Hey, politicians, are loan bailouts good or bad?
I try to stay atop the day’s news. But I must have dozed off last week — because I missed the response from Iowa Republican leaders to the Biden administration’s [...]
Read More →
Posted October 24, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Posted October 03, 2022in Stray Thoughts
When ‘reasonable’ takes a turn that is not
“Reasonable” is a word that is used often in Iowa’s laws. Reasonable fees. Reasonable rules. Reasonable efforts. Reasonable force. But events in recent weeks show government officials are not always [...]
Read More →
Posted September 26, 2022in Stray Thoughts
‘Why’ questions permeate 2 care center deaths
There was a news update over the weekend about two elderly Iowans who wandered away from different care centers last winter and froze to death. There is no question the [...]
Read More →
Posted September 20, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Technology has super-sized those kind donations
Growing up in Bloomfield in the 1950s and 1960s, I remember seeing empty coffee cans next to the cash registers in places like Ollie O’Briant’s drug store, Bill Tews’ [...]
Read More →
Posted September 14, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Savvy voters, don’t let TV ads mislead you
Televisions are getting larger, but that does not make it easier to decipher the political ads that are as common these days as gnats at a picnic. There is one [...]
Read More →
Posted September 06, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Wise school leaders don’t keep public in the dark
These days, I stand in front of audiences and engage in what is politely called “public speaking” more often than even Mr. Gentry ever imagined when I showed up at [...]
Read More →
Posted August 29, 2022in Stray Thoughts
We all don’t benefit equally from gov’t aid
President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loans for many borrowers is fair game for vigorous debate — and disagreement.Americans have been debating and disagreeing [...]
Read More →
Posted August 26, 2022in Stray Thoughts
A welcome antidote for what ails our spirits
Not all of the best medicine comes with a prescription from a physician. Don’t read this to mean I am advocating treating coronavirus with ivermectin, a drug more often used [...]
Read More →
Posted August 08, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Iowa gives too little attention to care of its elderly
People in the health care field have worked their tails off since the Covid pandemic hit Iowa with a vengeance in 2020. Doctors, nurses and all manner of technicians and [...]
Read More →
Posted August 01, 2022in Stray Thoughts
Suspicion is not enough in our system of justice
It is difficult for many of us to muster empathy for people accused of crimes who have complaints about the way police treated them. This lack of empathy probably occurs [...]
Read More →
