Wasteful

As we near the end of another year we need to be reminded that we are not out of the woods yet. There are a few signs the economy is making an upward turn, but there are still millions of people out of work and the housing market is far from a rebound.

I did hear that consumers are spending more this holiday season, up a few dollars per person from last year. Every little bit helps. The problem is it's going to take a big surge for our economy to take a turn in a more noticeable direction.

Most of us have had to make sacrifices and cut back where we can. However, the biggest debt problem is with our government and they don't seem to care much. Spending continues at a record rate and some of that spending is very wasteful. By the way our national debt is fast approaching $14 trillion dollars. I can't even put a number like that in proper perspective.

Here are a few wasteful examples:

• The city of Las Vegas received a federal grant for $1.8 million to build a neon boneyard park and museum made up of old Las Vegas neon signs. Over 150 signs have been collected so far.

• We are contributing  $615,000 so the Grateful Dead can construct a building for the band’s memorabilia and make the so called museum free to the public. Free and yet taxpayers are donating $615,000!

• The energy bill for the Department of Energy was $190 million last year. Millions are said to be wasted because lights could be turned off at specific times. More efficient technology could be used.  Yet the DOE polices taxpayers' use of energy and wasteful spending.

• Poetry in our nation’s zoos? A federal grant program has taken millions of dollars from public funds to give to zoos throughout the country to make signs with poetry and place them throughout the zoos.

• The U.S. government, Bureau of Land Management, spent $64 million on land and built a state of the art gun range.  Although billed a huge tourist attraction in Nevada, last year the park brought in $430,000 and the cost to operate it was $1.3 million.

• The IRS paid out $112 million in fraudulent tax refunds to prisoners. The problem was identified five years ago and the fraudulent claims continue to rise.

• The National Science Foundation, supported with government funding, spent $250,000 on a study to see how Americans use the internet to find love. It was said the research could highlight important developments in American society.

• Denali National Park in Alaska is getting an upgrade-or at least the restrooms will. A total of 36 toilets will be replaced at a cost of $41,000 each. Let's hope there are remodeling costs included and this is not just the cost of the toilet.

• A $441,380 study revealed that college students drink more alcoholic beverages when traveling abroad. Students traveling to Australia, New Zealand and European countries tend to drink more than students traveling to other parts of the world. What does that all prove? You got me!

• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) used the services of two ATF agents for several months to unravel a 2,500 year old mummy. They were able to determine the mummy was between 45-55 years old at the time of death, 5'5" tall and wore a size 7 shoe. The cost was $20,000 in taxpayer money and we're still not sure what those facts are suppose to tell us.

• The National Institute of Health spent $442 million to study male prostitutes in Vietnam. The study centers on HIV and the impact it has on the males.

• Here's another one close to home. The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley received $609,160 in federal funding to create a wolf video game called Wolfquest. The supposed purpose of the game is to help people understand wolf conservation issues in real life.

• A parachute museum will cost taxpayers $65,000, $4,168,766 will be spent to study the sexual behavior of a special breed of monkey and thanks to a federal grant a Tennessee library spent $5,000 to host a series of video game parties.

• A conservation commission in Vermont received $150,000 in federal grant money to build a critter crossing. The crossing will save the lives of thousands of migrating salamanders that would otherwise be slaughtered by vehicle traffic.

• When Highway 14 was being extended from Kasson to Dodge Center there was  a holdup and additional expense due to a concern for a  wood turtle  just west of Dodge Center. The size of the bridge had to be altered to the tune of about $750,000 and it cost time for the study to be done. So don't say wasteful spending can't happen here too!

We could say that being wasteful for our federal government at $100,000 to $200,000 per  project is a drop in he bucket. It's basically pennies when you consider the deficit.

In some ways we may be better off not knowing how wasteful government spending can be. If the federal government awards $1.5 million for a museum honoring a bluegrass singer (Earl Scruggs) in North Carolina, let them build it. I don't need to know about it.

Shut In

A week ago Sunday (December 12) I had a feeling that  I had not been experienced. It was like I was closed in.

For the first time in the 22 years we have lived in our rural Mantorville development I could not get out. We were stuck. The road was too full of snow for even a four wheel drive to get out. I could have possibly taken the snow blower and blown a two wheel path to the end of the turn around in the cul-de-sac and reached a trail that had been made by another vehicle. But why? I did not have to be anywhere. Church and every other activity scheduled was cancelled.

The plow came through about mid afternoon and we were free again. Even though I did not have to be anywhere there was that trapped feeling. It was because of the fact I could not get out that bothered me-even though I did not have any place to be.

I don't know about you, but I do not like being confined. If I had been at home and the roads were open it would not have bothered me. It was the fact I could not leave that was the problem. Could this be a phobia?

Lette to the editor: Wallin

Letter to the editor:

People who are not rich voted for Republicans because they want the rich to get richer? Because they  need more super rich Americans to be proud of? If we tax the rich at higher rates, will they decide they would rather be poor? How silly, but I heard a Republican Senator say that. The Republicans as a block have vowed to stop all legislation if the Bush tax cuts for the rich are not retained. That would add 900 billion to the National Debt, more than the bailouts and saving GM combined, but that doesn’t matter to the hypocritical Republicans who have feigned concern about the debt up to now.

Or did people vote Republican because they listen to the unprecedented political propaganda of Fox “news”, The Limbaugh insanity, and Republican politicians and they don’t have enough common sense or knowledge to realize when they’re duped? Are they Republican voters because they were raised Republican-as if it were a religion? It is baffling when people vote against their own self interests.  And generally, these are Republican voters.

To extend the Bush tax cuts for the very rich any farther is stupidity. Obama just proposed doing that in a compromise with Republicans so they would also vote for an unemployment benefits extension for the recently unemployed. This has brought the wrath of his own party onto him, and likely a protracted fight between the parties-one to help the super rich, the other to help the unemployed and destitute. Amazing.
All Republican politicos, Fox and Limbaugh (the rich) propaganda keeps telling us that jobs are created with those tax cuts. That’s not the case. The rich save it while the unemployed spend it to live, pumping the economy more. Spending circulates and multiplies. The 9 years of Bush tax cuts for the rich hasn’t created jobs. We still have around 10% unemployment.

In spite of continual Republican opposition and the vicious and disgusting name calling and lies directed at a president by Republicans: Obama is not a citizen, he’s a socialist, a Marxist, a Communist, a Muslim, a terrorist, a liar, Hitler - it goes on and on, Obama is still an optimist trying to tolerate and work with Republicans way beyond what any normal person could do-and now to the dismay of his own party.
One wonders when if ever he will have had enough and will fight the low life opposition he will always face. The Republicans, and tea partiers especially, use those underhanded tactics to bring out the latent racism that dwells inside most older and many young white people to ease their willingness to believe the ridiculous of Obama aided by the incessant attacks by Fox (34 warships and 200 million per day India Trip??)

Fox is a political propaganda machine owned and run by Australian right wing billionaire, Rupert Murdoch, who because of his Fox empire propaganda has more influence in American elections than any other group of Americans.

Gary Wallin

Letter to the editor: Giving Thanks

Letter to The Editor

Kasson Citizens,

This is the season for Thanks Giving.  Let’s take a moment to give thanks.
The DCI recently reported (11/24/2010, City of Kasson Looking to Trim Budget) that the City of Kasson’s budget shortfall continues.  Mayor Tjosaas has also mentioned the issue in numerous Mayor’s Memos.   The citizens of Kasson are thankful for the City Council maintaining vigilance on this issue and for continuing to take appropriate actions to streamline city government and eliminate unnecessary spending.

The council’s decision to not demolish the historic 1918 school and instead partner with the Kasson Alliance for Restoration (KARE) to fund the Historic Properties Reuse Study saved the taxpayers nearly $250,000 (over one quarter of a million dollars).   Kasson’s citizens are thankful that the City Council entered into a partnership with KARE (www.KassonAlliance.org) related to reusing the historic 1918 Kasson Public School.  In addition Kasson’s citizens are thankful that the City Council did not add millions of tons of demolition material and an important and irreplaceable historic Kasson icon to a landfill.

Thank you to John Lauber’s team for conducting a very thorough analysis of the historic school and for presenting many viable reuse options and funding mechanisms to the City Council and Kasson’s taxpayers (http://kassonschoolreuse.net/).

Thank you to KARE’s volunteers for cleaning the inside of the historic school and to Pennie Eisenbeis for organizing the community education class that installed attractive window facades on the school.

Thank you to KARE for paying 100 percent of the cost to install downspouts on the school to funnel water away from the foundation (as recommended by Lauber’s team).

Thank you to the City Council for recently adopting Mr. Lauber’s recommendation to not pile snow on the school’s playground thus eliminating that water source in addition to the ugly eye sore it presented to the surrounding community.

Thank you to the Minnesota Historical Society for voting unanimously to nominate the school to the National Register of Historic Places and for the National Park Service for placing the school on the registry in Dec. 2007.

Thank you to KARE’s members and supporting businesses for continuing to be an advocate for Kasson’s history and therefore its future.

And finally thank you to Kasson’s citizens for voting overwhelmingly (58% of you) in April 2010, in the council-supported survey, to adaptively reuse the historic school.  Your vision and support will insure that the school building continues to serve Kasson and the surrounding area’s present and future generations.

Happy Holidays,
Kenton Spading

Letter to the editor: Happy Meals

Letter To the Editor: In Response to the McDonald’s Happy Meal toy ban

When I heard of San Francisco’s ban on toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals, I was overjoyed. For years, I, the mother of two small children, have lamented the waste of money and petroleum used to make these toys. The comment in the earlier editorial (Wed. Nov. 17th) about the toys being a memory maker for children, I believe, is incorrect. I would argue that the majority of today’s children cannot even recall their last Happy Meal toy. Notice I wrote the majority of TODAY’S children. I would also argue that if asked half of the parents who buy the Happy Meals either don’t care or would rather there not be a toy inside. Hey, but it’s free. Free is always good, right? I would urge you to take a different approach.

If the toy is lucky enough to hold the child’s interest for more than two days, where does it end up after that? Salvation Army doesn’t want it, I’ve asked. They aren’t good sellers at garage sales, even if they are FREE. They are not made from recyclable plastic. Where do they end up? In the landfill where they do not decompose.

I am not saying that taking the toy out of Happy Meals will cause people to make better dietary judgements. We all know that french fries are not part of a healthy diet, but we buy them anyway. I am also not asking anyone to deprive their children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews of anything, especially not a happy memory. However, I am asking that you consider making an earth friendly, humanity minded decision by asking the cashier to NOT give you a toy the next time you order a Happy Meal. Enjoy the meal; skip the toy. Explain to your children why you have done this. What a valuable lesson to teach. And after all, what the kids really want is the time spent with someone they love........and of course, the french fries.

Erica Gillis