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Sebeka’s SurvivalTo the Editor:
With the already unstable economy, the higher cost of fuel and transportation, the higher cost of food and everything else it takes these days just to survive, and with 85 percent of our population on fixed or limited incomes, how can the Sebeka City Council justify more infrastructure projects that will bring even more financial stress not only to the citizens of the community but to the City itself?
At this point in time, Sebeka has only two true assets: 1) its citizens, and 2) the handful of businesses we have left. Now factor in the already outrageous tax assessments and user fees which have caused citizens to move away and many others talking about it. The biggest issue the City Council should be dealing with right now is what they can do to avert a rapid decline in Sebeka’s population.
Is it really worth it to chase wild dreams like the Industrial Park and Northern Acres, which have been nothing but dead end roads since being built, over sure things like families and business owners who have actually built and maintained our community over the years?
What is so hard for the Council to understand about the city engineer and his firm? They are not here for the best interest of the community; it is their bread and butter. They are well aware it is easy pickin’s here due to our lack of leadership. Come on! A zero-interest loan still needs to be repaid. Is the City of Sebeka capable of repaying it without any more assessments on property owners? If they are, how come the citizens were assessed so much on past projects?
Citizens, the bottom line here is that it is your dedication, devotion, time and effort – your blood, sweat and tears – that went into not only building but also maintaining our community over all these years. Let’s not lose it all in a matter of just a couple of years.
Robert Kessler
Sebeka
Deadbeat Carpetbagger
To the Editor:
I’m not going to accuse Hollywood Al Franken of tax evasion, criminal intent or anything else, other than being a stupid, left-wing liberal democrat that you might consider being a tax deadbeat. Only Hollywood Al knows, and he’s blaming his accountant for everything, including cheating 17 states out of $70,000 in unpaid taxes and not paying workers compensation for an employee.
Isn’t it the liberal way to play the blame game when they’re backed into a corner? He tossed his accountant to the wolves, with instructions to say nothing other than “no comment.” Meanwhile, the state DFL party is standing by their man with an unequivocal endorsement to be the next senator of Minnesota. What a bunch of morons!
It’s interesting to note that Hollywood Al had business licenses in 17 states to which he is responsible to pay taxes on any and all earned income. This is a guy who graduated from Harvard University cum laude, and he expects the public to believe that his accountant is responsible for Hollywood Al not paying his taxes?
Is this the guy the state of Minnesota wants to represent them in the senate of the United States? Give me a break! The state of Minnesota does not need a carpetbagger with a loud mouth in the U.S. Senate, where there are already enough dysfunctional morons running this country.
Robert E. Feuer
Huntersville
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Guest Column –
Politicians, Pigs and the Media
By John W. Whitehead
A Lose-Lose Proposition
To the Editor:
The Sixth District Republican Party held their convention on Saturday, April 5.
The election of national delegates/alternates played a prominent role. I was there and was elected one of three national delegates. There were 95 that were vying for the position. So how did I, a small potato, get elected? It certainly wasn’t my charisma or popularity that did it; rather it was strategic organization.
You see, I support Ron Paul for president, and the Paul supporters were organized. Two of the three Paul supporters and all three Paul alternates were elected.
This rather disturbed some of the McCain supporters, and they attempted to bind the delegates to support McCain at the national convention. Only later did we find out that the state GOP constitution forbids districts to bind the delegates.
At the 3rd and 7th district conventions, Ron Carey, state party chairman, stepped in front of the conventions to call Ron Paul supporters a bunch of libertarian infiltrators who are going to destroy the party. He neglected to mention that many are long-time party members. He denounced us for running slates, which he waved around, and ordered the delegates to vote for HIS slate if they didn´t want to lose in November.
So who is this Ron Paul guy? Why are some so passionate in support of him, and why are some Republicans, especially the national and state leadership, so against him? What threat does Paul pose? Is it possible that his message, if it becomes known, will shake up the establishment?
I attended a Ron Paul rally at the university campus several months ago. There were over 4,000 in attendance and the vast majority was young people. Two young men opened the rally and stated that several months before, they never heard of Ron Paul but were introduced to him via the Internet. Where previously they were disenchanted with both the Republicans and Democrats, not seeing much difference between the two, with Ron Paul they connected and it stirred them to become active in his campaign. They had lost hope for the future, but with Ron Paul they were given hope, and they have become passionate in their support for him.
Liberal Republicans used their power to destroy Barry Goldwater after he had won the 1964 Republican nomination for president. They couldn’t let a conservative win. But after his defeat, grassroot conservatives did not crawl back into the woodwork; they became active in the Republican Party and conservatism became popular.
Liberals are not dummies; they hijacked the conservative label by calling themselves conservative. When they gave a speech, they hit all the hot buttons and we nodded our heads and clapped. But a strange thing happened when they got elected – they voted liberal. We got the rhetoric, but the liberals got the action.
The battle today in the Republican Party is much the same. False conservatives have been exposed, and true conservatives are fighting back. The liberal republican establishment expects conservatives to follow party leadership lock step like sheep, to forget principle, forget the constitution, and if you don’t, well, they will push you out.
They attempted this tactic at the district conventions. Grassroot Republicans, for the most part, are conservative; the problem is, they are often unable to recognize the false conservatives among us.
Ron Paul is at odds with some Republicans because he is a Constitutionalist. He believes we are a government of laws and not of men. He was against the Iraq war from the beginning because according to the U.S. Constitution, only Congress is to declare war, which it did not. He believes that the federal government is limited to only those powers in the Constitution that are enumerated; the rest are reserved to the states and/or to the people. That would cut the size of the federal government by three-fourths. It would bring government back to the people.
Why are some Republicans so willing to overlook the Constitution when it suits their whims? By supporting Republicans that flout the Constitution, we become no better than the Democrats.
We hear, “You don’t want Clinton or Obama, do you? Ron Paul can’t win; McCain is the most electable. So if McCain isn’t the best, hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils.” I’ve heard this tactic time and time again. If Clinton or Obama win, our nation loses; if McCain wins, our nation loses. It’s a lose-lose proposition.
Ron Baert
Sauk Rapids, MN
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