Open Forum

From every side we seem to be bombarded with calls to Conserve Energy! And many noble efforts are being made to comply. However, there is one glaring energy waster to which almost everyone seems oblivious, I refer to the notorious and ubiquitous hot water heater. These dastardly wasters of our precious energy apparently reside in many homes, and are hawked by a multitude of vendors. Apparently most people find them indispensable. But no one seems to recognize the utter waste involved in the use of such an appliance! I have never had one in my home and would never allow one to reside there!

Please don't misunderstand, I enjoy a warm, or at times, a hot shower - most every day, just as you probably do. But, to accomplish that noble purpose, why do you need that gross energy waster, a hot water heater? I find that a cold water heater, or even an old fashioned water heater, does the job very nicely - and with noticeably less damage to my bank account! Besides, why waste energy heating water already hot? Let's join with Al Gore and his fellow enviros in a patriotic campaign to eliminate this horrendous waster of our limited energy resources - the hot water heater.

Dwight Johnson

Nisswa

Boy was she wrong!

ABC Channel 5 on an interview with Sen. Tarryl L. Clark about Gov. Tim Pawlenty's promise to make the final decision on all budget issues if the Legislature does not have it done by then. Sen. Clark stated, Minnesota is not a dictator state.

Boy was she wrong! Where was she when the Legislature voted May 2008 to allow schools to tax business and all residents whatever amount they decide, under the OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) without a referendum! If this is not dictatorship, what do you call it? I strongly believe this is a civil rights issue! By the way, how did she vote on that OPEB bill?

Marv Begin

Fort Ripley

What's the difference?

I watched a special on the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme the other night. I think I watched it just to find out what a ponzi scheme really was. Before this happened I'd never heard of one. I guess that shows you that I am about as naive as most of his clients were.

There is a remarkable similarity to what he did, and what social security does. He kept paying out money to his clients, from new clients he had just signed up instead of investing their money. It worked fine until he no longer could find new clients and his revenue stream dried up. That's what is happening to Social Security and Medicare right now.

Now you didn't believe that our government took all of that money they collected from you, over all of those years that you paid into it, and invested it did you? Well if you did shame on you. Social Security was just another revenue stream for our government, and yes they spent it all on many things that had nothing to do with Social Security or Medicare There is no nest egg anywhere, the revenue streams are drying up, and the fund is now going to be insolvent.

But not to worry they say, your money is backed up by the full faith of the United States Government. A government that right now is borrowing half of everything it spends. Get the picture?

Mike Holst

Crosslake

Community support is vital

An update on what is going on with our efforts to establish a veterans health care center at the Brainerd Regional Treatment Center.

The local group is still working on every aspect of the project. We had one legislative hearing and are waiting for another. There is still a lot to do in regard to putting together our final plans. We need to know all the current regulations for remolding the buildings that would be used. That information should be available in the next three weeks. On June 1, we will give a power point presentation to the Brainerd City Council. And we are available for other groups if they would like to see what is being proposed. Community support is vital as we compete with other cities. The city, the county, the chamber of commerce, BLADC and the whole area needs to get behind this effort.

Don Samuelson

Brainerd