| Why
isn’t anyone talking about Newt’s sexcapades?
Why are Herman Cain’s sexcapades being flaunted
in the news and costing him his presidential
run, while Newt Gingrich is being allowed to
skate? Cain stayed with his wife; Gingrich cheated
on two successive wives and then married the
mistresses. Neither one is without sin, so why
is only one being stoned? Or to confine it to
the political rather than philosophical realm,
both are equally susceptible to a Lewinsky-type
scandal. I’m not so shallow as to allege racism,
but why does the fact that one’s affairs were
known and the other’s are just coming to light
have such inequitable effects on their concurrent
presidential aspirations?
Jeni Nosbisch
Des Moines
Got an idea for Duffy
I was watching TV the other day and had a great
idea for a Duffy cartoon. Once again Kim Reynolds
is standing right behind Gov. Branstad while
he speaks. I told my wife Branstad is the dummy
and Reynolds the ventriloquist.
Alan Booton
Carlisle
Really enjoy Political Mercury
Just wanted to say thanks for bringing Doug
Burns to the Des Moines market. He’s a great
writer and an Iowa treasure.
Michael Tramontina
Des Moines
We should think twice about raising
animals for food
The alarming news about the new swine flu strain
that has sickened three children in Iowa — and
seven other people in Pennsylvania, Maine and
Indiana — should make us think twice about raising
pigs and other animals for food.
Swine flu is called “swine flu” for a reason
— because it afflicts pigs. The virus thrives
on pig farms, where tens of thousands of pigs
are packed in filthy, damp sheds that stink
of urine and feces. It’s not unusual for the
viruses that cause swine flu, bird flu and other
illnesses to mutate into a pathogenic form and
sicken humans. Experts believe that the virus
may involve limited person-to-person contact.
If we don’t want pigs or other farmed animals
to be our downfall — either through animal-borne
diseases or through heart disease, diabetes
or cancer — it’s time we reevaluate the way
we treat them, and perhaps even the way we eat.
Heather Moore
PETA Foundation
Norfolk, Va.
Correction: Swati Dandekar (D-Marion),
is a board member with the Iowa Utilities Board
with an annual salary of $113,078. We mistakenly
printed the wrong salary in a recent issue (“Salaries
and such,” Dec. 1). | 
