Speak Out 1-26-23

Great column

To Pastor Hurtgen's column from Jan. 14-15, I say "Amen."

Library bias

I have been a lifelong user of the Cape Public Library; my husband and I attend many events there, we stop in to check out books at least once a week, and we financially support the Friends of the Library. We are somewhat liberal in terms of faith, politics and so on. We have noticed a glaring trend in the past several years. When we look at new acquisitions, particularly nonfiction books, there is a very obvious liberal bias. And for us, liberals ourselves, to notice that and be concerned about the lack of balance, says quite a bit. We decided to do a little research, and we found time and again, that on every topic we researched for weeks, that the vast majority if not every single book added in the last few years has been at least slightly liberal in nature. We both feel that there needs to be more careful balance and less obvious bias in the materials purchased.

Trump, Biden

There are major differences between Biden's classified documents problem and Trump's. Biden's was just negligence and he should be reprimanded for it. Trump's problem was worse because he knowingly stole classified documents, ignored requests from NARA for their return, ignored a subpoena and deceived authorities as to where the documents were. It took a search warrant to find the documents and a further search by Trump's staff to find more. That's why comparing the two cases is like apples and oranges. One was negligence and the other was a serious federal crime.

Weapons ban

So Governor Pritzer has signed an Assault weapons Ban in Illinois. How is this going to work when the liberal judges there will not prosecute the thug on the street who will sell these weapons illegally? This will not stop anything but take sales from gun dealerships to criminals in the street who know nothing will happen to them.

Library of Things

I applaud the Cape Public Library on their wonderful employees, their fabulous programs, and so on, but I am less than pleased to see our tax dollars and any other funds spent on things like fishing poles and chain saws. The head librarian stated in a presentation I attended that these things will help people do things they otherwise can't afford to try or do. Let's say that is true. But if they can't afford even an inexpensive fishing pole, for example, how do they afford the required fishing license and bait? Does the library even check to see that anyone checking out a pole has the necessary license? Many of these items are already available at rental places. Chain saws are just one example. And again, if the person can afford lumber and other supplies, surely they can afford the modest rental fee. Public library resources should be spent wisely and not on things that are easily affordable given the circumstances in which they're used or are easily and inexpensively rentable. Let's get back to the business of a library, please!