~a column by Colleen O’Brien Now that a few frightened people have become crazed about having to wear a mask to protect other people from the possibility of the unmasked having a deadly virus, I fear some of us are on the verge of going way off the deep end. Or maybe I should say that some of us have…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Letter to the editor, David John
Early/absentee voting To the editor: Voting is essential. Voting is the heartbeat of a representative democracy. Voting is a fundamental duty of a citizen in a democracy. In order to vote in Iowa, you must be registered to vote in the county where you live. So, registering to vote is your first step. You can do that by going to…
Read MoreListening instead of watching
~a column by Colleen O’Brien We Americans have been home alone for longer than we thought we would have to be, or at least more often than we had planned. Once we get our work done or the house cleaned, the supper cooked, we who can no longer bear to turn on the news look for one of the great…
Read MoreIs the ‘crown’ winning?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The word corona was first commonly used in the 16th century. It’s a Latin word that means crown and described the circle of light around the sun most visible during a solar eclipse. Coronavirus was named thus in 1968 because the shape of the virus if you look at her under a microscope is crown-like.…
Read MoreA dawning awareness
~a column by Colleen O’Brien “It is entirely unacceptable that I should have no voice in the political affairs of my own country, for I am not a ward of America; I am one of the first Americans to arrive on these shores.” So said James Baldwin in The Fire Next Time, a long essay published in 1962. He was…
Read MoreHealing the divide
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Last week I wrote with hope about our whites and our blacks inching toward rapprochement – cops shaking hands with protestors; protestors protecting one lone cop from other protestors bent on getting even – peaceful protestors with friendly protectors. This week, we see a group of whites on the roadside of a march route in…
Read MoreThe Behn Report
~by Senator Jerry BehnJune 13, 2020 The Senate continued to debate a number of bills this week as we work towards adjournment for the year. One of the bills we passed would expand the Empower Rural Iowa program, and help increase access to broadband in areas of Iowa where it is still lacking. Expanding access to broadband has become even…
Read MoreIs this time different?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien What it comes down to is this. Most of us, so often, do not do the right thing. Especially if we’re in power. When I look at history, or not even that far – how about just to the head of the department I worked in? The teacher making fun of me in class because…
Read MoreThe Behn Report
-by Senator Jerry Behn June 5, 2020 The legislative session re-started this week, continuing the work from a couple months ago and with a few new challenges ahead. This session looks much different than it did when we paused. Now, committee meetings are held in the Senate chamber instead of committee rooms to allow for social distancing, and speakers on…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Bruce Banister, Vote in November
To the editor, Donald Trump hides in a bunker, orders the teargassing of peaceful protesters, then poses with a Bible in front of a church. What sort of person would do this? Only a coward and a bully. What sort of a president calls state governors “jerks” and threatens his own citizens with military force? Only a president who wants…
Read MoreWhat is: a right, a privilege, an honor, a duty?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien When I was young, I couldn’t wait to vote. I had three compelling reasons: my father’s and both my grandfathers’ interest in politics; my senior-year civics teacher Frank Linduska; and John F. Kennedy’s name on the ballot for president. Because of the first two reasons, it was a given that I would vote. Even if…
Read MoreViruses are always with us
~a column by Colleen O’Brien When I was in junior high – 1957-58 — the Asian flu, an avian influenza believed to have come from geese in China infecting humans, hopped across the world to, among many places, a little farm town in the center of the United States, a county seat called Jefferson in the rolling north central Iowa…
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