• Letters to the editor • True democracy
President Obama is continually chastising Egypt, Pakistan and other countries for not listening to the people and not having a true democracy. He may be correct, but why don’t the American voters look at our own country? Do we have a true democracy? Hardly. As examples: • When one of Gen. McCrystal’s commands criticized Obama and his policies, he immediately summoned the general to Washington and fired him. Democracy with freedom of speech? Doesn’t look that way. • When 69 percent of the population did not want Obamacare, he bribed congressmen with earmarks and promises to the tune of $1.6 billion (CBS reported this). Democracy of the majority? Doesn’t look that way. • When a Muslim at Fort Hood shot 13 people, the Obama-controlled media does not report any progress of his trial. When someone in Arizona shoots one of his beloved Democratic congressmen, the Obama-controlled media continues coverage almost nonstop. Is this a true democracy? • When Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, or Beck say something against him, he gets on his Obama-controlled media and immediately tells the American voters that they are anti-American and subversive people. Is that freedom of speech? Is that democracy? Doesn’t look that way. • When John Rankel is accused of bribery, and illegally accepting gifts, Obama does not talk about justice. He stays silent. Is that democracy? Doesn’t look that way. • When Democratic senators use their influence to obtain city, county and state funding to build a new basketball arena for the team they own I guess that is OK. After all, it is a true democracy. • When congressmen and senators have OWI charges, vehicular moving violations, fraud, sex scandals, and a host of other criminal activity, where is Obama? Hiding as usual and still complaining about corruption in other countries. The fact is that if we look hard within our own government activities, we have some of the most blatantly corrupt governments in the world. We have some of the most blatant criminals running our government. We have some of the greatest violators of democracy from the top down. The American way is to throw money at governments, people and candidates, and you can hope that taxpayer money buys silence from other countries. One thing is for sure, if you contribute enough money to any candidate who makes it in office, you can be assured that they will listen to you. If you don’t contribute, they do not have time to listen to your concerns. Dave Wilhelmy Siren
Spending on other countries costly
I recently read an article from the CATO Institute for policy analysis called “The continuing failure of foreign aid.” It was written by James Bovard who has written for the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune. The top 11 who received our gift of money is as follows in 2010. 1. In fiscal 2010 $8.3 billon in military and security assistance to foreign countries. 2. Afghanistan $4.1 billion, although much of it is unaccounted for. 3. Israel $2.8 billion. 4. Pakistan $1.8 billion, although there people hate us. 5. Haiti $1.8 billion, to rebuild the country. Looked at the latest pictures? 6. Egypt $1.8 billion, mainly to the military. 7. Iraq $ 1.1 billion. 8. Jordan $843 million. 9. Mexico $758 million. 10. Kenya $688 million. 11. Nigeria $615 million. A billion dollars is 1,000 million dollars. We have a national debt reaching $14 trillion! So where do we cut spending? First programs for the poor and elderly. No COLA raises for those on Social Security and disabled veterans for the past two years and perhaps this year as well.
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The foreign aid program has over 4,500 employees to administer the program. Instead of breaking the endless cycle of poverty, “Foreign aid has become the narcotic of the third world.” When we send billions in food to various countries their farmers produce financially hits rock bottom. So soon they say, why should we grow crops when we get free food from America? We are making these, and other countries dependent on our foreign aid which we simply cannot continue to afford. Now Obama is asking Congress for another $53 billion to finance high-speed rail? The message to stop spending apparently has not been understood? Amtrak rail system funded by the U.S. government has lost $10 billion over the last 10 years. Carl Pentland Balsam Lake
Unfair to government workers
Last Friday the governor introduced his budget “repair” bill to close a $137 million budget shortfall by the end of June. Had the bill included a proposal for temporary wage and benefit concessions by government workers I could support it. However, the bill not only imposes what amounts to a permanent 8-percent pay cut for state workers, it also strips away 50 years of state employees’ rights to collectively bargain and pays back political favors (the police and firefighter unions support the governor so they get to keep their rights). These proposals have been preceded by the governor’s public comments attacking public employees and blaming them for the state’s financial woes. Why? Because state employees are one of the most highly skilled workforces in the state? Because they believe in what they are doing? By every objective measure, state workers receive less total compensation (pay and benefits) than their private-sector peers. They have not gotten raises, they have been paying more for health care, and they have been furloughed. The size of the Wisconsin state government workforce has been declining for several years and is already the ninth leanest in the country. As the baby boomers continue to retire in droves, who is going to be interested in jobs in which they are significantly undercompensated and demonized by politicians? The private sector argument does not work because many of these jobs, such as social worker or parole officer, cannot or should not be done by the private sector. Government workers provide the public with both needed and wanted services. They are your friends and neighbors, spend the money they earn locally and volunteer their time and talent for the betterment of their community, just like everyone else. They do not deserve to have the budget balanced on their backs or their rights taken away. Bob Wright Dresser
Inviting trouble
The events these past three weeks in Egypt should give Second Amendment fanatics pause. Would we be celebrating the revolutionary overthrow of a 30-year dictatorship if the many thousands of demonstrators who forced Mubarak’s resignation had been armed with guns? I doubt it. It is more likely that we would have witnessed hundreds if not thousands of dead and wounded lying in Tahrir Square. The young people of Egypt have demonstrated, once again, that the route to overthrow of tyrannical or autocratic government is best secured through peaceful protest. Even though there may be difficult days ahead in establishing a democratic state, would an armed citizenry really improve the prospect? In this country we have seen 1 million die from guns since the assassination of Martin Luther King, most as suicides or accidents. Our response has been to ease gun control laws. At the same time we ban cribs moveable sides from the market because several infants have died as a re-
sult. One legislator is even proposing legislation to require every American to own a gun. If guns really make us safer should we not insist that people be armed to get on an airplane or to visit the Capitol or the White House? I carried a loaded gun for six months in combat in WWII. I loved to hunt in my youth but our national reaction to gun laws is crazy. My grandfather was a miner in the gold fields of Montana from 1874 to 1876, the year of the Battle of Little Bighorn. He said he never packed a gun because all it did was invite trouble. I think his wisdom would serve us all well today. Eiler Ravnholt Luck
Children deserve better
According to Gov. Walker’s own news release, “both Democrats and Republicans know that state workers do great work. But unfortunately many private sector workers have either lost their jobs, taken a pay cut or saw their benefit package reduced as a result of the recent economic downturn. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill strikes a fair balance, asking public employees to make a modest 5.8-percent pension contribution, which is about the national average, and 12.6-percent health insurance contribution, which is about half the national average.” That sounds both nice and fair, and obviously it is something that everyone should agree with. However, Walker is ignoring one important fact. Wisconsin public employees do have better fringe benefits than the public employees in other states. That is because everyone from the nurses to motor vehicle workers, teachers to snowplow drivers chose to take their compensation in health insurance and retirement contributions. In fact, Wisconsin teachers rank 20th when it comes to the average pay for teachers in the U.S. When the cost of their fringe benefits is added in, Wisconsin may rank as high as 17th or 16th, which is not an outrageous ranking for a state that says it truly values education. State employee unions made $100 million in concessions in December 2010 to ease budgetary strain. Those contracts did not pass the Legislature. Walker is suggesting that we must choose between unionized workers and streamlined government. The fact is we can, and must, have both. One of the most important responsibilities of our elected leaders is to provide the highest quality public services as efficiently as possible. This requires skilled employees, a reliable structure, and a workplace designed to encourage trust and productivity. The right of Wisconsin workers to organize and bargain collectively has been around for 50 years. Public employees are your neighbors; they are librarians, bus drivers, nurses and teachers. Their unions came to the bargaining table in recent years, willing to help share the burden and spread the pain to help make city, state and county budgets work in tough economic times. The way to improve public services and reduce costs is to trust public employees and give them the opportunity to do quality work. Over the years, Wisconsin public em-
ployees have chosen to take the funds available for increased pay in the form of retirement benefits and payment for health care. That is just one of the reasons that the pay scale for most Wisconsin public employees is far below the national average. Wisconsin is the 20th most populated state, but we rank 27th in number of full-time employees. We get more productivity from Wisconsin public employees. Wisconsin state workers are doing more than their counterparts in other states. The Wisconsin public employee who actually receives a bonus is rare. Recently, General Motors announced that all hourly workers will be receiving a $4,000 bonus. Even in these economic times, many private sector employees receive bonuses, stock options and other privileges not given to public employees. Perhaps the real question to ask is what does Walker hope to gain? Obviously he wants to break the public unions … which means all other unions are probably next on his agenda. Plus the other shoe, the 2012-2013 state budget, has not yet dropped, but rumors abound that it includes the gutting of a number of education programs – including a reduction of $500 per student in state aid and the loss of the 4K and SAGE programs. On one hand, the governor and his big business friends tell us that we need to educate our students to live and work using 21st century skills, and on the other hand they are limiting the resources for teaching those same skills. Today’s decision by the governor’s office to give back $23 million in federal broadband stimulus funding awards intended for broadband expansion because there are “too many strings attached” to the stimulus funding is just the most recent example. This is the first time a state has returned or rejected the funding, which would have predominately been used to improve police, fire, hospital, school and library connectivity across some 380 Wisconsin communities. Please let your state senators and assembly members know that this is not the Wisconsin we want to give to our children. They deserve better! A concerned educator and taxpayer, Lori Nelson Luck
Great newspaper - great freedoms
I hope that the people of this area realize that we have one of the best small-town newspapers around. They must have a great group of reporters and writers in order to cover so many different stories and events week after week. I moved to this area about 16 years ago and have been a loyal reader ever since. I have used the privilege of expressing my opinion by way of letters to the editor on several occasions and can’t express my gratitude enough for this privilege. It’s time for all of us to realize that our freedoms and the many blessings that we have in this great country of ours should not be taken lightly. God has blessed us in many ways. May he continue in his grace to look on us with favor. Thanks be to God. Don Benson Taylors Falls, Minn.
Rep. Severson responds to Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill
“A step in the right direction”
MADISON – State Rep. Erik Severson, R-Osceola, issued the following statement in response to Gov. Walker’s plan for filling Wisconsin’s $137 million budget gap: “Due to years of out-of-control government spending and budget mismanagement, we have a broken economy in need of a serious fix. “Gov. Walker’s proposal will help get Wisconsin back on track and help our economy rebound. “The goal is to balance the budget
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without having to lay off any of our hardworking, dedicated state employees. “The contributions Gov. Walker is proposing for public employees are still well below the national average. “It is important to remember that we haven’t cut any jobs, reduced pensions, or hurt the quality of health care provided to state employees. “Wisconsin is in a very real fiscal crisis, and I am committed to making the tough decisions needed to pull our state out of this financial hole.” - from the office of Rep. Severson
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