Viewpoints

To the Editor:

With Iowa’s underage and binge drinking exceeding national averages and overdoses from prescription drugs near all-time highs, Iowa lawmakers fear that legalizing medical cannabis is a “slippery slope” to harder drug use and say that the medical cannabis intended for children like my four-year-old son with intractable epilepsy would end up in the “wrong hands”.

According to a 2016 document titled “Drug Trends in Iowa” from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, 50% of Iowans use alcohol, making it the “drug of choice” and between 72 - 82.1 out of 100 Iowans have pain killer prescriptions. Yet, our state continues to lag behind in helping Iowa’s most medically complex individuals.

In states with medical cannabis laws, opiate abuse actually declines. According to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in October 2016, opiate-related deaths decreased by 33% within six years in states that legalized cannabis from 1999-2010.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I read with great interest Orlan Love’s article in Sunday’s Gazette regarding the vagaries of water quality in northeast Iowa, and in the “driftless” area with its karst topography.

Those of us who have lived here for a number of years are perhaps more familiar with the latter than the former, because while we know this hilly area is such because it was missed by the glacial drift of the age of ice, before climate change(!), the term “driftless area” seems to have lately become adopted as something to attract tourists. As stated in the article, there is northeast Iowa, and then there’s the rest of the state. Those from the loess hills near the Missouri River might quarrel with that.

It’s getting close to s-p-r-i-n-g! Which means it’s also getting close to L-E-N-T. “So?” you may ask, “what difference does that make?”

Well, if you choose to make a difference, Lent can come to be a very significant thing. It is a time to do some self-evaluation. Specifically it has to do with your assessment of your relationship with God - The Almighty, The Creator, The Supreme Being, The Father in Heaven, The Son & The Holy Spirit, etc.

To the Editor:

Iowa has one of the highest quality, lowest cost health care systems in the United States. And at the heart of that system are 118 community hospitals that stand ready, day and night, to serve everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. A significant reason for health care excellence in Iowa has been state oversight of institutional health care services through the Certificate of Need law.

Iowa’s Certificate of Need regulations were first enacted in 1977 for the express purpose of providing for the orderly and economical development of health care services, thereby avoiding unnecessary duplication of services, controlling the growth of overall health care costs and ensuring the stability of community hospitals. Since that time, these regulations have been re-examined multiple times and each time the same conclusion was reached: Iowa needs Certificate of Need.

To the Editor:

I take exception to Dick Schilling’s ‘And Then I Wrote’ column February 15, 2017. First, Mr. Schilling stated, “The old Ku Klux Klan pretty much disappeared nearly 100 years ago…”. More than being inaccurate, this statement falsely minimizes the threat presented to targets of the KKK’s hatred and bigotry through the present day.

On a different topic, Mr. Schilling discussed membership of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, taking an unveiled and offensive slap at anyone who is not heterosexual. In a bigger sense, I am troubled by a continuing theme of viewpoints in The Standard which appear to endorse a reactionary and Christian-based lifestyle at the expense of all others. I invite The Standard to rather put forth an image of inclusion and tolerance, one that I think is more representative of the people of Allamakee County. 

Sincerely yours,

Matt Brandt
Cedar Rapids

To the Editor:

I stood opposed to the collective bargaining reform rushed through the statehouse. As part of my opposition, I contacted each legislator currently representing the state. Senator Breitbach responded to my message. He seemed to take offense when I suggested that the collective bargaining reform was the result of lawmakers beholden to out-of-state interest groups. He said he saw no problem with lawmakers using model legislation from out-of-state groups instead of drafting it from scratch.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that the Klan is back, in a new guise.

Riots, on university campuses in particular, are being led by the new Klan. The old Ku Klux Klan pretty much disappeared nearly 100 years ago after being revived briefly by an early Hollywood movie. The members were recognized by the steps they took not to be recognized, that is, by wearing white robes and white cone-shaped headdresses.

But lots of local people knew who they were.

The new Klan calls itself “Black Bloc.” The name does not come from the skin color of its members, but rather from the step they have taken to avoid recognition, that is, wearing black clothing and black hooded masks.
But do locals know who they really are?

The apostle John writes: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

In the end there are only 2 religions in the world. One looks to man and his good works for salvation and the other one looks to Jesus and His works for salvation. The one that looks to Jesus and His works for salvation is the Christian religion and the one that looks to man and his good works for salvation is all other religions of the world.

John tells us about the Christian religion, the one that looks to Jesus and His works for salvation.  He says: “Behold, the Lamb of God.”

In the OT God told the Israelites to look at the serpent lifted up on a pole, and when they did they would be cured of leprosy.  And so too John says in our text: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

To the Editor:

There is a video made by a veterans organization for viewing on the web (http://www.salon.com/2017/02/06/votevets-calls-out-president-trump-by-na...) and on television, free for the nation to watch and for your local representatives in Des Moines to watch who want to take away healthcare for seriously wounded veterans for a Bush-Cheney war and people who dodged the draft over and over. And now the party in power wants to take away healthcare, known as Obama Care, for these seriously wounded and PTSD combat veterans.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that first, nota bene, Donald Trump was not my first choice among Republicans for nomination. Nor second choice. Nor third choice.

However, having said that, he not only won the nomination but also the presidency.

I listen to public radio Saturday and Sunday mornings by default, because regular AM and FM stations have nothing to offer in the way of news and information at those times.

Since way back several years ago, the Wisconsin station denigrated Republicans, in part because of the Republican governor who three times defeated their efforts to oust him. The Minnesota station was not as bad.

But from Trump’s nomination through and since his election, both have been unceasing in their attacks on him. Even the so-called entertainment programming includes several jokes at his expense.

Is an executive order forthcoming taking away federal funds from an obviously biased medium?