Viewpoints

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

To the Editor:
While I realize it is a fool's errand to respond to a recent letter asserting Congress should make public schools "English Only."
"English Only" laws are inconsistent with both the First Amendment right to communicate with or petition the government, as well as free speech and the right to equality because they bar government employees from providing non-English language assistance and services.
Furthermore, as the writer himself points out, "Local people can and will run our schools better" than the federal government. If he truly believes this, I suggest he refrain from demanding government intervention every time he disagrees with the decisions of others.

Cate St. Clair
Waukon

To the Editor:
To start with, just a little humor for a quick laugh:
I just received an audit on my tax return for 2012 back from the IRS, and it puzzles me. They are questioning how many dependents I claimed. I guess it was because of my response to the request: "List all dependents". I replied: 12 million illegal immigrants, three million crackheads, 42 million unemployed people on food stamps, two million people in over 243 prisons, half of Mexico, 535 persons in the House and Senate, and one useless president.
Evidently, this was not an acceptable answer. I keep asking myself, "who did I miss?"

To the Editor:
This is in response to the letter "Think twice before passing medical marijuana laws" submitted by Helping Services of Northeast Iowa. I am not able to engage in a debate over the many questionable points made therein so I will focus on only a few of them.

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

To the Editor:
It used to be you could leave your house unlocked and everything on your property. Nowadays you better have everything locked up, nailed down or spiked in.
The reason I say this is because Thursday, December 10 there was a star shower light stolen from the yard at South Ridge. It was put there so the residents could enjoy them.
Needless to say, someone stole it! It is terrible that elderly people have to go without just because some people haven’t anything else to do to satisfy their minds. We hope your are proud of yourselves for what you did, because we surely aren’t proud of you.
Oh, by the way, this is not the only thing stolen through the years we have lived here.
Sincerely,

D.L. Beisker, Waukon

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

To the Editor:
Do you have lots of questions about our country? We now have Republicans in both houses, what are they doing?
There are many things that should be voted on, such as English only in our schools. This is America and English is the language of our country. If you want to learn another language, you are free to do so, but at your expense, not the taxpayers.
Other issues that should be voted on:
Introducing legislation getting rid of taxpayer-funded perks, like first class flights and luxury car leases. Politicians shouldn’t live like royalty at the taxpayer’s expense.
Authoring a bill to permanently ban members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists. Elected officials shouldn’t be able to cash in on their public service.
Forming the new bipartisan Term Limits Caucus and backing legislation to put term limits on the House and Senate. Serving in office should be a part-time sacrifice, not a career.

To the Editor:
This is a summary of some of the facts about Climate Change presented by Matt Ridley and Benny Peiser in the Wall Street Journal, on p. 28, November 28-29, 2015. Ridley is a columnist for the Times (UK), and Peiser is the director of the Global Warming Policy forum.

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus