In the early morning hours of Friday May 24 th after nearly 14 hours of deliberation, I voted — alongside my Republican colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee — to advance the 2024 Farm Bill out of committee and send it to the House Floor for a vote by the full Congress.

Two columns ago I asked if anyone knew of Victoria Nuland and Mohammad Mossadegh. Last week was Victoria Nuland Week, this one is Mohammad Mossadegh Week.
 

 
T-6 Days until the Primary Election (June 4 th )! Are you ready?! Have you reviewed the ballots? Have you updated your voter registration if necessary? Have you checked your polling place? (PS  – They are the same as they were in November 2023! That was a trick question!) Do you know what time the polls are open? If you haven’t done these things or don’t know them, we can help!

Senator Joni Ernst sends an email each week keeping us informed of her work in DC. Last week she informed us that she has secured continued support from the Army for a $1.5 billion addition to the Middletown, Iowa munitions plant. She says our allies rely on us. Before I go on, allies help each other, right? Please readers, let me know one thing our allies have done for us.

From May 12 to 18, we celebrated National Police Week in honor of our police and law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep our families and communities safe. These men and women are heroes who deserve our deepest appreciation and strongest support for their commitment to protect and serve Iowans.

June 4 is approaching quickly and for most in Franklin County and Iowa, that means Primary Election Day. For the staff in our office, it’s like Christmas Day. The culmination of months of work and preparation … three months to be exact.

On Sun. June 2, between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm, you may see an interesting sort of “parade.” A parade with and for Jesus. What we call a “Eucharistic Procession,” is a prayer procession with the consecrated communion bread that we Catholics call “the Eucharist.”
On Sun. June 2 the Catholic Church Celebrates “Corpus Christi” Sunday, that is the Sunday of

We went to see my stepmom in Lincoln, Nebraska. She stays informed. We had Fox News and CNN on the TV a lot of the time and it seemed to be a loop about unpopular protesters on college campuses.

Our state legislative session finished up towards the end of April, and I’m glad it’s over!  From further de-funding and privatizing our public education system to turning a blind eye to pipelines and polluters, it’s time for Governor Kim Reynolds and her statehouse cronies to take a break. While family farmers are in the thick of planting season, let’s take stock of what Reynolds and company did to us and what they didn’t do.
 

The powerful tornadoes that struck parts of Southwest Iowa were devastating, especially for communities in Pottawattamie County and Shelby County that bore the brunt of the destruction.
According to some reports, there were roughly 24 tornadoes that touched down in Iowa with winds reaching as high as 165 mph. Our prayers remain with those impacted as we work to rebuild.

Iowa agriculture has undergone substantial changes over the past 40 years.  We see it all around us.  Rather than crops and livestock being raised on tens of thousands of diversified family farms, Iowa has become ground-zero for concentrated industrial factory farms with unmanageable levels of manure, chemicals and pollution.

I was an eight-year-old California kid when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. They brought Vin Scully with them so I was destined to be inoculated with the magic of a game that required will over genetics. Loosely mimicking a country based on equal opportunity over entitlement, teams find the best person for the job as a matter of good business.

I’ve been on this planet for 48 years, and in that time I have collected a list of moments of which I am humbled, proud, and grateful. At the top of that list, without comparison, is the time eight cents changed my life.

Randy Feenstra, our Representative in Washington, pointed out in a recent column that student loan debt can't be canceled; that it is stolen from taxpayers. I totally agree with Mr. Feenstra on his reasoning that “personal responsibility and accountability are virtues fundamental to any functioning society.”

I was in a quandary about what to write. Too lazy to research important topics, out of time, with the majority of comments about “The Alternative” favoring personal experiences, and not lecturing, I'll write this: