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The end is near

Are you ready? The American Gestapo. The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced that it has shifted its focus from terrorists to domestic extremists. Translation; This means...

Open Forum letters

Open Forum

Bury this ammendment

Historically, constitutional amendments have been used to grant and protect rights such as women's suffrage, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the Bill of Rights.

Open Forum

Government is stomping on our rights

The decision by our government to force Catholic hospitals and institutions to have to provide services that goes against their beliefs will have far reaching ramifications for the present administration.

Other Opinion

Gambling revenue not same as taxes

As Minnesota's Legislature ponders the intricacies of getting a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings built, and how to pay for it, the issue of increasing gambling revenues keeps coming up.

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012

Progressive governance versus progressive interest groups

WASHINGTON - The 2012 U.S. elections could be the most exciting and consequential in years. In Wisconsin, we might be looking at political Armageddon. Wisconsin is a swing state in the ...

By Charles Lane

Bury this ammendment

Historically, constitutional amendments have been used to grant and protect rights such as women's suffrage, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the Bill of Rights.

Gambling revenue not same as taxes

As Minnesota's Legislature ponders the intricacies of getting a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings built, and how to pay for it, the issue of increasing gambling revenues keeps coming up.

Government is stomping on our rights

The decision by our government to force Catholic hospitals and institutions to have to provide services that goes against their beliefs will have far reaching ramifications for the present ...

The end is near

Are you ready? The American Gestapo. The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced that it has shifted its focus from terrorists to domestic extremists. Translation; This means all ...

Vox Pop-Feb. 9

What's the excuse? I read the Brainerd City Council report in the Dispatch and it notes one council member was absent. Further into the article, it talks about a previous meeting and the ...

Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012

Obama, polarizing from the middle?

WASHINGTON - In 2011, Gallup's polling showed that President Obama averaged an 80 percent approval rating among Democrats and 12 percent among Republicans, making his third year in office one ...

By Ezra Klein

Election and voting forum impressive

An impressive forum I would like to personally thank everyone that attended the Election Law and Voting Rights forum on Feb. 2 at Central Lakes College.

Charlie Rose's interviews

Charlie Rose's interviews Charlie Rose on KAWE-TV, PBS, this week interviewed Tom Donilon, President Obama's national security adviser. Mr. Donilon fills the role Condoleeza Rice had ...

Smart ALEC

No one likes a smart aleck. No one likes the superiority implied in that role or the arrogance. We do not like to be manipulated or fooled by clever words and fancy footwork. We like people who ...

Amend politics, not the Constitution

Minnesota's divided and contentious politics have led some clever lawmakers to suggest the seductive idea of empowering the people to make decisions where their representatives cannot by ...

Jack Abramoff's atonement

WASHINGTON - Fallen super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff is out of prison now but still doing penance.

By Dana Milbank

Monday, Feb. 6, 2012

The cost of conscience

WASHINGTON - Two of the top news stories this past week have revolved around reproductive rights, though both raise far more troubling issues than a woman's right to contraception or abortion.

By Kathleen Parker

New school lunch rules need work

For the first time in years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week reworked nutrition rules for school meals. The effort was billed as a step in the fight against childhood obesity, and ...

Meet Mitt Romney's cousin

WASHINGTON - Park Romney says some pretty wild things. Mormonism, he claims, is "an insidious contemporary fraud." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "an ...

By Dana Milbank

Outsourcing jobs

In his recent State of the Union (political) speech, Obama promised "middle class Americans that more jobs would be coming their way."

Need for reform in child care licensing

The Minnesota Department of Human Services sent out an update today dated May 2011 regarding Child Care Licensing:Monitoring child care compliance with standards:www.dhs.state.mn.us.

Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012

A classy team

Hockey has not always been known as a "sportsman's sport." We see examples daily on television that demonstrate all of the attributes we advise our players to never participate in.

Wolves, cougars; it's a balance

There's nothing like wolves and cougars to get people worked up. In Minnesota, both topics have stirred emotions recently. The DNR announced a hunting season on wolves with a target of ...

Friday, Feb. 3, 2012

Cause of the collapse

What caused the economic downturn we are now experiencing? When I ask that question the answers I normally get are 1) the housing bubble collapse, 2) the near collapse of our banking system, or ...

Other Opinion »

Progressive governance versus progressive interest groups

WASHINGTON - The 2012 U.S. elections could be the most exciting and consequential in years. In Wisconsin, we might be looking at political Armageddon. Wisconsin is a swing state in the presidential race. There is a wide-open contest for...

By Charles Lane

Vox Pop »

Vox Pop-Feb. 9

What's the excuse? I read the Brainerd City Council report in the Dispatch and it notes one council member was absent. Further into the article, it talks about a previous meeting and the same council member was absent.

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