Thursday, March 28th, 2024 Church Directory

Letters To The Editor

TO THE EDITOR:

Employers offer a contract based upon the job description agreed to in an interview. If the new employees do not adhere to that job for which they were hired or are unable to work with colleagues, they are fired.  The same should apply in the Legislature. Since the last legislative session, Democrats promised to eliminate MN taxes on Social Security (SS) benefits, lower taxes, return part of the budget surplus to MN taxpayers.  Now, they are limiting the removal of tax on SS benefits to income levels—not all recipients.  The same applies to the return of the surplus to taxpayers—or did they say residents (even those who paid no taxes)?  Parents are excluded from decisions schools make about transgender policies and practices or abortions.  Children are told to keep these issues from their parents.  Conservative voices are stifled as the Democrats have restricted the number of Republicans on committees.  We have no voice for two or four years unless We the People collect petitions for recall elections.  Section 6 of Article 8 of the Minnesota Constitution provides for recall elections if 25% of the total votes cast for that position are obtained with valid signatures on a petition. 

Barry VanBuren

Clearwater, MN

TO THE EDITOR:

Watching the MN Senate this 2023 session has been a real eye opener. “Debates” can be seen online for bills that reach the Senate floor, sometimes coming out of a committee, but more recently, coming directly after passage by the House. (For general info on livestreaming Senate meetings, link to https://www.youtube.com/@MnSenateMedia/streams). Senator Andrew Matthews (27, R) did an outstanding job speaking on and offering common-sense amendments to the Democrat-sponsored abortion and Blackout energy bills, as did many other Republican Senators. Straight party-line votes of 34 Democrats to 33 Republicans doomed every Republican-offered amendment for those two bills, producing a growing sense of frustration by the amendment authors. Examples of defeated amendments included a limit on abortion at 39 weeks, and a study on the effect of the Blackout bill.  Decorum and politeness prevailed regardless of the position of any Senator, with lots of “thank you’s” to each who spoke although only being allowed to address the President of the Senate. Senator Joe Champion (59, DFL) presided over the session with firm but gentle reminders of parliamentary procedure. The opportunity to observe our elected officials at work is a valuable civics lesson. See the list of Senate bills at https://www.senate.mn/summaries/bill/2023.

Betsy Armstrong

Becker MN

TO THE EDITOR:

 “Minnesota Nice” is gone.  We will no longer be known for our neighborly kindness and hospitality, but rather for our hostility toward life. By one vote, our state has welcomed unrestricted abortion, rejecting the science of embryogeny which has determined that conception is the beginning of rapid change and growth.  Within two months, that little human baby (about one inch long) has a functioning cardiovascular system and precious little fingers and toes.  (Is there anything more delightful than kissing the tiny toes of an infant?) In an abortion, a baby dies.  And the mother?  Will she easily forget about the abortion experience?  Or will she grieve like a woman who has suffered a miscarriage?  Will she think about the baby she never saw grow up?  Will she ask the unanswerable questions:  What would he have looked like?  Would she have become a good mother? A great scientist?  A musician?  A doctor?  Maybe the president? The outcome of an abortion is one dead and one badly wounded.  Gone is “Minnesota Nice.” Thank you, Senators Andrew Matthews, Eric Lucero, Bruce Anderson, and all Republicans for fighting for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Dr. Ronald and Marlene Schultz

Big Lake, MN