Women Justices Blast Texas Anti-Choice Law

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Trish Nelson

free speech tvFreespeech TV

“With the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court has only eight justices opening the way for a 4-4 tie in what many see as the biggest abortion case in a generation. Such a tie could leave in place a lower court ruling largely upholding the Texas law, potentially impacting other states in the same appeals court circuit—Mississippi, which has just one abortion clinic, and Louisiana, where a similar admitting privileges law threatens to close all but one clinic in the state. During the arguments, the three women on the Supreme Court led the criticism of the Texas abortion restrictions. Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned Texas’ argument that the restrictions don’t create an undue burden because women can travel to a clinic across state lines in New Mexico, where the same restrictions are not in place. “That’s odd that you point to the New Mexico facility,” Ginsburg said. “If your argument is right, then New Mexico is not an available way out for Texas, because Texas says: To protect our women, we need these things. But send them off to New Mexico … and that’s perfectly all right.”

 

Posted in SCOTUS | Tagged , | Comments Off on Women Justices Blast Texas Anti-Choice Law

The Courtney Report

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Dave Bradley

Courtney Report

The following are excerpts from Sen. Courtney’s newsletter. The full newsletter can be seen here.

BIPARTISAN OVERSIGHT WILL PROTECT VULNERABLE IOWANS
Despite its disappointing and troubling start, the Branstad-Reynolds Medicaid privatization plan is moving forward. Our job now is to ensure Iowa’s health care safety net remains strong. After all, every one of us is just one accident or illness away from needing Medicaid help.

If your parent, spouse or child has a severe disability, chances are they’ll be on Medicaid. In fact, most Medicaid dollars help our elderly and Iowans with disabilities. We’ll protect them with tough, bipartisan oversight and accountability measures for the out-of-state corporations that will be running the program.

Senate File 2213, which won bipartisan approval in the Senate, will safeguard the interests of Medicaid members, encourage the participation of health care providers, and ensure the tax dollars of hard-working Iowans are spent properly.

We’ll also continue to make system improvements by:

* Requiring stronger consumer protections, rate and payment regulation, data collection and evaluation.
* Creating a fund to finance improvements.
* Providing a comprehensive review of program integrity.
* Enhancing the role and responsibilities of the Health Policy Oversight Committee.
* Assigning authority to a Managed Care Ombudsman.
* Expanding the Medical Assistance Advisory Council.

All of this is necessary because the Branstad-Reynolds Administration took a “too much, too fast” approach to Medicaid privatization. {my emphasis} The federal government imposed two delays, but with implementation coming April 1, Iowans are urgently speaking out. Every Iowa legislator has heard from them.

With so many unanswered questions, oversight is a must. We can’t let privatization hurt the very people Medicaid is supposed to help.

WHO OWNS YOUR DIGITAL DATA & COMMUNICATIONS?
A generation ago, mail was delivered to your house; photos were kept in an album; thoughts were recorded in a diary; documents were filed in a cabinet; and money was deposited at a bank. The Internet has changed all that.

Today, many Iowans keep their photos online, interact with friends and family through Facebook and store data and documents on a server. If you die or become disabled, survivors may not be able to access these digital assets.

No Iowa law provides the administrator of an estate or a person with power of attorney to access your Facebook page, Gmail, Shutterfly account or Dropbox. If an active Internet user dies, survivors may not be able to get important family photos or shut down a Facebook account that serves as a painful reminder of the loss. The companies storing these assets on their servers are “custodians,” who often prohibit access to grieving families.

Senate File 2112 moves Iowa into the 21st century by giving Internet users the power to plan for their digital assets, just like they would for physical property. By providing procedures for allowing access to digital accounts, Iowans can decide how all of their assets will be handled when they can no longer do so themselves.

Posted in Courtney, Courtney Report, medicaid expansion | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Courtney Report

Jill Sobule: Music To Remind Us

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Dave Bradley

Jill Sobule “The Democratic Socialist Marching Song”

Saw this performed on the Stephanie Miller Show Thursday morning and thought this may help remind folks what we fight for. (about 3 minutes)

And a companion piece: America Back by Jill Sobule (about 4 minutes)

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign | Tagged , | Comments Off on Jill Sobule: Music To Remind Us

Sunday Funday: Moving To Canada Edition

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Dave Bradley
Maybe we should build a wall?

Maybe we should build a wall?

The Hill reports that as Trump victories piled up on Tuesdsay so did googles for “moving to Canada,” far surpassing the previous record high following George W.’s re-election. No doubt Trump will be starting a service to help accommodate those people he will drive out of the country. This could be a textbook example of Republicans creating a crisis and then profiting from it.

The question is: will Canada accept refugees from the USA. After all, the USA refused to help Syrians.

Were you paying attention? It was a busy week!

1) Did you set your clock ahead this morning?

2) According to Marco Rubio, Donald Trump has small what?

3) The brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Charles, a civil rights leader himself, endorsed who for president Friday?

4) In a surprise, South Dakota’s Governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill regarding whose use of public school bathrooms?

5) In a national sweep last week, major participants in what resistance action were arrested?

6) The SCOTUS heard arguments in a case that could have major consequences for what hot button issue?

7) NASCAR head Brian France jumped on board for what presidential candidate last week?

8) Wow! Only seven years later Republicans form a task force to create an answer to what democratic program?

9) Which potential Grassley challenger turned in paperwork to be listed on the primary ballot on the first day possible?

10) In a very rare move Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a plea to block implementation of a rule on what?

11) It made national headlines when this man spoke at work Monday. How long had it been since Justice Thomas spoke in SCOTUS session?

12) Imagine sitting in a vehicle for a year! Who returned to earth Tuesday after a year in space?

13) So a President goes to a baseball game? Why is the game Obama plans to see on March 22 such a big deal?

14) Seventy years ago yesterday in Fulton, Missouri Winston Churchill uttered one of the most enduring phrases of the cold war. What was this phrase?

15) To get the iditarod Dogsled Race going Anchorage, Alaska had to do what?

16) According to data from weather satellites, temperatures in February compared to other Februarys in what way?

17) In a announcement last week, the Chinese government said what will happen to nearly 2 million workers?

18) Who broke the unwritten Republican 11th commandment with a scathing speech denouncing Donald Trump?

19) President Obama is said to be seriously vetting what federal appellate judge from Cedar Rapids to replace Antonin Scalia?

20) The president said his family will live where after his term is up?

Another exciting girl’s state basketball tournament ends as the High Holy Days of basketball builds to a crescendo.

Answers:

1) if you did, set it back. Daylight time starts next week!

2) hands. But the implication was genitals.

3) Donald Trump. really

4) transgendered students

5) the resistance at the Cliven Bundy ranch

6) abortion – a loss or tie in this case will be bad for women

7) Donald Trump – despite having pulled races from his venues.

8) the ACA – they always said they had a plan. Now they may actually get one.

9) Rob Hogg

10) air pollution at power plants. complicated but he stopped a block that the Court before Scalia’s death had implemented

11) 10 years

12) Astronaut Scott Kelly

13) The Devil rays play Cuba in Havana

14) “the iron curtain”

15) ship in trainloads of snow. All their snow has melted

16) the warmest ever by a huge 1.5 degrees

17) they will be laid off – an unusual move in China

18) Mitt Romney

19) Jane Louise Kelly

20) Washington, DC at least until Sasha finishes high school. They may move into a smaller house, though.

Posted in Humor | 1 Comment

Net Neutrality Highlighted by MHP Leaving MSNBC

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Dave Bradley

melissa harris-perry

Remember back in the good old days when Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were must see TV for liberals and progressives? There was finally someone on a relatively accessible cable or network news that well articulated our view of the world. After the hard turn to the right by media starting in the Reagan years that was pretty well finished with the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration anyone with liberal leanings was hard to find.

During those years DemocracyNow! was born, but on the infamous mainstream media, liberal voices were few and hard to find. DemocracyNow! is consigned to little known cable station known as FreeSpeechTV and Link TV.

NBC, parent company of MSNBC, has gone through a series of corporate takeovers being owned in succession by GE, Universal Studios and now Comcast. Comcast is a well-known conservative corporation.

MSNBC after letting Phil Donohue go following the Iraq invasion, rehired Keith Olbermann to fill the slot. Thus began a love affair between the left and the very outspoken Olbermann. Olbermann’s Countdown show spawned shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell which in turn spawned other shows including Melissa Harris-Perry’s now defunct show. Ed Schultz and the Reverend Al Sharpton also had shows spawned from this little incubator. Sharpton’s show is a ghost of itself, Schultz is long gone. As corporate takeovers happened, MSNBC moved right.

For a short period of time liberals could turn to MSNBC as a corner of the media that wasn’t slanted greatly to the right. Current TV also came along to expand that selection and offer some competition. Competition makes products better. On the radio dial Air America was making an attempt to cut into right wing’s iron grip on the radio market and what was becoming pablum from NPR.

Fast forward to today and much of that little progressive niche is gone. What is left often seems much less robust. FreeSpeechTV is still out there as is Link TV, but sadly few cable companies carry them. DemocracyNow! goes on with its great work. In the mainstream media, however, the right pretty much owns everything. Many expect what little that is still out there won’t last much longer as Comcast squeezes its talent.

So for those of us who would like our news and discussions from sources that are not slanted right the internet is about the only place left where we can go. Many people in America use the internet as their main source of information, since the other media offer basically one version of information. Right now an open and neutral internet is the firewall between the US and a media totally controlled by corporations. Corporations control commercial terrestrial radio almost 100%, there are few independent newspapers in this country, and only a few independent magazines. Add these to a nearly fully controlled TV and it becomes obvious that controlling the internet is a major goal for corporate America.

Don’t forget that one of the most aggressive corporations to end net neutrality is Comcast . Who knows how many lawsuits they have filed to overturn the FCC ruling of last year.

We have an election coming up. One of the major issues that has risen to the top is who will be nominating justices for the SCOTUS as age and infirmity takes a toll on current members. But what may be as big of an issue is who will nominate the next chair of the FCC. The FCC is a 5 member board with two Republicans and two Democrats and a chair chosen by the president.

It is hardly a secret that if a Republican is elected the then Republican chair and the two other Republican members will end net neutrality in a New York minute. Then corporations will control access to all sources of news in this country with exception of a few outlying corners.

Even if a Democrat is elected president but Republicans continue to control both houses of congress you can expect meddling into net neutrality to as great of a degree as is possible by congress. No matter what happens you can expect constant attacks on net neutrality through the court system. Corporations have deep pockets for such judicial challenges. And unlike real persons like you and I, corporations don’t die and seldom move on to other things.

If you know someone who is balking at voting, ask them how much they like their internet. Maybe that will get their attention.

Internet voters

Posted in Internet Issues, Media Bias, Media Reform | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Net Neutrality Highlighted by MHP Leaving MSNBC

Patty Judge Joins Race For US Senate

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Dave Bradley

Patty_Judge

Media in the centers of power out east, New York City and Washington, DC, were buzzing with the possibility of former Lt. Gov. and Ag. Secretary Patty Judge jumping into the race to challenge Chuck Grassley for his senate seat.

It is beginning to look like one of the worst things that could have ever happened to Chuck Grassley is the death of Justice Scalia.

Scalia’s death has exposed Grassley as the total tool of the Republican party that many of us always knew he was. Rather than fulfilling his constitutional duties in a timely fashion as one would expect from his carefully cultivated public persona, Grassley has instead been a study in on-the-fly lies as he creates reasons out of thin air on why he refuses to do his prescribed duties.

The Iowa public ain’t buying it. Iowans expect people to do their jobs, not make excuses.

With the internet tracking public servants as never before and keeping their utterings and writings forever, it is becoming harder and harder to pull the wool over the collective eyes of the public. A well prepared interviewer will no longer just allow any politician to BS their way through an interview without a challenge. Kathy O’Bradovich has a very pointed opinion of how the Senator’s view is in conflict with the orderly flow of government as written in the constitution:
(the actual interview is here)

“It’s perfectly legitimate for Grassley to insist that justices decide cases based on the law and not personal feelings, and he’s been consistent on that benchmark for nominees. But Grassley is not evaluating any nominee’s actual qualifications, but rather his own opinion of what sort of person Obama would nominate. That’s simple prejudice and it’s not a justification for refusing to consider nominees.

Secondly, Grassley argues that Obama somehow lacks legitimacy as president to put forth a candidate for the Supreme Court. That’s because voters in 2014 elected more Republicans than Democrats to the Senate, changing the balance of power.

“Then what you want to remember is that people spoke in 2014 that they didn’t like things (Obama) was doing and threw out nine or 10 Democrat senators,” Grassley said.

It may be Grassley’s political judgment that the 2014 midterms somehow withdrew Obama’s constitutional authority. But voters were making decisions on individual candidates, not necessarily on the party balance of the Senate. If we’re going to make every president a lame duck if his party doesn’t win in the midterms, we should start electing a new president every two years.”

Now it looks like Grassley’s playing fast and loose with the constitution may finally endanger his job. Patty Judge has said she is ready to jump into the race to dethrone Grassley. Judge’s statewide name recognition and previous roles in state government may give her some impetus. She is a known quantity.

Grassley’s actions to please his party above doing his duty for the country are really backfiring. His obvious disdain for Iowa voters that he recently exhibited during his town hall tour was noted around the state. Add to that that Grassley may have to somehow deal with an albatross at the head of the ticket this year by the name of Donald Trump. Even if Trump is not nominated, there will be some big scars in the party including having to deal with the aftermath of Trump’s hate fueled campaign.

This may be the year to catch the lightning in the bottle and send Grassley back to his estate in Virginia.

In the meantime, Chuck, if you won’t do your job will you at least refund your pay?

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Charles Grassley | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Patty Judge Joins Race For US Senate

George Lakoff Explains Why Donald Trump

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Trish Nelson

lakoff the political mindGeorge Lakoff  explains how it came to be that Donald Trump could be the Republican nominee for President of the United States.  Here are some highlights from a must-read article, especially if you are unfamiliar with Lakoff’s work.  http://georgelakoff.com/2016/03/02/why-trump/

Why Trump?

Electoral competition is seen as a battle. Insults that stick are seen as victories — deserved victories.  Why does Donald Trump publicly insult other candidates and political leaders mercilessly? Quite simply, because he knows he can win an onstage TV insult game. In strict conservative eyes, that makes him a formidable winning candidate who deserves to be a winning candidate.

Direct causation v systemic causation

Empirical research has shown that conservatives tend to reason with direct causation and that progressives have a much easier time reasoning with systemic causation.

Many of Trump’s policy proposals are framed in terms of direct causation.

Immigrants are flooding in from Mexico — build a wall to stop them. For all the immigrants who have entered illegally, just deport them — even if there are 11 million of them working throughout the economy and living throughout the country. The cure for gun violence is to have a gun ready to directly shoot the shooter. If Isis is making money on Iraqi oil, send US troops to Iraq to take control of the oil. If a few terrorists might be coming with Muslim refugees, just stop allowing all Muslims into the country. All this makes sense to direct causation thinkers, but not those who see the immense difficulties and dire consequences of such actions due to the complexities of systemic causation.

Conservatives have felt more and more oppressed by what they call “political correctness” — public pressure against their views and against what they see as “free speech.” This has become exaggerated since 911, when anti-Muslim feelings became strong. The election of President Barack Hussein Obama created outrage among those conservatives, and they refused to see him as a legitimate American (as in the birther movement), much less as a legitimate authority, especially as his liberal views contradicted almost everything else they believe as conservatives.

Donald Trump expresses out loud everything they feel — with force, aggression, anger, and no shame. All they have to do is support and vote for Trump and they don’t even have to express their ‘politically incorrect’ views, since he does it for them and his victories make those views respectable. He is their champion. He gives them a sense of self-respect, authority, and the possibility of power.

Biconceptuals

There is no middle in American politics. There are moderates, but there is no ideology of the moderate, no single ideology that all moderates agree on. A moderate conservative has some progressive positions on issues, though they vary from person to person. Similarly, a moderate progressive has some conservative positions on issues, again varying from person to person. In short, moderates have both political moral worldviews, but mostly use one of them. Those two moral worldviews in general contradict each other. How can they reside in the same brain at the same time?

Both are characterized in the brain by neural circuitry. They are linked by a commonplace circuit: mutual inhibition. When one is turned on the other is turned off; when one is strengthened, the other is weakened. What turns them on or off? Language that fits that worldview activates that worldview, strengthening it, while turning off the other worldview and weakening it. The more Trump’s views are discussed in the media, the more they are activated and the stronger they get, both in the minds of hardcore conservatives and in the minds of moderate progressives.

This is true even if you are attacking Trump’s views. The reason is that negating a frame activates that frame, as I pointed out in the book Don’t Think of an Elephant! It doesn’t matter if you are promoting Trump or attacking Trump, you are helping Trump.

The Democratic Party has not been taking seriously many of the reasons for Trump’s support and the range of that support. And the media has not been discussing many of the reasons for Trump’s support. That needs to change.

George Lakoff is Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, and is author of several books including the international bestseller on political debate and messaging, “Don’t Think of an Elephant.”

Posted in 2014 Election Campaign, 2016 Election Campaign | Tagged , , | Comments Off on George Lakoff Explains Why Donald Trump

March To The Finish

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Paul Deaton
Hillary Clinton inn Coralville, Iowa, Nov. 3, 2015

Hillary Clinton inn Coralville, Iowa, Nov. 3, 2015

BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP, Iowa — This headline in yesterday’s Boston Globe says it well, “Clinton and Trump are now the presumptive nominees. Get used to it.”

Author James Pindell attributes the appellation to math.

“They have accumulated more delegates than any other candidates in their parties for the national conventions,” he wrote. “Both won three of four early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. Not a single candidate with those win records has ever lost his or her party’s nomination in modern presidential political history.”

Presumptive. Get used to it. Got it.

While few saw Trump coming a year ago, people have been saying Hillary Clinton was the likely Democratic nominee for president since before she announced on April 12, 2015. They were right then and now.

The nominating process set up by Democrats after the debacle of 1968 is working. It fielded a group of candidates, winnowed the field, and is moving rapidly toward nominating Clinton. Clinton needs 2,383 delegates to the July 25 national convention to win. After last night she has 1,001 to Bernie Sanders’ 371. With the remaining delegates, Sanders needs to do much better than Clinton. But for the details of how the race plays out, as Pindell indicated, it is over.

In Iowa the Super Tuesday result means as soon as Sanders bows out, needed revenue from the Clinton campaign can begin to flow to the Iowa Democratic Party. My quote of Iowa politico Jerry Crawford from last year bears repeating.

“In all the races I’ve been involved with of various kinds it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Crawford said on Iowa Press. “Iowa, the Iowa Democratic Party, our ticket in this state desperately needs the general election assets that Hillary Clinton will bring as our party’s standard bearer. That’s the way we recover from what was a very, very tough 2014 election.”

As I wrote at the time, the coordinated campaign should be blown up and re-invented. It’s money that holds us back. Democrats are damned if we raise it and damned if we don’t.

One of the successes of the Iowa Republican Party since Jeff Kaufmann took the reins has been generating cash for operations. Democrats in a donor poor state still rely on the presidential candidate, and partly because of it, the race has focused disproportionately on electing the president. As my own data crunching during the 2012 race affirms, a winning president doesn’t have enough coat tails to carry all of the down ticket races in Iowa. If he did, my state house candidate would have won his race. This is a basic problem with Iowa Democratic politics: not enough money and too much focus on the presidential horse race. A corollary is not bringing enough new people into the party.

People suggest retaining the new people Bernie Sanders recruited to his campaign is important, and it is.

Rod Sullivan Feb. 22, 2016

At the same time, each electorate is different and there is no expectation everyone who voted or caucused for Sanders in the primary will continue to be involved in a general election campaign for Hillary. The idea we should “do things” to retain them is ridiculous and counter productive. The narrative of momentum and a linear procession from announcement to primary to election is a bankrupt one. People will make their general election decision based on information available to them as election day approaches.

The power of politics has more to do with what people we know are doing. To the extent the power and influence of national media can be mitigated, voters will make a sound decision. However, media continues to shape opinions to the extent Republicans I know are trying to accommodate a Trump vote despite his demagoguery. It’s the media that puts them in this situation.

As the case of Trump indicates, elections no longer are about logic and reasonableness. To elect a candidate we each must work to influence people in our circles. As we march to the finish of another presidential election it is important to remember we have a sphere of influence… and to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain pulling the levers.

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Branstad’s Medicaid Debacle Moves Forward

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Trish Nelson

Gano holds Branstad accountableIowa Democrats are attempting damage control, but Branstad’s corporatization of Medicaid is yet another sad tale of what happens when Republicans get too much power.

State Senator Amanda Ragan of Mason City gave her opening remarks today regarding SF 2213, a piece of legislation that would establish strong oversight provisions to the newly privatized [corporatized] healthcare [denial] system.

 

Posted in 2014 Election Campaign, Iowa legislature 2016, medicaid expansion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Branstad’s Medicaid Debacle Moves Forward

Have You Blocked A Bulldozer Today?

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Trish Nelson

Fallon HrdinaUpdate from Ed Fallon about the fight to stop the Bakken Pipeline.

Dear Friends,

I’ve always believed we could stop the Bakken Pipeline. I still believe that. As they say in the world of opera, it ain’t over til the fat lady sings — or in a more apt metaphor, til the crazy guy drinks motor oil.

Pipeline fighters are understandably anxious. The Iowa Utilities Board seems inclined to grant Dakota Access and its parent company, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), a permit and the power of eminent domain. Yet even if that happens, we’ve got legal angles, legislative angles, and the compelling moral authority of standing with landowners to block the bulldozers.

But there’s another ally lurking in the dark shadows of Wall Street: The Market. Yes, capitalism itself might save Iowa from the scourge of an oil pipeline. Consider the following:

– The stock of Energy Transfer Partners has seen a steady decline from 65.65 on January 2, 2015 to 26.47 today.

– ETP’s merger with Williams Companies last year has not gone well, with some indication that ETP wishes it could find a way out of the deal. The fact that ETP’s CEO, Kelcy Warren, says “we’re not going to talk about the Williams transaction,” only further confirms that the merger was a bad idea. (Provided by TheStreet)

– The sudden firing earlier this month of the company’s CFO, Jamie Welch, is another sign that things are not well in the ETP empire.

– There are also growing doubts as to whether ETP is on track with the capital it needs to launch the Bakken Pipeline: “ETP is evaluating project financing of the Bakken Pipeline. This measure would materially reduce the direct spending required for this project.” (See NY Times Business Day Markets.)

– Some of us have been saying all along that ETP’s claim that the Bakken pipeline is important for U.S. energy independence is bunk. Now Warren seems to agree, saying, “the amount of volume we are going to be moving to Mexico within — by 2018 is huge.” (Provided by TheStreet)

– Noted industry analyst, Jim Cramer, writes: “We have way too many oil pipelines in the country and the master limited partnership woes must stop and the bleeding be staunched among the independent oil and gas companies.” (See #5 of My Checklist for the Market to Start Making Money, Part 2.)

– Finally, with Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi saying last week that he doesn’t see his country cutting output, don’t expect crude oil prices to rise any time soon.

If Iowa Utilities Board members aren’t aware of these developments, they should be. If I was on the Board, the plethora of troubling news about ETP would certainly weigh my decision on their request for a permit.

If the Courts, the Legislature, and the Market fail us, we still have . . . BATS! That’s right. Bats. The northern long-eared bat is on the federal endangered species list, and from June 1 – July 31, you can’t down trees within 150 feet of where bats may be roosting. ETP denies Iowa is home to long-eared bats, but the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club insists ETP has not done a credible survey. There are certainly long-eared bats in the pathway of the pipeline in Lyon County, and quite possibly elsewhere in Iowa as well.

I once helped rural residents of Linn County stop a landfill that would have destroyed a beautiful bluff along the Cedar River. We fought that battle on every front we could. In the end, we won because of . . . SEAGULLS! Yup. Turns out the FAA won’t allow a dump within a certain distance of an airport because the gulls dining at the dump could find their way into an airplane’s engine at just the wrong moment.

So, we need to keep fighting to stop the Bakken pipeline. Regardless of what the IUB does next week, it ain’t over til John Grizzly guzzles himself senseless.

Listen to the Fallon Forum live Mondays, 11:00-12:00 noon CST on La Reina KDLF 1260 AM (Des Moines) and online. The number to call is (515) 528-8122. The program re-broadcasts Wednesday on KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames) at 4:00 p.m. and Monday at 6:00 a.m. on WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans). Check-out podcasts here.

Posted in Energy, Environment Iowa, Fallon Forum | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments