Credit for trying

JOHN LEHMAN

CEDAR FALLS - The Courier editorial board opinion decrying a sin tax as a funding option for health care reform is just one more example of why politics comes to gridlock on major issues. There are too many of us who complain about proposals without offering alternative solutions, and we become part of the problem.

We would all like it to be somebody else's problem or somebody else's expense, but oftentimes the only way to solve painful problems is with painful action. Health care reform is an ugly, complicated issue, but there is one certainty: No matter what does or doesn't get done, somebody will be unhappy about it.

I know I won't like everything the current administration does with health care, but at least I'll give them credit for trying.

We need universal health care

RACHEL L. DRAY

CEDAR FALLS - Public health care verses no health care. It is a no brainer - we need this option. I used to have Title 19 in the early '80s while a single mom raising my son. That was the best health care we ever had.

I watched "Sicko" and I became so nauseated halfway through it, I had to turn it off because it was too much like what I experienced as a nurse working in an area hospital. People don't see the neglect that goes on in private health care, but I have.

I changed my career, opting for a bachelor's degree in public administration. I want to work for the government as a public servant and help people without abuse for a profit. I would jump for universal health care, but we are trying to compromise. Too much opposition with overexaggerated horror stories of what they want you to believe is universal health care, so we compromised. You know - that thing responsible people do when necessary to accomplish something.

There would be no reason for any congressman to vote no. Please, do not disappoint us. There is no harm in giving something verses nothing.

Where does Clayson get his facts?

NOEL THORNSBERRY

WATERLOO - Dennis Clayson's June 21 contained a great "quiz." Too bad it wasn't written prior to Nov. 7, 2008. If the answers provided are true, they might have given pause to prospective voters. His quiz answers certainly provided "food for thought." However, one must ask, from whence did he obtain the data so as to construct the answers? It would be beneficial were he to provide such references. Doing so makes the answers much more believable.

The professor, in his UNI faculty profile, suggests he is a firm believer in (and I paraphrase here) "the collection of valid data (i.e., facts) so as to be converted into information for the making of a better world." To convince his readers of both his credibility as a subject matter expert (politics) and that he is attempting to "make a better world" rather than, merely making a buck by spinning facts to his own advantage, Clayson might consider separating opinion from fact in his quiz column and in all future columns.

To quote deceased Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "one is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts." Facts not cited should be treated for what they are, opinion.

Editor's note: Clayson's columns appear on the opinion page.

Nixon also tried to do too much

GERALD BAKER

CEDAR FALLS - Thomas Thompson's June 21 column is titled "Obama is facing sea of troubles." That's a good metaphor, which Shakespeare used in Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.

Professor Thompson writes that "Obama has to walk, chew gum, tap dance and twirl a baton simultaneously."

That reminds me of a letter of mine that was published in the "Northern Iowan" on Feb. 1, 1974, when Richard Nixon was president. Nixon's efforts to do numerous things simultaneously reminded me of a performance by a Dr. Seuss' character, as told in his rhyme, "The Cat In The Hat."

Double standard in Burt case

CAROL ALLARD

CEDAR FALLS - It seems that double standard is raising its ugly head once again. Everyone knows that if you are stopped while operating a vehicle intoxicated, one will lose his/her driver's license. Regular license or commercial license, makes no difference.

Surely Rep. Kerry Burt knew this when the Ankeny police arrested him. Now we read in The Courier on June 17 that a judge has disallowed the breath test taken by Mr. Burt for lack of police not telling him he might also lose his commercial license. Did Mr. Burt have two licenses? Sounds to me like there is one set of rules for the general public and another set for politicians.This is called a double standard.

Rep. Burt, take your punishment like any person would, and congratulate the Ankeny police officer for doing his job to keep the public highways safe.

Buckle up and drive safely

LT. DAN PICKET

CAPT. DON EGGELSON

WAVERLY - To prevent death and injury, the Bremer County Sheriff's Office and Waverly Police Department are again asking the motoring public to buckle up, slow down and drive sober. With 11 traffic fatalities over the Memorial Day weekend, everyone should be aware the next traffic accident is just a lane change, cell phone call, drunken driver or holiday away. In 2008, Iowa roadways claimed 412 deaths, including five over the July 4 weekend.

This year July 2-5, nearly 250 city, county and state law enforcement agencies across Iowa will participate in a special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) in an effort to keep everyone safe. The sTEP projects are funded by the governor's Traffic Safety Bureau through a program with the National Highway Traffic Administration. This money enables more officers to work more hours on roadways all across the state during times of the year when travel increases.

Iowa law enforcement officers need your help and are asking every Iowan who gets behind the wheel to buckle up and drive responsibly. Let's make this July 4 holiday a safe one.

For more information, visit www.iowagtsb.org or www.stopimpaireddriving.org or call Lt. Picket or Capt. Eggelson at 352-5400.

It's up to us to change statistics

MICHAEL ANTHONY

WATERLOO - Despite all efforts, "the proportion of blacks being admitted to Iowa prisons has reached its highest point." This has been a problem for more than 25 years. Black leaders are baffled and wondering why, if drug offenses are on the decline. So what we gone do?

A local artist by the name of Killa Quey has a song out called "What We Gone Do?" This thug anthem isn't asking the government of Iowa, but it is asking those who are in the street, the thugs.

Thugs are the social and political outcast of society. 2PAC popularized the acronym T.H.U.G. meaning "The Hate You Gave." The condition that we face in our community isn't because our generation created it.

Can we continue blaming racism for the disparities in the criminal justice system? Is The Game right when he told Jesse Jackson in his song "My Life," that our condition is not about race now?

In 1897, W.E.B. Du Bois studied crime in the black community, finding a direct correlation between the levels of employment, education and criminal activity.

So what we gone do? As Nas stated in his song "Black President," "anything we need done, we gotta do for self."

Respond with prayers

ROGER W. SMITH

WATERLOO - We can respond to the most anti-life administration in our nation's history by (1) praying, (2) writing letters to politicians and newspapers, (3) making financial contributions to like-minded organizations, and (4) engaging in civil disobedience. Herewith are options (1) and (2):

O, St. Paul the Apostle, great convert, preacher of truth and Doctor of the Gentiles, intercede for us to God, who chose you. You are a vessel of election, O St. Paul the Apostle, preacher of truth to the whole world.

O God, You have instructed many nations through the preaching of the blessed apostle Paul. Let the power of St. Paul's intercession bring about the conversion of President Barack Obama to the fullness of your grace. Help the president to recognize the personhood of all human beings - born and preborn. Help us who venerate St. Paul's memory this day to continually seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we work to spread your truth. Amen.