To the editor,

The people of International Falls wanted change in how the town was being run and that’s why the majority voted Bob Anderson in as mayor and that’s exactly what we’re getting, and all for the better.

Now, the people’s voices and opinions are being heard and they have a say in how things should be done.

What’s all this mean? It means the town is being run the way it should be run. It’s called democracy. You have to have everyone’s idea to have the right idea for a community.

Darren Wallen

International Falls, MN

Dick Polman

Whenever the Republicans target Planned Parenthood, I always remember what Jon Kyl said in the spring of 2011. Because the GOP senator’s lie — and a spokesman’s defense of that lie — nicely illustrates the party’s eternally hostile attitude.

Kyl was on the Senate floor, arguing that the family-planning group should be stripped of its federal funding, when he declared: “If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” Actually, abortions are three percent of what Planned Parenthood does. How was it possible that Kyl could be off by 87 percent? No problem, said Kyl’s spokesman — because the senator’s remark was “not intended to be a factual statement.”

Not intended to be a factual statement... That’s one of the great lines in contemporary Republican politics, and it’s no surprise it was coined in the service of the party’s war on Planned Parenthood.

They can’t figure out how to finance our critical highway and bridge repairs, and they’re hung up on a bill to help women war veterans, but hey, they always make time to go after Planned Parenthood. The organization gets roughly $500 million a year in federal money — for things like Pap tests, sexually-transmitted infection screenings, and contraception — and it serves three million women, a large percentage of whom are poor. With a brief like that, no wonder Republicans view it as a juicy target.

They’ve long been jonesing to cancel the federal money, using abortions as an excuse — even though Planned Parenthood doesn’t spend any of its federal money on abortions (that kind of spending is already illegal), and even though abortions have been the constitutionally-recognized law of the land for the last 42 years.

This time, an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress (clever twist on the word progress) claims that Planned Parenthood illegally sells the tissue from aborted fetuses. The group set up a fake tissue procurement company, and sent fake company employes to a meeting with Planned Parenthood officials to discuss the donation of fetal body parts for science. With the help of a hidden camera, the fake employes seemingly caught them talking about the sale of the body parts for profit. Which, if true, would be illegal.

But the latest crusade has a big problem.

Turns out, the full unedited video does not support the claim that Planned Parenthood illegally sells body parts for profit. Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services states on camera that the group doesn’t profit from tissue donation, and that it only accepts money to cover the costs of tissue collection and transportation. Indeed, those reimbursements are permitted under federal law. And tissue is donated only with the consent of the patient. All told, said Planned Parenthood’s senior director, “This is not something with any revenue stream....Affiliates are not looking to make money by doing this.... No one’s going to see this as a money making thing.”

And when fetal tissue is transported, where does it go? To health labs, where the war against disease is waged daily. So says the American Society for Cell Biology. The tissue is used to develop better treatments for (among others) Parkinson’s, heart defects, hepatitis, and HIV. Government agencies, like the National Institutes of Health, annually provide tens of millions of dollars for fetal tissue research. For reasons that right-wingers apparently cannot fathom, the feds think it’s a good thing to try and save lives.

Actually, there once was a time — believe it or not — when Planned Parenthood had bipartisan support. Richard Nixon signed a family planning law in 1970, mandating federal bucks for Planned Parenthood Peggy Goldwater, wife of conservative icon Barry, was a founding member of its Arizona affiliate. The senior George Bush, way back when he was a Texas congressman, talked so much about family planning that he earned the nickname “Rubbers.”

But today’s culture war takes no prisoners. Sane Republicans have long warned that the GOP’s obsession with Planned Parenthood is a political loser, that it alienates women voters, that (in the words of former George W. Bush strategist Mark McKinnon) it makes the party look “narrow, intolerant, and backward.” No matter. For conservative Ahabs, Planned Parenthood is the white whale.

In this culture war, all verbal ammo is welcome. Including the kind that’s “not intended to be a factual statement.”

Copyright 2015 Dick Polman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.org/polman) and a “Writer in Residence” at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com.

Rep. Rick Nolan

We’re fed up with dial-up. The Internet’s more than a quarter century old, and half of rural America still isn’t wired for high-speed broadband. Yet there is still no clear Congressionally approved plan, no strategy and no single federal office responsible for connecting millions of under-served people and businesses. It’s time for an upgrade – and it’s time for Congress to provide the necessary funding. We’ve taken a big step forward with introduction of my Rural Broadband Initiative Act (H.R. 3152)

The need could not be more clear. High-speed broadband isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity required to help grow our small town rural economy and compete, start new businesses, create new jobs, attract new people and modernize the education and health care services so essential to quality of life.

Patterned after the New Deal’s Rural Electrification Administration (REA) that began connecting rural America to the electrical grid in the 1930’s, our bill lays the foundation for new funding and a coordinated federal strategy to bring 21st Century high-tech communications services to millions of under-served rural people and businesses.

Our plan is to centralize key rural broadband grant and loan programs under one Office of Rural Broadband Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With a new Under-Secretary appointed by the President, the office would administer roughly $724 million in rural broadband grant and loan programs. Regulations would be streamlined, and local and state governments would have a one-stop shop for help in connecting their areas. Just as importantly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would have a central information clearinghouse to help them better utilize some $4.5 billion in federal resources specifically targeted to expand broadband to rural areas.

As a tourism destination, we understand the concern state lawmakers and resorts are voicing about the potential early closure of the Mille Lacs Lake walleye season.

Clearly, the early closure of the walleye season there will impact the economy of the area. And, as a place that relies on the draw of our fisheries for economy, we understand and have sympathy.

However, closing the season early is an attempt to protect the rapidly declining walleye population on — and future tourism draw to — Mille Lacs Lake.

Gov. Mark Dayton and some lawmakers are considering calling a special session of the Legislature should the walleye season close. And while we understand the potential impact of closing the walleye season, we wonder if a special session is jumping the gun just a bit. And some lawmakers have suggested the session be called to also talk about the economic impact to the Brainerd area tourism economy because of storms there recently.

But we must agree with House Speaker Kurt Daudt who said offering assistance should be considered, but it must the the right kind of assistance. He suggested a working group of lawmakers come together to consider the best ways to assist the communities before the Legislature convenes in special session.

Natural resource based industries know the risks. Wind, water, warmth and cold can influence the success of any given season. Just take a look at the impact flooding in tourism communities along the northern border had on communities from Lake of the Woods to Crane Lake last year. And, we’ve seen the role warm and or wet winter weather can play on the logging communities of northern Minnesota.

We encourage Dayton to take up the invitation offered by Mille Lacs Lake state Reps. Dale Lueck and Sondra Erickson to come fishing.

“While Mille Lacs Lake is known for walleye, the lake is also rich with northern pike, smallmouth bass and prize muskies,” they wrote to Dayton.

Maybe some great ideas would surface, along with a few fish, that would help suggest different paths for the tourism industry there. Could measures be taken encourage better walleye recruitment? Are there too many resorts or homes along the lake? Are there too many anglers seeking walleye when angling for other species could be encouraged to lessen the impact on walleye?

Rainy, and other neighboring lakes, are still known for their great walleye action, while in recent years, angler interest in northern pike and muskie has grown. And in recent years, the draw to our smallmouth bass has been real boon to the tourism economy here.

There’s plenty to consider when it comes to the Mille Lacs Lake walleye closure. But a good start to the homework needed might involve our governor wetting a line there and our state leaders having a brainstorming session before convening the Legislature in a special session.