Posted January 04, 2017in Political Mercury
First things first. The news of the appointment of the nation’s longest-serving governor, Iowa’s Terry Branstad, to be ambassador to China is encouraging for a host of reasons, from national security to agricultural export opportunities to breakthroughs only possible through the sort of personal relationships Branstad has wisely cultivated over
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Posted November 30, 2016in Political Mercury
1. Accept the results of the election, kids. Trump won. Full stop. Disgruntled millennials in Portland, Oregon, and tea cuppers who crack when the microbrewery short stocks their favorite craft beer need to learn to take a loss. The time for protest of vote totals? Election Day. Do the results
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Posted November 02, 2016in Political Mercury
Ladies, let me take you behind the curtain of male privilege and entitlement, into the locker rooms and fraternity chapter chambers and other sanctuaries of unapologetic American maleness. Right up front, I’m here to tell you, Donald Trump’s admissions of genital groping — of breath-mint-popping, lip-puckering readiness for forced kisses
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Posted October 05, 2016in Political Mercury
Medical technology entrepreneur Dr. Steven Kraus has founded an independent political action committee to boost Hillary Clinton’s White House candidacy. The super PAC — Iowans For A Prosperous & Safer America — launched a website (www.I4PSAmerica.org) and began placing newspaper ads throughout Iowa. The PAC intends to finance advertising in all of
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Posted August 31, 2016in Political Mercury
A soulless suburban sprawl spills out of Des Moines and other urban centers. Many of you reading this are living in it. But rural Iowans like me bemoan, where have the young people gone? The answer is Waukee, of course. You’re barely out of the Sweet Corn Festival parade route
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Posted August 10, 2016in Political Mercury
A 1941 International fire truck graced a summer field adjacent to U.S. Highway 30 in western Iowa. Surely it summoned smiles from passersby, many of whom no doubt can remember the old fighting-red rescue vehicle. For my part, I loved seeing the truck, and the 100th anniversary of the Arcadia
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Posted July 27, 2016in Political Mercury
Ladbrokes, a Goliath bookmaker in the United Kingdom, and organizations like it, lay odds on almost anything. If visiting London, you can bet on the U.S. presidential election, who will win and what party will prevail (the gaming ratios range, but Hillary Clinton is favored). The oddsmakers sometimes go into what are
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Posted July 20, 2016in Political Mercury
With the mercury rising on political and racial tensions in the United States, hitting levels perhaps not seen since 1968, Gov. Terry Branstad is in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention. Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, a national voice on police and justice matters, has said, “We are sitting on a powder
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Posted July 13, 2016in Political Mercury
Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a prominent voice on international trade in Iowa, immediately spied the export value of the mobile veterinary units at a Lake City manufacturer. She talked business and foreign markets, job growth and rural development, with ownership of management of Bowie International. But for a moment, Reynolds, who
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Posted July 06, 2016in Political Mercury
Vilsack, the highly effective U.S. secretary of agriculture and former two-term governor of Iowa, possesses a remarkable command of the labyrinth of programs and benefits that river out of the hulking USDA into our communities. Vilsack intellectually and administratively inhabits the intersection of Washington and Main Street in a way few
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