Posted March 11, 2015in Political Mercury
The difference between an 18-year-old fresh-faced freshman and a 21-year-old senior in college is the most profound I’ve experienced in a work, social or living arrangement. The first is a boy. The second is a man. Yet, the two coexist in American college fraternities. Which is great for mentoring, role-modeling
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Posted March 04, 2015in Political Mercury
Newly installed U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Red Oak Republican, breaks with many conservatives in agreeing with President Barack Obama on a highly controversial element of White House-directed immigration reform. Ernst says she doesn’t think undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children should be deported. They should
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Posted February 25, 2015in Political Mercury
It’s a line of a questioning most pro-life candidates don’t like. Count our new U.S. senator among them. When asked, they often claim they never thought about it, that they don’t answer “hypotheticals.” Should people who have abortions or doctors who perform them be fined — like we do with
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Posted February 18, 2015in Political Mercury
There’s a saying in Texas: It ain’t bragging if you can back it up. It seems the Texas-ism packed its bags, headed north and found a comfortable home in Greene County, Iowa. So here it is, backed up, with engine gunning: Greene County is the most vital rural county in
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Posted February 11, 2015in Political Mercury
You can’t retract a prayer. But our congressman may be wishing he provided more direction and guidance to our maker should one Hillary Rodham Clinton take the presidential oath of office in 2017. In kicking off The Iowa Freedom Summit, his international political sensation late last month, King read a
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Posted February 04, 2015in Political Mercury
Iowa Nice Guy and Mount Carmel native Scott Siepker, who blends satire and passion for rural Iowa on social media, has delivered something of a video love letter to agriculture with his with his filmmaking team’s latest release — “Farmer Nice.” Now up on YouTube, and going viral with close
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Posted January 28, 2015in Political Mercury
1. Scott Walker is the real political deal. The Wisconsin governor — who went to grade school in Plainfield, Iowa — showed connectivity, policy bona fides and earnest seriousness. Walker focused effectively on education, which is where Iowans spend the majority of their state taxes. And he offered a foundational
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Posted January 21, 2015in Political Mercury
(The following is the text of the eulogy delivered by Douglas Burns for Art Neu at memorial services for the late Carroll mayor and lieutenant governor on Saturday at the Carroll Recreation Center.) I’ll just come right out with it. Art Neu and I were in prison together. I’ll
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Posted January 14, 2015in Political Mercury
Veteran Iowa cartoonist Brian Duffy — whose creative works are digested by readers regularly in this newspaper — says corporate control and an ethos of commercialism have largely watered down American newspaper cartoons to the point where they offer only glimmers of what his peers at a now high-profile French satirical
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Posted January 07, 2015in Political Mercury
Arthur A. Neu, a son of Carroll’s longest-serving mayor who went on to a career in public service himself that included election as lieutenant governor of Iowa, died Jan. 2 from complications of pneumonia. He was 81. Neu’s oldest son and law partner, A. Eric Neu, a Carroll County
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