Why does everyone want to be busy? You see it all the time: social media feeds flooded with pictures of this event and that outing, conversations hijacked by talk of how tiring it all is, countless plans forced off the rails by that four-letter word “busy.” The strangest part, though, is seeing how, for all of the complaining about it, no one seems to be doing anything to … [Read more...]
What is liberty?
By Dr. Bryan Van Gorp Rushford, MN Our country is more divided than any time since 1968 when progressive leaders like Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated and there were riots in the streets. Citizens are rarely uniformly conservative or progressive on all issues. People may be fiscally conservative and socially progressive. They may be conservative on … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… Play video games or go to work?
As of December 2017, the unemployment rate in Minnesota dipped to 3.1%. And, according to DEED (Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development), Fillmore County hovers closer to 2.9%. And, if you ask any business owner about their hiring prognosis, they are less and less optimistic about finding candidates to fill their open positions. From 2008 to 2018, we … [Read more...]
Letter about What do we care about?…
To the Editor, We care about ducks. They often fly in flocks, and from a duck’s perspective, this might be a curse, or a blessing. A curse because a fast-shooting hunter might be quick enough to take more than one duck from a passing flight. A blessing, because the sheer density of prospective targets may render the shooter incapable of concentrating sufficiently on an … [Read more...]
Devil’s Advocate…Human connection matters
Have you ever been in a state where your mind feels like it’s spinning without any indication of stopping? You can lie awake for hours at night, thinking of everything and nothing at once because each thought is so fleeting one cannot be grasped firmly enough to pull your mind out of the maelstrom. The compass to give your mind direction on the stormy seas of contemplation … [Read more...]
Where to start? Fix the budget process
You could choose any number of marquee dilemmas to illustrate how broken congressional politics has become. Guns, Russian interference, climate change — Americans want progress on all of them and get little from Capitol Hill. But to my mind, nothing illustrates the dire state of our politics better than how we act on the federal budget. This is not a glamorous issue, but it … [Read more...]
Letter about taking care of the bullying on our school buses…
To the Editor, I have sent emails to the Kingsland School about this. I asked why the buses have no cameras on them that work or even there. They told me once we had them but I guess that is wrong. Don’t we need this to help the drivers and keep our kids safe plus then we know for sure what the trouble was. I’m sure we can get cameras for a lot less than what it will take to … [Read more...]
Impacting lives in southern Minnesota through service
Giving back to our communities is infused in American culture, whether through donating to charity, serving in the military, or volunteering. At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) we are proud to be placing people in service roles across the region through the national AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps, established in 1993, engages more than 80,000 Americans each … [Read more...]
Letter about Pastor Norman Omodt’s commentary…
To the Editor, I share the pastor’s frustration about the inability of Congress to make any progress in combating gun violence. The ability of the gun lobby to neutralize legislators’ efforts simply defies logic. As an example, I note on the next page of the Journal, an ad for Representative Greg Davids. He is soliciting his constituents’ opinions and concerns from a list of … [Read more...]
On Parkland
By Eric Lee Harmony, MN As we reel from the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., one thing is becoming clear. It appears we will return to our tribal corners, and I don’t know what to do about that. I will start by saying that I am a gun control advocate, and I am not in favor of taking away the guns of responsible, law-abiding citizens. I … [Read more...]