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.
The remaining members of the Iowa Supreme Court have proven they are immoral and “open enemies of God” by choosing Mark Cady as chief justice, and thus, all deserve to be impeached, according to conservative radio host Steve Deace and Republican Party of Iowa central committee member Wes Enos.
Three Republican state legislators have begun drafting articles of impeachment for the remaining four members of the Iowa Supreme Court because of its 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. Even though Gov.-elect Terry Branstad and several Republican leaders have spoken out against the idea, social conservatives continue to push for the removal of the judges.
During his regular weekly segment on Deace’s drive-time program, Enos argued that while he agrees with the idea of impeachment, he fears if Senate Democrats hold the line and win a victory on the issue it will “give them the spine to fight a lot of the other things we want to get done,” such as a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Deace said impeaching the justices is a moral imperative, saying Republicans should “hit them with everything at once,” including impeachment, changing the judicial selection process, reaffirming the Defense of Marriage Act and a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
But what seemed to upset him the most was Cady’s selection as chief justice. Cady — who was appointed to the court by Branstad in 1998 — wrote the decision in Varnum v. Brien, the 2009 ruling that found the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
From Deace’s show:
DEACE: I think these are shameless, brazen, immoral people that are open enemies of God.
ENOS: That’s true.
DEACE: They clearly sent us a signal by putting Mark Cady, who wrote that opinion as their new [Chief Justice]. They clearly sent us a message, and the first word starts with the letter “F” and the second word starts with the letter “Y.” That was clearly their first public action since the retention election.
ENOS: I think you’re completely right on that topic.
Enos concluded that removing the justices “is a major part of what we need to be doing. But I think changing the process by which those guys are allowed to rise is a very big part of that strategy as well. I want to make sure that focus is there and doesn’t get lost.”
During an interview with The Des Moines Register Friday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Des Moines) said his party will do everything it can to derail the impeachment process.
“We’ll try to shut the place down,” he said. “You’ll hear a debate like you’ve never heard before, both in length and intensity.”
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