In A Kingdom Not Long Ago

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Dave Bradley

I got this email from occasional contributor and friend of blogforiowa, Don Paulson. You can almost hear the frustration in Don’s narrative of a legislative session in Muscatine not long ago. I get the distinct feeling that the legislators, all Republican, were there not to listen but to dispense far right wisdom from on high and accept praise. That was not happening:

Queen (Evil) “Covid Kim” Reynolds has issued a Proclamation bestowing the title of “Defender of the Faith” on Iowa House Representative Bobby Kaufmann (R-Arrogance) for his performance at the Muscatine legislative forum at Muscatine Community College last Saturday.

In a crowded Student Center many attendees were there to question and protest the many discriminatory bills and legislation introduced by Republicans in the Iowa legislature targeting the state’s gay and lesbian community. They were clearly agitated.

Representative Mark Cisneros (R-Ignorant) spoke on a bill he co-sponsored to outlaw same-sex marriages, which has been legal since an Iowa Supreme Court ruling years ago. The crowd grew more restless. He then mentioned Critical Race Theory and the attempt in Florida to indoctrinate students there. More unease from the crowd- with good reason!

The next speaker asked the legislators not to be divisive, hateful or to express bigotry. Representative Kaufmann then went into action, apparently thinking questions or criticisms of other Republican’s legislation was a personal affront to himself. He retorted that forum speakers were asking legislators not to be divisive, hateful, or express bigotry as they were being called divisive, hateful, and bigots. Brilliant! Even though it was the Republican legislators introducing the bills, make the forum participants the bad guys! If you criticize Republicans for trash-talking Critical Race Theory, then you are the racist! Pay no attention to that divisive, hateful bigoted man behind the curtain!

The Defender of the Faith Proclamation is sponsored by the following. (Keep those checks coming!)

Iowa Farm Bureau (The volunteer efforts on clean water are working just fine!)

Bob VanderPlaats, Chuck Hurley, and the Iowa Family Leader Team (if you’re not with us, you’re going to Hell)

Iowa Motor Carriers (Can’t you lower our liability some more in that bill?)

Odyssey (We welcome administering your religious school voucher program- just keep the million dollars coming!)

Sports betting industry coalition (We’re betting you Republicans are winners! Oh no, we’re not using House money!)

Private healthcare industry (Did we mention your claim has been denied? Oh, by the way, our administrative costs are going up)

Americans for Prosperity (Has the maid cleaned Drew Klein’s room in Terrace Hill yet?)

Just dripping with righteous sarcasm from top to bottom, and deservedly so. 

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Community Food Banks Need Help

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Dave Bradley

A close friend in Iowa City just got this email from their local Community Food Bank yesterday. I have no doubt that that Food Banks across the state are in or near crisis. Remember that pandemic aid has ended and some people will not be able to handle that. 

Do what you can to help your local Food Bank. 

Thank You Very Much!

It’s difficult to find words for the situation our community is in right now. We are so grateful to receive incredible support from our community, and we’re lucky to be surrounded by people that truly care about their neighbors. However, the current economic climate has created an urgent situation at our Food Bank.

Food and financial donations are both down, and our inventory is scarce. In January, we had 1,640 more visits to the Food Bank than the month prior. And with everyone’s financial situation being affected by inflation in the past year, in-kind donations decreased from almost 15,000 lbs. of food in December to just over 5,000 lbs. in February.

We are in need of Food Bank donations in order to keep our neighbors fed. We understand every budget shrank this year, but if you are able to help, we really need you right now.
Donate
Host a Food Drive

 

Take care,

Your Friends at CommUnity
Our Contact Information

CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank

1121 S. Gilbert Ct.
Iowa City, IA 52240

3193512726 ext. 105

http://www.builtbycommunity.org
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New Poll: Republican Policies Are Not Popular

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Research again confirming the obvious. Only the extremists are FOR book banning. That’s because they’re generally opposed to books, reading, education, etc.

From Progress Iowa –

New Poll Shows Widespread Opposition To Book Banning, Curriculum Censorship

Des Moines, Iowa — A new national poll reported widespread disapproval of banning books and limiting curriculum in the classroom, both of which have been proposed during this year’s Iowa legislative session.

The survey, conducted by Navigator Research, measured public opinion on a variety of issues including banning books that some parents find to have questionable content, the banning of high school classes like African American history, and whether legislation should be passed to prevent children from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity.

Iowans reacted to today’s poll results and spoke out in support of public education:

“ISEA members work with students and families in every community in our state. This polling data confirms the experiences they have in their local communities,” said Mike Beranek, President of the Iowa State Education Association. “In spite of the anti-public education rhetoric and cookie-cutter legislation some elected officials are pushing, we know Iowans remain committed to taking care of our most vulnerable and continuing to support strong public schools with rigorous curriculum based on science, historical facts, and expansive ideas.”

“We know that reading books about cultures and identities different from our own promotes unity and empathy,” said Sara Hayden Parris, the founder of Annie’s Foundation, a parent-led organization formed to oppose book bans in Iowa. “When readers don’t see themselves represented in books, it sends the message that they are not valued, or that their stories don’t matter.  Annie’s Foundation believes that every child deserves access to books with characters that look like them and reflect the diversity and complexity of the world around them.  Restricting or removing access to such books, as the Iowa GOP is trying to do, impedes our freedom to read and violates our First Amendment rights.”

“These poll results beg the question: who are Kim Reynolds and the Republican legislature working for?” said Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa. “Their divisive policies take time and resources away from supporting public schools. This poll shows that parents oppose their putting politics into our classrooms. It’s time for Iowa’s Governor and legislature to work for Iowans, not to push their own political agenda.”

Key findings from the Navigator Research poll include:

  • Banning books that some parents find to have questionable content is extremely unpopular, with just 32 percent in support and 57 percent in opposition.

  • This includes a majority of parents. 56 percent of parents oppose banning books that some find to have questionable content, and only 33 percent were in support.

  • Banning high school classes like AP African American history was unpopular, with only 21 percent supporting and 68 percent in opposition.

  • Passing legislation preventing children from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity was also unpopular. Only 37 percent supported that type of sports ban, and 47 percent were opposed.

The survey published by Navigator Research was conducted among 1,000 registered voters from February 23-27, 2023. The margin of error for the full sample at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 3.1 percent. Click here for the results.

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Progress Iowa is the state’s progressive communications hub with a network that reaches nearly 100,000. We conduct research, develop winning messages, communicate with Iowans about critical policy issues, and empower people who want to improve our state.

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One Iowa Responds To Passage Of SF 538

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Trish Nelson

From our inbox Wednesday, 5:30 pm from OneIowaAction

I am writing to you with a heavy heart. Today SF 538  passed the House, and it cleared the Senate yesterday, making it set to arrive at the governor’s desk anytime. We know that gender-affirming care saves lives, but the extreme wing of the Republican party was not willing to back down from their agenda to harm LGBTQ youth in Iowa.

First and foremost, to the trans kids and their families: We will never stop fighting for you. You are not alone in this. You are loved. You are beautiful. You are worthy of all the goodness this world has to offer.

One Iowa is wrapping up a “What Now Resource Guide” to help you navigate these unsettling times. We will share it far and wide early next week.

If you are a parent or caregiver to a transgender young person, you can join us for a meeting tomorrow at 6pm. You can sign up by clicking here.

For everyone else: call NOW and tell the governor NOT to sign this bill. We have already delivered over 500 postcards to her office today, letting her know that Iowans do not support this legislation. Let your voices be heard here. You can call her office at (515) 281-5211.

Finally, please take care of yourselves. You have spent the last weeks advocating hard for LGBTQ Iowans in so many ways. Your donations, your emails to your legislators, showing up huge on the West Terrace of the Capitol for the Rally to Resist, and so much more. You have given us hope when we didn’t have any. Please know that your advocacy does not go unnoticed. The Iowa Legislature was made very aware that we are here, we are queer, and we are not going anywhere.

I look forward to continuing this fight with you,

Courtney Reyes
Executive Director
One Iowa Action

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Watch This Week’s Blue Statehouse Alert Live

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Trish Nelson


This week on the Blue Statehouse Live Jennifer Konfrst thanked everyone for the difference you all are making by participating – particularly if  you showed up at the rally at the capitol on Sunday. Dems “will continue to push for love and freedom even if Republicans want to take those things away,” Konfrst said.

But in my view this was the smartest, most important and spot on of all the comments Leader Konfrst made. If activists could do this, it would go a long, long way to get us on the road back to sanity.

“As always I would encourage you to ignore Republican content on social media on these bills…an example… over the weekend I posted a picture of me with my favorite banned books… R’s started fighting in the comments with my supporters about book banning and the fighting [more than tripled] the number of likes I normally get.. so the fighting in the chat had the opposite effect of what R’s wanted because it gave more eyeballs to my post… the same is true for Republicans.. we don’t want to share their content…we want to make sure we’re engaging with only Democratic content because we’re never going to win the fight on social media and all we’re doing is amplifying their message.. it backfired for them and it will backfire for us.”

Meanwhile, 74,495 people signed a petition against a bill to ban gay marriage in Iowa.  It is a huge win that two bills to ban gay marriage are dead this legislative session. That’s the good news. Listen to the FB Live below or on the House Dems FB page to learn how to kill the rest of the R’s legislative agenda.

Every Monday House Democrats send out the Blue Statehouse Alert – this is an email about what’s happening at capitol

Every Tuesday there is a Facebook Live event

Every Friday People over Politics newsletter comes out reviewing what happened last week

To sign up send an email to house@democrats.org

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GOP War on Women Continues

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Life saving medicine like Mifepristone – legal in the U.S. for decades – will be banned if the GOP gets its way. What is the real impact of banning mifepristone?

Join the Thom Hartmann show as he discusses with Monifa Bandele, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of MomsRising.org, the mischaracterization of who is having abortions as the young and irresponsible. Six out of 10 people seeking abortions are already mothers making decisions about their health, economic security, education, housing, and a number of issues.

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Iowa Farmers Union Lunch And Learn

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Trish Nelson

“Farmers and consumers working together in support of Iowa’s family farms and rural communities.“ Follow Iowa Farmers Union on Facebook and Twitter. Check out their website at iowafarmersunion.org/

This week’s Lunch & Learn:  “Ann Wolf and Dr. Rob Wallace, Co-Directors of Midwest Healthy Ag, join us to discuss a farmer-initiated research project dedicated to capturing the opinions of farmers on health, finances, COVID-19, and climate. The study’s focus includes interviews with Iowa farmers and nearly 100 farmers from across six Midwest states to weigh in with their opinions on a variety of topics around key problems farmers and rural communities more generally presently face. Wolf and Dr. Wallace will discuss the study process and noteworthy findings.

More information on the project: The interviews were part of a research study conducted across Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Participants were asked questions about their farm management practices, the history of their farm and plans for its future, their health and that of their families, COVID-19, and their views on the changing climate.”

To learn more about Midwest Healthy Ag, visit midwesthealthyag.org.  Next week’s guest on Lunch and Learn will be Chris Jones, author of The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality available on Ice Cube Press.

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High Five Highlights How Bad Iowa Legislature Is For Iowans

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Progress Iowa continues to send out its daily email during the legislative session. As we pass through funnel week (last week) the seriousness of what the legislature is doing is magnified. Many of the bills that pass through the funnel have a good chance of becoming law. 

Much of that legislation has little to do with governing and more to do with culture wars and giveaways to industry. Welcome to the new Iowa. Once we were a beacon of light. Now we follow the ideology of the dark right.

Anyway I digress. Here is the High Five for Thursday that highlights some of the ideas that far right Republicans have to hurt Iowans. Note that children are deep in the mix:

Happy Read Across America Day, Dave!

To recognize today and fight back against book banning, many are sharing a #Shelfie, a picture or video with a favorite banned or challenged book. Will you join them? For more information, you can click here or follow us on Twitter where we’ll be sharing Iowans shelfies today!

Now, let’s get into today’s top stories:

1. GOP SQUEEZES BAD BILLS THROUGH FUNNEL: There are plenty of positive bills to improve life in Iowa – like increasing the minimum wage, providing paid family leave, or legalizing marijuana, but this funnel week, Iowa Republicans have pushed over 100 bills through subcommittees, despite much of their legislation causing harm. These bills include book bans, bathroom bans, and a rewrite of child labor laws. As summed up in this tweet Republican legislators seem to think “working in a mine is appropriate for a 14 year old but reading Lord of the Flies is a bridge too far.”

2. CHILDREN SERVING ALCOHOL OK FOR REPUBLICANS: House Republicans’ child labor bill, which would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to serve drinks, was advanced out of committee yesterday. This, along with extending work hours for children, is just another example of Republicans putting wealthy corporations over people and the wellbeing of kids.

3. SAFETY IS A LAST PRIORITY FOR GOP: A dangerous new bill similar to HSB 173 has been advanced out of a Senate subcommittee this week allowing loaded firearms to be stored in vehicles, including school buses. This legislation would only put more Iowans at risk. It’s time legislators put our safety before political agendas.

4. POLITICIANS ATTEMPT TO BAN UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS: Legislation has now passed out of a House committee to bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public Iowa universities. This is a huge overstep for Iowa Republicans and another attempt to erase the diversity in our state.

5. REYNOLDS HURT IOWA WORKERS: Many, including Iowa’s construction workers, are feeling the impact of Gov. Reynolds unemployment cuts this winter. With access to unemployment benefits shortened by 10 weeks, Iowans are having a difficult time making ends meet between concrete jobs that often stall in the cold weather. As Republicans attempt to make even more cuts, we must stand up for Iowa’s workers who depend on this earned benefit.

Finally, we would like to say how proud we are of Iowa students for standing up for themselves and their LGBTQ classmates yesterday. Iowa kids deserve to feel safe and welcome at school, so they can get a great, honest education without worrying about dangerous legislation coming from the legislature. It’s time politicians stop their attacks and let kids be themselves.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll get back with you tomorrow for another High Five!
 
Posted in Iowa legislature 2023, Kim Reynolds, Progress Iowa | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on High Five Highlights How Bad Iowa Legislature Is For Iowans

Sunday Funday: High Holy Days Of Basketball + Women’s History Edition

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Clark buzzer beater after screen by Czinano (46 seconds:)

What a grand conjunction for someone like me. Over the years I have become more and more of a women’s basketball fan. While the skill level is not what men can do, the women’s game has some points that no one else does. In recent years it has become so much more competitive that I often find myself watching a women’s game over the men’s game.

Our family was one that made it to most Iowa games on Sundays when Vivian Stringer was coach. Her teams were excellent and very good people. Stringer was a tough act to follow, but what Lisa Bluder has done over the past couple of decades is remarkable. And what can say about Bill Fennelly at ISU? His teams are always good and great representatives for Iowa

So here we are in Iowa celebrating Women’s history month and hoping that one of this year’s contingent of women’s college basketball teams can bring home some hardware. 

Couldn’t write a blurb about women’s basketball in Iowa without congratulating Caitlin Clark on her well deserved pick as Big Ten player of the year. Don’t forget that Monica Czinano is also all Big Ten. And over at ISU I don’t think there isn’t a record that Ashley Joens doesn’t own. I thank both teams for some great memories this year.

Back to reality. 

A) In a deposition released Monday who admitted that Fox News lied in their assertions that the 2020 election was stolen?

B) Trains in what country crashed head on killing at least 57 people?

C) There have been 5 near crashes on takeoff or landing in the US recently, including one Monday in what US city when a private pilot ignored traffic controller instructions?

D) Now on a quarter, who was the first woman to head a major Native-American tribe?

E) During an investor presentation what car company CEO said the cost of producing their cars will be cut in half using advanced manufacturing techniques?

F) Speaking of cars, what new battery is being touted as a possible replacement for the lithium-ion battery?

G) What state completed the repeal of old abortion laws begun when they were rejected by the electorate in that state?

H) The right got another bone from the Supreme Court when the Court agreed to hear a case on the funding of what federal agency?

I) Who wrote the Feminine Mystique and was a leader in the women’s movement in the late 20th century?

J) Florida Republicans are introducing some strange bills in their legislature his session including one that would outlaw what entity?

K) Speaking of Florida, Governor DeSantis signed a bill Monday that ended the special status of what company in Florida?

L) And one more for Florida. A bill introduced into the legislature would require all bloggers who write about what person be registered with Florida?

M) March 5, 1770 – one of the seminal events that would lead to the Revolutionary War took place where on this day?

N) Hard to ignore the story the cable newsers highlighted all week. What South Carolina lawyer was convicted of murdering his wife and son last week?

O) What man whose leaking of the Pentagon Papers over 50 years ago announced this week that he has inoperable pancreatic cancer?

P) What woman led the fight to criminalize lynching, helped found the NAACP and aided black people moving north during “The Great Migration?”

Q) Food benefits during the covid emergency from what program ended February 28th?

R) Hundreds of newspapers dropped what long running comes strip after racist remarks by the strip’s creator?

S) What foreign car company in Alabama will divest itself from a subsidiary that violated labor laws?

T) Kids that are 16 years old would be allowed to serve alcohol in a bill still alive in what state?

The future the gun lobby is pushing for is one with absolutely no gun regulation whatsoever where anyone can get a gun. That is the path we are going down right now. They want bad guys to have guns so they can use the rise in gun violence to sell more guns to scared people. – David Hogg tweet

Answers: 

A) Board chair Rupert Murdock

B) Greece

C) Boston

D) Wilma Man-Killer

E) Tesla

F) Sodium-ion

G) Michigan 

H) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

I) Betty Friedan

J) The Democratic Party

K) Disney

L) Governor DeSantis (note: Russia had a similar law concerning Putin enacted in 2014)

M) Boston – the Boston Massacre

N) Alex Murdaugh

O) Daniel Ellsberg

P) Ida Wells-Barnett

Q) SNAP

R) Dilbert

S) Hyundai

T) Iowa (leading the way back to the 19th century)

Beijing is now the city with the most billionaires in the world and I for one am OUTRAGED that the communists are better than us at capitalism. – John Fugelsang

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: High Holy Days Of Basketball + Women’s History Edition

Here We Go Again – Contracting ‘Management’ For Public School Pillage 

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Here we go again. As if anyone could be surprised, the far right Republicans have found yet another way to siphon money from taxpayers and give it to wealthy companies. This for a task that could be done in house for certainly much cheaper  with much better control.

 In this case this is a task that shouldn’t be done at all. That task is, of course, the disbursement of money from Iowa’s education fund to private, often religious, schools. I will not be shy about stating that supporting private schools totally undermines the concept of public education and the checks that that system has. It also flies in the face of the religious freedom clause of the first amendment when taxpayer’s money is used to support religion, any religion.

But be that as it may, the Iowa legislature chose to privatize part of our public system. This will certainly take a big bite out of the public schools’ budgets no doubt resulting in cost cutting measures that will be reflected in student performance. So one would like to think that our leaders in this effort would like to keep the losses to the public system as minimal as possible.

This is an opportunity to drain the public school funds and pass a big chunk of money to some “management” firm with little oversight.

Wednesday the lucky winner was announced. According to the Des Moines Register, Governor Reynolds picked the firm. No committee or oversight board, just the Governor:

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has hired a company to administer the state’s new program to let families access taxpayer funds to pay private school costs.

Reynolds said Tuesday she has chosen Odyssey, a vendor that has contracts in Idaho and Arizona. Iowa still has to negotiate a contract with the company before it can open the application process for the program.

As you can see, the way we do things in Iowa now is to hire a company and then figure out what it is they are going to do Ass backward if you ask me, but this is the new Iowa. 

But what caught my eye was the pay Odyssey will be getting: 

Odyssey will be responsible for managing all aspects of Iowa’s program, including applications, payments, compliance, fraud prevention and customer service, Reynolds said in a news release Tuesday. The state picked Odyssey over three other applicants seeking to run the program.

The company’s application estimates that running Iowa’s program would cost $629,550 per year. (my bolding)

That is $629,550 that WILL NOT be going to any student, public or private. That is money that will most likely come from the public school funds which will therefore see some cuts in budgets somewhere. 

Based on Iowa’s experience in the Medicaid privatization scam that Branstad/ Reynolds pulled off nearly a decade back we can expect a couple things to happen:

  1. The cost for “management” will increase rapidly and dramatically with little to show for it.
  2. The customers in this setup – students comparable to patients in the Medicaid scam – will be the ones that get screwed by these fee raises with a cut back in services.
  3. With the Medicaid, before the privatization, the management was done very well within the state government for about 1/10th of what the privatized management costs AND
  4. It will be hard to audit the management firm.

I am only basing that on Iowa’s experience with their boondoggle with the Branstad/ Reynolds Medicaid Privatization scam.

One other thing I found interesting is that Reynolds is bragging up her role as a leader among states that are at the low achievement end of the spectrum. I am so old that I remember when our governors bragged about challenging for the national lead in educational achievement. That was back before Branstad II – the stinky sequel:

“It is model language that we are seeing states across this country pick up and adopt. I know Arkansas is moving it. I know Oklahoma is moving. Texas is looking at it,” Reynolds said. “I could go on and on.”

Iowans may want to take some pictures of their community schools before they fall into disrepair. They were once the pride of the community, but Kim Reynolds has another idea.

Posted in Kim Reynolds | Tagged , , | 1 Comment