Author Archive: Shane Vander Hart
Shane Vander Hart is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caffeinated Thoughts. Shane has been involved in youth ministry since 1992 in church, para-church, and Christian school settings, and currently works with juvenile offenders in the Des Moines Metro area. He has also been an interim pastor for a local Evangelical Free Church and provides pulpit supply for area churches. Shane also serves as the Communications Director for American Principles Project with their Preserve Innocence Initiative. Shane has been married to his wife Cheryl since 1993 and they have three kids. Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA. You can connect with Shane on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
The Iowa Department of Public Defense Continues to Stonewall
I wanted to provide a follow-up on the story I wrote last week about the Iowa Department of Public Defense ignoring Iowa’s Open Records Laws. My friend Darwin had applied to be an installation security officer at Camp Dodge. Darwin is a seven year veteran of the United States Army, he is a disabled Iraq [...]
The Iowa Department of Education Wants to Hear From You
Well sort of… the Iowa Department of Education desires your feedback provided that you are a teacher, administrator or some other school employee. Apparently a parent (or even a student) is not considered a “customer.” They do list an “other” option for the first question that asks “please choose the option that best describes your [...]
Santorum Endorses Romney
In a late night email to supporters Rick Santorum said that he had decided to back Mitt Romney for President. Here is the full text of his email: Thank you again for all you did as one of my strongest and committed supporters. Your belief in our campaign helped us start a movement of Americans [...]
Catholic Georgetown University Invites Kathleen Sebelius to Speak
Vox Populi, the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice announced those who will be speaking at Georgetown University’s commencement exercises. Way down in the list you see… “Former governor of Kansas and current secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, will be addressing the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.” It raises your [...]
Why is the Iowa Department of Public Defense Ignoring Iowa’s Open Records Law?
Darwin is an unemployed veteran of the Iraq War. He applied on February 27th to be an Installation Security Officer at Camp Dodge through the Iowa Department of Public Defense. Being a veteran he qualified for Veteran’s points under Iowa Code Sections 35C.1 and 19 A.9. Under these sections either five or ten points are [...]
Branstad’s Education Bill: Dead or Mostly Dead?
Jason Noble of The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa Governor Terry Branstad suggested that Iowa Senate Democrats among others could face political fallout because of their opposition to elements of his K-12 education reform bill. I highly doubt it. Branstad was brought into office mainly because of former Governor Chet Culver’s inability to govern, [...]
Gingrich Bows Out, Santorum to Meet Romney
Newt Gingrich in a video sent to supporters said that he would be officially suspending his campaign on Wednesday. Different sources within the campaign state that it is expected to endorse Romney. Last week in a speech in North Carolina he conceded that Romney is the nominee. Gingrich said, “It’s clear Romney is the nominee [...]
Dan Savage the “Anti-Bullying” Bully
In case you haven’t see this here is the video of the speech that the “anti-bullying” advocate Dan Savage gave at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press association. He was supposed to give a talk on bullying, but CitizenLink reports students were given an [...]
Sebelius Demonstrates Cluelessness Over Constitutionality of Free Birth Control Mandate
Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) questions Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over the legal ramifications of the birth control mandate. In the exchange below she not only demonstrates her cluelessness over the legal ramifications of their birth control mandate, but she admits that she didn’t even consider the constitutionality of the mandate. Yes your [...]
U.S. Department of Labor Withdraws Farm Chore Ban, Iowa Political Leaders React
The U.S. Department of Labor withdrew the regulation that would have prevented farm kids from doing their daily chores due to an intense public outcry. Iowa being a major agricultural state with countless family farms who depend on having everyone in the family pitch in would have been negatively impacted by such a regulation. I [...]
