Clean, safe water is important to all living things.Consequently, it is very good news that a voluntary water quality initiative launched by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship gained strong support from Hawkeye State farmers during 2013. Seeking to build on that progress, ...

President Barack Obama has made it clear over and over again, frequently in wholesale changes and complete reversals of health care law provisions, that he considers the law of the land something he can ignore at will.During his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, the president did it again, this ...

With little to brag about during recent weeks, because of ongoing evidence of how bad the national health care law is for Americans, President Barack Obama's administration seized upon one bright spot last week. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply, the Labor ...

Prosecuting attorneys in Connecticut have concluded that 20-year-old Adam Lanza "displayed no aggressive or threatening tendencies" before he massacred 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown about a year ago.Thousands of pages of documents involved in an ...

Barring some catastrophe - perhaps involving Iran or North Korea - the biggest challenge we Americans will face during 2014 will be one we allowed to be created.It is the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.Already, even before the law's most onerous regulations kick in, millions of Americans ...

For five years, President Barack Obama has delayed making a decision whether to allow construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to the United States. In the process he has, in effect, vetoed the project temporarily.Some critics claim the pipeline would be an environmental disaster, ...

News flash: President Barack Obama believes in miracles. We can think of no better explanation for his final 2013 press conference.In talking with reporters, Obama proclaimed 2014 "can be a breakthrough year for America." He was speaking of his optimism about the economy.It is true the U.S. ...

For three years or so, we have been warning the new national health care law - Obamacare - would devastate the Medicare program on which millions of older Americans rely. Liberal politicians and interest groups said we were lying.But the government finally is admitting Obamacare will cut ...

Late last month, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack provided an upbeat report on trade issue progress that will benefit American agriculture.Just before Christmas, the 24th U.S. China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade wound up talks in Beijing, the Chinese capital. The JCCT is a ...

Rest assured that if a leading Republican compared Democrats in Congress to members of a murderous cult, there would be calls for the offender to be shunned in Washington. No amount of apologies would suffice for President Barack Obama, Democrat leaders on Capitol Hill or liberal media ...

The "Great Recession" from which the nation still is recovering was sparked in large measure by a massive downturn in real estate markets. President Barack Obama, Congress and the Federal Reserve responded by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on "stimulus" programs that did little ...

Today, we welcome in a new year.Last night, no doubt many readers stayed home, joining the ranks of those sitting on the couch, counting down the final moments of 2013 while participating vicariously in the festivities broadcast from Times Square in New York City.Others celebrated the passing ...

Remember last month, when official Washington was assuring the American people a controversial budget deal would prevent any new fiscal crises for some time to come?Well, forget it. As usual, promises from Washington are not worth much.Late last month, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned ...

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has released his annual "Wastebook," giving us all a window into the positively absurd ways in which the federal government spends the hard-earned tax dollars we give it. This year's list includes some items that would be laughable, if those who received the funding ...

International trade is crucial to economic growth both in Iowa and in many other parts of the United States. That's why Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has partnered with 15 American governors to urge President Obama and leaders in Congress to move ahead quickly to finalize three important trade ...

As part of their ongoing campaign to blame Republicans for everything bad that happens in the United States, President Barack Obama and fellow liberals warned this fall that the partial shutdown of government would erode confidence in the U.S. economy, both here and abroad.It did not.Failure to ...

When members of Congress get copies of bills under consideration, they also receive estimates of the measures' costs - not that it seems to do much good in controlling government spending.Lawmakers wondering how bills would affect employment are left to do their own research or, worse, rely on ...

If you owe the Internal Revenue Service money, chances are you will be harassed until you pay up or at least make arrangements to do so. Unless you happen to be doing business with the IRS.IRS Inspector General J. Russell George revealed recently that nearly 1,200 vendors who have contracts ...

One wonders how President Barack Obama and Environmental Protection Agency officials expect the public to trust the agency when it cannot even police its own high-ranking executives.We refer, of course, to former EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator John C. Beale, who this week was sentenced to ...

Some 2,000 years ago, an event took place that changed the course of history. No singular event has focused the attention of man on himself to the degree that the story of Bethlehem has, for it is the story of man.Kingdoms have risen and fallen, and great nations have perished from the earth. ...