Thursday, March 28, 2024

Join our email blast

Your View

Disputing the facts

7/6/2016

 

I keep seeing the same thing repeated over and over. This time it was in the current Civic Skinny article (June 30).  “But the party whose governor (Branstad) has been in office longer than any governor in American history…” Gov. Branstad is not the longest serving governor in America. That honor belongs to William Bradford who came over on the Mayflower and served as governor in America for 30 years. Gov. Branstad is the longest serving governor in the history of The United States of America. While I am setting the history record straight, one need look no farther than the wall of the Gold Star Museum (Camp Dodge) to see that Iowa did not have the highest per capita percentage of its male population serving in the Civil War. At least 11 other states make this same claim. Oh well. No need for facts to get in the way of a good sound bite.

Mike Rowley

Clive

 

CNA - Stop HIV Iowa

What’s left?

We know Trump is an organizer. When his idea goes in the dumpster, he steps on the old Band-Aid. Thus, he’s constantly in a make-do attitude. Trump looks crude, and acts crude. His “don’t care” radical attitude could sadly be our nation’s downfall.

That’s why I ask: What’s left of the Republican Party as we have known it?

As I see it, the diehards who would pull the GOP lever regardless of who is on the ticket, and the new would-be hangers-on who seem to lean toward voting for Trump, allow his empty promises to dictate their decision. And that includes enormous quantities of voters trying to reap rewards as their greed dictates. Again, I say, “What’s left?” A shambles vacated by those who can read the real writing on the wall. Every week I’m called to feed his campaign. Huh? Why call me? My opinion is worthless. I’m too little, too poor, too uneducated, too old. Besides, I’m an independent. Why do I care about all of this? Because I love Iowa, and I love the USA. Whenever my husband, Al, and I would go on a cruise, we couldn’t wait to get back to Des Moines. I still believe in the two-party system, but something is not right. Who’s going to fix it? What’s left?

Harriet C. Hamilton

Des Moines

 

A gift to the next generation

Between “The Bachelor” and “Dancing with the Stars,” my life during the last few years has had more than its share of excitement. It’s not every day that a fourth-generation Iowa farmer gets whisked away to film a television series. Still, my experiences have only reaffirmed how grateful I am for the deeply rooted traditions and time-honored values that have been passed on to me by my family and that I hope to share with my own children someday. It’s a lesson that helped to inspire my recent trip to a field hearing in Kansas City, where I joined advocates calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase America’s targets for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The RFS is one law nearly every farmer knows, because it requires oil companies to offer consumers clean, renewable choices at the gasoline pump, including blends of homegrown ethanol produced from agricultural products. Generations of family farmers count on it because it puts our communities in the driver’s seat, where we can protect the environment, preserve our energy security and safeguard consumers by growing our own energy. Those who agree can show their support by contacting the EPA and asking policymakers to support a strong RFS. Currently, the agency is considering biofuel goals that fall short of the targets set by Congress, but consumers and farmers have until July 11 to make their voice heard.

Chris Soules

Arlington, Iowa

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*