Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 12

Nice job, Star Tribune! Exposing our government's new rules on child support orders (front page, Sept. 7) gives parents outside the system a chance to contemplate what is fair.

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner's comments are indicative of the problem. She says, "Just because someone isn't getting as much money as they want or is paying more money than they want, doesn't mean the system is unfair. The guidelines are about distributing resources to the maximum benefit of the child."

Sounds nice; however, she's selling the idea that government knows the best definition of child support and that it trumps mom's or dad's opinion. I'm not buying it!

Most children living with separated parents will tell you that cooperation between parents and a meaningful relationship with each parent is what matters most. Forced redistribution of income promotes neither. In fact, it discourages both.

TODD FERRY, EAGAN

A sincere thank you to the wonderful people of Minneapolis-St. Paul, who proved to me and countless other delegates and visitors during the Republican National Convention that "Minnesota Nice" is more than just a catchy slogan.

Your welcoming smiles, warmth and friendly assistance throughout the convention did not go unnoticed. Thank you for your incredible hospitality during our stay, and for putting up with the crowds and traffic.

Goodbye, Neil Peterson! Do you really think the Republican Party is responsible for your ouster (Star Tribune, Sept. 10)?

Part of your civic duty was to vote for your constituents, not your individual belief. You failed in being a good representative, so your own people used their constitutional right to reject you. That's the way politics is supposed to work.

BOB PETERSEN, BLAINE

As a member of the DFL Endorsements Committee in 1954 I must correct Miles Lord's assertion in his Sept. 5 opinion piece that he was a "founder" of the DFL Party. There was no significant record of Lord's participation in the DFL on a statewide basis prior to his endorsement for attorney general in 1954. The party was founded many years before through the efforts of Hubert Humphrey, Orville Freeman, Arthur Naftalin and Dr. William Kubicek.

ROBERT (BOB) LATZ, GOLDEN VALLEY

McCain chose as his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin, who was a supporter of that Alaskan bridge, now infamously known as "the Bridge to Nowhere." And don't let her lie to you any longer -- she supported that project until the second it was clear Congress wasn't going to give her any more money for it.

It's quite a turnaround in thinking on McCain's part in 12 months. Will this kind of thinking become more commonplace if he becomes president?

TRACIE WILCOX, EVELETH, MINN.

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What's all the fuss about? Barack Obama did not say, "That's like putting lipstick on a hockey mom."

Let's focus on the real issues.

LAURIE ANDERSON, MINNEAPOLIS

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As a longtime admirer of Joe Biden, I was disappointed to hear his misrepresentation of the Catholic Church's position on abortion. He said that for him as a Catholic, opposition to abortion was a matter of faith, but that as a government representative he should not impose the demands of his Catholic faith on others who do not share that faith.

In point of fact, the Catholic Church has invariably insisted that its moral opposition to abortion derives not from faith but simply from human reason, and is therefore accessible, at least in principle, to thoughtful, conscientious persons regardless of religious belief or ecclesiastical status. Curiously, Sarah Palin, who says her own morality is biblically based, seems, like many other evangelicals, to reach precisely the same moral judgment of abortion as the Catholic Church, even though the Bible contains no condemnation of abortion as such.