Blog for Iowa

Takin’ It To The Streets

Alta Price — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Takin’ It To The Streets

by Alta Price

For an alternative to a Fourth of July Tea Party protest, check out HAARM’s (Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine) video Takin’ It To The Streets. Check out their other videos at their website, along the right side as you scroll down.

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Yay for democracy!

Grassley Tells Iowans "Go Work for Federal Government" for Insurance

Trish Nelson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:49:00 -0500

Grassley Tells Iowan "Go Work for Federal Government" for Affordable Insurance

YouTube.com

Campaign Against Roadblock Democrats Escalates

Trish Nelson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Campaign Against Roadblock Democrats Escalates

Democracy for America

Yesterday, we asked you to help us escalate our campaign against roadblock Democrats like Senator Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and DFA members nationwide delivered.

We heard your message loud and clear: You want to turn up the heat on Insurance Industry Democrats who are trying to kill real reform.

WATCH THE AD AND FUND OUR CAMPAIGN AGAINST ROADBLOCK
DEMOCRATS

From the Washington Post to the White House press pool, everyone is talking about this campaign and our hard hitting new ad. In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders refused to respond to the ads then reiterated whose side Sen. Landrieu is really on:

"She is currently reviewing all of the reform proposals, but does not believe that health care reform starts with a public option. Senator Landrieu supports a predominantly private system..."

In the New Orleans' leading paper, The Times-Picayune, President Obama had this to say in response to a question about our joint campaign with MoveOn-org and ChangeCongress-org:

"I can't answer for all the ads that are being run on both sides of the debate... some of the resistance here is the result of many years of panic-peddling when it comes to health care and gets caught up in old ideological debate..." But, Obama said, "If we know that the status quo is not working for the people of Louisiana, then the way to persuade the Louisiana delegation to support it is coming up with a plan that is going to be good for the people of Louisiana, and then my hope is that (the Louisiana delegation) is responsive to the needs of the people."

The President went on to make a strong case for a public healthcare option that is supported by 76% of America. It's up to us to make sure Insurance Industry Democrats feel the heat if they stand against the President and work to kill real reform.

CONTRIBUTE $50 RIGHT NOW TO TURN UP THE HEAT

Working together, we will guarantee healthcare for all. Thank you for everything you do.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America

Congressman Loebsack Discusses the Public Plan Option at Committee Hearing: Webcast

Alta Price — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Congressman Loebsack Discusses the Public Plan Option at Committee Hearing: Webcast

Representative Loebsack Discusses the Public Plan Option at Hearing for Committee on Education and Labor on

by Alta Price

When we visited Representative Dave Loebsack last week in his D.C. office, he mentioned how impressed he was by the testimony given at a hearing by Dr. Jacob Hacker, Professor and Co-Director of the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic, and Family Security at the University of California Berkeley. I had seen a policy brief Dr. Hacker prepared about the public insurance plan option linked over at Doctors for America. So I was curious to see, read and watch Dr. Hacker’s testimony. Representative Loebsack was especially impressed by Dr. Hacker’s response to those who say the public plan will drive the private insurance plans out of business.

The webcast is at the website of the House Committee on Education and Labor, under hearings, full committee. Right before the list of witnesses you’ll see a link to the “Archived Webcast.” Click that. Although the whole hearing is probably fascinating (I listened to random bits trying to find Dr. Hacker’s part), fast forward to 1:58:48 to listen to Dr. Hacker. He speaks about 5 minutes. Representative Loebsack’s time starts at 2:52:00 and he questions Dr. Hacker at 2:55:59. It is really interesting, and the webcast is excellent in quality. You can also read Dr. Hacker's testimony here.

[We had a little trouble finding the fast forward. There is a very thin, barely visible bar just under the video. To ff, click and drag the "seek" button.]

Grassley Challenger Krause Talks to BFIA about Health Care, Media Reform, and RAGBRAI

Trish Nelson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Grassley Challenger Krause Talks to BFIA about Health Care, Media Reform, and RAGBRAI

Blog for Iowa spoke with Grassley challenger for U.S. Senate Bob Krause at length in June. Today in the last of our three-part series, we discuss with the candidate his views on media reform, the economy, and education, as well as RAGBRAI and the Beatles. Click here for Part I (Sotomayor, Going Green, Campaign Strategy). Click here for Part II (Veterans, Gay Rights, Progressivism).

The campaign has issued position statements and press releases on several topics, including health care (supports public option). Readers can go to Krause for Iowa's Future for complete information on the candidate's views on health care.

BFIA: Your campaign has already issued several public statements that are all available on your campaign website, but what is your view on how best to reform the health care system?

BK: I see the expensive ads on TV now for the private provider option, and I know that they are there to 'buck-up' Grassley and make his position more tenable. I think that we have to come out strongly that the private provider option is an expensive, big lie that enriches vested interests in Washington D.C. without addressing the needs of the taxpayer for ... quality service at low cost. The pure private provider option will continue to enrich large drug companies that would rather buy up [smaller] drug companies [that have] new ideas than create their own new drugs.

BFIA: Blog for Iowa, as you know, started five years ago during the transformation from the Dean for America presidential campaign to Democracy for America. A major Dean campaign theme was taking back the media from corporate control and infusing it with the voice of the people. In fact, Dean said on national television during the campaign, that his first act as president would be to break up the media conglomerates. At Blog for Iowa, we try to give voice to alternative points of view, to correct misinformation or distortions of the mainstream media. And we try to expose the corporate control, how the media is affected by FCC regulations and ownership rules, which have led to an overly magnified conservative voice on radio and TV. President Obama has even said that Fox News cost him 2% of the vote. Congressman Loebsack, for example, has co-sponsored bills that have helped to create community low power FM radio stations. What do you see as your role, should you be elected, in enabling media reform? What do you feel are the problems in media that need to be corrected, and what would be the avenue that you think would be most effective in making progress?

BK: I'll start with an anecdote about a small sports news network that started up in Dyersville, Iowa, probably ten years ago or better now, a different era. An entrepreneur put a great deal of money in putting a national radio sports network together. When he got it up and running, he discovered that the market had changed. Instead of going to multiple small town radio program buyers, like he had been accustomed to, there had been a sea change. The FCC had allowed ownership shares to be revised upwards so that the Clear Channels could buy up and consolidate the market, as they have. Instead of having a few hundred potential sales opportunities, he wound up with just a handful and it put him out of business. It was a great opportunity that Dyersville and America lost, to have an entrepreneurial sports channel here.

So [consolidation] has affected not just the hard news element of the media industry, but it has affected the advertising industry - any aspect of programming within the media industry - and it has reduced the small town access to news - and Iowa is nothing if it is not a small town universe and a small town market for news. If you look back you can see small town radio [in] Iowa has lost a great deal of their ability to report local news. If it does, it comes from a few news sources. You know, Radio Iowa has its news network, and that's about it. Even some of the big ones like WHO have dramatically cut back on their news, and so what's gotten hurt is our local discussions of our state legislators or mayors or city councils or boards of supervisors. These things have really been taken away from us by consolidation. Instead of having newsrooms scattered across small town America, there are one or two newsrooms in Houston, Texas, and other places like that, and they govern what we all hear. It's like in America today, thanks to these monopolistic practices, everybody gets vanilla – nobody can have chocolate and that's a sad commentary on America, that we've allowed this.

This is a pattern all across America. You have consolidation in the banking industry, the media industry, retail, with the Wal-Marts, and I think it's not only the duty of Congress to come and do something through the FCC to reduce ownership share, but it's also the responsibility of Congress to go after other monopolies that have been allowed to form in America, in spite of the law, because of weak-willed enforcement. And I think where Teddy Roosevelt was one of the great Republicans that vigorously pursued and actually helped to create a lot of the anti-monopoly legislation that made America entrepreneurial - made America a great place where anybody with an idea could make it happen - we need to go back to that great Republican philosophy of anti-monopoly, and we need to more vigorously enforce it, not only in relation to the media, but certain other key elements within our industrial and our service fabric.

BFIA: In general, what are the most serious problems facing Iowa that the federal government has a role in, and what would be your preferred strategies for addressing those problems?

Where do you start? As you know, the economy is probably the thing for Iowa as well as the nation. Unless we get the engines of commerce rolling again, and people buying again, it will be too hard to balance the budget, educate the children of Iowa, pave our roads, and the harder it will be to compete nationally and internationally. Priming the pump, getting confidence back into the system, restoring credit to people and industries, these are things that we're going to have to do to create mechanisms to fail-safe our financial systems – the lessons are still very recent.

We've seen what consolidation can do to our country. It's been estimated that the group of people that made the decisions that caused the bubble and the bust in America is about 5,000 people, strategically located on the east coast. So we need to be aware that those things happen, but also aware that there's a way out, that confidence can be rebuilt. We need to diversify the decision making points within the industrial and service economies.

Beyond that, education is obviously a key thing. Iowa has historically been on the top in terms of the quality of our graduates, but that has been slipping somewhat over the last few years. Instead of being perennially number one, we are comparable with states in the upper midwest, generally. I know from my time as a member on the Waterloo school board that the most accurate predictor of academic success by a child is their socio-economic status.

I think that one of the ways that we can help with the education of our children is to deal with income. Not only get the wheels of industry going, but also make sure that the jobs we get pay well. We need to look at the floors maybe as much as the ceilings. We talk about the bonuses at AIG and executives – very important, but let's talk about the people at the bottom, ensuring they're making enough that they can support their families well enough that, overall, the academic achievement of the children goes up. And we're dealing with a new generation of youth in the state of Iowa that statistically is probably different than twenty or thirty years ago – it's more ethnically diverse, it's probably poorer in many ways, and we need to adapt to the mixtures that we're finding and actively reach out to those children that are in academic danger because we don't have the right income strategy.

BFIA: So, you're saying that the economy and education are woven together.

BK: Yes, very much. It is the most accurate predictor – if we can get the average incomes up, a lot of the crisis points that you see in academia will take care of themselves. In Waterloo, we had a mix – we had poor single parents, usually mothers, but sometimes fathers, who would have a hard time making ends meet and would go from job to job trying to keep things together, and those children that had to move in response to those economic crises were generally troubled, and it caused a great deal of difficulty for them academically at the time of the crisis and also afterwards, because they would fall behind, and so I think you have to look at that.

And we have, to some extent. We have breakfast programs in the schools for the simple reason that kids coming to school hungry won't be able to think very well - I know I can't think very well if my stomach is empty. So those are some of the things we have to look at. It's like a long-term investment. You look at the cost, but then you also look at the cost of having an adult in our society who can't read or do simple math. So you put food on the breakfast table of a child, well maybe that's just an act of giving that you have to do, but it's probably another of those watering incidents. You water now and twenty years later you probably will get a much better citizen because of what you've done, and that will be a tax-paying citizen. So if you are someone who disagrees with that, think of your own children because their tax burden will probably be lessened because those children who receive a break now will be better tax payers some day.

BFIA: In your bio, it says your day job is working for a defense contractor. Can you explain to BFIA readers what you do exactly?

BK: It's VFD Corporation. We have a contract with the Army Reserve to go out and modify military equipment – vehicles, weapons. When the engineers come up with new ideas or new safety features, rather than buy something new, they put together a modificaiton kit and people like me will take that modification kit to the field and - not actually install it myself - but ensure that it's installed. I have a territory that goes from Texas to Minnesota, and that's what I do. I identify these through a lot of data bases and then just try to make sure people put them on MWO – I'm a Modification Work Order Coordinator.

BFIA: Your website says that you will have a team on RAGBRAI. Are there any planned activities?

BK: Well, it's still in its infancy, we've got a young fellow by the name of Eric Risban who is going to be our leader and we've got one school bus but we'd always like another, and anyone that would care to fall in on it, we'd be happy to have them.

BFIA: Have you painted the school bus yet?

BK: I think it's just a regular school bus, we'll probably use a little water color paint on it, something like that.

BFIA: It's not going to have flames painted on the sides and kegs of beer on the top?

BK: (laughter) I'm just going to be innocent about it.

BFIA: Are you going to be riding all week with the team?

BK: Probably not all week. I'm going to ride a day or so, either when it's around Fairfield and Ottumwa, or up near Des Moines, I'm not sure which. I've got to work during the week and I can't use up all my vacation days. I'll be with them a day and that'll be about it. But it should be a fun time and I'm sure all the enthusiasts will be out there and it should be some very good camaraderie.

We're going to have a note on the website about how to register so you can get information on it. So just keep checking our website, www.krauseforiowa.com and as the date gets closer, there should be a place where you can put in your name and general information will be shot out to you.

BFIA: Last question: Which Beatles song are you?

BK: Well, let's see, Eleanor Rigby, Octopus' Garden, some of the songs are extremely thoughtful. I knew all the songs – we had the White Album, Sgt. Pepper's.

BFIA: But have you taken the Which Beatles Song Are You? Facebook Quiz, where you answer the questions and the quiz answers reveal which Beatles song you are most like?

BK: I never do the Facebook things.

[After BFIA pressed, Bob was a good sport and agreed to take the quiz and release the results].

BK: It is "Hey, Jude!" Not actually my favorite, but one that I guess fits my personality.

[“Hey, Jude” people are “all about making life a bit brighter, no matter what has happened before.”]

BFIA: Final thoughts?

BK: It should be a joyful campaign. Besides being serious and besides being challenging, politics should be fun. People should enjoy it and I hope that we can make this interesting, spirited campaign enjoyable not only to our supporters but to the voters of Iowa.

Health Care Reform Update: “Mom, they’re invading our Capitol!”

Alta Price — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Health Care Reform Update: “Mom, they’re invading our Capitol!”

by Alta Price, M.D.

My darling daughter, Meredith, who just finished her freshman year at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, is an intern in Representative Bruce Braley’s office in Washington, D.C. I was in D.C. to lobby for comprehensive health care reform last Thursday, and met up with Meredith during her lunch hour at the corner of the big health care rally.

“Wow, look at all the people,” she exclaimed.

“Oh, does that seem like a big crowd to you?” I asked, having been in much larger crowds the few times I marched in D.C. for other causes.

“Mom, they’re invading our Capitol!”

Supporting Meredith’s impression, an article in The Hill, referred to us as a “horde!” Meredith definitely felt like the health care activists were omnipresent that day, even though, as far as I know, no one actually descended on Representative Braley’s office! We extended the lines to get through security at the House office buildings out to the streets. (And it was hot! Sorry, people who work there!) We filled the elevators. When we stopped for a much needed snack at the Longworth House Office building, the line at the snack shop went way down the hall. People who work in those offices really noticed us, and asked what we were about. Apparently, the corporate lobbyists they are used to seeing, travel in smaller packs (which they make up for by bringing bigger gifts, I suppose).

We came from Iowa (roughly thirty of us) and every other state to tell our Senators and Representatives that we want quality, affordable health care for all – now! And we made a strong push for the public plan option, as the best means of reining in the cost of health insurance by having an efficient, good quality health care plan run by the government (like Medicare) to compete with the private insurance companies. I came with the Change That Works (SEIU) group, but other unions, HCAN (Health Care for America Now), and faith groups (like Quad Cities Interfaith) also sent citizen-activists to lobby.

The Iowa group had probably twenty-five people cram into Representative Tom Latham’s office, and considering the size of the group everyone did an excellent job of making their points by drawing on their personal experiences.

One gentleman from the other side of the state owns a small business and has provided health insurance for his employees for years. A few days before going on this trip he got a notice from his health insurance company that they were raising his rates by eighty percent! It would cost $2000 a month for a family plan, and that was with a $4000 deductible. Besides business people and union members, we had a chiropractor, at least three M.D.’s, and many nurses.

We also visited Representative Dave Loebsack, Representative Leonard Boswell (we talked to his health care policy person, a sharp young woman, since the Congressman had to go vote), the Senate Finance Committee Republican staff, and Senator Tom Harkin (we just said “hi”, as we pulled him out of a committee meeting on… health care reform!).

For those of you keeping score at home, Representatives Loebsack and Boswell (and of course, Braley) are with us on the public plan option, and the House has a draft bill that includes it. It would be nice to call or email them to thank them. Meredith told me all the calls on “cap-and-trade” were from those opposed to the bill, and it was hard to take all those people yelling at her. So don’t let the offices hear only from the other side. And it wouldn’t hurt to call and thank Senator Harkin as well. While he has been supportive, the public plan option is in extreme jeopardy in the Senate.

Representative Latham is against a public plan option. I hope to get more details from his office as to why and write about that later. But he could obviously use some calls. And of course, Senator Grassley was on television saying we need to make sure there is no public plan option, about the same time as his Republican Finance Committee staffers were telling us it was still on the table. At one of the rallies on Wednesday I wrote my third letter to Senator Grassley on the issue. If you’ve only called or written once, please try again. Sigh.

Well, I may have to ask our intrepid editor, Trish Nelson, for two posts this week, I learned so much in D.C.! But this one is long enough. Keep up the good fight!

Alta Price is a physician practicing Pathology in Davenport, Iowa. One of the original Deaniacs, she stays involved with Democracy for America, Iowa, and the Quad Cities. She advocates for quality, affordable health care for all, primarily as a volunteer with Progressive Action for the Common Good (Health Care Reform Issue Forum). Watch for Dr. Price's Health Care Reform Update every Tuesday here on Blog for Iowa. E-Mail Alta Price

Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration Through the Eyes of One Progressive

paul deaton — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:45:00 -0500

Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration Through the Eyes of One Progressive

"...and your friends, baby, they treat you like a guest" - Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane

Blog for Iowa regular contributor and progressive activist, Paul Deaton, spent the day in Des Moines taking in the annual party ritual known as the IDP Hall of Fame Celebration. Here is his report for BFIA.

by Paul Deaton

Des Moines, Iowa – Democrats in Iowa should be glad we have an Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame and that Sally Pederson and Tom and Christie Vilsack were inducted into it last night [Saturday]. In many ways, the successful Vilsack-Pederson campaign in 1998 was a turning point in a process that is changing the long Republican history of Iowa into something more relevant to modern times.

I remember hearing my in-laws, long-time Republicans from what is now Iowa’s 5th Congressional District, disparaging Vilsack’s opponent, Jim Ross Lightfoot, in their polite, small town manner before the election. It was an indication that Republican politicians had lost touch with their core constituency and that Vilsack-Pederson offered an Iowa that was more aligned with their values. After Vilsack-Pederson pushed the snowball down the hill, it did nothing but gain size and momentum. For this, many of us are thankful.

As a first time attendee to the “celebration,” I did not know what to expect and offer a few observations on what was a well planned and organized event.

Most engaging for me was the opportunity to meet new people. Democrats are friendly and willing to discuss ideas and the social world of Democrats. People from other parts of the state asked me about the conflict in the Johnson County Democratic Party after the election of Dennis Roseman to chair. My explanation that he had the votes and deserves our support did not seem to convince. The election of party chairperson in other counties does not appear to be as contentious as in Johnson County.

When I arrived at the tents to pick up my ticket, I asked about the receptions that were being held before the ceremony. I was told “it takes a lot of money to get into those.” I guess I didn’t look like I could afford “a lot of money.” The volunteers were polite, and I am patient, so eventually I got the explanation I was looking for which is that there are receptions and they require a certain donation. The more one contributes, the higher up the donor ranking were the people with whom one could socialize. After I laid down two twenties and a ten, my ticket was revised from red to green and I could attend the “Guest Reception,” which was a lot of fun.

Governor Culver bragged about the success of the event’s fund raising efforts, saying that more money had been raised this year than in any of the previous years of the Hall of Fame event. What Chet Culver does not understand is that it is false success when among the 2009 Hall of Fame Hosts are listed the powerful interests that stymie the efforts of the progressive movement to do what is right in Iowa and in Washington.

One asks what do Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto, MidAmerican Energy, Planned Parenthood, the Iowa Medical PAC, Mediacom, the Iowa Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, the Iowa Corn Growers Association and other political action committees, business associations and corporations want with their donation besides access and favorable attention to advance their agendas? The Iowa Democratic Party, despite statements made during the speeches, is far from being the grassroots party we need it to become. Grassroots activism, in my view, needs to eliminate the influence of the large, moneyed entities. A good place to start would be to cease accepting corporate sponsorship of party events. This seems unlikely in a Culver administration.

The highlights of the program were the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus rendition of “Courage Lives,” the award of the John C. Culver Scholarships to Shea Kruger and Aaron Mohr and Tom Vilsack’s speech. The organizers indicated that the event would be recorded on video and made available on the IDP website. Once they are, it is worth listening to Vilsack’s speech as it was a nostalgic recounting of stories many of us had heard before about his campaigns and experiences. Nostalgia has its place in the life of Democrats.

Ceremonies tend to be formal and the 2009 Hall of Fame Celebration was no exception. There did not appear to be a lot of us plain folk in attendance. In fact, if I had not received a ticket through the Iowa Democratic Veteran’s Caucus, I would not have been there either. It is easy to find fault with the Democratic Party, but for those of us who seek a voice for social change, it is our best hope. Tom and Christie Vilsack and Sally Pederson did something positive for us during their administration and we should be glad they were recognized last night, even if the view of their induction was from the back rows of Sheslow Auditorium behind the Democratic Party elite.

~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County. E-mail Paul Deaton

Krause to Grassley: Agree to Public Option for Increased Medicare Reimbursements in Iowa

Trish Nelson — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:48:00 -0500

Krause to Grassley: Agree to Public Option for Increased Iowa Medicare Reimbursements

"An increase in Medicare reimbursement rates will benefit all Iowans." - Bob Krause

Bob Krause, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, is challenging Senator Charles Grassley to break the deadlock over health care reform by agreeing to a public provider option in exchange for increasing the Medicare reimbursement rates for Iowans.

Noting that legislation is stalled in the Senate over the question of creating a public provider option, Krause has suggested that Grassley could end the deadlock by dropping his opposition to the public option in exchange for insisting upon equity for Iowa in the Medicare reimbursement formula.

“I am calling upon Senator Grassley to be the statesman and come away with a reform bill that will benefit Iowa and the nation,” said Krause. He noted that Grassley to date has been an advocate of a system in which private insurance companies provide all coverage.

Krause calls his proposal for Grassley a “Grand Compromise” that would benefit Iowans by creating greater equity in the Medicare reimbursement formula while also supporting a public provider option to compete with private insurance providers to reduce health care costs.

Pointing out that among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Iowa ranks 49th in reimbursements per Medicare enrollee. The disparity began when the Medicare reimbursement formula was changed in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

“This has hurt the quality of medical care in Iowa as some doctors refuse Medicare patients because of the low reimbursement rate,” said Krause. “On the flip side, continuing with only private providers for health insurance coverage hurts Iowans because it locks in a monopoly,” Krause contended. “More than 80% of the health insurance market in Iowa is controlled by just two companies.”

“Having a public provider option for those who want it will provide competition for the insurance companies,” said Krause, “and an increase in Medicare reimbursement rates will benefit all Iowans.’

Krause will outline his “Grand Compromise” solution on Saturday afternoon during a press availability at the Des Moines Public Library in downtown Des Moines. For more information, go to Krauseforiowa.com

New Head of FCC Confirmed by Senate

Trish Nelson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0500

New Head of FCC Confirmed by Senate

Broadcasting & Cable

Great news! The FCC has a new chairman! And speaking of filing FCC complaints (scroll down to yesterday's blog post) - maybe IBLTV will finally get some action on the PTD filed over three years ago.

The full Senate agreed by unanimous consent Thursday to confirm Julius Genachowski as the next chairman of the FCC.

Genachowski is now cleared to take the helm, with acting Chairman Michael Copps returning to commissioner status after a roundly-praised spearheading of the final push toward the analog shutoff-initially slated for Feb. 17 before being postponed until June 12.

The president must still sign the commissioning papers and [Genachowski] must be sworn in, but historically that has happened in a matter of days. That means Genachowski could be presiding over his first meeting July 2, the FCC's next public meeting.

Still to be determined is the president's choice for the other Democratic seat - which Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is vacating for a post at the USDA's Rural Utilities Service - and an empty Republican seat.

Genachowski, a former Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's, helped draft the Obama campaign's technology policy plan, which some at the time boiled down to "open government, open networks, and open markets."

The FCC has to come up with a plan by Feb. 17 of next year -a sort of broadband hard date -to roll out broadband service to the nation.

At his confirmation hearing, Genachowski pledged his support for media diversity and ubiquitous broadband and his opposition to the fairness doctrine. He also said he would uphold indecency regulations but also looked to parental content controls as a way to manage media content. One of his first deadlines will be a late August report to Congress on the state of those content controls, both the V-chip/ratings system and cross-platform controls.

Free Press was thrilled. "We are thrilled that Julius Genachowski has finally been confirmed," said Executive Director Josh Silver. "It's time for the FCC to tackle some of the pressing issues that have been put on hold, such as bringing fast, affordable, open broadband to everyone, spurring innovation and competition and diversifying media ownership.

The agenda awaiting Genachowski on day one is enormous but there is no doubt that he is the right man for the job. We are confident that the public interest will be at the forefront of the Genachowski FCC, and look forward to working with him."

(click here to read the entire article at Broadcasting & Cable)

Iowa's WHO Radio Crosses the Line - File Your FCC Complaint Here

Trish Nelson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Iowa's WHO Radio Crosses the Line - File Your FCC Complaint Here

"I might just remind you hell is a really hot, really forever place." - Steve Deace, WHO Radio Talk Show Host, M-F 4-7.

BFIA found this video on YouTube via OneIowa.org. Everyone should know what Iowans are hearing on WHO-Radio every day - hours and hours of this stuff, reaching a very large audience. (We couldn't swear to it, but it sounds like Deace's fellow WHO conservative talker, Jan Mickelson, conducting the interview).

What you can do about it: Contact Clear Channel and remind them about their responsibility to air fair and balanced programming.

And contact WHO-Radio management:
WHO-Radio Program Director Van Harden vanharden@clearchannel.com
WHO-Radio General Manager Joel McCrea joelmccrea@clearchannel.com
or Call toll free: 800-469-4295 or 515-245-8900

Then, file a complaint with the FCC. Here's how:
(1) On the web form, select under complaint type, "Broadcast (TV and Radio), cable, and satellite issues.
(2) Click "next"
(3) Under complaint category, select "Unauthorized, unfair, biased, illegal broadcasts (does NOT include Obscene, Profane or Indecent material)"
(4) click "next"
(5) Check the "unfair or biased programming (includes biased or distorted news stories by the media, broadcasting threatening or intimidating statements about an individual or a group)" box on the web-form.
(6) click "next"
(7) Recommended method is "online form." Click on it. OR
(8) You may email your completed complaint form and supporting documents to fccinfo@fcc.gov. The complaint form is very easy to fill out.