Remove the log from your own eye

My suggestion to Michael Gartner with his piece on Steve Deace and Douglas Burns article showing outrage at prayer: Remove the log from your own eye before you tell someone to remove the splinter from theirs. Gartner ignores another liberal intrusion on private property rights, and calling One Iowa a human rights organization is a farce; it would be like calling a casino a math tutorial service. The liberals, it seems, forget history. Mr. Burns, please read Washington’s inaugural and farewell speeches, and remember that, until roughly the 1960s, even the Supreme Court opened with prayer. It is right and just to pray for our leaders — even for the godless liberals we have now, we pray they can see the light. Heck, compared to the Founding Fathers, Mr. Gartner, Mr. Burns and the Supreme Court all need a refresher in the Bill of Rights, including the 10th Amendment — the powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, are reserved to the States and the people. Go with God, and tell the truth.

Chuck Verheul
-Des Moines

Where can I get 5 percent?

Michael Gartner’s article on the closed door shenanigans deal (Civic Skinny, Feb. 5) between AIB’s Nancy Williams and University of Iowa’s Sally Mason to absorb AIB into the U of I to increase student count and therefore state aid reminded me of a local hospital buying Des Moines General Hospital for its bed count then promptly shutting it down — all to justify building more hospitals in West Des Moines. Are there beds yet on the top two floors of Mercy West Hospital? While I like Gartner’s out-of-the-box ideas to turn the sale of AIB into a positive for needy students, I wonder about his suggestion to “give the money to the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation to invest.” He implies a guarantee return of 5 percent. Last I checked, Banker’s Trust was only offering 1.33 percent. How can a guy like me invest in the GDMCF and get 5 percent?

Mike Rowley
-Clive

Branstad’s big mistake

I recently read in the Des Moines media that Terry Branstad, six-term governor of Iowa, has announced that he probably won’t run for a seventh term in three years. That’s a big mistake. By making that announcement, he has made himself an ineffective lame duck. Theodore Roosevelt did that after taking office for a second term in 1905. He became President upon the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. So, at the start of his first elected term, he rendered himself ineffective. It was a big mistake for Roosevelt. It’s a big mistake for Terry Branstad. History repeats itself.

Gary Thelen
-West Des Moines