Sick of Jenner

For all the hype about gay marriage and things like Indiana’s religious freedom law, I find it quite odd that America is so infatuated about Bruce Jenner’s sex change.  Is anyone else tired of seeing his ever-morphing ugly mug on the cover of every magazine while standing in line at the grocery store?

Sean Linthicum
-Des Moines

Church relishes Republican political agenda

The recent Republican Faith and Freedom Forum was hosted by the controversial church in Waukee that serves as a direct megaphone for the Iowa Republican Party. Iowans deserve to see a thorough investigation of the Point of Grace Churchs’ continuing misuse of their tax exempt status. The Internal revenue code is quite clear (“IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”) It appears this church and its pastor have blatantly violated restrictions on political activity. The recent hosting of nine Republican candidates is a continuation of their clearly partisan political agenda in apparent violation of the Constitution. Jeff Mullen, the pastor, ran and lost in the Republican Iowa Senate race in 2011 with the support of many conservative Republicans. He is credited with assisting in the successful overthrow of the Iowa Supreme Justices following the ruling on gay marriage. He has consistently been a vocal opponent of the LGBT community and brags about his right to engage in partisan political activity. Don’t Iowans deserve to see this church’s apparent violations of the constitutional rules regarding separation of church and state investigated?

Rick Smith
-Urbandale

Malady cash cow

On a recent morning, in the span of 30 minutes, while catching up on the news as reported on TV, I was exposed to commercials for the following maladies. BED (binge eating disorder), ED (erectile dysfunction), AF (Atrial fibrillation), psoriatic arthritis, acid destroying enamel on teeth, low T (testosterone), low blood sugar, shingles, body pain and VNS (home healthcare).

Then, in a totally unscientific observation, I flipped through three local print publications to see if they had the same representation of ads.To my surprise, not one disease or cure ad in any of the printed pages.While I am not a fan of mass advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals, it seems like with the economic challenges facing print media, they might want to look to this “cash cow” as a possible source of revenue. Heck, the required reporting of possible side effects alone might double the ad space.

Mike Rowley
-Clive