I just think everybody should be aware of what their government officials are doing. It's a check and balance.

Only if we have an educated electorate can we have a truly democratic form of government. We need to check on them (public officials) or we'll lose it all.

It would be hoped that the minutes are an accurate reflection of the actions taken by the governing body. But the minutes are just the tip of the iceberg.

The governor has said he will not balance the state budget on the backs of government workers, but he has also said that all across the state, families are doing more with less and they expect their government to do the same. Faced with a $6 billion deficit, we don't have a choice.

Companies have budgets to balance as well, but unlike the federal government, we can go out of business.

Regardless of the gender of the highest wage earner, the balance of power in the relationship will suffer if the higher earner uses control of the purse strings as a system of reward and punishment. It will also suffer if the lower earner takes a chippy, haughty attitude to spending money they haven't actually generated themselves.