Letters to the editor for Saturday, Sept. 6

Please do not belittle Sarah Palin's governmental experience. Mayors and governors have executive responsibility. They must sign laws and ensure that they are executed.

Legislators, on the other hand, introduce legislation and vote with many others for these issues to become law. These are then passed on to the executive, who approves or vetoes. House and Senate bills are subject to instant veto, and many never get to the executive authority.

Palin has had to approve and sign many bills into law. Barack Obama has merely proposed and voted to pass.

WILLIAM EATON, BROOKLYN PARK

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The mainstream media are pounding Sarah Palin as to her "smarts" on foreign policy. Conveniently overlooked is the Iraq policy recommendation solely championed by Sen. Joe Biden.

On the strength of his 36 years of deliberation in the U.S. Senate, Biden believes that Iraq should be ethnically disaggregated into three independent parts (the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shiites) and cooperatively overseen by a central committee.

GENE DELAUNE, NEW BRIGHTON

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I love the spin on how Sarah Palin is the perfect choice as the Republican vice president. She is being portrayed as a gun-totin', firecracker kind a gal. A real Annie Oakley.

Apparently her lack of experience should not concern us. I'm guessing John McCain will be relying on the scenario that when she meets with other world leaders, she'll break out into "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better."

BETH BARBER DOTY, MINNEAPOLIS

That admonition must be remembered now as we seek the most competent and qualified person to be our next president. Those making their choice based on gender or race are exactly the people that MLK was cautioning. Such votes are discriminatory and likely to result in less than the right person to do the job.

Where are the politically correct crowds calling this bias for what it is? Now is the time to remember those diversity training sessions and choose the most competent person to govern and lead.

ROSEMARY O. ESLER, SPRING LAKE PARK

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak should never be elected to public office again. Ever.

They sold us a Republican National Convention in which protesters would be treated with a modicum of respect.

Coleman and Rybak gave us a good taste of prewar Germany. For days, we had helicopters buzzing overhead and thousands of SWAT-attired cops harassing people for doing no more than exercising their rights of free speech and assembly. They gave us an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

This is the first time that I've been afraid to live in my own country.

Both mayors should do the right thing: Apologize to their constituents and then resign.

PAUL BARTLETT, ST. PAUL

First District voters should vote for Minnesota's "you know where he stands" candidate, state Sen. Dick Day, in the Sept. 9 primary.

I'm voting for Dick Day in the primary!

FRAN JOHNSON, JANESVILLE, MINN.

Your feature story in the Sept. 4 Taste section, "Minnesota feeds the world," is a much-appreciated testament to those who own and manage our state's 79,000 farms.

Minnesota ranks sixth in the United States for total value of agricultural products sold. Along with the products you mentioned, our farmers take second place nationally for canola production, fourth for corn (grain) and sixth for red meat.

While the numbers sound impressive, today's farmers continue to manage their businesses as they always have -- producing high-quality, wholesome products and implementing conservation practices to protect our soils and water.

PAULA MOHR, ANOKA;