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Saturday, November 29
Postville, Iowa: A Humanitarian Crisis
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 29 Nov 2008 05:00 AM CST
Postville, Iowa: A Humanitarian Crisis
 Well, I guess I've ignored this story long enough. It apparently is getting very little coverage in Iowa, although recently the New York Times looked in.
Blog for Iowa first covered the problems over at Agriprocessors supposedly-kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, in 2006 when they were exposed for clear violation of laws on how they treat animals, not to mention violations of the laws of Kashrut, which are the Jewish dietary laws that must be followed in order for the meat from these animals to be considered kosher. It matters to us all because the laws of Kashrut specifically prevent any and all forms of animal cruelty.
View our original story here.
Blog for Iowa Joins PETA in Demanding Patty Judge Return Slaughterhouse Donation
More recently, Agriprocessors has been in the news for gross immigration violations which have largely created a class of illegal immigrants in Iowa who have nowhere to turn.
See the following updates below.
Postville, Iowa: A Humanitarian Crisis?
by JeremiahRosemont, Daily Kos
Postville and Agriprocessors Finally Gain National Media Attention
by JeremiahRosemont , Daily Kos
Timeline: The Rubashkin family, owners of Agriprocessors in Postville
by FightinBack, Daily Kos
Wednesday, November 26
Native American March Set for This Morning in Sioux City
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 26 Nov 2008 05:00 AM CST
Native American March Set for This Morning in Sioux City
Sioux City Journal
 This morning, the sixth annual Native American Memorial March is set to take place. Frank LaMere, local Native American activist, said marching from South Sioux City, Nebraska, to Sioux City, Iowa, on Wednesday morning will be a time for Native Americans to strengthen themselves and prepare their families for the work ahead.
LaMere, one of the founders of the Memorial March, now in its sixth year, said the walk from Nebraska to Iowa represents native families who came to Sioux City from Nebraska in the 1940s looking for a better way of life.
"Our march symbolizes our desire to start over again and to help our families to live, to grow and to flourish," LaMere said. "To do this, our families must be intact and presently, they are not. We have lost hundreds of children to adoptive and foster care over the years and though there have been some successes there have been many failures. We will take our opportunity tomorrow to remind everyone of that."
The sixth annual Native American Memorial March and Dinner begins at 9 a.m. at the Marina Inn in South Sioux City and continues over the Veterans Memorial Bridge to the Woodbury County Courthouse, the Trosper-Hoyt Building and the Four Directions Community Center, 613 Water St., where a meal will be provided for marchers.
Thursday, November 20
Iowa House: District 1 - Democrat Whitead Survives Recount
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 20 Nov 2008 05:00 AM CST
Iowa House: District 1 - Democrat Whitead Survives Recount
by Bret Hayworth, Sioux City Journal
 [Last night], the three-man Woodbury County Recount Board finished two days of poring over more than 12,200 ballots from 10 city precincts by hand and machine, and again found incumbent Democrat Wes Whitead to be the winner.
The original vote had Whitead beating Republican challenger Jeremy Taylor by a margin of 6,152 to 6,092. The recount had the tally at 6,148 to 6,093....
Although Taylor was disappointed to lose by only 55 votes, he said the recount resolved any questions he had about the process and that he was at peace with the results.
Read the complete article here.
And in other news...
Now that our neighbor to the south has (almost) officially gone for McCain, Josh Goodman over at Governing.com declares that Iowa is the new bellwether state.
It would sound like a great thing to be called, in fact a feather in Iowa's cap, if it didn't actually mean a castrated ram who leads the other sheep.
Um, thanks, we think.
Tuesday, November 18
Iowa House: Jubilation in Progressive Community as Rants Faces Demotion
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 18 Nov 2008 05:00 AM CST
Iowa House: Jubilation in Progressive Community as Rants Faces Demotion
by Linda Thieman
 It’s been a tough couple of years for Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City). First, the Republicans lose control of the Iowa House and Rants loses his position as speaker, and now, Rants is facing yet another demotion—this time, from inside his own party.
That’s right, all the way from top gun to nada. As the Sioux City Journal said, “No assistant leader. No whip. Nothing.”
Blog for Iowa applauds this remarkable decision, for the following reasons gleaned from previous BFIA posts (here is just a partial list from the past several years, but I’m sure if you look it up in the Annals of Hell, you can find the full list in its fiery entirety):
1) March 13, 2005
State Reps. Rants and Horbach Soft on Meth
by Jon Gaskell, Pointblank Des Moines
Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants (R-Woodbury) and Rep. Lance Horbach (R-Tama) worry that meth makers' civil liberties will be violated if Iowa requires ID to purchase the main ingredient used to make the devastating drug....
Still we're forced to listen to the likes of State Rep. Lance Horbach [R-Tama], who points out that meth heads will still find pseudoephedrine at pharmacies and on the Internet (essentially making his argument: "Why fight it?"), as well as Speaker of the House Chris Rants [R-Woodbury], an allergy sufferer who also happily picks up checks from pseudoephedrine manufacturers and grocery store and convenience store representatives.
2) February 16, 2006
Report on Health Care Lobby Day in Des Moines
by Caroline Vernon
contributions by Karen Metcalf
Increase in the cigarette tax:
Research shows that increasing the tax by $1/pack would stop 4700 young people in Iowa from starting. This translates into better health and substantial savings in health care costs from tobacco-related illnesses.
We found broad bi-partisan support for this proposal, particularly if the revenue generated by the tax is allocated specifically to health care. While the Senate last year approved a cigarette tax hike, the effort has been blocked in the House because House Speaker Christopher Rants, (R) - Sioux City, says he won't allow debate.
Rants sponsored a political organization, Iowa Leadership Council, that received more than $60,000 from tobacco companies. The "Rants For Statehouse Committee" also received over $4,000 from big tobacco and yet Rants insists these generous contributions have nothing to do with the fact that he refuses to allow this proposal to come to the floor for debate!
3) September 20, 2004
Iowa: The Importance of Voting
by Linda Thieman
I find it truly amazing what the GOP will do to win an election. I suppose my question should be, “What WON’T they do?”
We’ve seen blatant evidence that the GOP intends to prevent people from going to the polls by any means, and now Iowa’s House Speaker Christopher Rants (R-Deep Black Hole) is joining the cause against Democracy, recommending that people stay home this election year and NOT VOTE.
In particular, Rants is against the promotion of the use of absentee ballots, no doubt because in Iowa, Democrats who vote by absentee ballot far outnumber Republicans. According to the Iowa Democratic Party, Rants has made statements critical of voter education programs being undertaken by the Iowa Secretary of State, including distribution of statewide voter guides.
Well, that’s enough for now, I think. To find more stories about Christopher Rants, do a search on Blog for Iowa (left sidebar). A long list of them will come up. You will be amazed, dazed and really glad the Iowa Republicans recognized one of their main liabilities and dropped the guy like a hot potato splat! -- with butter, salt and sour cream all over the floor. Yum. I think I’ll go get something to eat. My appetite is coming back.
Saturday, November 15
Who Pays Iowa Taxes?
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 15 Nov 2008 05:00 AM CST
Who Pays Iowa Taxes?
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
 Lower-income non-elderly households in Iowa pay a much greater share of their meager incomes in state and local taxes than higher-income families pay.
Lower-income non-elderly households in Iowa pay a disproportionate share of their income in state and local taxes. New data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) establish a continuing problem of fairness in Iowa’s tax code: Those who earn less income can expect to pay a larger share of it in state and local taxes than those who make more.
For the 60 percent of non-elderly taxpayers in Iowa who earn less than $50,000, the combination of sales and excise taxes, property taxes and income taxes together amount to well over 10 percent of total income. By contrast, the top 5 percent of taxpayers, earning over $127,000, on average pay about 7.6 percent or less of their income in state and local taxes.
Go here to see the chart.
Click here to download 4-page pdf backgrounder.
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