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Your View - letters to the editor
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Bill needs to be defeated |
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Friday, 24 July 2009 |
By Dave McIver and Keith Hovland
The most recent changes to the Employee Free Choice Act currently before Congress have not improved the bill. In fact, the changes have made bad legislation even worse. The act must be defeated in order to allow our elected officials to focus on legislation that will actually help this country.
Removing the card check provision of the bill shifts big labor’s focus to the timing of union elections and unfair access to workers.
Currently, union elections take about 40 days. Union bosses claim they need faster elections (five to 10 days). What the union bosses know is that the more time workers have to learn about the union, the less interested they are in joining.
With this bill, big labor will block management from communicating with workers during a union campaign, while union bosses will have even more opportunities to influence the outcome. Right now, management can tell its side of the story in the workplace only, and union organizers have full access to workers outside the workplace. With the act, union organizers will be allowed on company property, but management will receive no additional access to workers. Additionally, a business can be fined up to $20,000 per incident should one person interpret management’s communications as “coercive.” And yet, the act offers no restrictions or checks on anything the unions might say during the election timeframe — whether truth or fiction.
Businesses drive the economic engine of this country by creating jobs and new opportunities. Right now our elected officials need to be able to focus on legislation and initiatives that will improve our nation’s economy, rather than wasting time on non-issues that create obstacles in our collective recovery. This bill needs to be defeated.
McIver is president of the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Hovland is chairman of the Chamber board and general manager of John Deere Seeding Group in Valley City. |
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Relieved that JLG plant in Oakes staying open |
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Thursday, 23 July 2009 |
By Jack Daniels and Jessica Quandt
Oakes
What great news this week! The announcement that the JLG manufacturing plant in Oakes will stay open is big weight off our shoulders.
The JLG plant is an important employer in the Oakes area, so we were relieved when we first heard the news that Sen. Byron Dorgan had asked the company’s chief executive officer to reconsider his decision to close the plant after they received a large Pentagon contract. I didn’t want to be too optimistic, but I’ve known Sen. Dorgan long enough to know that when he talks, people listen.
Sure enough, we got the good news on July 16. Kudos to Sen. Dorgan for his work on this issue, and congratulations also to Oshkosh. Changing their mind was the right call.
With the national economic recession consuming all the media’s attention these days, it’s not often that we hear good news. So Sen. Dorgan’s announcement that Oshkosh Corporation will keep its JLG plant in Oakes open was a welcome relief for a lot of families that rely on those jobs. |
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MeritCare appreciates chance to tip hats to our doctors |
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Wednesday, 22 July 2009 |
By Linda Lane
MeritCare Valley City Clinic staff and physicians read with interest Steve Browne’s recent article in the Valley City Times-Record (“Physician program prolonged,” July 15). We felt it was important to note that Dr. Jithender Kandimalla, MeritCare Valley City surgeon, and his wife, Dr. Sridevi Gowravaram, MeritCare Valley City pediatrician, are actually employed at MeritCare Valley City and have been since July 2006.
As Browne’s article stated, the Conrad State 30 program has enhanced MeritCare and other North Dakota health care organizations’ efforts to recruit physicians to rural clinics in the Upper Midwest. Mercy Hospital and the Valley City community can be thankful this program is in place and is supported by Sen. Kent Conrad, the state health officer of North Dakota and the North Dakota Center for Rural Health.
Sam Myers, MeritCare’s immigration attorney, was instrumental in the development of the Conrad 20 (now 30) J-1 Program. He and his staff continue to work directly with the senator to further enhance and extend the program.
MeritCare Valley City appreciates the opportunity to tip our hats to Drs. Kandimalla and Gowravaram. Your contributions to both patients and community are to be commended and are greatly appreciated.
Lane is the regional clinic manager of MertiCare Valley City, MeritCare Enderlin and MeritCare Valley City Eye Clinic. |
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Perhaps policies just ploys to increase federal spending |
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Tuesday, 21 July 2009 |
By Dustin Gawrylow
Making life more expensive won’t solve society’s ills, but don’t tell that to Congress.
Congress is fast at work enacting massive pieces of legislation that will make living more expensive — and our nation poorer.
On the issue of global warming, the House recently passed a massive tax increase called “cap and trade.” Local electric providers such as MDU have stated this legislation will raise electric rates by 40 percent over the next few years — on top of the pending increases due to the volatile energy market.
Whether global warming is real or not — or caused by humans — it will not be solved by making it more expensive to heat your home. Of course, with higher electric bills comes a greater need for government heating assistance for low- and fixed-income individuals.
Perhaps “cap and trade” is just a ploy to create an artificial need for government assistance.
On the issue of health care, the proposal to tax health care benefits makes no sense at all. Why would the government tax the very thing everyone agrees is too expensive? Of course, it could be more about jealousy than health care.
I suppose there are those who think individuals who receive health care benefits through their employment need to be brought down a notch. But what does such a policy mean to a state like North Dakota, where government employees enjoy some of the most generous health benefits available? How much will they be taxed under the proposed policy to tax health care benefits?
Believe it or not, there is even a plan to tax “soda pop.” While making pop more expensive may cut down on demand — what happens to corn farmers? If demand for pop goes down, demand for corn syrup goes down with it. Of course, this could just be a ploy to demand more farm program spending.
All these policies fail to address the societal ills they are targeting (i.e., global warming, health care and obesity). Instead, they are targeting your wallet and your standard of living.
Yes, Congress is trying to make it more expensive for you to heat your home, go to the doctor or take your family out to eat.
With an agenda like this, you’d think that we weren’t in the middle of an economic crisis.
Gawrylow is executive director of the
North Dakota Taxpayers’ Association. |
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Government should quit making decisions for people |
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Monday, 20 July 2009 |
By Dave Froelich
Bismarck
Government has decided they know more about running a business than those of us who have gotten up on Friday morning and wondered how we’re going to make payroll or replace an expensive piece of equipment.
The difference between a free enterprise system and a socialistic system was once explained to me this way: In a democracy, you have the right to fail. Why is it our government now decides who will survive and who will fail? Billions of dollars went to the automobile manufacturers even though some of the finest business minds in this country told the beltway bunch that the only way for them to survive would be to fail.
Now we have more laws Congress wants to lay on the backs of business. This is just a synopsis of some of those:
· Cap and Trade: Utility bills will increase substantially.
· Employee Free Choice Act: Your right to a secret ballot vote in labor union organization will go away and more jobs will be sent overseas.
· CAFÉ standards: The price of a car plus gas will go up.
· Health Care: socialized medicine with Congress controlling it.
When is ENOUGH ENOUGH?
Maybe it’s time our congressional delegation starts leading rather than following. When will they set the standard that they are going to vote with the people of North Dakota and not the party? |
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Sotomayor’s political agenda clear from her own words |
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Friday, 17 July 2009 |
By Daniel Rugroden
Hickson, N.D.
Sonia Sotomayor is a smart, well-educated attorney. She will not say anything controversial during her hearings. Therefore, one needs to examine her earlier statements to learn if she will be an unbiased, fair Supreme Court justice. And it is obvious from her own words that she has a political action agenda that would impede her ability to make fair judgments.
Section 8 of Article I in the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to make all laws. Article III gives the courts the power to apply the law equally. Sotomayor stated in 2005, “The Court of Appeals is where policy is made.” This arrogant attitude is contrary to the Constitution. These are the words of a left-leaning social activist.
A justice should be color- and gender-blind. Based upon her own comments, Sotomayor is not color- or gender-blind. She has said that a wise Latina would likely come to a better conclusion in a case than a white male. This comment is both sexist and racist. A white man who said white men come to a better conclusion than nonwhite women would be rejected.
The Second Amendment is extremely important to people who want to preserve the right to keep and bear arms. Sotomayor stated the Second Amendment restricts the federal government but not the state government from regulating weapons possession. Her comment indicates she has a problem with gun rights. |
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Urge legislators to vote to audit Federal Reserve |
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Thursday, 16 July 2009 |
By Judy Stahl
Valley City
The Federal Reserve has indebted the American taxpayer for more than $12 trillion in debt by printing money out of thin air to pay for the bailouts, loans and debt that that Congress has created.
This currency competes with the rest of the money in circulation, diluting its value, creating inflation. It would be considered counterfeiting if we did it. But Congress prefers debt with the “hidden” tax of inflation over direct taxes to fund its spending sprees as people tend to blame retail stores, not their congressmen, for price hikes due to shrinking dollar value.
In 1913, Congress created the Fed, a banking cartel, giving up its enumerated power under the Constitution to coin money and regulate its value. The Fed has never been audited, so secrecy abounds. It even enters into agreements with foreign governments and foreign central banks while Congress has no oversight.
The tail is clearly wagging the dog here.
A bill written by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to audit the Fed is HR 1207 (S 604 in the Senate). It has 261 House co-sponsors (only 218 are needed to pass).
Contact your congressman and senators to co-sponsor this bill without amendments and get it out of committee for a vote. |
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