~by George Naylor, Churdan farmer I’ve been an independent voter for some time because I’ve been disgusted with both parties and how party leaders and big money determine who appears on our ballots. I thought Donald Trump would take the high road this time and serve to make voters optimistic about the future of our country. He said all Americans…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Increasing weirdness
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The president is bugging Canada with tariffs, disputes about a bridge and his usual bullying political rhetoric, so Canada is preparing “hypothetical contingency plans in case of a U.S. military incursion on our soil,” according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company [CBC] and the New York Times. For the third time during this administration, the U.S.…
Read MoreWhat’s the petulant president’s latest tirade?
~by Colleen O’Brien Trump bans three more news media – CNN, MS Now, Politic0 – from any contact with him. We know he has a problem with the truth, and when journalists actually inform us [their job is to do this] about the facts, he roars, weeps, whines, lies and then gets a media employee fired or the media itself…
Read MoreView from my window – First American museum
On Friday of this past week, we traveled to an Indian museum/Native American museum in Oklahoma City. We had been hearing about it for quite some time and scheduled a visit. I learned a new word, WINIKO. It is from the language of the Caddo Indian Nation and means “life of an object:” The tour guide of the First American…
Read MoreWhat trees do for me
~by Colleen O’Brien A mature, healthy, perfectly shaped oak tree towering on the corner of W. Lincoln Way and Grimmel Road was cut down recently to make way for a sidewalk. The sidewalk plan probably didn’t mention specifically killing this tree when the need for a sidewalk was proposed in city council and public meetings posted for the public. For…
Read MoreCoalition launches campaign opposing constitutional amendment on taxes
by Kathie Obradovich, Iowa Capital DispatchSeptember 9, 2026 A coalition of Iowa organizations launched a campaign Wednesday opposing the Nov. 3 ballot issue that will ask Iowa voters whether to amend the state constitution to require a two-thirds majority vote of lawmakers to raise state personal and corporate income taxes. Fair Taxes for Iowa’s Future, which includes labor unions, progressive…
Read MoreView from my window: A nature diversion
September 6, 2026 Goodness only knows how frustrated as well as frightened I am with the tariffs, the war, the cost of building the arch for Trump, and the demolishing of the East Wing to be replaced with a bunker and ballroom for the White House. As a farm family member, the extreme cost of diesel fuel and nitrogen, along…
Read MoreHi, neighbor!
[The following is a column I wrote 11 years ago, and I submit it again to my editor because there’s a new noise-monger in my ‘hood, and he’s raising my ire. He drives a motorcycle that operates at a noise level akin to a downhill 18-wheeler using a Jake brake. Operating a motor vehicle without a functional, factory-installed muffler, or…
Read MoreThe untruths just keep coming
~by Colleen O’Brien Social media is often too eager to tell us what they say is fact; for example, that Trump cut down 60 cherry trees from the White House grounds, the trees given to us in 1910 as a gift from Japan. He did not cut them down. He eliminated trees, including maybe one cherry, from the island in…
Read MoreThe sounds of a lifetime
~Colleen O’Brien It’s said that the most potent memory jogger is scent. The whiff of cut grass was one of my favorites — used to make me feel like a kid long after I quit being one. A waft of Old Spice was my husband, and a whiff of baby powder my babies (now pushing 60). I can no longer…
Read MoreA primer on measles
MMR, Measles, Mumps Rubella? Red Measles, German Measles, Hard Measles, 3-day Measles, Measles outbreak in southern Iowa? Three shots instead of one shot. Make American Healthy Again, MAHA? These terms and topics are appearing frequently in today’s news headlines. I am using this opportunity to share information with you. The President and Director of Health and Human Services are recommending…
Read MoreFirst freedom
~by Colleen O’Brien I sit at my friend’s dining room table waiting for her as she gets ready to go out. In front of me is a pilsner glass of pens and pencils. After staring them down for a while, I choose one very sharp pencil with a never-used eraser. As if touched by a fairy wand, I am at…
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