The city of Waterloo and the state of Iowa have so much to offer in terms of quality of life, including quality of activities. One of the most recent additions to the outstanding choices for entertainment here is the new Lost Island Theme Park. The Theme Park is an extension to the very successful (and deservedly…
Category: Gary Kroeger
Time Bandits
Last week I saw a meme that read: “Remember to turn your clocks back 50 years.” It feels like we’re moving back in time to when laws were written from lesser awareness. We’re regressing to virtually no restrictions on owning assault weaponry, to government dictated by the church, and patriarchal control overreproduction. What’s next? Bringing back disembowelment and the rack? Conservatives now have the LGBTQ community in their sights. Emboldened Proud Boys are interrupting “Pride” story-time…
Who’s on Second?
We have this tendency in America to fictionalize the stories of our founders in order to create a shorthand understanding of their great accomplishments. George Washington certainly told a lie, but it inspires us to believe that the Founding Fathers were cut from divine cloth. This has been on my mind as I read positions regarding gun control…
“I Was Standing On The Corner…”
I was standing on the corner of 1st street and Main in Cedar Falls when a flatbed truck with a confederate flag and straight pipes “slowed down to take a look at me.” Then roared through the intersection. The volume from its acceleration and the black smoke that came from its tailpipes stopped everyone in their tracks. I turned…
My Fantastick Voyage
We are in the middle of our run of “The Fantasticks” at the Oster-Regent Theatre and the meaning behind this musical, which first debuted in 1960, strikes me as particularly relevant today. “The Fantasticks” for those who are not familiar with it, is a musical by Tom Jones (no, not the “What’s New Pussycat?” Tom Jones, but the brilliant playwright) with music (“Try To Remember,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain”) by Harvey Schmidt. It…
Contradiction Junction What’s Your Function?
Aristotle defined “contradiction” in his thesis “Metaphysics” thusly: “It is impossible that the same thing can at the same time both belong and not belong to the same object and in the same respect.” Yet that conflict with reason has become the operating system for the modern Republican Party. What else could lead Republicans, self-described as…
Reynolds’ Rap
What more could Governor Reynolds and Iowa Republicans do to make Iowa less attractive to businesses and students? Under their stewardship Iowa has, according to data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and S&P Global Market Intelligence, dropped in rank in infrastructure, workforce, access to capital, education, economics, and even “business friendliness.” They’ve lowered corporate taxes, but that’s like…
4% Of A Good Idea
Iowa Governor, Kim Reynolds, has proposed a state 4% flat tax. Reynolds calls it “flat and fair.” It appeals to many people because we would all pay the same percentage. Not the same amount, of course, if we make less we pay less; it is commensurate to everyone else. A recent guest column in the Waterloo Courier supported Reynold’s plan stating: “the Blue State progressive tax and spend blueprint does not lead…
“I’ve Seen The Needle And The Damage Done”
“When it comes to these gun grabbing, freedom hating, over regulating, civil liberty violating tyrants here’s my message—“ at which point Iowa state representative Bobby Kaufmann raises his middle fingers. He walks from the lectern to a standing ovation at a rally conducted at the Statehouse. Well, at least Iowa made national news again! Last…
Christians, Deists, and Atheists, Oh My!
200 years is a long time to keep anything going. Consider the world 200 years ago and you won’t find much that resembles the world today; not in the United States, anyway. 200 years ago the War of 1812 rocked our newly won sovereignty to its core as residual resentments between our Union and Britain…