Posted July 31, 2013in Political Mercury
In 2006, U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Kiron Republican, suggested that iconic journalist Helen Thomas, then 85 years old, was ugly, in a joke about radical Islam’s belief that martyrs will be rewarded with lusty virgins in the afterlife. “There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he (Abu
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Posted July 24, 2013in Political Mercury
The ongoing controversy over Gov. Terry Branstad’s speeding state sport-utility vehicle recalls a 30-year-old episode involving another high-profile Republican, says U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. In a media conference call Thursday, Cityview asked Harkin if the unfolding story on the recent Branstad traffic incident summoned the memory of U.S. Sen.
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Posted July 17, 2013in Political Mercury
Historically speaking, politicians use the trunks of their vehicles to stash cash and cold-stow any dead hookers. They don’t tend to leave the comfortable confines, the wine and WiFi of the back seats of their leathery sport-utility vehicles and finely appointed sedans. John Edwards liked his vino or Diet Cokes
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Posted July 10, 2013in Political Mercury
Wild Rose Entertainment is, in the parlance of its business, “all in” with plans to develop a casino complex in Jefferson, said company CEO Gary Kirke. If Greene County voters are with them, Wild Rose intends to do in Jefferson what it did in Emmetsburg in May of 2006: open
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Posted July 03, 2013in Political Mercury
Mixed in with the blonde Bond Girls and gotcha gadgets, umbrella guns and lethal cigarette lighter sneakiness, The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. features a display with a cyanide capsule, the quick out for spooks pulled in from the cold to the heat of interrogation. Snap off the end
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Posted June 26, 2013in Political Mercury
Concerned his party may be abandoning core principles in a rush to immigration reform, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, organized a “press conference” outside the nation’s capitol last Wednesday to protest what he called a push to amnesty for millions of people living in America without proper papers. About a
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Posted June 19, 2013in Political Mercury
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, says that most crucial of balances in democracy is now tilted too much to security and away from Americans’ civil liberties. Harkin spoke with Cityview and other media on a conference call Thursday, a day after a high-profile Senate hearing in which the director of
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Posted June 12, 2013in Political Mercury
Let’s play a word-association game. When you hear “governor,” what’s the first word your mind summons? Come on, Democrats, admit it, “Branstad” is likely in the category advertising professionals term “top of mind.” The five-term governor’s name is mentally fused with the office. The Des Moines Register’s recent Iowa Poll
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Posted June 05, 2013in Political Mercury
When Charles Grassley turned 65 — 14 years ago — the veteran U.S. senator started taking notice of the surroundings in nursing homes, watching the residents for more than just their reactions to his campaign and policy points. He really studied them, because, well, he was, using Medicare and the
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Posted May 29, 2013in Political Mercury
(Editor’s Note: This week’s guest Political Mercury column is from Breda, Iowa, native Merle Wilberding who has practiced law for more than 40 years. During the Vietnam War he served four years as a captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, representing the U.S. Government in the appeals of courts-marital
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