Letters to the editor for Monday, June 23

In the June 17 Star Tribune, Sixth District candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg said he believes that we shouldn't take steps to increase oil supplies because there wouldn't be a significant impact for several years. How long it takes to realize results is a sucker's debate. The reality is it won't happen if we don't begin. The sooner the clock starts ticking, the earlier the results.

Tinklenberg also says that a comprehensive energy strategy is needed. We could wait forever for that. If President Bush's 2001 comprehensive energy bill had been in some measure adopted rather than rejected out of hand, likely we wouldn't be jawing about it now. Even without a comprehensive strategy there are simple, obvious steps to take to alleviate the energy situation.

I support being environmentally responsible, but to focus on just this one dimension is to shoot ourselves in the foot. In order to preserve the environment, we need to ensure the economic means to do so as well as to sponsor the research and development Tinklenberg has called for. Ironically, research also generally takes considerable time to make an impact.

When we have two centuries of gas and oil reserves under both land and sea along with improved and improving technologies to explore and develop in an environmentally responsible manner, why would anyone not want to develop our natural resources to everyone's benefit?

GARETH DEGOLIER, ST. PAUL

Norm Coleman's ads are very well done. I think that he has been a very good senator from Minnesota. The problem is that he has not been a good senator for Minnesota.

He has been an exceptional senator for the Bush administration, only voting against what it wanted was when without his vote there was a large enough majority so that his vote really did not count. Since Amy Klobuchar was elected, Coleman has tried very hard to hang on to her coattails. It makes me wonder if he has any fingernails left.

David Donnelly of allegedly "nonpartisan" Campaign Money Watch ("Candidates will do most anything for money," June 19) badly misunderstands the important role of money in allowing candidates to run for public office.

Aside from his absurd claims that Sen. John McCain's campaign had to be aware of past offensive statements by the host of a fundraiser (as though Sen. Barack Obama's campaign hasn't had its own issues properly vetting those around the candidate), Donnelly is wrong in promoting taxpayer funding of political campaigns.

These programs do not work as advertised, because the problems they are supposed to address largely do not exist. Contributions rarely lead to corruption, and most elected officials vote based on constituent interests, their party and their own ideology.

By capping spending in campaigns, these welfare-for-politicians schemes put the government in charge of deciding how much candidates should be allowed to communicate with voters and how much citizens should be allowed to hear about important issues.

This runs in direct opposition to the First Amendment, and should be opposed by all Minnesotans who cherish the political rights of speech, assembly and petition.

Recent reports of the inhumane treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo say far more about the United States than about the prisoners we're holding. When we disregard the rights of foreign citizens while in the custody of our government, we're basically disregarding the rights of our citizens imprisoned in other countries. We have lost whatever leverage we may have had to protect our own.

Perhaps all those outraged protesters of the Supreme Court ruling on constitutional rights of prisoners have forgotten why the rules of the Geneva Convention were established. Maybe they've also forgotten the safeguards our Constitution affords us: innocent until proven guilty.

We invade without sufficient cause, torture in the name of justice, hold in defiance of our laws. Is it any wonder our standing among foreign nations has plummeted?

JUDY KIRK, ST. LOUIS PARK

Congratulations, KG. I'm glad Kevin McHale was finally able to help you to a championship. I just wish it had been here.

Proud of Da Kid Kevin Garnett's NBA championship makes me feel like a proud mom! We were season ticket holders from the start and felt like parents sending a child off to college when he left for Boston. It's heartwarming to see that he has attained his dream of a championship ring. Wear it proudly, Kevin; you have a huge fan base in Minnesota.