business

Now my friends in the Twin Cities will know the other reason I leave Muscatine for the Arrowhead of Minnesota every summer. Just waiting for ice-out!

The People must act together. Not long ago, the workers - farmers and laborers - decided they were sick and tired of being robbed by big business and by the government the wealthy always manage to control. Over in Dakota the workers formed a group called the Non-Partisan League. Organizers went to ever corner of the state to explain what the League will do. They voted all the professionals out of office. My mother Peggy Grant voted in that election. Gone were the bankers, lawyers, Corp. executives, etc. Meridel LeSueur's dad was a worker voted Mayor of Minot. (First thing he did was go to the county jail and removed the old ball-and-chain restraints from the prisoners -threw them in the river.) He was charged with destruction of government property. History says he laughed. He probably said, "Come back with a warrant." The new Non-Partisan League government started a state bank - a peoples' bank - and concentrated on the representing the people. And they certainly did. Big money finally overwhelmed them, but the held on for two terms and even elected a U.S. Senator. The good they did is part of the hidden history of the U.S. The people of Muscatine should turn to their history books for guidance. Oops. Forgot. Non-Partisan League information purged from classroom history books. So pick up Howard Zinn's History of the United States (from your public library) to get a taste of successful protesting and the most stimulating history available. Iowa has a rich history of protest and organizing. Google Non-Partisan League. The people of Muscatine might want to start with getting rid of lawyer Roger Lande, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources who calls for changes to environmental laws to reduce "unnecessary burden on industry." This is disgraceful. An insult to the people in this area. Since big money provides candidates for most government appointments don't look to Lande for help. He is willing to sacrifice the health of people who are breathing that air – people from Iowa and Illinois - is grounds for recall and dismissal. Joe grant Lawrence, KS (Born in ND, raised on farms in MN)