"Both Parties are the Same" = WRONG - exhibit A - why Iowa isn't Wisconsin, Ohio or Michigan.

[Pirate Smile]

From a post by emulatorloo in the Iowa forum:

Iowa collective bargaining bill DOA in Senate (YES!)


Collective bargaining bill DOA in Iowa Senate

By Lynda Waddington | 03.14.11 | 4:42 pm

The chairman of the Senate Labor Committee announced Monday that a bill passed by the Iowa House to limit collective bargaining rights is dead for the remainder of the session.

Sen. Wally Horn (D-Cedar Rapids) said that there weren’t enough votes in the Democratically-controlled Senate to bring the bill out of committee. Members of the Republican-controlled Iowa House spent three days last week debating the bill, which was ultimately passed Friday on a party line vote.

The bill, House File 525, allowed employees to become “free agents,” able to negotiate their terms of employment directly with employers even in a union shop. The bill also prohibited unions from negotiating on health benefits, retirement or layoffs, and required arbitrators to consider comparisons with non-union workers and the private sector, and whether taxes would be increased.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=152x28261

Iowa has a Republican Governor & House but Democrats control the State Senate.

This is why it is so DAMN IMPORTANT that the Democrats control at least one side of the legislature.

I'm so sick of the "both parties are the same - corporate whores" crap. Sure, people don't have to be satisfied but to act like both parties will do the same thing is total and complete garbage. The HUGE difference is seeing what is happening in Iowa vs. Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. There is a big friggin difference. When people downplay that fact, it results in what we have now in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

:thumbsup:

[TheWraith]

2. This needs to be flashed in the face of everyone who doesn't get it.

Seriously, if I could, I'd put this on an infinite loop for all the DUers who insist that the Dems are just like the Republicans.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pirate Smile]

24. Here is another HUGE example of the difference - what the IA Senate Dems were able to kill out of

the GOP House's Budget Bill.

Iowa House sends heavily amended spending cut bill to governor

by: desmoinesdem
Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 16:53:10 PM CST

House File 45 heads to Governor Terry Branstad's desk today after the Iowa House approved the "deappropriations" bill by a 95 to zero vote. The bill was the top legislative priority for House Republican leaders, but the Democratic-controlled Iowa Senate eliminated many of its controversial provisions last week. The full text of House File 45 is here, and the complete bill history is here. The Senate Journal for February 17 contains roll calls for votes on House File 45 and various amendments (pdf file). The final Senate version of House File 45 passed with 48 yes votes. First-term Republican Senator Mark Chelgren voted against the bill, and Republican Senator Sandy Greiner was absent.
Thanks to the Senate amendment, state funding for preschool, family planning, passenger rail, smoking cessation programs, and the core curriculum live to fight another day in the Iowa legislature. So do the Power Fund, the Office of Energy Independence, and the Grow Iowa Values Fund, all economic development programs long targeted by statehouse Republicans.

In addition, the Senate removed language from House File 45 that would have reduced funding for state universities, area education agencies, land acquisitions by the Department of Natural Resources and the Resource Enhancement and Protection fund.

-snip-
In addition, language trying to revoke $30 million in I-JOBS funding for the Disaster Prevention Grant program didn't make it into the Senate's version of House File 45.
I was also pleased to see that the Senate's amendment to House File 45 did not include language repealing ten smart planning principles and thirteen comprehensive plan elements that were added to the Iowa code during the 2010 legislative session. Repealing the smart planning language would not have saved any state funds and would have impeded sustainable development at the city and county level.

House Republicans had sought to eliminate all sabbaticals at state universities for 18 months, even though doing so would cost more in grants awarded than it would save university budgets. The Senate version of House File 45 "limit to no more than 3% of the faculty staff members employed at each institution." In effect, that will allow all the sabbaticals already approved by the Board of Regents to go forward.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x485608

http://www.bleedingheartland.com/diary/4587/iowa-house-sends-heavily-amended-spending-cut-bill-to-governor

[great white snark]

3. This deservingly gets a bump. Thanks Pirate Smile.

[Pirate Smile]

19. You're welcome.

:hi:

[1776Forever]

5. Oh how sweet it is when it rings the TRUTH Baby! Right on! n/t

[Ikonoklast]

6. KNR.

All the same...only in stupid people's fevered imaginings.

[d_r]

7. you are right

The right side that got elected is farther right and crazy than our left side that got elected is to the right.

Well that was a poorly written sentence.

I'm trying to say, the democrats who were elected are not as far to the extreme as the republicans who got elected.

They have gotten some true-believing right-wing pigeons in power.

My hope has been that they would eat themselves. That the crazies to the right would push the moderates that were center-right to the left - in order to "escape" the craziness of the far right. But they got enough vote in 2010 put far right people in office.

Not all of them of course, but they moved the bar to the right.

[jefferson_dem]

8. OP of the day.

It's a shame that these illustrations are even necessary. Truth is...anyone who parrots the "both parties are the same" delusional tripe should be laughed at, mocked, and ridiculed.

[TheWraith]

9. Too true. You would think that those people had never lived through the last decade.

Because if you seriously believe that Nader 2000 shit about how Gore and Bush would have been the same, then either you've been in a coma since December 2000, or you need serious medication.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

10. I'm in Iowa, the senate Democrats are a bare majority.

It was nearly a sweep in 2010. The Pukes rode in on the anti-gay judges wave.
And they're chomping at the bit for 2012.

The OP is right. Read it again. Memorize it.
We aren't just talking a political race, but survival here.

[NorthCarolina]

11. You must be talking about State level Dems. Federal level, different story. nt

[Pirate Smile]

12. Wrong. It is true at the Federal level too. You're not getting it.

That is the kind of thinking that got us a GOP House. It makes a difference. There is a difference between Democrats and Republicans.

[NorthCarolina]

13. Not nearly ENOUGH of a difference. nt

[Pirate Smile]

15. I can agree that is true sometimes with some people.

:)

But I also think that it is true that the Conservative Democrats that drive us nuts are still much more likely to be reachable, their vote much more gettable then a Republican in their spot.

This is generally more acceptable in red states (Lincoln or Ben Nelson) then blue states (such as Lieberman - he had no excuse). Such as on Health Care where even the most moderate Republican (Snowe) ended up unattainable. We had to get Nelson, Lincoln, and Lieberman which was hard (and sucked) but was possible unlike the Republicans.

The current example that drives me crazy is WV's Manchin - but I'm going to try to ignore all the garbage because I know that no matter how horrible he is, he will generally be much better, reachable and gettable for Democratic votes then any Republican who would otherwise win that Senate seat.

Sometimes it sucks but it's reality.

[Brickbat]

14. Which is why EFCA is in effect now.

Oh. Wait.

[vaberella]

21. You're going to sit there and tell me that Virginia Foxx and Bernie Sanders are the same?!

Really. What do you mean when you say Federal level Dems?

[NorthCarolina]

23. Bernie Sanders is NOT a Democrat,

he is an Independent that caucuses with the Democrats, so your premise is flawed. However, your basic DLC New Dems and Blue Dog Dems have more commonality with Virginia Foxx than they do with say, Sherrod Brown or a Dennis Kucinich. Federal Level Dems would be those that are in the US Congress in Washington DC, as opposed to those that occupy State Houses of Congress which would be, appropriately so, State level Dems.

[uponit7771]

25. Sanders caucuses with democrats and votes along those lines, title withstanding

[Armstead]

27. You are missing the point

Sanders caucuses with the Dems, but he takes much clear and more focused positions on issues than the "centrist" corporate Democrats.

(He does have much in common with the progressive Congressional Democrats, but they often have to face as much opposition from the leadership as they do from the GOP.)

If the institutional Democratic Party were even half as clear as Sanders on the issues that matter, the country would be in a lot better shape, and the Democratic party would be a lot stronger.

[vaberella]

26. I won't deny there are dirty Dems out there.

I want to see people to put progressive ones in their place. Instead people are still pushing the safe bet. It's like what happened with the Meek/Crist/Rubio situation.

[bullwinkle428]

31. IF ONLY most "official Democrats" were nearly as amazing as Bernie Sanders!

[Sheepshank]

28. I counter that arguement with " what is in Washington except State Senators?" n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

33. No, Congressional Democrats are also substantitally different than Congressional Republicans

Even the Blue Dogs usually vote partly line 80-90% of the time. It's just that the remaining 10-20% are all of the the hot button issues that the press spends most of their time writing about. This is actually a perfect example of that. Republicans introduce radical bills all of the time, and they get voted down by Democrats (yes even the Blue Dogs). You just never hear about it. You wouldn't even be hearing about this bill being voted down if labor wasn't a hot button issue right now due to Wisconsin

If you want another example watch this youtube video of Mary Landrieu speaking out against an amendment to require people who live in public housing in New Orleans to do community service. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cczkwpmaovU

Then read the comments that people posted on the video. The comments reflect Republican attitudes about public housing, poor people, and minorities. Mary Landrieu's comments reflect Democratic attitudes about public housing, poor people, and minorities. The difference is night and day.

[Dawson Leery]

16. The Democrats must control at least one house.

The Republicans controlled the entire Federal Government during the 1920's and look what they brought upon the world.
The Republicans controlled the entire Federal Government during the early 2000's and look what they brought upon the world.

[Pirate Smile]

18. Exactly. Great point. It leads to catastrophe. We are now seeing how it does that even on a state

level.

Frankly, I'm worried about the U.S. Senate flipping because of the large number of Senate seats the Dems have to defend (because we won so many in 2006). If it flips and Obama doesn't win, we are back at the catastrophe of them controlling all three parts of the legislative & executive branches. That thought should motivate everyone.

[Lucky Luciano]

17. Spot on. nt

[RockaFowler]

20. Don't forget Florida

We had a bill last year SB6 that would do away with Teacher Merit Pay and now it's back again. Voldermont and the Legion of Doom will take away all Teacher rights:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/mar/16/teacher-tenure-merit-pay-up-for-final-vote-today/news-breaking/


Florida is going way down in just a few months :(

[vaberella]

22. I don't know what Florida needs to get a clue. I really don't. n/t

[Avant Guardian]

29. You are right, they are different from each other...

One side are assholes, the other side are asshole enablers.

[SkyDaddy7]

30. ME TOO! Saying both parties are the same...

is just an excuse!

[mikekohr]

32. This Should Be Kicked Up Every Day For the Next Twp Years