Posted November 04, 2015in Guest Commentary
I stopped lying after I came out as an unapologetic gay man, now a long time ago. Being a closeted gay man was really the only secret I had, and lying to keep that secret was pretty much all-consuming and utterly exhausting. It seemed like I didn’t have the energy
Read More →I don’t agree with much that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has had to say in the Republican presidential sweepstakes and, apparently, not many in his political base do either. He’s polling about where undeclared candidates do. But in a demonstration that even a blind hog finds an occasional acorn, the
Read More →A continuing story in Iowa news is about a lawsuit regarding Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision to close mental health facilities in Clarinda and Mt. Pleasant. However, another institution that some troubled souls want to get into is beyond the governor’s reach. Suppose your uncle or aunt lacked humility to the
Read More →Say what you will — and we all have — the lead up to the 2016 election so far is….is….is? Well, maybe Shakespeare characterized much of the give-and-take among presidential candidates in “Much Ado About Nothing.” Or maybe he caught the spirit of today’s political rhetoric in Macbeth: Life’s but
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Posted September 23, 2015in Guest Commentary
To hear Republicans tell it, America’s major issues boil down to Hillary Clinton’s emails, Benghazi and Planned Parenthood. To hear Republican presidential candidates tell it, you’d think the most important issue facing the nation is Hillary Clinton’s old emails. Not climate change, not the growing gap between the filthy rich
Read More →A New York Times obituary for Julian Bond, the civil rights icon who passed away this August, described the late leader as a “persistent opponent of the stubborn remnants of white supremacy.” Remnants? Hardly. Notwithstanding the hard-won gains of the 1960s, race relations in 21st-century America are still characterized by
Read More →Offered below is an editorial endorsement of Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia for U.S. President. It likely was the first-in-the-nation endorsement for a candidate then known as “Jimmy Who?” But the endorsement resonates today because of Mr. Carter’s recent diagnosis of cancer and because the qualities ascribed to him in
Read More →The recent death of an American hero, Dr. Frances Kelsey, like the deaths of most real heroes, is cause for both joy and lament. Joy because such heroes reflect our society at its best; lament because of the contrast between their heroics and the shortcomings of others that too often
Read More →While Congress and several state legislatures, including Iowa’s, were reinforcing the barriers to gay marriage, a determined handful of Iowa gay-rights advocates were preparing to go to court. A new book, “Equal Before the Law,” which came off the presses this summer, offers a highly readable, thoroughly researched and sometimes
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An Iowa GOP caucus vote for None of the Above
To no one’s surprise, Donald Trump did not call off his quest for the GOP presidential nomination — even though he was asked to do so in a July 15 Des Moines Register editorial. To the contrary, his campaign continues to provide evidence in support of what the Register observed
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