99counties.org

The first same-sex marriage in Polk County under a Iowa Supreme Court order issued this morning could take place within the hour.

Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were the first same-sex couple with a license in hand at the Polk County administration building, and Judge Karen Romano granted the Des Moines couple a waiver to the three-day waiting period about 8:40 a.m.

After a bit of rumbling from some county recorders last week, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller issued this statement:

“We expect duly-elected county recorders to comply with the Iowa Constitution as interpreted unanimously by the Iowa Supreme Court, the highest court in Iowa,” Miller said in a statement to the Iowa Independent. “Our country lives by and thrives by the rule of law, and the rule of law means we all follow the law as interpreted by our courts — not by ourselves. We don’t each get to decide what the law is; that would lead to chaos. We must live by and follow what the courts decide.”

“Recorders do not have discretion or power to ignore the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling,” Miller said, adding: “If necessary, we will explore legal actions to enforce and implement the Court’s ruling, working with the Iowa Department of Public Health and county attorneys.”

To help celebrate this historic moment in tolerance and enlightened thinking, the DM Register posted a story about how the “religious backers of gay marriage” are celebrating.

“Marriage is a fundamental right for all people, not just straight people,” said the Rev. Matt Mardis-LeCroy of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ.

“What happens in Iowa is not just about Iowa,” he said. “Future generations will look back at this place, at this time, as the point when the tide started to turn.”

The Rev. Mark Davis, pastor at Heartland Presbyterian Church in Clive, said he will not marry same-sex couples because his church does not recognize gay marriage. Nonetheless, he voiced his support for “all of God’s children” to marry.

“We can all be a part of this beautiful sunrise,” Davis said. “I am in a denomination that will not allow me to marry same-sex couples, but I think same-sex marriage is a wonderful gift that has been too long denied.”

A number of the religious leaders who spoke said legalizing gay marriage will help reinforce the meaning of marriage.

“We’ve made a mess of marriage,” said Mardis-LeCroy. “Tomorrow you will show the whole world what marriage is meant to be. It starts tomorrow, right here.”

Tags: courts, gay marriage, iowa

Seriously. Douglas Burns,writing for the Carroll, Iowa Daily Times Herald, [Caution: bad html to follow] suggests a novel new platform for the “earnest” Kutcher:

Celebrity activist and new media pioneer Ashton Kutcher just beat CNN in a race for 1 million followers on the Internet social networking site Twitter.

A suggested next challenge for the Iowa native: move back to your home state – the western side, say Council Bluffs – and run for the 5th Congressional District seat.

As much as anyone in America Kutcher has brilliantly blended fame with substance to create an interactive organization that he’s trained on fighting malaria and child sex trafficking.

An obvious new platform for the earnest Kutcher would be a run for political office. And the place to do it would be in heavily conservative western Iowa where U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, appears to have a Gordian knot on elections, anchored as he is with an eye-poppingly reliable GOP vote in many northwest counties.

Among the noted qualifications of Mr. Kutcher:

• He claims to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
• He dislikes Sarah Palin.
• He has “Iowa Smarts”
• He is “clearly well-read and passionate”

Burns also notes some of King’s perceived weaknesses:

• He is “extreme right-wing”
• King says “provocative” things.
• He likes Sarah Palin

While the title of the article is “Why Ashton Kutcher should run for Congress in Western Iowa”, the question “why” is not really answered. Unless the reasoning is that fabulous celebrities need things to do.

Tags: WTF

Thousands of people participated in a “tea party” tax protest at the Capitol today, an event that took place 300 cities across the nation.

“My name is Doug Burnett and, frankly, I’m mad as hell,” said the Sherman Hill resident who started Burnett Reality about nine years ago and helped organize Wednesday’s protest at the Capitol.

Lt. Mark Logsdon of the Iowa State Patrol estimated about 3,000 people attended the protest.

Speakers such as Burnett publicly voiced opposition to a range of issues from federal bailout money to state spending. A few spoke against the Iowa Supreme Court ruling this month that allows same-sex marriage.

The events were scheduled in connection with Wednesday’s deadline to file federal income tax returns.

Awesome video from http://www.desmoinesteaparty.com/

Tags: Taxes

FreedomWorks.org has put together a google map of the over 450 April 15th Tea Party Events:

Tags: Taxes, tea party

There are very few immutable rules to remember when it comes to media consumption:

Rule 1:  Don’t believe everything you read.
Rule 2:  Don’t believe anything you read, when the headline begins: ” Study: … ”

Case in point, this bit of news from the CR Gazette:

By Terry McCoy
News correspondent

A University of California at Los Angeles study says Friday’s Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage may generate $5.3 million annually for the state budget.

That figure is based on an analysis of how much money would be saved in Iowa’s public assistance expenditures, the amount raised by couples paying higher taxes and the increase in sales tax revenues from wedding planning.

The increase in “sales tax revenues from wedding planning” is directly proportional to how “fabulous” the wedding is.

Just in case anyone gets the idea that the UCLA study is trying to pull a fast one by simply making up numbers, the study admits that the $5.3 million figure is not concrete. It could be more!

Still, the study says, these numbers aren’t concrete. Iowa could make even more than $5.3 million.

“Evidence suggests that there are significantly more same-sex couples in the state than the U.S. Census Bureau reports,” the study states. “If so, the net gains to the state will be even greater.

Its not just the UCLA study that is predicting a windfall from this ruling according to the article “local experts” also predict that the decision will foster economic growth in Iowa.

Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids may begin hosting more weddings, said Mel Andringa, the producing director. He expects a sharp increase in the number of requests his organization gets.

Every spring, Andringa said, he receives frantic calls from people searching for a place to exchange vows and celebrate. And that was when marriage was just for heterosexual couples.

So for Andringa, the state Supreme Court’s ruling means one thing: cha-ching.

“We’re already hiring an Elvis impersonator so it’ll be like Vegas,” Andringa said.

John Carlson from the DM Register, sees the same silver lining and suggests that conservatives should suck it up and find a way to profit from the decision.

The Chicago Tribune was reporting Friday that bunches of gay couples from Illinois will soon be showing up in Iowa, presumably ready to spend money.

“People have traveled to Spain, they’ve traveled to Mexico and California and Massachusetts and Connecticut to be married,” said the director of a gay rights organization in Illinois. “Now they can just jump over the border. Just a couple hour drive and they can go into a state and be married.”

Hotels and restaurants in Davenport, Dubuque, Clinton and Burlington will be jammed.

Imagine, if you will, Fleur Drive or maybe Southwest Ninth Street in Des Moines, lined with flashy new wedding chapels, all there to serve the thousands of visitors arriving on all those additional flights sure to be heading to Des Moines.

For now, keep an eye on that abandoned muffler shop next to the airport. It’s about to sprout a steeple.

Tags: homosexual agenda

Until today, Iowa law said marriage could only be between one man and one woman.

From the Gazzette.  The link contains an embedded version of the ruling.

In a precedent-setting ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court today upheld a lower court decision legalizing same-sex marriages in Iowa.

The unanimous court decision is expected to carry national implications as Iowa becomes the first Midwest state to grant full legal standing to gay and lesbian couples and only the third state nationally to confer marital status beyond traditional one-man, one woman unions.

“We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” the opinion stated. “The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of people from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”

Gov. Chet Culver

“The decision released this morning by Supreme Court addresses a complicated and emotional issue, one on which Iowans have strong views and opinions on both sides. The next responsible step is to thoroughly review this decision, which I am doing with my legal counsel and the attorney general, before reacting to what it means for Iowa.”

Democratic Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines, who is openly gay.

“I’m off the wall. I’m very pleased to be an Iowan.”
Then, as he saw a stream of grim-faced activists from the Supreme Court passing through security at the Iowa Capitol, he said: “The God squad’s coming in the door now.”

Tags: courts, culture, Judicial Activism, law

From the Register:

Video Here

More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa’s tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times.

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, cleared the crowd at about 8:30 p.m. The decision brought about loud protests as the crowd was escorted from the chambers by Iowa State Patrol officers.
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“This is the most atrocious thing I’ve seen in the history of the 15 years I’ve been a lobbyist. Pat Murphy has acted like a jack-booted Nazi,” said Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, a conservative taxpayers’ rights group from Muscatine with 50,000 members..

Failor Jr. was escorted from the House chambers after Murphy overheard him speak with the media.

House rules say that no protesting or advocating can be done in the House.

Murphy said he should have ordered the chambers cleared much sooner than he did, since several of the speakers were booed.

“The idea behind the public hearing is to give people public input and allow people the ability to speak for and against the bill. This is not an athletic event,” Murphy said.

After the majority of the public was removed, the scheduled speakers were allowed to continue. The hearing is scheduled to last until about 9:45 p.m.

The proposal, House File 807 and Senate Study Bill 1317, would end a practice known as federal deductibility. That means Iowans could no longer subtract what they pay in federal income taxes from their income when figuring their state taxes.

Ending federal deductibility without changing anything else would mean Iowans would pay an estimated $595 million more in taxes. However, Democrats have proposed a plan that would instead lower the state income tax rates and increase certain tax credits to offset the increase.

Democrats have maintained that two-thirds of Iowans would either see a tax savings or no change at all in their taxes due to the proposal.

Specific numbers show that 49 percent of Iowans who file taxes would get a break in the current tax year, while about 18 percent would see no change.

The remainder – 450,292 people – would see a tax increase, according to the Iowa department of Revenue and Finance.

Tags: Taxes