our fighting men and women

Hitler liked oatmeal; Bob likes oatmeal, therefore: Bob = Hitler. Whatever we might say about this experiential learning activity, it certainly isn't hazing. Does someone allege that the students were endangered? (The article makes no such allegation, does it?)

I fictionally assert.

In my original comment on SITD, I mistakenly attributed the piece to Alison Lapper. In fact, the sculpture was created by Marc Quinn.

"A message to our Vietnam veterans"

[Entirely] BY PEGGY BAKKEN • SUN NEWSPAPERS
[ Published June 11, 2009 http://www.mnsun.com/ ]

Saturday, June 13, 2009, will be a special day in Minnesota. Thousands of veterans, their families and friends will gather at the Minnesota State Capitol to honor those who served during the Vietnam era. It’s being billed as Minnesota’s biggest Vietnam veteran event ever.

Those of us old enough to remember Vietnam still ache from the turmoil that ripped our nation into pieces. As a young teenager, news from Vietnam dominated our conversations, our music and our politics.

Weekly death tolls were routinely in the hundreds. Each night’s television newscast began with the number of soldiers killed that day. We were outraged. Hundreds, even thousands of our young men were dying in a jungle we did not know, in a war we did not understand. Our country was consumed by internal violence. Protesters were beaten and killed; cops were killed. Innocent bystanders died as riots erupted throughout the country.

January 1968 was the TET offensive. The Viet Cong launched a tremendous attack during the Vietnamese New Year. Over 500 American soldiers died that week alone. Our tiny farm towns in southern Minnesota lost three soldiers that week.

Among the dead was a neighbor — my best friend’s brother. I will never forget the image of the flag-draped coffin. At the cemetery, the flag was folded into the traditional triangle and handed to my best friend’s mother.

When my cousin came home from Vietnam in 1970, people would insult and mock him and his fellow veterans. He quickly learned to say nothing. It became common practice for our soldiers to remain silent about their service.

The anguish had led to a terrible, regrettable situation. We directed our anger over the war toward our returning soldiers.

When the killing and counting was done, nearly 58,000 American soldiers had died. Some 1,072 were from Minnesota. More than 300,000 soldiers had been injured. Some 2.5 million served in our Armed Forces. These individuals deserved our nation’s gratitude and admiration, but so many did not receive it.

Saturday, June 13, 2009, will be a special day in Minnesota. It is time to issue a long overdue greeting to every Vietnam-era veteran:

“Welcome home, and thank you.”

Peggy Bakken is the executive editor of Sun Newspapers. She welcomes readers’ comments on this topic and any other local issue at any time: pbakken@acnpapers.com, or 952-392-6822.

MN DFL Gubernatorial Candidates - Events

Please send me updates & corrections -- gavin6@gmail.com

Matt Entenza

Tom Bakk

Susan Gaertner

Mark Dayton

Paul Thissen

John Marty

Not officially in:

R.T. Rybak

Chris Coleman

Steve Kelley

Margaret Anderson Kelliher

Erik Paulsen's 3/13/09 email to me

Dear Friend:

Thank you for letting me know of your opposition to the so-called stimulus bill.

I strongly share your opposition to this legislation, and you will be pleased to know that I voted against it when it was considered by the House.

As I said on the floor of the House during the debate on the original bill, we need a real stimulus that will put people back to work - that preserves, protects and most importantly creates jobs. But this big government spending bill does not accomplish this.

An analysis by the nonpartisan CBO found that just 7-8 percent of the infrastructure spending in the plan would be delivered into the economy by the end of this year - and less than half is spent in the first 2 years.

In addition, an extremely low percentage of the plan is aimed at job creation. Instead, the bill essentially turned into a supplemental spending bill and became a grab bag of special interest spending on unrelated items that will not save or create jobs. The bill will fund requests such as $2 million for neon signs in Las Vegas, $4.5 million for an eco park featuring butterfly gardens and gopher tortoises, $500,000 for a dog park, $3 million for a municipal golf course clubhouse, $886,000 for a 36-hole disc golf course, $1.8 million for replacement tennis courts, $6 million for three aquatic centers with water slides .. the list goes on and on. Clearly, we should not be spending more on these programs than on helping small businesses create jobs.

I supported an alternative stimulus plan that would provide relief for Minnesota families and create jobs. The proposal contained a variety of incentives for small businesses to create jobs, including a 20 percent tax deduction for small businesses; a health insurance premium deduction for those who do not get health insurance from their employers; an improved homebuyer tax credit; an exemption to make unemployment benefits tax free; and a variety of other initiatives that would help jumpstart our economy. In fact, analysis showed it would create twice the jobs at half the cost.

I believe both parties in Congress need to work together on real solutions to jumpstart the struggling economy and put people back to work. Congress also needs a "new era of responsibility" in how it spends the taxpayers' money. This stimulus package does not achieve those goals but only adds to the budget deficit.

You can be sure of my continued efforts to grow our economy, put people back to work and restore fiscal responsibility to Congress.

Thanks again for sharing your concerns, as I appreciate hearing from you. Please let me know whenever I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Erik Paulsen
Member of Congress