Iowa: Moines

Iowans Can Take Action on Nuclear Disarmament

by Paul Deaton

Nuclear disarmament is an Iowa issue for a lot of reasons. So why do so many Iowans seem unaware or unconcerned about the importance of nuclear disarmament?

The President continues to keep the “nuclear football” nearby; enabling the rapid and mutually assured destruction of the planet should Russia launch an attack against the United States. Mutually assured destruction would directly affect Iowans, killing most, if not all of us. That concern does not appear to be sufficient reason to engage Iowans to take political action on nuclear disarmament.

With all of the “loose” nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, terrorists could obtain enough enriched uranium to create a bomb, or steal an existing bomb, and detonate it in an Iowa city.

Politics of Division:  Iowa NAACP President Endorses Anti-Gay Vander Plaats for Governor 

One Iowa

Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., registered Democrat and president of the Iowa-Nebraska chapter of the NAACP announced his support for anti-gay Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats on Monday. If elected, Vander Plaats has pledged to pass an executive order to halt the freedom to marry in Iowa, thereby disobeying Iowa law and operating beyond the powers of the Governor.

Ratliff's ties to Chuck Hurley and the extremist Iowa Family Policy Center are well documented, including their efforts to fund the Joshua Christian Academy, a private Christian school in Des Moines.

Health Care Reform Call to Action:  Learn by Doing - the DFA Way 

by Alta Price, M.D.

Democracy for America doesn’t just ask you to call your elected official on the phone – they give you the skills you need to do more advanced lobbying and then ask you to put those skills to use. I hope many DFA members around Iowa will sign up for the next DFA Night School - a Health Care Action Meeting. The push is to arrange constituent meetings with local elected officials and get them to sign onto the public plan option – StandwithDrDean.com.

Since Dr. Dean will be visiting Des Moines on May 28, wouldn’t it be nice if we came prepared for action by having attended a

A Des Moines lawyer who represented the Iowa Democratic Party and Barack Obama’s campaign has been picked to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.