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.
Kim Lehman
The federal judge who overturned a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California because it violated the U.S. Constitution “seems to think he is a king, and further thinks he has the ‘authority’ to ignore the will of the people,” said Kim Lehman, one of three Iowans on the Republican National Committee. Therefore, she contends, there is only one response to this sort of “tyranny.”
“I believe the proper response is to do what the founders did in the Declaration of Independence, that after many attempts to reason with the King of England with no success, decided to withdraw from England and its force of laws without representation — which they defined as tyranny,” she said.
Lehman was responding to a questionnaire from Christian radio host Steve Deace, a long-time supporter of passing an amendment to the state’s constitution banning same-sex marriage who now opposes the effort in the wake of the California ruling. He said the ruling, and the eventual support of the U.S. Supreme Court render the amendment “obsolete,” so he asked many of Iowa’s Republican leaders to weigh in on how to proceed.
Lehman said judges who believe “their power is greater then the will of the people” will, “be faced with a revolution against a government who has abandoned the rule of law and its own people.”
“We must reject the outlaw acts of judges who act outside the power of the people,” she said. “Iowa is no different–we must be allowed to decide our laws and the courts have no jurisdiction over the will of the people nor does the federal government have the powers it is asserting against the states. We must educate the people of their God given liberties and the rule of law.”
Lehman was the only respondent who openly mentioned revolution, but the idea of simply ignoring rulings for the court came up frequently. Tom Shaw, a Republican candidate for Iowa House District 8, suggested the legislature refuse to fund anything in state government until the governor orders county recorders to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
“With the exception of emergency funding for essential services, such as the State Patrol, I would support this shutdown of state government,” he said. “And yes, this would also include funding for the schools as I can’t think of a better civics lesson for our children concerning the checks and balances provided by the constitution.”
For the most part, respondents suggested similar strategies, ranging from ousting the three Iowa Supreme Court Justices up for retention this fall to passing a state or federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex. There were several mentions of the 10th Amendment, and U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, said he would, “be very happy to take whatever steps, however bold, to reverse” the California ruling.
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