As we’re reminded over and over, Nebraska doesn’t have mountains like Colorado and Wyoming, and doesn’t have the beaches of California or Florida. That’s one of the reasons, we’re told, the Cornhusker State is among the least visited of all the states.

Every week, in my post office box at work, I receive a little update about the state of Nebraska’s ag economy. Like so many other Nebraskan’s, every week, the Midwest Messenger arrives to my office.

Let’s get this straight— seventy- one percent of Nebraskans voted in November to legalize the use of marijuana as medicine. But when the State Legislature got around to adopting regulations to dole it out, lawmakers decided “whoa,” let’s not get too hasty about this.

“Old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away.” General Douglas MacArthur, a World War II hero, used that phrase in his farewell address to the United States Congress more than seventy years ago. But the comment doesn’t come within a country mile of describing one old Nebraska soldier.

If you would allow me to humble brag for a moment, I feel like it is important to point out that, even decades after having been promoted out of the fourth grade, I still know the Nebraska state song.

One day earlier this spring, following a particularly grueling week in the newspaper world, I was venting to a friend on the phone about the stresses at the office when they made a suggestion. They suggested that, in order to break the monotony that comes with publishing a weekly newspaper in rural Nebraska, I find an outlet outside of work—a hobby, so to speak—that would take my attention away from my endless checklists and help me focus on something else for an hour or two a week.

With the exception of being a state trooper, the toughest job in state government, in my estimation, is working as a corrections officer in a state prison. You’re dealing with a population of men and women who, for the most part, are adept at manipulation and have some history in assaultive behavior.

Growing up, there were few things that I hated more than when my dad told my brother and I that it was time to go and pick up trash. Sure, I cared about the planet, and on Earth Day when my classmates, the rest of the school, and I would plod around Palmer picking up garbage, the activity was fun.

A rarely discussed legal term is getting its day in the sun. “The rule of law” is the crazy idea that everyone in a democracy is accountable to the same laws and that everyone is entitled to their day in court (and to be represented by an attorney).

Jack Benny used to say that “kids say the darndest things.” But every time there’s an election, we can honestly say that “political ads say the darndest things.” A seemingly innocuous vote or comment by a campaign becomes a negative television ad or campaign mailer. Forget about the issues and whether a controversial vote was cast for a good reason.