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Bob Leonard: What is [the voucher bill] going to mean for taxpayers?
Rob Sand: “Open season on private entities spending your tax dollars with no oversight… So there’s rules on what parents can spend the money on. And parents can be kicked out of the program or charged criminally if they break those rules. But if a private scho0ol after they’re paid that money wants to – I don’t know – take the principal to Europe for a vacation at 5-star hotels, with tax dollars, they can do it under this legislation. And not only can they do it, there would be very limited ability for us to even find out. Because despite the fact that they have allowed now private schools to access public money, there’s no public meetings, no public records, there’s no annual audit requirement that all public schools have to deal with. And so the ability to have any oversight or even know what’s happening with these tax dollars is very limited.”
“Some folks who I’ve pointed this out to who support the program say, ‘well that’s fine, we don’t want any government oversight.’ To which I point out to them public records, public meetings, public audits, that’s not about government oversight that’s about the public knowing – the public overseeing what’s happening with our tax dollars… but then they say, ‘well, parents will be able to decide, and they are the ones who are going to choose where their kids go to school.’ Okay well where in the statute does it give parents the right to know any of this information? The answer to that is nowhere. Parents whose kids go there also have no right to this information under this law. I cannot imagine we are going to be handing out a billion dollars to private schools with no real oversight or even knowledge of what they’re doing with that money.”
Letters to the editor of your local newspaper are effective supplements to a letter to your elected official. R’s these days are impervious to differing opinions. Many Republicans deny publicly that they hear from progressives. R’s only talk about how they hear from people who agree with them. And it’s not just me saying it. To illustrate my point you only have to watch the first 25 seconds of this video that I recorded at a Joni Ernst town hall in Iowa City. Check it out.
So we have to keep writing but in my view your time and energy is better spent calling them out publicly. Here is a great letter published in the Quad City Times by our friend Don Paulson.
In a stunning and fiscally irresponsible move, Republicans in the Iowa Legislature passed the “religious/private school voucher plan” that spends over $900 million over the next four years. Isn’t there supposed to be a separation between church and state?
After a decade or more of Republicans short-changing public education in Iowa they pull this stunt, essentially before the Legislative Services Agency could score it completely. To add insult to injury, apparently there will be a private company to manage the “education savings accounts.” No doubt there will be high administrative costs to do that.
If you’ll recall, Republicans passed their irresponsible tax cut bill last year. Most of that will benefit the wealthiest Iowans, and will blow a $1 billion hole in the budget in the near future. Now they are proposing to cut property taxes. Didn’t they arrange for the state to take on mental health costs as well?
One poll had over 70% of Iowans opposed to the voucher bill. Maybe that’s why the Republicans had to act fast.
This Valentine’s Day spend the evening with House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst. This week we’ll be spreading some love and making sure all Iowans know they are welcome here!
It’s about time for that annual dog sledding competition in Alaska (March 4). Here are not some of the contestants (3:15):
Ironic that we celebrate the birthdays of these two giants of humanity as the radically right wing Republican Party is doing all it can to rewrite real history and has forever been in the forefront of denying science and especially evolution.
Kind of mind-boggling that the Party that was started in response to slavery is now trying to ban books and histories that discuss the reality of what slavery was and the aftermath of slavery in our country. They want to ignore the reality because it might make white children feel bad about their ancestry.
I went to a private church related high school and here I am 60 years later still mad that my school lied to me about so many things, including history. Like most people, kids want the truth and will be mad when they find out they have been lied to. It is amazing that this is a response that has yet to have a backlash in the Republican Party.
Another week of exposing Republican lies.
A) In his State Of The Union address, President Biden got Republicans to stand in support of what current governmental programs they had previously attacked?
B) This week we also celebrate the birthday of what major figure in 19th century black history on February 14th?
C) At Hillside High in Tuscaloosa, Alabama students staged a walkout when their student led Black History Month programs were told to avoid what subjects?
D) According to CNBC, the wholesale price of eggs has dropped by what percent since December 119th?
E) Claiming this bill will lower insurance rates for practitioners in Iowa the Iowa legislature passed limits on lawsuits for in what areas?
F) A disastrous earthquake of monumental proportions was centered in what two countries Monday?
G) Why did the US wait to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon last weekend?
H) Perhaps one of the best quotes ever, who said last week ’the dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.’?
I) February 12, 1909. The NAACP was founded on the centenary anniversary of whose birth?
J) Lapel pins of what object are becoming a fashion statement for Republican US House member?
K) In response to Iowa’s labor shortage, the Iowa legislature is advancing a bill to loosen labor restrictions for what group?
L) A train derailment last weekend caused chemicals to spew into the air in what two states?
M) The Church of England is in discussions to come up with neutral gender terms for who?
N) Due to the passage of a law last year the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was able to release a report on what issue for the first time in 20 years?
O) In Sports, who is the new king of scoring in the NBA?
P) In black history, what is The Green Book?
Q) Keeping with the black history theme, what record will be set with today’s Super Bowl?
R) What state governor got his wish as legislation aimed at getting revenge on Disney World became law in his state?
S) Charles Darwin based his theories on evolution on observations in what geographic area?
T) A neo-Nazi leader and his girlfriend were arrested in Baltimore accused of plotting an attack on what?
They don’t cheer for 12 million new jobs. They don’t cheer for quality education, expanded health care or billionaires paying the same tax rate as firefighters. They surely don’t cheer for democracy. Once again, the Republicans told us what kind of America they want. – Steven Beschloss tweet
Tip of the hat to EarlG on democraticunderground.com
Answers:
A) Social Security and Medicare
B) Frederick Douglass
C) Slavery and Civil Rights.
D) 52% – this in no way means that stores will pass those savings on
E) Medical malpractice
F) the epicenter was in Turkey with tumors in Syria
G) So the debris from the. balloon would not fall on populated areas.
H) Sarah Huckabee Sanders , Gov. of Arkansas.She apparently meant the Democrats are the crazies although few listeners agreed with that.
I) Lincoln’s
J) AR-15s or AK-47s. Remember the 5th anniversary is Tuesday and they are celebrating a weapon of mass murder?
K) Children. Ban books and go to work – the Iowa experience.
L) Ohio and Pennsylvania
M) God
N) deaths by guns in the US
O) LeBron James
P) The Green Book was a book that blacks in the Jim Crow era could use to guide them to black friendly restaurants, hotels and other accommodations
Q) For the first time in Super Bowl history, both starting quarterbacks (Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes) will be black
R) Florida’s Ron DeSantis
S) The Galápagos Islands off of South America
T) Power sub stations in the Baltimore area. The plan was to freeze African American neighborhoods
Texans are now DIGGING THROUGH DUMPSTERS in hopes of finding food, after days without power
Hundreds of thousands lost power, surpassing the 2021 debacle
So guess what Governor Greg Abbott has been tweeting about all day?
His shi*ty border wall
I. Kid. You. Not. – Lindy Li tweet.(Ed. note: Abbott is a likely Republican candidate for president)
It is simply amazing how easily the American people can be manipulated into voting against their own interests. In two years President Biden has led an administration that has put policies in place that have dramatically slowed a rampant pandemic, put millions back to work in mostly good paying jobs, kept us out of a direct confrontation with Russia, lowered drug prices for many, insured many who had no health insurance and became the first president to pass meaningful gun legislation in decades.
He has also decreased the yearly deficit by $1.7 TRILLION a year. Given the massive deficit he was handed by his predecessor, that is s huge accomplishment. Consider that Biden’s predecessor and the previous Republican president, George W. Bush piled up @ 40% of the current debt by themselves, Biden’s turning the deficit around is a huge accomplishment.
Hard to believe he has done all that in just a couple of years. Did I mention taming the pandemic that Republicans were fanning with their Covid lies and misinformation? It helps to have a congress focused on actually solving problems rather than creating problems. Now that radical right wing Republicans are in charge in one house of congress expect those Republicans to do all they can to stop progress.
Stopping progress is the radical right wing Republicans calling card. Just as things start moving in a good direction for the American people and not just the billionaires, the radical right will do all they can to stop progress in their tracks. Radical right Republicans have a better chance at being elected when they can make the economy go bad and they can blame it on their opposition.
And that is the crux of how the radical right even has a chance at winning any elections. They own most of the press in this country no matter what platform you pick such as the internet that is fairly new? They own Facebook (now Meta which includes such well known sites as Instagram and WhatsApp) in the person of Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter through Elon Musk.
That old standby of newspapers? Gannet Corporation owns most of the country’s large daily locals, including the Des Moines Register in Iowa. They are quite corporate which generally lines up with the radical right wing Republican philosophy of power to the rich and screw the workers.
Radio? Clear Channel became I Heart Radio, but much like Gannet lines up with the corporate radical right wing philosophy of the Republicans. Same with television, with major corporate players like CBS, NBC, ABC. Fox and the CW. You may note that they own most of the cable stations and thus pretty much have a stranglehold on “news” disseminated on TV.
There is little locally owned radio or television. Local television stations are owned by major corporations such as Sinclair and Gray. Same story as the other media – major corporations, radical right philosophy. Line up for the rich, screw the worker.
Almost all of the media in this country disseminate right wing talking points in their news reports and in most of their programming like music stations. A little aside here and there that goes unchallenged and suddenly even in a country where unemployment is low and real wages are growing, the workers who have been royally screwed by corporations and Republicans for decades think things are much worse than they were under Biden’s predecessor.
Manipulated like play-dough.
Considering that something like 70% plus of Americans support Democratic ideas like universal health care, controlling guns, decent wages, good schools (boy what a number Republicans are doing on schools), Social Security and Medicare – how do Republicans ever win elections?
It becomes an even more puzzling question when you realize that radical right wing Republicans make no bones about how much they favor the rich. They have narrowed their electorate to rich, white males for the most part. They don’t hide the fact that they have little regard for people of color, immigrants, women and LGTBQ people.
So how do they win? By using the media to make it look like Democrats are failures even when their accomplishments are MAJOR as they are now; report on news stories in a highly biased way; focus on stories that are of little consequence especially if it can paint the Democrats in a bad light and the manipulations in a similar vein.
And of course there is their “cultural wars” that is used to drive stakes between Americans. What all these manipulations accomplish is not to get more radical right wing voters to the polls, but to discourage voters for the moderate and common sense Democratic Party.
One of the big cultural war issues that the radicals have been using for a couple of years is “critical race theory.” It is simply a phrase hyped up to scare whites about race and really means nothing. However, schools would do well for the country and future citizens to teach Critical Thinking Skills so that people would understand when and why they are being manipulated by those who own the megaphones of society.
February 14th was once most noted in the US as Valentine’s Day, a day for love. Unfortunately now for many in this country February will be forever be associated with one of the most senseless of all the senseless mass murders in this country.
I will not recount the details of the day. That will no doubt be done multiple times in the next few days. There is very little I can add to all that. But I do hope that Americans in all walks of life and especially those who hold offices of trust in this country, take a moment to consider the impact that the proliferation of weapons of war in the hands of civilians has had on this country.
Imagine being a parent and hearing on the radio or getting a flash message on your phone that there is a shooting in progress at your child’s school. Imagine the terror of the children. Imagine the terror of the parents. Besides those immediate victims there are relatives and friends. No other country sets their citizens and especially their children for such a deadly happening.
We were set up for for our current situation by Antonin Scalia’s opinion that made the gun about the only object that is untouchable by laws. What is more maddening is that one party – the now very radical Republican Party – has used the culture of the sanctity of the gun to divide our country and to raise massive campaign war chests on.
As a country we observe many days throughout the year to commemorate our war dead. That is as it should be. On Tuesday, I believe we as Americans should also observe some moments of thoughts to those who have died due to an idea that has been badly twisted over the decades.
Think of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings of those who died senselessly in the course of their daily lives. Think of what you and I can do to change the culture where elected members of congress are proud to wear a lapel pin depicting a machine of mass murder in the halls of congress.
Chief Justice Warren Burger said it very succinctly:
The words of the Neil Young song “Ohio” float through my mind frequently. The song is a reaction to the murders of four Kent State students during a Vietnam War protest back in 1972. One line in particular just keeps floating through my mind:
“What would you do
If you found her dead on the ground?
How could you run when you know”
Today is a great day to resolve to do something – especially elect sensible lawmakers – to begin the process of ending these senseless murders.
Simon Rosenberg is the founder of NDN (New Democrat Network). He is leading the charge to fight Republican disinformation by organizing Democratic activists, spreading the word on how we can be MUCH LOUDER. How do we do that? Listen to this short take and follow Simon Rosenberg on Twitter and YouTube for periodic updates and lives.
Excellent short take on what grassroots Dems can be doing right now. “If we want to win in 2024…”
You’ve heard about it and seen the clips and endured the punditry’s observations and analysis. But you really must watch it yourself to understand how thoroughly, politely, and with good humor, Biden made the R’s look like the dull, obnoxious, bratty school kids they are – not to malign actual school kids. First SOTU I’ve watched all the way through that was not boring.
And if you also want to read about how great it was, I recommend this article in USA Today by Rex Huppke.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech – they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.” – Rex Huppke/USA Today
Our backward MAGA representatives in congress and Iowa Republicans are willing to turn the United States of America into a third world country where women and girls can be forced to bear children against their will. Watch what happens in the Iowa legislature as the MAGA Iowa R’s play out their brilliant ideas to the detriment of just about everybody. If you make the effort to write to your Republican state legislator or member of congress, realize that public pressure is our only chance for change so you should also send it to your local newspaper. Regular Iowans need to get louder.
Here’s a note from the DCCC
Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson Owe Voters An Answer on Iowa’s Latest Abortion Ban
Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson owe their voters an answer about whether or not they stand by this extreme and dangerous effort to strip women in Iowa of their freedoms.
Previously, both Hinson and Miller-Meeks have made their positions clear by:
Joining 227 other Republican members of Congress in signing an amicus briefurging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe.
And in just the first three weeks of the 118th Congress, they already voted for anti-choice legislation that would limit healthcare access and potentially imprison doctors.
DCCC Spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre:
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson have not been shy with their record on abortion. Time and time again, they have leapt at the opportunity to strip freedoms from women. With MAGA McCarthy in charge, they cannot be trusted to stand up for access to essential care for women in Iowa or across the nation.”
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
Our backward MAGA representatives in congress and Iowa Republicans are willing to turn the United States of America into a third world country where women and girls can be forced to bear children against their will. Watch what happens in the Iowa legislature as the MAGA Iowa R’s play out their brilliant ideas to the detriment of just about everybody. If you make the effort to write to your Republican state legislator or member of congress, realize that public pressure is our only chance for change so you should also send it to your local newspaper. Regular Iowans need to get louder.
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