but didn’t.

But the piece is just so stunningly stupid that it falls apart all by itself. In it, Esq. Bruce W. Sanford and Bruce D. Brown call for reactionary legal measures that would stifle access to news and information and return us to the grand old days of consolidated ownership, bloated media giants and information gatekeepers.

To save journalism, Brown and Sanford argue, we must “eliminate ownership restrictions” and open floodgates to a new wave of media concentration.

We should also “grant an antitrust exemption” for consolidated media, allowing them to join together and wall off content from users. “Antitrust immunity is necessary because most individual news sites can’t go it alone,” they explain in the op-ed. “Readers will simply jump to sites that are still free.”

They urge readers to support more stringent copyright restrictions that would bar bloggers, Web sites and all others from the online sharing of even a small portion of mainstream media news content.

Nowhere in this silliness do they see the consolidation and walling off of news for what it is: more the real culprit in the demise of newspapers than is their favorite bogeyman — the free flowing Internet.

(click here to read the entire article)

Click here to RSVP for
Des Moines event with Howard May 28!

Why does David Waldman hate America?

Thu, 21 May 2009 21:32:23 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

David Waldman asks the simple question of why the Cheney Administration was torturing captives into confessing an Iraq/Al Qaeda link after the invasion. The right wing answer? Hide behind the flag.

-mg

Blogcation

Thu, 21 May 2009 20:47:00 GMT

posted on Common Iowan

I am not planning on posting any updates over the holiday weekend.

I am planning on doing a ton of yard work, some painting around the house, and to finish my report cards at school.

Hopefully, I can get it all done, so I can go on a bike ride and finish the book I am reading.

So stop back Tuesday for new content and enjoy your weekend.

Dinner with Obama, Gingrich

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:41:03 GMT

posted on Politically Ppeaking

Ever wanted to share lunch with Barack Obama? Had an inkling your life would be bettered after dining with Newt Gingrich? For a political donation, you could get your wish, although then again, you might not.

Thursday is apparently the day to get out missives on the Washington dining possibilities — a week ago, Bob Menendez of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee laid out the possibility of dining with Obama, then today Pete Sessions of the National Republican Congressional Committee put forth the Gingrich dinner option.

There are some differences in the pitches, however. You need to donate five bucks to the DSCC to be in the running to see Obama in June; it takes $50 to be picked for the Newt event, although if selected, you get to take a friend. The Obama bit includes getting a photo with the president. And if you donate to the DSCC you’ll be helping the group “give President Obama everything he needs to pass his visionary agenda for change — an expanded Senate majority that can’t be blocked by Republican filibusters,” while if unsuccessful in winning the NRCC thing, you’ll at least be able to watch a live webcast of Gingrich at the June 8 event.

If you’d like to donate money to see a politician in Iowa instead, consider getting in on the June 25 event hosted by the Iowa Republican Party for Haley Barbour. He’s a former Republican National Committee chairman and current Mississippi governor, and if Barbour is coming to Iowa you know he’s testing the waters for a presidential bid. The Barbour event was announced this morning.

Marijuana in the Bible?

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:40:28 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

A man who used marijuana to combat back pain and Asperger’s Syndrome was banished from several Christian churches.

Why?

I can’t find any references in the Bible to marijuana, hemp, or even smoking. This website attempts to offer a reason, except everything in the Bible talks about alcohol. The site’s loophole is that marijuana “intoxicates” in low doses, and several Bible passages praise the virtues of a clear mind for resisting Satan.

Mmmm, okay, but how many churches banish people for having a couple beers? Besides, alcohol lowers inhibition and makes you more likely to commit much bigger sins than those of marijuana, which pretty much end at sloth and gluttony, while encouraging spirituality in some.

The reality is that these churches are slapping God-talk on their cultural taboos, engaging in piety and pomp rather than meaningful religious thought.

-jb

The quality of ice in your drinks.

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:06:16 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

You never thought about how much ice mattered, until you read this article and slapped your forehead…

-jb

They prey on weakness.

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:57:03 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

See any shit-talking Republicans try to take us on lately? That’s because when they do, we react forcefully and dismantle their arguments until there’s nothing left for them to do but scram.

It must be quite a feeling for Republicans to blather about “LETTING TERRORISTS RUN WILD IN THE STREETS OF AMERICA!” and watch Democrats like Harry Reid crumble. I imagine a car salesman who unloads a lemon with a 25% markup feels the same rush.

When Democrats stand up for their beliefs and fight back, they win. Plain and simple. One of the most important reasons we have this majority right now is because of the efforts of Democrats who did speak out and take on Republican arguments. It seemed like they were finally getting it.

It’s good to see President Obama push back against this shameless and needless cowardice. On the other hand, we need him to nourish his cahones too. David Broder and the Beltway are ecstatic that Obama is turning back on campaign promises and deferring to generals as if his campaign promises weren’t widely celebrated by a number of retired military personnel and foreign policy experts. He’s often suggested that he likes the “team of rivals” concept, but too frequently we see key dissenting voices missing from his internal debates. Having dinner with Paul Krugman is a nice move, but quite late. Shall we witness another similar move with a critic of his military actions after further bungling becomes intolerable?

-jb

Good police.

Thu, 21 May 2009 12:30:15 GMT

posted on Iowa Liberal

Four terrorists arrested in NYC:

Four men were arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.

Bravo for the good police work but I’m rather concerned about where they’re going to keep these terrorists. Surely they don’t plan on endangering American lives by holding them in domestic prisons?!

I haven’t had a chance to watch any cable news today but I doubt that they’re engaging in the same level of hysterics as they did when they were dutifully relaying the Republican meme that Guantanamo prisoners being held in a Colorado super-max prison was a grave threat to the general public. As Greenwald points out; what aren’t these people afraid of?

-mg

Marek Equivocates on Marriage

Thu, 21 May 2009 12:06:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

Marek Equivocates on Marriage

I know the district is tough, I ran in part of it. But I would have preferred a stronger statement on marriage equality than what freshman Rep. Larry Marek (D-Riverside) gave the Lone Tree Reporter:

Marek said same-sex marriage is a highly emotional issue on both sides of the debate. The best way he says he can represent all of his constituens (sic) is to see that the issue goes before the citizens of Iowa on a ballot.

"There are a lot of tough decisions to be made," Marek noted, "and emotional feelings involved. I try to do what's best for the area, with some people happy and some unhappy."

In other bad news, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) vetoes marriage equality in what Dana Houle at Kos calls a "profile in cowardice."

Unsustainability in the Desert Suburbs

Thu, 21 May 2009 08:33:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

Unsustainability in the Desert Suburbs

The United States is Not Carbon Flat, Kos writer devilstower argued last weekend while looking at different methods of electrical generation by state.

That's one interesting way to look at it, and something that can change without fundamental lifestyle changes (except perhaps fr people working in the coal industry). But some of the changes people need to look at run deeper.

Simple physics dictates that energy is used when you move matter--to heat or cool things, transport things, or push electrons into the grid.

One of the biggest piles of matter we move is people, and at MyDD Charles Lemos writes:

Suburbia is proving the greatest misappropriation of economic resources in human history. They are simply unsustainable and America's future is an urban and denser one. While urban sprawl is a worldwide problem, American cities have been built primarily for the ease of vehicular traffic with livability for humans seemingly an afterthought. As James Howard Kunstler notes the United States has invested all of its post-World War II wealth in an infrastructure for daily life that has no future. It is the Secretary LaHood's credit that he sees that the writing is on the wall.

Heating and cooling are also a big factor, and this handy-dandy calculator tells me what my northern biases have suspected all along: cooling off in Arizona is way more pricey than keeping warm in Wisconsin. About twice as expensive, in fact.

This is the third rail of the future that no one wants to touch: we simply can't keep living in deserts and tropical swamps that are 50 miles away from work. We need to move to town and get on the subway. In a real interesting numbers piece, Steven Strogatz notes:

Bigger cities have more gas stations than smaller ones (of course), but not nearly in direct proportion to their size. The number of gas stations grows only in proportion to the 0.77 power of population.

The same pattern holds for other measures of infrastructure. Whether you measure miles of roadway or length of electrical cables, you find that all of these also decrease, per person, as city size increases. And all show an exponent between 0.7 and 0.9.

Steele: Reagan Never Looked Backwards

Thu, 21 May 2009 08:05:00 GMT

posted on John Deeth

This Stuff Just Writes Itself Sometimes

As Dave Barry says, I Am Not Making This Up:

“Ronald Reagan never lived in the past,” Steele (said). “Ronald Reagan was all about the future. If President Reagan were here today he would have no patience for Americans who looked backward.”

We need to get Michael Steele a job at Saturday Night Live writing the script for his own self-parody. Remember, he still has to last till June 27 to beat the modern short-term party chair record set by Democrat Jean Westwood in 1972.

Affirming Black Voices in Support of the Recent Iowa Supreme Court Decision

Thu, 21 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT

posted on Blog For Iowa

Affirming Black Voices in Support of the Recent Iowa Supreme Court Decision

by Abraham L. Funchess, Jr.

The recent Iowa Supreme Court decision which declared the ban on same-gender marriage unconstitutional is sure to stimulate more conversation and debate for several weeks to come. Painfully lacking from public discourse about marriage equality here in the state, however, is an affirmative African American voice and the compassionate voice of the Black church.

While it is not uncommon to see local Black leaders standing united with other politicians and activists in opposition to the Iowa Supreme Court decision, it is important to note that national Black leaders like Julian Bond of the NAACP and Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network have taken an affirming stance on gay rights as civil rights, and they both support marriage equality. Despite the fact that some of our most fascinating strategic and literary minds during the Black Revolution movement have been gay and lesbian, like Bayard Rustin, Audre Lourde, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry, rarely do we see local Black leaders who champion the cause on behalf of our gay and lesbian neighbors who live in our communities and frequent our Sunday services.

One of these rare exceptions is Bishop Julius C. Trimble of the United Methodist Church. He declined an invitation from Catholic Bishops of Iowa and other religious leaders in condemning the Iowa Supreme Court decision. Instead, he stated that he “strongly believed that the Iowa Supreme Court acted with judicial integrity in its determination that ‘civil marriages must be judged under constitutional standards of equal protection and not under religious doctrines or religious views of individuals.’”

Furthermore, Bishop Trimble challenged Iowa United Methodists to engage in spiritual introspection and self-discovery, asking “What does ‘radical hospitality’ look like, when the practices of the state and the policies of the church differ?” Excluding this exception, however, raises an important question: Why is there among some Blacks such stiff opposition to marriage equality, on the one hand, and a curiously annoying and deafening silence from some supporters on this important human and civil rights issue, on the other?

Perhaps part of the disconnect arises from a misunderstanding of what this decision means in practical terms. Many wonder, for instance, if this now means that pastors and other religious clerics will be forced to scrap their religious convictions, violate their consciences, and perform wedding ceremonies for gay and lesbian individuals since it is now a matter of law.

Recognizing the sincerity of religionists who believe that traditional marriage would be undermined if marriage equality were upheld, the court declared that civil unions between gay and lesbian partners do not infringe upon current religious practices, and that civil marriage does not define marriage for religious institutions.

Striking about the angst of some religionists to maintain the integrity of traditional marriage, of course, is the fact that traditional marriage reportedly dissolves nearly 50% of the time among opposite-sex partners. Among Blacks, even though studies show that married African Americans fare better economically and are happier than their unmarried counterparts, Harvard professor Andrew J. Cherlin posits in his publication Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage that “during the days of slavery a Black child was more likely to grow up living with both parents than he or she is today.”

These statistics suggest that removing the ban against same-sex marriage will not necessarily undermine traditional marriage, as is often postulated. Traditional marriage is already imperiled. These religionists and activists should probably invest more energy into strengthening and maintaining loving heterosexual marriages as opposed to affronting same-sex partners and challenging their human and civil rights. In fact, the court states that “marriage is a civil contract” and works to ensure equal protection of the law for all of its citizens. Religious clerics and institutions are free to continue to perform the traditional marriage ceremonies, and keep their convictions and their consciences in tact.

Interestingly, Alexander Robinson, president and CEO of the National Black Coalition for Justice, maintains that qualitative studies reveal most Blacks do not view homosexuality as endemic to our own communities. “What happens,” Robinson suggests, “is that Blacks tend to have somewhat of an out-of-body experience and somehow convince themselves that the LGBT issue is not a Black issue as much as it is a white issue. Perhaps this, in part, helps explain Black opposition to the LGBT movement, not just in Iowa, but everywhere.”

Still others in the African American community agree with those in the majority population who argue that gay and lesbian couples could not possibly provide an optimal environment to raise children. While many would acknowledge that homes with both a father and a mother, dual-gender parenting, may be the optimal environment, this argument tends to be weak in the face of our social realities. Do we protest with equal passion and animation against marriages that have sexual predators and womanizers as fathers, child abusers as mothers, absentee and neglectful parents who fail to pay child support, or parents who are violent felons? Are these examples of “optimal parenting” present among the heterosexual community? And do we insist that an amendment be made to the marriage statute to rectify these less than optimal parenting situations that have been with us the whole time, regardless of race or ethnicity?

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Contrary to popular opinion, we would learn that most of our gay and lesbian neighbors will tell us that they did not choose their sexual orientation, if we can arrest our deeply-seated homophobia long enough and exercise the love and patience to listen attentively to their stories. Certainly, we do not want to be guilty of inflicting the pain of discrimination and marginalization on our gay and lesbian neighbors, or to be guilty of denying other human beings equal protection of the law, especially after gaining the freedoms that we as African Americans enjoy through our own fight for equal opportunity and equal protection of the law.

Instead, let us all—regardless of race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation - organize and unite our love, talent and energy around demanding that our legislators fight to eradicate the crippling disparities in economic development, education, healthcare, and criminal justice that plague our communities across our great state. And if we are not engaged in the fight to advance the cause of human and civil rights on behalf of our gay and lesbian neighbors, perhaps on this particular subject it is better to imitate the great teacher of hospitality of biblical fame: simply remain silent.

Abraham L. Funchess, Jr. was appointed by Governor Tom Vilsack to serve as Division Administrator of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans within the Department of Human Rights. Funchess was reappointed to the position by current Governor Chester J. Culver. In 2003, Funchess was appointed by Resident Bishop Gregory V. Palmer to serve in the Iowa Annual Conference to work at Jubilee United Methodist Church in Waterloo, where he still serves.

Party Like Tom Latham!

Wed, 20 May 2009 20:09:00 GMT

posted on Common Iowan

Iowa Independent posted earlier this week about fundraising totals from Iowa's Congressional delegation. Part of their post discussed exclusive parties hosted by members of Congress. This is a common practice from Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA 04).

As the saying goes, once elected, a member of Congress must raise $10,000 a week to get re-elected. It sounds like hard work, but it doesn’t always have to be.
The nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, which was founded with the goal of increasing transparency in the United States Congress, has tracked down invitations to many of the exclusive get togethers that help fill a member of Congress’ campaign coffers and posted them on PoliticalPartyTime.org for the public to see. It’s surely not an exhaustive list, since the group relies on tipsters sending in their invites. But it does offer a glimpse of the D.C. lives of the Hawkeye State’s congressional team.

The most prolific party host in Iowa’s delegation, according to the Sunlight Foundation, is Fourth District Republican Rep. Tom Latham. He has started hosting his own “Supper Club” every month at different D.C. hotspots. The parties are limited to 10 attendees and feature a different special guest each month, which so far include congressmen from Kentucky, Georgia and California. To attend this months’ event, scheduled for Wednesday night at the ritzy Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown D.C., will cost $2,500 per PAC and $1,500 for individuals. Latham will also host a golf outing to raise money for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss on July 17.

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