The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition says deep and unacceptable cuts will be made to Minnesota Care Health Insurance that will result in 30,000 working poor who won't be able to purchase insurance. These cuts will increase the number of uninsured during Gov. Pawlenty's term to more than 60,000. The newly uninsured people will still need care, and we will all pay for their delayed, complicated and more expensive care with higher fees and premiums. Child care will lose $70 million, affordable housing aid will be reduced by about 20 percent and low income renter's credit reduced by $66 million.
The governor pledges "No New Taxes" but comes in the back door with "user fees" in order to balance the budget and cuts the poor, working poor and vulnerable of needed service. Why not roll back the tax cuts that were passed in 1999 and 2000? We are now seeing the unjust results. To solve the 2003 budget deficit, the poor. near poor and middle class sacrificed a lot so why shouldn't the wealthiest 43,000 households now bear their fair share? The overall tax rate for the wealthiest now is actually lower than the rate paid by the middle class.
We need to be honest and fair in bugeting that centers on the needs of our people with a revenue plan that is adequate and taxes people fairly. Minnesota has been known to be a compassionate, prosperous state, committed to the common good. Tell your legislators to roll back the tax cuts to 1999 level and fund necessary programs — Minnesota Care, child care, and housing. We need to take back our state and make it a more humane, compassionate state.
No brainer or no brains?
By Jim R. Miller, Winona
As a nation have we gone collectively crazy, or is it just me? I am talking about this Michael Jackson case. The constant coverage on TV news is really ridiculous. Being the resident cynic, I'm wondering if the news people are covering up something important while they're blasting us with this ludicrous almost 24-7 coverage of every detail of the trial. Even Fox News has become "Fair and Unbalanced."
Why do I think it's unimportant? Just try this experiment. Get a list of fourth- or fifth-graders from the local elementary school, pick out a dozen boys, call their mothers, tell them that you are a middle-aged man, and ask if it's OK for the boys to come sleep in your bed with you overnight. Write me a note from your padded cell and let me know how your experiment turns out.
Yes, there is color discrimination in our justice system, but it's not black and white: it's green!
No baccalaureate
By Joanie Heydt-Nelson, Winona
There was no baccalaureate service last week.
As a resident of Winona, I am saddened and disappointed that the area religious community chose to not offer this traditional spiritual send-off to our high school graduates.
Malaria could be halted at a low cost
By Mike Batell, La Crosse, Wis.
A little known fact: every day, malaria produces a human death toll equal to that of the tragic events of 9/11. Yesterday, more than 3,000 people died of malaria in developing countries, the vast majority of them children. More than 3,000 more will die today, as their families agonize over the loss of a son, daughter, mother or father.
What's amazing is that it costs so little to prevent and treat malaria. Bed nets used to prevent malaria cost around $5, and medicines to cure malaria go for about 30 cents a day. The World Health Organization estimates that with funding of less than $3 per rich country citizen, these solutions to the problem of malaria could be scaled up and malaria deaths would be cut in half. Yet right now our elected officials are committing less than $1 a year per American citizen towards fighting malaria. This drastically tiny contribution of 0.002 percent of GDP ranks the United States last among the 22 rich countries of the OECD.
At the G8 Summit on July 6, the U.S. has a rare opportunity to give deeper meaning to our great nation's unprecedented wealth by making an historic pledge to provide $3 per American citizen to fight malaria and live up to our commitment to provide 0.7 percent of GDP towards global health and development assistance. Please contact congressman Gutknecht and Sens. Coleman and Dayton, urging them to help America lead the world in making malaria and poverty history this July.
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