Posted July 08, 2024in Stray Thoughts
Do you remember that phrase our nation’s founders wrote in the preamble to the Constitution 237 years ago? The one about forming a more perfect union? We have hit some speed bumps in that quest, a couple that would rattle your teeth. I wonder when, and how, or if, we
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Posted July 01, 2024in Stray Thoughts
Through the years, justices on the Iowa Supreme Court typically avoid harsh or overzealous language in their decisions. That is why two separate dissenting opinions jumped out Friday when the court issued its long-anticipated decision on the Legislature’s latest attempt to ban nearly all abortions in Iowa. By a 4-3
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Posted June 24, 2024in Stray Thoughts
You know how some memories stick with you for no logical reason? One such memory involves my dad in the 1960s when I was a teenager. After World War II, my father worked for the City of Bloomfield, eventually becoming operator of the city’s water treatment plant. Pop graduated from
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Posted June 10, 2024in Stray Thoughts
It has been months since a 17-year-old Perry High School student walked out of a school bathroom and began shooting toward students who were having breakfast before heading to their classes on the morning of Jan. 4, 2024. The first details about the tragedy had barely started trickling out when
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Posted June 04, 2024in Stray Thoughts
Most people go through life never stepping foot inside a courtroom. Most people, that is, except for attorneys, judges, journalists, the few of us chosen to be jurors, and an even more select group, those who are accused of crimes. If I were talking now with my dear parents, may
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Posted May 13, 2024in Stray Thoughts
You don’t often hear anyone extol the benefits of the Covid pandemic. But I did few weeks ago — when I stood before the Storm Lake Kiwanis club and talked about government transparency in Iowa. I did not wade into the debate over masks, social distancing or vaccinations. It was
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Posted May 07, 2024in Stray Thoughts
The events of the past six months in Israel and Gaza have me wishing it were possible to have just one more lunch with a friend who died four years ago. My friend was Jewish. In today’s vocabulary, he would be called an ardent Zionist. He had little patience for
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Posted May 01, 2024in Stray Thoughts
The Legislature took an important step last week in voting to toughen penalties for state and local officials who violate a key government transparency tool, Iowa’s open meetings law. Unfortunately, lawmakers’ actions may not be enough to reverse the love for secrecy that too many government boards and councils demonstrate.
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Posted April 15, 2024in Stray Thoughts
“Unsustainable” is a fascinating word, especially when it is used in government and politics. Merriam-Webster, the dictionary folks, tell us unsustainable means something cannot be continued or supported. But in governmental affairs, that definition sometimes gets changed. Instead of something truly being incapable of continuing, the word often means the
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Posted April 01, 2024in Stray Thoughts
City officials in Davenport have managed to accomplish the impossible this year: They have brought Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature together to agree on something. The two parties have bickered over topics like changes to the Area Education Agencies, liability protection for farm chemical manufacturers, making birth control pills
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