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SHHHH! While we listen to words of wisdom from a wise man.
Conscience is the light of the Soul that burns within the chambers of our psychological heart. It is as real as life is. It raises the voice in protest whenever anything is thought of or done contrary to the righteousness. Conscience is a form of truth that has been transferred through our genetic stock in the form of the knowledge of our own acts and feelings as right or wrong. A virtuous and courageous person can alone use the instrument of conscience. He or she can alone hear the inner voice of the soul clearly. In a wicked person this faculty is absent. The sensitive nature of his / her conscience has been destroyed by sin or corruption. Hence he or she is unable to discriminate right from wrong. Those who are leading organizations, business enterprises, institutions and governments should develop this virtue of the ability to use their own conscience. This wisdom of using the clean conscience will enable them to enjoy the freedom.
Dr APJ Kalam, President of India given during the inauguration of the seminar on “THE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
8 Comments:
>>> "John Krenik" JFK4MN ( at ) aol.com 5/22/2007 12:39 PM >>>
Hi All,
In the St. Paul Pioneer Press it was reported (5-21-2007) that in the
middle of the night, with just 18 hours from the close of the
legislative session, Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, proposed a tax
increase that would have increased the tax on beer, wine and liquor sold
by the drink in St. Paul to 12.5 percent from the current 9.5 percent.
A link to the story,
http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_5950134?nclick_check=1
The shocking thing about this proposed legislation was it was passed in
a Minnesota House-Senate conference committee around 3 A. M. on Monday
WITHOUT public testimony. This legislation would have given the St. Paul
City Council authority to levy an additional 3-percent sales tax on food
and alcoholic beverages sold in the city's bars and restaurants,
starting Jan. 1.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press also reported Mayor Chris Coleman and some
City Council members vetted this new tax privately. The Pioneer Press
stated Mayor Chris Coleman was tight-lipped about the proposal. Kathy
Lantry said she has discussed the idea of the food and liquor tax
increase with council members.
This effort by Mayor Chris Coleman and Kathy Lantry and Senator Mee
Moua is yet another sign that their policies are not working. This tax,
along with the smoking ban would have had a devastating impact on bars
and restaurants in the city of St. Paul and would have pushed them to
the brink of extinction. St. Paul bars are already maxed out compared to
the surrounding communities.
For me this was the last straw, trying to pass a tax increase in the
middle of the night on an industry that is already hard hit by the
smoking ban. The full Senate voted early Monday evening to take out the
food and beverage tax amendment, which had been slipped into the big
end-of-session tax bill.
As a resident of St. Paul, I am very concerned at the high level of
taxes paid by the good citizens in St. Paul. This tax and spend
mentality has got to stop. I understand LGA has been cut in St. Paul,
but with our own budgets, when the money does not flow we all must cut
back and live within our means. The very thought of this beverage tax
increase being vetted by Mayor Coleman and city council President Kathy
Lantry is shocking. The method in the way they went about this tax
increase it is even more shocking.
I will be making a major announcement in the near future about the
future of St. Paul. This tax and spend mentality has got to stop. The
inability by our current city leaders to run this city is a great
concern to the citizens of St. Paul. I have NO confidence in the mayor
and city council president to lead our city after this blatant display
of taxation without representation. This action by the mayor and city
council president to tax an already hard hit industry is totally is
wrong.
The city of St. Paul needs leaders who can think outside the box to
solve the financial difficulties the city is currently facing without
taxing the people and businesses to death. This reliance on taxing the
people to death or raising their taxes in the middle of the night is
simply another sign at how out of touch our current leadership is in St.
Paul.
Our business community needs to have a mayor who will support them, not
work against them. If this trend continues, we will not have any
businesses left in St. Paul. Taxing people and businesses to death is
not the key to solving the financial difficulties St. Paul is facing.
The only thing such punitive taxing will do is force people to move out
of St. Paul and businesses will close. Then who is the city going to go
after for their tax money? Will our current city leaders then they ask
the state for a bailout?
It is easy to tax and spend other's people's money, but it is far more
difficult to reassess the current spending in the city and align your
budget with the income that is actually coming in. This move by Mayor
Coleman and City Council President Lantry and Senator Moua is not the
correct path the city should be taking.
Sincerely,
John Krenik
Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota
From: Kathy Lantry Date: 2007-05-25 02:11 (UTC) Short link
Wow where to begin!! Per usual John provides just enough information to
make the "facts" conform to his thought process.
I will tell you what happened as I was in attendance. Last Tuesday or
Wednesday-sorry I don't remember which day-I was approached by the
administration informing me that Sen. Moua MAY introduce legislation
that would give authority to the city of St. Paul to impose a 3% food
and beverage tax. Because the situation was so fluid, no one knew
whether or not this was actually going to occur. Senator Moua understood
the predicament the city of St. Paul is in regarding our budget. If the
legislature was able to get more Local Government Aid for cities then
the food and beverage tax would not have to come forward. The message
that we (Council and Mayor) sent to the legislature is that we need
additional LGA and if we didn't get it then the burden would fall
squarely on property tax payers.
Just so we are clear-a 3% food and beverage tax was not my idea. My job
was to let all of my colleagues know that the authority may be given to
us. This was done so that it would not be a surprise to anyone down
here. I did not ask people to be for it or against, just that they knew
it may come forward.
Now let's talk about why we are in this predicament. John suggests that
when times are tight, the government should do what everyone else
does-cut back. I couldn't agree more and the fact is-we have cut back.
The problem with the model that says if you don't have the money then
you do less. I can't wait to use this logic on a constituent that
wonders why an ambulance isn't arriving or the police aren't coming to a
call. I'll just tell them that in tight budget times we all have to do
our share and we have politely asked all criminals to behave because we
don't have the money to deal with them. The city of St. Paul has a
budget gap of $16 million (using no other solutions, that would
translate into a 22.8% property tax increase). The gap is in our General
Fund-remember what is included in our general fund-(in order of dollars)
Police, Fire, Parks, Libraries, Technology, City Attorney, General Gov.
Accts, Human Resources, NHPI, Council, Financial Services, Mayor's
Office, Public Works, LIEP, and Citizen Service. Of that total, 66% is
police and fire. So if we are going to make cuts proportionally, police
would take a 39% cut of the $16 million which is $6.2 million, fire
would have a 27% cut translating into a $4.3 million cut, Parks is 14%
so that is a $3.3 million cut and Libraries about 9% or $1.4 million. In
most city departments our biggest cost is people so the only way to cut
is to cut human beings. This is especially true in police and fire where
over 80% of their budget are salaries. I know none of this info is new
to anybody but as you look at these numbers, you tell me where to cut.
When Mayor Coleman was first elected he put together a group of CEO's to
take a look at the budget. They said the city had a revenue problem-not
a spending problem.
I don't know what the final number on LGA is from the state and I am
hopeful that it will close part of the gap. The rest of it will be
closed as we have done in the past-cuts, raising some fees, and property
taxes.
I'm just curious about the contention that bars and restaurants would
be devastated by this tax because it is in addition to the smoking ban.
I know this statement has been offered before on this forum and I don't
ever recall anyone giving any evidence that multitudes of bars and
restaurants are now shuttered due to the fact that you can't smoke in
them. I am not suggesting that 3% may not be a burden and probably
wouldn't help but let's think about this for a moment. Can anyone off
the top of their head tell be what the food and beverage tax is in
Bloomington or downtown Minneapolis? Do consumers make their decisions
based on how much a municipality charges? Personally I haven't but
perhaps there are others that can rattle off the various taxing amounts
and use them to base their dining out decisions on.
Thanks,
Kathy
I know many waitresses. They are concerned this will effect their tips!
Please let's not turn this into a roast Kathy thread. Tax alternatives or other positive input would be great!
Don't ya just love em? We have a revneue problem not a spending problem! I have news for ya Kathy....when ya have a revenue problem and ya don't cut your spending, your reveniue problem turns into a spending problem....just thouhgt you'd like to know. That's how it works in the real world.
On another point, when you talk about having to ask criminals to behave cause you don't have the money to deal with them, well I have a news flash for you Kathy. You don't deal with them anyways, your too busy blaming landlords and tearing down houses and making sure that none of these 10 year olds are never ever going to be held responsible for anything in their lives until it comes to that tragic moment when they lose it for a second and wind up in trouble. Oh and by the way....your budget problems are a whole lot bigger than 16 million dollars, why don't you be honest about it?
Running the city is easy. While I couldnt find any guiding principles on the city's web site, all they have to do is follow the cardinal virtues inside the dome on the Cathedral: JUSTICE, TEMPERANCE, PRUDENCE, AND FORTITUDE (in this case Temperance means discipline and restraint, so don't worry).
This administration has created most of its own expensive problems, lost support, and has stirred up a swarm of angry hornets. The cunningness about the alcohol tax proves the point
All they need to do is treat people fairly, use common sense, and work with people.
"All they need to do"....boy you make it sound so easy. In reality, they project their misdeeds off onto other people, that's the "all time favorite" for people with dysfunctions. Don't believe it? Do a Google search on it, read about it and thenv turn on your TV on Wednesday nights and watch them in action. They are on the city cable channel. All the bad things they say about others that come before them with problems are a mirror image of them.
This used to be a nice town where you could live a good life and get along with people, even if you did not have the money to keep the only hosue you could afford in the ghetto to the standards of the "Battle Creek" area or "Lake Phalen." Not any more! The only thing you have to look forward to is when you get old you had better make sure you have a ton of money to keep your house completely up to code, or the city will teaqr it down for you. Then you can go die in a nursing home or an assited living faciltiy and hear about what a favor the city did you cause your saftey was at risk. Fuck all you politicans, you're a bunch of spineless nothings!
Or you get taxed out of the home which is going to start happening very soon. Then Kathy Lantry will all the more complaints to take in her office.
I have managed large numbers of people on a regular basis.
If you do it right, it is fun, easy, and rewarding.
There is also no room for error. You have to know what you are doing. An ounce of prevention is worth several tons of cure.
This administration is functioning at the lowest rookie levels, and making the most basic idiotic rookie mistakes, such as trying to control people through public humiliation, trying to get positives through negatives, and trying to outsmart people. They have opened more than a couple Pandora's boxes and are going to get eaten alive through a growing revolt. The thune-er we can get rid of thsi administration, the better.
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