Lists | [no subject] : ARN-L : February 2001

["(Mike Kluznik)" <mkluznik@HOTMAIL.COM>]

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A message from Mike Kluznik:

See "your ad here."  Gov. Ventura has proposed a budget which will be devastating to public education, both for the state college & university system and for the k-12 system.
MK



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Surveillance technology robbing our freedom

Public debate often takes ironic twists. In the argument over racial profiling, race has become moot. At the Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay police secretly photographed all spectators. The breakthrough is that since we all are suspects, African-Americans should no longer feel singled out.

 At the heart of this mess is the profound misunderstanding that liberty is obsolete. Compulsory public surveillance burns the Bill of Rights. It is always to our detriment when police power is wielded secretly to coerce compliance with the law. Regardless of that pesky liberty, you will hear arguments about efficiency in spending crime fighting dollars. Officials will point to graphs whose upward trends show prison construction and more prisoners as its joyful product. But who will pay for their Orwellian dream with the taxpayers in jail?

 This newfound technical capability must have police planners salivating at the inescapability of the net it casts. The cheap thrill of TV voyeurism has turned into a sinister nightmare in the hands of invisible cops with a hidden agenda.

 Will I be checked for legal fitness at a Wild game? I suppose a new Twins stadium will feature state-of-the-art surveillance. Makes a great inducement to legislators eager to ratchet up the crime fighting rhetoric.

 It's up to each and every one of us to reject police state tactics. But I am not sure putting the program over your face and gesturing obscenely at the camera won't be seen as just another crime.

 Tom Shaff
 St. Paul

 The Pioneer Press ran the article on racial profiling; now it could do more to dispel the misconception of any particular racial groups committing more crimes than their statistical population.

 The Feb. 8 Pioneer Press had a small paragraph detailing violent crime statistics. In the future, it should further break down those figures by race, and add the race's percentage of population in the county.

 For example, if the figures for the 23 homicides in 2000 show that 90 percent of the perpetrators were white and 1 percent were Asian, while whites represented, say, 84 percent of the population and Asians 2 percent, you would be proving that whites are committing more of the violent crimes. The paper could do the same breakdowns for rapes, assaults and property crimes.

 Racial attitudes are most often based on ignorance, and the Pioneer Press could be a forum for education.

 Laura Hill
 Roseville
 Gambling preys on gullible
 Why does the AP story out of Kenosha [Feb. 13] say "the [Hudson casino] project has community support"? We just moved to Hudson last summer, so I may have missed something. But as far as I know, the elected officials of Hudson, River Falls and St. Croix County have repeatedly had to fight this casino proposal.

 I understand they have done so in spite of threats of lawsuits from the money-hungry would-be profiteers. Unfortunately, the "gaming" industry seems to have unlimited funds (I wonder why) to continue to pursue this project.

 Gambling is and always has been a way to prey on gullible people. It has always been considered wrong and immoral -- until the past few years, when everyone has salved their consciences with the lure of easy money for whatever project. The casino makes money. Everyone else loses, even if the casinos do share millions of their "profits" with governments. I don't want their dirty money.

 The findings of the President's Commission on Gambling ought to have put this issue to rest long ago.

 Debra Demuth
 Hudson, Wis.
 Give bus drivers a break
 I am a transit bus driver in the Twin Cities area, and the two things that really annoy me are:

 1. Oncoming vehicles making a left turn across my path without signaling. Why? Because their left hand is busy holding a cell phone and unable to use to operate the turn signal;

 2. After dropping off or picking up passengers at the curb, I turn on my left signal to get back into the traffic lane, and vehicles won't let me merge. Minnesota law states you must yield to transit buses. Give us a break -- it's the law.

 Gene Erickson
 Little Canada
 Your ad here
 What's wrong with Gov. Jesse Ventura earning a few bucks on the side? There's no law against it. He just hasn't taken the idea far enough.

 He should consider renting out the governor's mansion on weekends for private conferences, stag parties, weddings and Tupperware parties. He could put up a billboard on his Summit Avenue lawn and rent it out to the highest bidder. During press conferences, he could be a pitchman for anything from soap to cigarettes.

 If I were his agent, I'd put out a brand of chewing tobacco and malt liquor with his name on the label. When his gig with the XFL is over, he could do TV and radio ads. Why hasn't he thought of hanging a sign on the door of his state limo or SUV that says, "Your message here. This space for rent."?

 He also could probably make better commercial use of his state-provided Web site. And what about the top of his head? That's a prime spot for running ads.

 Mike Kluznik
 Mendota Heights

 An article in the Hattiesburg (Mississippi) American noted the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio poll showed 41 percent of respondents believe Gov. Ventura is an embarrassment to your state, especially since he is announcing the new XFL football games.

 From an outsider's view, I think it is refreshing to see a governor who is unshackled by tradition and is above board in doing his "extra-curricular" activities.

 Ventura keeps Minnesota in the headlines and is professional in his demeanor while in the public's eye. His opinions during interviews seem sincere and sound. Having a multitalented governor with a sense of humor and a genuine caring for the common man is a true asset.

 In our free enterprise system, I see no conflict in Ventura's extra business interests as long as they don't conflict with his official duties. Surely, Minnesotans know he isn't governor for the money.

 Dr. William W. McKinley
 Hattiesburg, Miss.
 Migrants not helped
 The deal brokered between Mexican President Fox and the Senate Banking Committee is not a trifling issue. They are talking about flooding the unskilled labor market in the United States with virtually millions of people. This in no way will help unskilled and uninsured Americans.

 Repeated studies prove these programs most harm the disadvantaged American, especially poor blacks and American Indians.

 Mexican economists say that a guest worker program is not what their country needs. Such programs have a history of failure, "temporary" migrants frequently stay, and illegal immigrants mix in with legal workers due to lax enforcement measures.

 This program is not about helping migrant workers; this program maximizes profit for growers.

 Dell Erickson
 Minneapolis
 School mandates need separate funding
 Almost all Minnesota school districts are in financial trouble. I am on the school board in District 199, and we are one of those districts.

 The administration and most of the board would like to go back to the local taxpayers and ask for more money. This will do nothing to correct the long-term problem. The real problem is simple: The state of Minnesota has total control over the school districts and we are always at the mercy of the Legislature. We are burdened with mandates that are not funded, such as providing special education. I am not against special education; however, it cost our district approximately $3 million a year more than we receive in funding.

 Such mandates should be funded separately. The way the system is set up now, kids in general education are being punished.

 It is time legislators stop using the education issue as a political issue for the next campaign and get down to work and solve this very important issue.

 The most important thing that we do as a society is to educate our children in order that our state and country continue to progress, not regress. Everyone benefits from educating our children.

 It is time the public get involved and put pressure on the governor and the Legislature to solve this problem before education in Minnesota falls into decline.

 John N. Merritt
 Inver Grove Heights

 May I assume that Superintendent Haro of District 196 [letter, Feb. 9] has the same problem as his peers: lack of more money?

 Doing the "arithmetic" and using his numbers (this could be a standardized test question for all superintendents):

 I have 28,000 students, divided by 4,500 "support" employees. If the average class size is 28 students, how many teachers would I need? How many "support" employees per teacher are left? The answer is 6.2 kids per employee, 1,000 teachers for 28,000 students, which leaves 3,500 "support" employees or 3.5 support employee per teacher.

 As the governor said a year ago, superintendents are the ones with the Ph.D.s; let them figure it out. He did not say he would give them more money.

 I was also amused with teacher McKenzie's productivity vs. pay comparison, using teachers, state workers, legislators and the governor. That is a brain teaser, but this state can support one only "mind" at a time using that logic.

 Michael Boldt
 Burnsville

 I see Dr. Haro is now writing letters to the local newspapers trying to justify giving top district-level directors hefty raises in this district's financially troubled time.

 Here is a district that is (arguably) short of funds, that gave teachers a hefty raise with money it didn't have. The district asked for a second levy within 12 months time to pay for it and again it failed. Now, they give huge raises to directors still asking for more money from the taxpayers and the state.

 There is one answer to all of this, and it is not the formation of the new Budget Advisory Council formed to help the district out of this financial mess. The answer is Haro and most of the school board must be replaced -- and soon.

 Wilton Anderson
 Apple Valley

 In response to Kathleen Macy's Feb. 9 column:

 I'm tired of education bureaucrats wheedling the taxpayers about the sales tax rebates we're expecting later this year. Macy is upset about Gov. Ventura's proposed budget. We are supposed to feel guilty, and she apparently wants to shame us into feeling stingy if we prefer a tax rebate to more state funding for schools.

 In her school district, we are told, utility bills were 37 percent higher than expected, and health insurance costs went up, too. "We can't make do," she says.

 Well, guess what: My home heating bill was 50 percent higher than expected, and my health insurance costs have gone up, too. But I have to make do.

 I am looking forward to my property tax rebate as a way of partly making up for these increased costs. And I don't feel one whit guilty or ashamed about it. I recommend that instead of trying to pry more money out of the hard-pressed taxpayers, Macy and her school district learn to make do like everyone else.

 Suzanne Lechtman
 St. Paul
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Address of original story: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/opinion/let_docs/029937.htm
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