Why The GOP Is Losing Voters

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Trish Nelson
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Upcoming Bernie Sanders Events

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Trish Nelson

Things I love to hear

Find an event near you and RSVP at go.berniesanders.com

Friday, June 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Town Meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders
Drake University, Sheslow Auditorium
2507 University Avenue
Des Moines

Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m.
Town Meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders
UAW Local 893
411 Iowa Avenue West
Marshalltown

Saturday, June 13 at 6:00 p.m. (Bernie speaks at 7:00 p.m.)
Hawkeye Labor Council AFL-CIO Steak Fry
IBEW Local 405 Hall
1211 Wiley Boulevard S.W.
Cedar Rapids
Tickets for the dinner are $25 and can be purchased by contacting Rick Moyle at rmoyle@hawkeyelabor.us or by calling him at 319-396-8461. RSVP is required.

Sunday, June 14 at 12:00 p.m.
Town Meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders
Waterloo Center for the Arts, Hope Martin Theatre
225 Commercial Street
Waterloo

Sunday, June 14 at 2:30 p.m.
Flag Day Town Meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders
Bill Riley Bandshell Estes Park
Iowa Falls
(RAIN SITE: Iowa Falls – Alden High School Auditorium)

Sunday, June 14 at 4:00 p.m. (Bernie speaks at 5:30 p.m.)
Warren County Democrats 12th Annual Summer Picnic
Veterans Memorial Park
Corner of G Street and West Euclid Avenue
Indianola
Free will offering requested

To RSVP for an event go go go.berniesanders.com

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IDP Hall Of Fame Dinner 2015 – Candidates To Speak

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Dave Bradley
Speakers for the 2015 Hall of Fame event

Speakers for the 2015 Hall of Fame event

Well, this could be a tough ticket:

Description:
2015 Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Awards

Location:
Cedar Rapids Convention Complex

Date & Time:
July 17, 2015 at 7:00 PM

Address:
350 1st Avenue NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52401

Clinton, O’Malley, Sanders and Webb to headline.

Order tickets here

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The Hillary We Hope To See On The Campaign Trail

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Trish Nelson

Hillary the riveterThis video illuminates the reasons why conservatives do not like the idea of a Hillary Clinton presidency. She is strong and tough and not afraid to stand up for women. She’s not going to be just sitting around baking cookies (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

correctherecord.org is a “strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend Hillary Clinton from right-wing, baseless attacks” of which there have been and will continue to be many.   I believe that the regular and liberal media go out of their way to be fair to conservative women who support the status quo, so Hillary Clinton should be given no less consideration.

 

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Iowa Has A Water Problem

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Paul Deaton
Iowa Row Crops

Iowa Row Crops

DES MOINES—”We have a water problem,” Mayor Frank Cownie said at the state convention of the League of Women Voters of Iowa on Saturday.

Like all municipalities, the Des Moines Water Works must comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency standards for maximum contaminant level in water processed and sent into its system. Peak nitrate levels in source waters have taxed the city’s ability to meet its obligations.

The problem is nitrates in the water, however, the bigger problem for Des Moines is nitrate discharge into drainage districts in Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac Counties which feed its source.

“The current denitrification technology is outdated and cannot continue to operate with rising nitrate levels and increased customer demand.” according to the Des Moines Water Works. “Continued high nitrate concentrations will require future capital investments of $76-183 million to remove the pollutant and provide safe drinking water to a growing central Iowa.”

Nitrate runoff is an unrecognized environmental cost of farm operations. The lawsuit filed in the case asserts that the drainage districts named are point sources of nitrate runoff and should be regulated as such.

There is a lot of chatter about the lawsuit the Des Moines Water Works filed to establish a cost to people who use nitrogen fertilizer that contributes to water pollution. Here is their rationale from their website:

  • Des Moines Water Works filed a complaint in Federal District Court – Northern District of Iowa, Western Division, on March 16, 2015.
  • The complaint seeks to declare the named drainage districts are “point sources,” not exempt from regulation, and are required to have a permit under federal and Iowa law.
  • The complaint states that the drainage districts have violated and continue to be in violation of the Clean Water Act and Chapter 455B, Code of Iowa, and demands the drainage districts take all necessary actions, including ceasing all discharges of nitrate that are not authorized by an National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
  • In addition, damages are demanded to Des Moines Waters to compensate for the harm caused by the drainage districts unlawful discharge of nitrate, assess civil penalties, and award litigation costs and reasonable attorney fees to Des Moines Water Works as authorized by law.
  • Des Moines Water Works’ mission is to provide safe, abundant and affordable water to our customers. Des Moines Water Works is fighting for the protection of customers’ right to safe drinking water. Through this legal process, Des Moines Water Works hopes to reduce long-term health risks and unsustainable economic costs to provide safe drinking water to our customers, via permit and regulation of drainage districts as pollutant sources.
  • Continued insistence from state leaders that the voluntary approach of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy is working does not give solace to the 500,000 central Iowans who must now pay to remove pollution from their drinking water.

While this lawsuit is specific to Des Moines, there are a lot of unrecognized environmental costs in diverse business operations. Set all the partisan chatter about this issue aside and the fact remains there is a tangible cost, that someone should pay. It is a cost measured in risks to human health, environmental degradation and inadequate financial models in business.

Thanks to the Des Moines Water Works, we can begin to put a dollar figure to it.

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ed Fallon And Governor Branstad Achieve Common Ground

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Trish Nelson

ed fallonfallonforum.com

Dear Friends,

Last month, when I asked Governor Branstad to meet with me to discuss the Bakken Oil Pipeline and the eminent domain bill, I believed that – historically at least – we had two things in common: (1) Criticism of Big Oil, and (2) Support for property rights and limiting the power of eminent domain.

Well, on Sunday, the Governor and I achieved a new milestone in common ground: We both received a thistle from The Des Moines Register. I’ll let the Governor fight his own thistle-battle. Regarding mine, the Register accuses me of wanting to “punish all politicians who don’t agree with {my} crusade against an oil pipeline.”

Not true. I’m smarter than that, as the Register concedes (“Fallon is a smart fellow”). I don’t want to punish all politicians who disagree with me on the pipeline. I just want to send enough packing to change the political dynamic at the Statehouse, to let elected leaders know that people are tired of being taken for granted.

And it’s not just me that feels this way. Two days after the announcement of the campaign to target a few key lawmakers, $4,500 in unsolicited donations was pledged to the effort!

The goal is very strategic: defeat one or two majority party members in both the House and Senate. That would send a strong message to leaders in both parties that if they refuse to do what’s right for Iowa’s people, our land and our planet there will be political consequences. (Read the full statement and tell me if you agree.)

If this strategy works and forces politicians to take more seriously the will of the people on eminent domain, it sets a precedent that they’d better take us seriously on other key issues as well.

The Register also says that the eminent domain bill in question would “make it next to impossible for pipeline companies to secure needed right of way.” It’s hard to see how they came to that conclusion. Sure, a lot of us want a bill that does just that. But this bill is a compromise. It sets a higher bar and creates a more level playing field, giving landowners some protections and a fighting chance against the power of a corporation owned by one of America’s richest tycoons.

The Register also says I should “{know} better than to judge politicians on a single issue.” Constituency and advocacy groups target resources in political campaigns based on a single issue all the time. And if an issue is important enough, there’s no reason it should not be the litmus test for whether or not a politician deserves reelection.

What truly boggles the mind is that in the very same section of Sunday’s paper, the Register talks about the importance of America “reducing its reliance on coal and oil that contribute to climate change.” What a disconnect! Now, The Register is a smart fellow. It seems to understand the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet it supports building an oil pipeline? Go figure.

Catch the Fallon Forum live on Monday from 11:00 am – 12:00 noon on KDLF 1260 AM (Des Moines)   Or you can listen online.  Join the conversation by calling in at (515) 528-8122.  Podcasts available after the show. And you can hear the Fallon Forum on KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames) at 4:00 pm on Wednesday and on KPVL 89.1 FM (Postville) at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.

Posted in Ed Fallon, Fallon Forum | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The American Civil Liberties Union: Protecting the Rights of All

Posted on June 8, 2015 by bfiaralphscharnau
Iowa flag

Our Liberties We Prize And Our Rights We Will Maintain

by Ralph Scharnau

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) strives to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. The modern civil liberties movement owes much to one of the ACLU’s founders and its longtime director, Roger Baldwin.

The ACLU operates on a nonprofit and nonpartisan basis, and current membership stands at about 500,000 with chapters in every state and Puerto Rico. The ACLU’s yearly budget tops $100 million, but it receives no funding from government sources. Its revenue comes from membership dues as well as contributions and grants from private individuals and foundations.

The ACLU focuses on First Amendment rights of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, and on Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process of law. The ACLU relies on court actions to correct injustices while engaging in lobbying and community empowerment projects. It appears before the U.S. Supreme Court more than any other organization except the U.S. Department of Justice.

The organization has defended war protestors, collaborated with the NAACP, and fought measures that restrict voting rights. Current positions of the ACLU include opposing the death penalty and torture; supporting same-sex marriage; eliminating discrimination against women, the poor, minorities, the disabled, and lesbian, gay, bisexual; and transgendered people; supporting the rights of prisoners and workplace rights of employees.

Critics have smeared the ACLU as communist, anarchist, anti-Christian, or simply an arm of the Democratic Party. From its formation, the ACLU has been dogged by controversy. The organization’s insistence on the separation of church and state has put it at loggerheads with a number of religious groups. Criticism of the ACLU also stems from those who argue that civil liberties should be restricted in favor of security during times of war or crisis. The ACLU considers, for example, certain provisions of the Patriot Act and National Security Act as illegal because they violate speech, privacy, or due process rights.

From time to time, the ACLU itself has been riven by strife among board members on policy, ideological and personal grounds. Unyielding on principle, robustly democratic, and unusually tolerant of dissent, the organization occasionally displays, not surprisingly, raucous disagreements. This internal discord, however, rarely gets media coverage, and the organization continues to serve as a beacon for those in the society attacked for their unpopular or even abhorrent views, ideas, and actions.

On at least two occasions in the 1940s, the ACLU retreated from its uncompromising commitment to freedom and liberty. It condoned the incarceration of Japanese American citizens during the Second World War. During the cold war, it adopted a resolution to exclude communists from leadership positions. Director Baldwin had private misgivings about both actions and later recanted his official support for them.

Realizing that the work of defending freedom never ends, the ACLU has a long history of fearless stands for civil rights. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) the organization took the lead in a court case that upheld the free speech rights of high school students suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Perhaps the most controversial case occurred in 1978 and involved successfully defending a Nazi group that wanted to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie where thousands of Holocaust survivors lived. The notoriety of the case resulted in the ACLU’s significant loss of membership, income, and volunteer support.

More than any other organization, the ACLU has promoted an expansive interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Its tactics involve public relations initiatives, ground-breaking litigation, and confrontations with public officials. The ACLU has played a powerful and extraordinary role in helping implant civil liberties into U.S. law and society.

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Moyers Still Around And Bringing The Heat

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Dave Bradley

BILL-MOYERS

Did anyone really think Bill Moyers would retire and go crawl in a hole quietly when he finally(?) retired from PBS? Surely you knew better.

Moyers, writing with Michael Winship at Common Dreams, uses an op-ed written by a corporate Democrat as a springboard to remind us of what truly made America great:

“Congressman John K. Delaney, what the hell are you talking about?

In a recent Washington Post op-ed piece, headlined, “The last thing America needs? A left-wing version of the Tea Party,” the Democratic congressman from Maryland scolds progressives and expresses his worry “about where some of the loudest voices in the room could take the Democratic Party.”

The “loudest voices in the room” aren’t populists or progressives; they belong to the auctioneers selling our government to the highest bidders.

He writes, “Rejecting a trade agreement with Asia, expanding entitlement programs that crowd out other priorities and a desire to relitigate the financial crisis are becoming dominant positions among Democrats. Although these subjects may make for good partisan talking points, they do not provide the building blocks for a positive and bold agenda to create jobs and improve the lives of Americans.”

Rep. Delaney even implies that a freewheeling, open discussion of “these subjects” could lead to the election of a Republican president.

Good grief, John. A trade agreement that favors multinational corporations over working people? Cutting “entitlement programs” such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, worker’s compensation? Letting Wall Street off the hook for crashing the economy and costing millions of Americans their jobs and homes? These are Republican policies, bought and paid for by plutocrats. If Democrats simply mimic them, there would be no need to bother with voting for a Republican president; we could cancel the election and put the billions saved in campaign contributions straight into the Clinton Foundation.

The progressive agenda isn’t “left wing.” (Can anyone using the term even define what “left wing” means anymore?) The progressive agenda is America’s story — from ending slavery to ending segregation to establishing a woman’s right to vote to Social Security, the right to organize, and the fight for fair pay and against income inequality. Strip those from our history and you might as well contract America out to the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and Karl Rove, Inc.

At their core, the New Deal, Fair Deal, and Great Society programs were aimed at assuring every child of a decent education, every worker a decent wage, and every senior a decent retirement; if that’s extreme, so are the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution.

But such is the level of what passes for discourse inside the Beltway these days. The cushioned political and media elites who eat, drink, and make merry with each other at the annual White House Correspondents & Celebrity Ball are so cozy up there in the stratosphere that they dismiss as the lunatic fringe any voice from below that challenges the status quo.

And by the way, John, the “loudest voices in the room” aren’t populists or progressives; they belong to the auctioneers selling our government to the highest bidders.”

Moyers still brings the heat that burns the butts of the hypocrites and the sellouts. He is a national treasure and one of the sanest and smartest voices in the punditry world.

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Sunday Funday – Solstice Starts?

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Dave Bradley

iowa sunrise

These days when we want to know the times for the rise and setting of the sun, we just consult the old computer and voila! we have a we have a chart that tells us the sunrise and sunset of darn near anyplace on earth.

It wasn’t always that way. Ever think about all those folks in centuries back who were charged with tracking the comings and goings of old sol? Even then they would have the rise and set down to almost the very minute. How did they do that?

This time of year the sun seemed to stand still. That is what solstice means. For the next couple of weeks sunrise and sunset change little as it looks as though the sun is not moving. Things kick back into gear in early July. For a couple weeks enjoy the sun!

Were you paying attention?

1) No better time to leave your job than right after you get re-elected as the head dude. What international sports head announced he would step down Monday?

2) To hear Republicans tell it the economy is in the crapper. How many jobs were added in May according to the BLS?

3) In a similar vein, the USA has had job growth for 63 straight months. How many jobs have been created during those 63 months?

4) Interpol placed six men on their most wanted list this week. All of these men belonged to what suddenly notorious organization?

5) June 5, 1968 the second major assassination of 1968 took place. Who was killed?

6) As the Iowa legislature winds to a close, did they resolve the medical marijuana problem?

7) Following an incident last school year, administrators in what Iowa school district will be equipped with body camera next school year?

8) The US had a list of 4 countries that were “state sponsors of terrorism.” Now there are 3. Who got removed?

9) Two democrats announced they were running for president last week, bringing the announced total to 4. Who announced last week?

10) Talk about insensitive! What republican presidential candidate used Joe Biden as a joke at a fundraiser, just a few days after the death of Biden’s son?

11) A “kickoff event” on Roosevelt Island in New York City is planned by what candidate next Saturday?

12) Almost missed this historic event. June 1, 1967 the greatest rock and roll album ever was released. Name the album, please.

13) Feeling a bit insecure? What safety agency failed miserably in tests conducted to rate their effectiveness?

14) OOPSIE! Maybe the Pentagon needs more money. Pentagon officials announced that live anthrax had been sent accidentally to how many labs?

15) The heads of what clan got some soft ball questions from Fox’s Megyn Kelly in an interview last week?

16) The good news is the Patriot Act expired. The bad news is that it was replaced by what Orwellian sounding bill?

17) Speaking of jobs, how many total did the George W. Bush Administration account for in 8 years?

18) Reading, writing and revolvers. What state passed a law allowing concealed carry on college campuses?

19) Rick Santorum told Pope Francis to “leave science to the scientists.” What made this such an ironic comment?

20) Ruffling some Republican feathers this week, Hillary Clinton called for “automatic and universal” what?

Stupidest statement of the week (maybe we should start an award?) goes to Ted Cruz. This guy was cum laude from Princeton? Old Ted says that if JFK were alive today he would be a Republican. Really, he said that. Really he did. I guess it was based on tax cuts that JFK sponsored that gutted loopholes and actually increased taxes. Really, Teddy?

Answers:

1) Sepp Blatter of FIFA

2) 280,000

3) 12.6 million (btw Clinton added 30 million)

4) FIFA

5) RFK

6) nope – they ignored it so far.

7) Burlington

8) Cuba

9) Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chaffee

10) Ted Cruz

11) Hillary Clinton

12) Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

13) the TSA missed 95% of planted objects

14) 52 labs in 18 states + D.C., Australia, Canada and South Korea

15) the Duggars – Jim Bob and Michelle

16) the Freedom Act.

17) -462,000

18) Texas. Of course it would be Texas

19) Pope Francis has a master’s degree in Chemistry. He is a scientist

20) voter registration

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday – Solstice Starts?

D-Day: The Warriors Are Mostly Gone – Are The Dreams?

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Dave Bradley
D-Day Landing

D-Day Landing

Every year on D-Day I think of my father-in-law. I have written of him before. He seldom spoke of his part in the war. I would never ask, either. You just knew that when he had something to say about the War, he would say it. Otherwise, although he never said so, it seems a topic he would much rather forget.

When he did say something I clung to every word. So over the years I gleaned that he was among the early arrives on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. He saw friends and fellow soldiers die. That was about it for D-Day. Later I found he helped liberate France and fought on into Germany. That was about it. Well, that plus a great R&R trip to Iceland.

However, he would occasionally mention his service in relation to some tidbit he heard on the news. An example would be “I didn’t damn near get killed so the rich bastards could steal us blind. A working guy always gets screwed over.” “ They better not cut the schools, that would be cutting our own throats. Makes me wonder why I fought sometimes.”

This year it seems to really hit home. The insane stance of Republicans in the Iowa legislature refusing to give adequate funding to our schools; state funded universities getting more and more out of reach for the common citizen; our future mortgaged for tax cuts for the rich; jobs sent overseas so some CEO can make millions more; Wall Street crimes go unpunished. I think of all the just plain anti-citizen stuff going on in this country with seeming impunity, sometimes even with the help of the government.

I know shipping good paying jobs to low pay dictatorship countries would really rankle my father-in-law no end. No doubt he would once again wonder out loud, why did he damn near sacrifice his life? Certainly not so the rich could get richer. No, he did it so his kids and grandkids could have good schools, good jobs, opportunity within a democracy where you could be represented.

Seventy-one years later we once again hear Democrats talking like Democrats. Bernie Sanders is forcing issues like jobs, income inequality, infrastructure, schooling up through bachelor’s degree, health care, aging and many others to be brought into the light. Candidates O’Malley and Clinton are adding to the chorus of calls for a return to the American Dream that such soldiers fought and died for.

When we remember D-Day and Omaha Beach and the brave soldiers who fought and died or lived with battle scars physical and mental, think also of the dreams they were fighting for. We must serve their memory by restoring the real American Dream, not just for a few rich, but for every citizen.

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Bernie Sanders, Corporate Greed, Hillary Clinton | Tagged | 1 Comment