In states that appoint judges, rather than elect them, judges are supposed to be largely insulated from politics.

But witness Iowa, where supreme court judges are first appointed and then, if they care to stay in office, typically approved by voters in low-key retention elections.

But this year, conservatives in Iowa are waging a campaign to vote out of office three supreme court judges, who joined a ruling last year that Iowa’s law barring the recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Here’s a Washington Post article about the move to oust the three judges, including chief justice Marsha Ternus.

“We need to vote them off the bench to send a message across Iowa that we, the people, still have the power,” said Bob Vander Plaats, a Republican state politician who is leading the campaign. “Not only will it send a message here in Iowa, but it will send a message in California, in Arizona and across the country.”

Three of the court’s seven judges are on the ballot this year: Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, Justice Michael Streit and Justice David Baker.

The effort in Iowa, the Post reports, worries gay rights advocates and legal experts who say it is wrong to punish judges for unpopular decisions. But on the flip side, campaign advocates say they are simply exercising their democratic right to rein in a judiciary that has overstepped its authority.

Vander Plaats announced this month the creation of Iowa for Freedom, which has rented office space and hired six full-time staff members, who plan to wage a political campaign replete with mailers, phone calls and door-knocking, according to the Post.

The targeted judges have not publicly defended themselves. But former Supreme Court justice Mark McCormick said: “I’ve used the word ‘vengeance’ before in describing what this campaign is about . . . it is a challenge to judicial independence.”

“Before the press conference, we knew that Mrs. Sherrod was hired three days after being awarded $13 million in the nation’s largest civil rights case, Pigford v. Vilsack. We knew that Mrs. Sherrod was forced to pull over to the side of the road and send in her resignation. We knew that she had maintained that the White House pressured her to resign immediately.”

“After all the friendly gestures between Secretary Vilsack and Mrs. Sherrod, there are still several questions unanswered. Why is Secretary Vilsack taking responsibility for the decision when Mrs. Sherrod has maintained she was contacted by the White House? Did the White House demand Secretary Vilsack fire Mrs. Sherrod? Is she still being paid by the federal government? Has Mrs. Sherrod agreed not to file another lawsuit against Secretary Vilsack or the federal government? Was Shirley Sherrod granted an additional settlement in exchange for her silence and an agreement not to sue Vilsack again? Why is Mrs. Sherrod filing suit against Andrew Breitbart, but hugging the man who fired her?”

“Without transparency, the American people will never know the truth behind the thousands of fraudulent Pigford claims for $2.3 billion, will never know who really fired Shirley Sherrod and will never know if other potential agreements were made to keep Mrs. Sherrod quiet.”

Mayor Jim Suttle proposed a $313-million dollar budget that included an increase in the property tax by 4.4 cents. On Tuesday, the council reduced it to 2.335 cents.

The mayor also proposed a $23 increase in the wheel tax. The council reduced that to $15. To reach that level, council members cut spending in the public works and public parks departments.

The mayor had also proposed establishing a restaurant tax of 4%. After much debate, the council reduced that to 2.5%. This should be known as the waitress tip-reduction fee.

The council had considered a controversial occupation tax where anyone who works within the city, resident or not, would pay $8 a month through their employer. That was eliminated. However, the council approved a commuter transportation fee which is, in effect, the wheel tax. The fee, which is now $50 a year, would generate $8.5-million and be collected through employers.

The city of Omaha has just added a $50 tax on employment by calling it a “commuter transportation fee.” Fifty dollars if you have the audacity of working in Omaha and not living there.

Ace: Holy Frickin’ Reagan: Best Advertorial You’ll See.
Ed @ HA: “Those voices don’t speak for us”
RSM: VIDEO: Ronald Reagan Still Kicks Butt

Indeed he does. Video embedded:

Watch the full speech here.

As Democrats brace for a Republican pullback in the 2010 election cycle, the question on the minds of officeholders, party leaders, and D.C prognosticators is not whether the GOP will gain seats in the midterm elections across state and federal legislative and executive offices, but how many.

While the Republican Revolution of 1994 is perhaps most remembered for the tremendous gains the GOP made to take back the U.S. House (+54 seats), Republicans also won 24 of 36 gubernatorial races that year.

But in light of the current political environment and the latest horserace polls, political reporters may need to come up with a new term in 2010 that is even more grandiose than ‘revolution’ to describe the Republican advantage this November.

A Smart Politics analysis of nearly 1,800 gubernatorial elections since the beginning of the 20th Century finds that Republicans are poised to win more gubernatorial seats in 2010 than they have in any election cycle over the past 90 years.

In 2010, 37 states will hold gubernatorial elections – one more than normal due to a special election in Utah after John Huntsman became U.S. Ambassador to China last summer.

The latest public opinion polls give Republicans the advantage in a whopping 28 of these states, including more than half by double digits (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming).

The GOP also has more narrow advantages in the latest polling out of Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Democrats,by contrast, currently lead in the latest polling in just seven states (Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York.)

This is, in no small part, due to the excellent work that Haley Barbour and Co. are doing at the Republican Governors’ Association.

RGA Video: Remember November

Remember the Dream. Remember November. from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Parents are outraged after young teenagers were instructed on graphic sexual acts during a Planned Parenthood sex education class at the local high school in Shenandoah, Iowa.

“It was horribly inappropriate,” Colleen Dostal told Fox News Radio. “To do that in a mixed-gender classroom, — I truly believe it was inappropriate.”

Dostal’s 14-year-old son was one of a handful of eighth graders in the class. The students, she said, were given instruction on how to perform female exams and the instructor used a 3-D, anatomically correct male sex organ to explain how to use a condom.

But Dostal said she was most upset over the instructor simulating sexual acts using stuffed animals designed to resemble STD’s.

“I do not understand why any adult with a classroom of children would show them sexual positions,” she told Fox News Radio. “I think that’s horribly inappropriate.”

As for the photographs, “I believe some of those photos were pornographic,” she said.
“Had we known this was going on, I would have sat in the classroom or I would have pulled him out,” Dostal said.

< rimshot >

The Highland Park High School varsity basketball team has been selling cookies for months to raise money for a tournament in Arizona..

Now, after winning their first conference title in 26 years, the girls are being denied the opportunity to play in the tournament over safety concerns and because the trip “would not be aligned” with the school’s “beliefs and values,” Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson told the Chicago Tribune.

Now, two of the girls have appeared on Fox News and told their side of the story to Megyn Kelly.

One week before the most solemn day in the Christian year, the city of Davenport, Iowa removed Good Friday from its municipal calendar, setting off a storm of complaints from Christians and union members whose contracts give them that day off.

Taking a recommendation by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to change the holiday’s name to something more ecumenical, City Administrator Craig Malin sent a memo to municipal employees announcing Good Friday would officially be known as “Spring Holiday.”

Davenport officials called the name change an “error.”

“The City of Davenport will be observing “Good Friday” as a City Holiday on April 2,” read a statement released today.

“City Administrator Malin, in error, forwarded the recommendation to staff for further review and action, leading to release of a holiday notice with the holiday named ‘Spring Holiday,’ rather than “Good Friday,” read the release.

Mattera calls out Harkin on his shameless comparison of health care inequities to Jim Crow.

h/t Hotair

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