News & Articles

Banana Ice Cream?

What a terrible week for America (week of March 27^th- March 30^th) and all Americans. The school shooting at the private Christian school was very sad with 3 children and 3 adult staff members. What is even sadder is how President Biden spoke about the tragedy! His first public response was…………”I normally get chocolate chip ice cream when I speak”. Disgusting! The next day a reporter asked if Senator Josh Hawley’s calling this shooting at a Christian school a hate crime and Biden just laughed. Disgusting!

Now, on March 30^th, DA Bragg issued his indictment against former President Trump on flimsy charges of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels and some how raising a misdemeanor to a level of felony charges. Most Americans can see this as a deliberate politically motivated action by DA Bragg (pushed by billionaire Soros). This type of action normally happens in “banana Republics” and confirms America is now a police state. BTW, Biden hired an anti-Trump attorney to work with Bragg.

I think Sleepy Biden should switch flavors of ice cream from chocolate chip to banana as a symbol of what our beloved country has become! Several Democrat politicians were dancing in the streets about the Trump indictment including Adam Schiff (known at Bull Schiff), Maxine Waters and Eric Swalwell. Time to pass around banana ice cream cones to all of them!

Also, Rep. Jim Jordan’s statement as…….”again, this indictment is election interference”! Again!

Chuck Bracken, Cannon Falls, MN

Is America A Christian nation?

RE: Many conservatives just don’ t understand;

For many years conservatives have claimed that the United States is a "Christian nation," which to them implies that our government must establish Christian principles as the foundation of all our laws laws, which could then be used to encourage (or insist), that a theocratic government must control our laws and our representatives. However, their confusion stems from four references to the Declaration of Independence, suggesting a divine being-- first, this phrase, “a separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them.”

A second reference asserts that”..."they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."A third evokes. "appealing to the Supreme judge of the world." And lastly, the words, "...with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence." However the Constitution does not use the words "Christian" or "Christian faith," so obviously it doesn't imply that we are all the inhabitants of a “Christian Nation."

There are also plenty of ways in which our Constitution rejects the ides of a ruling theocracy First, this famous and often misinterpreted clause, " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, (or) abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the rights of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

For some reason the religious right interprets this clause as a way of denying the rights of religions to intrude on government in ways that mandate their own political agendas. However, no religious person is forbidden to protest non-violently, circulate petitions, or to campaign for the candidates of their choice. This establishment clause merely prevents any religion from using its influence to determine all of our rights and privileges—which would ultimately open the door to a theocratic government which recognizes only itself as the arbitrator of all our laws--in effect establishing the same kind of theocracy used by Al Qaeda or ISIS. And yes, also the policies and values endorsed by the QAnon conspiracy i.e. the government could then mandate the values of one particular religion or myth that then decree laws that we all (must) legally embrace!

Why conservatives cannot see the dangers inherent in such arbitrary and ambitious political dominance, remains a mystery to many of us who currently go to church, study our own religious texts, and raise our children as Catholics, Lutherans or Muslims, etc., Perhaps they should consider the fact that, while, the Declaration of Independence uses phrases like, a “supreme power of nature,” “the source of our creation” etc. Our founders made it clear in our constitution that, Governments derive “their just power from the consent of the governed,"not from catholic, Hindu, Muslim, or Evangelical theologies, etc. And (the Constitution does not once.use the words God, or Christians)." So We are obviously not a "Christian nation," we are a nation which has many Christians among its citizens.

Peter Johnson, Superior WI

           Upcoming bypass route offers Washburn, Wisconsin an opportunity to showcase the “hidden” natural beauties of its unique lakefront  

At the March 13th, 2023 Washburn City Council meeting, a citizen commented: “The area [some 16 acres at the heart of the lakefront] can be designed for the people living here too.” Each of the 8 citizens who spoke at the same meeting voiced reasons to keep the lakefront land as public green space. Regardless, the Council voted 6 to 1 to approve a West End Park expansion “glamping” design (yurts, or semi-permanent tents).  

Previously, at the November 14th, 2022 meeting, 14 of 16 people who addressed the Council spoke in favor of keeping that land open to the public.   The land in question is at the very heart of our lakefront. An outstanding amenity known as Washburn’s jewel, it’s an increasingly rare resource: green and easily accessible public land on the world’s greatest freshwater lake, Lake Superior.  

While we trust that the community’s greater good is our Council’s priority, we also realize that current financial pressures are clouding the thinking and compromising the ability of our Council to establish methodology, conduct research, and supply analyses and long term recommendations concerning Washburn’s developmental and environmental issues.  

However, we can thank the Washburn Council for its underlying efforts to hold and safeguard the green space for the public until better ideas for it can be identified and brought to a direct vote of the people. But it’s possible to do that without commencing the proposed “glamping” development of Washburn’s jewel.  

Our city would likely do much better in the long run by protecting and enhancing the public’s access to the emblematic land and the Lakeshore Walking Trail it encompasses. It would only accrue in value over time; its optimal value is as a fulcrum for development elsewhere in Washburn.  

The selling point of the proposed yurts would be the Lake Superior views and the remaining green space. But the same lake views are the primary selling point of Washburn itself, and with the 2024 start of the Bayfield Street reconstruction project, Highway 13 traffic will be redirected through town on Bigelow Street and Holman Lakeview Drive (which is slated to be paved). That is, 100s of thousands of people visiting the Bayfield Peninsula in a typical year will soon be driving by and closely viewing Washburn’s “hidden” lakeshore gem.   

Now certainly isn’t a time to diminish lake views and so detract from the area’s elegance and long-term value. Why not instead explore enhancing Washburn’s jewel as a city focal point? Again, our immediate goal should be to enhance the beauty and public accessibility of our Lakeshore Walking Trail and its environs. Magnified by the greater lakefront visibility that the bypass route will provide, any and all city efforts toward revitalization of the lakefront neighborhood would multiply. They would exponentially help the city as a whole.  

Roth Edwards, Washburn, WI