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Ginny Martin

St. Paul, MN
Commenter for
5 years 24 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/09/11 at 01:30 pm in response to Think you can balance the state budget? Give it a try

In this budget year, I chose a number of pie-in-the sky actions. But they are good ones and should be considered.
Most of my choices were to raise taxes: put a sales tax on some services, enact a 10% surcharge, increase taxes on both alcoholic beverages and tobacco, return taxes to 1988 levels, increase taxes on high income earners (10.5%), eliminate JOBZ program (it doesn't work), and almost no cuts or elimination of local government aid, medical assistance.
I ended up with a...

Posted on 02/08/11 at 06:34 pm in response to Voter ID is not the only troublesome issue in Kiffmeyer bill, election groups say

Oh, the lengths (and the money they are willing to spend so frivolously in such bad economic times) the conservatives/republicans will go to keep a few Democrats out of the voting places.
Just because a bunch of people think something is a good idea does not mean it is a good idea.
Let's keep on trusting our electorate the way we used to.

Posted on 02/07/11 at 08:52 pm in response to Education leaders laud Dayton's 7-point plan

St. Paul is a leader in developing a "Children's Zone," built on the Harlem children's project, It is 250 square blocks, called "Promise neighborhood, a community wide project that supports children to get an education. It is funded in part by the Wilder foundation and other partners, including the city of St. Paul. This project encompasses neighborhood resources to help children overcome barriers to getting an education. That includes coming from a home where the parents are not able to...

Posted on 02/07/11 at 03:38 pm in response to Education leaders laud Dayton's 7-point plan

It's so welcome to hear our governor back education in general and early childhood education in particular. Art Rolnick and the business community have seen the financial benefits--not to mention the benefits to the children and their families in many other ways. Entire groups of kids are being thrown under the bus for lack of good early education, esp. for those kids who come from disadvantaged homes--financially and in many other ways.

Posted on 01/27/11 at 12:28 pm in response to Chairman Cornish comes out blazing as House committee advances bill to eliminate gun checks

Madness. Guns do not stop violence. Guns kill. And since there are almost no real checks on who purchases a gun, people like the AZ guy buy guns. And so do many others in the belief they are protecting themselves.
Shootouts at Supervalue? In the Capitol among disagreeing, angry congresspeople? Who knows. But deaths go up, not down, when people arm themselves.
Several people had guns at the Giffords event, and no one was able to stop the carnage.
This is a reality check,...

Posted on 01/26/11 at 01:03 pm in response to Bachmann's big night: reaction to her SOTU response

How does "female conservatism" differ from male conservatism?

Posted on 01/25/11 at 01:02 pm in response to Bachmann proposes $423 billion in federal budget cuts

The more people know about and understand the effects of these cuts in the federal budget the more they will oppose them. One reason the opposition to health care reform is fading is that people are beginning to realize how it benefits them. Many are easy to understand--like allowing your children to stay on your insurance until they're 26, or preventing insurance companies from denying, or cutting off, insurance for an ailment or pre-condition.
I predict that by 2012, this shift is...

Posted on 01/24/11 at 05:16 pm in response to Mark Dayton's cabinet choices make it clear: He intends to move fast

I am glad Gov. Dayton is impatient and putting in his cabinet people with the background and experience to move ahead on the people's agenda in every way possible.
I do not support a stadium built with my money, but otherwise, I'm looking forward to how this all plays out.

Posted on 01/15/11 at 04:47 pm in response to Pawlenty book event in Tampa: Buzz in the crowd like Beck or Limbaugh

Bernice Vetsch (I think it was) is absolutely right when she recommended that Minnesotans begin writing letters to the editors of major newspapers in the states Pawlenty visits. We need to help set things straight. We need to let potential voters know that Pawlenty was the worst governor Minnesota ever had--and provide the facts. Unilateral actions, leaving the state with a $6.2 billion deficit (and lying about it), refusing federal money, refusing to meet with DFL leaders to compromise or...

Posted on 01/17/11 at 01:43 pm in response to As King Day approaches, Minnesotans should remember why King went to Memphis

I hear mostly strong conservative views from Cato--certainly on economic issues. And they are in the forefront of the attack on unions and public employees.
Conservatives and republicans have fought unions from the very beginning, including with some vicious, armed attacks on unions. But now public employees are under attack--not just their unions--in a big effort to reduce their ranks and scale down government until it's small enough to drown in the bathtub as Grover so memorably said...