Polk County supervisors are going to spend more time reviewing the options for addressing the needs of the overcrowded courthouse before putting another referendum before the voters. Click the link to see some options being considered.

Given the way the April 29 vote turned out, there was little chance that Polk County voters would approve the same plan this November in any case.

It is unfortunate that poor planning and mismanagement of other projects involving the county have created such an atmosphere of public distrust. The courthouse proposal was a sensible approach to meeting real needs of the judicial system.

I figured that if John Edwards hadn’t endorsed by now, he would wait until all of the states had held their primaries, but he proved me wrong today.

The video of his speech endorsing Barack Obama, as well as his interview on Larry King Live this past Monday, can be found here in NCDem Amy’s diary.

I find it interesting that they chose Michigan as the venue for the big endorsement rally. Obama may realize that he could be in some trouble in Michigan, since he didn’t campaign there before the January primary and didn’t get behind any re-vote plan for the state.

The timing of the endorsement stepped on Hillary Clinton’s big victory in West Virginia yesterday. Still, I am glad that Edwards paid tribute to Hillary today as well:

It is very very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done. It is hard to get out there and fight and speak up when the odds turn against you. What she has shown is strength and character and what drives her is something that each and every one of us should appreciate. She cares about working people…men and women in Iraq…she is a woman made of steel and she is a leader in this country not because of her husband but because of what she has done…When this nomination battle is over, brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats and in the fall stand up for the future of America to make America better. We are a stronger party because Hillary Clinton is a Democrat…and we will have a stronger presidential nominee in the fall because of her work.

I don’t think Edwards is a good match for Obama as a VP candidate, but I would like to see him out there campaigning for Obama in the coming months. I believe that he could help Obama in states such as Michigan and Ohio.

According to the electoral vote counter on the upper left side of the front page at MyDD, John McCain is currently projected to defeat Obama 290-248. Obama would win the Kerry states minus Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire, plus Iowa and Colorado–not nearly enough.

Ironically, Hillary is currently in a much stronger position against McCain, even though she has in essence no chance of winning the Democratic nomination anymore. The electoral vote counter for her, on the upper right side of the front page at MyDD, has her beating McCain 291-247. Hillary would be projected to win the Kerry states minus Wisconsin and Michigan, plus Ohio, Florida and Iowa.

UPDATE: At MyDD, Josh Orton notes that Elizabeth Edwards was not up on the stage with her husband tonight. One might interpret this to mean that she disagrees with the endorsement (she has already said she prefers Hillary’s health care reform plan). However, my hunch is that she is limiting her overnight travel away from their two school-age children. There was no compelling need for her to be there. After such a long campaign, during which the kids traveled with Elizabeth much of the time, she may just prefer to be at home.

At TalkLeft, Big Tent Democrat had high praise for Edwards’ speech and made an interesting point I hadn’t thought about:

John Edwards, populist hero with a proven record of connecting with white working class voters has vouched for Barack Obama. Does Kentucky buy it?

The Kentucky contest, previously a foregone conclusion for the Media, now becomes a test. For Barack Obama. He needs to go in to Kentucky, WITH John Edwards, and fight for their votes. He needs to show he cares about the voters of Kentucky. Particularly white working class voters. An interesting development indeed.

My money is still on a Clinton blowout in Kentucky next Tuesday.

I got an e-mail from Ed Fallon’s campaign that contrasts Fallon’s “personal commitment” to transportation by bicycle with Congressman Leonard Boswell’s “photo-op” Bike to Work event on Monday morning:

Ed has been riding his bike as a consistent form of transportation for years. It’s his way of demonstrating his personal commitment and responsibility for reducing his carbon footprint.

The e-mail then shows a photo of Fallon “arriving by bike at his campaign office in the February snow,” as well as a photo of Boswell riding his bicycle on Monday, which the incumbent e-mailed to constituents:

Personal commitment or photo op?

You decide!

Speaking of Bike to Work Week, Fallon will be at the Handlebar Happy Hour on Friday at 5 pm at the El Bait Shop, 200 SW 2nd St, Des Moines.

Now, do I think Fallon would represent me better in Congress because he rides a bicycle regularly? No, but I do have confidence that because of this experience, he understands the need to make our roads more bike-friendly.

I know many people who are afraid to run errands on their bikes, but would consider it if there were bike lanes on more streets in the Des Moines area.

Although Boswell has served on the House Transportation Committee for some time, I have not seen any commitment from him to promoting “complete streets” that encourage travel by foot and by bicycle as well as by car.

I don’t care how often Boswell uses his bicycle as long as he gets behind the Safe and Complete Streets bill that Representative Doris Matsui recently introduced in the House. Tom Harkin has already introduced a similar bill in the U.S. Senate.

To everyone who worked hard toward the passage of a law expanding health insurance coverage for Iowa children, which Chet Culver signed yesterday.

To the Iowa Council for International Understanding, which has posted translations of Iowa voter registration documents on its website in light of a court ruling that bars the Secretary of State’s office from providing information in any language other than English.

To Senator Chuck Grassley for looking into the spending practices of six tax-exempt “media-based ministries,” despite a large-scale public relations campaign accusing him of “religious McCarthyism.”

To Iowa Independent blogger Dien Judge, who was just appointed to the Monroe County board of supervisors, a position he will hold for the next six months.

And to Iowa City Council member Ross Wilburn, the bicyclist who won Johnson County’s annual Bike-to-Work Week Bike-Bus-Car race.

Put up a comment if you know of someone else who deserves congratulations this week.

Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in West Virginia. With 95 percent reporting, she has 67 percent and he has 26 percent. Clinton received approximately 140,000 more votes than Obama. I don’t know why John Edwards was still on the ballot in WV, but he seems to have gotten almost 7 percent of the vote.

In her victory speech, Hillary mentioned Dalton Hatfield, an 11-year-old from Kentucky who sold his bike and video games to donate about $400 to the Clinton campaign. This prompted an Obama supporter to post an idiotic diary at Daily Kos, suggesting that Hillary had “sunk lower” than Richard Nixon did when he delivered his famous “Checkers” speech in 1952.

Clinton supporter Trix had the ultimate comeback:

 Something tells me that… (11+ / 0-)

Recommended by:

   Rimjob, dhonig, wader, desmoinesdem, homogenius, Lying eyes, rcald, Mikesco, Barry in MIA, lineatus, Namtrix

if this were a story about a kid selling his bike to donate the proceeds to Obama, you’d be going on and on about how inspiring Obama is to children.

Hillary Clinton turned me into a newt. I got better.

by Trix on Tue May 13, 2008 at 08:13:56 PM PDT

On the Republican side, John McCain only managed about 76 percent of the vote in WV, with 10 percent going for Mike Huckabee and 5 percent choosing Ron Paul.

I have to agree with isucyclones94, though, who commented in the previous thread that Democrat Travis Childers’ victory in the special election in Mississippi’s first Congressional district is the biggest story of the night.

This is a district with a partisan index of R+10, and the Republicans worked hard to link Childers to Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright:

Yet Childers won by a margin of 54-46. I totally agree with Jonathan Singer’s take on this outcome:

  1. I don’t want to go so far as to say that this is the end of the Republican Party, because it’s not. But this is as bad news as the GOP could possibly get at this point. They lost a district that leans 6 points more Republican than the nation as a whole in Illinois in March. They lost a district that leans 7 points more Republican than the nation as a whole earlier this month in Louisiana. Now they lost a district that leans 10 points more Republican than the nation as a whole in Mississippi. If they can’t win in Mississippi’s first congressional district, where can they win?

  2. The Republicans tried to make this election about two people: Barack Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. And despite running this type of campaign, they lost. While it is true that Childers distanced himself from his party (and implicitly from Obama), the fact is that the Obama/Wright smears simply DID NOT WORK. The Republicans are going to have to get a new game plan, and the establishment media are going to have to get a new meme. Sorry folks.

The head of the National Republican Congressional Committee didn’t even try to spin the loss (click the link for his full statement).

Also, in the Democratic primary for the open U.S. Senate seat from Nebraska, netroots hero Scott Kleeb beat Tony Raimondo by a large margin, 68-25. Kleeb came pretty close to winning Nebraska’s third Congressional district in 2006, despite a very strong Republican tilt in that district. Raimondo is a Republican who switched parties just so he could run for the U.S. Senate. Good for Kleeb.

In a state as red as Nebraska, Republicans are favored to hold this Senate seat, but Kleeb will make them work for it.

The demographics are horrible for Obama, and he has hardly campaigned in the state, while Clinton has spent a lot of time there.

I’m going with 62 Clinton, 38 Obama.

For good on-the-ground reports about the campaign, read diaries by “Carnacki”:

http://www.mydd.com/user/Carnacki

The tv ad Obama ran in West Virginia can be viewed here:

http://link.brightcove.com/ser…

It’s not a bad ad, but I don’t like the halo around his head when he’s standing in front of the cross. I understand why he wants the cross in there, to combat rumors he is a Muslim, but I find the halo irritating.

At least he didn’t run on “clean West Virginia coal”!

Put your predictions for today’s primary results in the comments.

Yet again, Republicans are trying to sneak an amendment benefiting oil companies into otherwise good legislation. This time they are trying to use the Flood Insurance Bill as a vehicle to open up the last portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.

This action alert went out on the Sierra Club e-mail list today:

This is an urgent alert: As soon as tomorrow (Tuesday), the Senate will vote on an amendment to the national Flood Insurance Bill offered by Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and co-sponsored by Senator Pete Domenici (NM) that threatens polar bears and other wildlife.

Rather than addressing high oil prices and dependence on foreign oil by moving toward better alternatives and practical solutions, this amendment promotes more drilling in more places for more oil profits.

This is not a solution, it’s a sell off. Please take action right now…

1. Make the call. Either today or tomorrow morning, please call your Senators at one of the numbers below:

   * Tom Harkin – (202) 224-3254 or (515) 284-4574 – http://harkin.senate.gov/c/

   * Charles Grassley – (202) 224-3744 or (515) 288-1145 – http://grassley.senate.gov/pub…

If you are calling after 5:00 PM or before 8:00 AM Eastern time, please be sure to leave a message.

The rest of the action alert is after the jump. It includes more information and talking points for you to use when you make the call.

If you can spare some cash for a good Democrat, today or tomorrow would be an excellent time to donate.

May 14 is the last day of the current reporting period, and the media as well as the Republican Party will be scrutinizing those fundraising totals to figure out where the strong and weak candidates are.

So far during this reporting period, I’ve donated to five candidates for the Iowa legislature:

Jerry Sullivan

Eric Palmer

Elesha Gayman

McKinley Bailey

Nate Willems

Speaking of Nate, here is an update on his campaign that I received by e-mail recently:

Today I am putting online Natewillems.com.  I am calling it a “1.0” because the site is still in its infancy.  It covers the essentials, though, and should give you a sense as to what is motivating me to run to represent House District 29.  Please take a moment to visit http://www.natewillems.com

May 14th is the last day this campaign’s first reporting period.  These early reporting periods are the most crucial to my campaign.  Though this seat has been held by a Democrat for 12 years, the Republicans will look at any open seat as a potential opportunity to take a seat back.  I need to raise as much money as possible in these early reporting periods to dissuade the Republicans from investing heavily in District 29.

We are very close to having raised $30,000 in the first two months of this campaign.  Please consider making a contribution today through my ActBlue account:

https://secure.actblue.com/con…

Of course, we do still have a regular mailbox: Citizens for Willems, P.O. Box 213, Lisbon, IA 52253.

Many of you have already donated.  I thank you again very much for your donation, but ask that you consider making another contribution to get us past this $30,000 goal.  

Many of you are intending to donate at some point and I ask you to make your contribution now.  

There are thousands of doors yet for me to knock on and countless people to meet.  With your financial support, I can spend more time knocking on doors and less time raising money.  https://secure.actblue.com/con…

Don’t forget, take a look at www.natewillems.com

Thank you very much.  I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Nate

—

(319) 929-4543

Please find a good Democrat and make a donation today.

For whatever reason, Congressman Leonard Boswell’s campaign website (http://www.boswellforcongress.com) doesn’t seem to list upcoming events in the district anywhere, so I don’t always know when he plans to be in town. (Please correct me if there’s a page on the site I have missed–I’ve looked for an events calendar.)

Most candidates are happy to publicize upcoming local events. Maybe Boswell doesn’t want to call attention to his visits to the district because they undercut his claim that he is too busy working in Washington to debate Ed Fallon.  

I know he had a Bike to Work week event in Des Moines on Monday morning, and I heard he had some kind of event at Prairie Meadows the same day, but I don’t know if it was a campaign appearance or a fundraiser.

If you have heard about an event Boswell is holding in the district, please post a comment or a diary.

Not long ago Amtrak released the results of a feasibility study on a passenger rail link between Iowa City, the Quad Cities, and Chicago. (Later this year the next phase of the study will examine extending passenger rail to Des Moines as well.)

A few days ago, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) introduced the 2008 Amtrak Reauthorization Bill, which (according to a press release from Braley’s office)

includes language to create a new, $500 million per year “State Capital Grant Program.”  The program would award federal grants to states to pay for the construction of new passenger rail service between US cities.

Projects that could apply for funding under this program include proposed passenger rail service between Chicago and the Quad Cities, the Quad Cities and Des Moines via Iowa City, and Chicago and Dubuque.

The bill also includes a Braley-sponsored provision mandating a Federal Railroad Administration study into the viability of the widespread use of biolubricants in freight and passenger rail as an alternative to petroleum-based lubricants.  The University of Northern Iowa’s National Ag-Based Lubricant Center (NABL) is located in Iowa’s First District.

The full text of the press release is after the jump.

I appreciate Braley’s leadership on this issue and wonder why my own Congressman Leonard Boswell hasn’t made passenger rail service between Chicago and Des Moines more of a priority in his work on the House Transportation Committee. My family would love to be able to take a train to Chicago. It would be much easier for us than traveling by car or plane with two small children.

Expanding passenger rail will also help us reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and will be more cost-effective as the price of oil continues to rise in the long term.

Kudos to everyone who helped make this happen:

150 IOWA LUTHERAN CHURCHES TO GO GREEN

The churches of the Southeast Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America are first denominational organization to join Iowa Interfaith Power & Light

Des Moines, IA – Under the leadership of Bishop Phil Hougen and his synod council, the 150 churches of the Southeast Iowa Lutheran Synod (SE Synod) have become the first denominational organization to join Iowa Interfaith Power & Light (Iowa IPL).  Iowa IPL is part of a national network of faith-based organizations mobilizing the religious community to become leaders in the fight against global warming.  The Synod commitment will provide each church in the partnership with training in how to become a “Cool Congregation,” an Iowa IPL stewardship program that helps solve global warming one family at a time.

What an incredible step. Not only will these churches raise awareness about global warming in the faith community, but they are likely to significantly reduce the carbon footprints of thousands of Iowa families.

The full text of the press release from Iowa Interfaith Power and Light is after the jump.

By the way, Iowa Interfaith Power and Light is currently searching for an executive director. Click here for the job listing.

Scout Finch put up a link to this article about Bob Barr announcing his presidential candidacy:

He first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party’s national convention that begins May 22. Party officials consider him a front-runner thanks to the national profile he developed as a Georgia congressman from 1995 to 2003.

Barr, 59, helped lead Bill Clinton’s impeachment. He quit the Republican Party two years ago, saying he had grown disillusioned with its failure to shrink government and its willingness to scale back civil liberties in fighting terrorism.

I despised Barr during the 1990s, and I still think impeaching Clinton was an abuse of the process intended to punish presidential “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

But I have to admit that he has shown a sincere belief in conservative principles during the past few years. Read this article about the reception he got at the February 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference:

“Are we losing our lodestar, which is the Bill of Rights?” Barr beseeched the several hundred conservatives at the Omni Shoreham in Woodley Park. “Are we in danger of putting allegiance to party ahead of allegiance to principle?”

Barr answered in the affirmative. “Do we truly remain a society that believes that . . . every president must abide by the law of this country?” he posed. “I, as a conservative, say yes. I hope you as conservatives say yes.”

But nobody said anything in the deathly quiet audience. Barr merited only polite applause when he finished, and one man, Richard Sorcinelli, booed him loudly. “I can’t believe I’m in a conservative hall listening to him say [Bush] is off course trying to defend the United States,” Sorcinelli fumed.

Even if he only gets a percent or two of the vote, Barr could throw some states to Barack Obama this November.

John McCain still has problems with some elements of the conservative base, including libertarians who voted for Ron Paul in the primaries. In a few states, such as Nevada, Paul outpolled McCain in the GOP primaries.

Neiaprogressive noted that Paul got 8 percent of the vote in the Indiana and North Carolina GOP primaries last week. That’s after he received nearly 16 percent of the vote in the Pennsylvania primary.

It will be interesting to see if the beltway media give Barr more coverage than a minor-party presidential candidate would usually receive. He was an important figure in Washington for many years.

As I have said before, I think Hillary Clinton was wrong to make a summer gas tax holiday the centerpiece of her campaign for several weeks. I am glad that didn’t pan out for her in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

However, as bad an idea as a gas tax holiday would be (delivering more profits to oil companies, not really helping consumers, not helping to reduce our demand for oil), it would only be bad for a few months.

Take a look at the ad Obama is now running in Kentucky:

Also view the direct-mail piece the Obama campaign has sent out in Kentucky.

Now, maybe Obama is only pandering to Kentucky Democrats to avoid a blowout in the May 20 primary, but my fear is that if elected he would actually follow through and invest more national resources in so-called “clean coal.”

Every new coal-fired power plant built is a 50-year investment in the wrong direction, with much worse long-term consequences for our climate and environment than any summer holiday from the federal gas tax.

Two weeks ago in Winterset, at our 4th District Candidate Forum, I hand delivered letters to my opponents  Becky Greenwald, Kurt Meyer, and Kevin Miskell.  The subject matter of these letters was regarding an upcoming candidate forum in Ames on the 28th of May, presented by Working Families Win. 

Please put up a comment if you know of an event I’ve missed, or e-mail me to let me know about upcoming events: desmoinesdem AT yahoo.com.

A bunch of meetups and other events are listed on William Meyers’ website (http://www.meyersforhouse.com/home.html), but I couldn’t find details about the time or location for any of those.

I listed the central Iowa events for Bike to Work week, but there are also events taking place in Iowa City and the Quad Cities. Go here to find a link to those event schedules:

http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/bi…

Monday, May 12:

Bike with Congressman Leonard Boswell, 7:45 a.m., 39th and Grand Avenue, ride to 300 E. Locust in Des Moines. Federal, state, and city policy makers will ride to kick off the work week. The number of riders demonstrates to them how many of us are watching and listening and demanding safer bicycle facilities.

Becky Greenwald, a Democratic candidate in the IA-04 primary, will be in Decorah from 7-8 p.m. at the Oaks Restaurant to meet and talk with Democratic activists in Winneshiek County.

Tuesday, May 13:

Bike Kollective Breakfast, 6:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. • 617 Grand Avenue in Des Moines. Stop down, grab a bite and check out the new space called the Des Moines Bike Kollective (while supplies last).

The Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Annual Award Dinner, Reception at 6 pm, Dinner at 7 pm, Hotel Fort Des Moines, 1000 Walnut Street, Des Moines. The Keynote Speaker will be The Right Reverend Jane Holmes Dixon, retired Episcopal Bishop of Washington; second woman in the United States to be elevated to the office of Bishop. The Interfaith Award will be presented to Rekha Basu. The Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus will perform. Individual reservations are $50. Although reservations for this event were due by May 8, you may be able to squeeze in. For more information, email tiaiowa@dwx.com or call (515) 279-8715.

One Iowa “Happy Hour/Coffee House” at Ritual Cafe, 13th St. between Grand and Locust in downtown Des Moines, 5 pm to 6:45 pm. This is a time to meet like-minded friends and relax in a welcoming atmosphere. If you have never attended, the Happy Hour crowd will put you right at ease. If you are a regular or have attended in the past, we want you to come see how we have grown! On Tuesday, One Iowa has the honor to host Mathew Skuya, one of One Iowa’s Regional Organizers at Ritual; he will talk about the all of the Pride events happening around Des Moines and throughout Iowa in June, and discuss how you can become more involved.  Matt’s presentation will start at 5:30pm. Ritual Cafe is an LGBT-operated coffee shop and cafe offering “really great coffee and food” in an open and affirming place.

State Representative District 16 Forum and local Democratic candidates, 7 pm at the Decorah City Hall, Council Chambers. For further info contact Lyle Otte, 563-382-3137

House party for Jerry Sullivan, candidate in House district 59, at the home of Kerry Bowen in Windsor Heights, starting at 6:30 pm. Call 274-1877 to RSVP and get address details.

Wednesday, May 14:

This is the last day of the current reporting period for candidates seeking state offices in Iowa. Donate to one or more Democrats facing a tough House or Senate race!

“Helmet Hair Specials” are available at participating businesses all over the state as part of Bike to Work Week. Coffee shops all over the metro are offering those who bike and shop great deals. Show your support, because these businesses support us! After the jump I’ve put the full list of Des Moines-area businesses offering discounts to bicyclists on Wednesday.

Thursday, May 15:

If you need maintenance done on your bicycle, this is the day to take it to a participating bike shop. Many of them are offering deals on maintenance items as well as maintenance classes on this day. Call your local bike shops for details.

Friday, May 16:

It’s the official Bike to Work Day. Go to biketowork.bikeiowa.com for a list of free breakfasts, showers and staging locations. Staging locations are for camaraderie, commuting with friends, and creating a group of cyclists for visibility. Today one lucky registered rider will win the grand CASH prize! Awards will also be announced for the top Two Bicycle Clubs and Employers with the most registered riders.

“Potluck” Commuter breakfast in Ames, 6:15 a.m. – 8:00 a.m., Skunk River Cycles. Coffee, juice, and some bagels/bakery goods will be provided. Free to bring something to share with others that stop in. While supplies last.

Afterwork drop-in following Bike to Work day, 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. at the Stomping Grounds in Ames (303 Welch Avenue in Campustown). Stop and share stories of the day and put your name in the drawing for prizes.

Crossroads Luncheon organized by The Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.The Crossroads speaker is Rev. Dr. Jim Ryan, Executive Director of Colorado Council of Churches (formerly Executive Director of Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa & senior minister at First Christian Church, Des Moines). The concept of his new book Doing Justice in a Purple Congregation and of the conversation at Crossroads is there really are no red or blue congregations but a mixture (making purple).  Yet, how do purple congregations really “do” social justice to create change?  It is a very relevant conversation in these times and at the intersection of religion and politics.  Reservations are due by noon this Tuesday, May 13. For more information, email tiaiowa@dwx.com or call (515) 279-8715.

Handlebar Happy Hour celebrating Bike to Work week starts at 5 pm at the El Bait Shop, 200 SW 2nd St, Des Moines. Ed Fallon will ride his bike down to the event and play his accordian.

Saturday, May 17:

Pancake breakfast for Windsor Heights Firefighters, 8 am to 1 pm at the Windsor Heights City Hall (a block south of University on 66th St.). Windsor Heights Mayor Jerry Sullivan, candidate for House district 59, will be there. It’s a fun event for families–kids can see and even touch a real fire truck! $5 per person or $10 per family.

The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club is having a fundraiser for its Political Action Committee at the Des Moines Botanical Center, 909 Robert D Ray Dr., May 17, 2008 from 3-5 PM. Refreshments will be served. The cost is $50. A presentation by Ty Smeades, nature photographer, called “Things Worth Saving” combines, wildflowers, wildlife, and Iowa scenes, into a 17 minute show set to music. Ty says, “I truly went the quality route with this show”. Contact Debbie Neustadt at debbieneu AT earthlink.net if you plan to attend.

Sunday, May 18:

Fourth Congressional District Democratic candidate Forum:

1:00-2:00 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall, Waukon

2:30-4:00 p.m. at The Oaks Steakhouse, Highway 9 in Decorah

5:00-6:00 p.m. at Mabe’s Pizza, Cresco

For further info contact Barb Ettleson 563-382-1469

Here are some links for you to enjoy on Mother’s Day.

If you are a mother with children of any age, chances are you will find articles worth reading at Mothering magazine’s site, or discussion forums on topics that interest you at Mothering.com.

If you are a new mother, you can find valuable information and support at the websites of Attachment Parenting International and La Leche League.

AskDrSears.com has good information on medical and parenting topics, relating to older children as well as babies and toddlers.

I also want to pay tribute to LaVon Griffieon, a friend who has inspired me by balancing her passion for making the world a better place with running a farm and bringing up four children.

The Griffieons are being profiled in a series of reports on National Public Radio: here is a link.

LaVon won the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation’s Hagie Heritage Award in 2000. Read why here.

Drake University and the alternative weekly Cityview gave LaVon the Central Iowa Activist Award for Environmental Activism in 2004.

Marc Hansen recently profiled LaVon in the Des Moines Register.

This amazing woman even figured out that she could save time by roasting a Thanksgiving turkey in the back of her minivan while driving to a relative’s home. Unfortunately, I can’t link to the article which told this story last November, because the Des Moines Register does not make its archives available for free.

If you know a particularly inspiring mother, tell her you admire her and why.

If Mother’s Day is painful for you, either because your mother didn’t provide the childhood you would have wanted, or because you are the parent of a child who has died, I recommend this diary Cronesense posted at Daily Kos last year: Mother’s Day – the other side of the coin.

UPDATE: Frankenoid’s diary, Mother’s Day in the Land of the Bereaved, is also very moving.

Marc Hansen’s latest column goes over the hidden benefits of rising gas prices. For instance, people may reduce driving speeds on the highway to improve mileage, which will save gas and save lives.

His piece also mentions that higher prices at the pump have increased the number of people using various forms of public transit in a lot of cities.

The New York Times published a similar article on Saturday: Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit. That piece gives examples of growing demand for public transit all over the country, not only in cities with historically strong systems such as New York and Boston, but also in Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Houston, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte, NC.

This isn’t rocket science. If the price of gas keeps going up, count on more people to be looking for alternatives to driving.

Trouble is, the Iowa legislature just adopted (and Governor Culver signed) the TIME-21 transportation plan, which does not require any of the increased transportation funding to be spent on public transit.

People can’t switch to the bus if there is no bus line running through their neighborhood and going somewhere they need to go, and they can’t take the train if there is no commuter rail in their metro area.

We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars on rebuilding and expanding I-235 through Des Moines and the suburbs, yet we didn’t even put in a high-occupancy vehicle lane to encourage carpooling. (A high-occupancy vehicle lane can only be used by vehicles carrying at least two licensed drivers.)

Our elected and appointed officials need to be more forward-thinking when it comes to transportation and economic development generally.

It’s great that Amtrak is talking about adding passenger rail service to link Iowa City and the Quad Cities to Chicago, but we also need more alternatives to driving that Iowans can use on a daily basis.

For much more on what a smart transportation policy would look like, check out this page at the Smart Growth America website.

The Des Moines Register editorial board must have been reading my mind when they published another editorial calling on legislators to repeal Iowa’s English-only law.

As I’ve written, Democrats who cut the deal to approve that law in 2002 assured us that it was a symbolic measure, and that plenty of exceptions were written into the law.

Last month a judge in Polk County ordered the Secretary of State’s office to stop providing voter information in languages other than English. Secretary of State Mike Mauro has decided not to appeal that ruling.

Now Republicans are bent out of shape because the Iowa Department of Transportation published a public notice in Spanish as well as English:

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Ron Wieck, a Sioux City Republican, objected Thursday after he read a DOT public meeting notice in the Sioux City Journal printed in Spanish and English. It advised residents of a public hearing to discuss proposed improvements on Interstate Highway 29.

“We have spent an entire legislative session listening to the Department of Transportation state that they do not have the money they need for Iowa’s infrastructure,” Wieck said. “While I believe that a strong infrastructure is important, I am concerned with this type of frivolous spending. …

“Instead of clamoring for more money from the taxpayers of this state, maybe we should look at our bloated bureaucracy and trim the fat.”

What a joke. Who is harmed by a DOT public meeting notice in multiple languages? How much money would they save by printing all public meeting notices in English only–a few thousand dollars?

A representative of the DOT said they have printed public meeting notices in other languages as well as English for years. The Iowa Attorney General’s office is currently reviewing whether this practice can continue despite the law making English the official state language.

Will any Democrat have the courage to introduce a bill to repeal this law? It’s not as if adopting the law has prevented Republicans from scoring political points on this issue. As long as the law stands, Republicans will keep scouring public documents for any sign of Spanish or other languages so they can demagogue.

This is not about illegal immigration. This is about preventing government from effectively serving Iowa residents whose native language is not English. It’s mean-spirited and unwelcoming, and I would like to see more leadership on this issue from our elected Democrats during the 2009 legislative session.

I am not a regular at Firedoglake, so I didn’t realize that Ed Fallon was liveblogging there on Saturday morning.

A lot of interesting questions about Fallon, Boswell and the district were asked and answered, so I recommend clicking here to read the thread.

Thanks to Bob in AZ for reminding me about the liveblog.

I was intrigued by an article in today's Des Moines Register about Dr. David Nash, who advocates training “oral health therapists” to handle simple procedures for children's teeth.

My cousins who are dentists probably wouldn't like this idea, but Nash made a compelling case:

Nash, who spoke at a conference in Johnston, framed the problem as an issue of justice and fairness. He criticized fellow dentists for concentrating on profitable treatments, including cosmetic procedures. He said they should spend more time on public-health needs, including care for poor children insured under Medicaid.

Dentists often say they limit their Medicaid work because the program pays them too little. But Nash said states that have dramatically raised reimbursements have not seen corresponding increases in dentists willing to accept more Medicaid patients. “Many dentists just do not want to see these people in their offices,” he said.

[…]

The professor has made waves nationally with a proposal to create a new class of “oral health therapists,” who would receive two years of training in the treatment of children. They could perform typical dental-hygienist duties, plus simple fillings, crowns and extraction of baby teeth. They could be posted in schools, pediatricians' clinics or mobile clinics, he said. Such therapists provide safe, economical treatment in 53 countries, including New Zealand, Britain and Canada, he said.

I have a friend whose family is on Medicaid, and I know she has struggled to find a dentist to fill her daughters' cavities. The family dentists or pediatric dentists recommended by me and other friends do not take Medicaid patients. She wants to avoid getting mercury amalgam fillings, and the only dentists in the Des Moines area she can find who take Medicaid patients use mercury in the fillings.

I'm sure there are arguments to be made against Nash's idea, but it seems to merit serious consideration.