So Let’s Give Biden Some Credit

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Dave Bradley

I was reminded Wednesday that exactly one year previous we had gotten our first Covid vaccination. When we realized that it had already been a year we started remembering what was happening prior to getting our shots.

It was a rather bleak period in Iowa. Vaccines had been approved just before Christmas 2020, but there was an extremely limited supply. What supply there was was obviously going to the most vulnerable. So even though vaccines were slowly getting out to the public, the chances of us getting vaccinated were far off in the future.

The states were put in charge of distribution, and Covid Kim seemed to have little interest in doing much to get vaccines out. Nobody in her administration seemed to have much of a clue. I sent emails to the group running the program that must have gone to email heaven.  

As I somewhat vaguely recall, local drugstores would find out the day before what kind of a supply they would be getting on the next day. Based on that, they would post sign up sheets early in the morning. For the ones I dealt with, a person had to be in their database. Once they entered themselves in the database, they could try every day to sign up for an opening. I would do this daily at 5AM. By the time I got there most of the slots were filled.

Day after day throughout January and early February I would get up, sign on and find the slots filled. By my calculation, even though we were in one of the higher prioritized groups, I sort of calculated that we might be lucky to get vaccinated in June, maybe July based on speed that vaccinations were going.

In the country we had the attempted overthrow of our government. We also finally had the inauguration of Joe Biden which gave us a lot of hope. Fixing the vaccination mess would be a huge priority for Biden. Don’t forget that the previous administration did all they could to handcuff the Biden Administration by refusing to handoff any records or do any train for the incoming staffers. So the Biden Administration had to start at ground zero.

Within a couple weeks they worked some kind of a human miracle. The Biden Administration worked with manufacturers to greatly increase the production. They got storage units out to more and more distribution sites. They set up mass clinics that could do hundreds of folks at a time. 

I got a call from my sister-in-law one morning. She said my niece had seen a blurb about a mass clinic taking place in the area in a couple of days. Knowing we were desolate to get vaxxed, she gave us a call. Within a couple weeks the vaccination process had gone from almost zero to full speed. Our estimated vaccination date went from sometime in June with some luck to day after tomorrow. We were ecstatic.

We got vaccinated. We got the second dose a few weeks later. The state of Iowa and the Reynolds Administration still seemed to be lost in the woods, but the Biden Administration was getting the job done in a hurry. What at one time looked like it might take a year to get all people vaccinated was done in a few months – at least to the point of people who would get vaxxed.

I don’t think anybody ever anticipated that there would be so much resistance to being vaccinated for what was and still is a killer virus. The resistance seemed to be aimed at making the Biden Administration look like a failure because the virus was still out in the public. Rather than making Biden look bad, these folks made themselves look like fools by choosing to die a horrible death when a simple vaccination could have saved them.

So, despite a crazy opposition, the Biden Administration started off with a bang by getting a huge portion of the public vaccinated against one of the worst pandemics the world has seen. Biden’s administration also led the world in getting vaccines to poorer countries. 

With Covid cases currently going through a drastic drop, where is the press to give credit to the guy who has been laser focused on the pandemic from day one and who has done much of the work that is bringing the numbers down. Strangely, we hear no praise for Biden at a time when he should be getting credit.

While working what was an amazing feat in getting the public vaccinated, that was just one of the huge problems that the Biden Admin had to deal with. Unemployment was rampant, people were in danger of losing their homes and many Americans simply needed money. Biden and the Democrats passed relief measures to address immediate problems and set up the groundwork that would get people back to work.

So here we are a year later with 7 million additional jobs in the bank and more being created daily. Public schools are back open. Vaccinations have been extended to the 12 to 18 year olds first and the 5 to 11 year olds last Thanksgiving. Vaccines for the toddler set are really close.

Should the Covid pandemic actually subside as many are predicting, will the Biden-Harris administration get the credit they deserve for wrestling this monster to the ground? Given the tilt of the media, I would doubt it.

These are just a very brief list of Biden accomplishments. Did I mention that wages have taken a healthy jump? Yet to read or listen to the dominant (right wing) press in this country you would think Biden is driving the country in the ground. All they blather about is inflation.

We note that inflation is high, but the Administration has had little to do with causing the problem. It is world wide and much of it due to corporate greed and problems caused by the bad response to the original waves of covid. 

Few Administrations have had such a fast start. There are still major problems to be dealt with. At a time like this it is so much better to have an administration in office that will work to solve problems rather than make them worse for political gain. 

So turn off the Fox TVs and turn off the right wing radio. Do a little reading that deals with reality. This is a good time to watch a real president do his job. 

Posted in Biden-Harris, Covid-19, Jobs, Labor | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Democrat Elle Wyant is Running for Iowa House District 91

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Paul Deaton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2/12/22

Elle Wyant
Elle for Iowa
elleforiowa@gmail.com
Elle Wyant

ELLE FOR IOWA. ALL IOWANS. 

Marengo, IA — LGBTQ+ activist Elle Wyant announced her campaign for the Iowa House of Representatives today in House District 91, representing both Iowa County and the northwest portions of Johnson County.

“I’m proud to announce my campaign for the Iowa House in House District 91,” said Wyant. “Like many Iowans, I’m tired of our politics getting in the way of our progress. It’s time to open back up the dialogue. If you have an open ear, come with an open mind. I’m ready to run a campaign for all Iowans.” 

Wyant was raised in Marengo and attended Iowa State University, graduating with a communications degree. She is a born and raised farm girl, who previously managed 160-400 acre farms consisting of grain crops such as corn and soybeans in Marengo. Her family owns two Iowa wineries– Ackerman Wine in the Amana Colonies and Fireside Wine in Marengo. Professionally, Wyant has spent almost two decades as an account executive with UPS where she also served as chairwoman of the company’s LGBTQ Business Resource Group. She currently works in Air Cargo Sales at UPS Airlines.

“I’m running because I believe in equity for all, not for some,” added Wyant. “I believe in equity in our schools by funding them fully, in our economy by championing a fair tax plan that gives Iowa families a fair shot, and by living up our reputation for being ‘Iowa Nice’ by building communities where everyone has the space to be fearlessly authentic.” 

Being part of the LGBTQ+ community herself, Wyant is passionate about giving a voice to Iowa’s LGBTQ+ youth. Along with advocacy in her own community, Wyant is currently on the Board of Directors with OneIowa. She is the proud parent of two daughters, an aviation enthusiast, and foodie.

Learn more about Elle and her campaign at elleforiowa.com. Follow her on social media at twitter.com/elle_wyant, and instagram.com/elleforiowa.

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When Capitalism Fails Local Business

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Trish Nelson

Prairie Dog From the February 2022 issue of  The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is  funded entirely by reader subscription, available only in hard copy for $15/yr.  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues. Published with permission.

by Karen Kubby

I am mad as hell. A particularly ugly form of capitalism has bitten me in the ass.

Most  forms of capitalism are ugly. Some are more deeply damaging than others. This is a personal story about my small business in downtown Iowa City. It is not uncommon. When I zoom out from my own experience to see the community consequences, I see many paths for downtown Iowa City and other successful commercial areas. This can happen in an urban area like Iowa City. It can also happen on main street in a smaller community.

This is a story of many small local shops coming together to make improvements to a  commercial district. Organizing and planning, being willing to tax ourselves more to have  the resources necessary to keep the downtown clean, green, safe, and to coordinate events. I have always had a fear that the work done to improve the area where I lease commercial property would result in my small business being priced out of the area. That our  investment of time, money, and energy would result in higher values, increased speculative purchasing, higher taxes that go along with increased value, and higher rents. My fear was realized when my long-term lease was up and the property I leased was sold for an amount almost double its assessed value. The result was that the landlord wanted three times the rent and twice the amount of property taxes.

I realize that the assessed value of certain properties in downtown Iowa City may be lower than its market value. I doubt the market value is twice the assessed value. My conclusion is that my new landlord overpaid for this property as speculative investment.

From conversations with my landlord, I believe he does not care about the overall mix of  businesses in the area, does not care about the consequences of a move on my business, does not care that I got the taxes on that property reduced by 40% in perpetuity because I am a local government nerd and encouraged the previous landlord to apply for a certain tax category within the small window of opportunity in which it was provided, does not care about downtown Iowa City losing a champion of the area, does not care that some cultural flavor has been lost to downtown. He does not have to care. He owns the property.

He didn’t do anything illegal. He had the right to not renew my lease. He has the right to ask whatever rent he wants. Yet he is wrong. My larger concerns about how wrong he is are not just about my business.

I landed on my feet because I am flexible, creative, innovative, and most importantly, stubborn. Another important factor in our survival was the contribution of many volunteer hours. Volunteers helped us pack, physically move, and unpack. No small feat for a store with 240,000 different products, some as small as 2mm.

The landlord at our new location worked with us as a partner to get us into the new space, to help with the build-out, to negotiate a lease that would work for both of us. There are some landlords that see the larger picture and value the local economy.

These larger concerns are about this scenario being repeated throughout the area. One, because this property owner has paid a price far above the assessed value for quite a few
properties downtown. Two, because if he is successful at increasing rent so steeply, other landlords will take notice and follow suit. This puts many small locally owned businesses at risk once their leases are up. It will disproportionately affect women-owned and minority-owned businesses as we are less likely to own downtown property.

If what happened in my case is repeated, there are four likely results. 1) Spaces stay empty. Vacancies are not good for adjacent businesses, that block, or for the entire downtown. It interrupts the flow of activity. 2) Somebody pays this high rent thinking they can make it. Many won’t. It does not matter. That anyone paid this rent for one day makes other landlords take notice. The spot will turn over. Ever changing tenancy is not good for neighbors or the whole of downtown. It makes it hard to market the area and to form an identity. 3) The folks who can pay this higher rent are larger corporate entities. We may see more national brands in our core commercial area. This results in loss of local flavor, less money invested in local banks, and decreased gifting to local non-profits—the Walmart Syndrome of death and decay. 4) A local shop can successfully make it agreeing to this artificially high rent. This is the least likely scenario.

My old landlord tied up a lot of money and paid a higher than market value for buildings that might remain vacant. His lenders may treat him the way he treated me. The capitalist system may bite him in the ass, the way it bit mine.

—Karen Kubby is a democratic socialist business owner of Beadology Iowa, a 35-year full-service bead store just south of downtown Iowa City. Her previous landlord is Tracy  Barkalow and her current landlord is Jeff Clark.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Watch This Week’s Blue Statehouse Alert Live

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Trish Nelson


Watch the weekly Blue Statehouse Alert LIVE on Iowa House Dems’ Facebook page every Tuesday night.  Sign up for updates  https://iowahouse.org/

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Exemptions To Sales Tax As Prevalent As Hogs In Iowa

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Trish Nelson

Prairie DogFrom the February 2022 issue of  The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is  funded entirely by reader subscription, available only in hard copy for $15/yr.  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues. Published with permission.

by Marty Ryan

A lot of ink has been used in covering Governor Kim Reynolds’ “4% flat tax on income” proposal. The Iowa House has introduced a similar bill, and the Senate has its own bill, but it’s more complicated. The word thrown around about all proposals is “fair.” There is nothing fair about any of the measures.

Before you begin to envision that everyone will pay the same percentage of income tax, let me break it to you that the word “rate” is missing from the quote above. That means that deductions galore are still available to get that seven-figure gross income down to around four figures before you determine how much tax you owe the state, if any.

Politically, the income tax discussion is a distraction. Lurking in the background is a plan to increase the sales tax rate. As a matter of fact, a sales tax proposal is one segment of the Senate plan. The Senate bill would get rid of all current local option sales taxes and raise the state sales tax rate a percentage to 7%. Some of the revenue from sales tax would be redistributed to counties. The eventual goal is to make Iowa the ninth state that does not tax income, obtaining revenue from other sources, such as the sales tax.

Some Iowa legislators have this idea that if there was no state income tax an influx of new
residents will move to our state. If that’s the case, wouldn’t South Dakota and Alaska have a larger increase in population than Iowa? The 2020 census shows that the population of South Dakota, a state that has not had income tax since 1943, grew at a rate of 1.17%, while Iowa’s population grew by 4.7%. Alaska’s population was static. The solution to having people move to Iowa is not going to be found in tax-shuffling legislation. Iowa needs  to create seashores and mountains to attract new residents. After all, current legislators have proven their creative skills in developing unbelievable examples.

There are 107 subsections in the Iowa Code under the title “Exemptions” as it pertains to the Iowa sales tax. That doesn’t mean there are 107 exemptions; it means only that there
are that many subsections. Several subsections have been further divided into many subparagraphs and sub-sentences, making exemptions to sales tax as prevalent as the number of hogs in Iowa.

Most sales tax exemptions are for the purchase of agricultural supplies, accessories, and my favorite phrase – ‘implements of husbandry.’ Following closely behind are exemptions for manufacturers, energy producers, airplanes and airplane parts and services, Google and Facebook, insurance industry purchases, commercial enterprises, and retailers.

Newspapers, and almost everything used in the process of printing a newspaper, such as ink, are also exempt from taxes. Also, you have never noticed a line item on a lawyer’s bill that says, “sales tax.” Reading through the list of exemptions, you can see that many lobbyists were successful in their quest to represent their clients’ ‘special interests.’

What you don’t see listed in the ten pages of exemptions from sales tax are many items purchased by people living in poverty. Those items may include diapers, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies and paper towels, toilet tissue, women’s hygiene
products, and clothing (except for a weekend in August where clothing under the price of $100 is exempt). An argument against making these necessities tax exempt is that everyone uses them. That’s the point.

A family living in poverty spends a higher percentage of their income on those taxable necessities. Because the “average age of farmers in Iowa is 57.1 years old,” and since there
are “four times more farmers over the age of 65 than under the age of 35,” the odds of farmers needing diapers is slim. Corporations don’t use laundry detergent. Google does
not purchase feminine hygiene products. Newspapers are not known to buy clothing.

I anticipate the sales tax provision in the Senate version is a bargaining chip. Although the Senate’s income tax bill contains a lower rate than 4%, I believe the Senate’s proposed
rate will drop off and the House will accept the Senate’s sales tax idea – especially since the last six months of 2021 experienced a ten percent increase in sales tax revenue.

The Iowa Senate, Iowa House, and the governor (what a few legislators believe to be the three branches of government) have taken to hold these truths to be self-evident: The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. And, as Leona Helmsley’s housekeeper overheard her philosophy on wealthy people, “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.”

—Marty Ryan is one of the little people.

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Zach Wahls On Message On Iowa Press

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Trish Nelson

Enjoy watching Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls  drive home the Democratic message on this episode of Iowa Press.

This week, other than Erin Murphy seeming inordinately concerned with some alleged unnamed parents who supposedly “are still upset” because they “didn’t get the results they were hoping for” over a book issue, the Iowa press crew didn’t seem overtly hostile.  Murphy’s question was clearly pandering to the Republicans though, and when he didn’t get the results he was looking for from Wahls he doubled-down on it asking a rare follow up question, the kind they reserve for Democrats.

“Circling back around” Murphy wanted to know what Zach would say to those parents who were told by their school board and teachers that the books the parents didn’t like were deemed to have educational value. Well, I know what I would say but Senator Wahls was much more diplomatic and deftly jumped on the opportunity of a really bad question to talk about the Democrats’ excellent policy ideas and contrast them with the Republicans’ terrible, anti-democratic ideas.

After you watch, please consider making a donation to defend a Democratic Senate Majority.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Testing Out Insurgency Tactics? 

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Dave Bradley

Can’t help but look at what is going on in Canada in recent days and wonder if this is some isolated incident or is it another in a long series of acts of anarchy that are being used to probe and test governments vulnerabilities? It seems that such incidents are happening more and more frequently in more and more places. From school board meeting rooms to international boarders.

I have been trying to simply understand what has been going on increasingly in our state, our country and our world. There seems to me to be a central theme. That is to overthrow governments with impunity and creating anarchy.

As we look back over the past couple decades we have what seem to start as small conflagrations that ignite into full blown fires in a short space of time.

Looking at the Canadian protest and what seems to be a lack of forceful response, one could easily imagine such a stunt being pulled here in this country. It wouldn’t take but a few strategically placed trucks to gum up the free flow of goods in a short time. With a cooperating sheriff’s department, a governor who is sympathetic to a cause and voila! we have a standoff.

Covid vaccine mandates have been one of the main excuses for having such protests. It is strange how vaccinations themselves have become such a torch for the right. Most of us except for a very extreme group looked at vaccines as something good, something that would save us from often much worse suffering as an individual or as a group. 

Yet thanks to an anti-government streak that has become embedded across the world, but especially in the US, for the first time in my life masses of people are rejecting vaccines. They are not only rejecting vaccines, but the reasoning behind their rejections have no basis in reality. They are rejecting vaccines essentially because they are being told to by someone. 

By doing so they are creating an environment where those of us who are trying to do the right thing may be compromised by their refusal to get vaccinated. By not being vaccinated they are giving the virus an environment to mutate. At some point the virus may mutate into something that the current vaccines can’t stop. Then we are once again in huge trouble.

A strange side light of the vaccine refusal has been the attacks by the anti-vaxxers on the medical community. For the most part those in the medical community exist to do good. They are there to heal, to help, to try to make things better. Now they are being vilified for doing what they can to end the pandemic.

Another group who we think of mostly as people trying to do good that have strangely become enemies of the extreme right is school teachers. School teachers for goodness sake! Doctors, nurses and teachers are now the enemy to the extreme right. Somehow someone has decided that the good people are now bad. Through social media and other forms of communication a veritable ‘call to arms’ is sent out and suddenly there is a feeding frenzy on some place or people suddenly designated as the enemy.

Often there is a trial run of what seems to be an insurgency tactic. That is what the truckers action in Canada feels like. There is no criteria for “success.” This seems to be only to see if such an event can be pulled off. From there will there be another similar incident in the US. 

We have recently seen book banning go from one schools district to multiples across the US. We saw occupations of state capitols seemingly morph into an attempted overthrow of our national government. In the aftermath we are seeing state governments and our national governments sometimes apparently paralyzed to act to bring the perpetrators to justice, especially the leaders.

So now as we seem to get an almost daily diet of extreme right wing actions in some small burg or state, I wonder if they is an isolated reaction to a local situation or is it a trial run for future anarchist type action. On a broader scale.

Posted in Covid-19 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sunday Funday: Olympics Edition

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Dave Bradley

Ow! (50 seconds)

One thing I have enjoyed seeing during the little bit of Olympics I have watched is that when NBC does a look in on the families of American athletes, we have athletes from all sorts of backgrounds. That sure says America to me more than anything. I still believe we are a melting pot. No matter the background. Except for those who want to overthrow the government through violence   

And the world goes on:

A) “Legitimate political discourse” is how the Republican National Committee is officially describing what event?

B) Top secret government documents were found at what private residence this week?

C) It is still Black History month. Quick, who are the current Black members of the US Senate?

D) The Ambassador Bridge is currently in the news. Where is the Ambassador Bridge located?

E) Marjorie Taylor Greene is once again the object of derision as she stated that Speaker Pelosi commanded what kind of a police force?

F) In West Virginia, a walk out was staged by students at Huntington High School when students were forced to attend what kind of meeting?

G) In what could be a small sign of sensibility, what bill that would pry into Iowa’s classrooms seems to have stalled in the Iowa House?

H) Republican senators (including Grassley) are having concerns about a bill that would ban what for members of congress?

I) In Australia what animal considered the face of the country, has officially been put on the endangered species list?

J) In 1950, what African-American UN diplomat received a Nobel Prize for his work on peacekeeping in the Middle East?

K) In a major loss for voting rights the SCOTUS reversed a lower court decision and allowed a highly gerrymandered district map to be used in what state?

L) The spouse of what senior administration official was evacuated from a DC high school due to a security threat ?

M) The mayor of Hudson, Ohio claimed that allowing ice shanties in his town would lead to what other, less desirable, situation?

N) What role did Fritz Pollard play in the history of the NFL?

O) In a campaign video that is sparking much publicity, Louisiana US senate candidate Gary Chambers burns what object?

P) A nun in Torrance, California has been sentenced to one year and one day in jail for what crime against a school where she was a former principal?

Q) What world leader met with Putin in Moscow Monday as Putin continues to make war noises against Ukraine?

R) What Netflix movie received the most Oscar nominations with 12?

S) Citizens of Rotterdam, Netherlands are planning a rotten egg reception for the super yacht of what multi-billionaire should the city dismantle a bridge to allow the yacht to be able to sail from the shipbuilder?

T) Who was the first African American woman elected to the US senate?

Breaking: Mike Pence declares that the sky is in fact blue; pundits hail him for his bravery. – John Fugelsang

Answers:

A) The attempted coup on January 6, 2021

B) Mar-a-lago – this is a major crime, folks

C) Tim Scott of SC, Ralph Warnock of Georgia, Corey Booker of New Jersey

D) it is the international bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.

E) Gazpacho

F) A Christian revival been held inside the school

G) the ‘camera in the classroom bill.’

H) trading in individual stocks

I) The Koala

J) Ralph Bunche

K) Alabama

L) VP Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff

M) Prostitution (I will not explain his logic)

N) Pollard was the first black NFL coach

O) a confederate flag

P) stealing $830,000. She used it for Vegas and Reno vacations

Q) Macron

R) “Power of the Dog”

S) Jeff Bezos

T) Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois

Teacher Fired For Breaking State’s Critical Race Theory Laws After Telling Students She’s Black. – The Onion

Posted in #nevertrump, Covid-19, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Olympics Edition

Killing Public Schools In Iowa?

Posted on February 12, 2022 by Dave Bradley

Once again the Iowa legislature is in session with an overwhelming Republican trifecta for passing bills. They have a wide majority in both Houses and a governor whose only concern seems to be pleasing the extreme right of the Republican Party that answers to Trump. Legislation in Iowa anymore seems less geared to local needs and more geared to driving a national agenda.

For those of us who have lived here a long time have seen a once proud prairie state transformed into yet another small state that toes the Republican Party line of low wages, low taxes for the rich and deteriorating infrastructure. Our small towns and school systems are barely surviving as Republicans in the legislature inflict one blow after another.

As it has been for many years, Iowa’s school systems are going to be getting whacked by the legislature. What kind of things do they have in mind? Well there is the annual “we will not give you enough money to keep running the way you are” bill. 

With inflation running around 7%, Iowa Republicans tells schools to live with 2.25%. That is it. If the schools don’t like it, tough. And to add insult to injury, there will be a clause in the funding bill to send public money to private schools should a family decide to enroll their child in private schools.

Therefore Iowa will continue a long pattern of underfunding the schools. Local schools will also have the money they receive transferred to private schools should any of their children opt to go to those private schools. Private schools are not answerable to school boards. Also, taxpayers have no option to not support these private schools. The state is handing out our tax money to private schools.

The Covid pandemic has also given Republicans an opening to inflict damage on local schools in Iowa. For a party that claims to be 100% behind local control has done everything it can to destroy local control in anything related to Covid. The state has taken away local school boards ability to try to keep the pandemic under control by outlawing mask mandates. This not only puts children in jeopardy, but it also certainly endangers teachers.

Just to add another danger to sending children to public schools, Republicans in the legislature are currently pushing a bill that would not allow the Covid vaccine to be a mandated vaccine in any school district. Really strange that a vaccine that has been proven over and over and over to be one of the most safe and effective vaccines ever would be outlawed as mandatory by a group that is supposed to be working in the public interest.

As a side note on the Covid vaccine for school children, it is notable that the vaccination rate for school children age 5 to 11 in Iowa is just 19%. That means that four in 5 parents IN IOWA does not care enough about their children to get them vaccinated against a disease which is deadly short term and for which we have no idea what the long term effects may be. But we do know that the disease is currently spreading mostly through the unvaccinated population, no matter what age they are.

From Paul Brennan at The Little Village:  

“Iowa law requires student verification of proper immunizations against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, and varicella to enroll in school,” as the Iowa City Community School District explains on its website. “At least one dose of each immunization must be given before starting school.”

There are further state-imposed vaccination requirements for students entering seventh grade (meningococcal vaccine, as well as a tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis booster shot) and incoming high school seniors “need proof of two doses of meningococcal (A, C W, Y) vaccine, or one dose if received when the student was 16 years of age or older.”

HF 2040 is sponsored by 30 of the House’s 60 Republicans, including Rep. Henry Stone of Forest City and Rep. Skyler Wheeler of Orange City, both of whom were on the three-person subcommittee that approved the bill.

“This is about a parent’s choice of what they give their children and that no child should be subject to getting an education based on this immunization itself,” Stone said during the subcommittee hearing.

As I mentioned before, the Covid vaccine has been proven to be one of the safest and most effective vaccines ever. Why the state would want to interfere with a vaccination that will have good consequences not only now but long into the future is fodder for speculation.

As if all that weren’t enough, schools are now having staffing shortages. Odd that educated people would not want to work in an environment where they could get caught in the pandemic. Rather than working on making Iowa schools more optimal environments to work in to induce staff to return to the classroom Republicans have a much worse idea.

And lest we not forget that Republicans are working on a bill to charge teachers with distributing obscenity if one of the books a teacher assigns ends up on the Republican banned book list.

Oh and don’t forget that just this week the bill to put spy cams in every classroom was finally withdrawn. Besides the insane interference that would cause, that was also to be paid with with money for the local schools. 

Instead of having people trained in education as teachers, Republicans will open teaching positions to those who have “life experience.” Expect those “life experiences” to be pretty fluid as fewer and fewer young people stay away from education as a career due to less and less desirable environments and the constant problem of low pay.

Once again Iowa’s Republicans are dealing with a problem by making it decidedly worse and ignoring the real problem. Instead they try to impose answers designed to turn a once well run and efficient public system into a “starved beast” that will eventually be killed by starving it of money and decent environment. As the “starved beast” dies it will be replaced by a privatized entity that will have fewer rules and not be run with public input or with concern for the public good. Profits will be the guiding principle.

school from the old days

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“Legitimate Political Discourse”

Posted on February 12, 2022 by Dave Bradley

I frequently check in on Robert Reich’s Inequality Media. His videos are dedicated to how working folks and the poor are getting screwed in this country. 

This week his focus was a bit different. He focused on the absolutely insane statement that the Republican National Committee put out saying that the January 6th attempted coup was “legitimate political discourse.” People died. There were also targets (Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi) designated to be killed. 

I have yet to hear a reaction from any of our Republican leaders on this statement. It is their party. Unless they deny it I would assume they agree. Miller-Meeks? Feenstra? Hinson? Reynolds? Grassley? Ernst? Anything but silence. Are they too afraid of losing votes from the MAGA crowd to do what is right for their country and their state? Or do they condone it? We are waiting.

Back in early January, I sent and email to Miller-Meeks office asking simply whether she felt the election was stolen or was Joseph Biden the legitimately elected president? I am still waiting for an answer.

I called her DC office a couple of weeks later and asked the staffer the same question. I was informed that Miller-Meeks has (not sure if this is an exact quote but it is the gist) ’not addressed that issue.’ I was stunned. As I tried to reask the question I was told that again and then hung up on.

I wish everybody would call their congress member and ask them if Biden’s election was legitimate. The answer will tell you if they are working for our country or something else.  

Posted in 2020 election campaign, 2022 Election campaign, Charles Grassley, Joni Ernst, Kim Reynolds | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on “Legitimate Political Discourse”