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Monday, September 26
SCIENTISTS DOUBT EXISTENCE OF DEMOCRATS
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 26 Sep 2005 04:00 PM CDT
 SCIENTISTS DOUBT EXISTENCE OF DEMOCRATSThe Borowitz Report Opposition Party Could Be Black Hole, Experts Say With George W. Bush’s approval ratings plummeting in recent weeks, the inability on the part of Democrats to capitalize on [Bush]’s waning fortunes has caused some leading scientists to postulate that the Democratic Party may not exist at all. (source) Thursday, September 22
The DFA Vote is Down to the Final 10, and Iowa Has TWO Great Candidates Still in the Running! Vote Now!
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 22 Sep 2005 09:00 PM CDT
 The DFA Vote is Down to the Final 10, and Iowa Has TWO Great Candidates Still in the Running! Vote Now!Well, I have to admit that I am very impressed by the Iowa progressive community. In the initial round of voting to select a Congressional candidate for DFA endorsement, two Iowa candidates, David Loebsack from Iowa Congressional District 2 and Bruce Braley from Iowa Congressional District 1, made it to the Top 10 as finalists. And they did this by beating out many other Congressional candidates from far more populous states than Iowa. Fifty candidates were eliminated in the first round. Go vote now for your choice. The voting ends Saturday. DFA is using an Instant Runoff Voting system, which means you can vote for up to three candidates and rank them in your order of preference. Since both Loebsack and Braley are on Blog for Iowa’s Candidate Watch list, we’ve decided to have two passionate members of our blog team each personally endorse a candidate. Hold onto your hats!  David Loebsack is The Man to Vote For!!!by Molly Regan David Loebsack is a TRUE DEANER! And whom better should Democracy for Iowa followers choose than one of their own?! Go to Blog for America to cast your vote now, then pass the word to all you know. Anyone in the country can vote. You only have until Saturday, September 24th, at 4pm Iowa time. We have the power. Let’s make it so for this great Dean supporter. David has been teaching political science at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon for over 22 years. Now he has chosen to take on the task of defeating Rep. Jim Leach in the 2nd Congressional District of Iowa. David helped Governor Dean on his many tours of Eastern Iowa and was a Dean delegate to the Linn County, the state, and the national conventions. He is a true progressive. He is one of us. Go to Loebsackforcongress.org for more information about David. I have known and admired David for nearly ten years and he truly is the best person to be DFA’s first candidate of choice. Molly Regan / Scott County / DFQC  Bruce Braley Speaks For Me!by Caroline Vernon At a time when the current administration is attempting to stack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues rather than mainstream judges who will remain fair and impartial on their interpretation of the law, it is important that we have true representation of the people in our Congress in order to balance the scales of justice. America needs a new class of leadership who is not afraid to speak truth to power even at the risk of being ostracized. I believe Bruce Braley is such a man. In Bruce's words, (paraphrasing) "Saying what's popular is not always right and saying what's right is not always popular." America needs leadership that will FINALLY stand up to the corporate special interests and tell them that while it's great that they want to make money for their shareholders, we have had enough of the rampant greed and it is no longer acceptable to choose profits over people! I believe Bruce will have the courage of his convictions, represent the best interest of "we the people" and reflect the many progressive values that have truly made this country great. Bruce is strong on education, health care, and a woman's right to choose her own destiny. Throughout his career, he has donated legal services to many indigent Iowans through the Volunteer Lawyers Project. He also feels that stewardship of our land, water and air needs to be a national priority. Bruce is prepared to ask the tough questions about the war and demand that our troops are sent home. Bruce is also against the privatization of social security and supports continued efforts to achieve energy independence through renewable fuels and alternative energy sources. A vote for Bruce Braley is a vote for a brighter future for Iowa. Therefore, I am hoping you will join me in voting for Bruce Braley (Iowa's 1st Congressional district) as DFA's next Grassroots All-Star! To learn more about Bruce, visit his website at www.brucebraley.com Cast your vote now! Caroline Vernon / Scott County / DFQC Wednesday, September 14
Democracy For Iowa Conference 2005
by
Caroline Vernon
on Wed 14 Sep 2005 04:00 AM CDT
 Democracy For Iowa Conference 2005Notes by Aaron Wings, with additions and Workshop notes by Robin Roseman Report on DFIA Conference September 10, 2005 Iowa City OVERVIEW: The morning sessions were very informational. What was most impressive was the variety of issues that were discussed and the political cooperative efforts. The afternoon sessions were work sessions. Several important actions were planned. We began to give structure to a statewide DFA organization - DFIA. We also decided to have a coordinated focus for the next several months on state health care issues, in particular, a State Health Care Lobby Day. We urge all interested people to join DFIA by signing up here. MORNING SESSION: We began with a welcome by Dennis Roseman, Iowa City DFA Organizer who in turn introduced members of the meeting that represented some progressive non-DFA groups and activities: Pat Vunderink talked about DAWN, a Democratic Activists Women’s Network. This might be termed an Iowa Emily’s List with a major goal to support progressive women candidates. Trish Nelson talked about IBLTV, Iowans for Better Local TV, a media reform group: http://www.ibltv.org. They have an on-line petition which all are invited to sign asking the FCC to hear Iowa complaints about the quality of local television. There will also be an important FCC-Free Press Public Hearing, on October 5th, in Iowa City at the University of Iowa (exact location to be determined). Ellen Ballas spoke of Rapid Response Network. This organization is well known to all readers of Blog for Iowa. Please join them in their efforts to fight disinformation: http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org Mike Carberry informed us of an Iowa City group, Citizens for Public Power. This group has put the issue of creating a municipal Iowa City electric power company on the November ballot. They are currently building support for passage. http://www.icpublicpower.org Dick Stater, Chair Linn County Democrats, talked about a Fundraiser on October 22nd, in Mount Vernon, with the possibility of a nationally prominent Democratic office holder as a speaker. For more information go to http://www.linndems.org Alta Price discussed Quad Cities Progressive Action for the Common Good, a new progressive coalition consisting of various issue forums. Due to the high level of activity, PACG is currently engaged in a fundraising campaign in an effort to hire an organizer to maintain the necessary support of the various issue forums. http://www.digiforce.net/PACG%20Site/index.php Mike Carberry also spoke of FAIR, a local group working for social and economic justice. FAIR will co-sponsor an Iowa City Council Candidate Forum with Johnson County DFA and The 49 - to be held on September 15th. The above list exemplifies the variety of activities that Iowa DFA members are engaged in as well as establishing connections and cooperation with other progressive groups. Jim Dean, DFA Chair, then gave a lively keynote talk about the future plans and goals for DFA. He spoke of other DFA State meetings (23 of these to date). They focused on some small races as well as larger ones. Currently DFA is supporting 40 candidates nationwide and plans to endorse an additional 10 more candidates for a total of 50. DFA is also engaged in providing some Candidate and Activist training with 21st Century Democrats. In addition, they plan to provide a 2-day training workshop in the Quad Cities next Spring. Jim listed and spoke briefly on several current and future political issues and mentioned two particular goals for the near future: a DFA Meet-up in every congressional district and expansion of Generation DFA for college students. In the next segment there were four reports by Iowa DFA Meetup groups: Alta Price for Democracy for the Quad Cities, Tony Hansen for Des Moines DFA, Sue Astley for Cedar Rapids DFA, and Robin Roseman for Johnson County DFA. Chris Warshaw, DFA Field/Political Director, described four areas of focus for DFA: 1. Meet-up programs in all states, 100 college groups, a total of 5000 at meet-ups 2. Development of communication tools such as DFA-Link. DFA Link will replace and improve upon the functionality that we had with Meetup.com. 3. Having special training sessions to build political skills such as communication with elected officials and writing letters to editors, etc. For example, there is a plan for a two-day training next Spring in the Quad Cities. 4. Candidate development: One goal is to build from within by encouraging members to run for office. Also, DFA sponsored 103 candidates last year - approximately 1/3 won. DFA is currently sponsoring 40 candidates, but won’t endorse any more until after the November elections with the exception of one congressional seat. This early sponsorship will be decided by voting online here. (Note: The vote started on Tuesday, 9/13) Next on the program was a Candidate Forum. It was a real showcase of what we in DFA are doing. Candidates (and one pre-candidate) from many levels of government participated; David Loebsack (2nd District), Bill Gluba and Bruce Braley (1st District), Tammy Place (pre-candidate, Iowa House 79) and Garry Klein (Iowa City Council). Scroll down for contact information. Next we had two presentations dealing with Iowa issues and Iowa groups: Mike Owen, assistant Director of the Iowa Policy Project, gave a fact filled presentation on Iowa economic issues. To review this wellspring of useful information, stats and facts (highly recommended), visit thier website at: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org Sarah Swisher, gave a spirited talk about three organizations of which she is an officer: The Iowa Democratic Party, SEIU, and Johnson County Democrats. Sarah discussed various ways that DFA could interface with each of these organizations for a mutual benefit. AFTERNOON SESSION: Identifying Goals What to focus on in the next 6 months? At first a large list of goals and issues were suggested by participants but were ultimately reduced down to reflect two levels: Meetup level and State level. On the Local Level: Endorse and support local candidates. (Run for office) Participate in 2006 Democratic caucuses. Build coalitions with other progressive groups. Outreach-expand membership. On the State Level: Increase the number of contributors for Blog for Iowa. Support Democratic Candidates; Opportunity to take back the Iowa House, Senate, and Governorship in 2006. Health Care for Iowa. Most importantly it was decided to form a state-wide group known as Democracy for Iowa (DFIA). This would be done with the help of a steering committee and implemented (in part) as a new statewide DFA-link group called DFIA. Introducing the DFIA Steering Committee: Dennis Roseman, Robin Roseman, Alta Price, Gary Gramon, Sue Astley, Tony Hansen, Cliff Day, Sally Troxell, Trish Nelson and Ellen Ballas One goal of DFIA is to expand the number of Meet-up groups and to facilitate communication between members across Iowa. In particular we would like to have at least one Meetup group per congressional district. (see map) http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Redist/congress-color.pdf It was suggested that folks from established groups should help new groups get going. Tony volunteered for central Iowa, Alta and Dennis for eastern Iowa, and we need someone for western Iowa. As a particular focus for statewide action it was decided to have a Health Care Lobby Day. Tony volunteered to coordinate with SEIU/Iowans for Health Care to participate in a joint Health Care Lobby Day in Des Moines on Februrary 7th, 2006. DFA will help with a phone list and support. We also plan to make home visits to legislators in the districts to discuss Health Care for all Iowans. At the end of the day, a few of us went out for ice cream with Ed Fallon, candidate for governor, who wasn't able to make the meeting because of a previous engagement, but showed up at the Iowa Room just as we were leaving. A great time was had by all! Braley for Congress http://www.brucebraley.com P O Box 390 Waterloo, IA 50704 319-464-4450 Tammy Place PO Box 501 Durant, IA 52747 563-785-4837 Friends of Bill Gluba http://www.glubaforcongress.com PO Box 2205 Davenport, IA 52808 563-459-6558 David Loebsack http://www.loebsackforcongress.org PO Box 81 Mt Vernon IA 52314 319-721-5324 Garry Klein http://www.kleinforcouncil.org 628 2nd Ave Iowa City, IA 52245 Monday, September 5
Howard Dean's Statement on Frist Push for Estate Tax
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 05 Sep 2005 11:26 AM CDT
 Howard Dean's Statement on Frist Push for Estate TaxU.S. Newswire Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean released the following statement in response to reports that Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will push for a vote on Repealing the Estate Tax when the Senate returns on Tuesday: "Countless thousands of our fellow Americans throughout the Gulf Coast region continue to suffer in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. While some have begun the painful task of rebuilding their lives and coping with the unfathomable loss, so many still await help. And the cost of this disaster in human and material terms remains unknown. "It's simply irresponsible for Senator Frist and Ken Mehlman to even think about spending our tax dollars on breaks for millionaires at a time when our top priority must be to ensure we have the resources needed to address the long and short term costs associated with rescue, recovery, and rebuilding in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Not to mention the vital lesson we learned this week about the deadly cost of diverting funds at the expense of the safety of the American people. These costs also come at a time when our nation faces a massive deficit, and mounting costs in the ongoing war in Iraq. "There is also a question of values, priorities and choices. Tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have literally lost everything; we have a responsibility to put their needs first. Senator Frist should join Democrats in Congress who understand that our priority as a nation must be to focus our energy and resources on determining how we help the victims begin to rebuild their lives and addressing the long term issues we face as a nation in the aftermath of Katrina. "Perhaps seeing the images on television was not enough this time for Senator Frist and having now had the chance to actually look some of the victims in the eye, he'll be able to better diagnose the situation, get his priorities straight and recognize that the victims of this crisis, and providing the resources to keep our people safe in the future, must be our highest priorities." (source) Thursday, September 1
Add These to Your List: Progressive Blogs and E-groups of Note
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 01 Sep 2005 04:00 AM CDT
 Add These to Your List: Progressive Blogs & E-groups of NoteIowa's Drew Miller Blog Check out the award-winning Drew Miller Blog, if you haven't already. Drew covers news and topics related to the Iowa scene and spices up his observations with a quick wit and a sharp sense of humor. Underground Railroad: The Official Blog of African Americans for Democracy You may remember Oscar Carter (Oscar in Louisville) from the Dean campaign blog. Oscar, who is a minister and Biblical scholar, now runs the Underground Railroad blog. From time to time, Oscar applies a Biblical understanding to the news of the day. A real treat! Howard-empowered People: Shadow BFA Blog It's the new Blog for America "Shadow Blog" - there is now a new BFA, sort of, shadowing the main blog, but completely troll-free. If you were ever a Dean blogger, you will recognize the names of the people who run this blog: Renee in Ohio, her husband Demetrius (who, by the way, designed the Blog for Iowa banner for us back in March of 2004), Oscar in Louisville (yes, same as above), and Barbara in Seattle. Deaniac Alert: New Dean On TV Yahoo Group There's a new Yahoo Group on the scene. This one is designed NOT for discussion but for group members to alert each other to TV and radio appearances by the beloved DNC chair, Gov. Howard Dean, and to post published articles about him. The clunky name of this group is HDeanArticlesAppearances. Sign up here to get on the list. BrixTalk E-group If you're interested in organic farming or gardening, this is a group that may appeal to you. This group of gardeners concerns itself with adding the right combination and level of minerals and such to the soil so as to create the highest possible level of nutrients in the food grown. Apparently, if the nutrient level is very high, pests will not be attracted to the crop (they only attack "weak" plants). Sign up here to join the Brix e-group. One final note: Blog for Iowa would like to thank John Drury of Swaledale for his excellent contributions on the Iowa political scene. John phased out his posts as he has accepted a great new job. So, congratulations on the new job, John, and best of luck to you. We sure do miss you. |
Iowa Sites Child & Family Policy Center - Iowa Genetic Engineering Action Network Iowa Citizen Action Network - ICAN Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa Public Interest Research Group Midwest Environmental Justice Advocates Progressive Action for the Common Good Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa QCAD (Quad-Citians Affirming Diversity - GLBT) Iowa Blogs The Deprogrammer (Quad Cities) Iowa True Blue (Gordon Fischer's Blog) Iowa Voters for Open and Transparent Elections Political FalloutFight Iowa Rapid Response Network - Iowa
Iowans for Better Local TV
Air America
The Counterpoint
National FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media Matters for America
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