After the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Iowa Department of Transportation has funding and is working on a plan to to deploy more electric vehicle charging stations across the state. Once the plan is finalized, it goes to the Governor for review, and hopefully, approval.
The Iowa Department of Transportation compiled this useful video to provide an update on the project. There are a couple of misnomers in the video, such as “renewable natural gas,” yet there is good information as well. View it with a critical eye, yet this reflects the state’s official position on an important topic.
If you are interested in electric vehicles and the expansion of charging stations, viewing this video is a must.
For more information, the Iowa Department of Transportation website about Electric Vehicles is here.
One of the best kept secrets of the Biden administration that shouldn’t be is his rural outreach program.
Each week I receive an email invitation from Will McIntee, associate director of public engagement. This one for today’s Zoom call is typical:
“On this week’s call we will provide updates on CMS’s proposed rule to implement the Rural Emergency Hospitals designation, as well as additional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments for rural high speed internet through USDA.”
The meetings have been high level, informative and relevant to our lives in rural Iowa. They are off the record and closed to press.
The full schedule of calls is available on the registration site. If you live in rural Iowa, I recommend you register to give one a try. Here are the details for today’s call:
I attended enough events and got enough one-on-one time with Deidre DeJear – both during her current campaign and when she ran for Secretary of State – to know she would be a good governor. When I compare her to other Democratic gubernatorial candidates, she is hands down the most enthusiastic I’ve seen in recent years. We Democrats need some enthusiasm to defeat the Republican machine.
I like her and plan to vote for her yet this race is not about me.
The question I get asked repeatedly is “Can she win?”
At her June nominating convention, DeJear said, “My story being possible in Iowa, ensures that all our stories are possible.” It resonated with me when I heard it. Iowa writer Chuck Offenburger said it would resonate with Iowans if it were broadcast across the state.
Offenburger laid out a case for DeJear in a July 18 column.
He gave reasons why continuing a Reynolds administration would be a bad choice. His conclusion about Reynolds’ governance is “Doesn’t that sound like a whole lot of big-government overreach — which Republicans are normally the first to bitch about — by a governor who might be trying to stretch her shelf life too long?”
Offenburger also told DeJear’s story. He concluded with “It’s time for Barack & Michelle Obama to make another visit to Iowa.” It is polished writing of an experienced journalist which Democrats should read. I believe the column helped DeJear’s cause.
As counterpoint, Offenburger’s writing seems likely to be drowned out by the conservative noise machine with its ubiquitous right-wing radio, television and social media chatter. Not enough people have heard this case. More need to.
When people I don’t know ask me, “Can she win?” they are likely referring to one of the following things.
The governor is commanding the polls with a 17-point advantage in the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. DeJear is behind in fundraising as well. With a bit more than three months until the Nov. 8 election, DeJear and Iowa Democrats could overcome these disadvantages with hard work and more voter engagement, especially as we get closer to the election. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
Deidre DeJear is black. There is a racist strain running throughout Iowa with Iowans who won’t vote for a black governor regardless of their qualifications. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
Is there a “Blue Wave” coming in November? Some express skepticism, including me. We are worn out from the elections beginning in 2010. When we drag out the old sawhorse about Obama’s 2008 and 2012 wins, or the true story of Tom Vilsack’s come from behind victory, we seem to be running out of Democratic anecdotes. We need new stories of a kind to which Iowans across the state can relate. Deidre DeJear is that story.
Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Howard Zinn’s birth, Aug. 24, 2022, several organizations collaborated to offer a series of events to celebrate his legacy. Running from Aug. 23-25, most of them will be available online.
“Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University,” according to Wikipedia. He was more than that.
In his 1970 book, The Politics of History, Zinn argued for a radical approach to history, one that would extend human sensibilities by examining the continuing conflict over how people shall live. He provided a revisionist interpretation of the role of the historian, using his own experience as a bombardier in one of the last raids on France in World War II to interpret the decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The book was well-read by many of us in college that year.
If one heard of Howard Zinn, it likely in association with his book A People’s History of the United States: 1492- Present, which became a movie in 2015. The book was one of the few, if not the only volume at the time to tell America’s story from the point of view — and in the words of — America’s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. After reading Zinn, the writing of Harvard’s so-called “immigration historian” Oscar Handlin made me gag.
In his memoir Zinn has a message for our present times:
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train,” I would tell them. Some were baffled by the metaphor, especially if they took it literally and tried to dissect its meaning. Others immediately saw what I meant: that events are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that.
You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times by Howard Zinn.
HowardZinn.org, Zinn Education Project, Tamiment Library, Busboys and Poets, and Voices of a People’s History present a week of events to celebrate Howard Zinn’s 100th birthday. They include, among others, a teachers workshop, historian and artist panel, and an archivist panel.
To learn more and register to participate, follow this link: Howard Zinn at 100.
In the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released on Sunday, “A majority of Iowans – 60% – say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, at a time when the state’s Republican lawmakers have new freedom to restrict the procedure.” That’s the highest percent since the Iowa Poll began asking the question. The percentage favoring keeping abortions a legal option is higher nationwide.
American voters opposed overturning Roe by a 30 point margin. Politicians such as Governor Kim Reynolds and Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks have said Roe was settled law. Nearly 70% of Americans did not want the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. 75% of people say decisions on abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor, including 95% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 53% of Republicans.
With the willing help of Judiciary Committee Chair U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, president Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. All three said Roe was established precedent and settled law during their confirmation hearings. Yet here we are. What is popular doesn’t matter. Telling the truth doesn’t matter. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the court overturned Roe v. Wade. Conservatives who advocated overturning Roe v. Wade (since it was decided) are like the dog that caught the car.
No matter our income or where we live, Iowans value the freedom to make our own decisions, including access to safe and legal abortion. Abortion remains safe and legal in Iowa and we are fighting to keep it that way. We intend to protect our freedom from Republican politicians hellbent on taking it, who attempt to divide us and legislate for the wealthy few. From Sen. Grassley who stacked this court, to Gov. Reynolds who requested abortion rights be overturned at the federal and state levels, we seek their removal at the ballot box.
We all care about someone who has had or has considered an abortion. Most people likely know someone in this situation. We must ensure everyone has access to the care they need. Taking this right away won’t end abortions, it will simply make them harder to access for people with fewer resources. Limiting access to abortion puts pregnant people in danger and puts their lives at risk. Denying access to safe, legal abortions strips Iowans of a fundamental right.
What is there to say about abortion that hasn’t already been said? Very little.
Despite the Iowa Poll, some conservative Iowans continue to assert that a “majority of Iowans are pro-life and support every individual’s God-given right to an opportunity to live.” Thing about Roe is the discussion of when life begins was had in court and settled. I doubt conservatives who make the claim about when a fetus becomes an individual have read the court documents of Roe v. Wade. Their assertions reflect a position of ignorance.
If, as suggested, the dog caught the car, what comes next is a jump ball with conservatives having the home court advantage, especially those who have organized to overturn Roe since it was decided. When asked why Roe wasn’t codified in law already, a Democratic legislator said, “some things are just settled.” That is, until they aren’t.
Wildfires across Europe including Britain as the continent faces the hottest temperatures ever recorded. Record temperatures in China and India. Wildfires across North America in the face of the record temperatures.
We were warned – over and over and over. We are now seeing the warnings come true, much earlier than predicted. If we don’t do something and do it quickly our children and grand children will be bearing the pain of the years of our ignoring the warnings.
It is a key moment in climate change history that few remember: This week marks the 50th anniversary (ed. note: article from 2015) of the first presidential mention of the environmental risk of carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuels.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson, in a February 8, 1965 special message to Congress warned about build-up of the invisible air pollutant that scientists recognize today as the primary contributor to global warming.
“Air pollution is no longer confined to isolated places,” said Johnson less than three weeks after his 1965 inauguration. “This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.”
An Edinburgh-based research team fears plankton, the tiny organisms that sustain life in our seas, has all but been wiped out after spending two years collecting water samples from the Atlantic.
The landmark research blames chemical pollution from plastics, farm fertilisers and pharmaceuticals in the water. Previously, it was thought the amount of plankton had halved since the 1940s, but the evidence gathered by the Scots suggest 90% has now vanished.
The scientists warn there are only a few years left before the consequences become catastrophically clear when fish, whales and dolphins become extinct, with grave implications for the planet. In the report, the researchers from the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey Foundation (Goes) state: “An environmental catastrophe is unfolding. We believe humanity could adapt to global warming and extreme weather changes. It is our view that humanity will not survive the extinction of most marine plants and animals.”
<< snip >>
“Given that plankton is the life-support system for the planet and humanity cannot survive without it, the result is disturbing. It will be gone in around 25 years. Our results confirmed a 90% reduction in primary productivity in the Atlantic. Effectively, the Atlantic Ocean is now pretty much dead.”
This sounds to my untrained ears about as much of an ominous warning as it could possibly be.
Now let’s talk this year’s election. There is one party in this country that outright refuses to do anything about the climate. That is the radical right Republican Party. Please, for your children and mine vote for Democrats. Vote as if their lives depend on it. It does!
Admiral Franken answers question on reproductive rights:(1:30)
I was somewhat shocked (in an age where shock doesn’t happen much) when 195 Radical Right Republicans in the US House voted against preserving the right of Americans to purchase contraceptives. This vote was necessitated by the very strong warning that Justice Clarence Thomas sent in his concurring opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling the overturned reproductiverights for women first set out in Roe v. Wade.
Given the warning Democrats are trying to preserve marriage rights and the right to purchase contraceptives before either the SCOTUS or radically right Republicans slam the doors on these rights. Thus marriage rights were passed through the House early this week and contraception rights quickly followed.
195 radically right Republicans voted AGAINST Americans rights to purchase contraception. Who are these people who so want to deny YOUR right to make your own decisions on your body and your sexual choices? Well, look around – they are radical right Republicans like Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson! They want to control your body.
I am going to guess that some of them – probably all three – have purchased contraception in their lives. Damned hypocrites!
Uh – boy – the news is not getting any better:
A) Speaking of news – what “News” (not) had its credibility rating lowered to “Untrustworthy” by media watchdog Newsguard Thursday?
B) Maybe soon the words ‘I’m Calling About Your Auto Warranty’ will disappear as what agency has ordered phone companies to quit carrying this traffic?
C) GUILTY, GUILTY! Who was found guilty of contempt of Congress Friday?
D) It was announced that who had Covid last Thursday?
E) How many Iowans died from Covid last week?
F) But her emails! What highly sensitive agency admitted that it destroyed text messages from January 5th & 6th, 2021 despite being told not to?
G) Herschel Walker – the Republican lying machine – claimed last week that he worked for what law enforcement agency?
H) Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak stepped into the world limelight as the leading candidates to replace what deposed world leader?
I) Indiana Attorney General Todd Rosita may soon be facing a defamation lawsuit from who?
J) What iconic insect’s status was downgraded to “endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Thursday?
K)A case of what once dread disease brought under control by vaccine popped up in New York State last week?
L) A video of what US Senator running from the mob on January 6th has greatly damaged his carefully groomed masculine image?
M) That rumble you heard on Iowa’s west coast was RAGBRAI kicking off from what town on the Missouri River?
N) An obstetrician in California is planning an abortion clinic that would be set up on a boat where?
O) Iowa state auditor Rob Sand is encouraging school districts to apply for federal grants to buy new, non-polluting what?
P) In what seems to be a strange reaction to school shootings, school districts in Texas are requiring kids to carry backpacks that are what?
Q) Seventeen House Democrats were arrested by Capitol Police during a protest against what?
R) A mass shooting took place in what Iowa location Friday morning?
S) The J6 Committee hearing was carried live on all broadcast networks Thursday except which one?
T) China threatened to take “forceful measures” if who visits Taiwan as she has planned?
Red States wouldn’t survive without Blue State taxes pulling them out of the sewer. Maybe let them have a couple of years on their own and see what GOP policy really looks like. – kirumb tweet
F) The Secret Service – this is a scary development
G) FBI
H) Boris Johnson in the UK
I) Dr. Caitlin Bernard, The obstetrician who aborted the fetus of the 10 y/o Ohio girl
J) The Monarch Butterfly
K) Polio
L) Josh Hawley – he was also wearing a mask
M) Sergeant Bluff
N) The Gulf of Mexico
O) school buses
P) clear of see through mesh.
Q) The overturning of Roe v. Wade
R) Maquoketa Caves State Park
S) Fox of course
T) Nancy Pelosi
This may be out of line, but it’s just so damn wrong that Mike Pence isn’t testifying under oath right now. More than anyone else, Pence is the one who should be testifying. It’s so wrong. = Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh
BREAKING: Reynolds 7th Most Unpopular Governor in America
Des Moines, Iowa — Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic issued the following statement in response to a new Morning Consult Political Intelligence survey showing Gov. Reynolds is the 7th most unpopular governor in America:
“Iowans deserve leaders who fight for working families. That means fully funding public schools, standing up for Iowans instead of selling us out to corporations, and protecting the rights of every citizen. Gov. Kim Reynolds has turned her back on us, and Iowans are paying attention.
“Since taking office Gov. Reynolds has created a workforce crisis and doubled down on the policies that created it, by giving the wealthy and corporations tax breaks, while taking that money away from our public schools, public safety, and health care services. She’s taken away workers’ hard earned benefits, sold out our kids with her disastrous education policies and outsourced healthcare to private companies.
“It should come as no surprise that Gov. Reynolds is one of the least popular governors in the United States. She uses divisive issues to distract us from the fact that she’s a corporate sellout who prioritizes her wealthy donors over hardworking families. Iowans want a leader who works to improve our lives, not someone who only wants to tear us apart.”
This seems to be in opposition to the recent Seltzer poll that had Reynolds with a significant lead in her race. What could be the discrepancy?
My take is that there is a pot on the stove in Iowa (and elsewhere) that is about to pop. The ingredients in that pot include a forthcoming report on Donald Trump’s leadership in a failed attempt to overthrow our government; the resentment that women and men feel against the 6 Justices that took away rights from women the Dobbs v. Jackson decision; the drive in Iowa to undermine our public school systems and Reynolds role in making abortion nearly impossible to get in Iowa.
There are many issues – her pathetic leadership during the early covid pandemic where she was the puppet of the meat industry for instance – but Kim Reynolds is not much loved in Iowa.
On the other hand, Deidre DeJearis offering Iowans a real alternative to the ultra-partisan Reynolds. Dejear is offering really based solutions to Iowa’s problems. Take schools for instance. Instead of trying to undermine our current public school system, she believes in fully funding the system – something the radical right refuses to do.
Other issues include once again making voting easily available to Iowans, raising Iowa’s technology level so we can compete, standing up for the environment so Iowa’s kids can grow up in a clean environment and real investment in our rural areas. For one thing health care is becoming a real issue in rural Iowa.
I will say one thing for the Republican Party – or should I say the Radical Right? They have little respect for the law and they flaunt their disdain for the law daily on our TVs, in our newspapers and in our courtrooms and on the internet media.
As they pontificate on what women must do in their new dystopic world where women’s health is only a passing thought, we see leaders of the radical right doing all they can to make their total lack of respect for the law very evident.
As I write this, Steve Bannon is trying one maneuver after another to avoid taking responsibility for his refusal to honor a congressional subpoena. At one time congressional subpoenas were among the most sacred things in our system of laws. Tell me when a Democrat last ignored, even laughed at, any subpoena.
Bannon is far from the only one. Mark Meadows the former congress member and chief of staff did the same thing. Rudi Giuliani, Lindsey Graham also defied subpoenas. They just think they are above the law. Sure would be a great world if you could do whatever you want and never have to answer for it.
We now see this filtering down to lower levels especially in police departments. We see the Uvalde Police Department doing all it can to avoid answering questions on their absolutely pathetic performance during the shooting crisis in their elementary school last May. Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were slaughtered as the police refused to do anything. Now they don’t want to answer questions.
On and on it goes. It is not only that the radical right acts as if they do not have to answer questions, it is also that they dispense lies without ever having the media question their veracity or their sources. Like a compliant stenographer the right wing media records the lies and regurgitates them as news without question.
This didn’t begin with the last president but it took off like a fire infused with an accelerant since the last president. The only thing that can stop it is that those who are so dismissive of our laws and systems of justice must be brought to justice and be held responsible for their actions.
Donald Trump tried to overthrow our system of government as president. He is setting up for the next attempt now! THIS IS WRONG FOLKS AND MUST BE PUNISHED!
If Trump is not held liable it will happen again only worse. As we write this the next attempted overthrow of our government is being planned using lessons gleaned from their first attempt. Lessons of how to game the system to their favors.
Not only must Trump be held liable and punished, so must his lieutenants and sycophants such as Graham, Giuliani, Meadows and lesser lights like Marjory Taylor Green, Jim Jordon, Peter Navarro and Roger Stone.
As we enter the serious part of the 2022 mid term election the two overriding issues that no one is talking about are climate change (more on that later) and whether our system of government can stand.
On the last issue, our democracy is on very weak legs right now. It is ready to simply crumble unless it can prove that it is indeed a government of laws and not a government based on cult like leaders. We are now testing that system to see if it will stand.
And here is where you come in: If you believe in democracy in general and our American style Democracy in particular you must simple vote out those who have either enabled the attempt to overthrow our government or who have stood idly by as the overthrow and aftermath ensued.
In Iowa, it has been very clear that Chuck Grassley has acted as an enabler after the fact by supporting the former president. This would be like supporting Jefferson Davis after the Civil War. There is still much question about Grassley’s role during the insurrection.
Miller-Meeks, Feenstra, Hinson and Reynolds have also proudly shown their loyalty to Donald Trump and not to the country.
Those people must be removed from office. You can do it by voting for Democrats who will support our country. Michael Franken (Senate), Christina Bohannan (1st District), Liz Mathis (2nd district), Cindy Axne (incumbent 3rd district), Ryan Melton (4th district) and Deidre Dejear (governor) are candidates who will put country first.
“As progressives, we empower people to take action for positive change and social justice by coordinating a network of community forums and events aimed at educating and engaging citizens to work for the common good of all,” their Welcome Page reads. “Our core values are Social Justice, Empowerment, Diversity, Sustainability and Community.”
PACG publishes a weekly Progressive Action Update filled with ways to engage in progressive causes. Their most recent issue is here. Among the forums hosted by PACG are the Gender Equity Forum, the PACG Book Club, the Environmental Forum, the Civil Rights Forum, and the Health Care Reform Forum.
They report on significant progressive activities in the Quad-Cities. Here is a recent report about the We Will Not Go Back rally:
We Will Not Go Back! rally – After Action Report, Sunday, June 26th in Davenport.
Sponsored by: QC-National Organization for Women, PACG Women’s Equity Forum, One Human Family-QC, Iowa Women United and others.
We Will Not Go Back! the Davenport rally for Choice, attracted a huge crowd of members of our community who feel that the recent shameful ruling from the Supreme Court on abortion access is a devastating setback to anyone who can get pregnant – women and nonbinary individuals. We listened to speakers and then protested peacefully by walking around Vander Veer Park. Here’s a link to the Quad-City Times report from the event, along with their pictures. Women and nonbinary people around the U.S. awoke late last week to the news that they have less reproductive freedom than their mothers did. A person’s right to make her/their own decisions regarding pregnancy has been either taken away or is in grave danger of being abolished.
PACG has always had the ability to organize new issue forums to work on critical problems that arise in our communities and country. These Board of Directors-approved groups can be created and mobilized to address areas of interest and urgent need. This flexibility is part of the reason that PACG continues to be so successful – we meet the needs and demands put upon us. We can focus our outrage and frustration into positive action. We are better and stronger together!
PACG is proud that our new Women’s Equity Forum was a sponsor of this rally – it was our first event! And we haven’t really had a regular meeting yet!
Join our forum by contacting me (click on my name below for my email box). We have work to do! Let’s go!
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)
Blog For Iowa 