Awful proposals are introduced every legislative session, but not with the frequency and with the support they have this year. Forget about corn and soy beans. The Iowa bumper crops being sowed by the legislature are hate, fear and scorn. We really won’t know of any harvests until late April
Read More →Always look on the bright side! As our Iowa caucus chaos unfolded, I half expected the British comedy troupe — Monty Python’s Flying Circus — to appear on TV in NFL officials’ garb and throwing yellow penalty flags at everyone involved in what was called a fiasco. Chief among the
Read More →Hope or hatred? Invitations to social gatherings may request: “Please, no talk about politics or religion,” but that’s likely redundant because talking about one often invokes the other. So while we have said goodbye to the Iowa caucus, the legislature is in session, and politics and religion remain in play.
Read More →…and other Yuletide thoughts OK. OK. I didn’t really interview the Virginia who was 8 when she wrote the famous 1897 letter asking The New York Sun, “Is there a Santa Claus?” But I did find reassurance that even in a “skeptical age,” Santa “exists as certainly as love and
Read More →Pathos and Poets Call it what you will — Armistice Day, Veterans Day, Remembrance Day. By any name, Nov. 11 is at best nine parts grief and one part glory. It is, or should be, a day of somber reflection. Nov. 11 commemorates the end of World War I, the
Read More →President Trump being “completely rational” just does not compute. At this stage, it makes no sense to make fun of Iowa’s U.S. Senator Joni Ernst for her late-August comment in Spirit Lake that Trump is “completely rational” — at least in her conversations with him. Given all the evidence to
Read More →…from the U.S. Senate and the Iowa governor Welcome to September. Congress is back in session, and Supreme Courts begin their 2019-2020 terms — the U.S. Oct. 1 and Iowa Sept. 2. In a related concern, the Iowa legislature convenes Jan. 13. What this may mean is a rekindling of
Read More →An Iowa caucus delusion. Like the proverbial bad penny or unwanted guest, an Iowa caucus question pops up from the press and the public in search of sound bites instead of sound policies: “And if elected, what would you do your first 100 days in office?” Dutifully, the candidates for
Read More →With Parrhesia on the side The apparent menu items in the headers are not to horn in on CITYVIEW’s Food Dude. Besides, Isegoria and Parrhesia are Greek to me. Isegoria is the Greek concept of equality for all in freedom of speech, and Parrhesia is akin to candid and frank
Read More →Across the nation, protests draw both revulsion and respect. Maybe fear, hate and hope are where you choose to find them. An ample supply of all will be available with Flag Day and the Fourth of July on the calendar along with the months of caucus chaos. Even delight can
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