We missed this column from the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier last Saturday, but then we found it. In it, Matthew Wilde (who is a staff writer, but who writes columns?) says he agrees with a bill that would impose penalties on individuals who file false environmental complaints against farms, but not before quoting opponents of the bill:
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a Des Moines-based group opposed to livestock confinements, calls the bill reprehensible and believes it puts the well being of large, corporate farmers ahead of citizens.
“The point of this legislation is obvious; it’s designed to intimidate rural Iowans who report factory farm environmental problems into silence,” said ICCI member Kurt Kesley of Iowa Falls. “… We need to start addressing the real issue — the problems factory farms are creating in our countryside.”
How does he counter this Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement organization? By attacking their unrelated beliefs:
I’ve talked with ICCI officials enough to know the group is not just out to stop large corporations like Smithfield Foods or Iowa Select Farms that raise hogs, but the use of confinements period.
So because they’re against confinements, they must not genuinely be against a law designed to discourage complaints? Such a law can’t raise pretty serious concerns?
It’s like how all of my opinions are wrong because I picked UF and Iowa to be in the Final Four this year. And let’s not pretend that Des Moines’s agriculture policy is designed to help the family farmer and not agribusiness.
Today the New York Times endorsed a creative, yet not crazy plan to make the Electoral College a rubber stamp for the national popular vote using interstate compacts. It’s a politically viable solution that seems to be attracting a lot of attention lately:
Past attempts to abolish the Electoral College by amending the Constitution have run into difficulty. But National Popular Vote, which includes several former members of Congress, is offering an ingenious solution that would not require a constitutional amendment. It proposes that states commit to casting their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. These promises would become binding only when states representing a majority of the Electoral College signed on. Then any candidate who won the popular vote would be sure to win the White House.
A popular interest group announces its new president, Iowa water is too polluted to eat the fish, and alternative fuel gets talked up (twice!) after the jump.
In an email to its list today, the League of Conservation Voters announced that its new President will be Gene Karpinski. Here’s what they say about him:
Gene comes to us after over 20 years as the Executive Director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). He is also very familiar with the workings of our organization, having served on LCV’s board and political committee over the last 12 years. His role as LCV President will begin in early April.
He has blogged at the Huffington Post, but not very frequently. And he clearly earned his stripes in environmental causes, so hopefully that means the LCV picked more than just a name.
Also, the Register reports that our water is polluted enough to call for a health warning against eating its fish. It’s something about high levels of chemicals.
And the Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier has the second article in a three-part series on E85 fuel — that is, fuel with high ethanol content — and how it’s apparently catching on. Flex-fuel cars (that is, cars that can run on traditional fuel and E85 fuel) still only account for a small percentage of purchases, and E85 fuel accounts for an even smaller percentage of total fuel sales, but everyone is optimistic:
Ethanol industry officials say a lack of knowledge nationwide about the fuel, comparatively few E85-compatible vehicles on the road and the lack of stations carrying it are obstacles to mainstream success.
Consumer research released in December said 70 percent of people didn’t know what ethanol was or would consider using it. A recent well-publicized study said ethanol is good for America since it creates more energy than it takes to make it. For people who want to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil, this could help the industry.
Even so, though, auto makers and dealerships are pushing flex-fuel really hard:
“Vern Laures Auto Center in New Hampton regularly advertises in the Farm Bureau Spokesman, a paper geared to Iowa farmers. A recent ad featured E85 cars and trucks with an ear of corn and a headline stating, ‘Wheels that will save $$.’”
And in somewhat related news, AP reports that Iowans may start selling a byproduct of biodiesel production. Glycerin, they say, settles at the bottom of the tank during the production process, and it’s commonly used in soap a number of other common household products.
Because this fair web site hasn’t been around for more than two and a half days, we didn’t post about it when it came up, but Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen wrote last Thursday under a headline “Left/right extremes drive Iowa political landscape.” He argued that “social conservatives” like the Christian Coalition are becoming more and more influential in Iowa:
Religious conservatives will also be a factor in the re-election plans of Des Moines Democrat Matt McCoy, an openly gay legislator. He’s already got a primary challenger, and Republicans are also planning to field a candidate. While his district is heavily Democratic, it also includes many south-side Catholics and blue-collar evangelicals.
Bottom line: Republicans are hoping the work of the alliance can counter the Democratic trends and intense passions coming from the left these days. The election of 2006 in Iowa seems no place for moderates or middle-of-the-roaders. ’Tis a battle of the zealous.
And then he forgot to talk about any groups on the “extreme left.” All he says about us is some dismissive remark about our “intense passions” — whatever that means.
