Iowa and Bangladesh share one thing in common – land area. Each has about 57,000 square miles in land mass. Bangladesh is located in South Asia on the Bay of Bengal. Most of the land is less than 39 feet above sea level. Its main climatic problems are floods, cyclones, and tornados. The temperature never drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Enjoy the sun, and Happy Christmas
~a column by Colleen O’Brien It is the first day after Winter Solstice, and this second winter morning of 2025 came in with the sun splattering the edges of fat snow clouds with red and orange. Very bold of the sun on a day that’s 26 degrees-feels-like-15 and has already turned gray and windy. That sun came up a couple…
Read MoreHave we ever known such a liar?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I do not know why the press prints about him. I guess they think it their duty to print whatever a president says, does, lies about, uses foul language for. They must know we are conditioned to look for what his lies are today so we can moan and groan and pity ourselves for how…
Read MoreReflections on a snowy day
~a column by Colleen O’Brien “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This is the final line in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The older I get, the backwarder I go, and these words, in their elegant way, come to mind with ease more and more often. A dear friend…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Reasons for no SNAP benefits
In November 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins claimed that about 186,000 deceased individuals and 500,000 people were double enrolled in the program. This raises claims about the integrity of the SNAP program. There are three types of fraud: recipient fraud, retailer fraud, and electronic theft. There are various reasons why some people don’t deserve Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…
Read MoreView from my window is a thought of spring
With the landscape in rural Iowa appearing like the Siberian tundra and not wanting to jump into the Holidays just yet. I am focusing on baseball. Spring training for the pitchers begins in mere 72 days. The first spring games are scheduled for Feb. 20, with the opening game of the season to be on March 25. The Yankees and…
Read MoreDear Reader
~a column by Colleen O’Brien To the gentleman who sent a letter to the editor about a column I wrote . . . Dear Reader, I was thrilled! to get it. Columnists around the world seldom get Letters to the Editor. It’s because columnists keep writing every day, twice a week, once a week — so the readers know there will…
Read MoreView from my window – November, Diabetes Awareness Month
November is American Diabetes Month®, a time to raise awareness about diabetes as it is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases in the world. According to the National Diabetes Association, nearly one in two Americans has diabetes or prediabetes. In Iowa approximately 10.1 per cent of the adult population is diagnosed with diabetes, with an additional 70,000 people living…
Read MoreThe columnist’s wish list
~by Colleen O’Brien I went into a bookstore that is not a chain, planning to buy books for the family for Christmas . . . doing something ahead of time for once . . . and found a couple of books for the grands, a couple of books for my daughter . . . and 11 for me. I bought…
Read MoreA turning point? The state of American citizenship
~by Sen Jesse Green, Iowa Senate District 24 November 20, 2025 How dire is the current situation facing Americans? Is this the most divisive era in generations? Are we experiencing something unprecedented that other cultures and societies have never encountered? Can we rebuild a sense of unity once again? These are questions many are pondering. I do not believe what…
Read MoreOne more news cycle that unhinged me
~by Colleen O’Brien I just wish when Trump says to a reporter, “You’re the worst. You’re from Bloomberg/ABC/CNN/the Times, right? I don’t know why they even have you….” that the reporter would reply, “You’re the president who ‘won’ with the lowest number of votes ever, right? I don’t know why we even have you….” And walk away. I wish all…
Read MoreLetter to the editor, D. Lautner re: ‘The Lady’
To the editor, This is in reference to your 1600 word beat down of our president dated 11/05/2025. Most readers failed to progress through the third paragraph due to the length of the article, which didn’t keep their attention. I, however, made it to paragraph 13 in which you stated, “To fight back in a moral rather than a physical…
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