Progress Iowa Corn Feed In Two Weeks!

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Dave Bradley

Let’s show Republicans that we will be a force next year! {editorial comment}

5 minutes

Governor Reynolds and her administration aren’t doing Iowans any favors.

From her budget crisis caused by massive corporate tax breaks to the closing of four Planned Parenthood clinics, she’s shown that she is not listening to Iowans and she is not looking out for us.

Lucky for us though, a host of progressive candidates are running to take her place in 2018: State Senator Nate Boulton, Cathy Glasson, Fred Hubbell, Dr. Andy McGuire, Jon Neiderbach, John Norris, and Ross Wilburn.

And you’ll get to hear from each one at the 3rd Annual Progress Iowa Corn Feed on September 10th!

We’ve also invited Congressional candidates from all across Iowa to speak as well!

Don’t forget to buy tickets for the whole family here. We’ll have Iowa sweet corn, popcorn, corn dogs (there’s a theme), live music, an activist fair so you can get involved in the progressive movement, and so much more!

I really hope you can make it to the Progress Iowa Corn Feed this year; it’s shaping up to be an event to remember!

See you there!

Lauren McElmeel
Progress Iowa

P.S. Governor Kim Reynolds has a disastrous record from her time serving with Terry Branstad, to the way she is attacking working families each and every day now that she’s taken his place. It’s critically important that we hold her accountable for what she’s doing to our state, and you’ll be able to hear from all of these candidates who want to be the next Governor. Come out to the Corn Feed on September 10th, you won’t want to miss this chance to take action!

Posted in 2018 Election Campaign, Blog for Iowa, Budget, Progress Iowa | Tagged , | Comments Off on Progress Iowa Corn Feed In Two Weeks!

Sunday Funday: Monuments Edition

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Dave Bradley

Think about this one: On one hand this administrations working to cut back on national monument areas that were declared so by previous presidents. On the other hand this administration, in the person of the current president, is publicly declaring that statues that celebrate the leaders who committed treason against the United States and fought to be able to enslave other humans should be saved. Part of the reason the current president gives is that these statues represent “history.”

Well, in a sense they do represent history, but a very onerous history. By having such history displayed in public places with public money seems to condone the ideas those meant fought for. Yet on the other hand, by minimizing areas designated by previous presidents this administration is essentially saying that they denigrate the ideals behind the designation of those areas. What a convoluted, bizarro set of messages this administration is sending out.

Well, another week of diverting attention from the Russia probe for the administration. Were you keeping up?

1) One headline from the current president’s speech in Phoenix is what he didn’t do for a local politician there. What didn’t 45 do while in Phoenix?

2) The current president also claimed that he would call for a government shutdown if what isn’t funded?

3) Iowa announced that Apple would be building a tech center in what Des Moines suburb?

4) Local and state tax “incentives” total $213,000,000 for this tech center. How many permanent jobs will Iowa be gaining with this tech center?

5) Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot was the largest in North America for a single winning ticket. What state was the winning ticket sold in?

6) Two larger than life comic figures died in the past week. What stand up comedian was one of the first to mix civil rights in with his comedy routines during the ‘60s?

7) The other comedian had a long career covering radio, stage, screen and television. What comedian was probably best known for his fundraising for Muscular Dystrophy?

8) The Department of the Interior issued a cease order on a study of the health effects of what kind of mining?

9) Who is the current Lieutenant Governor of Iowa? (just seeing if you are paying attention)

10) “Crying Nazi” Christopher Cantwell was arrested Thursday in Charlottesville, Va. on felony charges for using what caustic agents on protestors?

11) After what seemed to be a very quick approval process, corporate giant Amazon should complete its takeover of what food outlet Monday?

12) Today is yet another August presidential birthday. What president saw his dreams of a “Great Society” go down in the flames of a war in Vietnam?

13) August 28th, 1963. Once more we commemorate what huge event that took place in Washington, DC on that day?

14) Who ignored all advice and looked directly at the eclipse on Monday?

15) Nine sailors were missing and one died when what US Navy destroyer collided with an oil tanker near Singapore Monday?

16) Nearly 60 million people in what country risk being poisoned by arsenic in the groundwater in the Indus Valley?

17) Johnson and Johnson lost another lawsuit in Los Angeles over a link between ovarian cancer and what Johnson and Johnson product?

18) Another country with a statue of the wrong person problem. The Ukraine has removed all 1320 statues of what historical figure over the past two years?

19) Who “made my skin crawl” according to Hillary Clinton in her new book?

20) The Senate Judiciary Committee had a transcribed interview with what key figure in the Russia-Trump investigation?

what I wanted to scream at the Joni Ernst town hall when she declared herself “pro life.”

Fugelsang pro life

 

Answers:

1) Pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. But he did sort of promise that would come later.

2) his wall with Mexico

3) Waukee

4) 50

5) Massachusetts

6) Dick Gregory

7) Jerry Lewis

8) mountain top removal mining

9) Adam Gregg – Talk about being nearly anonymous

10) pepper spray

11) Whole Foods

12) LBJ

13) The March on Washington

14) Trump

15) USS John S. McCain

16) Pakistan

17) talcum powder

18) Lenin – we leave it to you to figure out if there is any correlation to confederate statues

19) Trump during their second debate

20) Glenn Simpson co-founder of Fusion GPS that produced the dossier on the current president

Contrary to what photos show, the current president was not looking at the sun Monday during the eclipse. He was looking at the moon.

Posted in #trumpresistance, Blog for Iowa, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Monuments Edition

Monsanto: Harvest Of Power

Posted on August 26, 2017 by Dave Bradley

Bayer-Monsanto Merger

Listening to American Public Radio’s Marketplace is kind of an accidental habit with me. It is on at 6:30PM locally which is a time I seem to usually choose as a wash up time. Since that is an area of my house that the wifi can’t reach, I am left to terrestrial radio for entertainment during this time. Since commercial radio in Iowa is so awful and mostly right wing to boot, this leaves some form of public radio as the choice.

And thus I usually listen to Kai Ryssdal on Marketplace. As business shows go it is not the usual boring stock report followed by praise of business as most are. They do often report on trends or practices that most business shows ignore.

So Wednesday evening I was listening when Ryssdall had a short conversation with an unusual business guest. The guest that evening was Max Brooks. Brooks is the author of the horror novel “World War Z” among his successful books. He is also the son of Hollywood elites Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.

The interview with Brooks was quite short – you can quickly read it here. Within that interview was an insight that really struck me. Brooks talks about his dyslexia and how it has caused him to view things differently than others.The following example which seemed to show a brilliant insight was cited:

Ryssdal: Just to make a turn here off what you said about your dad and him being a World War II veteran and having that combat experience, you too, although not a veteran, have ties and interest in military affairs.

Brooks: Yeah, a little bit. My initial experience was in ROTC in college, in which my main memories are simply running track and then dry vomiting every morning. But now I’m on a think tank at West Point called the Modern War Institute. And part of my job is to study military issues embedded in nonmilitary stories like Monsanto, or logistics in disaster preparedness, or Venezuela.

Ryssdal: Tell me about the Monsanto thing, because that’s actually fascinating.

Brooks: Well, ironically, it all started from an NPR story, probably was Marketplace, where it was the initial Supreme Court case of Monsanto turning seeds into intellectual property. The idea that for the first time in history, America is vulnerable to food blackmail. Because now that Monsanto has a legal claim to 80 percent of our corn and 90 percent of our soybeans, they have sold themselves to Bayer, which is a German company, which we have a security treaty with, which is great. But there’s nothing in the bill of sale to stop Bayer from selling it to China. And there is nothing to stop China from using food the way OPEC used oil in the 1970s. 

What’s that??? As Monsanto pushes to merge with European ag giant Bayer AG, Brooks has this insight that such a move could lead to a situation where the once US based powerhouse could become a pawn in a game of world control through food.

Monsanto has made little secret that it wants to move it’s headquarters out of the US for a long time. In 2015 Monsanto was pushing hard for a merger with Syngenta just so Monsanto could move it headquarters out of the US. That deal fell through and Syngenta is now in the process of being acquired by the Chinese state company ChemChina

This insight from Max Brooks also highlights the fact by implication that the continuing consolidation in the agricultural leaves the world and farmers at the mercy of just a few agricultural giants. Besides the merger between BayerAG and Monsanto and Syngenta and ChemChina, there is also another mega-mega merger nearing completion between DuPont and Dow Chemical which has major agricultural implications.

As control of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and pest controls comes under the control of fewer and fewer hands one could see how smaller companies will get squeezed out. This is our food supplies we are talking about here folks. The world seems to be marching to letting a few companies have control of the food supply.

And so that short statement above by Max Brooks which sort of seems a bit out there is actually a very possible reality.

While many of us have major concerns over Monsanto’s chemicals that are sprayed over our food supply causing cancers or other diseases, few thought that their control of seed supplies and chemicals could ever come back and bite the country that allowed them such economic controls.

This is a great example of why the US must maintain real competition enforced by the people through its government,

Posted in Blog for Iowa, food, Food Insecurity | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Monsanto: Harvest Of Power

For Final Summer of Citizenship Weekend, “Join In” at 3rd District workshop in Atlantic or Join Me for Events in Webster City, Lohrville, Steamboat Rock & Grinnell

Posted on August 26, 2017 by Dave Bradley

Image (1) rob-hogg.jpg for post 26967

Coming off Phil Miller’s big special election win in Iowa House District 82 in southeast Iowa, there is still time to join in, reach out, and speak up over the final weekend of the Summer of Citizenship.

 Iowa’s Third Congressional District Democrats are holding a workshop this Saturday, August 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Atlantic High School, 1201 E. 14th Street, in Atlantic. This is another great opportunity to learn more about issues, organizing, and campaigns. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

I won’t be able to attend the Third District workshop because I have a full schedule this weekend with events in Iowa City, Webster City, Lohrville, Steamboat Rock, and Grinnell. Please join me at one or more of these events:

 Webster City, Health Care Forum, Saturday, August 26, 10:00 a.m. – This “Health Care Forum – With or Without Steve King,” is at Webster Middle School, 1101 Des Moines St., in Webster City. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Lohrville, Calhoun County Democrats’ Fundraiser, Saturday, August 26, 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. – Calhoun County Democrats are hosting this fundraising event at the EMS Building in Lohrville. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Steamboat Rock, Iowa River Forum in Hardin County, Sunday, August 27, noon to 2:00 p.m. – I am helping to facilitate this forum on water issues at the Pine Lake State Park day-use lodge, off of County Road S-56 south of Steamboat Rock. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Grinnell, Poweshiek County Democrats’ Annual Picnic, Sunday, August 27, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. – Annual picnic at Merrill Park, 802 West St., in Grinnell. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Fall Fundraising Kickoff, Wednesday, September 6, in Cedar Rapids

Please join me for my “fall fundraising kickoff” on Wednesday, September 6, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the Sag Wagon, 827 Shaver Road NE, in Cedar Rapids. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Contributions to my campaign committee, “Citizens for Rob Hogg,” are always welcome and needed. You can send a check payable to “Citizens for Rob Hogg” to P.O. Box 1361, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406, or contribute online here.

Other Upcoming Events

Coralville, Bob Dvorsky Annual Birthday Party, Friday, September 8, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. – Senator Dvorsky’s annual birthday fundraiser at Fireside Shelter in Morrison Park in Coralville. For more details, visit the link.

Davenport, Iowa-Iowa State Watch Party with Martin O’Malley, Saturday, September 9, 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Join Senator Jim Lykam and myself in welcoming former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley back to Iowa to watch the Hawkeyes and the Cyclones at the Jersey Grille, 5255 Jersey Ridge Road, in Davenport. Suggested contribution is $25 or more. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Maquoketa, Senator Tod Bowman Fundraiser with Martin O’Malley, Saturday, September 9, 4:00 p.m. – Join Senator Tod Bowman and myself with Martin O’Malley at Timber Lanes, 1005 E. Platt St., in Maquoketa. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link

Dubuque County Democratic Hall of Fame, Saturday, September 9, 5:00 p.m. (reception), 6:00 p.m. (dinner) – I will be attending the Hall of Fame at the Diamond Jo Casino, 301 Bell St., in Dubuque. Tickets are $40 per person and must be purchased before August 31. For details, and to invite friends, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/365973673820284/

North Liberty, Kevin Kinney Fundraiser with Martin O’Malley, Sunday, September 10, noon to 2:00 p.m. – Join Senator Kevin Kinney and myself with Martin O’Malley at Rocky O’Brien’s Public House, 720 Pacha Parkway, in North Liberty. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Des Moines, Progress Iowa Corn Feed, Sunday, September 10, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. – I may not be able to attend this year, but this event will feature U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon (who I would really like to meet). It takes place at the Simon Estes Amphitheatre, 75 E. Locust Street, in Des Moines. Tickets are $30 per person. For details, and to invite friends, visit the link.

Des Moines, Senate Democratic Women in Leadership Fundraiser, Wednesday, September 13, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. – Fundraising event featuring Senators Amanda Ragan, Janet Petersen, Liz Mathis, Pam Jochum, and Rita Hart at the Davis Brown Law Firm, 215 10th St. Suite 1300, Des Moines. For details, visit the link.

I hope you are able to attend one or more of these events, and please keep joining in, reaching out, and speaking up throughout the year.

Rob
Senator Rob Hogg
Senate Democratic Leader
Cedar Rapids
Posted in #trumpresistance, 2018 Election Campaign, Blog for Iowa, Iowa Democrats, Rob Hogg | Tagged , , | Comments Off on For Final Summer of Citizenship Weekend, “Join In” at 3rd District workshop in Atlantic or Join Me for Events in Webster City, Lohrville, Steamboat Rock & Grinnell

Jen Senko: How Right Wing Media Has Divided The Country And What We Must Do

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Trish Nelson

See my post earlier this week Movie Review:  The Brainwashing of My Dad, the documentary by Jen Senko about losing her father to right wing media. Also on Blog for Iowa see the list of the thirteen Iowa commercial radio stations that broadcast multiple hours a day of hate speech.  Go to their websites and check out their program schedules. You will be appalled to see that they are filling the publicly owned airwaves with highly paid propagandists they call “on-air personalities.”

“Publicity is the most powerful weapon that can be wielded in a Republic. And when such a weapon is placed in the hands of one person or a single selfish group is permitted to either tacitly or otherwise acquire ownership or dominate these broadcasting stations throughout the country, then woe be to those who dare to differ with them. It will be impossible to compete with them in reaching the ears of the American people.”  –  Texas representative Luther Johnson in the debate that preceded the Radio Act of 1927.

“Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbells said, ‘if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it…the lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic or military consequences.’ Even Goebell knew that unlike truth, lies have limits and a lifespan.”

Posted in Blog for Iowa, Media Bias | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Jen Senko: How Right Wing Media Has Divided The Country And What We Must Do

How To Fight Sinclair Broadcasting In Iowa

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Trish Nelson

Sinclair  is about to become the TV version of  right-wing radio.  How do we fight back?  

1 – Everyone should go to freepress.net, sign up for emails and complete the contact form to the FCC opposing the Sinclair-Tribune merger. They have filed a Petition to Deny the merger with the FCC.

You can still send a comment directly to the FCC.

You can see the filing here.   https://www.freepress.net/resource/108253/free-press-petition-deny-sinclair-tribune-merger

HOW THE SINCLAIR DEAL WILL AFFECT IOWA

“If [the Sinclair] deal were to go through without any area divestments, Sinclair would have at least one foothold in every Iowa media market except Mason City. Sinclair would own and/or operate 10 of 28 main Iowa-related TV stations (seven markets times four affiliates). It would have two in central Iowa (Sinclair already owns KDSM) and the Keokuk/Hannibal/Quincy area. It would have “one and a half” in Sioux City because it owns Fox station KPTH and operates but does not own CBS station KMEG, and also in eastern Iowa because it owns KGAN and operates but does not own KFXA.Sinclair currently owns KTVO Ottumwa, KHQA, KGAN Cedar Rapids and KDSM Des Moines. – http://iowahighwayends.net/blog/

2 – After that, we begin contacting our local stations directly and writing letters to the editor about biased, fake and slanted content. Local pressure on the station. Public exposure of corporate content.

3 – Contact advertisers.

4 – We can also go to the station’s public inspection files, viewable online.All public comments made to the station are also part of the public file. You still have to go to the station to view the comments, but the station is required to let anyone view the public file who wants to.  If there is anything amiss in the public inspection file, you can file a complaint with the FCC.

5 – We can also watch content and listen to what is being said on our local stations by the highly paid propagandists they call “on-air personalities.”  Write letters to the FCC, your local newspaper, your local station, your representatives in congress and in the state house.

6 – Contact your local library and ask them to purchase the DVD  “The Brainwashing of My Dad.”

Sign up for Freepress emails here
https://www.freepress.net/

Stop Trump TV to protest the Sinclair-Tribune merger
http://act.freepress.net/sign/journ_trump_sinclair/?source=front_slider&fref=gc

Sign up for this FB group:  Hogwash! Fighting the Iowa Rightwing Propaganda Machine 

Posted in Blog for Iowa, Media Bias, Media Reform | Tagged , | Comments Off on How To Fight Sinclair Broadcasting In Iowa

Climate Action Events In Cedar Falls, Webster City, Des Moines, Iowa City

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Trish Nelson


Climate action alert from CCI:

We’re excited to launch CCI’s clean energy and climate justice organizing work and we’re coming to a town near you!

This week we’re hitting the road to share what we’ve been learning about the clean energy landscape in Iowa and hear why you care about this issue. And, we’ll share our ideas for how we can organize at the local level to transition our communities to 100% clean, renewable energy that benefits 100% of the people.

And, I’m bringing along a special guest.

Ben Ishibashi is the Climate Organizer for the People’s Action network. He’ll share how communities across the country are fighting for and winning climate and clean energy solutions that put people first.

Click below to RSVP to the event nearest you:

Cedar Falls: Tuesday, August 22nd at 7pm at the Hearst Center for the Arts

Webster City: Wednesday, August 23rd at 6pm at the Kendall Young Library

Des Moines: Thursday, August 24th at 11:30am at the Central Library

Iowa City: Thursday, August 24th at 7pm at the Iowa City Public Library

Join us and learn how we can win!

100% for 100%,

Matt Ohloff
Climate Organizer

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Is The American Farm Bureau Just Another Corporate Entity?

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Trish Nelson

This 60 Minutes expose of the American Farm Bureau from April, 2000 raises the idea that the Farm Bureau may care more about its Wall Street investments than it does about farmers.  We wonder what if anything has changed since then.  This segment focuses on Iowa and features Iowa farmers.

Click here to watch Part 2 on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehDfBl_VKEQ

Posted in Blog for Iowa, Farming | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Is The American Farm Bureau Just Another Corporate Entity?

Movie Review: The Brainwashing of My Dad

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Trish Nelson

This is not only a must-see documentary, it is an engaging, tender personal story, told by a daughter, Jen Senko, who lost her dad to the right-wing media. It is a fascinating yet sad and all too common tale about the observable personality changes that took hold over her father after he accidentally happened upon right-wing radio and became addicted to it. Once a happy, non-judgmental, easy-going guy, he became an angry, embittered person that no one in his family recognized after he started spending more and more time listening to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

The movie weaves together the daughter’s personal narrative with the history of the growth of right wing media in the United States. Going back to Nixon and beyond, the film did a thorough job of tracing the forces within the Republican party that used the Supreme Court and political manipulation to establish their own media in order to influence elections in their favor, as a reaction to the liberalism of the 60’s.

The film covers  the Powell Memo of 1971, that laid the groundwork for conservatives to undermine institutions they saw as against the “free enterprise” system such as college campuses and the news media.  It mentions the demise of  The Fairness Doctrine under Reagan that gave rise to right wing radio, The Telecommunications Act of 1996 that was signed into law by President Clinton and resulted in more media monopolization; and the right’s newly acquired ability to use biased language to purposefully keep people in a constant state of fear and anger in order to make them easier to manipulate. Frank Luntz, Roger Ailes, and Lee Atwater all make appearances as they were important figures because they understood how biased and inflammatory language works on the brain.

An expert explains that brainwashing does not have to involve force, that you can sort of slide into it. There are 5 factors that are involved – isolation, control, uncertainty, repetition, strong emotions. Right wing media creates uncertainty, fear and anger. And most people listen to right wing radio when they are alone – in their car, their garage, their house.

The film outlines recognizable tactics: 1 – lie and skew; 2 – create confusion and doubt; 3 – blame and divide; 4 – brand and label; 5 – language and framing; 6 – fear mongering and use of emotion; 7 – bullying and shaming; 8 – in your face! (it’s everywhere); 9 – non-verbal manipulation. It is very interesting to hear how how Frank Luntz coached Hannity to point and gesture for strongest effect and how O’Reilly feigns anger and rage.

And yet the movie leaves you feeling strangely hopeful about the unasked question:  Is it possible for someone to be de-programmed?   Happily, the answer is yes.

I’ll be a spoiler and tell you that the movie has a happy ending, as the dad comes back from his media-induced trance and becomes himself again. You’ll just have to watch to see how that occurs.

One thing we have all experienced and as George Lakoff has written about, arguing with someone who is addicted to right wing media just creates fights and makes them dig in even deeper. But if you too have a loved one or loved ones who have fallen victim to it, there is something you can do and this is it:  Interrupt their exposure to it in whatever creative ways you can, as much as you can, and find ways to expose the person to other kinds of input and activities.

For more help, check out https://hearyourselfthink.org,  a 501c3 non-profit fighting against the harmful effects that fake news, propaganda and misinformation have on our democracy, “working to make reason – not fear, cynicism or rage – the loudest voice in the room.”

You can order the DVD from Amazon, or watch on Amazon Prime. For more options, go to: http://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/

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

A Good Suggestion From The Onion

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Dave Bradley

disaffected teens from the Onion

Thanks to the Onion for this picture and story

The week has been so intense, I need a little relief. So we turn to the Onion  for its no-nonsense view of the world:

Nation Begs Disaffected Youth Gravitating Toward Neo-Nazism To Get High And Play Xbox Instead

WASHINGTON—Beseeching them to pursue a less destructive path with their lives, the nation begged disaffected youth gravitating towards neo-Nazism to get high and play Xbox instead, sources reported Friday. “We don’t really care if you get blazed and play video games, sit home and jerk off, or shoplift a bunch of shit at a convenience store as long as you don’t march down the street waving swastikas,” said Holyoke, CO, resident Gregory Stamp, echoing the sentiments of the entire American populace in urging restless and angry young people who find themselves tempted by fascist ideology to try stuffing their faces with as many Cheetos as they want or playing the drums as hard as they can at literally any hour of the day. “Go ahead and sleep until four in the afternoon, then do whippets until you pass out. You want beer and cigarettes? We’re buying. Please just stay away from the white supremacy shit and definitely do not shoot anybody.” At press time, the nation was reminding sullen adolescents who were starting to read about white genocide on neo-Nazi websites that they could just as easily use that time to view disturbing hardcore pornography.

==================================

Unfortunately the current administration will try to interfere with this laudatory goal by enforcing anti-marijuana laws.

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