The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

January 23, 2009

Our View — A strong voice from Minnesota

Thumbs up: To Sen. Amy Klobuchar for attaining a position on the important Senate Judiciary Committee.

She will participate in the committee’s vote Wednesday on the nomination of Eric Holder to be attorney general.

Klobuchar, a first-term Democrat, is the first Minnesotan to serve on the panel in nearly 75 years. She is filling one of the seats left vacant by Vice President Joseph Biden and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

She has made great strides during her term, and as Minnesota’s lone senator right now as the battle continues between Norm Coleman and Al Franken for the other Senate seat, our state needs a strong leader in Washington.

Klobuchar also keeps her seats on the Agriculture and the Environment and Public Works committees.

Student initiative strong in St. Peter
Thumbs up: To the St. Peter High School students who took it upon themselves to extend Martin Luther King Day to more than just Monday. Senior Lizy Bryant and junior Susanna Holmstrom met with teachers and classmates to organize events and activities that extended into Wednesday.

The interest shown by students in MLK, confirmed by their initiative and their participation after Monday, weighs in as a proud moment for St. Peter schools and an example worth emulating elsewhere. Great American history-makers, and important American events, should inspire more young people generally. They become better citizens and better future leaders when they’re impressed with the past and in the way it has shaped us into the nation we’ve become.

Note to students everywhere: Presidents’ Day is Feb. 16.

Generosity shines on Christmas wish
Thumbs up: To those who offered to provide 9-year-old Cham Omot a piano for Christmas after her wish appeared in The Free Press as part of a student essay exercise.

The fourth-grader whose family is Sudanese had written a holiday wish essay that showed her desire for a piano so she could “play all kinds of music and play for my family. It would cheer me up when I’m sad,” she wrote.

Her family had some half dozen offers from people wanting to provide a piano. They accepted two. It’s a heartwarming story that we’re sure gets played over and over again given the generosity local residents have shown in the past.

New openness in Washington refreshing
Thumbs up: To President Barack Obama and his staff for ushering in what so far promises to be a new era of openness for public records in Washington.

In what the Federation of American Scientists called a “breathtaking series of statements and executive actions” Obama has reversed the secrecy presumption that had taken hold in Washington when John Ashcroft had become attorney general during the first term of President George W. Bush.

Ashcroft had set a policy that if there was a “defensible argument” some document should be kept secret or closed, then it should be closed. That policy forced those seeking public information to file federal lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests to get public information.

A language of rejection
Thumbs down: To the organizers of a campaign in Nashville to make English its required language. The issue was brought to a vote in the city and failed; the vote was 57 percent against and 43 percent in favor.

Proponents of the measure argued that making English the mandatory language would save money because translation services would be reduced. However, the Civil Rights Act requires agencies that receive federal dollars to provide free translation services, so it’s more likely money would have been lost had the measure passed. (Just an aside: The special election cost taxpayers $300,000.)

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