Skip to Content

William Pappas

Stillwater, MN
Commenter for
4 years 7 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 03/09/10 at 07:43 am in response to Blame game and finger-pointing abound as Minnesota ponders losing out on Race to the Top school funds

You've got to feel a bit sorry for Commissioner Seagren who must advocate for teachers while McClung and Pawlenty demonize their very existance. The reason she is commissioner is that she is an order taker and not an innovator or boat rocker. If Pawlenty really wanted to accomplish something at the Department of Education he would install people there with a record of drive, innovation and independence. How can they expect reasonable negotiations from Education Minnesota when McClung has...

Posted on 03/08/10 at 06:37 pm in response to Blame game and finger-pointing abound as Minnesota ponders losing out on Race to the Top school funds

Mr. Swift your first post nails the problem through it's knee jerk hatred of the teacher's union. Educate Minnesota members are democrats because that party has shown a more fact based approach to education reform as well as sympathy to all working men and women. Republicans can't stand that fact and hate them for it. Pawlenty does not base his education policy on moving education forward for our children, he simply advocates for policies that will hasten the demise of all teacher's...

Posted on 03/05/10 at 06:46 pm in response to Pioneer Press overlords emerge from bankruptcy with nice payday

One of the problems newspapers have is that their parent companies demand 20% returns on their investment. To do this labor always has to be cut. Does anyone care anymore that CEO's make so much money that they actually impact the benefits their workers receive? Not only does Jody get that bloated CEO pay she pays a lot less in tax both in Minnesota and federally due to the Bush and Pawlenty tax cuts. We better make sure that the legislature doesn't raise her tax a tiny bit cause she...

Posted on 03/03/10 at 10:37 pm in response to GAMC: Let's (maybe) make a deal

Dave Olson, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce President, loves that lower cost per unit. That's why he supports outsourcing work that could be done locally to Asian countries. Schools are lowering their cost per unit so much that kids only have to go to school four days a week in some districts. The reality of that cost per unit scenario is that somebody always pays for the decrease and that "somebody" is usually a middle class taxpayer. The reality of lowered taxes (which occurs only in the...

Posted on 03/03/10 at 10:20 pm in response to Budget forecast highlights the vastly different federal stimulus views of Pawlenty and state economist

The commercial construction industry would be nonexistent without stimulus funds. The energy programs, affordable housing, transportation infrastructure and more are allowing tens of thousands of Minnesota construction workers to make a living, pay taxes and afford health insurance. Many of these funds allow projects that are mostly privately funded to get off the ground in light of falling property values. Make no mistake, without stimulus spending there would be no commercial...

Posted on 03/01/10 at 09:20 pm in response to Amid prayers and passionate speeches, House override effort on GAMC fails on party-line vote

Thank you Jeff Klein, you are right on. Right wing religious hypocrites such as Tony Cornish are absolutely furious that the religious community has lined up for GAMC and that the DFL is enjoying their support and praying for an ethical awakening in Republicans frightened of incurring State Republican party wrath with an overide. Talk about trotting out religion. Republicans have made that their fall back issue when ever logic seems to be prevailing.
Republican assertions that...

Posted on 03/01/10 at 09:38 pm in response to Kline talks small businesses at health care summit

You are right Greg. Small Businesses don't want anything to do with health care. They aren't health insurance professionals and even they lack the savy to extract the best from the most corrupt sector of our economy. What small business really wants is a simple public option or single payer or an exchange that is rigidly regulated so that benefits and exclusions are expressly outlined. They don't want more gobbledegook that is simply another deceptive package of for-profit insurance that...

Posted on 03/01/10 at 09:28 pm in response to Poll: MN voters back public option, not Senate health care bill

A public option and even single payer have always polled between 60 and 70%. That's just a fact and whenever you hear a conservative say "the American people don't want a public option or government run health insurance" they are telling another lie. Every small businessman I talk to has a unique tale of another horrendous situation the private for profit health insurance industry has placed them in. Small businesses want to get rid of their health insurance mandate. They don't want to...

Posted on 02/24/10 at 02:03 pm in response to Temporary truce: DFL leaders pull back bonding bill and avoid Pawlenty veto

Pawlenty has to have the Moose Lake expansion in any bonding bill. Without it he is vulnerable to criticism of his incompetant cost-cutting tactics that put sex offenders on the street and in nursing homes earlier in his tenure as the "no new taxes" sherriff. The new Moose Lake sex offender incarceration facility will be his cover for those two tragic errors. There is no logical way that cutting GAMC from the budget can be seen as cost effective. Ultimately that action will cost the...

Posted on 02/21/10 at 02:37 pm in response to Pawlenty dishes out red meat to CPAC crowd

TEAPaw is a presidential contender in is own mind and nowhere else. This guy's views are right in Bachmann's wheelhouse. In fact his 9-iron gaffe may be his undoing. If Republicans overide his veto on GAMC it will serve to illustrate just how out of step he is with the majority of Minnesota citizens. This man could care less about the state for which he serves. Contrary to his assertions he cannot spend his time elsewhere and be a full participant in these critical budget negotiations...