Thursday, November 21, 2013
Roberts sees ‘window’ for possible U.S. Senate race
Saying deliberations on a possible U.S. Senate bid have “widened and deepened,” former State Rep. Rod Roberts remains “seriously interested” in the prospect of running to succeed Tom Harkin.
“I still believe that this fall is the window of opportunity for others to come in,” Roberts, a Carroll Republican, said in an interview.
Roberts, who lost a GOP gubernatorial primary in 2010 to Gov. Terry Branstad, built a statewide network in the process. At a Republican event in May in Cedar Rapids Roberts sat with members of the Johnson County Republican Party. He is approached regularly with questions from party regulars and other Iowans about the prospects of a Senate campaign.
“The conversation with regard to me has widened and deepened,” Roberts said.
Several weeks ago, Roberts said he likely would make a decision by the time gravy flowed onto Thanksgiving turkey and potatoes.
“Some people serve that at Christmas as well,” he joked.
Roberts, the director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, said he sees a path to the nomination if he would enter the race in December or even at the beginning of 2014.
He said the Terrace Hill run gives him an understanding of the sort of infrastructure, from money to boots on the ground, that it will take to compete in a Senate race. He’s using that experience to assess his options in a Senate race.
The Republican U.S. Senate field now includes state Sen. Joni Ernst of Red Oak; David Young of Van Meter, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley’s chief of staff until recently; radio-talk personality Sam Clovis of Sioux City; former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker of Des Moines; Ames author and attorney Paul Lunde; and former Ames car salesman Scott Schaben, a Kuemper Catholic High School alum.
Mark Jacobs of West Des Moines, the former CEO of Texas-based Reliant Energy, is expected to enter the race this week. He has scheduled an interview with The Carroll Daily Times Herald for next Monday.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Clive, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds have all passed on running for the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley of Waterloo is the presumptive Democratic candidate. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, a veteran Democrat, is not seeking re-election.
Thanks For Nothing
Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving
By Douglas Burns
For most of the United States, Thanksgiving is a day during which that most popular of contemporary sins — gluttony — is celebrated with gusto and gravy.
Americans eat, watch football and stop stuffing the stuffing into their gullets in just enough time to hit the Christmas shopping season starting line.
But for many Americans, those descended from the first Americans, in fact, Thursday is a day that marks centuries and generations of betrayal and horror.
“It’s a difficult time for many of our people,” says Jeanne Marie Brightfire Stophlet, a Shawnee Cherokee. “We came in friendship and caring, and we suffered from that friendship and caring.”
Read the rest of the feature in Des Moines' Cityview newspaper ...
Monday, November 18, 2013
Assault on Ethanol Misses Its Mark
By U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
As its market share dips, Big Oil is doubling down to swat down its perennial piñata. This time around, petroleum producers and food conglomerates are using environmental groups as political cover to gain traction on efforts to pull the plug on the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).
Despite the ridiculously transparent and self-serving assault by these special interest groups, the relentless campaign to discredit ethanol undermines America’s longstanding efforts to diversify its energy landscape, fuel the economy and strengthen national security.
The predictable efforts to smear ethanol’s reputation ignore the renewable fuel’s valuable contributions to clean energy, rural development, job creation and U.S. energy independence. The latest round of misguided untruths disregards the plain truth. Ethanol is a renewable, sustainable, clean-burning fuel that helps run the nation’s transportation fleet with less pollution. Yet, critics continue to hide behind distortions that claim ethanol is bad for the environment.
Let’s talk turkey and separate fact from fiction regarding ethanol’s impact on the environment.
Critics say farmers are putting fragile land into production to cash in on higher corn prices at the expense of soil erosion and clean water. They point out that five million Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres are no longer enrolled in the conservation program since 2008. They want to pin the blame on ethanol.
First of all, fewer acres enrolled in the CRP has more to do with federal belt tightening than land stewardship decisions by America’s corn farmers. The 2008 farm bill built upon other stewardship incentives for America’s farmers and ranchers administered by the USDA, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, wetlands restoration and wildlife habitat programs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), no new grassland has been converted to cropland since 2005.
Fact: The Wetlands Reserve Program in 2012 had a record-breaking enrollment of 2.65 million acres. WRP lands cannot be farmed for 30 years.
Farmers must make marketing, planting and stewardship decisions that keep their operation financially sound and productive from crop year to crop year. Even more importantly, these decisions must be environmentally sustainable for the long haul. Let’s be clear. Farmers simply can’t afford not to take scrupulous care of the land that sustains their livelihoods.
Fact: Fertilizer use is on the decline. Compare application per bushel in 1980 versus 2010 – nitrogen is down 43 percent; phosphate is down 58 percent; and, potash is down 64 percent.
Fact: Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline. According to the Argonne National Laboratory, corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to gasoline. If the oil industry wants to talk about the environment, let’s not forget the 1989 Exxon Valdez and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spills.
Critics also say the RFS is driving more acres into corn production. In reality, the RFS is driving significant investment in higher-yielding, drought-resistant seed technology. This is a win-win scenario to cultivate good-paying jobs and to harvest better yields on less land.
Fact: The total cropland planted to corn in the United States is decreasing. In 2013, U.S. farmers planted 97 million corn acres. In the 1930s, farmers planted 103 million acres of corn. Farmers have increased the corn harvest through higher yields, not more acres.
Critics contend the nation’s corn crop is diverted for fuel use at the expense of feed for livestock and higher prices at the grocery store.
Fact: In reality, the value of corn increases during ethanol production. One-third of the corn processed to make ethanol re-enters the marketplace as high value animal feed called dried distillers grain. Livestock feed remains the largest end-user of corn. When co-products such as dried distillers grains are factored in, ethanol consumes only 27 percent of the whole corn crop by volume; livestock feed uses 50 percent of the crop.
Fact: The USDA Secretary has said farmers receive about 14 cents of every food dollar spent at the grocery store. And, the farmer’s share of a $4 box of corn flakes is about 10 cents.
So what’s at stake when a coalition of special interests tag teams to pull the rug out from underneath the nation’s ethanol policy?
Unfortunately, these flawed attacks on ethanol and next-generation biofuels undermine America’s effort to move forward with an aggressive, diversified energy policy that takes into account global demand, geopolitics and U.S. economic growth.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Ike’s House
Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum honors distinguished Midwesterner
By DOUGLAS BURNS
ABILENE, Kansas
After the success of D-Day, a reporter asked Ida Eisenhower, mother of the commander of the Allied invasion of Europe, if she was proud of her son.
“Which one?” replied Ida Eisenhower, who had seven sons — including President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
That Midwestern humility forms the foundation, both in atmosphere and architecture and a general feel at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kan., a city of 6,800, located at what was once the northern terminus of the Chisholm Trail, a cattle route that started in Texas.
Ida Eisenhower had more reasons than motherly love and devotion girding her famous retort. Ike’s brother Milton served as president of Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University and Johns Hopkins University. Brothers Arthur, Edgar and Roy succeeded in business, and Earl Eisenhower was an accomplished electrical engineer.
“The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene,” Eisenhower said in a June 1945 homecoming speech.
Eisenhower, in a 1953 speech, talked of how the Western prairie town informed his values.
“I was raised in a little town of which most of you have never heard,” Eisenhower said. "But in the West it is a famous place. It is called Abilene, Kansas. We had as our marshal for a long time, a man named Wild Bill Hickok. If you don’t know anything about him, read your westerns more. Now that town had a code, and I was raised as a boy to prize that code. It was: meet anyone face to face with whom you disagree. You could not sneak up on him from behind, or do any damage to him, without suffering the penalty of an outraged citizenry. If you met him face to face and took the same risks he did, you could get away with almost anything, as long as the bullet was in the front.”
Eisenhower earned $500,000 for authoring the book “Crusade in Europe” about his role in World War II.
“I’m just a Kansas farm boy,” he said of the take. “These numbers are making my head spin.”
Eisenhower’s family emigrated from Karlsbrunn, Germany, in 1741, settling in Pennsylvania and then moving to Kansas in the 1880s. Visitors can tour the president’s modest boyhood home on the library grounds — which are flanked to the north by a rail line and grain elevator. A introductory film refers to Eisenhower as “the son of America’s heartland.”
Ida Eisenhower came from a pacifist Mennonite sect and was greatly displeased when her son pursued a military career.
The museum focuses as much on World War II as it does Eisenhower specifically.
Recruited by both parties, Eisenhower ran for the presidency as a Republican.
In 1956, Eisenhower signed Federal Aid Highway Act financing the interstate highway system.
A few years earlier, Eisenhower extended Social Security coverage to 10 million more Americans — including farmers.
The publisher of the Houston Post, Oveta Culp Hobley, a Democrat, called that expansion “criminal.”
The Eisenhower Iowa connection is explored in great detail in a section of the library devoted to Mamie Eisenhower, the first lady who hailed from Boone.
She referred to herself as “Mrs. Ike” and once described her career as “Ike.”
The couple, in the White House, often would eat dinner on TV trays. Mamie Eisenhower liked soap operas — but not hospital-theme ones as President Eisenhower suffered a suffered heart attack on Sept. 24, 1955.
On Jan. 17, 1961, Eisenhower delivered one of the more significant farewell addresses of any president as he warned of the rise of the “military industrial complex.”
Eisenhower also offered an observation with modern relevancy.
“If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison,” he said in 1949.
Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home
200 S.E. 4th StreetPO Box 339
Abilene, KS 67410
785-263-6700 or 877 RING IKE
eisenhower.library@nara.gov
Hours
9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. daily
Closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and
New Year’s Day
Summer Hours
June & July
8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Admission Fee
$10 Adult
$9 Senior 62 & Over
$2 Ages 6-15
FREE Ages 5 & Under
FREE Active Military
The 13 Official Presidential Libraries
Herbert Hoover Library, West Branch, Iowa
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y.
Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Mo.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Mass.
Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, Calif.
Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arobor-Grand Rapids, Mich.
Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Ga.
Ronald Reagan Library, Simi Valley, Calif.
George H. W. Bush Library, College Station, Texas
William J. Clinton Library, Little Rock, Ark.
George W. Bush Library, Dallas, Texas
Friday, November 08, 2013
Whitaker would only serve two terms?
Just going through my emails and came across this letter sent from a supporter of Matt Whitaker -- a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. So he would serve only two terms?
One of the reasons smaller, rural states are able to get favorable federal action is through seniority — of the likes Senators Harkin and Grassley amassed.
A pledge to serve only two terms shows a fundamental lack of understanding of this vital fact for Iowa.
One of the reasons smaller, rural states are able to get favorable federal action is through seniority — of the likes Senators Harkin and Grassley amassed.
A pledge to serve only two terms shows a fundamental lack of understanding of this vital fact for Iowa.
Good Afternoon,
Joe and I are working with Matt Whitaker on his US Senate campaign to replace Senator Harkin, who is retiring.
Matt has been traveling our state to hear from Iowans and let them know why he running. We are supporting Matt because:
- he believes and teaches his 3 children that America is still the greatest country on earth and we all have a responsibility to maintain the gift
given to us by God and those who have come before us;
- he has committed to only serve two terms;
- he is fighting mad about this Obamacare mess and is willing to go to DC to help support other senators who are working to defund it;
- as an owner of several small businesses he completely understands that our current tax system penalizes business. He will go to DC
to draft/support legislation that revamps the IRS, eliminating penalties to both businesses and individual tax paying Americans.
- he is pro-life and will fight hard to end tax payer funded abortions:
These are just some of the reasons we're working with Matt and his wife, Marci, in their commitment to serve our country, not for their own benefit but to protect what our forefathers fought so hard to pass on to all of us. We appreciate their commitment to this race and the people of Iowa.
For more information on Matt Whitaker's senate race please go to: MattWhitaker.org You can also call me with more specific questions at 515-202-3733 (cell).
Have a great weekend!!!
Susan Geddes
515-202-3733
ART FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Gerald F. Schnepf, Executive Director, Keep Iowa Beautiful
Co-Author: Martha McCormick – Education Consultant
November, 2013
When the discussion turns to the topic of economic development, we quickly shift into thinking about traditional approaches – attracting new business, new factories or growing an existing industry. Seldom do we embrace the concept that the “cultural climate” of a community may not only be an element for improving the economy, but in some cases, it may be the key target. Communities that promote a high standard of living and economic health tend to include art as a major ingredient.
Art occurs in many forms - sculpture, painting, poetry, music and theater are just a few forms that appeal to our senses and provide added value to our lives. The challenge is for most of us to embrace art in our everyday lives instead of viewing it as an occasional treat or something extra.
To quote David Dahlquist (Des Moines Artist and Creative Director – RDG Planning and Design Art Studio) – “Art is a way of telling stories”. It creates images and ideas in our minds. Art entertains, challenges, encourages new ideas and perspectives, takes us to new places and may even offend our values. Or it may simply offer pleasant memories and moments of reflection and enjoyment.
It can be a challenge to bring or enhance the role of art for economic development This concept requires us to step out of our usual definition of economic development where art is often excluded. Bringing art into the mix requires a change in thinking. Change is not readily accepted by many of us. At one time in our history, art was a key element in the economic enhancement of a community. During the Renaissance, much of the settlement grew around great architecture and the masters of art.
Art in all its forms - from festivals, events, books, murals and dance must be considered in the assessment of the cultural climate for every community. Including the arts in planning will provide the dual benefits of economic and cultural vitality. Inclusion of art in a community communicates the community respect for the values that art provides of vitality, excitement, intelligence and creativity in creating a sense of place.
Not only should the private sector and government embrace and support art in buildings and grounds but they need to invest in art through tax incentives, direct investments, contributions and volunteerism.
It is like the proverbial “chicken or the egg” – which comes first? If government supports the arts, the private sector will soon follow or in some instances the reverse – private art investments can encourage government commitment to the arts. Whether looking at the chicken or the egg, involving youth in the arts provides a long term investment in the future of your neighborhood, community and countryside of Iowa.
Q&A on National Adoption Month with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Q: Why is National Adoption Month observed in November?
A: During this season of thanksgiving, millions of American households open their homes to friends and family from near and far. We come together to celebrate cherished traditions that have been handed down for generations. Hospitality, hearth and harvest come to mind as families gather at the table and give thanks. As Americans make plans for the holiday feast, we can quibble about giblets in the gravy or whether to roast, deep fry or brine the turkey. Each family enjoys its own unique traditions and family favorites on the Thanksgiving menu. When it’s all said and done, there’s really no place like home. That’s why it’s especially fitting to commemorate National Adoption Month in November. Tens of thousands of foster children in America long to have a permanent place setting at their very own family’s table on Thanksgiving Day and every other day of the year. Last year, nearly 400,000 children lived in the U.S. foster care system. Of those, nearly 102,000 awaited adoption. More than 26,000 aged out of the system before ever securing a permanent place to call home. Since 1990, National Adoption Month has helped to raise awareness for children awaiting adoption and appreciation for those who have answered the call to serve as foster or adoptive parents. So many of us look forward to celebrating the homecoming of friends and family on Thanksgiving Day. Just consider the hope-filled anticipation of a child longing to be welcomed home for good to a forever family.
Q: What can be done to help more children awaiting adoption to find a permanent, loving home?
A: As co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, I’ve worked to raise public awareness and educate policymakers about the challenges facing foster youth, especially those who age out of the system with no long-term support structure in place. Children and adolescents need stability, certainty and constancy in their lives. A permanent, loving home provides the most nurturing foundation to help youth reach their fullest potential in society. We should acknowledge foster youth throughout the year, not just November, and give thanks to parents who heed the call to adopt a child. And, we can always do more to ensure that children who await adoption get the assistance they need, including support to stay in school and sustain their education. Earlier this year, I introduced the Foster Youth Stamp Act of 2013 that would provide for the issuance and sale of a postal stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. Revenue generated from the stamp would support state-based programs, including the Adoption Opportunities Program – which seeks permanent outcomes for foster care youth through adoption, guardianship or kinship care – and the State Court Improvement Program – which seeks to improve legal representation for youth and addresses caseloads and the court’s role in achieving safe, stable, permanent homes for children in foster care.
Q: What other legislative provisions have you championed to promote adoption?
A: As an outspoken advocate for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” at the policymaking tables in Washington, I believe these founding principles apply especially to vulnerable children in our society. I’ve worked with Iowa families, foster youth, child welfare advocates, court representatives and social workers to help identify financial, legal and bureaucratic roadblocks that make it difficult for kids to find a permanent, loving home through adoption, guardianship or reunification with their birth family. Through congressional hearings and legislation, I’ve worked to raise awareness about the stability that adoption can bring to a child in need of a loving home as well as the public good adoption brings to society.
• In 1997, I worked to advance the Adoption and Safe Families Act that is credited with doubling adoptions from foster care in many states.
• As then-chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, I secured an expansion of federal tax credit assistance in the 2001 tax law that increased qualified expenses for adoption from $5,000 to $10,000. Today the tax credit is indexed for inflation and was made a permanent provision of the federal tax code earlier this year. Adoptive parents this year may apply $12,970 in qualified adoption expenses to their 2013 federal tax return.
• In 2006, congressional hearings in the Senate Finance Committee led to the passage of the Child and Family Services Improvement Act that improved programs designed to help troubled families and increased caseworker visits for foster care youth.
• In 2008, I authored the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions law which increased federal incentives for states to move children from foster care to adoptive homes; made it easier for children to be adopted by relatives; made children with special needs eligible for federal adoption assistance; and, established new educational opportunities for youth who age out of foster care at age 18.
Q: What is National Adoption Day?
A: Since 2000, 44,500 families have finalized adoptions on National Adoption Day. Organizers single out the Saturday before Thanksgiving to raise public awareness and honor adoptive families across the country. As Iowans count our blessings and celebrate family on Thanksgiving Day, let’s remember the children in our communities who dream to find a family to call their own once and for all. Have you, a family member, friend or neighbor considered adoption? On behalf of the thousands of foster children whose single-most important wish upon the turkey’s wishbone would be to take a seat at their very own family’s Thanksgiving table, I encourage you to prayerfully consider the call if you’re in a position to do so.
Statement by the President on Senate Passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013
For more than two centuries, the story of our nation has been the story of more citizens realizing the rights and freedoms that are our birthright as Americans. Today, a bipartisan majority in the Senate took another important step in this journey by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would help end the injustice of our fellow Americans being denied a job or fired just because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Just as no one in the United States can lose their job simply because of their race, gender, religion or a disability, no one should ever lose their job simply because of who they are or who they love.
Today’s victory is a tribute to all those who fought for this progress ever since a similar bill was introduced after the Stonewall riots more than three decades ago. In particular, I thank Majority Leader Reid, Chairman Harkin, Senators Merkley and Collins for their leadership, and Senator Kirk for speaking so eloquently in support of this legislation. Now it’s up to the House of Representatives. This bill has the overwhelming support of the American people, including a majority of Republican voters, as well as many corporations, small businesses and faith communities. They recognize that our country will be more just and more prosperous when we harness the God-given talents of every individual.
One party in one house of Congress should not stand in the way of millions of Americans who want to go to work each day and simply be judged by the job they do. Now is the time to end this kind of discrimination in the workplace, not enable it. I urge the House Republican leadership to bring this bill to the floor for a vote and send it to my desk so I can sign it into law. On that day, our nation will take another historic step toward fulfilling the founding ideals that define us as Americans.
Harkin Welcomes White House Support for Minimum Wage Proposal
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today issued the following statement upon learning of President Barack Obama’s support for legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 and index it to inflation.
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, introduced by Harkin in the Senate and Congressman George Miller (D-CA) in the House, would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 in three steps and provide for automatic annual increases linked to changes in the cost of living. It would also gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, currently $2.13 an hour, for the first time in more than 20 years——to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.
“President Obama sent a key message in his State of the Union: raising the minimum wage is a crucial factor to strengthening the middle class and growing our economy. Low-wage jobs and income inequality are only increasing and families are struggling just to put food on the table. Put simply, this legislation would result in raises for 30 million American workers. It also has broad support: eighty percent of Americans support this raise, including majorities across political parties.
“Our legislation would also give a boost to our economy as workers spend their raises in their local stores and communities, increasing GDP by nearly $33 billion and generating 140,000 new jobs over the course of three years. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is not just a popular idea or the right thing to do for working families—it is also the smart thing to do for our economy. I thank the President for his support in this effort.”
A Hart Research poll released in July found that 80 percent of Americans support the Harkin-Miller minimum wage proposal. Ninety-two percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents, and 62 percent of Republicans support the Harkin-Miller proposal, and three-quarters of Americans also say that raising the minimum wage should be an important priority for Congress to address over the next year, including 38 percent who say it is very important.
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