Self Audit

 SELF-AUDIT

Our illustrious senator, Joni Ernst, has once again publicly announced her complete ignorance of almost everything.  Now she is proclaiming that people working for the Internal Revenue Service don't pay  taxes.  The first issue one must raise when confronted with such statements is, are they fact or fiction.  One shouldn't, you would think, believe a United States senator would just make things up.  A U. S. senator can probably be described as one of the more powerful people on the planet and because of this, should act in a manner that is thoughtful and responsible - - not just say things for a reaction from people who don't know anything, meaning, most of us.

And I say that she has once again publicly announced her complete ignorance  for the fact that she can not possibly  know who paid taxes and who didn't or who paid more and who paid less.  Not possible.  These records are not available to even senators; especially not individual senators who simply want to score points with their voters.  This is  especially true since the IRS hasn't been properly funded in years and  probably doesn't know who has paid and who hasn't in any event.  When you say something, as a U. S. senator, it is expected that what has been said has some meaning - - some significance.  

Her announcement that Internal Revenue Employees don't pay taxes is absurd and clearly so.  It is said without any basis and reflects the ability to say anything that comes into her head that would likely have a reception in the people who may have or will in the future vote for her.  If an announcement such as this, would have been said by your ignorant neighbor, it wouldn't even have registered as noise; but coming from a U. S. senator you have to pay some attention to it.  

And when you do pay attention to it - - it should deserve some attention - -  you quickly realize that it is just made up with no significance whatsoever.  It's nonsense.  My real concern here is how do we elect people like Joni Ernst to represent us in the Congress of the United States.  Charles Grassley is bad enough, but Ernst?  One can only assume that to most Americans it simply doesn't matter.  We must think that the United States Congress can pass all the laws it wants, but nothing affects us out here in middle America with our AR-15s and Second Amendment right to bear arms.  It's simply irrelevant.

I say this for the simple reason that Senator Ernst continues to make such announcements, seemingly at random, without the least acknowledgement that they make no sense now nor ever have.  One can only surmise from this what her opinion of the electorate is.  And if she is correct in that assessment, there is no help for us.  

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo

Go Van Meter!

 GO VAN METER!

It's good that the Des Moines Register is keeping us up-to-date on what's happening around Iowa.  The article in the Sunday paper about the parents in Van Meter complaining about their public school is right on.  The complaining parents have it correct - - our K-12 education system here in Iowa is not for the purpose of educating children.  And those who think otherwise need to understand that.

The parents of Van Meter certainly understand that.  They are of the view, widely held and historically correct, that our K-12 schools are for the purpose of providing fodder for business (ready for employment).  We need workers.  Nobody has enough workers and without workers profits are limited.  Sure, we also need a few people like doctors, dentists, lawyers, investment advisers, real estate agents, and such,  but you don't need to know anything about critical race theory for these professions.

It is helpful in modern life to be able to read and write.  The problem is that once a kid learns to read and write, he or she needs to be limited in what one reads and writes.  It doesn't help anybody if some kid reads the book "Melissa" or knows where Ukraine is located.  The most any kid needs to know is how to read an instruction manual and count to a 100 - - maybe a little multiplication and division.  Kids are malleable as we know; they can be trained to run a machine or heat up a burger at McDonalds or mix a coffee concoction at Starbucks.  And you don't need to know about transgender people in order to fix stuff; you know like a furnace or an air conditioner.  Other people can show you how to do that.

Now the teachers who are the subject of these complaints have somehow come to the conclusion that the children they are trying to teach will, when adults, leave Van Meter and go to a city; a city somewhere - - maybe Iowa but more likely somewhere else in the country.  In that city they may actually run across people of a different color, different sexual orientation, different political views, and whatnot.  You can't blame these parents in the fear that this will be the result of an education; the less their kids know the less likely they will leave rural Iowa and venture into the world where things are different.  We don't want that.

So once again kudos to the parents of Van Meter and let's hope other parents around Iowa come to the fore and emulate them.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo