Letters to the editor for Saturday, May 24

The Minnesota Poll showing historic low approval ratings for President Bush has to be the result of polling a majority of Democrats (Star Tribune, May 22). This president has been handcuffed for seven years by obstructionist Democrats.

GORDY SCHMIDT, LORETTO

President's media foes After seven years of our state's most-read newspaper running an overwhelming majority of anti-Bush and anti-Republican messages from a liberal editorial staff, a Minnesota Poll now declares the president has few fans left in the state.

Is this news? Is this front-page news? Doesn't this speak more to the influence one major newspaper pushing a liberal agenda can have than it does to President Bush's performance?

DOUG CLEMENS, BLOOMINGTON

Conflicting results I find it highly interesting, if somewhat disturbing, that despite the dearth of support for President Bush and his policies in Minnesota, a Minnesota Poll shows Norm Coleman has 51 percent support in his Senate race. Hasn't it been obvious over the past 5 1/2 years that the Bush administration has had Coleman under its thumb, and he's done nothing to counteract any of the bad decisionmaking done by its officials?

Is it really a smart thing to do to reelect Coleman with his strong ties to the dismal record of the Bush administration? Hardly, in my view. We need someone with extensive core values who votes his mind, not his political or personal advantage.

The Star Tribune's attempt to equate the contributions to Al Franken and Norm Coleman's campaigns obscures the profound difference between them ("Playboy, junta tied to Senate hopefuls," May 21).

Al Franken is accepting money from a company whose owner's main purpose is to defend the First Amendment and women's rights and whose flagship magazine carries interviews with U.S. presidents and members of Congress. And yes, the magazine also contains pictures of naked women.

Coleman is accepting money from a company lobbying on behalf of Myanmar, considered by most the world's most brutal regime. Among the people the company is lobbying is Norm Coleman, presumably to make him look more kindly on a country where torture is commonplace.

DAVID MORRIS, MINNEAPOLIS

Measure twice, cut once. Haste makes waste. Use some common sense. These age-old kernels of wisdom seemingly never make it into or out of committee for many a government-sponsored project. The latest example is the anticipated Central Corridor light-rail route, if the Metropolitan Council has its way ("Light rail's route through U on hold, again," May 22).

As a taxpayer, I would rather have the project delayed and pay a little more to design and build the route properly and have it utilized fully. I do not want a poorly conceived concept ramrodded through for the sake of saving some initial time and expense, only to be revisited later to fix planning flaws. Do it right the first time.

RON DONDELINGER, MINNEAPOLIS

In his May 23 column on polar bears and rampant environmentalism, George Will sounds like a petulant child. Does he really believe that the left wants to "regulate everything"? Michele Bachmann's light-bulb proposal was viewed as taking a position that people should be entitled to act irresponsibly. It would seem that Will agrees with her.

His position reinforces the idea that the left are the adults in our society and the right are like children. Ronald Reagan started spending the principal of our annuity, and Bill Clinton had to try to restore it. Now George W. Bush has dug us a hole that will take years of pain and sacrifice to get out of, and all the while the children on the right will scream about higher taxes, i.e., having to pay for the party.

Will decries the pessimism of the left regarding shortages of food and energy. Look around you, George! Gasoline is almost $4 a gallon already, and an argument rages about whether the manufacture of ethanol is hurting our food supply.

DAVID M. PERLMAN, NEW HOPE

So Ed Felien wants President Bush arrested for murder in Iraq (Star Tribune, May 23). Does he also want former President Bill Clinton prosecuted for failure to protect 3,000-plus Americans on 9/11, as well as the Americans who died as a result of Al-Qaida attacks on USS Cole, the U.S. embassies in Africa and the earlier assault on the World Trade Center?

JOIE COLE, DECORAH, IOWA

I strongly disagree with the May 23 letter "Just the facts, please." I read Paul Douglas' weather page precisely because I want to get more than just the weather forecast. I am interested in Paul's view on a variety of issues. He entertains me every day with his witty remarks and his unbridled passion for weather.