By Holly Haugen
Fargo

I would respond to Brian Kalk’s recent opinion piece if I only knew what the heck he was trying to say.
I have read the letter over and over and still come away shaking my head. It is the single most amazing fluff piece of writing by a politician I have ever seen.
Kalk spends half the article bragging about his military past. He spends the rest of the article blaming anyone and everyone for being unable to solve the problems of the world.
The one thing I come away with is that Kalk thinks our current military isn’t big enough to do all that we are asking of it (I should amend that – it isn’t big enough to do all that George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld asked of them since we’re still trying to find a way out of their mess).
It almost seems like Kalk is hinting at a military draft.
If that’s the case, I hope he has a second occupation lined up.

By Max Laird
Grand Forks

I know Brian Kalk and respect him personally and his service to the country.  I am disappointed that he has taken this generalized shot in hopes that it sticks to the present administration. There is plenty of concern to go around about this issue.
In his op-ed, he complains that the politicians in Washington are avoiding the “politically tough national defense decisions.” He blames “others” for overtaxing our National Guard without noting it was George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who launched a discretionary war in Iraq and ignored the chaos in Afghanistan.
The bungled war on terror lies directly at the feet of Bush and Cheney. We could throw Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld in there, too. If Brian wants to make a political statement on Iraq and Afghanistan, he should at least be upfront and honest about who, what, when, and where.

By Duane Stahl
Valley City

A friend e-mailed this, attributed to a cartoon: “We’re going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president that also hasn’t read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s nearly broke. What could possibly go wrong?”
(Question: With a $12 trillion dollar deficit, why does it say “nearly” broke?)
The Congressional Budget Office says the “free” care will be carried by the left’s usual pack animal and estimates premium increases of about 13 percent for America’s middle-class work force. These higher rates will be paid only by the “wealthy,” though. (And, like Social Security, the definition of “wealthy” will constantly change, so more and more will pay more and more.)
We’ll argue about the details: abortion, “public options,” illegal aliens, penalties, doctors’ pay, etc. These will be added, subtracted, modified to get just the right number of votes with the least electoral damage.
Besides, it doesn’t matter. The rules will be written later, after “something” passes and the next election is over. With 2,000 pages and much general language, hundreds of committees and boards will need to “interpret” its provisions.
Hammer Congress: Defeat this unconstitutional monster and work on reducing the $12 trillion deficit.

By Richard Van Eck
Grand Forks

I want to thank Democratic state Sens. Tracy Potter, Tom Fiebiger and Tim Mathern for being willing to take on big companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield.
The abusive policies of the health insurance industry have gone on for too long: denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, dropping coverage for those who cost them too much, and squelching competition every chance they get.  Now Congress is poised to pass legislation that will finally provide competition in buying health insurance, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota seems bent on doing all it can to block it.
The recent mailings to policyholders with false claims and deceptive statements (since the legislation is a work in progress, no one can say unequivocally what it will or will not do), paid for with dollars from policyholders’ premiums, is reprehensible.
Perhaps if Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota spent less of its obscene profits on lobbying and more on improving the health care of its stakeholders and streamlining costs, we’d all be better off.
They deserved to be called out and I’m glad that the senators stood up to Blue Cross Blue Shield on behalf of North Dakotans. It’s about time somebody did.