Free Republic

The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa GOP is courting Palin to campaign and headline their chief fundraiser. Go to Conservatives4Palin, because the DesMoines Register cannot be used at FR due to copyright. Conservatives4Palin on Palin stepping up in Iowa.

We appreciate the input of hundreds of people who have voiced their opinions, both positive and negative, on the issue of including Michael Jackson in the 2009 butter sculpture. The ongoing discussion has created a lot of, well, ‘churn.’ Since everyone has an opinion about the sculpture, we’ve decided to put it to a vote and let Fairgoers decide. The concept of the sculpture will be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk on July 20, 1969. In honor of Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind,” this year’s sculpture will include an astronaut, an American flag and a...

After caring for Vietnam veteran Roger Lennon for more than a dozen years, two months after his death Sarah Miller received a bill from the state of Iowa for almost $300,000 for medical care he received at a state-run veteran's home, according to a report in the Quad-City Times. "I called them and said, 'Is this a joke?'" Miller told the Quad-City Times. "Who has that kind of money? And I was with Roger every time he was signed into the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. They never said anything about billing him after he passed." Lennon was wounded in...

Cedar Rapids businessman and flood recovery leader Christian Fong has entered the race for governor, calling for new leadership to restore the Iowa dream. “Sadly, today I see the dream being ripped away from future generations,” Fong said. He’s seeking the Republican nomination to challenge first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. “The dream has to be restored.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) -- the third-ranking member of the House -- is the latest Republican with (possible) national ambitions to head off to Iowa for a political event. Pence, who is due to make an as-yet unspecified appearance in Cedar Rapids on July 24th, isn't on the short list of 2012 GOP candidates, but MSNBC and other outlets have predicted he'll be in the mix. Nevada Sen. John Ensign was in northwest Iowa in early June - shortly before his career imploded -- followed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was in Des Moines on Thursday.

She was plucked to safety by the crew on a building site nearby after they spotted the plight of her and her husband. The workers used a crane to lower colleague Jason Oglesbee down to lift the woman free of the water and away to safety. While they were able to rescue the woman, her husband drowned after the boat overturned on the Des Moines River, Iowa. Joe Lowe, one of the construction workers, said: "I saw the boat drift down, and he started it up and he hit the bridge base. "Then he tried to wrap it up with...

Police have charged a 24-year-old former player in the fatal shooting of a prominent Iowa high school football coach.

Electrolux is laying off about 150 more workers at its Webster City laundry plant as the company moves some of its washer and dryer production to Mexico. The cuts announced Friday will be effective June 15. Company spokesman Tony Evans says the layoffs are temporary and that workers could be recalled if business conditions improve. Including the layoffs announced last week, about 500 Electrolux employees have lost their jobs since last November. Electrolux announced in 2006 that it would eliminate jobs in Webster City because production of its front-loading washing machines and companion dryers would move to Mexico. The company...

These choppy clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an undated picture could be examples of the first new type of cloud to be recognized since 1951. Or so hopes Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. The British cloud enthusiast said he began getting photos of "dramatic" and "weird" clouds (including the above) in 2005 that he didn't know how to define. A few months ago he began preparing to propose the odd formations as a new cloud variety to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which classifies cloud types. Pretor-Pinney jokingly calls it the "Jacques Cousteau cloud," after its...

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will headline a Republican Party of Iowa fundraiser in late June, fueling speculation the wildly-popular two-term governor may indeed have ambitions for higher officer. Barbour, 61, will be ineligible to seek another term as governor in 2012, but refuses to speak to his political future, saying only that “You can look for me not to run for re-election.” He will undoubtedly dismiss the candidate-type activity as inconsequential, as spreading the Republican Gospel, but no politician finds themselves in Iowa — the launch pad of every dark horse candidacy — by pure coincidence. Considered a highly effective...

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - Sioux City city councilman Aaron Rochester is speaking out about national gun control legislation. He says talks of allowing authorities to search homes for unregistered guns goes against the right to bear arms, and he wants to make sure Sioux City police know it. Aaron Rochester, City Council Member:"I think it's going against constitutional rights, and I think our police department in Sioux City should really know every bit of the second amendment so that they can interpret it and do things according to what our founding fathers meant." Rochester's given council direction to make...

ATTENTION ALL TEA PARTY PATRIOTS! If you still haven’t figured out that Obama and his Democrat Socialists have already begun the Communist Takeover of the United States, all you have to do is read the “Letter to the Web Site” of the Dubuque County Democrats http://www.dbqdemocrats.org/ from the Chairman of the Dubuque County Democrats himself , Terry Strwart Below the letters are the Email addresses of the other officers of the Dubuque County Democrats. I think these arrogant clowns need a little education in OUR Free Speech before it is taken away from us. LOCK AND LOAD! ================================================ Letters to...

The US Senate Judiciary committee is now considering the so-called Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed by the House April 29, under the sponsorship of Rep John Conyers (D-MI) and 120 other Representatives. Dubbed the ”Thought Crimes Prevention Act” by some House Republicans, HB1913 includes pedophilia as a protected sexual orientation. Prior to approval by the whole House, a party-line 10-13 vote of Conyers’ House Judiciary Committee April 23 rejected a proposal by Republican Rep Steve King (R-IA) “to define the term `sexual orientation’ as used in the bill to explicitly exclude pedophilia.” Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin, an open lesbian, called...

Here in the heart of the heartland -- Sioux City, Iowa -- a “pitchfork mentality” is emerging. In a town that has stockyards and a meatpacking company that yields what locals call “aroma alley,” the Republican base, which has been in retreat since the presidential election, is energized and the Democratic majority is growing angry at its own leaders. Two issues have emerged as critical: a government plan to prevent the deductibility of state taxes on the federal tax form and a state Supreme Court decision to mandate homosexual marriages. If subject to a vote, these proposals would lose 85...

Missouri state Sen. Jolie Justus of Kansas City on Friday boarded a bus for Iowa where same-sex marriage is legal to wed her partner of nearly two years, the Democratic senator said Sunday. Justus said she married Shonda Garrison of mid-Missouri at a ceremony in Iowa City. The two were one of 17 couples mostly from the St. Louis area that took advantage of the recent Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the Hawkeye State. Missouri does not recognize same-sex marriages, meaning that the marriage carries no legal weight back home in Kansas City. The couples boarded a...

My Aunt Violet Alexander passed away Friday. She was a giver, a good Christian, mother of three boys (all adults now) grandmother, and a long-time babysitter in her community. She even provided daycare to the members of the famous rock group "Slipknot" when they were tikes. A very good country cook, a warm, "diamond in the rough" type person, she was really there for me when my dad passed away in 2002. Our family and Des Moines has lost a good woman. We will miss her.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dozens of gay couples have flocked to Iowa from elsewhere in the Midwest since the door to same-sex marriage was opened there this week, and some counties have seen more interest from outside the state than within. Some couples from neighboring states where voters have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage plan to move to Iowa so their unions will be recognized. "It’s a whole different world when you cross the river," said Troy Fienhold-Haasis of Omaha, Neb., who plans to move with his partner, Jason, across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, this fall....

Same-sex couples began applying for marriage licenses at government offices across Iowa on Monday, and several couples quickly tied the knot in ceremonies in Des Moines. Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were declared "legally married" by pastor Peg Esperanaza during a ceremony in front of Polk County administrative offices in Des Moines. It didn't take long before they were referring to one another as "wife." "It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked, referring to the location of the ceremony and the media attention. The couple was allowed to wed after getting a judge to waive the state's three-day...

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller is warning the county recorders' offices in his state that workers must process "marriage" licenses for same-sex duos or face possible charges in a court of law. "If necessary, we will explore legal actions to enforce and implement the court's ruling, working with the Iowa Dept. of Public Health and county attorneys," he warned on his website. But an announcement today from a statewide pro-family organization and a public interest law firm with a reach that goes around the world means the issue of same-sex weddings eventually could end up back in court. The...

In the past several months, young people have repeatedly been the victims of unprovoked attacks. "I really don't understand the motivation for the violence," Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey said. "It's severe and concerning that people find this acceptable and people are seeking this out." Police don't break out statistics for the downtown area near campus, but they said the problem is more the intensity and unprovoked nature of the beatings.

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...

Celebrity activist and new media pioneer Ashton Kutcher just beat CNN in a race for 1 million followers on the Internet social networking site Twitter. A suggested next challenge for the Iowa native: move back to your home state - the western side, say Council Bluffs - and run for the 5th Congressional District seat. As much as anyone in America Kutcher has brilliantly blended fame with substance to create an interactive organization that he’s trained on fighting malaria and child sex trafficking. An obvious new platform for the earnest Kutcher would be a run for political office. And the...

Do not believe the nattering nabobs of negativity. The Nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt was a huge success!! What we need now is MORE and LOUDER!! Obama has no clue. Being confronted by millions of fed-up citizens is new to him. He never expected the otherwise docile American people to rise up against his wannabe Marxist/fascist totalitarian regime. He's now lashing out at us through the Dept of Homeland Security as if We the People are his enemy. Well, we are! And he now knows it. And he's scared witless!! And the media has been reduced to the speechless,...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

An idea that would revise the state's income tax system may be dead, at least for now, several Democratic state lawmakers said Wednesday.

A trial date is set for next year for a father and son from Osceola County who filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Iowa law giving local authorities power to decide who gets permits to carry weapons. The lawsuit was filed last fall by Paul Dorr and his son Alexander Dorr, both of Ocheyedan. The suit names Osceola County Sheriff Douglas Weber, the sheriff's department and the county. It claims the law used to deny them nonprofessional carry permits is unconstitutional. According to the lawsuit, Paul Dorr was issued nonprofessional permits to carry a weapon from 2001 to 2006, but...

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

And they wonder why they are third on cable news behind Fox and MS NBC. CNN's Don Lemon even looked at his notes before he said Rhode Island, which should have been "Iowa" that has recently legalized Gay Marriage. And during the rest of the segment no one in the control room corrects him. Crack staff over there! Good job!

Very funny!

We cheer the reddest. We corn the hardest. And, apparently, we grin the widest. Because Nebraska is the happiest state in the U.S., a new study says. The survey — conducted by personal finance Web site MainStreet.com — ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia from fiscally happiest to saddest based on a few factors of economic well-being. These included foreclosure numbers, unemployment rates and the ratio of average debt to average annual income. “It reflects the attitude of this state,” said Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are a positive people with a can-do attitude who are focused on...

The Senate's top Democrat said Monday he won't let the same-sex marriage issue be debated this session, a position the top GOP leader decried as obstructionist. "I have no intention of taking it up," said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. "I'm not going to put discrimination in the state Constitution. It's just a horrible idea." Gronstal said the Iowa Supreme Court ruled last week that a state law defining marriage as only between one man and one woman violated equal protection guarantees for all people. To follow that with a resolution to amend the Constitution with a one-man,...

We, the Roman Catholic Bishops of Iowa, strongly disagree with the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court which strikes down Iowa’s law defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. This decision rejects the wisdom of thousands of years of human history. It implements a novel understanding of marriage, which will grievously harm families and children. This unwarranted social engineering attacks the good that marriage offers to society, especially the good of children, and weakens the critical relationship between marriage and parenting. We will resolutely continue to protect and promote marriage as a union between a man...

There are very few immutable rules to remember when it comes to media consumption: Rule 1: Don't believe everything you read. Rule 2: Don't believe anything you read, when the headline begins: " Study: ... " Case in point, this bit of news from the CR Gazette: By Terry McCoy News correspondent A University of California at Los Angeles study says Friday's Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage may generate $5.3 million annually for the state budget. That figure is based on an analysis of how much money would be saved in Iowa's public assistance expenditures, the amount raised...

When the Constitution was created, the Founding Father's biggest fear was that the judicial branch would have little power. After all, the Judiciary can't enforce any of their policies. Their fears materialized Worcester Vs. Georgia when the Supreme Court made a decision that then President Andrew Jackson disagreed with and Jackson proclaimed.

Iowa's top court legalized same-sex marriage Friday, giving advocates a victory beyond the liberal coastal states into the more conservative American interior. The supreme court justices drew explicit parallels to civil rights struggles by blacks and women, holding that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was a violation of the equality promised in the Iowa constitution. "If a simple showing that discrimination is traditional satisfies equal protection, previous successful equal protection challenges of invidious racial and gender classifications would have failed," the court said in its ruling. This past week, legislators in both Vermont and New Hampshire have passed bills...

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

Iowa Supreme Court Rules in Marriage CaseDes Moines, April 3, 2009— In a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Courttoday held that the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a manand a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civilmarriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutorylanguage be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbianpeople full access to the institution of civil marriage.Today’s ruling resolves an action brought by six same-sex couples who wererefused marriage...

The Iowa Supreme Court says the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making it the third state where gay marriage is legal. In a unanimous ruling issued Friday, the court upheld a 2007 Polk County District Court judge's ruling that the law was unconstitutional. The case stems from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization. The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses. The suit named then-Polk County recorder and registrar Timothy Brien. The Polk County...

A debate over tax changes forces dems to clear the chamber. Looking at the video, however, you can see that the crowd was composed of mostly older, Amish types and there was no reason to kick these fine Americans out while they were merely excercising their free speech rights. A gazillion illegals can march and turn an entire state upside down, but if a group of hardworking American taxpayers says enough is enough, then -- there's the door. It's only a matter of time before our "Shot heard 'round the world" moment.

Iowa voters are already getting phone calls about Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential nominee who became a household name during last year’s election, reports the Alaska blog The Mudflats. The blog posted an approximate transcript of the calls, in which an automated voice asked listeners poll questions:

Robert Gannon, a Vietnam veteran who served on a medical evacuation helicopter, landed his Cessna 182 at Basrah International Airport with a $10,000 check and nine boxes of toys for the Basrah Children’s Hospital, March 18. USACE photo. BASRAH — A private pilot in his Cessna 182 landed at Basrah International Airport with a $10,000 check and nine boxes of toys for the Basrah Children’s Hospital, March 18. Robert Gannon, a Vietnam veteran who served on a medical evacuation helicopter, has visited 110 countries on humanitarian missions over the past eight years. He says that flying into Iraq and seeing...

By now you’ve probably heard that the Senate approved an amendment a few days ago to outlaw the “Fairness Doctrine.” Republican Senator Jim DeMint’s amendment passed by a comfortable margin of 87-to-11. Although one would think it’s important to know which senators cast their votes in favor of censorship, we can’t find a single news report that calls out their names. So we’ll do it:

The Democrat controlled Iowa House and Senate leaders are working with the teachers unions to push a forced bargaining bill that will place control of Iowa school boards in the hands of the union special interests. This would take away authority from the elected school board.

Iowa DNR refusing to allow real "Tea Party." Our founding fathers would have been outraged. Imagine if they had gone to Boston Harbor to dump tea in protest only to be thwarted by environmentalists who think tea would pollute the harbor? This is exactly what is happening in Grand Rapids Iowa. A group of citizens want to have a "Tea Party" tax protest. However, State officials will not allow them to dump real tea into the Cedar River. The Cedar Rapids group will only be allowed to dump dechlorinated tap water or river water from buckets labeled “tea.” If this...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

DES MOINES, Iowa – Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion." The Guard had planned a four-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, population 443, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer. The exercise was designed as a mock scenario to give soldiers the skills needed for deployment in an urban environment, and military officials stressed that only households that consented to be part of the drill...

Guardsmen to conduct urban training at Arcadia in April By BUTCH HEMAN Staff Writer The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia. The purpose of the April 2-5 drill will be to gather intelligence, then search for and apprehend a suspected weapons dealer, according to Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company. Citizens, law enforcement, media and other supporters will participate. Troops will spend Thursday, April 2, staging at a forward operations base at Carroll. The next day company leaders will conduct reconnaissance and begin patrolling the streets of...

Here is President Obama saying he traveled to Canada to renew the great friendship between the U.S. and Canada. Notice closely at the beginning, Obama almost misspeaks, as he started to say "it is a great pleasure to be here in Iowa." He caught himself before getting the whole word "Iowa" out and instead say "Ottawa" where the meeting took place with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I know this is ticky-tacky, but the way the far-left pilloried George W. Bush at every turn, this at least deserves a mention. . . . . (Watch Video)