Letters to the editor for Monday, Sept. 8

Prof. William Beeman claims that congressional resolutions aimed at pressuring Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment activities are indefensible ("Congress is about to pour lighter fluid on Iran," Sept. 4). "The resolutions," he argues, "contain outright falsehoods, misinformation and alarmist exaggeration about Iran and its nuclear program."

Or rather, he doesn't argue but asserts. In his piece, he doesn't provide a shred of evidence for this crucial claim.

LAURENCE COOPER, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

I read a Sept. 4 letter in which the writer seemed to think that the solution to New Orleans is to cut it off from our country and declare an "each man for himself" approach.

CLAY DUVAL, GOLDEN VALLEY

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A reader writes we should "quit wasting money on New Orleans" and relocate residents by redrawing the coastline, moving them out of the flood zone. Should we also move people away from the river in Iowa? The coastline of Florida? North Carolina? Should we move the people off the fault lines in California? Out of the fiery Hollywood hills in the dry summer? Today?

I can see the letter writer's point, but Katrina pounded 300 miles of coastline in devastating fashion, and sadly much of it still sits untouched.

New Orleans is rich with history, tradition and an important gateway to America. It would be sad not to rebuild it.

RICK BRAUSEN, HOPKINS

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As a former New Orleans native, I found the Sept. 4 letter writer's "common-sense" view to redraw the Louisiana Gulf coastline and exclude New Orleans from current and future Katrina disaster assistance heartless and hypocritical.

SHEP HARRIS, GOLDEN VALLEY

In August, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued "F as in Fat," a report that showed how the obesity epidemic is causing "a health crisis" in America.

The message was that we eat too much and we exercise too little -- and although we know both of these things are true, it hasn't changed our behavior. In fact, unless we start down a different path, the report pointed out, 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2015.

Two weeks later, however, during the Republican National Convention, a partnership between Humana and Bikes Belong presented a very different vision for the future: one full of health and physical activity. A thousand bikes were brought to Minneapolis-St. Paul as part of the nation's largest bike-sharing program, and convention delegates plus Minnesota residents took the opportunity to ride for free.

They had fun: Some took leisurely trips over the Mississippi and the Stone Arch Bridge. Others traveled the marked bike lanes of downtown. Over the course of four days, nearly 2,000 rides were taken in Minneapolis and St. Paul, more than 15,000 miles were traveled, and 469,000 calories were burned -- not bad, considering the heat and the rain of the first two days.

In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak was like a third partner. He was a big advocate for what we were doing, and he led several group rides. He also has committed to starting a permanent bike-sharing program in Minneapolis next spring.

His enthusiastic response and that of the diverse group that rode our Freewheelin' bikes -- young, old; dressed up for work, dressed down for hot-weather recreation -- lead us to believe that what went on in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Denver may be the start of a movement.

That would be good news for public health as well as good news for the health of the planet. It also would be another history-making event to attribute to what were already two historic political conventions.

JONATHAN LORD,

CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER,

AND Tim Blumenthal,

executive director, Bikes Belong,

Boulder, Colo.

In recent years Republicans have pushed for government funding for faith-based community initiatives, recognizing that on-the-ground work has the opportunity to address local needs better than a government agency.

How disappointing it was to hear Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin disparage Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's community-organizing past. Her dismissive remarks lead me to wonder which forms of community service matter to Gov. Palin. Does my service as a Peace Corps volunteer count?

PATRICK GANEY, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

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Note to Sarah Palin and the Republicans: Jesus was a community organizer.

AMY SOBIESKI, PERHAM, MINN.

Americans are hurting as we lose more jobs. We lost 84,000 jobs n August alone, and the unemployment rate has risen to 6.1 percent.

Homegrown energy would create tens of thousands of jobs here in Minnesota and millions across the country. It would also make us more energy independent -- that's good news regardless of your political affiliation.

No matter what happens in the elections, our leaders need to be working now to create new jobs and set us on the right path. Minnesotans of all stripes should call for green jobs and clean, homegrown energy. That's the way to a strong economy.