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Friday, April 29
New Iowa Political Blog: Iowa Matters
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 29 Apr 2005 06:33 PM CDT
 New Iowa Political Blog: Iowa Matters
Lucas
Forte, the former volunteer coordinator for the Art Small for Senate
campaign, has started up a great new Iowa political blog called Iowa
Matters. Click here to check out the blog for yourself. Or read an excerpt below.
Yepsen Demeans the Debate on the Death Penalty
Has David Yepsen turned into a partisan hack? In his April 26th column “Stop ducking death penalty vote,”
Yepsen calls Democrats “chicken”, “gutless”, and “weaselly.” He even
manages to squeeze in cheap shots at Sen. Grassley’s former opponents,
the judicial filibuster in the US Senate, and the voters in Iowa City.
This type of juvenile name calling hurts the real debate over this
important issue.
If the
death penalty is such a good idea, why didn’t the Republicans bring it
up when they controlled both houses of the state legislature? Only now,
after the tragic [death] of a child, when the passions of the populace
are bent on retribution, do we hear the call to reinstate state
sanctioned killing. As in the Schiavo case, partisans see the
opportunity to exploit a personal tragedy by turning it into a divisive
political wedge.
Yepsen’s
column is emblematic of the current state of political discourse. His
shrill cries drown out discussion on the merits of the death penalty.
They serve only to deride and divide, rather than inform and persuade.
To paraphrase Jon Stewart, when he was confronted with similar
outrageous rhetoric on CNN’s Crossfire: Stop, stop, stop hurting Iowa.
Phase-Out: In Prime Time!
by
Chad Thompson
on Fri 29 Apr 2005 12:45 PM CDT
 Phase-Out: In Prime Time!
We
finally saw a live press conference dealing with the issue of Social
Security, amongst other things. (The highlight of watching it on
NBC was seeing the Q&A session being cut off to make sure The Apprentice aired on time!)
Of
course, the post mortem analysis is being pored over today -
paricularly over the language of "progressive price indexing," which
has been promoted over the last 60 days as a "gentle" benefit cut for
nearly all Social Security recipients, while maintaining that the
poorest of Americans would see no cuts.
That's
fine - but it gets to the root of what the GOP is trying to sell:
that Social Security is "just another government entitlement." As
we've been stating here (and others have elsewhere), Social Security is
not
an entitlement - it's a genuine risk mitigation tool for the vast
majority of Americans who don't have trust funds or large assets to
fall back on.
Josh Marshall's take on the situation:
Social
Security's support of the poorest Americans is a critical part of what
it accomplishes. But Social Security is not poor relief. That is only
what Bush wants to make it - in part because, once it is, it
is far easier to cut further, since it has no organized political
constituency.
Social
Security is the sheet anchor of the modern American middle class. It's
why working Americans can approach retirement with an assurance of
security and a modicum of leisure. It stimulates economic vitality by
creating a floor of security that facilitates economic risk-taking in
investment and business. It's why parents don't have to shortchange
investment in children's education by supporting parents in their old
age. It provides economic security to families hit by catastrophe and
misfortune in mid-life. As I said, it's the sheet anchor of what we've
come to know in the last century as middle class life.
Kevin Drum also points out a CBPP analysis of the progressive indexing ("Pozen") plan, as well as a chart showing what kind of benefit cuts are really being proposed:
Basically,
low income earners ($16K/year) currently get about 49% of their income
replaced by Social Security. Under the Pozen plan, this would stay the
same. Medium income workers ($36K/year), however, would see their
replacement rate fall from 36% to 23% by the year 2100. The replacement
rate for higher income workers ($58K/year) would fall to 14% and for
maximum income workers ($90K/year) to 9%.
That's
pretty substantial - even if it is projected far out into the
future. (It's probably a fairly safe bet that not many alive
today will be collecting Social Security in 2100.)
Of course, missing from the entire conversation was a discussion of how
to pay back the Treasury Bonds held by the SSA - except for vauge
notions that Treasury Bonds held by the SSA are just "pieces of paper
in a filing cabinet", while privately held Treasury Bonds are a safe
investment.
The entire topic of deficit management - which is driving the need to dismiss Treasury Bonds as "IOUs" - was also missing.
Howard Dean to Keynote Iowa Democrats’ Hall of Fame Dinner
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 29 Apr 2005 04:54 AM CDT
 Howard Dean to Keynote Iowa Democrats’ Hall of Fame Dinner
Well, he's finally coming back to Iowa. It's about time.
Governor
Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will
headline the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2005 Hall of Fame Dinner at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel in Cedar Rapids on June 11th at 7:00 p.m. This will be the first time in its history that the annual awards dinner has been held outside Des Moines.
“We are
very pleased to welcome Governor Dean back to Iowa in his first trip
here as Democratic National Committee Chair,” said Lieutenant Governor
Sally Pederson, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, sucking up to the
former outcast who is now wholly committed to raising money to pay her
salary. “I can think of no better occasion for Governor Dean to
visit with Iowa Democrats than the night on which we honor our
outstanding grassroots activists and leaders.”
Awards
to be given include the Outstanding Elected Official Hall of Fame
Award, the Outstanding Supporter Hall of Fame Award, the Minette
Doderer Award for Outstanding Leadership, the Jim Lodwick Award for
Outstanding State Central Committee Member (hope that one doesn't go to
Gordon Fischer), the Bob Creech Award for Outstanding Democratic Party
Chair (Dear Lord, please don't let THAT one go to Gordon Fischer - or
does that mean a COUNTY chair?); the Dixon Terry Award for Outstanding
Democratic Party Activist, and the Rising Star Award. The two
winners of the Iowa Democratic Party’s John C. Culver Scholarships will
also be recognized at the dinner.
Reserved
seats for the 2005 Hall of Fame Dinner may be purchased beginning May
2nd, through the Iowa Democratic Party, with details to be posted on
the Iowa Democratic Party Website, www.iowademocrats.org, or available by phone at 515-244-7292.
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