August 29, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Stray Thoughts
President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loans for many borrowers is fair game for vigorous debate — and disagreement.Americans have been debating and disagreeing for 246 years. What jumps out in this latest dispute is how some politicians are blind to the inconsistencies in
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August 26, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Stray Thoughts
Not all of the best medicine comes with a prescription from a physician. Don’t read this to mean I am advocating treating coronavirus with ivermectin, a drug more often used on horses. That’s not what is on my mind today. Recent news has left many of us discouraged. Floods, wind
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August 25, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Morain
We’re only about 1½ weeks shy of Labor Day, the unofficial starting point of the general election campaign. Of course, candidates and their teams have been campaigning for many months now. But we voters start paying more attention to election matters in early September, just a couple of months before
Read More →11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Central Time. Broadcast regionally on KFMG 98.9 FM; Simultaneously streaming globally through www.kfmg.org From Iowa’s cultural epicenter, MainFrame Studios Building at 900 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines, comes your Listener-supported Community Voice, the Award-Winning independent radio station KFMG-LP 98.9 FM, bringing you music, literature & cultural news. — John Busbee for The Culture
Read More →11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Central Time. Broadcast regionally on KFMG 98.9 FM; Simultaneously streaming globally through www.kfmg.org From Iowa’s cultural epicenter, MainFrame Studios Building at 900 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines, comes your Listener-supported Community Voice, the Award-Winning independent radio station KFMG-LP 98.9 FM, bringing you music, literature & cultural news. — John Busbee for The Culture
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August 08, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Morain
U.S. Senate Democrats passed their omnibus Inflation Reduction Act last Sunday 51 to 50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. They did so under so-called “reconciliation” rules, which require only a simple majority to pass bills related to appropriations, rather than the usual filibuster-blocking 60-vote margin. The
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August 08, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Stray Thoughts
People in the health care field have worked their tails off since the Covid pandemic hit Iowa with a vengeance in 2020. Doctors, nurses and all manner of technicians and support staff have performed heroically under circumstances that often were trying. But the death this year of a patient at
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August 04, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Morain
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) on Wednesday of last week announced they had reached agreement on a comprehensive economic policy bill that, if adopted, would be the most consequential national legislation in recent years. It was a stunning announcement. Whether congressional
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August 03, 2022 by Beckham Miller
in Feature 1
Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Skillet, Brooks & Dunn, Nelly, Demi Lovato, Alanis Morissette, ZZ Top, John Crist, Kane Brown, Disturbed and more bring their music to Iowa State Fair attendees — and that’s just the Grandstand acts. Look inside for details on the full music scene. John Cooper never thought
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Marijuana should be legal. Moderation in all things.
Last September in an essay I wrote for The Des Moines Register, I advocated the legalization of recreational marijuana (“It’s time to legalize recreational marijuana in Iowa and nationally,” Sept 26). In the past week, the editorial board of USA TODAY raised similar concerns in calling for federal legalization of
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