Author Archives: Ed Fallon

My name is now a verb

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I learned a new verb last week: “fallon.” Apparently, to fallon something means you’re the only “no” vote on legislation. I learned this when I ran into a woman who, introducing herself as a multi-client lobbyist, informed me I had “falloned” her bill years ago. (Yes, lobbyists — the true apex of political power — rightfully claim that legislation is “theirs.”) The bill in question dealt with large-scale chicken confinements. I have no recollection of why I voted “no,” but like most of my solitary “no” votes, I had good reason. 

Rep. Chuck Isenhart and I discuss the lack of climate action at the Iowa Statehouse, which we agree is unconscionable. We also discuss legislation relevant to CO2 pipelines, which we disagree on (Chuck was one of 11 Democrats to vote against a bill to restrict the use of eminent domain). We also discuss the relevance, or lack thereof, of the Democratic Party in Iowa. I’m pretty sure we don’t agree on that either. But, agree or disagree, I respect lawmakers like Chuck who aren’t afraid to come on my program.
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Trump’s arrest could backfire on Democrats

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Like Trump’s followers who compare him to Jesus, Mark and I couldn’t help but notice the irony of Trump being arrested during Holy Week.

Yes, as offensive as it is, the frequency of Trump-Jesus references is astounding. There’s this tweet by attorney Joseph McBride: “President Trump will be arrested during Lent—a time of suffering and purification for the followers of Jesus Christ. As Christ was crucified, and then rose again on the 3rd day, so too will Trump.”

My view on Trump? He’s an unstable, power-hungry narcissist with an unprecedented disdain for civility and honesty. Do I agree he should be prosecuted for his crimes? Absolutely.

Yet legal action against Trump may have unfortunate consequences. Last year, I stated that bringing Trump to trial would help solidify his support among Republican primary voters. That’s happening, and the way things are going, Trump is almost certain to win the nomination.

That makes Democratic strategists giddy. They think another Trump-Biden showdown assures Biden of a second term. Yet that analysis is deeply flawed.
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Solutions to Iowa’s “red-state” problem

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I first met Dennis Kucinich in 2003 when he ran for president. Unlike most politicians, when Dennis took a position on an issue, you knew exactly where he stood. There was no equivocation, no weighing of political nuances, no corporate donors to appease. Refreshing and, alas, rare.

I hope you’ll listen to my discussion with Dennis, which covers the sorry state of the Democratic Party, the Biden administration’s misguided foreign policy, and how “free” trade treaties have eroded the economic foundation of our country.

Here’s a quote from my interview with Dennis: “The Democratic Party used to stand for the small farmers trying to resist monopolies. Now you have agribusinesses that don’t give a damn about the soil, and we see taxpayers’ money helping facilitate the destruction of millions of acres of farmland to create shopping malls for the purpose of marketing goods from China.”
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America needs a new peace movement

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Other than a few persistent, isolated voices for peace, we mostly hear crickets. Thus the question I ask in this week’s program and have asked before: Where is the peace movement?

Forty years ago, the anti-nuclear-weapons movement was broad and vibrant. It embraced every conceivable strategy — from hammering missile silos to volunteering in campaigns of “pro-peace” candidates.

That movement accomplished a lot: The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, START, The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, US-Soviet citizen-diplomacy, and much more. There are still 13,080 nuclear weapons in the world, but that’s down from over 60,000 in 1986.

Change happened, as it always does, because hundreds of thousands of people marched, spoke out, got arrested, campaigned, and made more noise than the lumbering colossus of the federal government could ignore. Continue Reading →

My St. Pat’s Day reflection on fairies and fracking

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Stopping the abuse of eminent domain has become the defining issue in Iowa this year. A recent Des Moines Register poll found 78% of Iowans across the political spectrum oppose using eminent domain to build CO2 pipelines. That’s an astounding preponderance of opinion on one side of a very important issue.

Seventy-eight percent oughta be way more than enough to compel politicians to take action. To quote Senator Zaun from our conversation, “If Republicans don’t protect property rights, they’ll be on the road to being in the minority.”

Zaun believes the House and Senate will pass eminent domain legislation this year. That’s encouraging. Still, it’s remarkable that Senate Republicans were unable to push an eminent domain bill through committee before last week’s “funnel.” At least a promising bill is alive in the House, though it may take every ounce of public pressure and political courage to pass it.

I believe Zaun is correct when he says that if Republicans don’t rein in the abuse of eminent domain, they’ll probably lose seats in 2024. Continue Reading →

Why going vegan won’t solve climate change

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Veganism. I have nothing against it, nor any other diet, for that matter. Raw. Paleo. Carnivore. Breatharian. Bring it on. It’s your call. Why? Because I believe in freedom (unlike the Republican majorities at the Iowa Statehouse, it seems).

What I have trouble with is the occasional “vegangelical” who calls me a climate hypocrite because my Locavore diet includes meat. Even my favorite mouthpiece of the Mainstream Media, The Guardian, has an entirely lopsided take on the role of animals in agriculture and dining.

The main problem is that many vegan and vegetarian arguments against meat lump large-scale industrial production in with sustainable alternatives. That’s unfair, disingenuous, and actually harmful. Continue Reading →

Just give Iowa to China

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(Come meet long-time advocate for the homeless, Carla Dawson, at the annual Bishop Dingman Peace Award, March 4 at 6:00 p.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 2926 Beaver Ave in Des Moines.)

The growth-at-all-costs crowd never ceases to astound me. Take Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Durham has proposed HSB 147, a bill that would allow foreign corporations to own up to 1,000 acres of contiguous farmland.

Iowa used to have strong provisions against foreign ownership of farmland. But the proverbial camel’s nose found its way under the tent in 2017, when foreign entities were allowed to purchase up to 320 acres of contiguous farmland for commercial purposes.

As often happens, the camel now wants to shove its entire head under the tent. Given the money and power behind this trend, is there any doubt that corporate interests will try to continue to erode limitations on who controls our farmland? Continue Reading →

Our Presidents Day celebration: Goldman lauds Trump’s greatest hits

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A few highlights from this week’s radio program and podcast:

BROOKINGS VS STEVE BANNON. The Brookings Institute recently published a study of 79 prominent political podcasters (darn, I didn’t make the cut). After analyzing 36,603 episodes, Brookings concluded that ten conservative podcasters were responsible for 60% of all “unsubstantiated and false claims.”

The study focuses mostly on election denial and COVID (incredibly, researchers ignored the blatantly false statements on climate change prevalent in conservative podcasts). Steve Bannon’s War Room finished a decisive first. From the Brookings study: “Bannon’s podcast alone accounted for nearly three-quarters of all conspiracy-related content on political podcasts and more than one-quarter of all COVID-related claims.”

Placing a distant but still respectable third was the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. They’re Rush Limbaugh’s successors, and they now dominate commercial radio for three hours each weekday. It was, in fact, during a Clay and Buck episode that I learned of the Brookings study. You know the mainstream media isn’t covering your story when I have to find out about it from a program the study critiques. Continue Reading →

War in Ukraine: No easy answers

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CO2 PIPELINES. Rep. J.D. Scholten and I discuss legislation to restrict eminent domain. That conversation starts at the 30-minute mark of this week’s program. Legislation is moving in the Iowa House, and if you’ve got an opinion, now’s a great time to contact your rep and senator.

UKRAINE. There are no easy answers when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. The predicted “new phase” of the war could even increase the risk of a nuclear exchange. Jeffrey Weiss and I discuss that.

I also ask Jeffrey how seriously we should take the resolution proposed by congressional Republicans to cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine. My own take: not very — though it probably won’t be retracted as was the letter from House Democrats to President Biden last October.

As Jeffrey sees it, there are a couple big-picture issues to keep in mind: “The US is spending close to a trillion dollars for the military-industrial complex and has a permanent war economy. The only people in the world who don’t know this are the people of the United States. Regarding this war specifically, one of the key questions we have to ask is what’s in the best interest of the people of Ukraine.”

MONOPOLIES. J.D. Scholten is tackling a problem that needs a bi-partisan fix. We discuss how Ticketmaster, Smithfield, Major League Baseball, and other corporate monopolies get away with gouging consumers due to weak anti-trust laws. Unless we do something, “the wealthy are going to get more wealthy and they’re leaving the rest of us behind,” says J.D. Continue Reading →

Eminent domain bills on the move at the Iowa Statehouse

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If you live in Iowa, please contact your state rep and senator immediately regarding eminent domain legislation.

Several bills are on the move at the Statehouse, and now is a critical time to contact lawmakers.

Yesterday morning, I reached out to four Republicans and four Democrats about the issue, including the House and Senate minority leaders. I immediately heard back from three of the four Republicans, but not a single Democrat. (UPDATE: Two Democrats, Rep. Austin Baeth and Sen. Janet Peterson, have since responded.)

Yesterday, one Republican lawmaker shared this with me: “Today, for the third week in a row, we had dozens of landowners at the Capitol seeking legislative relief and protection. SF 101 has received registered support from the Iowa State Association of Counties and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. SF 104 addresses the 90% threshold and is supported by the Iowa Farm Bureau. House companion bills are being drafted, and there’s an even stronger 90% threshold bill in the works in the House that might stand a decent chance of movement.” Continue Reading →