Uneasy times as a librarian shuts out other ideas
The word for today is optics — but not the kind where your eye doctor is an expert. Instead of eyeglasses, I am thinking about the kind of optics that [...]
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Posted November 13, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Posted October 30, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Inconvenience loses to ‘the right thing to do’
Veterans Day is around the corner. For John and Bob, the day will be for remembering the men and women who serve in the United States military — and for [...]
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Posted October 23, 2023in Stray Thoughts
License change won’t protect Iowa consumers
The rationale behind Iowa’s professional licensing laws is simple: People in certain professions and skilled occupations are required to hold state licenses to work in Iowa. This is to ensure [...]
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Posted October 09, 2023in Stray Thoughts
There’s little agreement on what is ‘wasteful’
For many years, an Iowa State University political science professor and I met several times a year for coffee and conversation. During our coffee klatches, I probed my friend’s [...]
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Posted October 02, 2023in Stray Thoughts
There is more to serving than winning elections
Back where I came from, you do not expect to have a bomb-sniffing dog circle your car when you pull into the parking lot for Sunday church services. But that [...]
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Posted September 18, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Misguided gov’t proposal targets ‘vexatious’ people
Many decades ago, Mrs. Gentry and Mr. Halferty put up with an inquisitive kid’s classroom questions about American democracy and the workings of government. I did not imagine back then [...]
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Posted September 11, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Pentagon lesson on waste sails into Iowa
Iowa is about as far removed from an ocean as you can get. But this state figures in recent news reports about the U.S. Navy — and not in a [...]
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Posted August 30, 2023in Stray Thoughts
DeSantis needs to use diplomacy before talking of invasion
Campaigning for public office is no picnic. Day after day there are speeches, Q&A’s, interviews and the constant need to think before you speak. Candidates eat enough chicken to have [...]
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Posted August 22, 2023in Stray Thoughts
Judicial ethics in Iowa differ from Washington ethics
There were more disclosures in recent days in the ongoing saga involving the ethical standards of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court — or, more accurately, the lack of ethical [...]
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Posted August 15, 2023in Stray Thoughts
It appears not every life in Iowa truly is sacred
Deanna Mahoney was like countless Iowa women through the years. She nurtured three children. She worked outside the home to supplement the family income. She loved bowling and mushroom hunting. [...]
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