Viewpoints

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... part two, or three, of why English is a difficult language to learn.

The radio ad was for a restaurant featuring vegetarian meatballs. Imagine learning what vegetables are and what meat means, and try putting them together so it makes sense.

It’s like the phrase jumbo shrimp. Jumbo meaning large and shrimp meaning small, right?

And say you are driving an Allamakee County road and you see groups of wild creatures. There are lots of deer. But lots of turkeys. Why the “s” for the turkey numbers but not the deer? Or the “s” for foxes but no “s” for moose, the latter not seen in Allamakee.

Who made the rules?

Still on the subject of outdoor things, have you noticed the fireflies? They seem extremely bright this year. As if you could put a couple in a jar, as we used to when we were children, and read a book by their light. Which we did not do as children.

To the Editor:

In the very near future, the Senate will likely vote on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act that would also unravel the Medicaid program and bar Planned Parenthood from participating in Medicaid for one year. As a Family Planning Program Administrator, I am writing to urge Senator Joni Ernst and Senator Charles Grassley to stand on the side of public health and block this dangerous proposal.

This effort, which happened behind closed doors by 13 male Senate Republicans, will devastate access to publicly funded family planning care that an estimated 641 women and men in the most recent year have come to rely on here in Decorah for contraceptive services, cancer screenings, STD services and other preventive care. If this bill were to be enacted, health centers would be forced to scale back services, or even close, and an untold number of our patients would lose access to essential care they need.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that if my name doesn’t appear on the obituary page of this edition, it will mean that I was able to note my 83rd birthday this week.

I note that only because it might give me an excuse for being an old curmudgeon, sort of like what Andy Rooney used to do on his short TV spot weekly.

For example, I often wonder “why is it” that all the bananas on display at the markets are too ripe or too green.

Or why television stations all start their newscasts at 6 p.m.

Or why commercials are all shown at the same time each hour. If you try to skip a commercial spot by selecting another channel, odds are you will find a commercial there as well!

This all came to a head one recent Saturday morning. Most radio stations have lawn and garden shows starting at 8 a.m., summer or winter.

To the Editor:

“…indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

These recognizable words capture the spirit and intent of the Northeast Iowa Indivisible Chapter.

Our goal is to unify, not divide, by bringing Northeast Iowans together to address our common challenges, including those that have increased as a result of the last election cycle. We aim to support citizenship by providing opportunities for NE Iowans to more fully engage in the democratic process, a process in which complacency has real consequences. Our focus is local, local participants are responsible for developing initiatives to engage with our local community and with our Northeast Iowa legislators. The chapter is headquartered in Decorah but serves the broader northeast Iowa region. We are a diverse, non-partisan group; your ideas and participation are welcome.

To the Editor:

The reason is clear why the 47%ers, as Ozzie Quandahl described in his letter to the editor of Wednesday, June 14, 2017, want abortion as a healthcare right paid for by the government. They think the government paying will erase their heart guilt for disobedience to the Ten Commandments.

Abortion is murder. Murder is pride saying, “I have the right to decide.” The only right man has is to love God and obey His commands. Plain and simple, God covers it all in just ten commands.
The question of a healthcare right is not “Is it right?”, but “Is it obedience?”.

Sue Fry Vonderohe
New Albin
 

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I was one of those students who really enjoyed diagramming sentences and showing off my skill at the blackboard. Remember blackboards?

But it has been 70 years or so since I really knew the terminology, so a couple years ago, when one of the booksellers whose catalogs I get offered a book on diagramming, I ordered it. I was informed it was not available and was out of print. I wondered at the time if that was because it is not being taught anymore, or maybe the rules have changed.

Radio and television almost have me convinced that the language skills I learned no longer apply.

The day of that shooting at the baseball practice, one network ran a crawl on screen that read “capitol police were on sight” when it happened. I kept waiting for someone to correct that to “on site” but it never happened. Doesn’t anybody at the network read those things? Or don’t they know any better.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I watched a good portion of the Comey appearance before that senate committee. When you are retired, you can do things like that.

There is no way I am going to comment at this point on who is lying in the Comey-Trump “he said, he said” meeting. Eventually the truth may come out, but I doubt it.

What I came away with was an opinion that among things that have changed in the last half century may be the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I have noted here before that I enjoy listening to old time radio shows on Wisconsin Public Radio Saturday and Sunday evenings, preferring that to the banality of television. Among the programs from time to time are episodes of “The FBI, In Peace and War.” As the title implies, the show dates back to the World War II era.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
 
As I picked up my youngest from her last day of school a few weeks ago at Growing Bear, one of the other moms that was there to pick up her child came up to me as I signed out my baby from preschool and said,
“Girl, these babies have grown so much over this last year…and have you lost weight?!”

Now this woman like most could easily see the growth of any of the kids in that school since the start of the year, but she could not have known how hard I have been working to achieve my own fitness goals. And she most certainly couldn’t have known how much simply noticing would mean to me.

And yet, she said something none the less.

I laughed and said, “Well if strangers are noticing, I must be doing something right.”

And this is where the story took a turn…

To the Editor:

Perhaps fellow readers can tell me what is really good for what? Is catnip really okay for cats? Does Juicy Fruit gum really kill moles? Does baking soda water and honey really help to fight cancer? How much sleep should you really get at night?

There are probably more than a million suggestions and recommendations out there without really any proof for them. Lets face it, what self-respecting scientist is going to put a camera in a mole hole to determine if the Juicy Fruit really killed a hungry mole?

What really bothers me is when folks present fix-it facts that are accompanied by an attitude of attitude like, “Oh really, you didn’t you know?” Maybe these are now being referred to as ‘alternative facts’.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that a couple recent articles served to remind me how lucky I am to have been born in northeast Iowa and lived here most of my life.

One was in the most recent issue of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation’s magazine, and dealt with an area under its control in extreme northern Allamakee County, along the Upper Iowa River.

The other was by outdoor writer Orlan Love, in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and concerned the karst topography we enjoy.

Love described the clear trout streams of the area, and how freshwater springs and groundwater seepage contribute immensely to the clean water. He notes that 22 of the 32 streams in Iowa declared outstanding waters are in this three-county northeast Iowa area of Allamakee, Winneshiek and Clayton. He notes that trout in those streams in many cases swim in water that just moments before had been underground, unsilted and unpolluted.