Coralville Courier

Coralville Courier: Get your SickofSpin gear!

Get your gear today at the Coralville Courier Online Store!

On the Disparate Impact of the IRS's Shameful Policies — Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com

The initial apology by an IRS official described by the Journal attributes the IRS's targeting of tea party and patriot groups for tax-exempt status audits to mistakes made by low-level workers who had no political agenda. Clearly, the targeting had a disparate impact on conservative organizations, so, as Attorney General Eric Holder has said in many other social-justice circumstances, intent is irrelevant if demonstrable harm was done to select groups.

via online.wsj.com

Local liberal paper failing to inform readers

Three ongoing Scandals in Washington and the Press Corruption of Iowa City reports on NONE of them. 

The Fish-wrap of Iowa City has really outdone itself this week, in NOT reporting the news. 

Today, in its ‘Nation/World’ section, they’re reporting on Smoke in a hotel room and something about Malcom X’s grandson.     They have NOT A WORD on: 

1)       Benghazi cover-up

2)       The Obama IRS targeting Tea Party organizations, illegally

3)        And Zero about the Obama DOJ illegally seizing AP reporter records. 

The Press-Corruption is a bad, bad joke on the good folks of Johnson County.

 

Submitted by V.P.

Continuing my work as your Lieutenant Governor

Dear Friends,

When Governor Branstad chose me as his Lieutenant Governor in 2010, I was honored to be a part of a team that would put our state back on track with a focus on job creation, making our schools the best in the nation, and restoring stability and predictability within Iowa's budget.

Thanks to your support and your help, we are well on our way.

We inherited a $900 million budget gap and turned it around into a significant ending balance. Our innovative education reform measures continue advancing through the Legislature, and once signed into law, our students will receive the world-class education they deserve. This year, we expect to enact major property tax reforms that will reduce property taxes for all classes of property.

I am proud to Chair the Governor's Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) initiative, where thousands of Iowa students are gaining the knowledge and skills they need to compete in a 21st Century economy.

And just today – the Governor and I attended a groundbreaking for a new Facebook facility, while Google announced another multi-million-dollar expansion. Since the governor and I were elected, we have seen more than $6 billion in capital investments in Iowa – and we are just getting started!

Governor Branstad and I still have a lot we want to accomplish on behalf you, the people of Iowa.

That's why, after serious and thoughtful discussions with family, friends, supporters and constituents, I have decided to remain as Lieutenant Governor and will not seek a seat in the United States Senate.

I appreciate all the support, prayers and well-wishes you have given me as I have considered a run for U.S. Senate. I truly believe that my focus needs to remain on being Lieutenant Governor and working with Governor Branstad as we continue to move Iowa forward.

Thanks, and I look forward to visiting with you in your community soon.

Sincerely,

Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds

It's about making changes in the way we imprison people

It’s true the present jail is unsatisfactory and it’s true we need better facilities to serve our court system. It is also true that there are better ways of achieving resolutions to both of these than to tax citizens tens of millions of dollars to build courtrooms attached to a 192-bed jail that could be easily expanded upon by the Supervisors without voter authorization.

Any resident who has been paying attention to this upcoming vote knows that Johnson County suffers from the same ails that the general American system of incarceration suffers from: a disproportionate number of minorities in the prison population, most of them black; too many imprisoned for victimless crimes; and too many people sitting in jail for offenses for which they are too poor to post bail, while those charged with similar crimes, but have access to financial resources, go free.  

From 2008 through 2013 year-to-date the Special Response Team of the Iowa City Police Department was called out a total of 28 times. More than half of these callouts (15) had warrants to search for drugs. In 2011 the ICPD confiscated 7 dosage units of LSD, one-half ounce of methamphetamine, 10 ounces of cocaine, one ounce of crack cocaine, 1.3 ounces of heroin, 56 dosage units of Ecstasy, one-quarter ounce of psilocybin mushrooms, 1,427 prescription drugs, and 38 pounds of marijuana, which is equivalent to about 152 four-ounce bags of weed. 

My head spins trying to fathom reasons why groups of heavily armed police need to be breaking into people’s homes to search for small quantities of drugs. Heavily armed police units are best utilized for situations such as what recently occurred in the Boston area.  

Johnson County has an opportunity to be a leader in making changes in the way this country imprisons people on May 7.  

~ Carol deProsse, Iowa City

Voting NO on the jail

Does Johnson County need a new jail?  Yes.  Does the "Justice Center" proposal we're voting on May 7 fit the need?  I don't believe it does.  We've been told how great this new facility will be, but we haven't really been told how much it will cost to run it.   Turn the century-plus-old courthouse into a museum and relocate everything out by the Joint Emergency Communications Center.

~ Doug Schinzing, rural Johnson County

Make it illegal for Democrats to buy guns

Submitted by Don R. and Pat B. 

CORALVILLE COURIER EDITOR'S NOTE:   If even some of what is claimed in the letter to the editor is true, then why hasn't the mainstream media revealed this information?  If these shooters were to have been registered Republicans, that would have made the news......   At any rate, the letter writer makes an excellent point - gun bans aren't practical and don't work.

Ban gun sales in cold weather states

Submitted by V.P.

	Chicago,   IL	Houston,   TX
Population	2.7 million	2.2 million
Median HH income	$38,600	$37,000
% African-American	33%	24%
% Hispanic	29%	44%
% Asian	6%	6%
% non-Hispanic White	32%	26%

A reasonably similar matchup - until: 

Concealed carry gun law	No	Yes
# of gun stores	0	84 dedicated gun shops, 1500 places to buy guns (Wal-Mart, etc.)
Homicides, 2012	506	207
Homicides, per 100k	18.4	9.6
Average January high temp	31°F	63°F

Conclusion:  cold weather causes murder

EPA rules about forcing into smaller cars

We're being told that new rules for making gasoline proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would mean cleaner fuel.

I doubt it.  The new rules for making gasoline forces refiners to use more ethanol in their formula.  That will hurt the refiners, driving up their costs and it will hurt the consumer because ethanol doesn't perform as well as gasoline and it harms engines.

 This is really about forcing Americans into smaller vehicles and ethanol makers getting richer.

George Elkins, rural Blackhawk County

Government solutions aren't the best

I am so sick and tired of the mentality of our legislative leaders who seem to think that we cannot survive without government.  They push us to be dependent, to be in need of assistance.  They push us to be on the federal dole, to be on the state dole, to be on the local dole, government this, government that!   This country did not become by sucking on the government teat.

~ Doug Schinzing, Rural Johnson County