Sen. Rob Hogg’s Earth Day Remarks

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Trish Nelson

 

Posted in Climate Change | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Sen. Rob Hogg’s Earth Day Remarks

Factory Farms (CAFOs) Destroy Communities

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Trish Nelson

Srap-Logo-FINAL-horizVisit sraproject.org

Factory farms, officially called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), make the worst possible neighbors. People forced to live close to CAFOs often report becoming sick from toxic gases produced by decomposing animal waste. They can’t even enjoy their own backyards or open their windows on summer nights because the stench from CAFOs miles away is overwhelming. Residents near CAFOs also report an increase in pest infestations, including rodents and swarms of flies. Family and friends often refuse to visit because the smell is so unbearable.

But it’s much more than the intolerable smell that impacts rural communities. Manure run-off from CAFOs contaminates streams, rivers, and lakes that were once recreation centers and tourist destinations. Over-application of manure on fields near residences also causes their wells to become contaminated, threatening the health of anyone coming into contact with the water.

CAFOs take a tremendous economic toll on communities too. Property values plummet whenever a CAFO moves in. Some owners living near CAFOs have filed property tax appeals and won in court, demonstrating that their homes and properties lost significant value due to these industrial-scale facilities. All CAFOs entice communities with the promise of increased tax revenue, but the falling values of the properties surrounding CAFOs negate any promised increase.

Not only do communities lose income when CAFOs move in, they are also forced to increase expenditures on the development and maintenance of infrastructure, especially roads and bridges broken down by CAFO semi-truck traffic. Once a CAFO shuts down, communities are then left with depressed economies, low property values, and costly, often irreparable environmental damage.

Unlike traditional family farms, which purchase feed, supplies, and building materials from local suppliers, CAFOs typically purchase everything from outside of the region while paying their workers a very low wage. Because local residents are rarely willing to work for the dismal pay CAFOs offer, these facilities encourage low-wage workers to move into communities. Consequently, CAFOs provide little to no stimulus for local economies, while imposing prohibitive costs. Wherever CAFOs come in, family farms are driven out of business–and when family farms and the good jobs they provide disappear, rural main streets become ghost towns.

CAFOs are a resource extraction industry, draining the wealth from communities and leaving behind polluted water, foul air, broken roads, and sick residents. The only ones who benefit from CAFOs are their CEOs and corporate shareholders, whose pockets are lined with profits reaped from polluting the environment, paying workers unfair wages, treating animals inhumanely, and devastating rural economies.

Posted in Factory Farms (CAFOs) | Tagged , | Comments Off on Factory Farms (CAFOs) Destroy Communities

Privatization Has Consequences

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Trish Nelson

 

Posted in Branstad, Health Care & Medicare, Iowa legislature 2016 | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Privatization Has Consequences

Grassley Challenger Rob Hogg On America’s Climate Century

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Trish Nelson

 

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Climate Action, Climate Change, Rob Hogg | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Grassley Challenger Rob Hogg On America’s Climate Century

Earth Day 2016

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Paul Deaton
Earthrise Dec. 24, 1968

Earthrise Dec. 24, 1968

My participation in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 evolved in a convergence of social vectors. Among them was this Apollo 8 photograph of Earth above a lunar landscape by astronaut William Anders.

After viewing the photograph I felt conflicts and maladies in society were insignificant compared with what we have in common within our tiny, shared ecosystem suspended in the dark vastness of space. The photograph and its wide publication were a call to action to work for a common good. I still feel that way. It makes sense.

By spring 1970 we had witnessed the Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, and renewed bombing of North Vietnam. We watched the violence of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. We saw bits of Woodstock and Altamont in the media. We also landed men on the moon and returned them safely to Earth. At this convergence I didn’t know what to do, so joined with some high school classmates who were organizing Earth Day events. Earth Day was a common denominator.

What has Earth Day become?

Last week the Johnson County Board of Supervisors proclaimed April 17 through 23 Earth Week and announced two related events: an energy fair, and a local foods panel.

The focus on energy, CO2 emissions particularly, is well placed. We continue to use the atmosphere as an open sewer, discharging millions of tons of the greenhouse gases into it daily. Any reduction in electricity usage benefits the environment, even if the changes needed to solve the problem are trickier to accomplish than changing light bulbs.

Our food system is an obvious pick for Earth Day. Nine percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is a commonplace people need food to live, and the merging of Earth Day with the local food movement is an expected assimilation within normal spring activities. There are few better ways of appreciating Earth than getting one’s hands dirty in the ground, and spring in the Northern hemisphere is a great time to do it. It’s tough to see how planting a few trees, flowers or vegetables will rescue the environment, but as with electricity usage, every bit helps.

There is an entire menu of Earth Day related activities in our county.

Quoting Albert Camus in a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar described why the 2016 election is important,

“This is no longer a prayer but a demand to be made by all peoples to their governments — a demand to choose definitively between hell and reason.” That is what the stakes of this election are: We are choosing between hell and reason.

In 1970 I thought we were already living a form of hell and the Earthrise photograph gave us hope. I would not have believed that in 2016 the Age of Reason itself would be on the brink of dissolution.

The good news is solutions to the climate crisis are working, particularly in the development of alternatives to fossil fuels to generate electricity and industrial power. The challenge is everything on our blue-green sphere is connected in a single ecosystem. What I do in my back yard has implications for living creatures around the planet.

Individuals in the U.S. are willing to do their part and what’s lacking is no secret: the political will to do straightforward things like ratify the Paris Agreement. Negotiated by 195 states within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the agreement addresses greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. Some 120 nations are expected to sign when the agreement opens for signature this Earth Day.

Will the United States be among them? It’s an open question. Many politicians have indicated the United States should not participate in the agreement at all. Their rationale doesn’t make sense, and that’s what Abdul-Jabbar was getting at. Reason the way most understand it is not in vogue in parts of our government.

Politics aside, Earth Day is a chance to revisit this iconic photograph. When we consider the big picture, as the photograph encourages us to do, little has changed since it was taken. Our troubles seem petty compared to the overriding fact we live on our only home and it’s much smaller than we often see.

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Environment, Progressive Community, Sustainability | Tagged , | Comments Off on Earth Day 2016

Chuck, Can We Have A Refund?

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Dave Bradley

republicans refuse to work

We hired you to do a job. You refuse to do it. The law says we can’t fire you until November. You haven’t done your job for two years. That’s $350,000 plus the cost of your staff that you should pay us back.

What have you been doing with your time while we have been paying you?

When you don't do your job there is lots of time for gardening

When you don’t do your job there is lots of time for gardening

You know what would happen to anyone of us if we told our boss we weren’t going to do our job? We’d get fired in a New York second!

You better have a damn good excuse because we are your boss and we are mad, very mad.

Your job is written in black and white in the constitution. We can’t have this kind of stuff continue, can we?

You choose not to work for Iowa and the country, but only for your party. Time to hit the road.
(1.5 minute video)

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Charles Grassley, Republican hypocrisy, Republican Obstruction, Republicn Policy, SCOTUS | Tagged | Comments Off on Chuck, Can We Have A Refund?

Sunday Funday: Is Spring Really Here?

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Dave Bradley

spring

Let’s see, cats laying on the porch instead of my chair? Check
Buzzy little motors all over the neighborhood? Check
Saturday night races ruining the quietness as we open the windows for the first time in months? Check
Yep, must be spring!

Were you paying attention?

1) Wow. Just 10 days ago, SpaceX landed a missile on on a barge at sea. Truly incredible. What famous entrepreneur is the head of SpaceX?

2) Bernie Sanders asked the GAO what percentage of corporations did not pay federal income taxes last year. The GAO responded with what percent?

3) In Peru the daughter of former Prime Minister Alberto Fujimori led after the first round of voting. Where is Alberto Fujimori at the present time?

4) Former Senator Bob Graham of Florida went on 60 Minutes last weekend to call for the release of what document(s)?

5) April 15th, 1912. What boat sunk after hitting an iceberg?

6) Who did Chuck Grassley have breakfast with Tuesday?

7) In New Jersey, the state School Board has posted its list of religious holidays for which students may be excused. About how many religious holidays are listed? (note: this includes all faiths)

8) What former Beatle said “no, no, no” to a North Carolina appearance?

9) Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than how much to settle for their conduct related to Mortgage backed securities?

10) “Listen my children and you shall hear, Of the midnight ride of” who? “ ‘Twas the 18th of April in ’75.”

11) What happened on the 19th of April, 1775?

12) What former Iowa congressional candidate was rejected by the Iowa senate for a post on Iowa’s HAWK-I medical program for kids?

13) The Panama Papers take down another world politician as the PM of what former eastern bloc country resigned?

14) Monday, which presidential candidate declared “The system is rigged, it’s crooked”?

15) If approved by parliament, Czechia will be the new name for what country?

16) April 20th, 1889. What infamous world leader is born Braunau am Inn, Austria?

17) What little competition there is in US corporate news got even less last week as what cable news service signed off for the last time Tuesday?

18) Officially, the Center for Disease Control has linked what virus to microcephaly?

19) “I believe you should only turn to a person who has participated in the primary” said what politician as he once again spurned talk of a presidential draft?

20) What team no longer holds the NBA record for wins in a season, as of Wednesday?

Answers:

1) Elon Musk. He’s also selling a lot of Tesla’s right now

2) 20%

3) He’s in jail in Peru for crimes committed while PM

4) The 28 pages redacted from the 9/11 commission report

5) the Titanic

6) Merrick Garland.

7) 100 (muslim, hindu, christian, bahai, wiccan etc.)

8) Ringo!

9) more than $5 billion

10) Paul Revere

11) the battle of Lexington and Concord and the start of the American Revolution

12) Marrionette Miller-Meeks

13) Ukraine

14) Donald Trump. He was talking about the Republican delegate system

15) The Czech Republic. That won’t be confusing.

16) Adolf Hitler

17) Al Jazeera

18) the zika virus

19) Paul Ryan

20) the Chicago Bulls. The Golden state Warriors won #73 on the last day of the season to pass them.

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Is Spring Really Here?

It’s April 16th. Has A Medical Marijuana Bill Passed Yet?

Posted on April 16, 2016 by Dave Bradley

medical marijuana

Two weeks ago I was treated to a short presentation by Shelly Van Winkle at the legislative forum in Muscatine. Ms. Van Winkle (is there any title that indicates that a person is an RN?) is a registered nurse and a certified cannabis nurse. She was there once more to demonstrate the need for medical marijuana in Iowa. This time she was with a group of parents with young children who suffer from epilepsy.

She spoke of the suffering the children go through and the feelings of helplessness that the parents suffer when they see their children suffer from something that could be easily and greatly lessened with an application of a natural medication that is legally available in some 20 states including Illinois and Minnesota. Later one of the parents spoke of the hell she and her daughter went through before she was allowed to get medical marijuana through a very special dispensation. She then told of her wrenching fear of what would come when that dispensation expires in July.

The child is 5. You just have to ask what this child has done that Republican legislators would allow her to suffer so much. She is 5. She is taking the medication now. Children across the country are benefitting from such medication without any bad effects. Our governor has said he is open to full legalization of medical marijuana

The two Republicans at the forum claimed they were simply waiting for their leadership to decide what they wanted to do. Republican leadership has so far refused to move on medical marijuana. Claiming things like there is no scientific proof that marijuana works to fear that Iowa doctors will be arrested for even discussing using marijuana, Republicans continue to choke any move.

When last I heard such legislation was tied up in the House Ways and Means committee head by Tom Sands. According to the Des Moines Register, here was the status a couple of weeks ago:

But the legislation has been delayed in the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, headed by Rep. Tom Sands, R-Wapello. He has yet to assign the bill to a subcommittee.

“I’m still trying to gather facts on science and if it’s driving this (conversation) or whether it’s emotion,” Sands said. “… And while I have a lot of sympathy for the parents that have some of these children that are looking for hope, we don’t want to do the wrong thing that actually gives them worse side effects in years to come or sends the wrong message to the rest of our kids on drug use.”

Parents of children with severe epilepsy and other ailments have made emotional pleas at the Iowa Capitol this session and last; some say their children have seen major improvements in their health since using the oil. But Sands and others within the House Republican caucus have said they’re concerned the measure opens the door to possible misuse.

Sorry, I ain’t buying it. The points Sands make plus other points that Republicans have been trotting out are so easily disputed we could send one of the affected kids to take them on in a debate. If you are worried about sending the wrong message about drugs to kids, how about looking into all the mood affecting drugs that seem to be handed out like candies by doctors these days. From the Ritalins to the Prozacs kids have long ago gotten the message that drugs are a basic part of living these days.

The message that Republicans are sending is that even though this drug has long since been proven safe and effective, it will be blocked anyway. The excuses the public are given have long been refuted. So why won’t Republicans come clean with the truth? Could it be that the truth behind keeping cannabidiol oil from Iowans would bring the wrath of the public down on Iowa Republicans.

Could it be that the demon, money in politics, is behind the decision to let to let Iowa’s kids, veterans and many others suffer while relief is actually available? While trails like this are often hard to track, it sure looks like it could be.

When the reasons that we are given don’t hold water, it sure seems like someone is doing the bidding of an unseen driver. As I stated a couple weeks ago, that unseen driver very likely could be ALEC. Among members of ALEC are the drug companies who have a lot to lose if medical marijuana is legalized; the alcohol industry which may not be stung by medical marijuana, but could be stung badly by legalized recreational marijuana and of course the privatized prison industry which has lots of empty cells that our insane drug war helps keep filled.

It may seem like I am beating a drum for medical marijuana. I am.

With only a few days left and lawmakers eager to get out on the campaign trail, the legislative session could easily adjourn with this issue dying what would be a quiet death for most, but what would be a tragic case of purposeful neglect by a group of gutless politicians.

The right thing to do is to pass medical marijuana so that Iowans who need the relief it can give can have access to it. For a party that preaches personal responsibility and freedom once again give the finger and turn their backs on the very human beings they claim to represent.

Posted in ALEC, Iowa legislature 2016, medical marijuana, Republican hypocrisy, Republican Obstruction, Republicn Policy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Iowa Budget Time: Hey Where Did The Money Go?

Posted on April 16, 2016 by Dave Bradley
Iowa Capitol

Iowa Capitol

Here we go again. The end of the legislative session and the legislature claims once more there is no money.

Where the hell did the money go? Tax breaks for businesses for the most part.

Had Branstad’s administration not given tax cuts to businesses without consulting the legislature we would probably OK. As it is, we are at the very beginning of a huge downhill slide in revenue. These revenue cuts will be showing up in budget cuts that will especially be seen in the education budget. So while the special interests that the Republicans have given breaks to are no longer paying what they once did, Iowa’s parents will see higher tuition fees on their kids university bills. Parents of younger children will see cutbacks in staff at their local schools and more crowded class rooms.

This is just the beginning.

Iowa CCI warned of this a few months back:

On January 27, Governor Branstad told the Iowa press corps that there is no room in his five-year budget for setting allowable school growth at six percent, as Senate Democrats propose, but the governor failed to give the reason why: because his “signature bipartisan achievement”, corporate property tax cuts, is so expensive that the cost will burn through Iowa’s budget surplus in just a few years without leaving any money left over for investing in the vital public services that everyday people and hardworking families depend on like education, environmental protections, infrastructure, and workforce development.

This looming budget reality is now one of the biggest political issue in the state, and the public debate surrounding it will continue through the remainder of the 2014 legislative session as well as through the November elections. But the issue also poses problems for Democrats, who are now in the position of advocating for policies like allowable school growth that their own votes on the corporate property tax cut bill have made it more difficult to afford.

Branstad’s corporate property tax cuts passed last year will cost the state $277 million next year and ultimately peak out at $380 million per year. Even with the backfill, county governments will face a $740 million shortfall over ten years, and the stories of how local government responds in the coming weeks of months will continue to fuel statewide discussions.

In the short-term, Iowa’s surplus will be able to absorb the cost of the corporate property tax replacements, but the state is now on a collision course with a budget reality few from either party want to admit: the corporate property tax cuts are simply unaffordable without sacrificing investments in bread and butter programs like preschool, K-12 education, community colleges, factory farm enforcement, water quality monitoring and cleanup, and job training.

“Governor Branstad says we can’t afford to invest in our schools anymore, but he won’t say why: because the corporate property tax cuts he championed are stealing the wealth of the state and robbing our children and our teachers,” said Ross Grooters, a train engineer and CCI Action Fund member from Pleasant Hill with a second-grader at Delaware Elementary School.

Iowa CCI proposed some remedies at the link. However, the session is nearly over and the time for remedies is nearly past.

As noted before, this is just the beginning. Unless the legislature takes back control of the budget and taxing from the Governor who wants to be king, Iowa will see continued decreasing education funding. This is by design based on what Republicans have done in other states.

It is part of their “starve the beast” strategy. This is where public institutions such as schools continually get their budgets either cut or frozen and naturally the services get worse. As schools get worse, Iowa’s parents will be looking for a fix to the problem. Republicans will claim that privatizing schools will be the solution. After seeing their schools deteriorate from underfunding, will Iowans buy into this bogus answer.

Time will tell. But first before they can sell the solution to a problem that doesn’t quite yet exist in Iowa, Republicans will have to create the problem. By starving the beast.

As Bob Dvorsky said last week, the real solution is November. Lets restore a legislature that puts Iowans first.

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Branstad, Education, Iowa legislature 2016 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Samantha Bee Explains Superdelegates And Gets It Right

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Trish Nelson

 

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign | Tagged , | Comments Off on Samantha Bee Explains Superdelegates And Gets It Right