Senate Honorees: Senator David Hann.
House Honorees: Bruce Anderson, Mark Buesgens, Steve Drazkowski, Tom Emmer, Ron Shimanski.
Honorable Mention: Eastlund, Holberg, Hoppe, Kohls, Scott, Severson, Smith, Zellers
Legislators were evaluated for their voting records on 20 different key issues; ranging from tax and bonding proposals, to energy policy, election law changes and medical regulations.
Continue reading →
Race to the Abyss ©Greta Anderson 2009
The state of Congress, 2009.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT is in serious trouble. An out-of-control Congress that serves special interest lobbies has overtaxed citizens, created a swollen bureaucracy, torpedoed the national economy, and created unequal justice. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, Version 4.0 by Dr. Gordon L. Anderson, LEA Chairman, shows how and why this has happened and what we can do to fix it.
Anderson argues that government is a “social operating system.” The main purpose of any sustainable and legitimate government is to protect the citizen’s free pursuit of happiness. The U.S. Constitution, which Anderson calls Version 3.0, was written for a much simpler and more agrarian society. However, various “viruses” have entered into government and hijacked it, by sabotaging and ignoring original constitutional safeguards and creating new unchecked centers of power that did not exist at the founding.
Continue reading →
Above: (left) Senator Ray Vandeveer speaking after receiving his award, (center) Keynote Speaker Alfred Pekarek explains climate change and energy issues, (right) Representative Mike Beard and others with Dr. Pekarek after his presentation. Below: 2008 Gordon Anderson presents Senator Jungbauer his award, Sue Jeffers presents Sondra Erickson her award, Ben Hedberg presents Mark Buesgens his award, and Viola Maehren presents Joyce Peppin her award.
The 2008 LEA Awards Banquet was held on February 19, 2009 at the Kelly Inn. Following the social hour, the invocation by Rev. James Bard, and the dinner, awards were presented. The recipients are:
Senators: Chris Gerlach, David W. Hann (100%), Debbie J. Johnson, Michael J. Jungbauer, Amy T. Koch, Warren Limmer (100%), Julianne E. Ortmann, Ray Vandeveer
Representatives: Bruce Anderson, Michael Beard, Laura Brod, Mark Buesgens (100%), Matt Dean, Chris DeLaForest, Steve Drazkowski, Rob Eastlund, Tom Emmer, Sondra Erickson, Brad Finstad, Pat Garofalo, Tom Hackbarth (100%), Mary Liz Holberg, Joe Hoppe, Paul Kohls, Mark Olson (100%), Joyce Peppin, Marty Seifert, Ron Shimanski, Kurt Zellers
Following the election of new board members the Keynote Adress was given by Dr. Alfred Pekarek, Associate Professor of Geology at St. Cloud State University. Continue reading →
Keynote Address given by Dr. Alfred Pekarek, Associate Professor of Geology at St. Cloud State University at the 2008 Award Dinner.
Dr. Alfred Pekarek, Keynote Presentation on “Climate Change & Energy”
Climate Change and Energy
INTRODUCTION
About 20 years ago, a small, but vocal group of scientists raised the issue of supposed anthropogenic global warming. A willing media picked up the cry and popularized it into a media event. About 15 years ago, the rest of the scientific community started to react, exclaiming, “wait a minute”, “you don’t have all the data”, “there are other explanations”.
In the last 5-10 years, we have heard ad nauseam that there is a scientific consensus— that anthropogenic global warming is real, that man is causing the earth to warm at an alarming rate by the burning of fossils fuels, that we are nearing a tipping point after which we are doomed. That consensus arose out of the UN’s IPPC group of 2500. However, in that group there are only about 300 qualified scientists. At the same time, dissenting groups of scientists numbering 100’s to 1000’s, and in one case, lOs of 1000s have disagreed.
Continue reading →
by Gordon L. Anderson, Ph.D.
Many writers confuse a free market with a laissez-faire (or leave alone) approach to the market. This is a serious mistake. A free market only functions with a level playing field, or “planned competition” as Friedrich Hayek, referred to it in The Road to Serfdom. Laissez-faire is what Thomas Hobbes called “the state of nature.” This is a state in which the strongest take what they can from the weak. In the state of nature there is no legal order. In the United States we might think of the Wild West in the nineteenth century or some inner city areas where gangs freely roamed in the twentieth century. Or, we might think of the formation of the Russian mafia after the collapse of communism.
The goal of a free market is to allow everyone to compete in order to provide the most desirable goods and services at the lowest prices. Continue reading →
Senate: Chris Gerlach, David W. Hann (100%), Debbie J. Johnson, Michael J. Jungbauer, Amy T. Koch, Warren Limmer (100%), Julianne E. Ortmann, Ray Vandeveer.
House: Bruce Anderson, Michael Beard, Laura Brod, Mark Buesgens (100%) Matt Dean, Chris DeLaForest, Steve Drazkowski, Rob Eastlund, Tom Emmer, Sondra Erickson, Brad Finstad, Pat Garofalo, Tom Hackbarth (100%), Mary Liz Holberg, Joe Hoppe, Paul Kohls, Mark Olson (100%), Joyce Peppin, Marty Seifert, Ron Shimanski, Kurt Zellers. Honorable Mention: Bob Dettmer.
written by David Barnhizer, A nationally recognized legal scholar
Abridged and synopsized by Dale Nathan*
INTRODUCTION
Rather than symbolizing Justice as a blindfolded goddess carefully weighing the evidence in legal disputes to ensure fair and unbiased outcomes, it has become more accurate to visualize her with blindfold askew, sneaking glances to see who places the most money or other tribute onto her scale to tilt the balance in their favor. If blindfolded Justice is the abstract symbol of independent and equitable decisionmaking, the judge is the concrete manifestation of the process through which we attempt to attain justice and fairness. Achieving justice through the judicial mechanism requires independent and principled arbiters free of corrupting influence.
Above: 2007 Award Recipients Bob Dettmer and Mary Holberg, LEA President Gordon Anderson and Secretary Walter Klaus Below: Mary Kiffmeyer gives her keynote address at the LEA banquet
2007 HONOREES
Senate: Hon. Mention: C. Gerlach, R. Vandeveer.
House: B. Anderson, M. Buesgens, C. DeLaForest, B. Dettmer, R. Eastlund, T. Emmer, S. Erickson, T. Hackbarth, M. Holberg, P. Kohls, M. Olson, R. Shimanski, M. Siefert, S. Sviggum, K. Zellers.
Hon. Mention: M. Dean, B. Finstad, J. Hoppe, D. Simpson.
2006 Minnesota LEA Award Recipient Phil Krinkie greets banquet speaker U.S. Congressman John Kline
2006 HONOREES
Senate: Bachman, LeClair; Limmer.Hon. Mention: Gerlach, Reiter
House: Anderson, B.; Buesgens, M.; DeLaForest, C, Dettmer, B., Eastlund, R., Emmer, T., Krinkie, Olson, M., Peppin, Vanderveer.
Hon. Mention: Dean, DeLaForest, Erickson, Holberg, Johnson, J., Klinzing, Kohls, Newman, Paulsen, Seifert, Westrom, Wilkin , Zellers