Living in Society
Politics mostly social commentary.
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CORALVILLE — The Johnson County state Senate delegation — Bob and Sue Dvorsky, Joe Bolkcom, and Kevin and Deb Kinney — hosted their colleague, Senator Rob Hogg at a fund raiser Tuesday afternoon. Under a tent erected on the manicured lawn of Backpocket Brewing in Iowa River Landing, about 30 local Democrats gathered to hear… Read more
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It is fitting the Iowa Democratic Party plunge into navel gazing in the wake of the June 17 shootings at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. by renaming, or considering whether to rename, its annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Knowing more than a little about both presidents, I never understood why it was named… Read more
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Bits and pieces of a life surface in the early morning of high summer. A plastic bag holding brown rice disintegrated in the cupboard, leading to discussions with my spouse about what to do with old food. The plastic bag was biodegradable, although the expectation was it would last a while longer. Removing the cupboard… Read more
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The ground is dry with eighth-inch cracks under the apple trees. There has been talk about a wet spring, yet the rasp on knees as I picked up wind-fallen apples before mowing was uncomfortable… and harrowing. Relenting, I poured a gallon of water on the cucumber plants which were withered in the sun from lack… Read more
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After re-reading my post “5 Reasons Jim Webb’s Stock is Up” I stand by what I wrote. For a blog post it holds up reasonably well. At the same time, tick-tock for #WebbNation in Iowa. Two weeks later and three weeks until Labor Day, I don’t see the Webb ground game in action, except occasional… Read more
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The Johnson County Board of Supervisors set a public forum Aug. 12 to collect information regarding its proposal to increase the county-wide minimum wage to $10.10 per hour in three stages by 2017. Something bigger than incremental hourly wage increases is at stake. There are legal hurdles for the supervisors to jump in passing an… Read more
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The loud but small-sized movement to raise the minimum wage is made up of good people. There are not enough of them to make a difference. Their voice is amplified in corporate news outlets, but neither the federal nor state governments have acted to raise the minimum wage in a long time. Today the Johnson… Read more
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There is no clearer evidence Republicans seek to unravel United States leadership in the world than their failure to understand the countries extending from China to Sub-Saharan Africa Two things stood out last week: Republican knee-jerk reaction to the United Nations approved nuclear agreement between the P5+1 nations and Iran, and the connection between the… Read more
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Many Democratic caucus goers are dismissive of former U.S. Senator Jim Webb’s chances in the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses. The recent Quinnipiac University poll shows 84 percent of registered Iowa voters haven’t heard of him, while the same numbers for his competitors are Clinton 9%; Sanders 39%; O’Malley 82%; Chafee 87%. One argues that as… Read more
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The corporate media deserves criticism. Occasionally they redeem themselves, as in Margie Mason’s coverage of slavery on Indonesian fishing boats for Associated Press, but mostly its people produce hack work and appear to do what they must to get through the day and draw a paycheck. Political writers can be the worst of the lot.… Read more
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