Letters to the editor for Monday, Dec. 15

Those senators who want to guard the taxpayers against the auto industry never batted an eye when sending this country into perpetual debt bondage to make war against a country that never did anything to us. What a bunch.

RICK TAFT, WOODBURY

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Detroit sells 48 percent of our cars, and the nonunion, Republican-represented foreign manufacturers in the Southern states sell the rest. So, it's the South against the union all over again.

The $14 billion program to save an important sector of our American economy (small change) gets the scrutiny of the small borrower at the bank while few questioned the trillion given to AIG and securities industry crapshooters.

Mitch McConnell's conservative crew wants us all to drink Kool-Aid while they kick back with mint juleps and obscenely huge support from Detroit's competition. Who's unpatriotic now?

RICHARD BREITMAN, MINNEAPOLIS

Both union and nonunion workers have not been served well by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chou, who was silent as the administration allowed millions of good-paying jobs to leave our shores while millions of undocumented workers took low-paying jobs here at home.

These are jobs that supposedly Americans would not do. I've yet to see that list of jobs posted that we Americans won't do and what they pay.

Chou happens to be married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is spearheading opposition to the loans to the American car industry with a goal of decimating unions.

MARSHALL BURKE, WOODBURY

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has called for shared sacrifice as he and the Legislature work to address our budget deficit. But all of the sacrifices being called for seemed to be directed at the poor and middle class, not the rich.

DAVID ABRAMS, MINNETONKA

The Sisters of Good Shepherd are being forced to close their two temporary-housing centers due to a rough economy ("Out of cash, two shelters for women have to close," Dec. 11). It's scary to see that those who need the most help are taking big hits. These women are already in dire need, and yet they are being turned away from help at successful facilities because of the closings. The cause this time is from a weak economy.

According to the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, 30 percent of homeless woman in the metro area were leaving situations of abuse. This statistic tells us that 30 percent of homeless women would rather live on the streets than have to deal with an abusive situation. Places like the Wellsprings Living Center and Rose Center offered these women a more stable place to live and a guiding hand for a second chance. Now that the facilities will be gone, these women will have fewer options.

Let's hope one day the doors to these facilities will reopen so women in dire circumstances will have them as a choice.

GUNNAR TEIGEN, ST. PETER, MINN.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming to the Science Museum of Minnesota in 2010 while electric cars are coming to Israel. The old and the new are characteristic of an Israeli economy ripe for Minnesota businesses looking to increase their overseas sales. It stands at the forefront of alternative energy, solar technology and other green technologies.

Innovative Israeli companies, such as Better Place, a company developing recharge grids for electric cars, may choose Minnesota as a site for future plants as a result of the trade mission. Moreover, Israel represents an opportunity for exporting Minnesota products such as agricultural machinery.

STEVE HUNEGS, MINNEAPOLIS;

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL OF MINNESOTA & THE DAKOTAS

I am not holding out much hope that the new ballpark will lead to additional spending. Attendance and revenue are already up for the Twins as fans position themselves for the move outdoors, but what have we seen? Torii Hunter and Johan Santana walk out the door and not one noteworthy free agent signing.