Ames Progressive

Manipulated intelligence leading to devastation in the Middle East; a carefully crafted environment of perpetual fear; and extraordinary rendition, extrajudicial torture, and kangaroo courts, habeas corpus and international treaties be damned – such is the tragic legacy of the Bush administration’s “war on terror.”
But after years of tortured logic by Republican lawmakers and administration officials […]

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As a vegetarian of two years, I’ve always thrown around the idea of being vegan. Veganism, or the elimination of all animal products, including eggs and dairy, from one’s diet and lifestyle, isn’t exactly a familiar concept in small town Iowa. Living in a largely agricultural state, most people wouldn’t know how to live their […]

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According to Brian Faler of The Washington Post, the turnout for the 2004 presidential election was the highest it has ever been since 1968, or “more than 122 million people.” This would be somewhat encouraging, if it were not for the fact that a large bulk of the populous was voting for Kerry explicitly on […]

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George W. Bush has said that Jesus Christ saved his soul. He is mistaken.
On March 8, 2008, Bush used his veto power to kill a bill that was intended to make it illegal for the CIA to use torture to obtain information from detainees. Let’s put this clearly: Bush used his executive power to affirm […]

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From March 13 to 16, veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq gathered at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, to give personal testimonies of their actions while in combat. The event was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and was modeled on the Winter Soldier hearings that took place in […]

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The following interview originally appeared as part of a longer blog entry at Gavin’s Journal on this site.
Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell represents Iowa’s 3rd district and has served the state for six terms, since 1997. When he first entered the House he voted in favor of a bill that would have limited representatives to six […]

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For Kim
In one instant Sheng is in Chataranga, perfectly parallel to the ground, supporting himself with his arms bent at a 90 degree angle, his elbows against the side of his torso. And in the next instant he is in a Crow arm balance, his knees up in his armpits and his weight balanced on […]

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From the Boheme (R.I.P.) to the M-Shop and the Practice Space, some of the best music in Ames is contained within divers and sundry living rooms, and I will be bold and state that there is another to add to that esteemed list: the Ames Progressive office. The shows there, which occur every Tuesday at […]

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As much as I loathe the chants of “MVP!” that have turned into the live sports version of “Play Freebird”, I certainly enjoyed watching two marquee players, who can perform ungodly maneuvers with a spherical ball, lead their teams to victory on March 2 on national television. Now, invariably, they have further escalated the debate […]

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As I drove by in my mother’s 1970 mustard yellow Gremlin, I saw the six boys that I could always hear from my bedroom window. As the sun shown down bright like summer promised, the boys would toil in the driveway next to mine fixing up their cars. They were all bronze, not from any […]

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