Viewpoints

To the Editor:

During a TV interview, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson gave herself an A for her job performance as Iowa’s First District Representative. Hinson claimed she was working hard to support infrastructure. This claim would be admirable if it were true, but it is not.

Hinson has been a vocal opponent of the infrastructure bill “Invest in America Act.” In fact,  Hinson voted against the “Invest in America Act” which recently passed the U.S. House.

To the Editor:

This past month, Iowan families began receiving in-pocket relief thanks to the American Rescue Plan. July 15, the Child Tax Credit program began providing direct payments to families with children 17 and under. If you have children, you might have noticed a direct deposit or check of up to $300 per child from the IRS. If you received this payment, you’re not alone - four out of five Iowans with children qualify.

To the Editor:

Kudos to the Allamakee County Fair Board, 4-H, FFA, Extension staff, Master Gardeners, buyers at the auctions and all the other volunteers who helped make the 2021 Allamakee County Fair a success. The flowers and well-groomed grounds were a tip-off that the fair was well planned and would be well executed. Many activities kept young and old involved nearly all the time (or at least the opportunity was there!).

In this difficult time of divisiveness and rancor, the event felt like a time for community building and a celebration of our shared agricultural heritage, as it was meant to be. Thanks to all who worked so hard to bring us together in a healthy, youth-focused venue!

To the Editor:

It seems that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has adopted an unusual method - you could call it - to manage one of the state’s gems, Yellow River State Forest in Allamakee County. This ideology is being called “passive management.” The rationale for this change is their decision to take the full-time park ranger down to only 25% presence. The rest of his time is to be spent at the Volga River Recreational Area.

To the Editor:

A black-footed ferret
Is secretive, nocturnal, and solitary.  So, am I.
Undomesticated. I don’t cook either.
I was a predator, too, of the warm and fuzzy,
The prairie dogs of the world, the little beloveds
Of the grassland colonies. The fat ones,
The juiciest. Back when there were colonies.

Black-footed ferrets, like me, are
Endangered, but not critically.
It’s true, black-footed ferrets suffer
From a loss of habitat.  It is fairly difficult
For us to live in just a cornfield,
Or a hayfield, or a beanfield
That runs all the way to either horizon.
These last couple years,
I found that became difficult.

To the Editor:

We seemed to be so close in May and June to getting our lives back. To do so, we need to get as many people vaccinated as qualify for the vaccine. Public health experts estimate that the average person who gets infected with Delta spreads it to three or four other people as compared with one or two other people with the original virus.

To the Editor:

The American people owe heartfelt thanks to Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their moral and political courage in their willingness to serve on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attempt to subvert democracy and overturn the results of a fair and free election. Unlike Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Joni Ernst and Representative Ashley Hinson (who have shown the political courage of church mice), Cheney and Kinzinger are putting country over party and are willing to jeopardize their political careers to uphold their oaths to defend the Constitution and the rule of law.

Their bravery will likely result in their defeats in future primaries, but their sense of duty overrides such concerns. Although I disagree with them on most policy issues, I salute and thank them for their courage and sense of duty to the country.

Thomas Hill
Lansing
 

This article “came to me” in bits-n-pieces so if it seems disjointed that’s probably why. But mainly it is about what love is/what it does and what it is not/does not.  

Love – what I see that it does: Love steps aside differences and focuses on common ground; it focuses on others (God being first and foremost), not the self. From 1st Corinthians 13, often referred to as the “Love Chapter,” love is: patient, kind, it keeps no record of wrongs; it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

What love does not do: force itself on anyone nor demand its own way. And again from 1st Corinthians: [Love] does not envy, it is not proud, it does not boast; it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered; Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth; and finally: Love never fails.

To the Editor:
I originally wrote the following January 9, 2021: For the record, I want to write this editorial. President Trump will go down as the best, most accomplished president ever. He strongly supported the military and police; he is for English only; and he is for putting the Bible and Ten Commandments back in our schools. Our schools, over the years, have become a place of indoctrination, anti-Christ and Bible, and that’s sad.

Trump would protect our historical statues, promote term limits and a balanced budget. He would promote peace in many Middle East countries. Trump would promote the fact that each bill before Congress would stand strictly on its own. Right now, the bill that is supposed to be the stimulus bill is 5,000 pages. Our present Congress is discouragingly bad - 11% approval. Maybe all those amendments put money in their pockets?

To the Editor:

As I review the laws enacted and the policies of the Republican legislature, I wonder, where is compassion? A few examples of these laws include returning $97 million dollars that the public schools could use, stopping the supplemental unemployment the Federal government issued, not distributing the rent subsidies, prohibiting teachers from examining race relations in order to create a better understanding of the divide between minorities and whites, not raising the minimum wage, and sending Iowa State Patrol troopers to the U.S. border instead of keeping them in Iowa to provide law enforcement in our state.

Where is compassion? Are you working hard but still don’t have enough money to make ends meet? Have you been unable to make your farm or mortgage payment on time? Worried about losing your home? Are you fearful that your kids are behind in school due to COVID-19? Are you concerned about the drought, flooding or fires?