Letters: Joe Biden has led America from disarray to prosperity

Make the Catholic Church pay taxes

With the Catholic campaign in Ohio about an abortion ballot measure, the Catholic Church should lose its tax-exempt status. It has overstepped its boundaries.

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court definitely made abortion a political issue. This is being demonstrated by the primary candidates and parties this year. Democrats appear to be very clear that this is a woman’s choice. Republicans appear to be against abortion, but their candidates are having difficulty stating a position. Maybe because they feel by doing so, they will lose votes both in the primaries and the national election.

The federal government says that religious organizations are tax exempt if they are not politically active. That means they don’t spend money outside the church to influence political issues. The Catholic Church spent over a million dollars publicly campaigning against this issue in Ohio.

The church was publicly politically active and should lose their 503(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

If organizations that violate the limits of being tax-exempt were fully taxed, maybe all our personal taxes would be reduced, or the nation's debt reduced.

— Thomas Johnson, Ankeny

Exposure for Big Four women’s hoops was poor

The scheduling of the four in-state Division I women's basketball teams at two on an NFL Sunday is absurd, First of all they are playing at the same time! To get the least viewers possible the games are on ESPN+. These games should be standalone games in the evening on a network readily available to all Iowa hoops fans.

The Packers and Vikings are playing games at the same time. It is impossible to watch them all.

— Steven Whitaker, Altoona

Show us the marching bands

I watched entire football game when Iowa Hawkeyes beat Rutgers Scarlet Knights 22-0. Neither team played with much excitement or gave their fans reasons to cheer.

This game is perfect example of why TV stations should always show halftimes and the marching bands.

That way everyone would be entertained.

Let’s hear it for the bands.

— LaVonne Anderson, Des Moines

Trump is leading Republicans over a cliff

There’s an astonishing scene in Thomas Hardy’s "Far from the Madding Crowd" which, for those who are not sanguine about the prospects and trajectory of the latter-day Republican Party, has special significance.

One of Hardy’s characters, Gabriel Oak, is a shepherd. In spite of hardship and failure, Farmer Oak has managed to cultivate a large flock. Then one night, for reasons that are unclear, one of Oak’s sheepdogs starts harassing and chasing the flock.

As sheep are wont to do, the animals allow themselves to be guided entirely by the dog, and are driven headlong over a cliff to their deaths. The dog remains perched above, unperturbed by the fact that everything farmer Oak has worked to achieve has been destroyed.

Our country – our democracy – needs a viable conservative party, the Republican Party. Since 2016 the Republican Party has been dominated by a man who is neither a conservative nor a Republican. He is in fact the ultimate RINO ("Republican-in-name-only").

Like Gabriel Oak's flock, the party of Lincoln is being led toward a cliff, and certain ruin. For the sake of our country, let's hope the scales will fall from our eyes before it's too late.

— Daniel Baldwin, Decorah

And now for something completely different

Joe Manchin is just what the country needs: another 70-plus-year-old man running for president.

— Mike Wittmer, Ames

Anti-Biden letter had the facts wrong

A letter writer thinks Donald Trump would’ve won the 2020 election if not for some sort of deep state plot, but the letter uses misinformation to back the opinion.

Another letter, the one that was co-signed by 51 intelligence officials, did not say the “Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.” In fact, it didn’t conclude anything, specifically saying, “…we do not have evidence of Russian involvement.” The officials didn’t know if the emails “were genuine or not.”

That the Steele dossier was the impetus for the Trump-Russia investigation has been debunked countless times. A foreign policy advisor to the Trump-Pence campaign, George Papadopoulos, told a top Australian diplomat that Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton, which was then relayed to our intelligence services, igniting the investigation. Soon, it was also discovered Trump’s campaign manager, along with Don Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, had clandestinely met with an agent of the Russian government in a building owned by candidate Trump. When questioned, Trump Jr. wasn’t honest about the motive/subject of the meeting, thus vulnerable to foreign blackmail.

The Steele dossier was irrelevant and Hunter Biden’s laptop revealed so little that the GOP House impeachment inquiry’s own star witnesses said Joe Biden didn’t discuss business with any foreigners.

Election denial, in any form, based on Republican conspiracy theories, has made our enemies very happy.

— Tim Facto, Des Moines

Rood column upheld Register’s finest traditions

Thanks to Lee Rood and the Des Moines Register for continuing local reporting. I will continue to buy the Des Moines Register no matter the cost. I like to hold the newspaper while I drink my coffee each morning. Saturdays are a bummer.

The public is crying for the truth about anything. More than ever we are bombarded in every way possible by misleading advertisements. Political campaign material is only for those who are not paying any attention to what candidates actually do. The Iowa Senate has stuck reporters in the gallery in the Iowa Capitol so they can’t hear. They are kept in the dark just like the general public.

Democracy is difficult to maintain. All through history power tends to concentrate in the hands of a few. Since the Supreme Court granted the power to buy our politicians, it is necessary for the public to know what the “big boys" are doing and why.

Whether it is a Koch, a Rastetter, a Gross or a Soros pulling the strings, the only hope the public has is in reporters like Woodward, Bernstein, Maddow, Wallace, Cullen, Belin, and Rood. As long as Register upholds its famous tradition of telling the truth as in the story, “Why dark money in the mayor race stirs anger,” I will continue to subscribe.

— Mike Delaney, Windsor Heights

Big trucks kill Iowans, get a free pass on regulation

Please print this letter. Iowa always makes the worst top five states in the U.S. for how many fatal crashes involve big rig trucks.

Our Republican Iowa lawmakers ignore this problem. They also get election funding from big trucking. They don’t get any funding from the victims who get run over by 80,000-pound machines.

— Herman Lenz, Sumner

US needs to stand up to Israel

When you take away a people’s land and water, their homes and farms, if you deny their identity as a people, then you remove all hope of anything getting better and only succeed in driving them to despair and rage. This Israeli war of retribution is motivating additional hatred, all over the world, and piling on more punishment doesn’t work. They have done that, and we see the result. Isn’t it time to make billions of U.S. tax dollars in aid to Israel contingent on greater fairness for the Palestinians? As the saying goes: Repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity.

— Mike McNeil, Clive

University Democrats seek Israel’s destruction

Newman Abuissa complains the Iowa Democratic Party “misquotes and misconstrues” a phrase three University Democrats officers wrote in a statement on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Yet, Abuissa, chair of the state Democratic Party’s Arab American Caucus, provides neither evidence nor reasoning to support his accusation.

No media outlet or other organization republished the social media post, preventing independent verification of Abuissa’s claim. Absent objective evidence, readers are left in the quandary of not knowing whom to believe.

Abuissa’s second allegation is somewhat easier to examine. Though the difference between the Iowa Democratic Party statement that referred to “Palestine” is different from the alleged original release which describes individual Palestinians, the core message contained therein is the same: Israel should not exist. By not explicitly denying that premise, Abuissa implicitly supports elimination of a Jewish state. To mask this clear unexpressed position, Abuissa redirects his message by employing the discredited “whataboutism” tactic. He asserts “genocide is occurring right now as Israel bombs Gaza indiscriminately” yet ignores that Israel is not taking the same actions in the West Bank. Genocide is the mass killing of an ethnic group with the intention of eliminating them. That is not what Israel is doing.

The Iowa Democratic Party should not apologize, and it is better off without the University Democrats who seek Israel's destruction.

— Scott Foens, Marion

Joe Biden has led America from disarray to prosperity

The barrage of Biden bashing must cease and desist. I am exhausted by the warped perceptions being expressed by some in the media and others tossing around ill-conceived ideas as if they were true.

You cannot spin the facts. President Joe Biden has proven to be a leader, a man of high moral standing and competence. The economy was in shambles, and he has turned things around.

Unemployment is down, jobs are available and wages are going up.

With age comes wisdom, and with experience comes a valued sense of responsibility.

Biden takes his job seriously and cares deeply about our democracy.

Our country is better off with a true and loyal leader who understands the job. May our citizens embrace Biden and kick the naysayers to the curb.

— Deb McMahon, Des Moines

Republicans should let Iowans decide on abortion

Why doesn't Gov. Kim Reynolds push the Legislature to put forth a ballot measure to allow the people of Iowa to vote and decide on the abortion issue as other states have? She claims that Iowans want what she is pushing on us. While I myself am not a fan of abortion, I don't feel it should be taken away as a choice for the people of Iowa. Put it on the ballot. Let us decide. What are you afraid of?

— Joe Adams, Rockford

Leave turkeys off the table

In the United States alone, 46 million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving each year. These innocent animal lives were taken for no reason.

Of the 245 million turkeys killed in the U.S. in 2022, nearly all were raised in crowded toxic fume-filled sheds, and their talons and beaks were violently clipped to prevent stress-induced aggression. At only 16 weeks, their throats are cut by industry workers before they are lowered into boiling water to remove their feathers.

Human health also pays a hefty price at Thanksgiving. Turkey meat is full of saturated fats and cholesterol, and that elevates risk of heart disease and cancer. Intense prolonged cooking is required to stop the rotting process while also destroying deadly pathogens.

This Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health, and happiness with a cruelty-free dinner of plant-based holiday roasts, vegetables, fruits, and more. Try a simple search for "vegan plant-based Thanksgiving" for countless simple, delicious, and nutritious recipes. This year, let’s all consider a non-violent, cruelty-free Thanksgiving and leave Turkey off the table.

— Derek Meitzer, Des Moines

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Joe Biden has led America from disarray to prosperity