HometownSource Blogs

What is the big deal about President Obama’s message to students to study hard, stay in school, graduate, get a good job?
What are people afraid of? That their children may hear another opinion than from their parents? That they may agree with the idea of staying in school? Tell me what parent doesn’t want their children to study hard, stay in school, graduate and get a good job?
This whole controversy makes absolutely no sense to me.
If nothing else, President Obama’s speech may spur a conversation or two between parent and child, or teacher and student. Heaven forbid!

Gov. Mark Sanford, South Carolina, recently was caught visiting his mistress in South America. And, although he is being called to resign by many of the residents of his state and others, he said he possibly can do a better job as governor because of his infidelity.

The funny thing about that is when then Pres. Bill Clinton was caught having a dalliance with Monica Lewinski, Sanford called for his resignation. He said Clinton was not fit to be president.

This just reinforces the idea that politicians feel what is appropriate behavior for others doesn’t apply to themselves.

The case of Daniel Hauser, his family and government is a tough one. The 13-year-old boy has Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He had one round of chemotherapy and his parents decided to discontinue the treatments, because of religious beliefs. They want to treat Daniel with “alternative” medicines.
Now, I see nothing wrong with “alternative” medicines. I firmly believe there are other methods of treating illnesses than what the AMA says is so.
A judge made the decision Friday that Daniel must have chemotherapy. Keeping him from treatment was tantamount to medical neglect, said child protection officers.
I believe that every family has the right to raise their children without the government sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong. But, I also believe if the government doesn’t step in on certain issues concerning children, a precedent will be set that could allow other child abuse cases to be ignored. When the life of a child is in danger, someone needs to step in.

In Minnesotan’s eyes, and the rest of the country, Coleman will always be the “sore loser” because of his actions in the 2008 senatorial race. He has dragged on the election results for six months now, way to long for most people’s tastes.

Most recently, he has petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to review prior decisions and hopefully decide in his favor.

Here’s what could happen:
The Supreme Court may decide to remand back to the lower cours and order them to count more of the absentee ballots. In that case, the process will be drawn out even longer, with more taxpayer funds spent.

The Supreme Court may not certify Franken as the winner. In that case, Franken may petition the Supreme Court to do so. Another wait for Minnesota to seat its second senator.

Or, the Supreme Court may not certify Franken and the Democrats seat him without a certificate. In that case, the Republicans may fillibuster.

In any of those scenarios, or probably a multitude of others, Coleman will always be looked upon as a “sore loser” and his future life in politics is probably nil.

All entries to this blog are the opinion of the blogger only, and not of the Morrison County Record or ECM Publishers, Inc.
President Obama recently said he favored compensating teachers according to the academic accomplishments of their students. If the students did well, so would the teacher. If the students fail, the teacher would not receive due compensation.

Yet, he gives big business (AIG, banks, automobile manufacturers, etc.) big money to fail.

I agree with Obama about limiting compenstion for teachers who cannot seem to do their job. They shouldn’t be teaching.

He should do the same for the rest of the country. If a business fails due to poor practices, let it fail. It sure did no good giving them hundreds of millions (billions) of dollars. The taxpayers are out that money and the many of the businesses are still in trouble. They are laying off workers faster than they are spending the money.

Stop with the hand-outs.

It’s official. Al Franken has won the senate race in Minnesota. After over five months of appeals and recounts, lost ballots and those ballots deemed illegal, it’s over. Maybe.

It seems Norm Coleman cannot accept the fact he has lost. Give it up, Norm. The judges ruled Franken won by a small margin (312 votes), but he did win. Norm needs to acknowledge that and move on. Let Minnesota move on, too.

Coleman’s spokesman said he will appeal the decision to the state supreme court, but is that best for the state? Norm, do what is best for the people of Minnesota and move on. You lost the election, let the people of Minnesota have two senators in Washington, like the other states.

I was totally against the bailouts in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, if a business is not run properly, it should not be in business. Granted, thousands more people would be in the unemployment line, but I think the companies that are doing things right would grow and take over the spots vacated the those that for so long felt “entitled.” Ergo, more jobs.

But, today I hear that AIG, and other big insurance companies, banks, etc., will be receiving more money down the road. This first check was just an installment. Are we going to keep throwing good money after bad? There are plenty of good, solid banks in my small community that don’t think they are owed a thing “just because” and would love to take the spot of those that do. And do a better job.

A retired grocer from Swanville, MN puts out a four-page newsletter weekly. Half contain bits about his small community, the other half is ads for the two grocery stores his children own.

Last week, though, he added a small paragraph on the front page that read:

Attention! All white people are requested to meet at the south end of the cotton field for orientation and instructions on the 2nd Tuesday of next week.

At first, I thought it strange, but didn’t equate it to the national elections. When I made the connection, to say the least, I was appalled!

I had been so happy to think that most of the people in this country weren’t the ignorant bigots I thought they were. We have elected an articulate, savvy African American. The American people should be proud of the leaps we have made during this historic election.

But no, right here in my community, there are factions who just cannot accept the fact that Barack Obama is as qualified, or more, as anyone else to lead the United States of America. And, he was the people’s choice. And it’s just because he is black.

That brings to mind that there are probably other people/ communities, in even my neck of the woods, that also feel the same way.
It makes me ill.

Why should Minnesotans have to endure another addition to the state sales tax?

In 1967, Minnesota adopted its first sales tax. Three percent was to replace increasing property taxes. In 1971, it increased to 4 percent to help schools. More budget problems helped to increase the sales tax to 5 percent in 1981, six percent in 1983 and another 1/2 percent in 1991. The last increase was to be temporary.

So, why not take that last 1/2 percent and apply it to the Clean Water, Wildlife, Cultural Heritage and Natural Areas Amendment, also known as the Clean Water Legacy Act. More money would be generated for water, wildlife and the arts while Minnesotans would not be taxed another iota.

Am I the only one who heard McCain during his debate with Obama refer to his ability to reach across the aisle to get things accomplished? Yet, did he once agree with anything Obama said during the dabate?

On the other hand, a number of times Obama said he agreed with McCain on many of his statements during the debate.

Now, who seemed more willing to reach across the aisle—Obama or McCain?

Have you ever called a professional to get a bid on a job? They are usually out of the office because they are, after all, professionals and very busy. So you leave you name and number with a brief message on the answering machine, or with a secretary, and wait. And wait. And wait.

My husband and I are thinking of moving. In fact, we have found a house we both really like. But, it has issues. So, to get a better idea of how much these issues are going to cost, we called professionals. In fact, we called four to set up appointments to deal with just one of those issues. One was in Brainerd, one in Staples and two in Little Falls (we live inbetween the three towns.) Two of the four actually called back, set up appointments, met us at the house and gave us bids. The other two, in spite of my explaining exactly what I want (the cost will exceed $10,000) never had a person return my calls to make an appointment. I talked to the owners of the other two businesses, who assured me their employees, experts on what I needed, would call back. I never heard from either one. And of course, the owner never followed up on my call.
I have a friend in the Twin Cities who has a theory. He thinks that small business owners know exactly how much they need to make each month to pay employees, pay the bills and take home enough money to take care of any personal expenses. When that dollar amount is reached, they quit working for the month.

That must have been what happened.

For those of us with needs of our own, it is frustrating. When someone is coming to my home to do work on say, Monday, I have learned to ask which Monday? Will it be this month? I also have learned ask if it will be in the morning or the afternoon, for inevitability I will sit home all day waiting.

I don’t do that any more. If I am told someone will be at my home Monday morning, I will be gone by noon if they have not shown up by then. They will be arriving to an empty house. And I won’t call them to return.

Has this ever happened to you? What have you done? Tell me your story. If I get enough, maybe I will forward them to those businesses who don’t seem to want the work.

I live on Crookneck Lake in the northern parts of Morrison County. The Crookneck Lake Improvement Association (LCIA) created a Lake Improvement District (LID) in 2006 to combat curly leaf pondweed, an invasive, and exotic, species of weed that, like Eurasian milfoil, can take over a lake.
The LCIA has gone one step further to clean up its lake.
Members have applied for, and received, a grant from the Initiative Foundation to inspect as many septic tanks around the lake as possible. The LCIA feels if residents discover their old systems are leaking or are cracked or are just plain out of date, they will be willing to replace them.
It is a known fact that leakage from septic systems around lakes puts nutrients into the ground, lakes and streams. When these nutrients enter a body of water, they add to the growth of weeds, which choke out fish habitat and make recreational activities on lakes difficult.
A septic system’s job is to accept liquid wastes and prevent biological and nutrient contaminants from getting into wells or nearby lakes and streams. But, nothing lasts forever. These systems need to be checked at least every three years and repaired or replaced, if necessary.
How do you feel about making it mandatory to have inspections of septic tanks on a regular basis?
Currently, Morrison County requires a septic tank be inspected when a home sells. If repairs or replacement is needed, the seller or the buyer work out who will be responsible for the cost. They have two years to get the job done.
But, Morrison County does not have the manpower to make sure that happens. It’s probably the case in many counties. Therefore, septic systems that are leaking never get repaired.
What about the scenario of a landowner who has lived on property for 50 years? The family insists there has never been a problem, so why should they have an inspection. Fifty years! That should send up red flags immediately.
This does not only occur on lakeshore, but in all rural areas. Lakes and streams are not the only waters that can be contaminated. What about ground water?
I advocate mandatory inspections of septic systems when a property sells. I also would like to see the buyer and seller unable to close the real estate deal until the septic system in question is brought up to the standards set by the county.
I also advocate periodic checks of septic systems to make sure they are working properly. I think counties needs to make this more of a priority than they do.
How do you think issues of septic tank inspection and compliance be handled?

I have been a vegetarian for most of my life.

I was raised eating meat; my parents were hard-core carnivores. I made the change when I left home and was able to make up my own mind about my life.

I made the decision to rebel against my upbringing because I had come to the realization I did not need to exploit animals to survive. It just seemed wrong. As I progressed, and learned more about vegetarianism, I found it was a much healthier lifestyle. I was hooked.

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