Posted May 02, 2023in Stray Thoughts
If you watch the Iowa Legislature in action, there are some truisms you see time and again. Such as: Each political party is in favor of transparency and accountability — until they gain the majority. Then those politicians see many reasons why transparency and accountability are problematic. Another: If you
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Posted April 26, 2023in Stray Thoughts
I thought the often-repeated desire to weed out waste, fraud and abuse from government spending was something Republicans, Democrats and independents could all agree on in Iowa. Boy, am I naive. A bit of recent Iowa government history illustrates this contradiction between our elected officials’ statements and their actions. The
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Posted April 17, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Last week was one to savor. But it also was a week to reflect on how far we still need to travel to have true citizen engagement in our state and local governments. First, some savoring. The Iowa League of Women Voters honored me and the Iowa Freedom of Information
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Posted April 11, 2023in Stray Thoughts
My friend Denny and I were as different as night and day. He was conservative; I wasn’t. I accused him of being to the right of Atilla the Hun. He accused me of working for Pravda, the famed Communist party newspaper. We thoroughly enjoyed poking each other this way. It
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Posted April 05, 2023in Stray Thoughts
The Iowa Legislature and Governor Kim Reynolds cannot seem to make up their minds whether they support parental rights or are against Mom and Dad being the decision-makers when it comes to their children’s well-being. Trying to analyze Republican officials’ views on parental rights is challenging. Baseball’s infield fly rule
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Posted March 20, 2023in Stray Thoughts
On a late summer afternoon in Bloomfield 40 years ago, the people of Iowa learned about an unofficial government principle we have seen repeated in recent weeks. Although this has played out in various ways through the years, it ultimately comes down to the same concept: If your problem is
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Posted March 14, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Every few months, someone is killed or injured by police somewhere in the United States under circumstances that lead to inevitable questions about what exactly occurred. Typically, answers come when video from the law officers’ squad car cameras or their uniform cameras is made public. Each time this occurs, there
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Posted March 01, 2023in Stray Thoughts
There is an interesting study in contrasts playing out right now in Iowa. One example comes from the Davis County School District in Bloomfield. It is the 96th-largest of Iowa’s 328 public districts, with an enrollment of 1,150 students. The other example comes from the Iowa Legislature and Gov. Kim
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Posted February 27, 2023in Stray Thoughts
This has not been an easy time to be a librarian. Sixty-plus years ago, back when the library card was a coveted sign of my status as a young reader, Miss Botts and Mrs. Sager were never viewed as conspirators of controversy in the corner of the free world where
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Posted February 06, 2023in Stray Thoughts
A recent public opinion poll found that three-quarters of Americans want members of Congress to end their bickering and begin compromising more with their colleagues from the other party. The poll was conducted across the United States by Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion for National Public Radio and the
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