I’m trying to cut back on outside activities, including politics. Apparently, I’m in too deep to get out of the pool. New and experienced people continue to call me to discuss local politics. I thought I cut the cord on Jan. 15. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
There were only three people in attendance at our precinct caucus. None of us wanted to be on the county central committee caucus night so we turned the page in with those spots blank. I may have to go to the committee and get elected at a meeting to fill this role. Maybe not, we’ll see.
What do I plan to do regarding politics? As I age, I’m changing what I’m willing to do and made a list.
Continue to get most news before it appears in local newspapers.
I have a TV which is off most days.
Focus on local races. My US Senators are not up this cycle.
Help good people get elected.
Politics is about personal networking.
Social media is a small part of personal networking, very small.
Maintain good health.
Vote and encourage others to do so.
That’s a lot. That’s enough.
It’s just a matter of time before I make some commitments. So there it is. Happy 2024 election cycle!
Roe v. Wade was America’s compromise on abortion and a large majority of Americans support its protections. When the 45th president appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices during his term, his intention was clear: overturn Roe v. Wade and create chaos so the country could go through the debate that resulted in Roe once again. Elections matter and so we are.
Christina Bohannan is a law professor who read all 200 Iowa court decisions related to abortion. Below is a recent video in which she discusses them and lays out a common sense approach to the controversial issue the 1973 Supreme Court decision represented. Her opponent, incumbent Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks sponsored the “Life at Conception Act,” which prohibits abortion and included no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life.
This week, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Biden rolled out his agenda to protect women’s rights, including codifying the protection of women’s rights outlined in Roe. To do that, Biden will need more Democratic members of Congress, beginning with replacing Miller-Meeks with Christina Bohannan in Iowa’s First Congressional District.
I hope you will watch the video and help Bohannan win in November. Follow Christina Bohannan on Facebook, and Instagram. Sign up with her campaign at bohannanforcongress.com/
Image from an email from Iowa State Senator Liz Bennett
Let’s just get into this. Conversion therapy is wrong and Iowa Republicans want statewide control in how communities approach it. In case you’ve been sleeping, conversion therapy is at best a pseudoscience intended to change an individual’s sexual orientation. At worst it harms people. It is not even a legitimate form of therapy, wrote Douglas C. Haldeman in The Case Against Conversion “Therapy.” Here are the basics:
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have been used to this end include forms of brain surgery, surgical or hormonal castration, aversive treatments such as electric shocks, nausea-inducing drugs, hypnosis, counseling, spiritual interventions, visualization, psychoanalysis, and arousal reconditioning.
There is a scientific consensus that conversion therapy is ineffective at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and that it frequently causes significant long-term psychological harm. The position of current evidence-based medicine and clinical guidance is that homosexuality, bisexuality and gender variance are natural and healthy aspects of human sexuality. Historically, conversion therapy was the treatment of choice for individuals who disclosed same-sex attractions or exhibited gender nonconformity, which were formerly assumed to be pathologies by the medical establishment. When performed today, conversion therapy may constitute fraud and when performed on minors, a form of child abuse; it has been described by experts as torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and contrary to human rights.
An increasing number of jurisdictions around the world have passed laws against conversion therapy.
Allow me to repeat, “When performed today, conversion therapy may constitute fraud and when performed on minors, a form of child abuse; it has been described by experts as torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and contrary to human rights.” Why wouldn’t the State of Iowa ban this harmful practice? We should. The scientific consensus is it doesn’t work as intended.
“Iowa Republicans want to ban LGBTQ+ conversion therapy bans,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst wrote in an email. “Yes, you read that right. While Iowa is one of the few states without a statewide ban on conversion therapy (not a great start), individual cities and towns have implemented their own bans on conversion therapy. The Iowa GOP would like to take away that local control.”
“Linn County passed its ban on conversion therapy in mid-2022, prohibiting conversion or reparative therapies for people under the age of 18,” wrote Valeree Dunn of Iowa News Now. “The City of Davenport has had its own ban on conversion therapy since 2020.”
“Far-right extremist Sen. Salmon introduced SF 2037 which would prevent cities and counties in Iowa from banning conversion therapy,” Senator Bennett wrote. “As the only out LGBTQ+ senator in Iowa, this feels like not only a personal attack on me, but also an attack on our entire community and state.”
This bill is an assault, not only on one LGBTQ+ individual, it is an assault on everything that should be important to Iowans, including local control of our communities, recognition of the validity of the scientific methods used in research, and plain common sense.
The bill passed subcommittee on Wednesday, Jan. 17, and seems likely to clear the full committee should it meet on the bill.
Contact your state legislature to oppose this ill-advised and regressive legislation. Better than that, work to add Democratic State Senators to their caucus in the November election to regain a majority. If you can spare some dollars, here is the link to support the Iowa Senate Democrats.
This winter I lost the power of imagination when it comes to cooking. I know skills of cooking and the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer are full of food. Yet I give a blank stare when asked what we should have for evening meal.
Last night I made a vegan version of red beans and rice. It was based on the “holy trinity” of bell pepper, onion and celery. I added canned red beans and tomato sauce, garlic and kale from the garden, and seasoned with salt, dried thyme, and parsley. The dish came together with a slurry of white miso, tomato juice and arrowroot. Served on rice with a side of cooked corn, it was a satisfying meal. We discussed and are putting red beans and rice in the rotation.
The Iowa Legislature is in session and OMG! These Republicans are one paternalistic, low-IQ, incompetent group — filthy with unpleasant habits, brutes in human form, resembling human beings far too closely for the liking of most Iowans. (h/t Jonathan Swift). Where should I start?
We, as a society, have to elect enough Democrats to stop their madness by regaining the majority in both chambers of the legislature. When we held a majority in the senate, the radical craziness was held at bay. It wouldn’t hurt to retake the governor’s office.
Here’s a short list of legislative issues with Republicans:
Conversion therapy ban ban. Prevent local jurisdictions from banning this discredited pseudoscience as any decent person would.
Restrictions from use of information from the American Library Association in public school libraries.
Reduce services by the Area Education Agencies which serve disabled children.
Continue to do nothing with nursing homes where another patient recently died of neglect.
After the court enjoined their book ban bill for public schools, they doubled down with a book ban in public libraries.
School children would be required to sing the national anthem at the beginning of each day.
Politicization of the investment of public funds like the Iowa Employee Retirement System.
The chair of a subcommittee humiliated speakers addressing a bill concerning loss of local control for guaranteed income programs for the poor.
Good grief! The session is just beginning, so the worst is yet to come.
2024 is the time, now more than ever, to get involved in the political process. Even if it just means letting family members know it is important to vote.
Katie Tritt went to sleep on Sunday and didn’t wake up. Yesterday the family announced her remains were donated to the University of Iowa College of Medicine. There will be a gathering in late February. On Saturday she attended a sports event and was living her best life. Now, she’s gone.
I didn’t know Katie well after she graduated high school in 1968, yet she and her family were a significant part of my growing up in Northwest Davenport. Her obituary is here.
When I think of life with my family before college, Katie was a person who made good where she was born and lived her life. There is something positive about that. She was a good person.
She worked her first job at the Dairy Queen at Five Points in Davenport, where all of us kids went when we could. She attended the same high school I did, two years ahead of me. She graduated from the University of Iowa, after which she taught school in the public elementary school where I attended Kindergarten and in the parochial grade school where I attended seventh and eighth grade. She was a substitute teacher until she passed. She was active in the community as an adult, in a way I was not destined to be.
When my spouse and I married, Mother held a reception for us in her home. Katie attended and we have some snapshots of her there. Even in 1982 there was a sense of neighborhood where we shared obligations to each other. The neighborhood as I knew it no longer exists.
Death strikes closer as we age. I hope the rest of my life can be as good as Katie’s was. May she rest in peace.
Has the Iowa Democratic Party hit rock bottom? At Monday’s poorly attended precinct caucuses, small groups of long-time Democratic attendees kept political embers glowing. Although we hadn’t reached “rock bottom” one could see it from there in the dim light of a fire that long ago burned through most of its fuel.
For comparison, in 2012 when President Obama was running for reelection, also the year comparable to 2024 when President Biden is running for reelection, we had 12 people at our precinct caucus. This year we had three. Combine low caucus attendance with the fact as of Jan. 12 only 8,000 Democrats had requested a presidential preference card from the state party, and it was enough to make a pail of water turn sour. Erin Jordan of the Cedar Rapids Gazette caught the mood at Iowa City Precinct 17 where Democrats had trouble filling their delegate seats to the county convention. The caucus chair called out individuals by name to recruit volunteers.
It’s not that Republicans had great caucus turnout. They didn’t. Donald J. Trump received 56,206 votes in the Iowa Republican caucus, or 7 percent of registered Republican voters. Hardly a mandate. The state had 752,249 registered Republicans on Jan. 1, 2024, and only 110,298 (15 percent) caucused. Half of Republicans who did vote wanted someone other than a Florida man facing 91 criminal counts as their presidential preference. Even Koch Industries, a powerhouse in Iowa through their shadow presence in Americans for Prosperity, was financially supporting someone else. The Republican performance definitely did not show strength. Unlike the national media we shouldn’t put too much stock in Trump’s win.
What about the vast majority of Iowa’s estimated 3.2 million people? They were not a part of this year’s caucus activity. To climb out of the hole in which we found ourselves, Democrats need a new way of thinking about politics. It must be focused on all Iowans, not just aging party activists.
Boy howdy! That’s not going to fly with the aging cohort of party regulars!
Iowa Democrats have the right idea. The slogan they wrote, “People over Politics” is the right one for this campaign because it hits on the need to address the majority of Iowans’ needs and wants, rather than a small minority. It is not enough to repeat the slogan, check off the box, and return to politics as usual. Something has to change.
Young people have a lot to lose in the 2024 election. When I talk to people in their twenties and thirties, they are angry with how our national politics is going. In particular, the treatment of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas War has them angry with President Biden and with Republican alternatives. They definitely plan to vote. Their issues make it more complicated than a choice between the Democrat and Republican running for president. As an elder, I caution about the complexity of Middle East politics. They don’t want to hear it. What is lacking is adequate direction from Washington to end the conflict and stop the genocide of Palestinians. Such young people are not motivated to join a political party. They are not motivated to support Biden. They simply want the president and the elected government in Washington to offer viable solutions now.
“The people of Iowa appreciate balance in the federal government and the state government,” said Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party in the Washington Post. “It is out of whack here in Iowa because Republicans have been in power for too long, and they have overreached.” I can say from my experiences with young people this seemingly reasonable statement is what’s out of whack. We need less characterization of the electorate in national media and more action to deliver positive results to more people. The elder in me says stay the course and let Hart lead. The young person in me wants to upset any existing balance and get a new set of scales.
I stay in touch with some in my Iowa high school cohort which entered its eighth decade of living. A common sentiment among them is “Oh Iowa. What are you thinking?” At its core, the concern is one for the future. A reaction to the Trump win like this can only be from consuming conventional news media. Our current national and local media environments have lost interest in the common good and propagate whatever content garners eyeballs. We need a new way of seeing the news and what we are doing now isn’t it. I am devoted to Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American because it injects each day with a dose of the logic, reason, and perspective of a historian. Many in my cohort have not heard of her. Indeed, her one voice is not enough.
Donald Trump Jr. said, “A win is a win” on caucus night. I used to look at elections that way. When a party can’t draw enough people to a meeting to fill convention delegate positions, the system is not working. While I enjoyed conversations with my old friends at the caucus. Iowa politics has to be something more than a social hour. Unless we make it so, the embers will finally be extinguished. I hope to do my part in creating change we need using my platform. What about you readers?
Caucus-goer signing nominating petitions at the 2010 Iowa Democratic caucuses.
I counted 22 people present for the 2024 Democratic caucuses at Lakeview Elementary School on Jan. 15. Our location had five precincts. It was a good gathering of old friends. “Old” is the operative word. Age of participating Democrats is a problem for the Iowa Democratic Party. Well, that and this cohort is dying off, depleting our numbers. A couple of new faces were present, so that was good. We kept the embers of the Iowa Democratic Party going for another election year.
Our age was a constant companion during the caucuses. Doors opened at 5 p.m. for set up. People began arriving shortly after that for the 7 p.m. event. Set up didn’t take long and there was a lot of catching up to do. I talked more about Ohio politics than about Iowa. I noticed the average age of those present and was told to stop complaining and volunteer. We discussed the changes in door knocking over the years. One friend said if they went door knocking they would have to use their mother’s walker to get around. Someone suggested the reception at the doors might be better if they did.
The state party has kept the mail-in presidential preference vote a virtual secret. A few long-time Democrats at the caucus didn’t know what to do to get a ballot. We remedied that right away. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette last Friday only about 8,000 ballots had been requested statewide. When we consider there were 176,352 initial alignment votes in the 2020 presidential preference vote, the response this year is underwhelming.
There were three of us in the Big Grove caucus. I chaired and made quick work of party business. We elected myself as chair and a friend as secretary. No one wanted to be on the county central committee and we only elected one of three delegates to the county convention. No one volunteered for convention committee work, except I told the organizer for the arrangements committee I would help at the convention. She was in another precinct at our site. I read the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement to meet the requirement. We signed, sealed, and delivered the documents to the box destined to go to the county seat that evening.
The weather was cold, yet not that bad. The roads were plowed and although there was some ice on them, an experienced driver could navigate safely. Weather was not what kept Democrats away from the caucuses. The Washington Post released an article about the issues. Here’s a taste of it:
At this time in 2020, Democrats held three of Iowa’s four congressional seats. They had three statewide elected officials, and they were just kicking off the Democratic presidential nominating process.
Four years later, Iowa Democrats have no representatives in Congress, only one statewide elected official — the state auditor — and their prized spot at the head of the nominating calendar has been ripped away from them.
Beyond that, they have seen former president Donald Trump twice carry the state by comfortable margins after victories in 2008 and 2012 by Barack Obama.
“It has been painful for Democrats in Iowa,” said Scott Brennan, a former chair of the state party.
As Iowa Republicans began their party’s presidential nominating process with Monday’s caucuses, many Democrats concede that their party has hit rock bottom. The state, once a presidential battleground, has joined Ohio, also a longtime swing state, in moving to the right. Few expect the Democrats to be competitive in Iowa in the presidential race in November.
Our group of oldsters kept a party on life support going for another little while. I don’t agree we hit “rock bottom,” yet one could see it from the 2024 Democratic precinct caucuses.
Saturday the snow stopped and I blew the driveway for the fifth or sixth time this week. Yes, that’s right, I can’t remember how many times. The work went quickly and with the snow finished for now, all I’ll have to deal with is wind-blown drifts.
Attire is a thing during a blizzard. For outdoors work, I donned my Star Wars Mos Eisley t-shirt, my Chicago Bulls sweat shirt from when Michael Jordan was playing, relatively new Levis blue jeans and J.C. Penney rubberized boots, a scarf Mother knitted me while I served in the military, a stocking cap from that same era, and a Carhartt jacket bought on sale when I worked at the home, farm, and auto supply store before the coronavirus pandemic. Working together, it all kept me warm as the snow flew around my electric snow blower. I did feel a bit like a walking logo store, yet I’m not going to get rid of serviceable clothing.
Sunday started with ambient outdoor temperatures below minus ten degrees Fahrenheit. With no reason to go outdoors, I kept the garage door closed while we regulated indoors temperatures. The new furnace worked well and the space heater took the chill off my downstairs work room. There was a two-hour planning session with our child and the rest of the day is for planning the beginning of the year for me. In a stable environment, what the weather does is less of a worry than running out of time.
We take days like these in stride. Without a paying job, what the weather does has less impact. The blizzard provided a reason to stay indoors and work on long delayed projects. Later today I must venture to town to lead our precinct caucus. The blizzard will keep all but the most devoted from participating. Some years it is like that, blizzard or not.
Driveway covered with snow a few hours after clearing it. Jan. 9, 2024.
A blizzard is welcome these days, especially when one works from home. They remove most temptation to leave the property and go to town. We become isolated as much as is possible in the time of broadband access and mobile telephones. Diet changes based on what is in the pantry and freezer. Like most modern middle class families we keep a lot of extra food on hand, so we are ready to survive, come what may.
Is there gasoline for the generator? Check. Is there enough store-bought bread? Check. Is the snow blower positioned near the garage door with extension cords? Check. Is there extra drinking water in case the well goes down? Check.
Wednesday morning I made ramen my own way. I bought a 24-package box of Maruchan brand ramen noodle soup. After looking at available options, I picked soy sauce flavor, hoping it was vegetarian. It wasn’t. One of the ingredients in the flavoring packet was “beef extract,” whatever that is. I discarded the packet and made my own with one cup tomato juice, and a combination of white miso paste, vegetarian worcerstershire sauce, and home made hot sauce. It was surprisingly sweet and delicious.
My neighbor came over to help clear the end of the driveway where the plow pushed snow from the street. The two of us made quick work of it and decided we didn’t need further exercise for the day. We are both retired and need daily exercise for health reasons. The blizzard broke up the routine of trail walking.
I recently read a book titled, Blizzard by Phil Stong, written in 1955. The story is of a farm family in southeastern Iowa during a blizzard. So many neighbors and friends stopped by during the storm, it seemed very communal. I suppose that’s the way it was on a farm back in the pre-internet days. For the most part, today it’s the two of us alone in the house making do.
On day two of the storm I drove across the lakes to Costco and wore a mask indoors. There were others doing so, although very few customers were inside. Staff was talking about who would be released first to go home. The risk of contracting the coronavirus seemed minimal. I wore a mask anyway.
The car radio was filled to the max with commercials promoting 45 and Nikki Haley, but no one else. Absent adequate and recent publicly released polling it’s hard to say who will win the Republican caucus vote. It will be one of those two, I believe. Of course, the Democrats are not voting for president on caucus day.
More storms are lining up the rest of the week and we shouldn’t have to go out until they finish. For now, it’s a matter of getting the mail and seeing whether delivery trucks make it through. It’s the newest version of Iowa winter during a blizzard.
Barack Obama at the 2006 Harkin Steak Fry. I met him in this rope line.
A friend and I met for coffee across the lakes to prepare for the Iowa Democratic caucus on Jan. 15. I took along one of my volunteer sheets from the 2008 presidential campaign to discuss who we might get to volunteer this cycle.
We found ourselves asking the question, “Are they still alive?” before discussing most of them. Long story short, so many people have moved out of the precinct or died since 2008 voters have gone fully Republican here during the general elections in 2020 and 2022.
People scratch their head about how Iowa could vote for Obama twice, then for Trump twice afterward, as we did in my precinct. My interpretation is Iowans are on the move, including rural, conservative folks who want to get closer to the major metros where the jobs are, yet don’t want to live with all the liberals there. They seem to concentrate in rural and outlying subdivisions like ours. People are also on the move out of state where better job opportunities can be found. Not every one wants to become part of the industrial agriculture operations that dominate business in the state. The exodus is encouraged by repressive governance by the current crop of Republican state officials.
The caucuses are important to Democratic party officials who hope to launch an organizing miracle to turn the state purple (we’ve given up on blue). The truth staring us in the face is without the presidential preference part of the caucuses, people lose interest.
There has been good coverage of the caucuses in the Cedar Rapids Gazette with a special section with all the locations in the Sunday paper. People have every reason to know about the caucuses. We’ll see if they turn out and at what level. For perspective, we had 12 Democrats show for caucus in 2012, Obama’s re-election year. If we did that number a week from today, I’d be reasonably happy.
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