Open Forum

The other night I heard that President Bush has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in his first term in office. That's great, now if we re-elect him to a second term maybe he can create some of those jobs here in the good old U.S.A. President Bush said that he wanted to free the Iraqis, so he killed 100,000 of them. President Bush says that abortion is bad (murder) and that capital punishment is good (murder). Republicans say that President Bush is a very smart man, to them he probably is, but to the rest of the people in the U.S.A, and around the world, well I'm not so sure. Is John Kerry the man for the job, I don't know but it is quite obvious the President Bush had his time in the sun but the rest of us got burnt. Well life goes on and we can all vote for Ralph Nader, yeah right!

Scott Pakarinen

Rural Brainerd

Kerry's flip-flops

Who is John Kerry? He was an organizer of Vietnam Veterans Against War in 1971. He was runningmate to Mike Dukakis in 1982. Kerry supported the War on Terrorism after 9-11 although now he says he does not. He has supported education reform such as ending tenure and allowing lateral entry into teaching but now he says he doesn't and is "for teachers."He favored Trade Relations with China and fought against an amendment to review China's human rights practices (of imprisonment of political dissidents and those being held or killed for religious reasons).

Kerry is the richest member in Congress with $675 million but says he is for the common "man" and he's not for big business. Hello? Review his "special interest" donations to his campaign. He is very similar to Gore, cold and lacks a common touch and warmth. But more similar to liberal presidential candidate Mike Dukakis who was an "east-coast liberal" and unelectable.

George W. Bush has helped stabilize our economy and fight terrorism since 9-11. He has shown the leadership needed today for the US as well as the world. We know who George W. is and what he stands for. As for Kerry, he has flip-flopped on so many issues, does John Kerry actually know who he is?

Brian Lehman

Nisswa

Justice for humanity

Those who carried out the terrorist strikes in New York and D.C. are dead, and no further sentencing can be dealt to them.

There are of course those who aided and abetted those criminals, they must be found. For this investigation we need to enlist the intelligence agencies of the world.

We then need to enlist, a posse of which can be said, it is a U.N. Police Force. Those arrested must be prosecuted in a World Court. To handle the problem any other way is to be a Slobodan Milosevic or an Ariel Sharon.

This is not the time for nation lynching, by super power vigilantism. This a time when, because the tragic crime was committed against the super power, the real morality of the world can be can be raised to a level that preachers sometimes sermonize, but may never envision.

And it is a time, that if missed will not return again soon.

I wrote the above on September 13, 2001. Our fearsome leader chose to follow the lead of Milosevic, Sharon, and Hitler rather than Clinton. Bush should have been impeached, but we can still send him and his group away by voting, I hope.

Dennis G. Gordon

Nisswa

Abortion letter

In a letter in the Sunday, March 7, Dispatch, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota, calls Sen. Paul Koering incorrect and irresponsible for saying, in a recent news release on the Taxpayer Protection Act, that state tax money is paying for abortions. Stanley went on to say, "...any organization that accepts family planning grants must undergo a rigorous audit to prove that the family planning funds it receives does not 'free up' funds for abortion."

When a notorious abortion provider like Planned Parenthood receives a state family planning grant, it certainly looks like the state is paying for abortions, whether directly or indirectly. No amount of paperwork is going to remove that impression.

Sen. Koering is in favor of family planning, but does not believe abortion is a legitimate part of family planning. That is why he co-sponsored the Taxpayer Protection Act. It specifically prohibits any organization receiving family planning grants from referring patients to abortion providers, distributing marketing materials about abortion services, and publicly advocating for abortion to be affiliated with any other organization that provides abortion services.

In other words, Planned Parenthood or any other abortion supportive organization could not receive taxpayer funded family planning grant money from the state of Minnesota. That is really what Mr. Stanley is upset about; his abortion supporting friends would lose some easy money.

Minnesota's abortion industry receives millions of taxpayer dollars from state and federal funds every year. This bill would regulate funds awarded by the Minnesota Family Planning Special Projects grant program. Six states, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and neighboring Wisconsin, have enacted laws similar to Minnesota's legislation. It is time for Minnesota to pass the Taxpayer Protection Act.

Clara Kedrowski

Little Falls