Viewpoints

For your meditation: Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30

God is speaking to you and me, let’s listen.

I hope this doesn’t sound too much like a geography lesson, but I sometimes get caught up in trivial details and I’m afraid that happened to me when I sat down to write this “Word for Word” column.

But where the heck are Tarshish, Put, Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan? Have you even heard of these places before? Are they even real places?

Well, they are real places. We’ll get back to them. The reading from Isaiah is from the very end of the book of Isaiah. The time in history being talked about is at the very end of the Babylonian captivity. By this time the Israelites have been scattered “all over the world,” which means all over the world that they know. In other words, all over the Mediterranean Sea Basin.

To the Editor:

Anyone who has viewed the public hearings conducted by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack to overthrow the outcome of the most secure election in our country’s history could only conclude that Mr. Pat Ward is correct in his assessment of Donald Trump’s behavior, while Mr. Lowell Engle’s defense is misguided.

What makes the Committee’s activities so powerful and persuasive to any fair-minded American is that the majority of evidence presented has come from members of Trump’s own party who supported his election and served in his administration. These include his Attorney General William Barr and his White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

The picture they paint is one of Trump and his acolytes trying to orchestrate the overthrow of the duly-elected President. The findings include:

To the Editor:

According to an article in The Standard dated August 3, 2022 (page 7, column 5) dealing with the Crazy Days of August 5 and 6, it is my opinion that the City is now accepting the responsibility and liability for the sloping sidewalks.

I have not read the Americans with Disabilities Act, but when I see that Act referenced in the same sentence with sloping sidewalks, it gives me pause. When merchants get a permit from the City to use the flat portion of the sidewalk to hawk their wares, or wears, and relegate the slope to the disabled, that does not appear to me to be the spirit of the referenced act.

Someone once said that every idea is not a good idea, nor is every idea a bad idea. But sloping sidewalks were never a good idea! Parking meters are long gone, but when they were installed, they were on flat sidewalks!

Respectfully,
Herb Larkin
Waukon
 

To the Editor:

After reading a letter to the editor in a previous edition of The Standard newspaper, where the writer needled the county about being coerced into taking over the city airport, I thought, you know, that might not be a bad idea. After all, the county actually did take over the Poor Farm, or as it was sometimes called the County Farm, and has been quite successful in realizing a respectable income from same.

Imagine, with 80 or 100 acres (I am guessing on acreage) of super prime Allamakee County farm land next to the fair grounds, what do you suppose they could do?  With solar lights and all, crops could expect to nearly double all yields. Or as someone once said, “sell the airport, fix the streets and build some houses”.

To the Editor:

The July 27 diatribe by Pat Ward in The Standard was another part of his political party deflecting attention away from what is happening to our country under the Biden administration.

Mr. Ward was obviously alluding to the sham “investigation” currently ongoing in Washington designed to try to bring criminal charges against former President Trump in hopes of preventing him from running again in 2024. Mr. Ward alleges, without proof, that Trump was responsible for the action at the Capitol January 6. What Mr. Ward does not do is mention that President Trump authorized the use of the National Guard to protect the Capitol and the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives refused to call in those 20,000 troops that were available.

When Life is Scary

We live in troubled times. We are constantly confronted by headlines of war, fears of disease, concern over the economy, the dangers of violence in our cities and streets, and many other issues.

This is not the first time in history that nations have faced such challenging times. Thankfully, the Bible not only records that fact, but also gives us hope and assurance to face those times. To find that hope means learning the truths that the Bible tells us about uncertain times.

To the Editor:

I applaud Katie O’Regan and The Sacred Noise Society, Inc. for bringing a bit of Hollywood glamour to northeast Iowa. The Star City Film Festival and the premier of “Good Morning, Miss America” (based on a true story) was inspirational and entertaining.

A film festival of this sort usually only happens in larger or college towns. It shows how fledgling film makers get initial exposure and a possible toe-hold in the movie industry.

It was great that some local people were in the cast of the film premiere, including Katie. It could only have helped the local economy as well - in printing, advertising, travel, lodging, etc. Appreciation also goes out to Val Reinke with Allamakee County Economic Development and Tourism and anything that group had to do with this production.

The new Town Theater marquis is a welcome addition to downtown Waukon. Our Town Theater is a wonderful asset and should be patronized whenever possible.

To the Editor:

This is in response to one of last week’s letters that mentioned a multitude of items.

Inflation... yes, it’s high... and it’s driven by numerous things... many of which Washington has no control over as we’re a consumer-driven society. “Covid,” and to some extent the “Ukrainian War,” are the biggest factors for the high inflation.

People are buying more, however, manufacturing scaled back due to lack of demand during Covid and still hasn’t caught up... plus, shortage of labor, materials and shipping. Washington could do “price controls” and “wage freezes” and it would stop inflation... but that’s “socialism”... not “capitalism”.

To the Editor:

Google and Facebook have enormous economic and political power in society - especially over the news industry. Many ask if they have played a role in the misinformation that erodes our free press and plagues our democracy.

Google and Facebook have a duopoly of the distribution of digital news content, which drives people to their platforms where they make money. The platforms hoard critical data and use clever tactics, like reframing stories in rich previews, to keep users on their sites - siphoning off the advertising revenue that small and local publishers need and weakening their ability to be rewarded for their own content.

Google and Facebook generated $4 million in U.S. advertising revenue every 15 minutes during the first quarter of 2022. That amount could fund hundreds of local journalists in every state in the country.

To the Editor:

I see neither Mr. Engle nor Mr. Quandahl have made mention of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol of the failed attempt to overthrow the U.S. Government and the U.S. Constitution by both men’s party of insurrection. None of Iowa’s insurrection party members, such as Iowa’s senators, Iowa’s governor or any member of the new party of Iowa, dare mention or condemn what their failed wanna-be dictatorial leader did. If they did, he would banish those from his party or - worse - seek revenge.

All former members of the party of Lincoln are scared to death of one man, and their oath to the constitution and this country mean nothing to them. But they did follow the ex-president down the rabbit hole of crime.

Pat Ward
Waterville