~a column by Colleen O’Brien In the 1980s, one of President Reagan’s speech writers had him say, “Government is not a solution to our problems, government is the problem.” The rhetoric from that statement has ballooned over the past 35 years. The non-partisan, non-profit Pew Research Center poll figures say that in late 1950s and early 1960s 75 percent of…
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A woman worth listening to: S.S. Bierker, author of “Me, Too! Child and Adult Sexual Abuse and Prevention”
~Interview by Colleen O’Brien “All of us can be advocates,” said S. Sophie Bierker, author and advocate for victims of sexual abuse. “We need to listen, to talk to them – finally, to protect them,” she said. “Now is the time. With, first of all, the abuse revealed within the Catholic church and then in other churches, in the Boy…
Read MoreWomen
~a column by Colleen O’Brien “A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” ~Rosalynn Carter Women started officially fighting for the vote in the U.S. in July of 1848 when they held the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. It took 72 years to convince the country’s power (men)…
Read MoreThe difference between a white slave and a black slave
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I have a black friend whose research shows the Irish who came to America in the 1600s suffered pretty much like the Africans did when they came here in that century. Irish came unwillingly, scooped up off the streets of London and shipped to America as indentured servants, often treated like slaves for the seven…
Read MoreLetter to the editor, Bruce Banister re: face masks at school
To the editor, The director of the NIH Dr. Francis Collins recently stated he didn’t want anyone to think that wearing a mask is “something optional” as the country tries to tamp down the virus. In spite of this and all scientific evidence the Greene County school board has decided not to make masks mandatory in any situation, not even…
Read MoreTo mask or not to mask
~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 MoreLetter 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…
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