US Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has a favorite Bible verse. She likes to quote it in official statements about global warming and the environment, the budget, Martin Luther King Day and Christmas. She also cites this Bible verse as why she is a Democrat. Pelosi claims it is in Isaiah. Here it is: “To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.” So far, no one has been able to find this verse, not even Old Testament scholars. I think she made it up, or someone made it up and told her it was in Isaiah. Either way, it’s probably fake, although I’m not a Bible expert. There are many Bible-based churches in the Herald Journal area. Does anyone recognize this verse?
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
Hannah Montana, a 15-year-old pop icon, is being attacked in the media for photos that Vanity Fair published of her taken during a photo shoot Vanity Fair conducted of the young girl. One picture, in particular, is being held over Montana’s head where she is posed in just a sheet covering the front of her. Shame on the person who told the girl to dress and pose such a way, and the photographer who took the pictures! A 15-year-old doesn’t have the maturity to decipher what will appear trashy and what will not. Montana told reporters that she thought the photo was “artsy.” I can see why she would think that, but by looking at the picture myself, I can’t see how the adult photographer could justify taking such a photo, and how Vanity Fair could publish the image. The magazine had to have known that this was going to start a stir, which means more publicity and more copies sold. Shame on Vanity Fair.
I’m afraid we out here in McLeod County are going to get a $900 million Central Corridor light rail line connecting Minneapolis to St. Paul crammed down our throat despite the odds we will never actually get to ride the thing. I wish legislators would pay attention to some math done by State Rep. Mark Buesgens, (R-Jordan) about the cost of buses. “Even without a government discount or a bulk discount, one can buy a 36-seat transit bus (The CTS rear engine model from Champion Bus Inc. of Imlay, Mich.) for about $120,000. So for the same price for the 11-mile light rail line, you could buy 7,500 buses. These buses are 38 feet long. So the length of 7,500 buses rolling bumper to bumper would be 285,000 feet. The 11-mile route of the rail line is 58,080 feet long. So you could have five lanes of buses cramming University Avenue, bumper to bumper for the same price as the train. Or you could have one lane of buses headed in each direction, bumper to bumper, with 4,500 buses waiting in mothballs until they were needed. Or you could have 100 buses headed in each direction of the 50-block route, with one bus for each block. That would leave you with 7,400 buses in mothballs. With a five-year warranty on each bus, it would take you 375 years to run out of buses. So unless the Central Corridor rail line will be in operation until the year 2383, it might be cheaper to go with buses,” Buesgens said. Let me add a point here, that at least some off the buses in mothballs might be used to serve other routes in the Twin Cities, and we would still come out ahead.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the entire omnibus transportation bill Friday because a provision restricting the REAL ID program that was tucked into the bill wasn’t changed. State Sen. Amy Koch, (R-Buffalo) reported in the April 28 Herald Journal that under a federal law designed to counter terrorism and illegal immigration, states are required to tighten the ID system. The identification system that produces ID cards must have certain residency and identification requirements for card applicants, she said. In the same edition of the Herald Journal, State Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) reported the results of his 2008 legislative survey. He said nearly 93 percent of area residents who responded said Minnesotans should be required to provide their identity with a photo ID as a requirement for voting. Someone tried to get around the will of the people, though, and sneaked a provision into the transportation bill that restricted Minnesota from implementing the REAL ID requirement on the basis of cost and privacy. It’s good that Pawlenty, Koch and Emmer are keeping an eye out for us. I would never have guessed an ID card provision would be in a transportation bill.
DFLers are proposing a new tax on water for the 11-county metro area, including Wright and Carver counties, the heart of the Herald Journal area. It is HF 3590 and is sponsored by State Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis. The House Tax Committee has scheduled a hearing on it tomorrow (Monday, April 28.) The money from the tax taken from cities that have metered water will go to the state to pay for monitoring groundwater statewide. Wagenius’ bill is in ADDITION to the Senate budget proposal to increase the tax 50 cents per million gallons of water. HF3590 is particularly unfair because the tax is not on everybody, just groundwater users in Wright, Carver and the other nine-counties in the metro area. The money will be used anywhere in the state, places that have not been subject to the tax. Also, users of surface water, ag groundwater, and non-metered water won’t be taxed either. Thank you, DFL legislators. Just what we need, another new tax.
McLEOD COUNTY PARKS OPEN FOR THE 2008 SEASON
The McLeod County Parks will officially open on Thursday, May 1st. Park hours are 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. All six parks will be open at that time. They are Buffalo Creek (Glencoe), Swan Lake (Silver Lake), Wm. May Park (Winsted), Stahl’s Lake (Hutchinson), Lake Marion (Brownton), and Piepenburg (Hutchinson). Camping facilities are available at Lake Marion Park (caretaker’s phone 320-328-4479) and at Piepenburg Park (caretaker’s phone 320-587-2082).
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2008 PARK SHELTER RESERVATIONS
All McLeod County Park Shelters will be available on a reservation basis for 2006. To guarantee a shelter for a certain date and time, call the McLeod County Park Office, 840 Century Avenue S.W., Hutchinson, MN 55350 at (320) 587-0770 or 800-587-0770. A $35.00 fee is required to guarantee your reservation.
The picnic shelters are located at the following parks: Buffalo Creek, Glencoe; Swan Lake Park, Silver Lake; Wm. May Park, Winsted; Stahl’s Lake, Hutchinson; two shelters at Lake Marion Park, Brownton; and two shelters at Piepenburg Park, Belle Lake, Hutchinson.
A few brave Dutch irises and snowdrops are debuting in the gardens of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, according to a news release from the Arboretum. A sure sign of spring! Here are more harbingers of the season. We invite you to join in these garden-related fun activities for all ages. Continue reading ‘Consider the beautiful Arboretum this spring’
When I was a kid, weather reports were shown inside TV studios, where the weathercaster stood in front of a big map. When the weather forecaster said, “It’s a beautiful, sunny day,” and the viewer looked outside the window and saw pouring rain, the viewer thought the weathercaster was an idiot. Twin Cities weathercasters got smart (Paul Douglas-bless his soul) and started reporting the weather standing outside where the viewer could see their reports matched the actual conditions. Even if the weather forecaster had to hold an umbrella dripping water all over his shoes, it showed he knew what he was talking about. Today in the metro newspaper, however, a columnist must have written an article about global warming far in advance. It’s called “The heat is on - and that threatens fishing.” While I’m reading the column I’m sitting in front of a big window. It’s snowing like nuts outside, the wind is howling and it’s 28 degrees. The same newspaper is reporting the average low for April 26 is 40 degrees. How believable do you think I considered this column? Not much. Call me a global warming agnostic.
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