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Bleeding Heartland
It's what plants crave.
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marriage equality 
Mon May 06, 2013 at 07:25:00 AM CDT
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In a decision announced on Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the Iowa Department of Public Health to refuse to list a non-birthing lesbian spouse on a child's birth certificate. Details on this nearly unanimous ruling are after the jump. I was intrigued by how Governor Terry Branstad's three appointees from 2011 handled this case.
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Wed Apr 24, 2013 at 07:55:00 AM CDT
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Former State Representative and State Senator Swati Dandekar is reportedly considering a bid for the open first Congressional district seat.
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Wed Apr 17, 2013 at 16:01:00 PM CDT
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State Senator Dennis Guth demonstrated today that he merits strong consideration in any search for the most clueless Iowa legislator.
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Wed Mar 27, 2013 at 19:31:00 PM CDT
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Today the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Windsor, a challenge to the constitutionality of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. Unlike yesterday's hearing on California's same-sex marriage ban, this case will affect many Iowans directly. The court's ruling on DOMA will determine whether thousands of married LGBT couples in Iowa are eligible for benefits granted to married citizens under federal law.
Lots of links are after the jump, but the enduring sound bite from the day will surely be Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's comment: "You're saying [...] there are two kinds of marriages, the full marriage, and this sort of skim milk marriage."
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Tue Mar 26, 2013 at 16:57:00 PM CDT
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California's constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriages. Proposition 8 passed by popular referendum in 2008.
Many links about today's hearing and possible outcomes are after the jump. A separate post will cover tomorrow's Supreme Court arguments in the challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
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Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 14:52:00 PM CST
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The times they are a-changin': more than 200 Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate have signed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court should strike down the key provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
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Tue Feb 26, 2013 at 13:40:00 PM CST
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While more than 80 nationally prominent Republicans have signed on to a brief encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court to support marriage equality, Iowa Republican legislators continue to march lockstep behind efforts to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court's Varnum v Brien ruling.
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Sat Feb 09, 2013 at 20:55:54 PM CST
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What's on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? A few links related to Iowa demographics are after the jump, along with highlights from this week's "Iowa Press" program, featuring Republican Party of Iowa Chair A.J. Spiker and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Tyler Olson.
This is an open thread.
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Wed Feb 06, 2013 at 18:23:26 PM CST
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Governor Terry Branstad is a "pretty clear favorite" for re-election, according to a new Iowa poll by Public Policy Polling.
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Wed Jan 30, 2013 at 20:05:00 PM CST
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What's on your mind, Bleeding Heartland readers? This is an open thread. After the jump I've posted a new editorial from The FAMiLY Leader's Bob Vander Plaats. As you can imagine, he's upset about "Republican elites" pushing for acceptance of LGBT civil marriage rights.
Vander Plaats has made a pretty good living off the culture wars, but he hasn't done as well as National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown. The pro-LGBT equality group Rights Equal Rights issued a press release today highlighting details from NOM's 2011 tax return (pdf). Notably, Brian Brown made over $500,000 dollars: $230,000 for working full-time at NOM's political operation, and $230,000 from NOM's Educational Fund "where he claimed to work another 40 hours per week," plus $47,000 in benefits.
Speaking of the "traditional marriage" crowd, Mark Doland has a slim edge over former State Senator Tom Rielly in Tuesday's special election for Mahaska County supervisor. Rielly posted on Facebook that as of Tuesday night, Doland led by 1391 votes to 1375. Some provisional ballots and late-arriving absentees had not yet been counted.
Doland used to be a staffer for the Iowa Family Policy Center and worked closely with Vander Plaats during the 2010 campaign to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices. He now serves on the Republican Party of Iowa's State Central Committee. Rielly, a Democrat, was mayor of Oskaloosa before serving two terms in the Iowa Senate. He retired last year after Iowa's new map removed Grinnell from his district and added heavily Republican areas such as Pella. Republican Ken Rozenboom was elected in the new Senate district 40, forcing the special election for his Mahaska County supervisor seat.
Interestingly, Rozenboom endorsed Rielly for county supervisor, even though his fellow Republican Doland had stood aside for him in Iowa Senate district 40. UPDATE: Rielly conceded defeat by 21 votes on February 4. Republicans won't soon forget that Rozenboom preferred a Democrat for this supervisor's seat.
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Tue Jan 29, 2013 at 10:45:00 AM CST
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Very few prominent Iowa Republicans have endorsed same-sex marriage rights since the Iowa Supreme Court's 2009 decision striking down the state's Defense of Marriage Act. Every Republican now serving in the Iowa House and Senate is on record supporting a constitutional amendment to reverse that court ruling. When former State Senator Jeff Angelo created the Iowans for Freedom movement in 2011 to support marriage equality as consistent with conservative values, only a handful of Republicans signed on. One of them, Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson, was later warned against seeking the GOP nomination for the special election in Senate district 18, in part because of his position on marriage.
Last night some heavy-hitter Republican strategists and activists met in Des Moines to urge the Iowa GOP to change its stance on marriage equality.
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Wed Dec 19, 2012 at 08:25:00 AM CST
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Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hutchison has ordered the Iowa Department of Public Health to list both parents on a child's death certificate, regardless of the parents' gender, and to modify the death certificate issued to two married mothers who sued the department earlier this year.
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Mon Dec 10, 2012 at 16:35:00 PM CST
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Losing a re-election contest is no fun for any state legislator, but defeated incumbents often land on their feet. Such is the case with outgoing State Senator Merlin Bartz and State Representative Annette Sweeney.
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Sun Dec 09, 2012 at 07:30:00 AM CST
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The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed on Friday that justices will consider two cases involving same-sex marriage. I've posted some background and analysis of those cases after the jump. One of the cases has the potential to affect same-sex couples legally married in Iowa.
This is an open thread: all topics welcome.
Happy Chanukah to everyone in the Bleeding Heartland community who celebrates--or rather observes--this holiday. My top Jewish parenting tip for this season: buy extra boxes of candles. Your children will want to load the menorah, and they will break some candles.
Most Chanukah traditions (lighting candles, eating fried foods, playing dreidel) don't acknowledge the dark side of the events that inspired this holiday. History buffs will enjoy these brief accounts of what was really a Jewish civil war.
UPDATE: The National Weather Service reported on December 9, "The record streak for consecutive days with no measurable snow has ended in Des Moines at 279 this morning."
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Fri Nov 09, 2012 at 13:25:00 PM CST
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Iowa conservative talk radio host Steve Deace blames Mitt Romney for how residents of Maine, Maryland, Washington, and Minnesota just voted on marriage equality.
He [Romney] killed us all over the country. Look at [same-sex] marriage. We've never lost the issue before, until it shared a ballot with Romney then we lost it four times on one day. Heck, we even won marriage in California on Election Day 2008 for goodness sake.
Someone never learned the difference between correlation and causation. For the last decade, opinion polls across the country have shown steady gains in support for same-sex marriage rights. The window for conservatives to pass more discriminatory ballot initiatives is closing fast.
Six years ago, Wisconsin voters in all but one county approved a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. This year, Wisconsin voters elected an out lesbian to the U.S. Senate. Romney's fault?
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Thu Nov 08, 2012 at 17:15:00 PM CST
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Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins kept his job Tuesday by a surprisingly large margin of 670,013 votes to 556,782. The percentage of yes and no votes on Wiggins (54.61 percent to 45.39 percent) was a mirror image of the 2010 votes on Chief Justice Marsha Ternus (55 percent no), Justice Michael Streit (54.4 percent no), and Justice David Baker (54.2 percent no). Whereas only ten of Iowa's 99 counties voted to retain three Supreme Court justices in 2010, 36 counties recorded more "yes" than "no" votes this year.
Maps are after the jump, along with some clips on the retention vote. I also list which pro-retention counties produced a plurality of votes for President Barack Obama, which "yes" counties went for Mitt Romney, and which "no Wiggins" counties went for Obama.
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Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 07:25:00 AM CST
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Supporters of LGBT equality are celebrating yesterday's votes for same-sex marriage rights in Maine, Maryland, and Washington, as well as Minnesotans rejecting a constitutional amendment designed to restrict marriage rights to heterosexuals.
The election also slammed the door on any prospect of overturning marriage equality in Iowa.
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Tue Nov 06, 2012 at 15:14:00 PM CST
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Whatever happens in tonight's Iowa legislative races, one mystery will remain: why couldn't Republicans recruit a stronger candidate to run against Mike Gronstal in Iowa Senate district 8?
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