Netlets for Wednesday, Nov. 19

Do we need an atlas, or truth? Saturday's letters contained one from "former newspaper man" Bob Lundegaard railing against Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain and the media. His argument is based on the reports that, after the election, McCain staffers anonymously stated that the governor did not know Africa was a country, and she did not know the countries involved in NAFTA. It is obvious that the letter writer suffers from the same abysmal reporting tactics as the media.

Lundegaard states that the media "deliberately withheld facts that may have influenced" voting decisions. True to journalistic form, his statement confirms that the real facts aren't that important. What matters is the juicy story. If facts happen to enter in to it, that's a plus! These two comments by McCain staffers were, first, hearsay. To take anonymous, third party statements as unquestioned fact is terrible journalism. Subsequent to these "revelations" of Palin's supposed ignorance, the anonymous accusations have been thoroughly disproved. But Lundegaard, being a former "newspaper man," knows there is really no need to investigate anything; or look into the potentially false statements by "anonymous sources"; or question why these sources chose to make their statements anonymously.

Now, take Palin's counterpart, Sen. Joe Biden. He is on camera saying that "this election is about a three-letter word, and that word is J-O-B-S." He also said that we are responsible to all "58 states" in the United States. He later said he was exhausted when he made this comment. Sorry, but no level of exhaustion has ever caused me to forget the number of states in my country! These are only two of several occurrences of faux pas by Biden. Does Lundegaard recall these statements?

In the media today, there is no longer a paramount need for investigation or validation in stories. This election is a perfect example of an unwillingness to fairly investigate anything newsworthy. For example, while we endlessly heard about the cost of Palin's clothes, we never heard a word about Barack Obama taking more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from the later "bailed out" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- far more that any other politician. We didn't hear word-one about the resistance to financial oversight by the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd -- Obama's partymates. Rather what we heard was Obama's disparaging of "Wall Street greed" and the Republicans' lack of financial oversight. These, Mr. Lundegaard, are truly examples of the media's willingness to bias reporting in favor of a candidate and his running mate.

STEVE LUKENS, BLAINE

Uninformed criticism of NTSB Nick Coleman tries very hard to stick the blame for the Interstate 35W bridge collapse onto Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau. His logic is entertaining, but I wonder where he got his engineering degree? I fail to see what good he is doing for the citizens of our state by trying to discredit the National Transportation Safety Board and its report. I for one hold the NTSB in very high regard. At least Coleman has a new whipping boy. I was really getting tired of his rants about the St. Paul Police Department's handling of the Republican National Convention.

STEVE NIELSEN, WACONIA

Now, we hear the economy is crumbling because people are saving money and not spending enough.

What exactly is the economy looking for? I, for one, just can't figure it out.

TROY LOUWAGIE, HOPKINS

No more procrastinating on health care reform As a family practice doctor who works with the uninsured in St. Paul, I have recently become involved in health care reform.

As a doctor, patient and citizen, I firmly believe that national health insurance -- publicly financed and privately delivered -- is the only way to achieve affordable quality health care for all.

Rahm Emmanuel, Barack Obama's chief of staff, says that the economic crisis "provides the opportunity, as the president-elect has said repeatedly, to do things that Americans have pushed off for years."

I believe single payer is one of those things that we have pushed off for years, and the time is now to institute the change. It is the only fiscally conservative option. I urge our elected officials to consider it in the coming months.

ELIZABETH FROST, MINNEAPOLIS

Look no further than the Oval Office After a crushing electoral defeat on Nov. 4, the Republican Party is now desperately searching for new leaders and someone to rally around. How about Barack Obama? You know, that guy we all just elected to be the next president of the United States.

MARCO LUCIANI, ST. PAUL

Says Helget, "I tell you, people do some weird things in elections. They'll mark an X beside the oval, they'll fill the oval in very lightly, they'll circle the name.... (sic). You're going to see it all."

Well, with a 16-year-old high school junior who is about to take more standardized testing this year, my family's interest is piqued. My son took the PSAT in October and will take the ACT in February and will have to deal with the same pesky oval requirements as voters nationwide. Why not, I wondered, extend the same kind of courtesy to him during his testing situation? Might he be allowed to mark his answer somewhere in the vicinity of the answer he actually intends? Perhaps he could use arrows to indicate his choice or even write in the test booklet itself instead of the answer sheet? Since we're thinking outside the box (or oval, as the case may be) maybe he could just verbally whisper his answers into the ear of the testing proctor? The options are limitless if we embrace the kind of tolerance now being asked of election officials.

Because the issue really is one of fairness. Why should we expect my son, at least two years younger than the youngest voter, to do the impossible -- namely, neatly fill in the circle of the choice he intends? I mean, really, he has had no classes in this. No formal preparation. No coaching or guidance of any kind. If registered voters, deemed legal adults, are not qualified to perform this monumental task successfully, then I fail to see how a junior in high school can be expected to do so.

At first glance, coloring in the ovals does seem like a foolproof system. While other voting techniques abound, filling in an oval seems the most democratic approach considering that, since kindergarten, most individuals have had practice both with coloring and in staying inside the lines. Perhaps a thorough revamping of the kindergarten coloring curriculum is in order. Or perhaps the problem is with the oval itself. Maybe a square or trapezoid would be more reasonable. Then, again, maybe we should allow each individual to present his or her own homemade ballot. We could select a deadline which, also, could be totally ignored in the interest of fairness to marginalized voting groups, like those unaware that an election was taking place.

I think we can all agree that voter self-expression is a very serious issue and worthy of our collective scrutiny. In the meantime, I'm going to instruct my son to complete his testing any way he sees fit. After all, he needs practice for the next election.