Republicans not always to blame

JAMES R. GEIGER

CEDAR FALLS -I'm getting sick and tired of you liberals blaming the Republicans for everything that's gone wrong since your "golden messiah" took the presidential office in January.

The truth is, you liberals have a super majority in the U.S .Senate and a pretty good majority in the U.S. House. Your "golden messiah" should be able to ramrod anything he wants through legislation. But he can't because even his own party doesn't agree with him.

Next time you liberals want to blame someone, look in the mirror.

Viva la resistance!

Johnson's guilty verdict appropriate

ANDREA DUNLAY

WATERLOO - I just finished reading the article regarding Jeremiah Johnson's guilty verdict. I am pleased for the victim and her family that justice was served.

I am frustrated by two things, however. First, I am extremely offended that Defense Attorney Metcalf said, "That's not just sexual abuse, folks ..." Just? Isn't sexual abuse enough? It is almost 2010 and we still aren't taking the ramifications of rape seriously enough. The kidnapping got Johnson life in prison. The rape itself should warrant that.

Second, the argument that meth-induced psychosis may have influenced Johnson's actions is beside the point. Maybe it did, but surely that means nothing to the victim. No one made Johnson take drugs. I can only assume that if he had a bad reaction to meth than the woman was a victim of meth as well. One illegal activity that leads to another should not cancel each other out.

The jury was correct in its verdict. I only wish they'd had the chance to convict Johnson on the sexual assault as well.

My prayers for peace and healing go out to the woman and her family.

Kehoe should have been acquitted

GERALD BAKER

CEDAR FALLS - I think the verdict of the Michelle Kehoe trial should be "acquittal by reason of insanity." However, I think she couldn't trust the psychiatrists enough, to tell them her worst fears. Those professionals, who believe they treat "diseases," rather than people, regarded her shyness as evasiveness.

In some situations women have had good reasons for killing their children, especially where those children were in clear and present danger of enslavement. Such a situation existed in 101 B.C., for the Cimbri, a nation from the Jutland Peninsula of present-day Denmark. They had migrated southward, trying to find a different place to live, but, after several battles, were defeated by a Roman army at Vercellae. In such situations, the people of defeated invading nations usually became slaves.

Historical commentaries attest that the Cimbrian women first killed their children, to deliver them from slavery, and then killed themselves. Johannes V. Jensen, a Danish Nobel Prize winner, mentioned these events in a novel of his epic cycle, "The Long Journey."

The Friesians, who inhabit the North Sea coasts of Germany, The Netherlands, and adjacent islands, have the motto "Better dead than slave." That is, "Lewer duad üs slaw," in Danish Friesian.

Don't deny gay marriage rights

MICHAEL BROWN

CEDAR FALLS -In light of the recent passage of Proposition 1 in Maine, which outlawed gay marriage, Iowa is again likely to become a target for those who seek to spread inequality. In light of this we must stand up in support of the Iowa Supreme Court's decision which overturned the gay marriage ban in Iowa. At its core, the issue of gay marriage is one of love. I am not gay, but I have many friends who are and I challenge those opposed to gay marriage to get to know them. Allowing two men or two women who love each other to marry and have access to the same benefits that every heterosexual couple is granted does not harm the sanctity of a heterosexual marriage. The Constitution of the United States has only been amended one other time to deny rights or freedoms, in the case of prohibition, which was repealed. To use any constitution, of either a state or our country to deny the rights of any individual to benefit from love would be dangerous and unprecedented in our country. So, as the forces of bigotry continue to gather, I ask you to fight for love.

There's no reason not to recycle

JEFFREY T. DENNIS

WATERLOO - In World War II everything that could be recycled was exactly that - recycled.

Filling up landfills, littering our land, burning excess fuel, letting good things go to waste. It just doesn't make sense.

Think about it, all of your plastic, glass, tin cans, paper, wood, Styrofoam, wrapping, rubber and even yard waste, etc., can and should be recycled. So, why not? Are you too busy? Don't even care? Or don't know how? It could be much easier to do than you could possibly think, if we can just change a few habits.

Dump it or recycle it. The decision is yours. While you think about this, please consider what will happen if you don't recycle.