Essential Estrogen

Americans debate a lot of things. Such discussions most often lead, if the participants are willing, to basic issues of fairness and justice. We ask each other why things happen in our world and why such-and-such should be a priority or a non-priority. Our answers to those questions stem from our individual belief system — [...]

This past week has been an interesting week in Iowa.  The Iowa House debated and passed a bill requiring a vote by the Citizens of Iowa regarding the issue of same-sex marriage.  Former Senator Jeff Angelo spoke to the members of the House and told them of his change of view regarding that very issue.  [...]

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; … ~ Rudyard Kipling, opening stanza from the poem “If” It’s unusual to read a book and simultaneously have a [...]

There’s a reason why Bob Vander Plaats has lost so many campaigns — and that reason was on full display Wednesday. The city of Ames and the Iowa State University campus have been devastated by flood water. A teenage girl was swept away from her family and later found dead in a waterway. Once again, [...]

It never pays to insult others.  Sarah Palin was speaking at the Tea Party Convention and made several negative remarks about President Obama using a teleprompter.  It wasn’t too long afterward she was seen with writing on her hand.  So, we’re going to make fun of the President for using the latest technology and we [...]

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~ e.e. cummings, 1955 Some Iowa households received an automated phone call this week that featured the familiar [...]

Did you see the poll commissioned by The Iowa Republican concerning same-sex marriage? Todd Dorman, columnist for The Gazette, asked TIR proprietor Craig Robinson about it and then gave spot-on summary: “… instead of cutting to the chase and polling to find out how Iowans feel about the real issue -and, yes, it is about [...]

Despite having spent more than $16 million on abstinence only programs, Mississippi is ranked first in number of teen births. The state also is one of the top five for sexually transmitted disease — taking first place in 2006 as the state with the highest number of gonorrhea infections. Yet, the state itself not only [...]

I would not entrust the care of my children to Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. That being said, however, my hesitations do not extend to all plumbers, or even to want-to-be plumbers. It is sad to think that even today there are some people who feel comfortable painting an entire segment of the population based on stereotypes [...]

Although Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas carried through on his promise to veto legislation that legalized same-sex marriage, both houses voted this morning to override the veto. In the Vermont Senate 23 out of 28 members voted to override. In the Vermont House, 100 out of 149 voted to override. Vermont, nine years after adopting the [...]