Food Banks Need Our Help In Iowa

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Dave Bradley

PBS story on food banks in the US (7:10)

As we posted last week, the Johnson County CommUnity sent out an emergency letter stating that reserves were low and requesting donations. You can be certain that if the Iowa City area is in need of donations, every other part of Iowa is probably in need of donations also.

The folks at Progress Iowa have been on top of this in their High Five newsletter. Wednesday they referenced an article from Axios Des Moines discussing the food shortage in Iowa. They make some very important points that I think most Iowans miss.  

Whatever reason folks have to seek help from food banks makes no difference. It should be America’s great shame that such a need even exists in the wealthiest country by far that the world has ever seen.

Axios noted that during the pandemic Iowa households getting SNAP benefits got an extra $200 per month in benefits. Iowa (Corporate Kim) ended that program a year ago in an effort to force people to join the labor force to cut Iowa’s labor shortage. Axios then adds:

Yes, but: In an effort to add more employees into the workforce, Iowa chose to leave the program early, ending the additional dollars in April 2022.

  • That led to spikes in food assistance at pantries like DMARC. One in six Des Moines residents went to a DMARC pantry in 2022.

What’s next: The demand isn’t expected to slow down with inflation, while new SNAP-related bills in the Legislature could create more difficulties for recipients, says Luke Elzinga of DMARC.

  • The Iowa House and Senate are both considering SNAP-related bills to create more restrictions on who can qualify for food assistance, Elzinga tells Axios.

  • Both bills contain a $15,000 asset limit with exemptions for vehicles.

  • They would also require real-time eligibility verification, which requires recipients fill out paperwork within a 10-day notice if there’s an employment change.

What is really interesting is that neither the governor nor the legislature addressed issues such as low pay and child care and child care costs in a serious manner. Iowa still remains a low wage state at the bottom. 

Somehow our legislative brain trust can’t seem to make the connection between low wages, poverty and hunger. Add in child care and those costs that keep many women in particular out of the work force or in low wage jobs.

Cuts in pandemic relief programs, inflation and low wages in Iowa have created a real crisis situation for what for many is the last resort – the local food bank.

Once again we will ask our readers to donate to their local food banks. 

Posted in food, Food Insecurity, Hunger In America, Iowa legislature 2023, poverty, Republican Policy | Tagged , | 1 Comment

What Else Can They Do?

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Jane Meyer on extremism in state legislatures (7:11)

Had a conversation with an old friend and his wife last weekend. It was one of those “what the hell is going on in Iowa?” conversations that seems to be getting more and more frequent between those of us who stay in Iowa and those who have left.

Most of the folks we know who have left used to have fond memories of an Iowa where they grew up that included good schools with teachers that cared, small towns where merchants and people in authority knew the kids and knew their families. Their Iowa was an Iowa where people seemed to all be rowing pretty much in the same direction.

Now when we run into these folks they read what is going on in what used to be considered kind of the quintessential American state and wonder if we have all gone mad. Last week the legislature passed a bill taking away supportive health care for transgendered teens forcing many families in Iowa to make a tough decision of whether to stay and have a child suffer from the ignorance of the Iowa legislature or pick up stakes and move on.

In the case of our conversation we were talking of a mutual acquaintance whose decision appears to be to take the family to Minnesota where the legislature assured that folks who need health care will get health care whatever the circumstances. You know, a common sense approach.

After gutting schools, make it burdensome for teachers to teach and doing all they can to ban books in public schools, Iowa’s legislature is becoming a national laughing stock. We have become a national symbol of hate. So much so that not only are Iowans noticing but so are those who once had fond memories of their former state. It only took a few years and an electorate that took a drastic right turn.

As the folks we were talking to were lamenting the goings on in Iowa one uttered “what else can they do?” Well I said, since most of their action seem to be grounded in the ideas of legislating some perverse vision of their Christian religion and at the same time doing what they can to hand tax dollars to companies with little accountability, I look to see a couple of things happen.

First, I am surprised that Iowa has yet to go to privatized prisons. This is something that is really big in the ultra right wing states, particularly in the South. A great way to shovel money to some corporation with a great deal of smoke screens to obscure accountability. Seems like something Iowa’s new radical right could really get behind.

Second I have been wondering why someone as yet hasn’t looked at doing something to couples who choose to be childless. This caught their attention as they are childless. I continued that the radical right looks at childless couples as not fulfilling the purpose of marriage and thus some on the right think that a childless marriage should be dealt with.

The really hit close to home. This couple thought they were somehow insulated from the crazy politics of today. What could the legislature do they asked. I said I don’t know. End the marriage? Extra taxes? I just keep thinking that with less workers in the pipeline and some folks not having children I could see some super religious legislator putting the two together and saying – hey, you’re not contributing.

Such a concept when pushed on the far right outlets that dominate Iowa media and on Fox nationally could get some following. Look at what they did to a non-existent idea like Critical Race Theory – only existed in a law school class in the Ivy League one day, couple of months later it’s a national hysteria. CRT is not the only idea that they have done that with.

Look at WOKE. Down in Florida the crazy legislature passed an anti-woke law without even knowing what it is. They are banning books without ever looking at them because someone didn’t like It – or maybe because the author was black. You think there is any logic behind radical right thinking?

Remember that the radical right can sell this or almost any other concept on religious grounds. “Go forth and populate the earth” I think the bible supposedly says. So if you’re not having kids then you are violating their values. It can be sold.

While CRT and book banning and transgendered fear mongering and possibly childless couples take center stage our state government is dismantling public schools, hiring a state education director whose main experience is in dismantling public schools, reorganizing state government to make the governor an authoritarian leader and on and on. Smoke screens to cover the malfeasance.

Meanwhile across the Missouri River a courageous legislator by the name Senator Michaela Cavanaugh has brought the Nebraska state legislature to a stop as she filibusters a transgender supportive health care ban. In her state she has stopped all business for 3 weeks thus stopping any movement on that bill. Word came down Thursday that she has agreed to a break in her filibuster beginning Tuesday.  

The very bottom line of what is happening in Iowa is that given what amounts to absolute power, it will be used no matter how “nice” you may think people are.

Posted in Iowa legislature 2023, Republican hypocrisy, Republican mythology, Republican Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why Every Town Needs A Bike Library

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Prairie Dog

From the spring 2023 issue of  The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is  funded entirely by reader subscription, delivered to your door for $15/year and available online at theprairieprogressive.com. Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues.

Bikes Create Community

by Clarity Guerra

Recently, I was talking to my therapist and told her I was feeling irritable and pessimistic and felt a touch of despair creeping in. I asked her, “How do I get back to the light-heartedness I’ve felt the past few months?” She said, “I don’t know, but how about going to the Bike Library? You always seem happier after you’ve hung out there.”

I took her advice and went to Women/Trans/Femme Night, or “open-wrenching” hours on
Tuesday nights reserved for women identified, gender non-conforming, and femme folks. A W/T/F mechanic will help coach you through repairs or upgrades on your bike. All the
tools, lubes, and new and salvaged parts to do quick fixes or major overhauls are there. If you don’t have a specific bike project, you can just come and hang out, drink a beverage,
and be in community.

I left W/T/F Night with a smile on my face and a warm glow in my chest. Thanks to these open wrenching hours, my 15-year-old bike is running smoother than the year I bought it, and the ride home felt like flying. Talking with folks at W/T/F night and the sense of accomplishment from repairing my steed is guaranteed to lift my mood.

Years ago, my entry point into the Bike Library was FarmCycle, an annual ride to sample delicious food at local farms. I knew the Bike Library as an inclusive hub for people who love bikes. Since becoming a board member last December, I have come to see it as an activist organization having considerable impact in the community around its main values of equity and sustainability.

Located at 1222 S. Gilbert Court in Iowa City, the Bike Library is a nonprofit community bike shop with the mission of getting more people on bikes. At its inviting, 7,000-square-foot building, donated bikes are repaired and checked out the way a library checks out
books, sold at low cost, or donated to community members through voucher programs.

The Bike Library has extensive programming that focuses on education. It hosts beginner-friendly rides that help build confidence on two wheels and workshops focused on bike repair and maintenance. Based on staff estimates, three out of every four people looking to get bikes at the Bike Library don’t knowthe basics of properly setting seat height, shifting, and braking. Staff or volunteers often work one-on-one to provide this knowledge.

In addition to hosting events at its space, the Bike Library has made a push to get out into the community where bikes are most needed. It hosted 10 Mobile Bike Safety Clinics in low-income neighborhoods and handed out kids’ bikes at the South District’s Diversity Markets at Pepperwood Plaza. During the summer, it teams up with Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County and the Injury Prevention Center at the University of Iowa to host Bike Safety Camp, where kids who participate in a week-long program get their own
bike, helmet, and t-shirt. In 2022, 170 repaired bikes were given out to kids, teens, and other folks who couldn’t otherwise afford them.

Who comes to mind when people think about a cyclist? Contrary to stereotypes of LYCRA-clad white people on high-end racing bikes, the largest share of bike rides in the U.S. are taken by lowest-income Americans. Though bikes are a relatively low-cost form of transportation, buying and maintaining a bike can beprohibitively expensive for families
who need them the most. The Bike Library provides a social service by reducing the barriers to bikes and bike skills.

The Bike Library helps people of all backgrounds make bikes a bigger part of their lives, whether it is for recreation or commuting, physical or mental health, human connection
or a sense of accomplishment. In this way, it is part of a movement to democratize wellness.

Audrey Wiedemeier, Director of the Bike Library, emphasizes how the organization benefits from the relationships it builds in the community. She says, “Connecting
with people and organizations with different perspectives provides the creativity and innovation needed to drive healthy change in our community.”

The Bike Library lifts my spirits because it gives me hope for the future. It’s a place where you might find out you can do something you didn’t think you could do, and that in and of itself is a form of liberation. It has developed a model for keeping bikes out of the landfill
and putting them in the hands of people who need them the most. It is helping to foster a stronger, more resilient community.

We accept any and all bikes and financial donations!

—Clarity Guerra is a Climate Action Ambassador for the City of Iowa City.

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Republican Legislators Give Kim Reynolds Unprecedented Power

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Trish Nelson

She who can’t be bothered to answer questions from reporters.

AFSCME Council 61: Working Iowans Will Pay The Price For Reynolds’ Power Grab

Des Moines, Iowa — AFSCME Council 61 President Rick Eilander issued the following statement after the Iowa House of Representatives passed government reorganization legislation that vastly increases the authority of Governor Kim Reynolds:

“Every Iowan and working family in this state values our democracy. We understand the need for transparent government. We want our elected leaders to be held accountable. The legislation promoted by Governor Reynolds that passed today will give her unprecedented power and give us, her constituents, less opportunity to use our voice in opposition.”

“Every Iowan should be alarmed that the legislature just gave Governor Reynolds a blank check to use political power in our state. We will continue speaking out. We will continue standing up for our members, public employees, and every working family in Iowa. And we will remind the Governor that she works for us, not the other way around.”

In Solidarity,

Melissa Speed
Political Director
AFSCME Council 61
4320 NW 2nd Street | Des Moines, IA 50313

Office: 515-246-1517 ext#605 | Cell: 515-210-8039 | MSpeed@afscmeiowa.org

www.afscmecouncil61.org

We Are Your Neighbors!
 Sign up now or update your information with MemberLink!

https://bit.ly/AFSCMESignUp

The most important word in the language of the working class is “solidarity.”—Harry Bridges

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Republican Legislators Give Kim Reynolds Unprecedented Power

Republicans: No Platform – No Principles

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Trish Nelson

GOP principles go up in smoke at the Iowa Statehouse

by Kathie Obradovich, Iowa Capital Dispatch
March 13, 2023

Republicans in the Iowa Legislature like to talk about their bedrock principles. This year, those principles seem to be printed on tissue paper and every new bill lights another match.

I wrote a whole column last week about how Statehouse Republicans, despite their repeated declarations of trust for parents, are working to eliminate choices for many. That was just one example, and the pattern has been regularly repeated.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to Rep. Chad Ingels of Randalia, one of five Republicans who voted against the ban on gender-affirming health care for minors:

“This (bill) seeds division. It also asks the question: When do parents matter? Many people have talked already today that we have had a lot of talk, a lot of discussion, about parents mattering. Parents being the focus. But that’s until those parents think differently than us. You think differently than we do? To hell with them.”

But the abandonment of trust for parents isn’t the only one way the majority of Republicans are shredding previous principles. A central argument for banning drug therapies such as puberty blockers for minors was what Republicans cited as a lack of medical research on the long-term “efficacy” and safety of the medication.

And yet, just last year, House Republicans went to the wall to push through so-called “right to try” legislation to enable unapproved, unproven and potentially unsafe off-label use of drugs for certain patients. They wanted to clear the way for internet-fad remedies like ivermectin, commonly used to deworm horses, to treat COVID-19. A bill to expand “right to try” to more patients was introduced this year. Apparently, proven efficacy is only an issue for trans kids.

Privacy is not for everyone

Then there’s Republicans’ newfound passion for privacy.  The need to provide “privacy” was Senate Republicans’ rationale for legislation to stop trans students from using school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

“Iowa kids are all going to be safe, they’re all going to be well cared for, and they’re all going to be provided facilities where they can have privacy,” Sen. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, said during debate.

Privacy is not for everyone, apparently. It does not extend to kids who may have to somehow prove their gender to use those sacred restrooms or locker rooms – or to play on school sports teams under legislation signed into law last year.

Anti-abortion Republicans cheered when the U.S. Supreme Court, later followed by Iowa’s justices, found that a right to abortion did not exist in the U.S. Constitution. As Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion highlighted, Roe v. Wade was decided based on a right to privacy that was also not explicitly stated in the constitution. Decisions upholding same-sex and interracial marriage are rooted in that same tenuous and, for conservatives, inconvenient privacy right.

The zeal to protect “privacy” was also the flimsy reason Senate Republicans claimed they were moving to shackle the state auditor’s office. Despite already-strict confidentiality requirements on the auditor, Senate Republicans decided to prohibit the auditor from accessing certain information, such as personal financial data, unless the target of an audit agrees it’s relevant. Who, if they were being investigated for fraud or embezzlement, would want to give up access to their financial information?

Who cares about fiscal responsibility?

State Auditor Rob Sand and other Democrats who opposed the bill also pointed out that the GOP was shoving aside another long-standing principle: fiscal responsibility. “This is now a waste, fraud and abuse promotion bill,” Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, said. “… This bill doesn’t protect privacy. It only undermines independent oversight.”

And that’s exactly the point. With this bill, Republicans could not only neutralize the only statewide Democratic officeholder left in Iowa but also kennel one of the few watchdogs still able to hold the executive branch accountable.

It seems partisanship is one of the few principles that Republicans can always get behind.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.

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This Is A Full-Blown Five Alarm Emergency

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Kim Reynolds is sad because she did not get her “own” state auditor in the November election. So why not just strip the office of its official powers?  Please read, sign and share this urgent action alert from Rob Sand.

###

This is a full-blown, 5 alarm emergency. Tuesday night, Iowa’s Republican-controlled State Senate quickly PASSED a bill to gut my office’s ability to do its job.

Here’s what the bill would do:

  • The Auditor’s office only gets documents showing wasteful spending, fraud, and abuse when the agency committing it, plus a person appointed by the Governor agrees to let us have them. Yeah, it’s as absurd as it sounds.
  • Ends our access to the Iowa court system, making it that much more difficult to hold guilty parties responsible. The decision of the agency and the person is final! No appeals! We’ve used the courts to fight for you before. No more, if this passes.
  • Jeopardizes hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and the state’s credit rating, by limiting our ability to actually conduct required audits. In fact, a bipartisan coalition of nearly 30 government oversight leaders came together in just a single day to review the bill and determine exactly that.

This is nothing more than an attack on our system of checks and balances, patricia — we CANNOT let this happen. Will you please add your name to my petition calling for the legislature to block this bill ASAP?

SIGN THE PETITION

Make no mistake about it: Insiders who want to end our ability to discover corruption and enable waste, fraud, and abuse are doing this because I’m fighting their cronyism, and my office serves as a check on the government’s use of YOUR tax dollars.

If they gut the State Auditor’s office, corrupt insiders would have a blank check with no accountability or oversight…unless they want it. LOL. Sob.

Please add your name right now. Can I count on you to have my back so we can protect checks and balances in Iowa?

ADD YOUR NAME

One last thing: Can you please share this petition on social media and tell your friends and family? We need a huge outpouring of support to defeat this bill. Here’s a link you can share:

http://rob4ia.com/sign

Thank you,
Rob Sand

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The Living And The Dead In The Iowa Legislature

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Iowa Legislative Update  (As of March 10, 2023) from Iowa Citizen Action Network

In the first few weeks of session, we saw a major GOP priority, a “school choice” bill passed and signed into law. Also now law, medical malpractice lawsuits are capped at $2 million for cases involving hospitals and $1 million dollars for smaller clinics.

Funnel week ended in the Iowa Legislature in early March, with a number of high-profile bills still having a chance to become law including Gov. Kim Reynolds’ education bill, book-banning bills, and a good number of the 20 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced.

Want to contact your representative? You can find your legislator by clicking Iowa Legislators and give them a call or email with your thoughts.

Here’s the status of some of those bills:

Alive

Transgender healthcare: SSB 1197 and HSB 214 would ban gender-affirming care for minors. Treatment like hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries affirming gender identity would be prohibited for anyone under 18.

Bathroom bill: SF 482 and HSB 208 requires school bathrooms and locker rooms to be used based on a student’s assigned sex at birth. Schools would need to make accommodations for students who don’t feel comfortable using bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex. This could be facilities in the school such as a one stall bathroom or the nurse’s office.

Violence in schools: HSB 206 would give teachers more options when dealing with a disruptive student. It states teachers would be able to defend themselves and allows them to have physical contact ‘deemed necessary’ with students.

Governor’s education bill: SSB 1145 touches on a number of different school related issues. It would ban the teaching of gender identity in K-5th grade. It would also force teachers to out kids who are transgender to their parents. It also proposes school library books that have been removed from one Iowa school would require parental consent before being checked out by students at every Iowa school.

“Age-appropriate” books: HSB 219 defines that education programs and books should be “age-appropriate.” The proposal defines “age-appropriate” to prohibit “any material with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.”

Diversity, equity and inclusion bill: HSB 218 prohibits the three regent universities, Iowa State, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa from using money to fund diversity, equity and inclusion offices and directors.

Government Restructure (HSB 126): Gov. Kim Reynolds paid an out-of-state firm nearly $1 million to create this almost 1,600-page bill which she says will shrink government and save hundreds of millions of dollars. Critics and Democrats say the bill consolidates power to her office and does harm to a number of long-standing entities including agencies for Iowans with disabilities.

Child labor law rollback (HSB 134/SF 167): The law rolls back decades of precedent and allows kids to work in hazardous conditions without any liability toward the employer if the child laborer is injured or killed.

Dead

Gay marriage bans ((HJR 8 and HF 508):

Total abortion ban (HF 510): A majority of Iowa Republican officials including Gov. Kim Reynolds are waiting on a decision from the Iowa Supreme Court before they decide their next steps on abortion restrictions.

Free lunch bills (SF 303 and HF 575): The Iowa Senate version of the bill to give Iowa school kids free lunch and breakfast never made it past subcommittee state and the House version was assigned to that chamber’s Education Committee.

Banning Drag Shows for minors (SF348)

Iowa lawmakers will not move forward this year with legislation to ban tenure at Iowa’s three regent universities. (House File 48)

The Iowa Department of Education uses a social-emotional learning framework designed to help students build life skills, regulate behavior and learn how to solve problems. Some conservative parents worry that social-emotional learning curriculum will teach their kids that gender identity is fluid and homosexuality is acceptable. A bill to prohibit the Department of Education from distributing information about social-emotional learning didn’t make it to committee. Senate File 85.

This is an abbreviated list of what’s going on in our Legislature. Stay tuned for more updates!

As always, thank you for your activism, support and for making your voice heard. Feel free to forward this to anyone you believe would be interested.

Sue Dinsdale, Iowa Citizen Action Network

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Leftovers For The Short Day

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Dave Bradley

This is the day I hate every year when we “leap forward” so some folks can have late barbecues and the rest of us take about a month to adjust the time change. If you didn’t know, the current daylight time schedule was adopted so that candy companies could sell more candy at Halloween and barbecue merchants could sell more barbecue equipment in the spring. Your comfort was given no consideration. 

So let’s have something light to nosh. Video, a few cartoons and some light thoughts. First the short video featuring Representative Jaime Raskin of Maryland commenting on a Republican speech impediment: (1:30)

If President Biden can overcome his stuttering, perhaps with some work Republicans can overcome this impediment. Is tat a problem they are born with? So sad.

All in favor of white supremacy say “No”

Tip of the hat to EarlG on democraticunderground.com

Really interesting that Iowa’s legislature is trying to solve Iowa’s labor shortage by making children eligible to work at a younger age, work longer hours and work around dangerous machinery. This is the kind of thinking that makes other Americans point at Iowa and laugh.

This whole idea that teachers and librarians in particular are grooming children is so insane that people spouting such crap should be immediately taken into custody for a mental examination. Meanwhile the the Iowa legislature passes laws to put kids to work while media diverts attention with insane drivel about teachers as groomers.

I dream that someday we will soon see Donald Trump interviewed from his maximum security cell at the Supermax prison in Colorado. Maybe while the interviewers are there they could also interview Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon.

In less that a year I believe that Iowa’s banana Republican Party will be battling stories that the caucuses were stolen from Donald Trump. And until Trump is satisfied he will threaten to split from the party and run as an independent. With any justice, he will be doing this from a prison cell.

It simply amazes me that humans will vote for the Republican Party when they know that most of their policies will hurt them. But for most of them it is much more important that their enemies are hurt even if they get caught in the cross fire.

Tip of the hat to EarlG on democraticunderground.com

Here is hoping Iowa schools get good seedings in the NCAA tourney! Go Hawks! Go ‘Clones!

Posted in #trumpresistance, Iowa legislature 2023, Republican Policy | Tagged | 1 Comment

Sunday Funday: Time Is Relative Edition

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains it (8:45)

Listening to NPR’s Morning Edition Friday to a story about time. As we prepare to go through our annual pain in the ass time change, they used that to discuss time on the moon. Thinking about that reminded me that the whole idea of a uniform time system is relatively new. If I recall most towns and cities had their own times based on the sun.

Since moving between towns was a slow process up until the railroads came into existence a few minutes this way or that didn’t make much difference. Five miles might take a couple of hours to navigate. But with railroads that became a  few minutes. Thus having some kind of uniform time became more important.

So on this day when we move times, I come down on the side of not changing the clocks. But many insist on changing so once again I propose moving the clocks 1/2 an hour and then leaving them alone!

On to the show – basketball today, oscars tonight!

A) What company announced it will NOT sell abortion pills in Iowa because AG Brenna Bird threatened to sue them if they did?

B) Also in Iowa this week the state legislature passed a bill that would strips parents of the right to make health care decisions if their kids are what?

C) As Iowa sinks into Republican hell, what northern state legislature voted to repeal a 1931 abortion bill?

D) After a wildly wet winter California is once again set to experience atmospheric what?

E) President Biden submitted a budget to Congress last week. It proposed cutting as much as how much from the national debt over 10 years?

F) Oscar night tonight! Well, what happened last year that made those Oscars perhaps the most talked about ever?

G) What “news” commentator used January 6th tapes given to him by Speaker McCarthy to make a case on his show that J6 was not an insurrection?

H) Speaking of Speaker McCarthy, he turned down an invitation to visit what country last week?

I) This is women’s history month. I sure hope you remember who Ketanji Brown Jackson is?

J) Despite Wall Street screaming for a hiring slowdown, once again the economy created a very respectable how many jobs in February?

K) March 15 long ago saw the assassination of what general and politician?

L) As the CEO of what railroad company was testifying before congress on derailments, what happened in Alabama?

M) Ah – the MAGAts are beginning to infest Iowa as a presidential year draws near. What candidate gave an anti-woke speech in Davenport Friday?

N) Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand opposed the settlement between the U of Iowa and former football players for what reason?

O) Workers in France are striking as the government there tries to raise what?

P) Former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder has been convicted of taking bribes. How much was he accused of taking?

Q) Last Sunday President Biden visited what city on the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday”?

R) What DC “odd coupe” has announced plans to divorce?

S) What major automobile company announced it will cut hundreds of jobs through voluntary buyouts?

T) 26 Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee refused to sign on to a letter condemning what?

Watch how quickly “health problems” crop up once Donald Trump is indicted. He’ll go from “live to be 200” to “so frail he’ll be lucky to see daylight” overnight. Just watch. Mark it down under “Jack said…” – Jack Hopkins tweet

Carlso riot pic

Answers:

A) Walgreen’s

B) Trans

C) Michigan

D) rivers

E) $3 trillion

F) Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock’s face after a remark Rock made about Smith’s wife

G) Tucker Carlson

H) Ukraine

I) First black woman who was confirmed to the SCOTUS last year

J) 311,000

K) Julius Caesar (the Ides of March)

L) Norfolk Southern

M) Ron DeSantis of Florida

N) originally Iowa taxpayers were on the hook for the settlement

O) Raise retirement age

P) $60 million 

Q) Selma Alabama

R) George and Kelly Anne Conway

S) GM

T) White Supremacy

Pity poor Newt Gingrich, doomed to wake each morning into a world he helped create. – Jeff Tiedrich tweet

Pins pic

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Time Is Relative Edition

No Iowa Nice Anymore

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Abortion horror story (5:40)

I call up a map of the US every day to see if sometime overnight the state Iowa drifted off it’d moorings and drifted south and nestled someplace amongst the states of the old south. Are we in between Mississippi and Alabama? Or are we somewhere in the Arkansas / Tennessee area? Philosophically the state legislature is there.

Our state legislature has passed some amazing bills this year. Having drawn a target on the backs of the public schools and then scored a direct hit, now they have set their sights on children and young adults particularly those who are trans and gay. With a super majority in both houses, they should be able score more victories.

Of course the legislators are the ‘representatives’ of the people. And that should tell you a lot. Iowans are voting for people who in turn use their votes as leaders in government to restrict the rights of those who do not conform with the legislators’ concepts of what citizens should be.

So now if you are a young person who is trans, any and all help in your transition has been cut off. This is certainly cruel. That may be the point – they hate such people so what can they do to make their life miserable? Having the government step in and mess up their lives will for sure make their lives miserable.

Once again legislators are pushing to outlaw abortions in Iowa. This amid a backdrop of horror stories of pregnant women being forced to carry dead fetuses or being forced to give birth to babies that will die almost immediately after birth. The list goes on.

Since the far right is so adamant about babies being born at any cost you would think that they would put money where their mouth is and create state supported programs that would help such children grow and prosper. Instead it is just the opposite. Iowa’s legislators have cut way back on food benefits for the poor including early in the session of trying to cut necessities like meat and milk from beneficiaries choices.

Instead of strengthening Iowa’s public schools, the legislature has passed a slow death sentence to Iowa’s once vaunted public school system. Thus once a child is born in Iowa, unless they are rich, the state will do little to help that child. Well, that is unless you think being able to work long hours around dangerous machinery is help to hat child.

Yep, thanks to our legislators Iowa’s children can get into that workforce almost as early as they could a century ago. The legislators claim this bill was not to solve the problem of worker shortages in Iowa. No, of course it wasn’t. But the chance to pay children low wages to do a job they would have to pay an adult much more to do is awfully tempting.

Plus as an added benefit, children will face a rather daunting list of banned books to work around here in Iowa. The Great Kim has decreed that if someone in Podunk Center, Iowa claims a book is somehow suspicious then it can’t be read in Des Moines, in Cedar Rapids or up along the northern border with Minnesota. Cross over that border and, by golly, a child can read that book.

And since librarians who took years of schooling to learn their jobs might let a child read a book that was banned in Podunk Center, The Great Kim also decreed that if someone once read a book (an approved book) they too could be a librarian.

So these are the kind of policies that Iowans through their elected officials think will have other Americans beating down the doors to get into Iowa. Let’s recap and include some previous policies:

  • Crushing public unions
  • Right to work (for less)
  • Crushing teacher unions
  • Low pay for teachers
  • (Proposed) forced birth under any circumstances
  • Attorney General trying to stop OTC abortion medication in Iowa.
  • Cutting SNAP benefits.
  • Cutting unemployment benefits
  • Dismantling the public school system
  • Pushing privatized schools with little public oversight
  • Cutting funding to universities
  • Cutting awards against doctors and transportation companies in lawsuits.
  • Treating trans and gays as pariahs unworthy of equal rights

I am sure there are more. I spoke with some friends this week who are either planning to move or exploring moves. These are young families who see no future in Iowa. Friends we know that have left since 2000 would never come back here. Seems like whenever we talk to former Iowans they ask “What the hell happened to Iowa?”

It could be that the once nice people of Iowa have left and those remaining are trying to change Iowa from Iowa Nice to Iowa Mean. Or maybe as Jimmy Buffet once said “Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes” and Iowa really has slipped down to try to be part of the old confederacy. May we are “deep in the heart of Texas” these days?

Posted in Iowa legislature 2023, Kim Reynolds, Republican Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment