Rally At The Capitol To Raise The Minimum Wage

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Trish Nelson
Iowa State Capitol

Iowa State Capitol

raisethewageiowa.com/

TUESDAY: Rally to Raise the Wage

Statewide coalition of small businesses, faith leaders, community organizations to rally in support of a minimum wage increase on Tuesday at Noon

Des Moines, IA — Raise the Wage Iowa, a statewide coalition of small businesses, community leaders, labor and faith organizations will hold a Rally to Raise the Wage on Tuesday, February 17th to voice support for a minimum wage increase.

Iowa’s low-wage workers have gone longer than any in the country without a raise, and 5 out of 6 of our neighboring states have raised the minimum wage, leaving Iowa behind.

WHO: Raise the Wage Iowa Coalition

WHAT: RALLY TO RAISE THE WAGE

WHERE: Iowa State Capitol, Room 22, 1007 East Grand Ave, Des Moines, Iowa

WHEN: Tuesday, February 17th, 12:00 PM

The Raise the Wage Iowa coalition has organized events across the state, educating the public and supporting an increase in the minimum wage at the state and federal level. Research indicates that several hundred million dollars would be injected into the Iowa economy if the minimum wage is raised, and the government would save money because there would be a reduction in the number of Iowans who qualify for food stamps. Scientific surveys conducted by the Des Moines Register and Quinnipiac University show Iowans support raising the minimum wage by more than 65%.

Contact: Matt Sinovic, (515) 423-0530

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS in RAISE THE WAGE IOWA

AFSCME Iowa Council 61

American Friends Service Committee

Americans for Democratic Action

Des Moines Education Association

Food & Water Watch

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund

Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans

Iowa Citizen Action Network

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund

Iowa City Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Iowa Community Action Association

Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL/CIO

Iowa Main Street Alliance

Iowa State Education Association

Methodist Federation for Social Action, Iowa Chapter

Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa

Progress Iowa

RESULTS

SEIU Iowa – Local 199

South Central Federation of Labor, AFL/CIO

Working Families Win

Posted in minimum wage | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Rally At The Capitol To Raise The Minimum Wage

School Funding, Kids Future, Aging Population: The Courtney Report

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Dave Bradley

Courtney Report

Once again we will excerpt from State Senator Courtney’s weekly newsletter:

SENATE VOTES TO REVERSE IOWA’S SLIDE IN SCHOOL INVESTMENT
Iowa’s future depends on high-quality local schools. Our best hope for expanding Iowa’s middle class is investing the necessary resources in our students and educators.

That’s why I voted this week to reverse the trend that has dropped Iowa to 35th in the nation when it comes to how much we invest in each student. There is no excuse for Iowa to be 35th in per student investment when Iowa’s economy is in the top half. The amount we invest in each Iowa student should at least be at the national average.

We can’t reach that goal in two years, but boosting school funding by 4 percent in each of the next two years would reverse Iowa’s slide downwards and start us moving in the right direction. The Senate-approved plan focuses on paying for the basics, including purchasing up-to-date textbooks, reducing class sizes, keeping the lights on, gassing up the buses and strengthening teacher quality.

The Senate vote follows an earlier vote in the Republican-controlled Iowa House for a meager 1.25 percent increase. Iowa school superintendents have warned that such a small increase would fail to keep up with costs, resulting in teacher layoffs, crowded classrooms, fewer classes and outdated materials.

As Iowa’s financial support for students relative to other states has fallen, so has our academic progress compared to other states. Our schools have held steady, but other states are investing more and scoring higher as a result.

IOWA INVESTS IN TEACHER LEADERS
Iowa has become the first state to create a teacher leadership system designed to boost student achievement, increase teaching expertise and raise the status of the teaching profession.

Teachers taking on leadership roles to improve classroom instruction and raise student achievement was a key piece of the Legislature’s 2013 Education Reform. This new effort allows teachers to work in collaboration with colleagues and learn from each other instead of operating in isolation in their classrooms.

The overriding philosophy of the system is that to improve student learning, you must improve the instruction students receive each day. There is no better way to do this than to empower our best teachers to lead the effort. The system rewards effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay, attracts promising new teachers with competitive starting salaries, and fosters greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other.

Teacher leadership systems are being phased in over three years, with the goal of all Iowa school districts participating on a voluntary basis by 2016-17. The Iowa Legislature approved $50 million for the first year of implementation. The second year will see a $100 million investment and $150 million for the third year, enabling all districts to participate if they choose. The funding will become part of the school aid formula that determines how much state money schools receive each year.

During a recent update on the teacher leader system, legislators learned that schools don’t want to trade increased investments in teacher leadership for basic school aid. The teacher leadership program will help make the classroom experience the best it can be, but it must have a strong school foundation to build upon.

One Iowa district would have to make about $300,000 in cuts under the House bill to increase school funding by only 1.25 percent. That would significantly diminish the impact of the $340,000 they’ll receive in teacher leader grants.

GIVING IOWA BUSINESSES FIRST CRACK AT STATE CONTRACTS
Do our state agencies need to buy digital cameras from a Massachusetts company? Why would state government purchase bread and bakery products from Missouri? Why did the state hire a New York company to help market and promote Iowa to tourists?

What if we gave Iowa businesses that employ Iowans, pay local property taxes and produce Iowa products a chance at state bids while still getting the lowest bid for Iowa taxpayers?

Senate File 1, known as the Iowa First initiative, can help by giving Iowa businesses priority in competing for state contracts. The bill will allow Iowa companies seeking to sell products and services to the state the chance to match competing out-of-state bids if the projects are under $500,000 and the Iowa firm is within 5 percent or $10,000 of the lowest bidder.

Iowa businesses need opportunities to grow and expand if our economy is going to thrive. First and foremost, our businesses need customers for their goods and services.

AGING POPULATION NEEDS ACCESS TO DEMENTIA CARE
Iowa, like the rest of the nation, is aging.

As of 2010, Iowa ranked seventh in the nation — behind such states as Florida — for the percentage of our state’s population that is 60 or older. Iowa ranks third for the share of our population aged 85 or older. Between 2000 and 2010, the share of Iowa’s older residents increased from 18.9 percent to 20.4 percent. (The federal Older Americans Act defines older individuals as those aged 60 and over.)

With Iowans living longer than ever, we face both opportunities and challenges.

One challenge is an increase in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 62,000 Iowans have Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, and that dementia is the fifth largest cause of death in Iowa. Seventy percent of Iowans with dementia live at home and approximately 133,000 unpaid caregivers assist them.

Representatives of the Alzheimer’s Association – Greater Iowa Chapter, the Iowa Department on Aging and the Northeast Iowa Agency on Aging recently told legislators about their work to ensure our loved ones have access to dementia services at home and in our local communities. A new federally funded initiative to study and reform the aging services network may be a big help to those who wish to remain independent and safe in their communities by providing access to the full array of dementia services.

To learn more about this work and other aspects of dementia, including the 10 warning signs of dementia, go to www.alz.org/greateriowa.

COURTS FOCUS ON GIVING KIDS A BRIGHT FUTURE
Recently, staff from the Judicial Branch told legislators that their number one priority is the protection of Iowa’s children.

The Legislature has helped them pursue that priority and make communities safer. Through funding approved by the Legislature, “juvenile court officers have the time to give troubled children the specialized services they need while holding them responsible for their actions.”

In addition, funding from the Legislature has expanded Iowa’s successful Family Treatments Courts, which address substance abuse issues of parents who are at risk of losing their children. Court staff hold parents accountable for their behavior and help them learn good parenting skills.

Parents and caregivers involved in the Family Treatment Courts are more like to keep their children at home and out of the child welfare system.

Court statistics indicate that of 1,099 children whose parents or caregivers were involved in the Family Treatment Courts, 76 percent were able to remain at home. The vast majority — 95 percent of the children — did not suffer a recurrence of mistreatment.

BECOME AN ACTIVE VOICE IN STATE GOVERNMENT
Iowa’s statewide boards and commissions are responsible for advising the Governor, Legislature and state agencies. We are always looking for qualified applicants who are willing to be a strong voice in state government.

The Governor appoints members to more than 160 boards and commissions as openings become available. If you find a position you are interested in at http://openup.iowa.gov, sign up and fill out an online application for consideration.

State law requires most boards and commissions be balanced according to gender and political affiliation. Geographical location and diversity is also considered. Appointments are made to most boards and commissions annually. All applications are kept on file as public information.

Posted in Courtney, Courtney Report, Economy, Education, Jobs | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on School Funding, Kids Future, Aging Population: The Courtney Report

Grassley On Social Security – Not Good

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Dave Bradley
not working for most Iowans

not working for most Iowans

Right after the House changed the rule on money flowing back and forth between the Social Security main fund and the SS Disability Insurance Fund, I wrote my senators and representatives immediately. As I have said here before, I have never seen such a just plain nasty trick. No doubt Republicans did this to be able to use the cuts to SSDI recipients as a bargaining chip. In this case it may hasten the deaths of some of these recipients.

I received the strangest response from Chuck Grassley. It is replete with tea party talking points and quite short on solutions. Here it is verbatim:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. As your Senator, it is important for me to hear from you. Please accept my apology for the delayed response.

I appreciate your thoughts regarding a reduction in Social Security Disability benefits. As you may know, the House of Representatives recently passed new rules for the 114th Congress. Within these rules, language was included that seeks to protect the Social Security Trust Fund. According to the Social Security Trustees report, without reforms the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Trust Fund will not have enough money to pay current benefits by 2016. However, the Old Age and Survivors Fund, which pays retirement benefits, projected to be able to pay full benefits through 2034. Transferring funds intended to pay retirement benefits to the SSDI fund would move up the insolvency date of the Old Age Fund an entire year, to 2033, while doing nothing to address the long-term financing shortfall facing both funds. Therefore, the new rules encourage Congress to include reforms to put the SSDI on sound fiscal footing and not simply raid funds from the Old and Age and Survivors fund.

It is crucial that we take the necessary steps to put the Social Security programs on sound footing. Combating fraud can play a role in protecting the future of the programs. I am committed to continuing my work to cut waste, fraud and abuse from the Social Security programs. I look forward to working with my colleagues to protect Social Security for our children and grandchildren, and I urge you to keep me apprised of your thoughts as we proceed.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I urge you to keep in touch.

Note that his first order of business is to set one group against another: those folks on DB are taking money from other retirees.

Then he states that that the Old Age fund will become insolvent (not true at all) earlier if the DB fund continues to get help from the trust fund. This is the old Republican trick of putting recipients and potential recipients into competing silos that will work against each other.

Then Grassley claims this action will ‘encourage’ congress to get SSDI on sound footing.

The next statement suggests that waste and fraud are the only problems with both funds. This is Grassley’s go to statement on nearly everything. Every government safety net program is rife with waste and fraud according to Grassley. To me it is his way of ducking every issue. There is no suggestion of raising the cap beyond the current $110,000 or any other truly practical solution.

In short, Chuck Grassley continues the Republican war on Social Security that has been the focus of Republican destruction from the day it was signed through the days of The John Birch Society down to today’s Tea Party. Grassley is only a puppet being used by the corporatists controlling his party.

For a good, short analysis of the current Republican strategy read this article. Here is a brief excerpt:

In a scathing indictment published Wednesday, LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzick blasted the logic behind the GOP’s efforts.

“Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) not only displayed a shocking level of ignorance of Social Security and the disability program, but offered no solutions whatsoever to the looming crisis—which he repeatedly mischaracterized,” Hiltzick wrote. “Enzi also trotted out one of the hoariest lies about Social Security in the conservatives’ playbook: the claim that there’s no money in either the old-age or disability trust fund.”

He continued:

[T]his assertion is nothing but an attempt to cheat working Americans of the benefits they’ve paid for. The trust funds hold trillions of dollars of U.S. Treasury bonds bought and paid for by payroll taxes collected from American workers since 1983; these transfers have been certified, in writing, every year by U.S. treasury secretaries and other cabinet members, Republican and Democrat, and accepted by Congress. If the money’s gone, they should all go to jail—but you won’t hear that said by Enzi or his cronies.

The only way the money can be judged “spent” is if Enzi and the rest of Congress vote to cut the benefits workers already have paid for. That’s what he seems to be plotting.

Iowans have a chance in 2016 to remove one of the worst and most out of touch senators in politics today. Our nation looks to us to do so.

Posted in 2016 Election Campaign, Charles Grassley, Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance | Comments Off on Grassley On Social Security – Not Good

Sunday Funday – Presidenting Is Hard Edition

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Dave Bradley
I love to relax with the Sunday Funday quiz!

I love to relax with the Sunday Funday quiz!

Black History Month and President’s Day reminds me of the short article in The Onion after Barack Obama’s first election:

Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”

Were you paying attention?
1) Today is the last day to do what regarding health care?

2) The number of states with marriage equality now stands at 37 when the SCOTUS rejected a stay from what state Monday?

3) The dissenting opinion in the previously mentioned case got much publicity. Which Justice wrote the dissenting opinion?

4) A small eruption of a backlash occurred after a huge Powerball jackpot was split between 3 people in Texas, North Carolina and where else?

5) For us baby boomers, Feb. 22, 1962 was a memorable day. What astronaut completed the US’s first orbital flight around the world?

6) Two men associated with television news reporting were announced to be leaving their respective jobs. Which one is leaving voluntarily?

7) New Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner wasted little time in going after what supposed state nemesis?

8) An autographed picture of what early 20th century baseball player is expected to bring more than $100,000 at auction?

9) The US government’s top nutrition panel has decided to drop its decades old warning against what substance?

10) Hundreds of Social Security numbers along with names and addresses were inadvertently released when what presidential candidate released personal data last week?

11) Charles Manson called off his engagement. He found out his fiancé was only marrying him so she could do what?

12) Making an appearance at Drake University, what high ranking government official deflected questions about running for president in 2016?

13) Many people were surprised by a report that their what is quite vulnerable to hacker attack?

14) Two legendary college basketball coaches died last week. Can you name one?

15) As Boston was getting pummeled by snow on the east coast, what major west coast city was getting pummeled by huge rain events?

16) What presidential candidate had to fire his newly hired Chief Technology officer after the CTO was found to have posted many anti-woman messages?

17) Democrats will be convening in what historical city in 2016?

18) Not measles this time. What childhood disease is breaking out in Idaho and eastern Washington?

19) Three men in Mississippi were sentenced Tuesday for their part in the murder of a man in 2011 they had killed because he was what?

20) Launching an attack on net neutrality, Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai claims who will most benefit from the proposed new rules?

Hope you had a good Valentine’s Day with your sweetie. Back to normal today!

Answers:
1) sign up on healthcare.gov for the ACA

2) Alabama. Roy Moore is fighting it with all he’s got.

3) Clarence Thomas

4) Puerto Rico. Seems there is a contingent of Americans who don’t know PR is part of the US

5) John Glenn

6) Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show. Brian Williams was suspended by NBC

7) Public employees unions – he is trying to stop fair pay deductions.

8) Shoeless Joe Jackson who was supposedly illiterate

9) Cholesterol. Apparently dietary cholesterol may not really add to cholesterol problems.

10) Jeb Bush

11) charge people to view Manson’s dead body?

12) VP Joe Biden

13) Car that has wireless capabilities

14) Dean Smith of North Carolina and Jerry Tarkanian most known from UNLV

15) San Francisco

16) Jeb Bush (he’s on a roll)

17) Philadelphia, Pa.

18) Mumps. Started at the U of Idaho in Boise

19) Black

20) enemies of America such as North Korea and Iran

BTW here is the short appeal from the President asking folks to sign up for the ACA. It has one really hilarious line:

Thanks, Obama!

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday – Presidenting Is Hard Edition

CBD Oil In Iowa – When?

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Dave Bradley

marijuana gavel
Last year Iowa seemed to take a major step into the 20th century when parents and friends of child epileptic patients made an almost irrefutable case for medical cannabis in Iowa. Governor Branstad backed it as did most of the legislature. In a rare show of bipartisanship, a bill was written up, passed both houses overwhelmingly and was signed quickly by the governor.

Problem solved? Nope! Those in need could now use medical cannabis in Iowa, they just couldn’t legally obtain it. So despite all the good press and the kumbya feelings all around, they had accomplished nothing. So one would think that correcting this oversight and actually making medical cannabis available to those who desperately need it would be a high priority. Think again. This is the Iowa legislature we are talking about.

At last week’s legislative forum in Muscatine, Shelly Van Winkle, a veteran, a nurse and a sufferer from fibromyalgia – which can be extremely painful – raised the question to legislators – when will Iowa make it possible for sufferers to actually legally obtain medical cannabis oil in Iowa? She came with a powerful handout showed pictures of Iowans for whom medical cannabis in the non psychoactive form of cannabidiol (CBD) oil, could be a major help. As I looked over the pictures I was stunned to see a friend of mine among the pictures. Unfortunately any help he may have gotten will be too late. He had just died from cancer a day before. Could medical cannabis or CBD oil have helped? We will never know. From what I have read, the answer is unequivocally yes.

Opponents seem to point to one argument only. Marijuana, a member of the cannabis family, has a psychoactive effect when smokes or ingested. However, CBD oil has little to no psychoactive properties. This concern was immediately raised by Rep. Tom Sands (R-88). While study on the effects of medical cannabis and CBD oil has been somewhat stymied by the fear of the psychoactive effects of cannabis especially in the US, there is mounting evidence that shows that CBD oil could be a major player in medicine.

Those opposing CBD oil seem to be grounded in the propaganda of Harry Anslinger from the 1930s. This propaganda was based on racism, fear, and some protection of corporate profits. Throw in a very memorable movie called “Reefer Madness” and you have the ingredients of an irrational reason for opposing legalizing medical cannabis.

For those who have never seen it, here is the 70 minute epic known as “Reefer Madness”

But there are also those who have a monetary stake in keeping medical cannabis illegal. This is one of those “politics makes strange bedfellows” groupings. Folks who stand to lose should medical cannabis or cannabis in general is legalized includes police unions, prison guard unions and privatized prisons, alcohol companies, and good old Big Pharma.

The list of diseases that, given a chance, that CBD oil could offer some effective help with ranges from the aforementioned epilepsy and the pain of fibromyalgia along with diseases such as Crohn’s Disease, chronic back pain and arthritis, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s disease.

Hopefully in a couple years this issue will be behind us and we can be talking about allowing farmers to grow hemp for industrial use. Another policy that is grounded in the fear of marijuana spread by Harry Anslinger and still quite alive today. Iowa’s farmers are missing a good bet by not growing industrial hemp.

Until then, here is a little chart that shows which drugs really cause us problems when driving.

drugs_and_driving

Posted in Iowa legislature 2015, medical marijuana, Republicn Policy | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Prepping For An Alec Agenda In Iowa

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Dave Bradley

Pretty much every Saturday during the Iowa legislative session elected members of both houses convene at venues throughout the state and take comments and questions from the public. If you happen to have both Republican (Tea Party) and Democrats representing your area you can hear some pretty wide gulfs in opinion. Also if you listen closely enough you can hear the repetition of talking points and framing coming particularly from the Republican side of the aisle.

Last Saturday there was a legislative forum which featured 3 Democratic state senators and 3 Republican state representatives. There was a true contrast in how budgeting in general and for schools and road repair in particular are viewed. As can almost be expected I found most interesting the Tea Party representatives framing of issues. In particular the framing by Rep. Tom Sands was most telling. Sands heads up the Ways and Means committee thus making him a very powerful legislator since all spending must be approved by his committee.

For the most part there were questions abou the possibility of getting our roads and bridges fixed. They are bad, folks. Iowa ranks number 48 out of 50 for bridge integrity. We could wait until a bridge collapses and kills some folks before getting them fixed. Or we could do like we used to in the olden days – before Reagan – and have an ongoing maintenance program. The latter is not popular among the no tax crowd.

With bridges in such bad shape and roads obviously sorely in need of repair and an estimate of a $215 million shortfall this year for road repair, one would think that finding money to fix roads or upping the gas tax would be quite popular. Not true. Democratic legislators expressed support for raising the gas tax, provided such a tax is supported by a majority of Republicans. Republicans were much more hesitant. Rep. Sands went into a diatribe concerning taxes and the federal government ending with a really unsubstantiated charge of the economy being weak because of Obama. Sands was clearly against any new tax, citing the major tax cuts in previous years

School funding issues brought out the real anti-tax guns, though. Once again Rep. Sands led the anti-tax / state can’t afford it talking points. Sands noted that the state was not even liable for the mandated 1.25%. Democrat Chris Brace noted later that if a district falls short of the mandate they can assess local property owners. Democrats were solid in supporting a 4% allowable growth increase.

If Republicans have their way, Iowa will fall further down the list of per pupil spending from 35th to 42nd. This in a state that once set the standards for the country. Now we land in the middle and continue to head down. At public hearings held January 26th many potential problems of continued underfunding were pointed out. Larger class sizes and cutting of faculty were the top consequences. Many school will be looking at cutting electives which may put more pressure on Iowa students entering college.

Democrats work on a philosophy of determining public need and then developing means to achieve those needs. Republicans develop policies that favor their donors, develop legislation to implement those policies and then create the environment that could make such legislation applicable.

This is hardly a secret since it has been employed over and over again. This is where an organization like ALEC comes into play. ALEC is a a corporate funded entity. ALEC’s mission is to develop corporate friendly legislation. One often used strategy is to make governmental services seem incompetent, overpaid and costly to run. ALEC then has legislation to replace such government service with a private company alternative that is supposedly more responsive and nimble and reputedly cheaper. At the federal level we can see this at work in the way in which Republicans are going about a systematic dismantling of the U.S. Post Office. We can also see it at work in the attempted dismantling of Social Security and Medicare. We can see it at work in the attempt to defund the ACA.

So here on an Iowa level we see the Republican attempt to under fund our once proud school system. As the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and also a member of ALEC, Rep. Sands sits in a prime spot to see that schools continue to be underfunded. When schools are underfunded they cannot achieve the goals set for them as easily. When such goals are not achieved, politicians with an agenda to siphon off money to private schools will be lining up to publicly denounce the under-achieving school systems. This will then result in less funding.

Along with this strategy will be a campaign to undermine teachers and of course teachers unions. All this helps set the stage for the ALEC answer of privatized charter schools as a component of the public school system. This solution has already been put in in many states under the guise of “school choice.”

Whether charter schools are better or not often lies in the eyes of the beholder. Many studies find them to be less effective than public schools. That doesn’t stop supporters from pushing the propaganda by highlighting positives and ignoring negatives

However, in many cases charter schools have many different rules to play by versus their public school counterparts. In many states charter schools are not run by local school boards but by the parent company. Their funding is public and often less adversarial than funding for public schools has been. Teachers wages are usually lower and unions are usually absent. In many cases schools have some say in who makes up their student body. But most importantly, the focus is not on student achievement but on corporate profit. Let the buyer beware!

Let’s connect the dots then:
– Republicans have a solution. The legislators task is to help create the circumstances where their preferred solution seems doable.
– It really helps to create those circumstances if one of your members holds a crucial seat in the budgeting process.
– Underfund the entity or process that is the target
– Quickly use media to point out the failure of the targeted entity or process
– Repeat until the targeted entity cracks
– Offer ALEC created legislation with preferred solution
– Legislation creates very friendly situation which helps chances of success
– Funding for privatized entity much easier than for public entity.
– Move to next target, repeat process

BTW – the legislature is already late in meeting their obligation for producing school funding. This also throws extra stress on the public schools in planning. Republicans just have to throw our schools anchors instead of life preservers as they sink.

Posted in Affordable Care Act, ALEC, Budget, Education, Iowa legislature 2015, Republicn Policy, tea party, union busting | Tagged | Comments Off on Prepping For An Alec Agenda In Iowa

Iowa GOP Hypocrisy On Education

Posted on February 13, 2015 by bfiaguestwriter
Paul McAndrew

Paul McAndrew

[by Paul McAndrew]

Governor Branstad and Iowa’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives propose only a 1.25 percent increase ($50 million) in state funding for elementary and secondary schools in Iowa’s 338 public school districts. This meager increase would keep Iowa’s schools 37th among the 50 states for state-funding level. Iowa’s total expenditure per student is also well below the national average. This puny allocation would put Iowa’s per-pupil payment at 35th among our sister states.

The Democratic-controlled Senate on Tuesday—on a straight 26-24 party-line vote—overcame Republican opposition to seek a 4 percent increase ($212 million). Earlier, the Democratic Senate caucus had discussed proposing a larger, 6 percent increase.

Democrats are right that the 4 percent increase is the absolute least needed to bring our schools up to the standards met in other states, such as Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska. The 1.25 percent proposed by the Republicans would not even cover the increase in costs due to inflation.

Yet, Senate Republicans lamented that they truly want better schools. But they won’t put our money behind their alleged “want.” Instead, they question the “sustainability” of the 4 percent funding level. They would let our public school system deteriorate more.

It does not make sense. The Republicans—through former Secretary of State Matt Schultz—wasted almost a million dollars trying to prove we need “voter identification.” All Schultz proved was there is no voter fraud. Thank goodness it was mostly federal money that Schultz wasted.

As if that was not enough, however, the new Republican Secretary of State, Paul Pate, is now spending even more money in efforts to show that ever-elusive “voter fraud” so they can slap new “voter identification” on our people, thus barring many—mostly poor, old and minority voters—from voting. We all know there is no election fraud. When is the last time you saw “election fraud?”

Yet, the GOP in our state government spend millions hunting down a bogey-man the GOP says is election fraud. And then we can’t give 4 percent/$212M for our children?

No, it does not make sense at all.

What about when Governor Branstad and the GOP in 2012 forced another “economic development” project on us. Branstad said that Iowa had to give Orascom, an Egyptian corporation, “incentive” to put its fertilizer plant in Wever. The incentive was our tax dollars. Through GOP largesse, we taxpayers provided Orascom $100 million in tax credits, $1.6 million in loans, $7.4 million in sales tax refunds, $60,000 in supplemental research tax credits, a $2 million state transportation grant, and about $1.8 million for job training assistance. Branstad did not take account of that Orascom had already been given by the U. S. government about $300 million in savings from a federal tax-exempt bond program; and another $133 million by Lee County in forgone property taxes from the county. The return on Branstad’s Orascom “buy”—165 jobs for an unstated number of years. Those 165 jobs were thus estimated by Sen. Joe Bolkcom to cost us taxpayers about $3.3 million per job. We give an Egyptian private company hundreds of millions to make more money for their shareholders? We can’t give 4 percent/$212M for our children?

I can’t accept the Republicans questioning the “sustainability” of providing a 4 percent increase in public school funding. They sustain spending that is wasteful and pointless if it meets the GOP ends. They should make our children part of their ends.

Education should be priority No. 1. It represents our children’s best future. There is nothing more important than that. We do have to try harder to help our children. They deserve our best.

Please contact your legislators and make sure we get what our children need. Here’s the link to find your state legislators: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators.

Posted in Education, Progressive Community, progressive values, Republican hypocrisy, Republicn Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Iowa GOP Hypocrisy On Education

Branstad No Friend Of Public Schools

Posted on February 13, 2015 by bfiamollyreagan
Iowa State Capitol

Iowa State Capitol

by Molly Regan

For those of us who reaped the benefits of a superb public school experience, I know we all wish that could be the same for Iowa’s children now. But, it appears Iowa legislators Linda Miller, Ross Paustian, other Republicans, and Governor Terry Branstad do not care much for Iowa’s children and their education. They disagree with the 300 plus school superintendents across the state who have asked for a much needed increase in funding. A 6% increase is greatly needed. The 1.5% increase suggested by the governor is an insult. There IS enough money available.

The governor said while campaigning, that he has been a friend of public schools. Wrong. His actions do not reflect that fuzzy feeling. He would rather condone giving tax credits and refunds to large corporations that are not in need. According to the Iowa Department of Revenue, John Deere, Rockwell-Collins, Monsanto, Dupont, and 4 other large companies doing business in Iowa received over $42 million in these credits/refunds in recent years. Putting this money back into Iowa’s coffers would allow the state to increase by 1% the funding for education says David Osterberg, founder of the Iowa Policy Project, a non-partisan research group based in Iowa City.

Our most important priorities should always be the safety, health, and EDUCATION of our state’s children.

As Democratic Representative Cindy Winckler said at last month’s legislative forum, “If you think education is expensive, try paying for ignorance”. Well said Representative Winckler.

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Donald Kaul: Obama Commits Political Blunder, Tells The Truth

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Trish Nelson

donald kaulotherwords.org

Telling the Truth about Religious Violence

Obama’s modest critique of Christian hypocrisy suddenly has Republicans defending the crusades.

By Donald Kaul

President Barack Obama committed the ultimate political blunder the other day. He blurted out the truth.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, he warned his Christian brethren against “getting up on our high horse” when condemning the violence of Muslim terrorists.

“During the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” he said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

Naturally, all hell broke loose.

The Rupert Murdoch army launched into full attack, supported by Rush Limbaugh air strikes. Rabid Fox News commentators, foaming at the mouth, fought each other for control of the mics to condemn the president’s remarks as “un-American” and, even worse, liberal. He was derided as irreligious, weak, and not a real American.

It was to be expected.

People will forgive a politician for telling lies. Sweet deceptions, after all, are what politics are all about. But let him speak the truth just once, even inadvertently, and he becomes the object of scorn, ridicule, and contempt.

Remember the case of George Romney?

Running for president in 1967, he confessed that he had been “brainwashed” by Pentagon propaganda into believing that the Vietnam War was winnable. And he had been, of course, as had most of the American public at the time.

But as soon as Romney uttered this truthful statement, his presidential hopes vanished in a blink — never to be seen again.

I’d like to note that this lesson wasn’t lost on George’s son. As nearly as can be determined, Mitt Romney never told the truth once during his 2012 campaign. He lost anyway, proving that it takes more than a lack of honesty to fool the American people.

But back to Obama. What he was trying to say, at an inter-faith event, was that we shouldn’t hold all Muslims responsible for the acts of a relative few. Christianity also has a skeleton or two in its historical closet.

The Christian right, which includes most of the Republicans in Congress, pounced.

The Crusades were a righteous response to Islamic aggression, they said. The Inquisition? Highly overrated as an atrocity. And Jim Crow? That was “a thousand years ago,” said Limbaugh.

To which one can only say, “Oh come on.”

The truth is, you can act as though terrorist violence against the West is unprovoked. But it’s not. It’s the bitter fruit of the past 100 years of subjugation of the Arab and Muslim peoples by Western powers, thirsty for the oil beneath the Middle East.

For a century the United States and its allies systematically subverted any suggestion of democracy in the region in favor of vicious thugs we could control through bribery.

And when a popularly elected politician would surface every once in a while, we’d get rid of him and install our own puppet. Think of the popularly elected Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran, whom the CIA overthrew in 1953, replacing him with the brutal and corrupt Shah.

That’s the genesis of the mess we’re dealing with now. Not Islam, not pure evil, but 100 years of Western domination.

In any case, it’s more than a little hypocritical for the Christian right to be up in arms over the perversion of Christianity.

This is a group, after all, whose representatives in Congress have sought to take health insurance from the poorest workers among us. They’ve tried to deport young Americans because their parents brought them here without papers many years ago. They’ve supported the use of torture and fought to cut off unemployment insurance to the long-term unemployed.

Any of that remind you of Christianity?

OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul has written columns for half a century, beginning with a long stint at the Des Moines Register that made him a household name (in a good way) throughout Iowa. OtherWords began distributing his columns in 2001 following his retirement from the Register. In July 2012, he had a heart attack and declared that he needed a break. In December 2012, he un-retired again but said he’d decided to write without the constraints of a schedule. Kaul, who was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary in 1987 and 1999, lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can read more about his career in this column. Due to a new bout of health challenges, Kaul began a new medical leave in October 2013. He has written two columns since then and OtherWords sometimes posts “flashback” columns when they may resonate due to current events.

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Rick Perry Invited To Walk With Ed Fallon Along Bakken Pipeline Route

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Trish Nelson

fallon forumFrom Ed Fallon:

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has joined the board of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company that wants to slice an oil pipeline through the heart of Iowa. One school of thought is that, since presidential wannabees usually divest themselves of the trappings of controversial affiliations rather than acquire them, Perry is not going to run for president. Another school of thought (mine) says that most politicians are so beholden to corporate donors that they’re willing to tick-off a chunk of voters rather than offend the monied teats upon which they suckle.

And suckle he did! In 2012, Kelcy Warren, the head of ETP, nurtured Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign with a generous flow of $250,000. That kind of money will buy a lot of attack ads. But how many private-property rights caucus goers is Perry willing to alienate in order to please this particular cash cow?

Well, here’s one potential Republican caucus goer who Perry just lost: ME! Yup. I’m a registered independent. And if the Democratic Establishment opts for the coronation of Hillary Clinton and effectively excludes other Democrats from running, why bother going to the Democratic caucus? The only place left for an open-minded, action-seeking type like me is the same place I went in 2012: the Republican caucus. There, I helped Ron Paul win my precinct, served as secretary, and successfully introduced resolutions defending property rights, limiting a city’s annexation authority, and defending a same-gender couple’s right to marry.

So, Gov. Perry, please come walk with me. Join me in March for a mile of Iowa county road somewhere along the route of the proposed Bakken Oil Pipeline. Let’s talk about how strongly Iowans feel about fairness – and how wrong it is that the Texas oil company on whose board you now serve is willing to condemn farmground – some of the best in the galaxy – for a pipeline that doesn’t benefit Iowans, and will potentially do us a whole lot of harm. It would be good for you to see the rich, black soil that would be compromised, and to meet some of the landowners whose lives and livelihoods would be disrupted. And let’s talk about climate change. Yeah, I know, some Republicans still think it’s a hoax. But for details on that, google “Texas drought and climate change,” and see what that bastion of liberal thinking – USA Today – has to say.

Got an opinion on Gov. Perry’s joining the board of ETP? Join the Fallon Forum today and call-in at (515) 528-8122 to share your thoughts. Also on today’s program: [Program aired live on Monday but you can still catch it Wednesday. See below for times]

– A representative with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition discusses the significance of the Justice Department’s release last week of new policies to reform civil asset forfeiture laws, which allow state and local police to seize assets from individuals without charging them with a crime – and use the proceeds for their own departments. Hmm. Your liquidated love seat buying coffee and donuts for the local PD? How’s that grab ya?

– Finally, Zac Couture with Lutheran Services in Iowa joins us to discuss his work with refugees through the Global Greens program and market. Learn about how some new Iowans are staying in touch with their agricultural roots, and how what they’re growing can add new flavor and diversity to your dining table.

Ed Fallon, "People need to be thinking of what changes they can make in their own life."

Ed Fallon, “People need to be thinking of what changes they can make in their own life.”

Tune-in Monday, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CST on KDLF 1260 AM or online. Join the conversation by calling (515) 528-8122. You also can hear the Fallon Forum on KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames) at 5:00 pm on Wednesday and on KPVL 89.1 FM (Postville) at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.

Thanks!

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