Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling Wednesday that California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional has been greeted with both joy and outrage in the Hawkeye State, with at least one legal scholar saying it could hurt efforts to pass a similar ban in Iowa.
Carolyn Jenison, executive director of LBGT-rights group One Iowa, called the ruling, “a victory for all Americans who believe in fundamental fairness,” but warned that the work for marriage equality is far from over.
“This is the first step attempt toward remedying the pain done by California’s Proposition 8 and recognizing gay and lesbian couples who simply want to marry the person they love,” Jenison said in a statement, later adding: “In order to make equality a reality for all Americans, we must continue to have conversations with our friends and families about the importance of marriage for same-sex couples.”
Mark Kende, director of Drake University’s Constitutional Law Center, told The Des Moines Register that Walker’s ruling sends a message to anti-gay marriage activists that, “if a constitutional amendment is passed in Iowa that it will be subject to the same kind of federal legal challenges that we saw in California and that there are chances for success.”
Bryan English of the Iowa Family Policy Center, which is adamantly opposed to legal recognition of same-sex relationships, told The Register the ruling represented, “the most egregious display of judicial arrogance that I can think of.”
Christian blogger Shane Vander Hart called Walker a “judicial tyrant” whose ruling could backfire for the gay rights movement.
While I’m sure there is much celebration in the homosexual community, this ruling in fact will open up a can of worms. Can you say – Federal Marriage Amendment? The push for that did seam to die down with a string of state electoral victories when marriage was on the ballot, and federal courts stayed out of it. This will also likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court and will test Elena Kagan’s statement (under oath) there is no constitutional right to gay marriage.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa Presidential Caucuses and is widely expected to run again in 2012, said Wednesday that a ban on same-sex marriage should be placed in the U.S. Constitution.
Today’s ruling tramples on the will of the people and sadly, it seems judicial activists are determined to advance their personal radical agenda. That’s why I believe it’s time for a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. That is the only action that will truly protect marriage.
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