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Increased tuition costs: who is to blame?
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To the Editor:
In a recent press release our state senator made a deliberate attempt to blame increased tuition costs to college students on Gov. Pawlenty. This is a sensitive issue to me as I have six children, two of whom are actively enrolled in a state college. It would be nice to know who to blame.
A study, published in September of 2008 by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, noted that their reliance on state support per student “decreased from [a high of] 69.7 percent in the late 1990s to the current 50.5 percent.” What our senator conveniently forgot to include in her press release is that enrollment in our state colleges and universities has increased significantly from 126,215 to an estimated 141,027 during this same period. More students have stretched the state’s ability to support them at the same percentage rate as a decade ago. The pot of money hasn’t grown as fast as the number of users. The really interesting part of the report is that the most significant percentage decline in state support of college education has come since the DFL has taken control of our state legislature. In fact the greatest decrease seems to have happened not since Gov. Pawlenty’s election, but since our senator has been elected.
To be fair the issue is far more complex than the senator made it. Our state board is trying to balance increased needs for facilities and faculty salary increases with the realities of a stagnant economy with too many unemployed. If the senator would like to look for blame she needs to look no further than the economic realities of today. It would help if she and her cohorts in St. Paul would get to work at eliminating some of the costly mandates they have laid on businesses and work at private sector job creation. Can we afford to have our legislators continue to play divisive partisan politics? I know of several ways the senator could help those poor families who are struggling to keep their children in college. The question is can she make it happen?
Paul Ibisch
La Crescent, Minn.
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A way to honor class members no longer with us
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To the Editor:
The CHS Class of 1959 held their 50th class reunion recently at the Four Seasons Community Center in Caledonia. We enjoyed a DVD of old pictures that entertained us throughout the evening. Old photos for the DVD were donated by classmates and it was accompanied by 50s music, put together by a classmate. A great time was had reminiscing about our high school days and connecting once again to share stories of our life. One member brought her junior prom formal which was later donated to the music prop department at Caledonia High School.
A special donation of $100.00 was made to the District 299 Foundation in memory of the three classmates who are no longer with us. Those members of our class were Tom Schroeder, Roger Schroeder and Carolyn Kohlmeyer Bunge. We were all in agreement it was a fine thing to do.
The Class of 59 would like to encourage other reunion groups to consider honoring their members in the same way or to contribute to the District 299 Foundation as alumni members. It is a very worthy cause supporting the students of Caledonia Elementary and Caledonia Middle/High School.
1959 CHS Reunion Committee
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Republican party is changing
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To the Editor:
What happens when a political party loses an election by a large margin? One outcome is the healthy removal of officeholders who failed their constituents.
The Republican Party who gave us presidents like Abraham Lincoln (ended slavery), Theodore Roosevelt (monopoly/trust buster and national parks) and Ronald Reagan (ended the Soviet threat and gave us hope) seemed to be filled with politicians who were no different than those in the DFL. It can be healthy for a political party to clean house, re-tool and focus on people’s needs.
The old Republican Party was portrayed as the party of rich people who want to guarantee they stayed rich. Now there are new candidates who want to bring integrity back to the Republican Party. Instead of coming from privileged backgrounds, they are ordinary, hardworking people who are service oriented. They want to lead the drive toward greater fiscal responsibility and less government spending. They want to transform their party into the party that guarantees the individual rights and freedoms of our Constitution. They bring with them commonsense conservatism and independent thinking. It is going to be the small and/or new business owners of America who are going to pull us out of an economic slump, not the federal government or bailed out businesses that don’t adapt to changing markets. Independent Republicans are committed to building a better business climate for our state and greater prosperity for all citizens.
Independent Republicans who are not controlled by big donors are going to lead the drive to get our economy working again. Change is what happens when a political party loses. I believe new ideas and a renewed commitment to all will be a hallmark of the new Independent Republicans in Minnesota. I’m proud to be one.
Paul Ibisch
La Crescent, Minn.
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Let’s audit the Federal Reserve
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To the Editor:
As some of you may know Congressman Ron Paul from Texas wrote some legislation in February 2009, on bill HR 1207 to allow the Government Accounting Office to audit the Federal Reserve. The Senate also has a version on their bill S 604.
Bill HR 1207 is presently sitting in the House Finance Committee, chaired by Congressman Barney Frank. There has been an accumulation of 282 Congressional co-sponsors from both parties to this legislation. The accumulation of co-sponsors/supporters on the Senate version is currently 23.
This legislation is not like many others that have pages and pages. The Audit of the Fed legislation can be read in less than five minutes. So even for the busiest member of Congress, not reading it is simply unacceptable!
Basically what this legislation says is We the People, as taxpayers, get audited yearly for every dime we make. Therefore, We the People, want to see the Federal Reserve held to the same standards. We the People have a right to see where our tax money is going. This is not about partisan politics, this is about common sense. This is about your right as a taxpayer to see where your money is going. This is about members of Congress demonstrating they are in favor of Government transparency.
Congressman Frank recently announced that the Finance Committee will begin hearings on this legislation on Sept. 25, 2009. Please put the pressure on your Congressman, Senators Klobuchar and Franken to support this legislation, insist that we get a stand-alone, roll call vote so it does not get watered down and stuck on the bottom of some meaningless bills. Take a minute each day to make a call, send an email or a fax. It will be for your own benefit. When the Fed knows it will get audited, it may all of a sudden require less of your tax money!
Leon Moe
Cottage Grove, Minn.
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‘Because I say so’ just ain’t gonna cut it
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To the Editor:
At a certain age, children drive their parents nuts, by asking “why?”, whenever a parent utters a statement. After several “whys,” parents often fall back to the nuclear option, “because I say so”.
Talking about healthcare or healthcare insurance, we as adult voters and taxpayers need to be asking “how” at every turn. We generally agree that this issue, like many others, needs reform. To my mind the word “reform” means looking at an issue in a comprehensive manner in an historical context, with a view toward defining an ideal solution, and approaching that ideal as realistically as possible. Tweaking around the edges of demonstratively failed policy, is no kind of real reform.
At the Houston County Fair a candidate was asked if he was in favor of healthcare reform. He replied that “yes, I am in favor of reform, just not that (Obamacare) reform. Advocates for Obamacare like to say the other side has offered no alternatives. That’s not true. It’s called the Patients Choice Act of 2009 (S1099/HR 2520. We shouldn’t suspend our scepticism of this proposal just because it’s the Republican alternative. Many “hows” need to be answered. What we do need is robust debate, and not another panicky rush job where no one reads the bill.
One thing’s certain. The peoples’ mood these days will not tolerate any more dictation from the political class. “Because I say so” just ain’t gonna cut it.
Dave Boone
Houston, Minn.
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Death by indifference and neglect
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To the Editor:
Much fortune, blood and life has been spent over the history of our country. Who can watch the invasion of Normandy and not be struck by the bravery of men who knew that they may very well not live to see tomorrow. To this day that has been repeated often in our history.
Today we must ask the question: “For what did they die, and for what reasons are they dying?” Freedom for which they fought and died are being sacrificed on the altar of self-serving agendas and pursuit of personal power.
Freedoms we have enjoyed, albeit in an imperfect nation made up of imperfect (sinful) people, will be a thing of history to our children and grandchildren. We can lay blame on self-serving politicians, but that overlooks the fact that we as citizens have become lax, indifferent, and neglectful of our blessings, privileges, and freedoms.
It is the populace of this country that sends to Washington those who are dismantling the country that we have known, and for which men and women have died. Indifference to the truth and neglect of the truth ultimately results in the loss of truth. What a horrible judgment upon indifference and neglect for America.
Milton A. Meyer
Caledonia, Minn.
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