THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT

In Aitkin County in Northern Minnesota we are experiencing record high water in lakes and rivers after torrential rains. We have received more than half a normal year's rainfall in May and June. The ground is saturated, so rainwater is all runoff. Watersheds are flushing into rivers and lakes, overflowing banks and flooding roads, structures, and farm fields. Local and state road crews, state troopers, sheriff deputies, and police officers have been on the scene, providing rescue and emergency services, flagging washouts, protecting lives and property. In this time of trouble let us remember who we depend on. Public servants. Police, Fire, Ambulance. Utility Workers. Well Drillers. Paramedics, Nurses, and Doctors. When wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods strike, the angry cries of those zealots who would "shrink government" are exposed as the rants of cruel fools. As I departed our County Board meeting June 26th I was proud of our Sheriff, County Engineer, and Commissioners, along with their capable staff members. They are committed to our safety, and they serve us well. Today the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State Department of Agricultural representatives were in the County Seat to help coordinate our recovery.

POLITICAL MONEY

A week of punditry has come out of Wisconsin. The recall failed and many are the supposed lessons spreading across the land. My tweet describes an empty suit stuffed with money, who bested the loser mayor from 2010. Too bad Democrats didn't rally with the labor union candidate to defend the right to unionize and bargain collectively. It's not enough just to fight and raise money. We've got to battle smarter and make every dollar and every volunteer hour count. I'm not singing the blues about all that Big Money from billionaires. Truth is, politicians of all stripes have gotten very comfortable with Big Money - Liberal and Conservative Money. How many votes will Charles Koch and his brother cast this November? The same number as you and me! Yes, a lot of distractions have been erected by politicians who think they can fool enough of the people this time. Do you want a picture ID for every voter? Are you shook up about homosexuals marrying each other? We have serious questions to think about between now and November. Questions for citizens who seek out facts, opinions, and exercise their own judgment in making decisions. No amount of money can persuade you otherwise, when you have judged right from wrong. These are the questions on my mind tonight: war, joblessness, child poverty, foreclosures, new graduates with debt, a changing global climate. I want candidates to answer these questions to my satisfaction, before they will get my vote. I have chosen three candidates to support and have sent them "political money." I have urged others to consider voting for these three. I will be at my polling place for the Primary and General Elections, as an election judge, to see that our precinct has integrity. Some things money cannot buy.

MERCHANTS OF DEATH

Why do they hate us? In the novel "Bloodmoney" a young man in mountainous Pakistan near the Afghan border survives a U.S. drone strike on his house, in which the rest of his family is killed. So begins a tale in which a new breed of CIA operatives in the Mideast become the mysterious victims of assassination. These new spies are loaded with money, not appropriated by Congress, but gained through crooked dealing with compromised financial partners. They are able to buy their way into positions of influence in the Middle East. Pilot-less aircraft have been around a long time. For decades kids with model airplanes flew them, and aboard ship we trained our anti-aircraft guns on radio-controlled fighters from World War II. In today's War On Terror the Air Force has gone farther. From a base in Utah, halfway round the globe, technicians, plugged in to the latest intelligence, are targeting sites where suspected Al Qaida members live and travel. Of course in war, mistakes are made, and collateral damage occurs. This week we learned how the President, on Terror Tuesdays, chooses which suspects will be killed in this manner. Indeed, why do they hate us? Men from Saudi Arabia were outraged that the U.S. had placed Air Force fighter aircraft and pilots in their sacred land. Osama bin Laden was one, and 15 of the 19 attackers on September 11 were Saudis. Our Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex creates and supplies weapons from most of the fifty states where disarmament would be an economic disaster. Whether it is the Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG), the Stinger anti-aircraft missle, the IED (Improvised Explosive Device), or the Land Mine, it was invented and manufactured in the USA. We are killing our own - and thousands of others - with our exports to a weaponized world.

AMERICA'S BEST DAYS

On this Memorial Day weekend it is fitting to reflect on those whose graves we decorate, on those warriors whose sacrifice purchased our pursuit of happiness. It is a time for gatherings at lakes and parks - families coming together, and officials pointing to their accomplishments and viewing perceived threats with alarm. One of the frequent phrases that keeps challenging me as I listen to ceremonial addresses and urgent campaign appearances in this election year, refers to "America's Best Days." Always these days "still lie ahead." For a number of years - after crossing that Clinton Bridge into this Century - I have mentally disputed this claim about best days, to myself. After five years of a cruel recession, with college debt now exceeding credit card debt, with stubbornly high unemployment and record housing foreclosures, where ARE these better and best days? Where are the urgent measures to convince us we are getting there? No, I feel the gloom of the discouraged worker, the college graduate back at home without job interviews. The harsh recession brought on by financial manipulation and dishonest dealing on Wall Street keeps on punishing millions of ordinary citizens. So let the lies and the exaggerations about "best days" come to an end. Let us try to remember those who gave so much so that we could have another chance at life and liberty. Let us resolve to come together, help one another, and seek to end partisan, mean-spirited speech. Let us resolve to look to our better angels, to our wiser statesmen, and dig out of these tough times together. Maybe then our days as Americans "won't be so bad."

TAXES ARE PAID

It is April 16th, and I mailed tax returns to the federal and Minnesota state government today. One check and one refund request. I did it myself - not a big deal if you aren't a tax dodger, and if you learned to do arithmetic as a child. The larger question is what are "they" doing with the revenue from our Individual Income Tax submissions? First the Feds: the Pentagon gets the largest share of our "dues." Tax apologists like this writer have called taxes the "dues we pay for a civilized society." Recent news reports have documented what a terrible job the Army has done with its weapons procurement. "Two - two - and half" was the summary. An Army weapons project typically overruns to Twice the proposed budget, takes Twice as long as promised, and delivers Half of the expected performance. Some projects are cancelled only after its Research and Development has been completed. Despite some attempts, we are told that there has not been a complete and successful audit of the total Pentagon budget in many years. Our military readiness continues to be pretty good for fighting the last war and the one before that. We have a lot of tanks and armored personnel carriers, long-range jet bombers (older than the pilots), and twelve aircraft carriers with on-board squadrons of fighters and attack aircraft. Our hundreds of nuclear warheads can be targeted and delivered to potential enemies by a triad - of nuclear submarines, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and piloted jet aircraft from land and sea. We are spending more than the rest of the world on weaponry, so that we can dominate the rest of the world. It is also true that our industrial complex advertises and sells guided missiles, anti-missile radars, combat aircraft, and warships to much of the rest of the world, providing jobs and profits here at home, and also contributing toward conflicts aboard - for our volunteer troops to join. All this in the name of "National Security." I believe it is time to reexamine the trillion dollar spending at the Pentagon. Time at last to audit the books. Time to scale back the military armaments that the United States maintains world wide. It is my opinion that doing so will help us all sleep better at night.

NEW MINING IN MINNESOTA

In the year 2012 our government agencies will face decisions about a new open pit mine and its remodeled taconite plant on a brown field in Northeastern Minnesota. The public discussion surrounding this project has been heating up because the mining location is literally "on the edge of the wilderness."

When a political friend sent out a blanket email with a rallying cry of opposition I recognized that the time had come to invite a thinking response to rhetoric about a threatened disaster.

Here follows the gist of my reply which I sent to the entire distribution list:

Fellow Minnesotans, before you join any "movement," please inform yourselves about the issues of protecting the environment while extracting essential metals from new ore deposits in Northern Minnesota. The environmental impact statement (EIS) to be issued in the next few months will be for the Polymet Mine near Hoyt Lakes. Permit applications to the U.S. EPA and MN DNR are for mining copper, nickel, and platinum group metals (PGM) in an open pit next to the former LTV taconite mine and mill (originally Erie Taconite).

Natural iron ore and taconite are made up of iron oxides and silicates. In close proximity on the east range are ore-grade deposits of copper and nickel sulphide minerals. It is important that sulphide-containing waste rock and tailings from these non-ferrous mines be covered and contained, away from exposure to the atmosphere. If not, sulphuric acid forms in the surface runoff. Acid mine drainage can and must be prevented by mining operators. Government inspectors and regulators must insure that waste water is contained and treated on site. This is a major issue in the permitting process now underway.

Let's avoid slogans and sound bites when we consider policies for Minnesotans that concern environmental safety, jobs, and economic security.

- Gordon O. Prickett, P.E.

DREAM AGAIN, AMERICA

For the immigrant family it was to live a better life. Freedom. A chance to work and get ahead. Unbound by limits, limitations, and customs from the old country. Leaving behind parents, friends, and heritage, they traveled and became - and are becoming - Americans.

Somewhere along the way this American Dream has morphed. It’s been changed by the merchants of property and finance into home ownership, college for the children, and more wealth than your parents had. But hard times have come again, and this modified dream is not sustainable. To the immigrant’s basic needs in his new land - food, clothing, and shelter - we have added “all you can eat,” designer clothes, and 4500 square feet of a new home on several landscaped acres.

It is time for a new American Dream. A dream that is “Good Enough!” For the Earth’s sake, let us try not having it all. Not meeting every kid’s demand or every spouse’s wish.

We sometimes hear that a factor may be “necessary,” but not “sufficient” for a particular outcome. But for our mutual survival on this planet consider this: “Sufficient, (in other words, good enough) is going to be necessary.” A healthy diet - about two thousand calories - simple clothes, and comfortable affordable housing with basic utilities and available transportation. The earth continues to yield its bounty, but now it must support 7 billion human beings. The number of other species on earth is declining and many of its resources are becoming scarcer.

Let us have a new dream for America that is worthy of us in this Twenty-first Century.