The moral test

Pioneer Press Sat, 29 Mar 2008
Letters to the editor

The moral test
"Here we go again!"to quote former President Reagan. Gov. Tim Pawlenty does a feel-good minuscule tax cut. Then he heads for the Minnesota Care Fund, which should be used to assure affordable, accessible health care coverage for all uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans. When you are a low-income employee and have a $3,500 to $5,000 deductible, you probably put off seeking preventive care until it is an emergency. And then, it is very expensive and you are financially and physically unable to cope. Our own family had a good example of that. Sen. Hubert Humphrey said, "The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children: those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly: and those in the shadows of life: the sick, the needy and the handicapped." How would you rate our governor?

Christeen M. Stone
Maplewood

[[keywords: Officials;Metro;]]

Teaching

(13:20)

[If you have a relatively slow connection, a good way to watch youTubes and other videos is to press Play (the triangle/arrow) and then immediately press Pause (||). Downloading will continue while it is paused. Go do something else for a few minutes while some of the video downloads, and then come back and Press Play to watch the video. This should avoid the annoying start/stop that occurs when the player catches up to the amount of video that has been downloaded.]

Roll up your sleeves

The Saturday letters in the Star Tribune help define our work:

BACHMANN'S BULBS She's making sense

Rep. Michele Bachmann is right about the ban on incandescent light bulbs.

• It is a forced tax on consumers. Instead of paying pennies for a bulb, we pay dollars.

• Incandescent bulbs are safe, while fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. I thought no amount of mercury was safe. Do we really believe they all will be recycled instead of ending up in landfills seeping into ground water?

• I use both types of bulbs in my home, and the fluorescent bulbs do not stand up to their claims. From my experience, I replace them almost as often as regular bulbs. They burn out quickly in enclosed fixtures and are useless in a cold garage (the cold causes them to dim too low to be useful).

• We are being forced to replace our light bulbs to save energy but also forced into digital TVs that use three times as much energy as a regular TV.

There are many available options to conserving energy. Why replace a light bulb with another that may be hazardous?

PAUL MONSON, EAGAN

VETS FOR FREEDOM

Left playing politics

After reading several opinions concerning the Vets for Freedom flap at Forest Lake High School, I am left with the feeling that those on the far left have decided that it is more important to be anti-Republican than patriotic.

JOHN MISGEN, SCANDIA

A good call by school

As a retired Forest Lake school teacher and a veteran of two wars, I would like to comment on the wonderful support our veterans have received through the years.

In my 37 years in Forest Lake, I have seen and experienced nothing but total support for our veterans, both by the school district and our community. We can be very proud of that fact.

Every year numerous veterans have been invited to our schools, both elementary through secondary, to speak about patriotism and their military experiences. Always welcomed in our schools are the honor guards from our veterans' organizations who speak on patriotism, donate American flags and patriotic information to our students.

Our school district employs many veterans and each year honors the military veteran teachers and staff.

Our school bands and choirs support numerous events for our students, both in our community and outside our community.

I have met twice with Steve Massey, our Forest Lake Senior High School principal, over the "Vets for Freedom" issue, along with many teachers, staff members and students. I am convinced after reviewing the facts that the right decision was made to cancel the Vets for Freedom event at the high school on March 25.

JAMES P. NOLL, FOREST LAKE;

RETIRED ARMY LIEUTENANT COLONEL

Berglin health bill passes Senate

Star Tribune Fri, 28 Mar 2008
State health care bill passes key hurdle

A measure that would radically alter the health scene got the state Senate's preliminary OK but faces a rough road. ... In a tense debate that dragged on through the evening, some of the staunchest DFL supporters of health care found themselves opposing the bill, warning of unintended consequences, while some Republicans defended the changes. "This could be the No Child Left Behind of health care," said Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville. "Some things are out of whack in this bill." The measure, sponsored by Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, would vastly change the health scene in Minnesota. Providers would make their fees public. Standard benefit sets would allow consumers to compare care and prices. The state would monitor children's obesity levels, and chronic diseases could be managed through nurse phone calls as well as doctor visits.

[[keywords: ]]

Innocents abroad

Star Tribune Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:53:33 GMT
A political agenda hid behind a talk with heroes

Tuesday's cancellation of a visit to Forest Lake High School by Iraq War veterans in a giant bus labeled "Vets For Freedom National Heroes Tour" produced a bonanza of outraged media reports. ... Forest Lake shows how badly we need to talk about this war. And how very hard it is to do.

[[keywords: ]]

This is not from The Onion

Star Tribune Wed, 26 Mar 2008
Bachmann is pro-choice on bulbs

The Minnesota congresswoman says people should be free to use traditional incandescent or compact fluorescent light bulbs, and she has introduced a bill to halt a phase-out program. WASHINGTON - How many members of Congress does it take to change a light bulb? Americans may soon find out, courtesy of a contrarian piece of legislation introduced this month by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Titled the "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act," the bill seeks to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional light bulbs, the kind that have been used for more than a century -- pretty much since the invention of the incandescent light bulb.

More from the Star Tribune: Her bill, the first challenge of its kind, raises safety questions about the small amounts of mercury in fluorescent lights. It also lands her squarely in the middle of the debate over global warming. In recent remarks to a gathering of Sherburne County Republicans -- reported in the West Sherburne Tribune -- Bachmann called any human connection to global warming "voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax."

Giant Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses

National Geographic story and photo

A progressive position on health care

As our steering committee meeting today spent substantial time on health care, this Ezra Klein (the American Prospect) post might be of interest:

Kevin Drum:

As progressives, our goal shouldn't be to provide gold-plated care to every person in the country, nor should it be to restrict the ability of the rich to get better service if they want to pay for it. Our goal should be to provide decent care to everyone, with the market free to operate on top of that.

How Kevin was able to get an early glance at my next tattoo is anyone' guess (I had the whole thing translated into kanji, too!), but that's a pretty perfect description of how I understand the role of the progressive health reformer. It's also why I joke at panels that my plan for health reform is invading France and taking their system. I'm down with no blood for oil, but I'd give some blood for universal coverage.

Meanwhile, a quick thought on cost control: When talking about costs, folks need to distinguish whether they're talking about getting more value for each dollar or reducing total spending. The two might not be the same. Prevention, for instance, gets far more value out of each dollar. But if it keeps people alive a whole lot longer, that's more time for them to contract various illnesses, and when they grow old, to die from something expensive. So though prevention may mean our health dollars are doing a whole lot more good, it may not mean we're spending less as a total percentage of GDP. Conversely, we could outlaw coverage of statins, which would save some money, but kill a lot of folks. Now, I'm not saying the two ends are opposed. Indeed, getting good value is probably a complementary goal to spending less. But it's not the same thing.

Why a progressive approach to governing is needed

Star Tribune Mon, March 17, 2008
Uneasy Economy: Painful round of state budget cuts to hit poor, working class

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Financially strapped states are looking to take away government health insurance and benefits from millions of Americans already struggling with a souring economy. An Associated Press review of the budgets in all 50 states reveals coverage would be eliminated for hundreds of thousands of poor children, disabled and the elderly. More than 10 million people would lose dental care, access to specialists, name-brand prescription drugs or other benefits. About 20 million could see their care jeopardized by further cuts to doctors' reimbursements. Health care is a choice target as governors and legislators confront the worst deficits they've faced in a decade or more, but that's not their only target: They're also considering cuts in aid to schools and universities, shrinking state workforces and even releasing prisoners before their sentences are completed. Safety-net programs for the elderly, disabled and out-of-work also could be cut, even as the demand for those services is on the rise. Despite the dire conditions, only a handful of states are seriously considering general tax increases or even modest hikes on the wealthy to close the gaps. Lawmakers say they fear such actions would only further stress the economy. Instead, states are looking to increase lottery ticket sales, promote Indian gambling or further raise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. Those taxes disproportionately hit the pocketbooks of the same poor and working-class that would be hurt by the spending cuts, studies show.

[[keywords: ]]

Marty to discuss universal health care on SCC 15

Senate File 2324 is a single-payer, universal health care bill being considered in the Minnesota Legislature.  The bill's author, Senator John Marty, will appear live on Monday night, March 17, on Suburban Community Channel 15, "Our World Today," broadcast at 8:00 PM and hosted by Bill Oldfather.  Joining them will be Dr. Susan Hasti, M.D., of the MN Universal Health Care Coalition.

Hello world!

Welcome to our new blog!