Des Moines Register

Vice President Joe Biden gave Iowa Democrats their money’s worth Saturday night, with 40-plus minutes of high-blown rhetoric mixed with feel-good politics.

Like thousands of others, Joel Schneider and his dad turned on the television and watched the Harrison Barnes extravaganza - live from Ames!

The 44-year-old woman walked through the skywalk above the noontime traffic and described what happens on her big day.

A thistle to state Rep. Clel Baudler, whose Wild West approach to domestic abuse is truly disturbing. Some think guns should be kept away from those who threaten physical abuse. Baudler thinks potential victims should arm themselves and shoot first. If Dixie Shanahan had shot her sleeping husband in the face instead of in the back, he mused, she might have avoided a murder rap. Had a Des Moines woman who was shot to death Nov. 11 defended herself with a gun, he asked, "Would they have said, ’Good job, young lady,’ or would they have said, ’Oh, boohoo’?" "They" might say this sort of arms race puts even more lives at risk. But, unlike Baudler, "they" don’t have the power to pass laws that could actually protect the vulnerable rather than create real-life versions of the OK Corral.

I have worked as a psychiatric nurse for over 20 years with children and teenage patients. In that time I have seen several careers destroyed by the err-on-the-side of-the-child attitude.

According to her Nov. 15 column, Rekha Basu’s religious and political beliefs are negotiable. That’s good, since she basically views the United States as a country of oppressors and victims.

Just say no has long been a slogan of the conservative right.

If you’re pro-choice, you need to be appalled, and you need to act. Abortion rights are under attack, the likes of which I have never seen.

Social conservatives pulled a fast one by inserting an amendment into the health-care reform bill that targets women.

An 11th-hour amendment limiting women’s reproductive care was shamelessly added to the health reform bill in Washington. It puts abortion care financially out of reach for most women. This is wrong.

I’m going to tell you something that will change your life forever. Parents do irresponsible things. Case in point, Tom Quiner wrote a letter to his children about health-care reform (Nov. 15 column).

When West Des Moines teachers are evaluated, their students’ progress on standardized tests doesn’t affect their ratings. It may be part of the conversation, but that’s about it. "It’s not something commonly done in Iowa," said Superintendent Tom Narak.

Sen. Charles Grassley wants President Barack Obama to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan soon because the people already there don’t have adequate support. As a result, we are losing lives ("Obama Needs To Act Soon, Grassley Says," Nov. 14).

As I experienced the 234th birthday of my beloved U.S. Marine Corps on Nov. 10 and reflected on the 91st anniversary of the World War I armistice on Nov. 11, I was reminded again of the sacrifices of my men and my buddies who adorn the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., and dot the slopes of Arlington Cemetery with their hallowed graves.

I’m glad Roxanne Conlin is running against Sen. Charles Grassley.

Thank you, Joy Corning, for your vocal support of marriage equality. Opponents of same-sex marriage cite threats to the family, meaning heterosexual marriage. They have yet to present any data, statistical or anecdotal, to indicate what damage it causes.

In the six months since the Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowed same-sex marriage, there have been many debates. But I have yet to run into anyone with a valid argument against allowing same-sex marriage.

Just 40 years after man first walked on the moon, man has found water there. Few moments in history can match the drama of that first moon walk in 1969. But running a close second would be the day man first planted the seeds of life on that lifeless satellite.

Who knows whether Congress will pass health-care reform. The Democrats hold all the power in Washington, but the political winds are blowing against them as centrist Democrats consider the implications of losing bellwether gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.

The Iowa World Language Association has a cryptic moniker: "Monolingualism can be cured."