Biden's Running For President

As if people didn't already know, but Joe Biden announced on Meet the Presss this morning that he is going to run for president. Biden went on to say...

I am running for president,” he told “Meet the Press” anchor Tim Russert. “I’m going to be Joe Biden, and I’m going to be the best Joe Biden I can be.

It seems that Biden campaign strategy is to talk about himself in the third person.

Biden is very knowledgable on foreign policy, but I find it hard to get excited about his candidacy. For some reason, Biden reminds of a used car salesman. I see him on the Sunday talk shows every week and he doesn't sound that bad. Then when his segment is almost over I start to feel that I am going to get ripped off.

What's your feeling of Biden as a candidate?

2,000 Foot Rule Doesn't Work

The Des Moines Register has a story about the 2,000 foot rule for sexual predators. The article gives reasons why the law has failed to work...

One of the biggest reasons many law enforcement and prevention advocates believe Iowa's 2,000-foot rule for sex offenders is misguided is because it does little to stop the most likely perpetrators of abuse.

Research has shown that almost 90 percent of all child sexual abuse is committed by people already known to the child - most often a parent, step-parent or boyfriend - according to Steve Scott of Prevent Child Abuse Iowa.

I hope the new Democratic state legislature works on getting rid of the 2,000 foot law and comes up with something that works and is enforceable.

Homegrown Democrat

Over the holiday break I re-read Homegrown Democrat by Garrison Keillor. I highly recommend this book. The book was written in 2004 before the election, but the paper back has been updated.

The first couple chapters and the chapters at the end of the book are absolutely fantastic. The rest of the book discusses how Keillor grew up, which is good, but not as interesting as the rest of the book. The books strikes at the core values of the Democratic party, gives a humorous look at what the Republican party has become (something very different than the Republican Party of Eisenhower and even Nixon), and discusses the Midwestern values that make the country great . Here is Keillor's take on what the Republican has become...

In the years between Nixon and Newt Gingrich, the party migrated southward down the Twisting Trail of Rhetoric and sneered at the idea of public service and became the Scourge of Liberalism, the Great Crusade Against the Sixties, the Death Star of Government, a gang of pirates that diverted and fascinated the media by their sheer chutzpah, such as the misty-eyed flag-waving of Ronald Reagan who, while George McGovern flew bombers in World War II, took a pass and made training films in Long Beach. The Nixon moderate vanished like the passenger pigeon, purged by a legion of angry white men who rose to power on pure punk politics. “Bipartisanship is another term of date rape,” says Grover Norquist, the Sid Vicious of the GOP. “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” The boy has Oedipal problems and government is his daddy.

The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.

Overall, read the book to get a glimpse of life in the upper midwest and, more importantly, a reminder of why you are a Democrat.

Immigration Raids Costs Company Millions

The Des Moines Register is reporting that Swift and Co. is expected to lose $20 to $30 million because of the immigration raids that took place in December.

Greeley-based Swift said its preliminary estimate of the one-time impact of the raids included $20 million in lost operating efficiency as new employees are retrained, plus up to $10 million to retain workers and offer hiring incentives to add back production employees.

Swift's net sales during this quarter was $2.47 billion dollars.

Swift and Co. has complained about reduced production after the raids. Here in Marshalltown, workers have been able to work double shifts. This was an attractive offer for some workers, who could use the extra money during the holidays. However, Swift and Co. failed to pay the workers overtime.

Remember that Swift and Co. has received no fines from the government yet after being caught employing over 1,200 illegal immigrants.

Not reported was the amount of money that Swift and Co. had saved after years of hiring illegal immigrants for cheap labor.

Rinse, Wash, Repeat

Not Extending Temporary Tax Cuts is NOT Increasing Taxes

There's a story yesterday on MyDD and Chris also wrote about, but it is worth repeating. Not extending Bush's temporary handouts to the most wealthy is not increasing taxes. I'd give back my couple hundred dollar tax break on my federal income taxes to get my property taxes, college tuition and loan payments, and the cost of other local and other state services to go down.

The first step in solving the budget deficit is to not renew these temporary tax cuts and to start investing in our future. So remember to repeat...

Not Extending Temporary Tax Cuts is NOT Increasing Taxes

Culver Inaugural Looking for Volunteers

From my inbox...

Inaugural Committee Needs Volunteers

On January 12th, Chet Culver and Patty Judge will be sworn in as the next Governor and Lt. Governor of Iowa. In celebration of this event, The Culver-Judge Inaugural Committee is planning several events in Sioux City, Iowa City, and Des Moines to celebrate. These events will showcase Governor-elect Culver’s belief that Iowa has One Unlimited Future.

We need help from volunteers like you in order to make our events in Des Moines and Iowa City a success. We can provide free tickets to the Taste of Iowa and the One Iowa Gala for those who volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, please call Brian Jennings at 515-287-8667 or send him an email at brian@culverinaugural.com .

Thank you for your support and we are looking forward to seeing you at the inaugural.

Feingold To Introduce Legislation Establishing Timetable For Iraqi Withdrawal

Russ Feingold is going to introduce legislation tomorrow to establish a timeline to redeploy our troops from Iraq. Feingold would keep enough troops in Iraq to run counter-terrorism activities, training of Iraqi security forces, and the protection of U.S. infrastructure and personnel. Russ was the first senator to call for redeployment back in August of 2005 and co-sponsored a bill in July of last year that would have required troops to withdrawn from Iraq by July of 2007. Feingold says...

The way to win a war against global terrorist networks is not by keeping over 140,000 brave American troops in Iraq indefinitely," Feingold said. "The President's failed, Iraq-centric policies are preventing us from effectively countering serious threats around the world. We must change course, and the 110th Congress can start now by passing this bill to redeploy our troops from Iraq.

After 9/11 the goal is to better protect America. Having 140,000 American troops bogged down in Iraq does not help accomplish that goal. Some might even say that the goal after 9/11 was to track down Osama bin Laden. Having 140,000 American troops bogged down in Iraq does not help accomplish that goal.

Instead, we must focus our efforts on serious national security threats. Iraq is diverting our resources from fighting terrorism in an effective manner, so we must focus our efforts to serious national security threats.

Feingold continues to lead on important issues by taking a principled stand. Will the new Democratic Congress stand with him?

Local Control, Energy to be Hot Topics at Statehouse

The Des Moines Register has a story about the environmental issues that will be debated this year.

The actions they might take could affect the way Iowans get electricity for their homes, how much ethanol they use, and the quality of the water in lakes and streams. This year's legislation could change the condition of state parks, the income of bottle and can redemption centers, and the restrictions on the livestock industry.

Most of the story focuses on local control of the siting of hog confinements.

The livestock debate is raging in Iowa. Hog-confinement neighbors complain more than ever about odors. They fear confinement emissions hurt their health. Groups such as the Iowa Pork Producers Association and the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers have worked with hundreds of Iowa farmers to promote techniques aimed at reducing odors and water pollution, but the complaints continue.

Newly appointed director of the Department of Natural Resources, Rich Leopold isn't sold on local control.

Leopold said county zoning may not necessarily be the answer. "Local control is a tool, not an end," he said. "It's not, 'get local control and the problems are over.' We're talking about air and quality, property rights and nuisance." There may be multiple ways to fight those problems, including enforcing the existing regulations, Leopold said.

I recived this email from the Rapid Response Network a few days ago. It has some recommendations to improve local control.

• Local Control- Protect citizens and not just the public. Declare a Moratorium on all new construction until counties are given authority to site any facility with a two mile radius of neighbor approval before any can be issued a permit.
• Classify any operation, or total ownership of over 2,500 head as industrial and tax and regulate as any other industry. Ownership of more than 2,500 requires a permit for any size of confinement.
• All production and manure management plans and records must be made available for public review at the county court house.

The second point of classifying large hog confinements as industrial makes sense because that is what are. I heard that a hog produces 4 times as much waste as a human. Would we let a city of 10,000 people go with a sewer treatment plant?

**Update**
Here's a new Iowa blog called Iowa, the Nation, and the World that has a good post up with some stats and information on hog confinements in Iowa. Here's one that I did not know...

According to Iowa State University Extension estimated profits for each hog sold have declined from over $44 from November 2004 to just over $8 by November 2006. Pork experts warn of losses as soon as the current winter, especially due to high corn prices.

Olbermann Comments on Bush's Sacrifice

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had this special comment tonight on Bush planning to escalate the occupation in Iraq by sending more troops. Bush is set to give a speech next week calling for more troops and speaking about sacrifice.

3,000

On New Year's Eve day, the 3000 US soldier died in Iraq. I have thought a lot about this the past few days and don't have anything much else to say that hasn't been said by others.

The cover page of the Rocky Mountain News the day after the 3,000th soldier died had every soldier's name listed that had died.

Drew posted some thoughts and linked to a song. I highly recommend listening to the song called Sixteen Military Wives by the Decemberists, but first read the lyrics. It will give the song a whole new meaning.

Finally, John Deeth and Nicholas Johnson attended a vigil for our troops in Iowa City on Monday. There was also a vigil in Des Moines.

That night I heard a local newsperson call the vigils a protest. I am pretty sure if you ask everyone there, no one would say that it was a protest, but an event honoring those who have died and asking that the troops still there are safe. Support the troops by keeping them safe and redeploying out of the civil war going on Iraq.

Loebsack Speaks About Goals During First 100 Days

Here's video of Rep. Loebsack discussing his goals for the first 100 days in Congress while talking with KCRG TV.



Also, Loebsack and Bruce Braley will be the guests on Talk of Iowa, Wednesday from 10-11 am on WSUI AM 910.

Edwards on Obama's Audacity of Hope

Here is a quote from John Edwards when he was in New Hampshire about Barack Obama. From Political Wire...

"Identifying the problem and talking about hope is waiting for tomorrow."

-- John Edwards, quoted by Blue Hampshire, in an apparent swipe at the main theme of another Democratic presidential contender, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

I wouldn't necessarily say Edwards is attacking Obama. This fits right in with Edwards' theme Tomorrow is Today and the call for action and becoming engaged that he made at the townhall meeting in Des Moines. It shows a difference so far between Edwards' campaign and what Obama has been talking about.

MyDD discusses the quote and asks which candidate Dean supporters are getting behind this time around.