DESIGN DETAILS
1) As many of you may have already guessed, that lovely Blog for Iowa graphic was designed for us courtesy of Demetrius (in Ohio) at People-Powered Graphics. Some of you may recognize the Grant Wood “influence” in the banner. Demetrius is a professional graphics designer who volunteers his talents to help the Dean/Democracy for America cause. Thank you, Demetrius. The banner is stunning.
2) I decided to go with the red/gold/orange template blog design because Im am so very tired of pastel blue even though it used to be my favorite color. I figured most Iowans like either red or gold, and to me, the color orange is a way to honor all of those wonderful Stormers in the orange hats who came to Iowa to help our cause.
HOW THE BLOG FUNCTIONS
3) In order to post a comment on Blog for Iowa, you need to first create a reader account. Go to the Log In component on the left sidebar, and click on Create Reader Account. Then, once youve confirmed your email address, you need to Log In on the main page. THEN youll be able to post a comment.
The usernames have to be one word – no spaces. But you can choose a nickname which will be displayed when you post a comment, and the nickname can include spaces, like My Full Name.
4) We will not harvest your information after you create a reader account. You are actually creating a reader account for the entire BlogHarbor system, our host company, and we have no access to the list.
5) We would, however, love to have your complete information! You can sign up to join Democracy for Iowa by clicking the link at or near the top of the right sidebar. Please ask your Dean-supporting Iowa friends to join, too. We will eventually be scheduling conferences and such for our members such as training through 21st Century Democrats and you will need to be registered with Democracy for Iowa to participate.
ORGANIZATIONAL FEATURES
6) We want to use Blog for Iowa to help you organize your groups. We have the ability to set up separate topics on separate pages. For example, I just set up the topic Candidates. Here youll find information about progressive candidates that DFIA members have turned into Blog for Iowa. (By the way, the more information you can provide about a candidate, links included, the easier it will be for me to get the information up.) Right now, were just making names of candidates available to you, and have not yet set up our screening process.
Also, in a day or two, check back for a topic called Dean Delegates. Here you will find information on what to do at the next levels of participation. We will also be setting up a page for DFIA Meet Up, and are thinking about changing the Meet Up night to Thursday since Wednesday does not work for many Iowans who wish to participate (that would not start before May).
If you would like me to set up a page for your group, let me know the details. You will have to Create A Reader Account, and then I can set it up so that you can make posts to your groups main page. We also have the ability to set up Restricted pages, meaning that only your group members can visit that page. First, they must Create A Reader Account, then you turn in their usernames to me (spelled exactly as theyve entered them), and I will set it up for you. (The username is the name you log in with, not the name that shows on your posts.)
Now, please do me a big favor and spread the word about Blog for Iowa to every Iowa Dean supporter you know. Thank you!
Blog For Iowa 
Has any of the college campaign coordinators in Iowa City/Cedar Rapids been notified of this site? Maybe they can link to this if they are already Blogging for Dean.
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Here at Cornell College we are on Spring Break right now. However, on Monday when everyone is back, I'll send a note to my mailing list.
Sue A.
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I recently spoke with a friend about her recent trip to Des Moines with the Cedar Rapids Jefferson students who had prepared a video in support of continued funding for education. They visited several representatives to lobby for the Dem's education tax bill. The Republicans listened politely and for the most part, blew them off. A conversation with a Dem revealed one of the reasons: apparently every Republican who toes the line by opposing ANY new taxes – no matter how vital to the state – will be rewarded from the GOP's deep pockets; break rank, and the funds go away. They are selling our state's future for their own gain. One or two have decided to take a stand against the pressure: Mary Lundby (R – Marion) is one that I know of. Please encourage her in her stand!
If you have any more information on this sell-out in the State house, please share it – more people have to hear about this.
ArtyMarcy
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I'm curious on how you stand regarding the Tyson Meat Plant & Union differences in the northwest part of Iowa. Any new information from you might be helpful reading.
thanks……….
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Click on the archive calendar for July 8. I've added some information there.
In general, I'd say we are against all attempts at union busting and the lowering of wages and removal of benefits.
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I have spent quite a bit of time listening to the employees of the Tyson plant in Cherokee. I've looked at the deal offered by Tyson. Several things come to my mind.
When employees are asked/required to pay for some or all of their health care & insurance package, that is money that is directly removed from the money that would have been spent in the community. With the package offered, and then later accepted, up to several million dollars will be removed from the general community pool of money. That is a sizeable amount for a smaller rural community.
The employees I met were very interested in working hard at the very best job possible. They were interested in having enough money to take care of their familes with dignity. I did not meet anyone who wanted the company to go broke, or wanted to create bad working conditions. Quite the opposite.
Every community needs good companies that are managed very well. Every community needs more jobs, and employees who are earning the most money possible. It simply makes good economic sense.
I do get some soft indicators that some companies, and Tyson may be one of them, that wants to find various ways to lower their costs paid to employees. That may be short-sighted thinking. Every company needs to pay enough so their own employees can affort to buy their own products. We know Henry Ford was certainly that smart, and the evidence continues throughout a majority of companies. So rather than a company trying to reduce salaries, I think they need to find ways to reward the very best of working, the cleanest of work sites, the healthiest of work sites, esp. in a food related company. E.coli should Never Ever occur!
thank you for your question.
Joyce Schulte, candidate for the great 5th congressional district.
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From Anger to Compassion; A Cosmic Perspective
by Caroline Vernon
Excerpts taken from Myss.com
Anger is most often a difficult emotion to sit with even though it often serves as an indispensable catalyst to act. The challenge for me, (this administration sure doesn't make it easy) has been in making an operational shift from anger to compassion in order to obtain a higher understanding of what ails us, let alone determine the best way to move forward from where we find ourselves. In order to do so, I believe it is important for us to take a step back and look at things from a more impersonal or cosmic perspective.
The essential ingredient in allowing understanding to take place is that the overwhelming waves of personal emotion have subsided. We have all had the experience of watching a friend become romantically involved with someone whom we could clearly see was wrong for that person. We had the advantage of an impersonal, wise perspective, whereas your friend was under a romantic spell — and nothing we say can break a romantic spell. The clarity we had is a very real example of a cosmic perspective as opposed to a personal one.
However, an impersonal or cosmic perspective can often feel threatening to people, precisely because it appears to lack the warmth of personal emotion. What cosmic understanding actually lacks is not emotional animation as such, but the interference of toxic emotion, which can include self-pity, self-righteousness, or the inability to detach from the moment and see the greater purpose hidden within the chaos and pain of an event or relationship.
For many, the response of compassion could seem weak and powerless. Who can see the immediate consequences of compassion, especially when measured against the satisfaction of a bullet? A bullet satisfies the ego
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