Dear Friends,

{Reminder: FILE A PETITION TO INTERVENE ON THE PIPELINE!! You have until July 27 to get the full volume of your voice heard in Iowa Utilities Board deliberations on the proposed Bakken Oil Pipeline. Click here for a copy of the petition.}

Ah, political irony! You know it’s been a wacky week when the so-called conservative U.S. Supreme Court is your friend and so-called liberal President Obama isn’t. Consider the Court’s rulings on:

– The Affordable Care Act. In Iowa, 40,000 of us earning less than $47,000 a year will still be able to afford health insurance.

– Marriage equality. Eighty percent of Iowans say gays and lesbians marrying has either a positive impact or no impact at all on their lives. With SCOTUS’ ruling for marriage equality in all 50 states, maybe the rest of the country will come to the same conclusion, and, like interracial marriage, we can put this issue behind us.

– Housing discrimination. SCOTUS determined that housing discrimination need not be intentional in order to be illegal.

All three rulings benefit Americans who largely voted for President Obama. While the Supreme Court was hard at work delivering hope and change to the President’s base, what was the President himself up to?

Why, he was busy cramming the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress, despite strong opposition from Tea Party Republicans, House and Senate Democrats and the vast majority of Americans. Referred to by some as NAFTA on steroids, “If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its cross-hairs,” wrote Wikileaks’ Julian Assange.

And as Bill Curry writes in Salon, “Few in or out of politics grasp the TPP’s epic scope. This is partly due to the secrecy in which it is shrouded but also to how both sides have framed the debate. At stake are rules governing a quarter of all world trade. These rules may well supplant those in other trade agreements and so affect nearly all global trade. But that’s not the all of it, not by a long shot.”

Yup. So much irony, so little time. During one rapid-fire hour today, Dr. Charles Goldman and I will discuss the Supremes – not Diana Ross, but the rulings on Obamacare, marriage equality, and nondiscrimination in housing. Writes Charles, “Justice Scalia appears to be apoplectic over his high deductible policy.” Maybe we should all be apoplectic over TPP.

Join us live from 11:00-12:00 noon on KDLF 1260 AM (Des Moines) and online. Call (515) 528-8122 to add your voice to the conversation. The program re-broadcasts Wednesday on KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames) at 4:00 p.m., and Wednesday on KPVL 89.1 FM (Postville) at 7:00 p.m.

Thanks! – Ed Fallon