Author Archives: bfiachadthompson

State Politicians Call For More Casinos in Iowa

Posted on May 17, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

State Politicians Call For More Casinos in Iowa For all the disagreement at the statehouse these days, there is one thing that Iowa politicians seem to rally around – give the state more casinos! Iverson, of Dows, suggested that regulators … Continue reading →

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Science Center Opening In Des Moines

Posted on May 13, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Science Center Opening In Des Moines While this strays from the normal “political” topics, every now and then some amazing things happen that deserve a little fanfare.  The opening of the new Science Center in downtown Des Moines is one … Continue reading →

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Deadlock in Des Moines

Posted on May 11, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Deadlock in Des Moines If you've been paying attention to the news lately, the Iowa House is in a complete deadlock.  What's surprising here is that the House Republicans are fighting the education budget: The biggest fireworks came during debate … Continue reading →

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SS Proposals and Counter-Proposals

Posted on May 4, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

SS Proposals and Counter-Proposals There was an interesting proposal floated yesterday by Robert Ball, a former Social Security Commissioner.  Mr. Ball's plan deals with the fiscal status of Social Security, which he claims is a simple problem to address: There … Continue reading →

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Mental Health Parity Is Now Iowa Law

Posted on May 3, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Mental Health Parity Is Now Iowa Law Kudos to the Legislature and Governor for finally signing mental health insurance parity into law. A measure of insurance protection for many Iowans with mental illnesses was signed into law Monday by Gov. … Continue reading →

Posted in Health Care & Medicare, Iowa in the News, Main Page | 1 Comment

Phase-Out: In Prime Time!

Posted on April 29, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Phase-Out:  In Prime Time! We finally saw a live press conference dealing with the issue of Social Security, amongst other things.  (The highlight of watching it on NBC was seeing the Q&A session being cut off to make sure The … Continue reading →

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Cheese Trade Causing Problems For Dairy Farmers

Posted on April 28, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Cheese Trade Causing Problems For Dairy Farmers

 
Some days, you really learn just how dependent we are on trusting others to pay a fair price for goods and services.  This article comes by way of A.V. Kreb's Agribusiness Examiner.  A group of dairy farmers is protesting the ability of Big Dairy to manipulate prices to the advantage of the buyers.


IT'S A STRUGGLE BETWEEN
SMALL DAIRY FARMERS
AMD MULTINATIONALS IN
MERC CHEDDAR CHEESE PIT

JEREMY GRANT, LONDON FINANCIAL TIMES: Every morning, about 30 people gather in a corner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to conduct one of the world's most unusual auctions: buying and selling cheddar cheese.

Traders with telephones pressed to their ears shout orders to two men standing in front of a white board, on which they mark up bids and offers. The session is the only one of its kind in the U.S. and probably one of the shortest commodity auctions, never lasting more than 15 minutes.

Cheese trading has carried on largely unnoticed for years, but this week it has become an unexpectedly public battleground in the struggle between small farmers and “big dairy” multinationals.

A coalition of farmers and consumer groups gathered outside the exchange on Monday, many dressed in cow suits, to protest against alleged price manipulation on the market. Their targets were dairy co-operatives such as the Dairy Farmers of America, the largest grouping in the country's second biggest agricultural sector, and multinational food companies such as Kraft Foods.
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Cityview: An Earth Day Portrait

Posted on April 26, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Cityview:  An Earth Day Portrait While the timeliness of this post might not be very good, I found a very good article discussing Iowa's environmental record on a number of topics.  This comes from the Des Moines independent weekly “Cityview”, … Continue reading →

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Grassley Pushing SS Phase-Out

Posted on April 22, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

Grassley Pushing SS Phase-Out The New York Times reports today on Chuck Grassley's stance on Social Security phase-out:  we're going to push it, whether you like it or not. The Senate Finance Committee chairman, Charles E. Grassley, said Thursday that … Continue reading →

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USDA Rolls Out MyPyramid.gov

Posted on April 21, 2005 by bfiachadthompson

USDA Rolls Out MyPyramid.gov Something that Blog For Iowa readers may have missed in the past few days:  the USDA unveiled a complete overhaul of the “Food Pyramid” (that replaced the “Basic Four” awhile ago) called MyPyramid.gov. This is rather … Continue reading →

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