Posted December 05, 2018in Stray Thoughts
Iowa is out of step with other states when it comes to the right to vote in our elections. We Iowans like to think of ourselves as the true occupants of middle America, the geographic and societal equivalent of Baby Bear’s porridge. We are not as conservative as some sections
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Posted November 28, 2018in Stray Thoughts
I’ve learned a lot of lessons about money, some easier than others, in the years since I pushed a lawnmower back and forth across Mrs. Carroll’s and Mrs. Greiner’s yards in Bloomfield long ago. My start as a gainfully employed contributor to the U.S. economy was inauspicious in the grand
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Posted November 14, 2018in Stray Thoughts
Iowa is speeding toward a dangerous crossroads this week, and there has been too little discussion about what might occur and zero discussion about what the state should do. Trustees of Iowa Wesleyan University, the second-oldest college in Iowa, meet on Thursday to decide whether the institution will close next
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Posted November 06, 2018in Stray Thoughts
David prevailed over Goliath in the famous tale from long ago using an unconventional weapon, his sling and a few stones. These days, river rocks aren’t a potent weapon. Now, it might just be the spotlight. And the spotlight was shining brightly last week in Iowa when an Associated Press
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Posted October 30, 2018in Stray Thoughts
Let’s skip the debate over whether our president bears even a smidgen of blame for contributing to the domestic terrorist incidents last week in the United States. Let’s agree we are never going to agree, so there’s no use driving each other’s blood pressure higher by talking more about that.
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Posted October 24, 2018in Stray Thoughts
Each year in October, when the Iowa countryside transforms from gorgeous summer greens to harvest season hues of tan, some of the world’s top agricultural scientists and anti-hunger activists gather in Des Moines to compare notes. The occasion is the presentation of the annual World Food Prize. It’s three days
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Posted October 10, 2018in Stray Thoughts
There’s an old expression that officials of Indian Hills Community College obviously have not heard about — or have chosen to ignore. The expression is simple: If you find yourself in a hole, stop shoveling. But the school continues to shovel — digging itself ever deeper into legal trouble and
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Posted October 03, 2018in Stray Thoughts
It’s confession time: I cannot say with confidence what transpired in that upstairs bedroom in a suburban home in Montgomery County, Md., on that summer evening, apparently in 1982, during a gathering of unsupervised, beer-drinking teenagers. Unless you have just awakened like a latter-day Rip Van Winkle, you know the
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Posted September 05, 2018in Stray Thoughts
Distraction appears to be a main focus so far in the race for Iowa governor. Election Day is two months away. The decision Iowans make on Nov. 6 will be an important factor in where our state is headed. But instead of having a full and frank debate over important
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Posted August 22, 2018in Stray Thoughts
At most services, Father P.J. McManus moves quickly through the announcements — typically covering such things as the coming Christ the King Church sweet corn festival, the signup for the fall retreat, or a new book study group that soon will begin. This past weekend, however, the announcements took a
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