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The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Not a bigger thimble, a smaller ocean

GEORGE F. WILL, WASHINGTON POST March 23, 2009

Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris, a solid block of a man with a shock of thick gray hair, is stolid and patient, but there are limits. Clearly, he is weary of explaining that this is one of America’s...

Grand old jesters

CHRISTOPHER PATTON March 13, 2009

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Mike Strawn has a new comedy routine that he’s taking on the road. Filled with ironic self-deprecation, the act is bound to be a hit. “We don’t need to change who...

Home is what the heart defends blindly

C.T. GILBERT March 13, 2009

What do you call home? Is it your place of birth, the family house? Or maybe less literal, the “home is where the heart is” kind of deal: the ragged and rotting bedroom in a five-person one-bathroom...

Obama’s way paved with good intentions

Charles Dickens, who visited in 1842, described Washington as a “city of magnificent intentions” because of the incongruity between the city’s grand aspirations and muddy, swampy actuality. Today,...

Heartland hemp farming needs Iowa lawmakers’ help

DI EDITORIAL BOARD March 12, 2009

A bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers is putting forth legislation to legalize the growth of cannabis, or hemp. The Industrial Hemp Development Act (HF 608) would provide licenses to qualified farmers...

Leaving to find what’s here

NATE WHITNEY March 12, 2009

All over Iowa City tonight, students will hit up Wal-Mart for suntan lotion, a new swimsuit, or maybe a suitcase. They’ll ditch their sweatpants and North Face jackets for flip-flops and those (hideously)...

A law that works for everyone in Iowa

CHAD BORTSON - GUEST OPINION March 12, 2009

As we reach nearly one year since Gov. Chet Culver signed Iowa’s Smoke-Free Air Act, the excitement has begun to die down. The general public has forgotten about the bill and has moved on, with the exception...

Honor the man, not the program

DI EDITORIAL BOARD March 11, 2009

On Tuesday night, the City of Coralville issued a proclamation co-naming First Avenue as Hayden Fry Way. The new street signs will be unveiled in September before Iowa’s first home football game at the...

Getting the ax is awesome

JOEL STEIN - LA TIMES March 11, 2009

I’ve been fired for stupid reasons. Like that editor of Entertainment Weekly who believed — based solely on book sales, Google hits, and other empirical data — that people enjoy reading Stephen King...

Geithner’s black hole more toxic than you think

Pity President Obama’s economic advisers. The blogs are now demanding their scalps, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and his colleagues face a nasty dilemma: There are no solutions to the banking...

Iowa’s ‘herstory’ and the women who mattered

A year and a half ago, I was accepted as a student member on the Council on the Status of Women. At my first meeting up on the top floor of the Blank Honors Center, I found myself feeling slightly powerless...

A toe in the foreign-policy water

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL March 10, 2009

The Obama administration’s opening forays into foreign affairs have been as calibrated and cautious as its domestic policy has been bold. Last month, President Obama laid out a strategy for Iraq that...