99counties.org

From the WaPo:

Randy Millam, 52, traveled from his home in Lowden to Iowa City to have his voice heard.

“The president just about declared war against the American people last weekend,” he said. And it is a war Millam intends to fight.

He walked to the front of the protest crowd and lifted the megaphone to his mouth.

“Fellow patriots,” he bellowed. “We are standing outside the arena right now because the president controls the crowd, controls the message, controls the people of this country. That is not freedom! That is not democracy! That is not the America I grew up in!”

The demonstrators cheered and began to gather around Millam, and two police officers came to stand nearby. “If you’re going to deny me my constitutional rights, you can arrest me,” Millam told the officers. Then he leaned into the megaphone and started shouting again.

“I got news for you, Barack,” Millam said. “You can’t blame everything on Bush anymore. You either are the president, or you’re not. We’ve got 17 percent real unemployment. Home sales are at historic lows. . . . And now the most pro-choice president this nation has ever elected is forcing us to have health care. Every single person’s body in this whole country belongs to the government now.”

Attorneys general from at least 11 states say they will challenge the constitutionality of the healthcare reform bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday night.

“The health care legislation Congress passed tonight is an assault against the Constitution,” said South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster. “A legal challenge by the states appears to be the only hope of protecting the American people from this unprecedented attack on our system of government,” he said in a statement.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum issued a similar statement late Sunday. “If the president signs this bill into law, we will file a lawsuit to protect the rights and interests of American citizens,” he said.

The comments came after a Sunday night conference call of attorneys general from 11 states, in which most expressed support for legal action to block the law. In addition to Florida and South Carolina, the attorneys general backing legal action were from Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Contact Info for Iowa Attorney
General Tom Miller
Iowa Attorney General
1305 E. Walnut Street
Des Moines IA 50319
Phone: 515-281-5164
Fax: 515-281-4209

Washington is increasingly trouncing on your freedoms. Its time to fight back from the states. Join America’s Comeback by visiting governorsalliance.com

Politico Reports:

Sen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.

Harkin made the comments after a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office including Harkin and Sens. Baucus, Dodd, Durbin, Schumer and Murray.

When asked whether the leaders had made the decision, Durbin said: “We are moving ahead with a version of the health care reform bill that we believe has a good chance of passing both the House and the Senate.”

He then put the onus on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to signal whether she can provide enough votes to pass the Senate bill, followed by a package of fixes through reconciliation.

“The first step is with Speaker Pelosi and so I will let her decide what it takes in the House,” Durbin said.

Reconciliation “has always been an option. But she has to make her own decision on what it takes to enact this in the House,” he added.

Durbin said Democrats are “coming to closure” on legislative language to send to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost estimate — a step that can take weeks. “It has not been sent yet, but we are hoping it can be sent soon.”

It remains unclear what kind of guarantee the Senate can provide to the House that the upper chamber will make fixes to the bill, Durbin said.

“I don’t know what the gesture will be but it will be a convincing gesture,” he said.

Tags: harkin, Health Care, Wreckoncilitaion

From the NYT [Video at Link is worth a watch]:
The bloom is off the rose. Some Iowans are evidently learning that Obama is not quite the transformative political figure the media made him out to be. Turns out he wasn’t the Messiah after all, just a Chicago politician. Lack of leadership, too eager to play the blame game, Iowans have soured on Obama

One year after winning the election, Mr. Obama has seen his pledge to transcend partisanship in Washington give way to the hardened realities of office. A campaign for the history books, filled with a sky-high sense of possibility for Mr. Obama not just among legions of loyal Democrats but also among converts from outside the party, has descended to an unfamiliar plateau for a president whose political rise was as rapid as it was charmed.

Interviews with voters across Iowa offer a window into how the president’s standing has leveled off, especially among the independents and Republicans who contributed not just to his margin of victory in the caucuses here but also to the optimism among his supporters that his election would be a break from standard-issue politics.

In Iowa, Ms. Pauline McAreavy, retired school nurse and Obama supporter, fears that the president’s health care plan will shortchange her Medicare benefits and mean infrequent mammogram examinations. She worries that his decision on Afghanistan will mean that her son, a member of the Iowa National Guard, will return to the battlefield. And she believes that too many of Mr. Obama’s actions are rooted in Democratic politics.

“All my Republican friends — and independents — are sitting back saying, ‘Oh, what did we do?” Ms. McAreavy said. “I’m not to that point yet, but a lot of people are.”

A social studies teacher who saw Mr. Obama on his maiden visit here wonders whether momentum from the election is gone forever. A retired electrical engineer who became a Democrat to support Mr. Obama believes that the president too often blames others for his troubles. And a teacher who voted for Mr. Obama because she was fed up with President George W. Bush does not trust this administration any more than the previous one.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama soared, several people said in interviews, but as a president, he often has come across as cautious, tentative and prone to blame his troubles on others.

Tags: obama

UPDATE: No can do.  And manufactured controversy put to rest.

She’s not coming, but would like to in the future. She’d also come for free.

We extended our invitation knowing she would be in the middle of her book tour and the chances of her being able to accept any invitations were extremely slim.

From TeamSarah.org:

We have an opportunity to support Sarah Palin DIRECTLY and to promote the values she represents.

The Iowa Family Policy Action center needs to raise $41,000 in order to have Sarah Palin come to speak on November 21, 2009. They have raised $59,000 already, but they need to know there is enough to coming in to ensure that they can pull this off.

As you know, we at Team Sarah have supported efforts to raise money for Sarah Palin’s PAC and for the Legal Defense Fund, but this effort will actually help her and her family directly and enable her to have resources she directly controls to take care of all the things she needs to do as she launches her national effort to restore the core values of our Conservative movement.

I am appealing to you DIRECTLY to ACT NOW and support raising the remaining $41,000 so ensure that Sarah Palin can come to this event, and to show Sarah Palin that she has no better friend and ally than Team Sarah!

We have set up a donations page you can go to, 100% of this money will towards raising this money to have Sarah Palin come and speak. When she speaks, we will also ask our members to help promote the event and work with our promotions teams to ensure that her message gets out LOUD AND CLEAR throughout the whole internet.

We have 74,000 PLUS members, and are still growing, and I am convinced that there are AT LEAST 8,000 of us who can send in at least $5 to support this effort.

Will you help?

Use this URL to make a donation today! URL: www.sba-list.org/iowa

Thank you all,

Bill Collier
Team Sarah Community Governance

Update IFPC Press Release

10/27/09 Pleasant Hill, IA – In response to media inquiries, Iowa Family Policy Center ACTION President Chuck Hurley responded today to questions concerning a potential appearance by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at an upcoming IFPC Action event.

According to Hurley, “We have reached out to Governor Palin through both official and informal channels and extended an invitation for her to keynote our annual fundraising event.” He went on to say, “We are not yet ready to confirm the specifics, but are hopeful that all the details can be worked out for her to come.”

IFPC Action began soliciting financial support for the event this week in anticipation of the Governor’s potential visit. Responding to questions raised by preliminary fundraising for the event, Hurley said the event, scheduled for November 21st, would be “on a much larger scale than our banquet last November,” and that “we are preparing now to make sure the Governor’s visit is a huge success should she accept our invitation.”

IFPC Action welcomed Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on his first trip to Iowa when he spoke at last year’s event. Previous IFPC Action speakers include Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Should Palin accept the invitation, her appearance at the IFPC Action event would mark her first trip to Iowa since she traveled the state as the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.

Tags: ifpc, sarah palin

The Iowa Federation of College Republicans is proud to announce today the completion of the renovation of our official website. While a lot of emphasis has been put on online communication in our organization, our website has lagged behind many others out there. We have made great strides in technology, with frequent use of facebook, twitter and text messaging, but we are especially excited about the freshly remodeled website.

The website features a brand new look with all-new content. The new look makes the site much easier to navigate, and the new features make it much easier to find resources for our federation whether you are a member of IFCR or a supporter looking for more information.

Two of the most exciting new features are the “Chapters” page and our “Campaign 2010” page. By clicking on the chapters page, you are greeted by a map of our great state, with markers around the state representing the various campuses on which IFCR has established chapters. By clicking on these markers, you are given contact info for the chapter chair of that school, as well as names of their other executive board members and links to any website, facebook page or twitter that school may have.

The “Campaign 2010” page serves as a resource to any Republican in the state of Iowa looking for a centralized database of Republican candidates for any office, ranging from the governor’s race down to mayoral and city council races, and any office between. The concept for the page was originally started by recent Iowa State University graduate Ryan Frederick, with whom we have teamed up to host this resource. The page will be a work in progress, as more candidates announce their candidacies and launch websites. Any candidate wanting to have their campaign linked to our site are encouraged to email Ryan Frederick at ryanwfrederick@gmail.com.

Other features include profiles of our state executive board members, contact info for members of the IFCR central committee, and a multimedia page full of videos, fun links that feature the works of our members, and pictures of our many events including our leadership training, recruiting events, and national conventions. And as always, in the upper left hand corner is the opportunity to sign up to receive emails with the weekly IFCR Chairman’s Report.

We hope you enjoy our website. Check it out today!

Written by Dane Nealson
Chairman, Iowa Federation of College Republicans

Tags: college, ifcr

From the Times-Republican:

Jonathan Narcisse’s vision of a better Iowa includes one where government is more accountable, tax reform promotes community stability and there is more investment in vocational education.

It also includes one where the minimum wage is repealed for teenagers and state departments are slashed.

“We cannot fix the state without doing some unpopular things,” he said as he revealed his 10-point plan in Marshalltown Thursday.

However, he said proposals such as repealing the minimum wage for teenagers should help them in the long run.

“How do you get your teenagers work experience if you don’t repeal the minimum wage for teenagers?” Narcisse asked. “Business owners can’t afford to hire teenagers, train them and subsidize their education to that level.”

Narcisse’s plan is called “An Iowa Worth Fighting For.”

Tags: culver, narcisse

Tags: obamacare

From KCRG:

A health care event sponsored U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin erupted into a shouting match Saturday afternoon, when opponents of health-care reform yelled pointed questions and criticisms to the Democratic senator.

“This is not health reform, this is control, control over our lives,” one unidentified man shouted from the audience.

It was only one of several such confrontations during the raucous forum.
Moments before the event began, Harkin told reporters that opponents of health-care reform were using “scare tactics” in an effort to stop it.

“There’s a lot of people out there making a lot of money on this system, and they don’t want to change it,” Harkin said. “They just like it just the way it is, so whatever they can do to disrupt it, to stop it, they’re money ahead. We can’t let them stop us from changing this system.”

Anti Obama BEND OVER OBAMACARE Political T Shirt US $10.99 Auction Ends: Thursday Sep-09-2010 7:29:40 PDT   | Watch this Item

Anti Obama BEND OVER OBAMACARE Political T Shirt US $10.99 Auction Ends: Thursday Sep-09-2010 7:29:40 PDT   | Watch this Item

Tags: harkin, obamacare