Brian Gongol
Charting the rains that caused the floods
IRS boosts rate for mileage deductions
It's a 16% increase, intended to cover the rising cost of gasoline
Supreme Court gets it right on the Second Amendment
From the decision in District of Columbia v. Heller: "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." That's a pretty clear statement. As much as it may frighten people -- particularly from outside the country -- who think that guns make America a dangerous place to live, the bottom line is that if one lives in a place where danger exists, and the government tries to obstruct one's right to self-defense against that danger, then the government itself is dangerous. It doesn't matter whether the danger is in the form of free-range polar bears or drug-dealing gang members.
Cedar Rapids uses flood-cleanup contracting permits to pick up crooks
That's called making some good out of a bad situation. Eastern Iowa deserves some credit for getting right to work at cleaning up after the floods. There's already a website devoted to coordinating flood-cleanup efforts among everyone from the City of Cedar Rapids to the United Way to the Red Cross. Even the Iowans living in the DC area are helping with the recovery effort. Some astonishing aerial views of the flooding (taken on June 10th) really show how bad it got.
Standby for severe weather
