Eric Fralick and Tom Lindsey wrote great columns this past weekend. Fralick's was in the Register, Lindsey's on Political Fallout. Fralick first, then Lindsey
What Bullying is All About:
In Commentary or Teen Culture, Gay Slurs are All About Bullying
By Eric Fralick
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
When Ann Coulter, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference last week, called presidential candidate John Edwards a faggot, she raised predictable tuttings from establishment conservatives who, once again, had “no idea she’d go that far.”A few more newspapers canceled her column, and she got a tremendous amount of attention from practically every media outlet in the country, whatever their politics.
Her word choice, which has since been taken up by several right-wing commentators, most notably James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal and, of course, Rush Limbaugh, might have seemed mysterious, considering Edwards’ well-known record of public service, his wife and children, and his lack of a Ted Haggard or even Newt Gingrich moment. It makes sense only if you know that George Bush and particularly Dick Cheney (yes, they are the president and vice president of our country) have been calling Edwards “the Breck Girl” since the summer of 2004, around the same time the Swiftboaters were brought around to sink the Democrats’ election chances.<!--[endif]-->
So, for some, this is what politics has become: If you can’t win on the issues — and Edwards has been right on domestic issues and foreign policy about as often as anyone in the country — then you try to destroy them personally, by questioning their patriotism and, with increasing frequency, their sexuality.
Here in Iowa, our new Legislature has taken heat from some local bloggers for passage of a schoolhouse anti-bullying bill that, along with banning racial and religious insults, specifically includes gay slurs. The idea is to inject some fairness into a teen culture where the most used put-down is “that’s so gay” and where the perception of being gay, true or not, can and often does lead to the adolescent version of gang violence. It’s not difficult to make the connection: Bullying is bullying, whether it happens in a high school locker room, on a Web site or on national television. It’s resorted to by those who can’t win a point any other way and so are insecure about themselves and worried about their lack of natural superiority. Like Cheney, Limbaugh and Taranto, self-appointed arbiters of American masculinity, none of whom look much like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or even Senator Edwards, bullies are pathetically dangerous creatures, blustering, self-righteous and so out of control that they might say or do anything to keep the world from seeing them as they are.
The Iowa Legislature has had enough of this; so should we. Whether you agree with a person or not, some slurs should not be tolerated. They should be opposed, loudly, every time they are spoken. We’ve all been too polite about this.
The next time John Edwards comes to Iowa, we should all turn out to welcome him. Give him a standing ovation for tolerating mud of a smell that no one should ever have to endure, with courage, grace and, yes, style. And then ask him where he stands on the issues. Because that’s what politics, and life, should be about.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
And, at least in Iowa schools, it’s now the law.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
ERIC FRALICK is a writer and producer who lives outside of Ames.
By Tom Lindsey, Political Fallout
With our VOICE (Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections bill: HF 805) on life support, struggling for it’s last gasp of clean air in a House Appropriations sub-committee, our newly elected Democratic Majority is making their priorities clear, and it appears “Clean Elections” may not be one of them. I hope Iowa’s 82nd General Assembly doesn’t intend to follow their predecessors’ mantra: “Now that we have the majority rule, let’s use our new powers to insure that we maintain it.”
From what I’ve gathered, the only barrier impeding VOICE’s move forward is funding. The price tag for creating a Clean Elections startup fund is $10 million (approximately less than .01% of our state’s annual budget). Rep. Dave Jacoby, one of the three members of the House Appropriation sub-committee who will decide upon VOICE’s fate, contends there’s not enough funding for this bill. There are funding mechanisms written in the bill that will help replenish the fund each election cycle; some of these include an optional income tax check off, private donations to the fund, seed money and qualifying fees collected by candidates who volunteer to participate, and a funding stream collected from unclaimed or abandoned property. The latter funding mechanism brings in an estimated $12 - $15 billion and would cover the entire fund. Jacoby pointed out this funding mechanism is allocated from the state’s general fund, which means something else would have to be cut. So the big question is how much of a priority is the Democratic majority willing to make Clean Elections?
This is the question all of us need to pursue with our representatives, the Democratic leaders, and the three members of the House Appropriations sub-committee. The bill hasn’t been scheduled on the docket as of yet, so there’s still time to contact all of the aforementioned people. We cannot afford for this bill to die in committee, so share your voice by urging VOICE forward. In the meantime, let’s take a brief commercial break, brought to you in part by Political Fallout, exposers of political absurdities and hypocrisies:
Can Iowa Afford Clean Elections? (VOICE Over)
Iowa Values Fund (Corporate Welfare): $10 million/year
Iowa Football Coach Kirk Ferentz’s Yearly Salary: $1.2 million (+$400,000 longevity bonus)
2006 Iowa Governor’s Race: $13 million
2006 Iowa House & Senate Race Disbursements: $16,639 million
Big Tobacco's Minority Leader Christopher Rants Big Tobacco Mo’: $60,000
Security Detail for Culver’s Children: $253,494
Clean Elections (VOICE): $10 million
Cost of e-mailing representative: $Zero
Restoring Faith in Democracy: $Priceless
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
