September 2008

By Kandra Hahn

Deacon Gray of Denver won the first Great American Comedy Festival in Norfolk, Neb., on June 20.

“I like Norfolk,” he told the festival’s Showcase audience packed into the Johnny Carson Theater the next night.“It’s a place where if you have good manners they don’t think you’re gay.”

By Robert J. Miller

The Lewis and Clark Expedition undertook an exceedingly difficult, dangerous and perhaps even superhuman mission. Most Americans are well aware of its exploits and success. What is less known is the fact that Indian nations and individual Indians provided crucial assistance to the expedition. Without the help of indigenous people and Indian tribes, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark may not have succeeded in their mission or even survived the attempt.

“Polking Around”
Sept. 4, 1980 

The time has come to go fishing and to try and detect, from the nibbles on the hook, whether it is a three-foot northern or a five-inch perch. Our fishing partner, Lyle Dornburgh, needs another lesson in how to land a walleye after accidentally hooking one. Meanwhile, we’ll both sit in the boat and settle the problems of the world to our satisfaction by ignoring all problems we can’t solve.

Former Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey and Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel discuss one of the greatest challenges of our time - are there reasonable solutions to the health care crisis?

Health care reform by Bob Kerrey

Health care reform by Chuck Hagel

By Bob Kerrey

Debates about health care wear me out. I cannot remember a single debate or panel discussion I have either participated in or attended that caused me to say, “Boy, that was a good use of my time!”

By Chuck Hagel

The 2008 American presidential election flows into a historic confluence of events. Our nation finds itself bogged down in two wars with record high energy prices; deep devaluations and displacements in the housing, financial and credit markets; record private and public debt; inflation on the rise; the future of health care uncertain for millions; and intense economic pressures for many in a combustible, unpredictable and dangerous world.

By Jim Jenkins

The rapid growth and maturing of the American ethanol industry is one of the significant business and economic stories of the past several years, particularly in the country’s heartland. This new biofuel industry is a $20 billion industry spanning more than 20 states. Most importantly, ethanol is providing more than 5 percent of the transportation fuel requirements of the United States. While this is a relatively small percentage, it nonetheless represents the first real competitive product challenge to the oil industry in its 100-plus year history.

Review by Dick Herman

“The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule”
Author: Thomas Frank
New York: Metropolitan Books (Macmillan)

At the end of this narrative, Thomas Frank and a friend are having lunch “at one of those restaurants where the suits and the soldiers get together.” There, members of the Washington lobbying industry feel politically comfortable, if not a tad unassailable. Money and influence wash each other’s hands. “So you think all of this is just going to go away if Obama gets in?” the author’s friend muses. Not likely. What the conservatives accomplished in recent times now has a tough structural character. It has an air of permanency. Nonetheless, to fight back is worth the candle, Frank suggests.

By Barbara Chapman Banks

As I prepared for the Lentz Center’s fall exhibition, “The Daily Arts of Bhutan,” I’ve had the chance to experience Bhutan’s uniqueness in some depth. My most overwhelming impression is of its coherence: the strong relationship among the natural environment, the culture and the ubiquitous faith community.

By Rebecca Gould and Jennifer Carter

There may be no greater issue facing us as a country right now than health care reform. The health of our economy, the health of our families and the health of our democracy will be greatly affected by our ability, or inability, to improve our current health care system in America.

By Sally Herrin

The wind is an old friend to the busy race of humans, from time past remembering. Every Nebraska landscape worth its weight in tourist brochures has a stock tank windmill, some relict, some working still. More recently, wind has been a huge, largely underused resource in Nebraska. The sixth windiest state with an estimated production capacity of 868 billion kilowatts a year, Nebraska ranks 19th in wind-energy production in the U.S., with just 73 megawatts online today.