Are you sad? We Iowans were used to the presidential campaign limelight. TV cameras, reporters, and if we did not interact with the presidential candidates at least three times we were not completing our civic duty. Hearing them twice, the third time looking them in the eye while shaking their hand was my goal. Now we only hear about the…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Voting for a ‘disability’
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Who’s going to win the upcoming general election is an even fight right now, and even that info depends on who’s telling us the news. Both sides are polling closely, claiming bigger crowd size than the other (one side truthfully, the other habitually not, since 2016) name-calling on both sides, one a little more practiced than…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Opposing Summit CO2 pipeline
To the Editor: The Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) hasn’t issued any permits for Summit Carbon Solutions for Phase 2. Iowa law states that once the information meeting is held, they can send out survey letters and land agents. Those along the path will be contacted with a “Restricted Certified Letter.” PLEASE, do not sign for this letter. Iowa law states…
Read MoreView from my window – Equality, equity
~a column by Mary Weaver Most of us are aware that we are living in an historical moment, with a female being nominated as a candidate for President of the United States this past week. Though Hillary Clinton was previously nominated for that position the “vibe” appears to be different at this moment. It seems appropriate to provide a column…
Read MoreMalignant instigator of the amygdala
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Things I wonder about contrarians – those who say “no” immediately, no matter what you ask them, and those who are negative about people that if they had any brains would not denigrate (revered war heroes, women who aren’t beautiful, overweight people, especially if they themselves, the contrarians, are overweight). Why would anyone who blatantly…
Read MoreLetter to the editor: Oppose Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed pipeline
To the editor, Iowa Nice. A term many of us have probably heard on multiple occasions. It has been displayed in recent past when a tornado hit Greene County and destroyed Larsons’ farmstead and damaged many others. Hundreds of volunteers showed up for cleanup. It has been displayed when a farmer has illness or injury with a crop in the…
Read MoreTrust and love
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I’ve had an infusion of joy for a month, and the intensity of it flows on around the country through millions, much to the chagrin of the other side. Republican media is lying ever more enthusiastically, most recently about Harris’s past as a communist. Not true, of course. A progressive thinker and doer is not…
Read MoreThe difference between good and really bad
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The Press once again is making a big deal – not about Trump and his daily lies – but, this time, about Tim Walz and a miss-speak of his years ago. Leave it, Press-folks. Keep on task. If you must cover Turmp, at least cover him completely, lies and all. Oh! Did I misspell his…
Read MoreView from my window: Chicken advice
This is going to be another circuitous column. Promise you will read to the end. Guaranteed to bring you JOY. Our son and his family are on a short vacation. Their two dogs came to stay with us, and I am doing the morning and evening chicken chores for their 11 adult chickens and one rooster who is named Winter…
Read MoreFreedom
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Kamala Harris, Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, has made freedom ring from every podium she’s stood behind for a mere two weeks. Freedom is the cornerstone of her campaign supporting her insistence that “We will never go back.” What a refreshing fistful of words those are, for they are hopeful, invigorating and with…
Read MoreIt’s pure joy
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The Democrats have been able to back away from peering into an open grave because President Joe Biden relinquished his plan to win the presidency of the United States for a second term. As soon as he voiced his good, sad, difficult decision, he immediately presented his vice-president Kamala Harris as the ideal Democrat to…
Read MoreEducation Savings Account or Education Spending Accounts?
~by Victoria Riley, GCNO publisher Here’s a question for you: Why is Iowa’s program that uses millions of state tax dollars to pay students’ tuition at non-public schools called the Education Savings Account (ESA) program? There is no saving involved, but more and more spending of public dollars for a private cause. Education Spending Account would be a more descriptive…
Read More