Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008

Smoking is legal. So what? So is having a child, owning a pet, or being under 55. Yet there are apartments and condos all over the state that won't let you live there if you do (Star Tribune, Feb. 14). My heart bleeds prune juice for all those whiny smokers out there, and your piece on La Rive was an enormous waste of front-page space.

DANIEL PINKERTON, MINNEAPOLIS

President Bush is upset that Congress allowed a government eavesdropping law to expire (Star Tribune, Feb. 17). Since when did George W. Bush care about laws?

DOUG WILLIAMS, ROBBINSDALE

Regarding the Feb. 16 article "Marchers protest policy on immigrants": Illegal aliens are not immigrants; they are criminals in violation of U.S. immigration laws.

It just goes to show how incredibly weak this country has become. A group of mostly foreign invaders (and a few sympathizers) with no legal right to even be in the country are allowed to march down a busy street, disrupting the normal flow of traffic, all under the guise of "immigrant rights."

Imagine the outcome if a bunch of illegal aliens from Guatemala tried the same stunt in Mexico City. I doubt the protesters would encounter a "Minnesota nice" attitude.

The mother of the two boys arrested in the Pirkko Gaultney murder case is reported as saying that her boys have been suspended from school for "normal boy stuff," like truancy, insubordination and fighting.

Guess what, Mom; normal boys do not get suspended from school. Normal boys do not commit truancy, are not insubordinate and are not prone to fighting. If these actions are what the mother considers normal, it would be interesting to find out what her definition of irresponsible is.

BRIAN MARSH, SPRING LAKE PARK

Take responsibility I am sad and angry after reading the quotes from the mother of the boys who have been arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a 70-year-old north Minneapolis woman ("Mom defends sons in stabbing case," Feb. 17).

The mother called the boys' histories of truancy, insubordination and fighting "normal boy stuff." But this behavior, which earned her sons' suspensions from school, is a big problem for educators. When parents don't feel that fighting and insubordination are significant, what authority do teachers and schools have over students?

Normal boy stuff? I hope not.

STEPHANIE WHEELOCK, RICHFIELD

Kent Kaiser's Feb. 15 editorial counterpoint on the expense and negative sides of primaries fails to recognize that primaries and straw votes at caucuses (that are recognized as binding on delegates) are essentially what democracy is about: one person, one vote.

When he says that "The parties should be allowed autonomy in choosing their own candidates for president," he fails to recognize that the parties are assumed to represent the totality of their members. When a few party insiders choose the candidate, it defeats the democratic process that the caucus system was originally meant to guarantee.

JANE SIMON, MINNEAPOLIS

He wants to raise questions about the growing gap between the rich and the poor in this country, by looking at the progress of poor individuals out of the bottom fifth and the income decline of rich individuals in the top fifth, based on income tax returns.

Is it perhaps not the case that many individuals are moving up and out of the bottom fifth of the income distribution because they are young adults just beginning their working life? I make considerably more today than I did when I was 25. Also, I suspect that when I retire in a few years my income, though not in the top fifth, will decline.

Perhaps Sowell needs to disaggregate the data still further to get at what's really happening. Maybe we need to look at the change in the rate at which people are moving out of the bottom fifth or how long people are staying in the bottom fifth compared with five, 10 or 20 years ago.

Can't we come to some agreement on our statistics, or must we always continue to bend them to our own ends?

GRANT ABBOTT, ST. PAUL;