The Politician’s favorite new game: Data Farmville
Since I originally wrote about the subject in 2008, Iowa has become a Mecca for data farms. The biggest names in digital communications have decided to build huge, new data [...]
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Posted May 01, 2013in Guest Commentary
Posted April 17, 2013in Guest Commentary
It’s not about guns, it’s about mental health
You may smile at the brevity, but here goes: Pencils don’t fail tests, hammers don’t build houses, cars don’t drive drunk. There are all kinds of laws on how to [...]
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Posted April 03, 2013in Guest Commentary
Branstad still up to his same old, dirty politics
When my wife and I are among our elderly friends and I begin to tell a story, she often tells me: “You’ve already told them that one.” I agree but [...]
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Posted April 03, 2013in Guest Commentary
Foolishness, jokes on us not limited to April 1
No need to be troubled if you were confused by Cityview’s April Fool’s edition — the one with the cover story about Des Moines police using android “robo-cops” for traffic [...]
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Posted March 13, 2013in Guest Commentary
The hype on Hollywood, guns and alcohol
“Jekyll and Hyde” is the perfect Broadway musical for the United States in the 21st Century. Major promotion indicates that it is the greatest musical of the century, but only [...]
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Posted March 13, 2013in Guest Commentary
Iowa GOP adamant about its stupidity
Talk about Daniel in the lion’s den! Maybe Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal — an occasional visitor to Iowa because of his possible interest in being President some day — had [...]
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Posted February 27, 2013in Guest Commentary
Costs of ethanol should not include Iowa principles
We have another chapter about right-wing attacks on cherished Iowa principles and how institutions and people who should know better let them get away with it. This chapter begins with [...]
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Posted February 13, 2013in Guest Commentary
Iowa and Aussies share language, culture and problems
Three weeks in Australia — visiting one of our daughters — offered a respite from the Iowa winter, but not from Iowa issues. Reading Australian newspapers was like reading newspapers [...]
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Posted February 13, 2013in Guest Commentary
An educator’s plea: We need mental health supports in schools
I have been a teacher in central Iowa for 14 years; in that time I have taught classes for children with social and emotional issues. Those of us who teach [...]
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Boston and news coverage — what we bargained for?
News coverage of breaking stories — such as the explosions at the Boston Marathon — are more miss than hit because of two fundamental flaws in such coverage. If you’re [...]
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