Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Aug. 19

So the Met Council has yet again decided to increase transit fares, not once, but twice in the months ahead (Star Tribune, Aug. 14).

As we invest in new transit lines such as the Central Corridor, fare increases discourage people to choose transit -- something that clearly benefits everyone through the region in the forms of cleaner air and less traffic congestion.

As fuel prices continue to rise, car sales will likely continue to decrease. The only way out of this conundrum is to find a different funding stream for transit service in the metro area. This is what the Met Council should focus on.

The problem is that the Met Council members are not accountable to its riders, or to the residents in the districts they are appointed to represent, but to the governor. Imagine the different approach an elected Met Council might take. Maybe we would even see work done and get decisions made that would actually reflect the needs and the will of the people they are there to serve.

Let's remember this next year when the Legislature will once again have the opportunity to give us the elected Met Council we need and deserve.

CAM GORDON, MINNEAPOLIS;

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER

The letters may represent the pacifism and "peace-at-any-cost" philosophy of the Democratic left. McCain's position might stem from his sense of history of Adolf Hitler's takeover of Czechoslovakia under the pretense of persecution of Germans living in Sudetenland.

SEYMOUR HANDLER, EDINA

A maverick no more I've always had a great deal of respect for the young John McCain as an American hero who suffered as a prisoner of war. No one can ever take that chapter in his life away from him.

But, in 2008, McCain is making comments about his opponent that are out of sync for a war hero. It seems out of a desperate attempt to score political points.

Obama's attraction is all about the inspiration of trust that is lost in the Bush administration that deceived the country and the world. Sadly, this McCain clings to many of the policies of the Bush administration.

Oh, that Bob Barr In reference to the Aug. 15 Letter of the day that castigated the Star Tribune for not providing enough information about third party candidates, such as Libertarian Bob Barr, I would say this: Lest we forget, Barr was the stellar representative in Washington working diligently, as a good Republican, to impeach President Bill Clinton for his sexual indiscretions.

HOWARD KREBS,

NORTHFIELD, MINN.

An Aug. 15 letter writer criticized the Star Tribune for giving extensive coverage to the two major presidential candidates but ignoring the candidacies of Ralph Nader and Bob Barr. Interestingly enough, the letter writer ignored the candidacy of Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney.

GREGORY STRICHERZ, MINNEAPOLIS

She spoke those words to me when I told her our son Jacob was gay. She embraced me and cried with me as I shared the feelings of pain in the ELCA's policy against the gay community.

That night she wrote Jacob a most beautiful letter and in the envelope she tucked old weathered news clippings on gay rights. Somehow she knew those old yellowed clippings would be important one day. They were a precious gift to us all for they told us before she knew Jacob was gay she was there in spirit fighting for him.

The ELCA needs more saints like my mom. Next year, the ELCA National Assembly will convene in Minneapolis. This is the assembly where a vote will be taken on whether or not the discrimination against the gay community continues or ends in this church body. The pastors, bishops and presiding bishop of this church body will have to boldly lead in this next year if they want the policy banning noncelibate gay clergy lifted.

We have talked with many who have feared sharing their true feelings on this policy. They tell us they must remain silent because they are pastor to all. Now they must decide if their silence is truly just and right for their silence does not allow for justice to prevail and the church to live out the embracing love of Christ. I hope they will find it in their hearts to live out the grace of our faith and the beautiful gift of assurance that all are God's children. In living that grace and that gift, we follow Christ's most important commandment to love one another as He loves us all.

Too many have been hurt by this policy. Too many have lost their families and their very lives with this policy. I pray saints like my mom rise up now so next August we will bring an end to this shameful history in the church.

Let's not be too hard on Russia. After all, they may have heard a rumor that Georgia had WMDs.

CORT VIESSELMAN, HUTCHINSON, MINN.

NATO's only option Peter Erlinder's Aug. 16 commentary ("The precedent was set in the Balkans") compares U.S./NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia for its 1999 genocidal activities in Kosovo with that of the Georgian president's recent attack on South Ossetia.

In other words, we have NATO and ourselves to blame for the Georgians violating those precious U.N. principles of "national sovereignty, upon which the U.N. Charter and international law are based." The Russians would agree. For them, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili equals Slobodan Milosevic, and Kosovarian genocide equals the attack on South Ossetia.

Erlander's position seems to be that national sovereignty should always trump concerns for humanity. I find his analogy lopsided.