Many conservative pundits were not impressed by John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, since her glaring lack of experience undercuts McCain’s main message against Barack Obama.

On the plus side for McCain, just about everyone agreed that putting an anti-abortion mother-of-five on the ticket would delight the evangelical Christians who were so crucial to George Bush’s re-election.

Although the “pro-family” interest groups applauded McCain’s choice, I had a hunch that Palin wouldn’t be unanimously embraced by the evangelical rank and file.

I lurk and occasionally comment at a few “mommy blogs” written by religious conservatives. Checking in on some popular sites in the evangelical Christian blogosphere over the weekend, I did find some commentaries that praised Palin for her views and for continuing a pregnancy while carrying a child with Down syndrome.

However, if you join me after the jump, you’ll see that plenty of evangelicals are far from “fired up and ready to go” for this Republican ticket.  

Send me an e-mail or post a comment if you’d like me to add any events to this calendar.

Sunday, August 31:

Representative Bruce Braley will attend the Clinton Labor Congress Labor Day Picnic at 1:00pm in Eagle Point Park, Clinton.

Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee by midnight and have your contribution matched dollar-for-dollar by an unnamed group of senators. http://www.dscc.org

Monday, September 1:

Bruce Braley will walk in the Dubuque Labor Day Parade, beginning at 9:30 am in downtown Dubuque.

Democratic candidate for Congress Rob Hubler will be at the Sioux City Labor Picnic. For details, contact the Hubler campaign office in Sioux City at 712-258-9069.

Democratic candidate for Congress Becky Greenwald will be at the North Iowa Nine Labor Council Picnic from 12pm to 1pm. For details, call the Greenwald campaign at 515-537-4465.

Former Governor Tom Vilsack will attend the gathering following the Keokuk Labor Day Parade on behalf of the Obama campaign.  Governor Vilsack will meet with Iowans at 11:30 am at the Labor Temple, 301 Blondeau St in Keokuk, to discuss Senator Obama’s record of standing up for America’s workers and his plans to help working families.  

Polk County Democrats are still looking for volunteers and parade walkers for the Solidarity Fest:

The parade begins line-up at the State Capitol at 8am and the parade begins at 11am.  The route takes us from the Capitol to the 4-H Building at the State Fairgrounds.   Volunteers should arrive by 10:30am to find us in the line-up.  It is not numbered, but first come, first in line so allow yourself a little time.  To join us, please call Tamyra at 515-285-1800.

The Fest at the 4-H Building begins at 12pm .  Extreme Games form 12p – 2p. Campbell ‘s Concessions will offer hot dogs and chips for $2.00 and Hamburgers and chips for $2.50.  Free kids games and water.

The Polk County Democrats’ booth will be manned from 12p til the event is over between 2p and 3p.

If you are available to help out at the booth, please contact Tamyra at 515-285-1800

Tuesday, September 2:

Parents and parents-to-be may want to check out the cloth diaper and baby carrier “garage sale” organized by the Des Moines “cloth diaper crowd” that meets on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 am at the Vineyard Church, 36th and University in Des Moines. This is a great place to find very affordable cloth diapers and baby carriers in good condition. If you don’t want to buy used, you can still come to the group to learn about the different types of cloth diapers and covers available.

Dave Loebsack is holding a fundraiser for Gretche Lawyer from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Lowe Park Arts and Environment Center at 4500 10th Street in Marion.  Lawyer is running for the Iowa House for the seat formerly held by Swati Dandekar.

A fundraiser for Representative candidate Susan Radke, County Supervisor Wayne Clinton and Sheriff Fitzgerald will be held at the Swinging Bridges Studio in Story City from 5:30-7:00.

From the Center on Sustainable Communities:

Greensburg/Parkersburg Community Forum on Lessons Learned

September 2, Des Moines

Two communities who have begun their rebuilding efforts in two different ways will be in Des Moines, Tuesday, September 2nd from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Des Moines Downtown Public Library. Sharing their stories of challenges and success will be architect Stephen Hardy, one of the leaders of the rebuilding efforts in Greensburg, followed by comments from Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson, and Parkersburg Mayor Bob Haylock, Economic Development Director Virgil Goodrich and City Planner Don Temeyer. We invite you to attend this free public event to hear their stories and share questions regarding their continuing challenges and successes. For more information visit www.icosc.com.  RSVP to emily@icosc.com.

*

Thanks to corncam, who alerted me about a forum for Iowa City School Board candidates on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, from 7-9PM at the district’s central office at 509 S. Dubuque St.  Four candidates are running for three seats: incumbents Patti Fields and Toni Cilek, and challengers Michael Shaw and Richard Tiegs.  

Wednesday, September 3:

The Des Moines school board election is on Tuesday, September 9. A public forum for hearing more about the candidates will be held on September 3 at 7:00 pm in the auditorium at Central Campus (old Tech High School site in Des Moines). Sponsored by Interfaith

Alliance, League of Women Voters and city PTA. All eight candidates will be present to answer questions submitted by audience members. Audience members should not wear candidate’s promotional attire such as t-shirts, hats, etc. (buttons are allowed).  No signs, banners, charts, displays, or demonstrations of any kind will be allowed. Parking is available across the street, a block west of Central, and in the rear of the building (including the ramp behind the Wallace-Homestead Building ).  Entry into the building is only through the front main doors. For more information, call (515) 279-8715.

From the Iowa Environmental Council’s newsletter:

Science Café to explore the extremes of Iowa flooding and rainfall

September 3, Ames

Join the discussion from 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the Skybox at Legends American Grill at 200 Stanton Ave. in Ames. It won’t be a science class. It won’t be a lecture. But there are sure to be some lessons learned about the Iowa floods of 2008. The Iowa State University chapter of Sigma Xi — an international, multidisciplinary scientific research society — will co-sponsor a “Science Café” featuring Iowa State faculty members sharing their perspectives and answering questions on the theme, “Extreme Water and Weather in Iowa.” The café presentations will facilitate discussion about this summer’s flooding in Iowa. There will also be explanations of the science of flood prediction plus talk of how climate change and land use may affect flooding now and in the future. It is free and open to the public. For more information, go to http://www.public.iastate.edu/…

Submitted by William Simpkins

Thursday, September 4:

Congressman Leonard Boswell and the Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus are welcoming Congressman Ike Skelton of Missouri. He will be at the Baby Boomers Restaurant, 313 E Locust in Des Moines, from 9:00 – 10:00 am.

There’s another forum for Des Moines school board candidates. This one is at 7:00 pm at First Christian Church, 25th & University in Des Moines. (sponsored by AMOS)

Lovers of birds and natural habitat may want to attend the Audubon Society fundraiser:

Iowa Audubon is pleased to announce that Brad Jacobs, distinguished ornithologist with the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, will be the guest speaker at this year’s Audubon Pelican Gala fundraiser, Thursday evening, Sept. 4.  The topic of Brad’s presentation will be, “Connecting the Midwest with Latin America’s Birds”.  For further information and reservation form, go to http://www.iowaaudubon.org/mai… . Please join Iowa Audubon for an evening of pelican viewing from the deck of Jester Park Lodge on Saylorville Lake, conversations with fellow birders, expanded hors d’oeuvers, homemade desserts, silent auction and this special program by Brad Jacobs.  Proceeds from the event will further Iowa Audubon’s bird conservation efforts in Iowa and beyond.

Richard Leopold, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, is holding a public forum  on Thursday, September 4 at Viking Lake State Park in Stanton. “I’m looking forward to sharing some of the important initiatives underway within the department, but more importantly, I really want to hear from Iowa’s citizens. One thing I am particularly proud of is the rapport that the DNR

has with the public. This is a relationship we value highly within the DNR,” said Leopold. The public forum begins at 6 p.m. with Director Leopold outlining the department’s top 10 priorities, work being done to develop environmental indicators for the state, providing an update on sustainable funding for natural resources and discussion of local issues. Another hour-and-a-half will be devoted to answering questions from the public.

Friday, September 5:

It’s the first day of the Fall Festival and Bulb Mart, which runs September 5-7 and 12-14 at the Botanical Center of Des Moines. The Friends of the Botanical Center is sponsoring the Fall Festival and Bulb Mart to celebrate the harvest with fun and informative weekends for the whole family. The Bulb Mart will include over 26,000 individual bulbs for sale-many deer resistant. Speakers include Amy Goldman, a self-proclaimed “vegetable rights activist” and David Howard, recently retired as the head gardener at Highgrove House, the private residence of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in Gloucestershire, England. Justin Roberts and The Not Ready for Naptime Players will perform a free concert September 7.  For more information, go to www.botanicalcenter.com.

For those interested in brewing your own biodiesel:

Open Shop/ Biodiesel Brew Day

September 5, Guernsey

We will have an informal open shop on Friday, from 10 a.m. to noon, for people interested in seeing the progress of our system. This is not a formal class, but you will get a chance to see the process. Call or email Rich for details and directions to Catnip Farm (near Guernsey). Seating is limited. Rich Dana – 319.530.6051  rich@gotoplanb.net Sponsored by the Imagine Grinnell Energy Program

(http://gotoplanb.net/gapri)

Submitted by Rich Dana

Saturday, September 6:

Great opportunities to explore central Iowa’s natural areas:

Hartley Heritage Fen Tour

September 6, Jasper County

Beginning at 9:00 a.m., join us for tours of this fen in Jasper County, North of Mitchellville about 6.5 miles. Expect to see this 6.5-acre fen, a rare type of wetland, in full bloom. It’s home to unusual species, such as turtlehead, flat-topped aster and Riddell’s goldenrod, along with birds, butterflies and more. View restoration progress of the additional 26.5 acres of prairie and wetlands. Rain or shine. Dress for the weather and wet conditions at the site. For more information, including maps and directions, see http://www.inhf.org/heritage-f… .

Submitted by Lynn Laws

* * * * * * * * * *

Iowa River Wildlife Area Tour

September 6, Marshalltown area

Join us at 10:00 a.m., north of Marshalltown about 1.5 miles to tour this special place. It contains 485 acres of prairie, wetlands and mature forest, with 1.5 miles protected shoreline on the Iowa River. A wagon tour of the area will be offered, weather and ground conditions permitting. Parking is limited. To carpool, meet at 9:40 a.m. on the south side of the Marshall County Courthouse. In case of heavy rain, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation dedication will be at the Nature Center at Grimes Farm, 2349 23rd St., Marshalltown. For more information, including maps and directions, see http://www.inhf.org/iowariverw…

Submitted by Lynn Laws

* * * * * * * * * *

Rosie Medici, Michele & Chris Mahlstadt and Connie Craig are hosting a hog roast fundraiser for John Scarpino, Candidate for Polk County Supervisor in District 2. The event will take place from 1:00pm to 3:00pm at the VFW Lodge, 1309 NW 66th Ave in Des Moines. Cost $8.00 per person

Sunday, September 7:

Parents and grandparents of children under 10, mark your calendars: Des Moines native and nationally-renowned children’s musician will play a free concert at 3:00 pm at the Botanical Center. Although there is no charge for admission, you may want to bring money so you can buy his great albums afterwards!

Another good event for bird-lovers:

Pelican Festival

September 7, Polk County

“Play local” is the theme for the 2008 Pelican Festival, held from 1-6 p.m., at Jester Park Lodge. See and learn about the American white pelican and where and how you can recreate locally. In addition to wildlife viewing, activities for all ages will educate participants about pelicans, waterfowl, osprey, and their amazing migrations. Public education programs will take place all day on the half hour. Youth activities and refreshments will be on-site. There will be water available and a small concession stand. Please dress for the conditions – wear sunscreen, hats, etc. For a map to the park, go to http://www.conservationboard.o…

Submitted by Jane Clark and Kami Rankin

If you receive fundraising e-mails from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, you’ve probably noticed this lately:

Click here to make a contribution of $50, $75 or more to the DSCC to help Democrats win a filibuster-proof Democratic majority on November 4.  Give by midnight August 31 and a group of Democratic senators will match every single dollar you give, effectively doubling your contribution.

Anyone know which senators are in this group or whether Tom Harkin is participating?

After Labor Day we should be ready to get another Use It Or Lose It campaign going.

Sven from My Silver State did a lot of research for this diary on how much each Democratic senator has given to the DSCC so far this cycle.

This came in from Plains Justice yesterday:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 29, 2008      

Contacts:        

Carrie La Seur, Plains Justice (Cedar Rapids), 319-560-4729, claseur AT plainsjustice.org

Chris James, Synapse Energy Economics (Cambridge, MA), 617-861-7484, cjames AT synapse-energy.com

COMMUNITY, FARM AND PUBLIC HEALTH GROUPS FILE EXPERT TESTIMONY THAT BETTER EFFICIENCY PERFORMANCE IS A GENUINE ALTERNATIVE TO COAL

DES MOINES – Today Plains Justice, a Cedar Rapids-based environmental justice law center, filed expert testimony in Interstate Power and Light’s energy efficiency planning docket before the Iowa Utilities Board, on behalf of a coalition of Iowa grassroots groups.  The testimony by Synapse Energy Economics concludes that IPL has exaggerated costs and underestimated potential for its efficiency programs.

Expert witness Christopher James, a former air regulator who helped develop EPA’s National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, testifies that “IPL overestimates the costs of energy efficiency, and underestimates the amount of energy efficiency that can be achieved by 2013.”  IPL has told the IUB that energy savings of 1.5% annually, the level requested by IUB, would be difficult to achieve.  James concludes that this scenario is “very achievable” and should be pursued.

IPL’s energy efficiency planning is the subject of heightened interest because IPL claims that it cannot avoid the need for its proposed 649 MW Marshalltown plant through improved efficiency programming.  According to today’s intervenor testimony, IPL’s flawed approach to efficiency has led to the conclusion that a new coal plant is needed.  James testifies that IPL could achieve even more than 1.5% annual energy savings by including opportunities IPL has ignored, including combined heat and power at industrial sites like ethanol refineries.

The testimony states that “IPL has ignored some of the benefits of energy efficiency to Iowa’s consumers and businesses. These benefits include: deferring the need to construct new or upgrade existing generation, deferring the need to construct new or upgrade existing transmission lines and distribution system, reducing ratepayer bills, reducing emissions of criteria air pollutants (such as those which contribute to acid rain, smog and haze) and greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing public health costs (from reduced number of asthma cases, visits to emergency rooms, lost productivity at work, etc.).” James recommends that IUB require a revised and more ambitious plan from IPL.

Plains Justice argues that IUB must ensure that IPL has optimized efficiency programming before allowing a new coal plant to be built at a cost of up to $2 billion.  “Approving a coal plant before we’ve completed an aggressive efficiency planning process is putting the cart before the horse, at ratepayer expense,” says Plains Justice President and Founder Carrie La Seur.

Intervenors represented by Plains Justice in this docket are Community Energy Solutions, Iowa Farmers Union and Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility.  The intervenors are advocates for clean, community-based energy solutions that minimize the health and environmental impacts of energy production and support local and rural economies.  This intervention is one of a series brought by Plains Justice to promote better energy policy for Iowa on behalf of grassroots Iowa organizations.

The only low point of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday was this:

As president, as president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.

There is no such thing as “clean coal.” Every new coal-fired power plant is a 50-year investment in the wrong direction. It is unfortunate that our Democratic leaders lack the political courage to embrace an energy policy committed to meeting our needs without expanding our use of coal and nuclear power.

Al Gore laid out how this can be done in a major speech last month. Click the link to find an annotated version of the full transcript.

We can do much more with conservation and energy efficiency measures than the major utility companies acknowledge.

Thanks to Plains Justice and the other non-profit groups that are continuing to push the Iowa Utilities Board in the right direction.

If only the IUB had done the right thing back in April, these worthy non-profits could be spending their staff time and resources on other environmental and health problems facing Iowans.

I apologize for forgetting to post a calendar of events this week.

The Obama campaign in Iowa has organized canvassing in 49 communities on Saturday, August 30. I put the full list of cities and towns after the jump. For details or to sign up for one of these events, go to this page on the Iowa for Obama website. In most areas, there will be two shifts for door-knockers.

In many communities, canvassers will be spreading the word about down-ticket candidates as well as Barack Obama.

Quoting from a post I wrote earlier this week,

If you are planning to volunteer for Obama in a small town, take some time to become familiar with the Plan to Support Rural Communities. AlanF has good advice for canvassers in this diary, and Pete Mohanty lays out the reasons that canvassing is an effective campaign tool in this research paper.

If you volunteer this weekend, consider posting a diary to let us know how it went. I’m particularly interested to hear people’s reactions to Joe Biden  as VP or any of the convention speeches.

Nielsen has estimated that more than 38 million Americans watched Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday night, and that does not include the 3.5 million people that (according to PBS) watched the event on public television.

I was shocked to learn that

more people watched Obama speak than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final “American Idol” or the Academy Awards this year.

Every night of the Democratic convention, viewership was way up compared to 2004. Hillary Clinton’s speech on Tuesday drew at least 26 million viewers.

Talk about a tough act to follow. John McCain is scheduled to accept the Republican nomination next Thursday evening, when two other networks will be showing NFL games on the first night of the professional football season.

If today is John McCain’s birthday, why did he give us a present?

I strongly disagree with the idea that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a game-changer for the Republicans.

Hillary Clinton gave a strong endorsement of Barack Obama on Tuesday and will be out campaigning for him this fall. I’m supposed to believe that women who preferred Hillary in the Democratic primaries will flock to McCain, with his horrible record on women’s issues, because a conservative woman is his running mate?

I get the rationale for picking Palin, as laid out here by Chris Bowers and in a different way by Iowa blogger Douglas Burns.

But McCain is staking his campaign on persuading Americans that Obama is “not ready to lead.” I cannot see how it helps McCain to choose a running mate who is younger and less experienced than Obama. Palin has served less than two years as governor and before that was mayor of a town with fewer than 10,000 residents.

At 72 years old, McCain would be the oldest president ever elected. He is also a cancer survivor. Can the Republicans make the case that Palin is ready to lead this country should the need arise?

Supposedly the GOP base will be thrilled to see the anti-choice Palin on the ticket. I read some “mommy blogs” written by religious conservatives and will be checking them in the next few days to see how they react to this pick. (These bloggers tended to favor either Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul.)

I assume they will be relieved that McCain did not choose the detested Mitt Romney. However, I am not convinced these rank and file members of the religious right will celebrate Palin’s selection. They believe women should be homemakers who homeschool their children, and they think feminism and the trend toward working outside the home is undermining “Biblical womanhood.”

No matter how enthusiastically the Republican pundits welcome Palin, I suspect that many social conservatives will feel she should be at home, taking care of her special-needs infant and schooling her older children.

The business wing of the Republican base tended to support Romney in the primaries. Mitt himself is reportedly furious at the way McCain strung him along. Look for the knives to come out if anything goes wrong with Palin–for instance, if she gets tainted by the trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.

I’m skeptical that Palin will neutralize Joe Biden (supposedly because he can’t afford to be seen as a bully). Biden has two jobs: to alleviate concerns about Obama’s lack of experience, and to be an attack dog. The first task will be easier with Palin as his counterpart. As for the second, Biden can ignore Palin most of the time and focus his fire on McCain during the only vice-presidential debate.

Choosing Palin looks like a Hail Mary pass from a candidate who knows he will lose unless he shakes things up in a big way. I’m feeling much more optimistic about Obama’s chances than I did five days ago.

Supposedly MSNBC has confirmed that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will not be John McCain’s running mate.

Several bloggers have noted that at least one plane was chartered from Alaska to Ohio, which would suggested he is going with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

That seems like a desperate choice to me. McCain is over 70 and a cancer survivor whose main argument against Obama is that he is not “ready to lead.” So then he chooses someone who not only hasn’t finished a single term as governor, but has already become mired in an abuse-of-power scandal? (She used powers of her office to try to get a state trooper fired because of he and Palin’s sister were going through a bitter divorce.)

Great move!

The arguments for Palin are

1) she’s a woman

2) she reinforces McCain’s arguments on tax cuts and oil drilling, and

3) perhaps Joe Biden would have to go easy on her or else look like a bully.

But 1) I am skeptical that picking a woman will significantly cut into the gender gap working in Obama’s favor so far. I guess we’ll know more when we have more polls taken after Hillary Clinton’s convention speech, which more than 20 million Americans watched.

2) Alaska cut taxes because the state receives a huge amount of money from the federal government compared to what they put in the federal coffers. You can’t run national fiscal policy the same way.

3) Biden can ignore Palin most of the time. His job is to be an attack dog on McCain.

If McCain wanted a woman, he should have gone with Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She has experience in federal government. Even those some advocates on the religious right don’t think she is strong enough on the abortion issue, she does have an anti-choice voting record.

If it is Palin, props to Douglas Burns, who called that a long time ago.

After John Edwards left the race, I always said I’d vote for our nominee but would never donate to either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

All spring and summer, I vowed never to put an Obama sticker on my car and joked that Bleeding Heartland was last bastion of Obamaskepticism in the Iowa blogosphere.

I sent in my $15 tonight to get an Obama-Biden car magnet.

Daily Kos and MyDD user “Angry Mouse,” a dedicated Clinton supporter throughout the primaries, published this moving diary about her journey from being “just a Democrat who will vote for the party’s nominee” to a strong Obama supporter.

Consider this an open thread for discussing anything you’ve done that you thought you’d never do.

Chatter away about tonight’s big events.

I love the Republican whining about Shawn Johnson reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic convention. She’s not giving a political speech, she’s saying the pledge! Anyway, the more they complain, the more people will tune in to watch 75,000 Democrats go crazy over the Pledge of Allegiance.

Good for Shawn for taking this step, even though it could very well cost her some endorsements.

UPDATE: Democracy for America is phone-banking tonight (I got a call shortly after 7 pm). Smart move–a whole lot of Democrats are going to be at home in front of their television sets.

Bill Richardson: John McCain may pay hundreds of dollars for his shoes, but we’re the ones who will pay for his flip-flops.

SECOND UPDATE: Switched to C-SPAN an hour ago because I couldn’t take the inane punditry. Whose idea was it to have a parade of retired generals and ordinary people speak after Al Gore? Gore should have been the last speaker before Obama.

THIRD UPDATE: I was distracted by my kids and didn’t realize that Wesley Clark was one of the retired generals who stood on stage, but he was not allowed to say a word. That is atrocious. He is a good speaker, and the Obama campaign is running scared. That’s why the right-wing noise machine went after Clark last month–they wanted to make Obama afraid to use him.

FOURTH UPDATE: I only caught the last 15 minutes or so of Obama’s speech. I like this excerpt I read from earlier:

And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

Great visuals at the end with a packed stadium going wild. I have no idea what that country song was they played after Obama spoke, though.

Some commenters at Open Left pointed out that the Republicans picked a terrible week to have their convention. Monday is Labor Day, and a lot of Americans will have other things to do besides watch the RNC. Next Thursday is the opening night for the NFL, so McCain will deliver his acceptance speech opposite two nationally televised football games. I look forward to comparing the ratings for the GOP convention to our convention.

FIFTH UPDATE: The full text of Obama’s speech (as prepared) is after the jump.

What do these three things have in common?

• The cashier at a movie theatre refuses to sell tickets for R rated films because the movies are too violent…
• A waiter at a restaurant refuses to serve meat because they are a vegetarian…
• A geography teacher refuses to teach students about China because they are opposed to communism…

If a new rule from the Bush Administration was applied to all of jobs, none of these people could be fired for not doing their jobs!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a new rule that will impact the way basic and reproductive health care will be provided in America.  This new rule broadly expands refusal clauses to allow ideology into the doctor’s office—even the waiting room!

Tweaking the interpretation of existing law, ALL employees of health care organizations would be able to refuse to be associated with providing services to which they are opposed.  The administration says the new rule is targeted at abortion, but the trouble is they have made the rule so vague it could apply across the spectrum in health care, including the birth control women need to prevent abortions.

Creating a special class of employees based on personal beliefs allows everyone from the doctor to the receptionist have a say in your health care.  Any employee can deny care to a patient, and the organization is helpless to take action to correct the situation.

• The receptionist who schedules your appointment may not do so because he or she does not agree with the type of contraception you use.
• The doctor may not tell you about all of your options because they are opposed based on their religious beliefs.

A health care organization that ensures patients get access to necessary services may lose its ability to provide federal assistance to low-income patients because of one employee.  And they can take no corrective action.  This is just another example of the Bush Administration protecting the “haves” and cutting off the “have-nots”.

This rule is being sold as a “protection” for health care workers, but seems like it’s more about imposing the beliefs of others on you—and your health care.  Be prepared to start interviewing your health care provider and all their staff once this law is passed, because if you don’t you’ll never know what you should have been told that you were not told.

This rule is a last ditch effort by the Bush Administration to cut off science based medicine and impose ideology.  It’s about placing the rights of a few ahead of medically accurate healthcare for everyone, and it’s about overturning state laws that go against the will of the Bush Administration.  On September 23rd the “Provider Conscience Regulation” will go into effect. Without a strong grassroots opposition, the personal beliefs of others will be a factor in your health care—and millions of low-income patients may lose life-saving services.

For more information or to take action visit: http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hhs_regulation

Rumor has it that John McCain will officially announce his running mate tomorrow in Ohio. The Republicans will likely leak the news this evening so that Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium’s Invesco Field won’t dominate all the media commentary.

Who’s it gonna be?

I still think “Biden crimps McCain’s VP choice.”

My best guess is that McCain will pick Mitt Romney. The downside is that the ticket can be ridiculed as “Rich and Richer,” but the upside is that Romney is seasoned enough to go head-to-head with Biden in a debate. I can’t say the same for other possible choices such as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal or Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Also, I think I saw one poll suggesting Romney would help McCain in Florida, where recent polls show Obama and McCain within the margin of error.

Some people in the McCain campaign are supposedly pushing for Joe Lieberman to be the running mate. Although he still caucuses with Senate Democrats, he has been campaigning for McCain and using Republican talking points against Obama.

I can’t imagine McCain would dare to pick Lieberman. The beltway media would love the bipartisan-looking ticket, but the Republican base would go ballistic if McCain picked someone pro-choice. Although I don’t like Lieberman, his voting record is solidly Democratic.

The religious right doesn’t even want former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on the ticket, because he is pro-choice. At least Ridge is a lifelong Republican.

Open Left user leshrac55 pointed me toward this Huffington Post article about how Karl Rove has asked Lieberman to withdraw his name as a possible running mate, but Lieberman declined to do so.

(UPDATE: More rumors that McCain  really wants to pick Lieberman.)

I’ve seen no sign that McCain has ever considered Mike Huckabee for VP, but after watching Huckabee on The Colbert Report last night, I’m more convinced than ever that we haven’t heard the last from him. He’ll be running for president in 2012 or 2016 for sure. I disagree with many of his views, but I give Huckabee a lot of credit for praising Michelle Obama’s speech and pointing out the absurdity of conservative pundit spin about Hillary Clinton’s speech.

Also, I don’t recall hearing any Republican besides Huckabee express pride that this country has nominated a black man for president. On Colbert’s show, he said that while he won’t vote for Obama and wouldn’t like to see him become president, he remembers growing up with racism in the deep South, and he’s glad Obama’s race didn’t prevent him from winning the nomination.

I have heard some speculation that McCain will pick a woman, most likely Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison now that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is mired in scandal.

What do you think?

AT&T threw an invitation-only party on Monday night for the “Blue Dogs” in the House of Representatives. Matt Stoller found a blurb in the newspaper about this party:

Just because the Blue Dogs are fiscally conservative doesn’t mean they can’t have a good time, especially when AT&T is picking up the bill.

Why would AT&T want to throw an expensive party for the Blue Dogs? Maybe it’s because most of those Blue Dogs (including my own Congressman Leonard Boswell) voted with the House Republicans to pass a version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act containing retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that spied on Americans.

A group of well-known bloggers showed up outside the exclusive Denver restaurant to see who turned up. Glenn Greenwald of Salon, who wrote a book’s worth of material this year on FISA, tried to interview the people going into this party. Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake was there:

It was remarkable. I’ve never seen anything like it, really.  Glenn would announce that he was from Salon.com, ask them if they would be interviewed about the party, and nobody wanted to say who they were or even acknowledge that they knew what the party was about.

Almost every single person we talked with had the good sense to be ashamed of being there, but that didn’t stop them from going in.

I haven’t been able to confirm whether Boswell attended this party. Think Progress quotes the San Francisco Examiner, which reported that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was there:

Hoyer spokeswoman Stacey Bernards said Hoyer was not aware of any connection between the party and his work on the legislation.

“I’m sure Mr. Hoyer didn’t even know who the sponsor was,” she said.

Right. He had no idea who sponsored the party, even though numerous reports named AT&T as the sponsor. I’m sure Hoyer goes to parties all the time without asking who invited him.

From the San Francisco Examiner report:

AT&T is just one example of how political conventions have become a virtual bazaar where corporations and other special interests can peddle their wares, showcase their products and make a case for their favorite (or least favorite) piece of pending legislation.

The Texas-based company has the most high-profile corporate presence in Denver. It is a major sponsor at the convention, it is holding daily lunches for state delegations at the Pinnacle Club, with its startling views of the Rocky Mountain range, and co-hosting hip parties for the likes of the Screen Actors’ Guild and the New Democratic Coalition.

I seem to remember someone talking about the system being rigged because corporations have too much power in Washington, and how it wouldn’t be enough to replace corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats.

Oh yeah, it was that guy whose personal screw-up cost him a speaking slot at the convention. With him out of the picture, AT&T and the Blue Dogs can rest easy, because no prime-time speaker is going to be spreading that message in Denver.

Nor, I fear, are we likely to hear it from Democratic leaders in 2009.

This yellow-dog Democrat is not looking forward to checking the box next to Blue Dog Boswell’s name in November.

My best advice to those who are still angry about the FISA capitulation is don’t buy an iPhone. Getting one locks you into AT&T phone service.  

University of Iowa Arthur Miller’s body was identified on Wednesday, a week after he was reported missing and three days after his corpse was found in an Iowa City Park. Miller was under investigation for allegedly offering female students higher grades in exchange for sexual favors.

Miller placed a phone call to the Cedar Rapids Gazette shortly before he disappeared. In that call,

Miller said he believed the allegations and the investigation were part of a vendetta against him by Linda Maxson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Miller said he and Maxson had a running feud over the closure of an institute Miller founded. The Iowa Social Science Institute closed in 2002 upon recommendation by a committee with UI and external members, UI spokesman Steve Parrott said.

Miller said in the call that after the allegations were made, “not a single university administrator, not even the chairman of my department, came to me and asked me if I were OK,” if he had problems or was sick.

Miller also said that during his meetings with UI officials about the investigation, he thought these were sexual harassment charges that would be handled with an internal hearing or negotiation. He said he was surprised to be arrested.

“It’s been very depressing to me now that this has all gone public,” Miller said, adding that even if the charges are proved unfounded, he felt his reputation was ruined.

I feel very sorry for Miller’s wife and two young children (one four-year-old and one four-month-old). No matter what the outcome of the investigation, those children would have been better off knowing their father as they grew up.

The autopsy determined that Miller died of a self-inflicted wound from a rifle. The Des Moines Register reported that Miller had tried to buy a pistol or revolver in June, but Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek denied the permit application:

When a routine background check yielded a letter from the university informing him of multiple investigations tied to the political science professor, Pulkrabek got involved personally and called the university’s legal counsel.

“He gave me some additional (non-public) information that was enough for me to deny the permit,” Pulkrabek wrote in an e-mail circulated this week to other sheriffs. […]

Iowa law gives sheriffs the authority to decide who receives gun permits and to impose restrictions on those who want to carry concealed weapons.

But at least 35 states – including Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska – now mandate that concealed weapons permits be approved, provided applicants meet a set of criteria laid out in state law.

Groups such as the Iowa State Rifle and Pistol Association and IowaCarry.Org supported legislation last year that would have made Iowa’s permit process more uniform and taken the discretion away from sheriffs. The legislation died under heated opposition from many in law enforcement, including the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association and the Iowa attorney general’s office.

Miller was able to buy a rifle after being denied a handgun permit because his name was not on a federal list that gun dealers are required to check before selling rifles.

As it turned out, Miller was planning to kill himself, but the sheriff had reasonable grounds to worry that he might be a danger to others. I hope legislators will not agree to relax Iowa’s law regarding permits for concealed weapons.

Hillary Clinton released her delegates earlier today and told them that they could vote their conscience, but she had voted for Barack Obama.

Later she urged the convention to nominate Obama by acclamation, which it did enthusiastically.

This is an open thread for discussing any of Wednesday’s speeches or other events at the convention. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden will be the prime-time highlights. (By the way, one of my neighbors has put her Biden for president yard sign back in front of her house. She is “fired up and ready to go,” as they say.)

After the jump I’ve posted the text of Governor Chet Culver’s remarks (as prepared) to the DNC yesterday. He focused on energy policy, which is certainly among my top 10 reasons for Americans to vote for Obama.

UDPATE: When Bill Kristol idiotically claimed last night that Hillary Clinton gave a weak endorsement of Obama, he noted that she hadn’t said Obama would be a good commander in chief.

Guess what? Today’s theme is national security, and Bill Clinton has already said,

“In Barack Obama, America will have the national security leadership we need. My fellow Democrats, I say to you Barack Obama is ready to lead America…”

Got that, Mr. Kristol?

cross-posted at La Vida Locavore and the EENR progressive blog

My son just started kindergarten in the Des Moines public system. His school has a wonderful and caring staff, and he is having a great time, as he did in the pre-school program there.

Unfortunately, like almost all public schools these days, this school relies on fundraising by the parents’ group to pay for essential school supplies.

The parents’ group decided years ago not to have our kids sell chocolate or wrapping paper or some other overpriced product to raise money, and I appreciate that.

They have opted this year to participate in the Tyson Project A+ label collection program, which is sponsored by Tyson Foods, Inc.

A sheet went home with my son encouraging parents to clip and save Tyson Project A+ labels, which are worth 24 cents each for the school:

Through this program, we can raise as much as $12,000 for our school this year! The money we raise can go towards buying books or computers, making improvements to our buildings, or anything else that we want.

Here is a list of 53 Tyson chicken products with labels I can clip and collect for the school.

Most Tyson chicken products contain meat from birds that have been treated with antibiotics, which may be a leading contributor to drug-resistant bacteria.

Tyson fired several employees earlier this year following reports of excessive cruelty at two of its factories.

Two years ago, Tyson had to pay $1.5 million in back pay for hiring discrimination. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor sued the company for pay practices that violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 2005, Tyson Foods paid the state of Kentucky $184,515 to settle six cases related to worker safety, including one that stemmed from a fatal accident.

Tyson also has a history of profiting from the employment of illegal immigrants. In fact, some of its managers were involved in recruiting illegal immigrants to work at Tyson factories, which led to a

36-count federal indictment that prosecutors obtained against Tyson in December 2001. The company was charged in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga with having, among other things, engaged in an elaborate seven-year scheme to recruit hundreds, if not thousands, of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala for its poultry plants in at least 12 states. Six of Tyson’s mid-level executives or plant managers were also indicted. But in the end, even though Tyson was benefiting from illegal workers laboring in its plants, the executives avoided conviction.

It was the most ambitious criminal immigration case ever against an employer. Prosecutors demanded $100 million as a forfeiture penalty that they said represented the company’s ill-gotten gains. The transcript for the six-and-a-half-week trial ran 5,464 pages. On March 26, the jury rendered its verdict: not guilty on all counts.

The sting had caught several Tyson managers or their assistants on audiotape and videotape plotting to recruit and hire illegal aliens for several plants, including the one at Shelbyville. Seven Tyson employees, whom the company eventually fired, had quietly pleaded guilty to immigration-related offenses.

During the late 1990s, Tyson employed 67,000 workers at 55 poultry plants. Court testimony established that a number of those workers were illegal, some hired directly and some through temp agencies.

I buy chicken directly from sustainable farmers or from the Wholesome Harvest coalition of small organic family farmers, which has been endorsed by the Organic Consumers Association. I don’t like feeling pressure to buy Tyson chicken products in order to pay for classroom supplies and school improvements.

Inadequate funding for public schools is the root of this problem. The parents’ group organizes several fundraising projects during the year, including a chili supper and silent auction which is always a success. But it’s not easy to raise significant funds without urging kids to sell products people don’t need. A concert for the school, featuring a famous children’s artist, lost money two years ago.

Programs like Tyson Project A+ probably seem like a good deal to parents who would be buying some of these foods anyway. For my part, I plan to donate $50 directly to the parents’ group. I’d have to buy more than 200 Tyson products to raise an equivalent amount through this label collection program.

UPDATE: Thanks to ragbrai08, who noted that I forgot to mention Tyson’s settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in November 2006 “for $871,000 on behalf of black workers who alleged that they were racially harassed and retaliated against at a chicken processing plant in Ashland, Alabama.”

I forgot to put up an open thread on the convention last night and only watched Hillary Clinton on the web much later. What an powerful and moving speech. I cried, and I wasn’t even one of her supporters during the primaries.

What was your favorite part? Todd Beeton thought the Harriet Tubman reference (“Keep going!”) was “the moment of the night.”

The sound bites grabbed by most media were “No way, no how, no McCain” and her opening line: “I’m here as a proud mother, a proud Democrat, a proud Senator from New York, a proud American and a proud supporter of Barack Obama.”

I thought she did a great job acknowledging her supporters and then asking those who were considering John McCain whether they were in it only for her or for the people she fought for.

Saying it made sense for McCain and George Bush to be together in the Twin Cities next week, because it’s hard to tell them apart these days, was also a classic line.

Talking Points Memo put her whole speech on YouTube.

Talking Points Memo also found this hilarious “bizarro world” video of Republican hack Bill Kristol saying it was a “shockingly minimal endorsement” of Obama.

This is an open thread for your thoughts on Hillary Clinton, Chet Culver, or anyone else who spoke at the convention yesterday.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting piece by DemFromCT on how Democratic convention viewership is way up compared to 2004.

Also, Dansac tells you what you probably already know: the mainstream media coverage of this convention is horrible. Better to watch all the speeches on C-SPAN or online.

The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission will release its final report next week, but the task forces working on various aspects of flood recovery released their recommendations on Monday. Click the link to read the Des Moines Register’s brief summaries of about 30 different recommendations, or click here for a 267-page pdf file containing all the reports from the task forces.

According to the Register, several members of the Rebuild Iowa Commission say a special session of the legislature is warranted to address flood recovery and reconstruction needs. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said there is a 50-50 chance of that happening.

I imagine that legislators in tough campaigns wouldn’t want to come to Des Moines for a special session, but these needs are urgent, and I don’t think they can all be put off until January. If there is no special session, I’m afraid the legislature will do little during the 2009 regular session besides consider responses to the flooding.

Whenever legislators meet to evaluate flood relief and reconstruction measures, I hope they will keep in mind the Iowa Fiscal Partnership’s sound advice.

The leadership also needs to make sure environmental considerations do not get short-changed, as they were during the selection of Rebuild Iowa task force members.

The owners of Agriprocessors have invited Governor Chet Culver to visit the Postville meat-packing plant he strongly criticized in his guest editorial for the Sunday Des Moines Register.

The invitation was part of a guest commentary from Agriprocessors, which the Register published on Monday. In that piece, the company’s plant manager, Chaim Abrahams, denied most of the allegations concerning labor and safety violations at the plant.

Culver’s office said the governor will not accept the invitation.

In related news, someone asked Barack Obama about the federal raid at the Agriprocessors plant when he was in Davenport on Monday, and he was quite critical of alleged use of child labor without mentioning Agriprocessors by name. An attorney for Agriprocessors issued an angry response to Obama’s comments. The company’s owners have donated primarily to Republican politicians in the past.

Apparently the new and improved slogan for Barack Obama’s campaign is “The Change We Need.”

I like that a lot better than “Change We Can Believe In.” People believe in religion. I am not looking to “believe in” a candidate, I am looking for a candidate who can deliver what Americans need.

But I suppose I would say that, since John Edwards frequently used “the change we need” on the stump and in debates.

Admittedly, Edwards put a bit of a different spin on the slogan:

As President, I will make sure the voices of all Americans are heard in Washington. If we fight together, we can get the change we need and America will rise.

Similarly,

Where some of the other Democratic candidates use the language of compromise or are in fact taking money from and in support of the corporate interests who are blocking real change, I think the policies I’ve released and the way I’ve spoken out show that I’m more willing to fight to achieve the change we need.

Obama doesn’t position himself as a fighter, which is probably just as well. It wouldn’t suit his temperament.

Another difference is that Edwards didn’t necessarily portray himself as the agent of “the change we need.” He often used the expression in reference to the forces preventing that change, as in this speech on restoring our democracy:

To actually create change, we should start by telling the truth.

Here’s the truth: the system in Washington is broken. Money is corrupting our democracy. Lobbyists and the special interests they represent are pouring millions of dollars into the system, and stopping the change we need dead in its tracks.

I’ll be the first to admit that “the system is broken” was not as appealing a message for many Americans as the more upbeat “we are the change we’ve been waiting for.” But despite my deep disappointment regarding the recent revelations about Edwards, I still feel that his campaign message was more honest and to the point.

That’s water under the bridge. I’ve got no problem with Obama using “The Change We Need.” Heck, I’m even considering sending in $15 to get an Obama-Biden magnet for my car.