Winners

Believe it or not, we can bestow praise upon the The Des Moines Register when praise is due. And it is due to the Register’s political columnist David Yepsen, for his Nov. 16 piece about electronic voting. In “Address voting paranoia: Require a paper trail,” Yepsen hit the proverbial nail on the head (or the Diebold corporation in the gut), when he opined that Iowa should implement a verification system for the touchscreen voting machines that so many counties are using in elections. Now that Democrats are the majority party at the Capitol, Yepsen astutely writes, they should get to work on requiring electronic voting machines to produce a paper receipt, assuring voters that their choices were recorded. At a time when the U.S. is prancing around the world touting its democratic ideals — of which the right to an accurately tallied ballot is a key piece — Americans should have no qualms about the integrity of their votes. Yepsen points out that numerous inaccuracies and gray areas have been reported with touchscreen machines. And other media outlets, like Mother Jones magazine, have demonstrated how easily the systems can be compromised. Hopefully, articles like Yepsen’s, and like this one, will prod the Legislature to action on such a fundamental issue.

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, which is housed at Iowa State University, is a true gem, both for the university and for the state. The Center consistently pushes for smart growth in agriculture and promotes measured responses to controversial issues like ethanol research and development (see Cityview’s Nov. 23 cover story, “The Sacred Ethanol Cow”). Experts at the Center produce reports that have given farmers the information and tools they need to transition to more sustainable forms of ag and food production, and their efforts are having positive and visible results. Thanks to a $500,000 grant recently bestowed upon the Leopold Center by the Arkansas-based Henry A. Wallace Center, that work will continue. Specifically, the grant allows Leopold researchers to extend the Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture (VCPSA) program — a long title for an enterprise that basically supports farmers who raise niche pork, regional foods, flax and natural fibers in enviro-friendlier ways. And that’s something to celebrate, whether you’re a hayseed hick or a loft-dwelling Des Moinesian. By the time VCPSA is completed, more than 200 farmers will have taken part in the project. “This new phase will help us better measure success as we deliver benefits to farmer-based businesses, communities and the landscape,” VCPSA Director Rich Pirog said in a recent statement.

Normally we wouldn’t really give a Roeper’s ass about the latest “Superman” flick or the celeb hunk-of-the-week, but there is something good to be gleaned from the news that Iowa native Brandon Routh will star in yet another “Superman” sequel. In the past five years, Iowa has been grooming a stellar new crop of homegrown actors and actresses, producers, directors, as well as quality films and documentaries, from local companies like Ariesworks Entertainment and Bluebox Limited. Routh’s chiseled jaw and “Man of Steel” bod might persuade people to turn their heads and take a look at Iowa’s film scene. What they see once they glimpse under the surface will convince them we’ve got more than just pretty faces here in the Heartland.

Losers

In an action that would have absolutely zero possible benefits for Iowa’s schoolchildren and parents, the Iowa Board of Education is considering clamping down on its own free speech. Some members of the board are trying to add language to their own bylaws that would force all members to be “publicly supportive” of official board decisions after they’re made — even if several members were vehemently opposed to the decision, or voted against it. That means in interviews with media, or discussions with parent groups, those dissenting board members would basically have to lie about their position on an issue in order to create the façade of board unanimity. We trust these folks to make the best decisions possible for Iowa’s schoolchildren. Often, that requires healthy debates and, sometimes, disagreements. The bottom line is that the media and the public may never get the full story behind a decision, if the board decides to implement this bullyish and unnecessary language. The board voted to table a decision on the matter until a sub-committee could further investigate the implications. We hope the board will wisely reconsider its own First Amendment rights — and in doing so, the best interests of the people it serves.

For the second time in as many months, racist literature has reared its ugly and unwanted head in Iowa. Paper flyers containing racist slurs and white-supremacist propaganda were found under windshields in the Waterloo area this weekend. Police there apparently have a suspect, a young man who was seen sticking something under windshields the last time the racist flyers appeared, but the investigation is ongoing.

The honeymoon phase is drawing to an end for the recently elected Democratic majority, both in Iowa and in Congress. If Dems want to keep their lead, they’d better start to focus on the tough stuff — and chief among said stuff is healthcare. A study just released by Mercer Health found that the cost of health benefits for employees in Iowa is rising faster than that of the rest of the country. In 2006, the national average rose 6.1 percent, while Iowa’s average jumped by 7.5 percent. As much as Wal-Mart makes us cringe, news like this makes those $4 prescriptions look pretty damn good. Tackling America’s healthcare (read: HMO) quagmire head-on is a daunting prospect, but legislators at all levels owe it to those of us who elected them to give it their fightin’ all. CV

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