Beware of Republicans’ scary ideas

The pre-Halloween debate gave Republicans an opportunity to pull out all their scary political ghosts (the Federal government is the enemy) and goblins (the mainstream media is a shill for the Democrats). It was a night of bashing anything associated with government and the media (other than FOX and Limbaugh). The conservative audience ate it up. It’s amazing these candidates are running to be the head of a government they don’t believe does anything right or should even exist. Apparently, they intend to get elected in order to shut off the lights, close the doors, burn it down and salt the earth. It’s clear that government is their favorite punching bag, and their base loves it. It’s also clear why their base is demanding outsiders. Why would the base want anyone associated with Washington? The candidates have convinced them it’s broken beyond repair. It was appropriate they conducted this debate just prior to Halloween. The candidates were all masquerading as outsiders as they threatened to soap the government windows and TP the halls of Congress.

Rick Smith
-Urbandale

Stop the hatred and violence
Doesn’t this world have enough hate and destruction in it without publishing such trash? If this (Political Mercury, Oct. 22) was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek humor, you missed that by a long shot.  If your goal was to anger animal lovers, regardless of type of animal they love, I believe you hit that nail on the head.  What a waste. If you have any literary talent, wouldn’t it best be served by writing more uplifting, educating articles? Where was the value in this piece? Just about every paragraph is full of stereotyping and hate.  Who are you, Douglas Burns, to judge why a person has a cat? And what is it to you if they treat cats — or any animal — as family? Haven’t you heard of the cat that ran off a dog before it could get to a young child in its yard? Yes, stories like this are few, but they are out there. Cats, too, have warned their owners of fires. I can’t fathom a respectable publication that would publish such demeaning remarks about people made in an article.  You have criticized women, “old” people, Koreans — the only people not offended are the haters and abusers. What makes you (and the Catholic priest you supposedly interviewed) believe that animal lovers “blithely watch starvation and disease consume…fellow human beings”? I call you on that and say you are terribly mistaken. And as if we do not have enough gun violence in the world as it is, you make a call for people to use high-powered weaponry to take out cats. Just because you don’t understand “the animal nutters,” perhaps your thoughts and so-called literary writings are best placed in a personal journal where they cannot further the influence of violence and hatred in our society. Yes, there is freedom of press and freedom of expression, but there is also a responsibility that goes along with that freedom that many have given their lives for — not the lives of felines — but the lives of many soldiers that have died to give us the right of freedom of speech.  Sir, I suggest that you are the one that is missing the bigger picture here and what irresponsible stories can lead to.  Perhaps Joe Weeg can give you a lesson or two on writing articles that are informative without calling for hatred or violence.

S.L. Eaton
-Des Moines

On a mission
Having just returned from a mission trip, I was catching up on my Cityview reading. To my horror, I read Douglas Burns’ column (Political Mercury, Oct. 22). Please tell me it was written as a Halloween joke! Shame on you, Cityview, for printing such hateful verbiage — jest or not. I wonder if Cityview would print my comments about the character of cat haters. Written in jest, of course.

Judy Marshall
-Des Moines