Letters to the editor for Tuesday, July 8

Lobbyists throw tons of money at representatives and senators to influence their votes and no one gets upset, yet Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has charged University of Minnesota student Max P. Sanders with a felony for his eBay joke of putting his vote up for sale (Star Tribune, July 4).

The secretary's communications director, John Aiken, has been quoted as saying, "We take it very seriously. Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote."

How naive is Mr. Aiken? Congress does it all the time!

JOHN HINK, AKRON, OHIO

One of our presidential candidates is a master at speaking, but what else is he a master at?

Does Barack Obama have any experience in any private sector? Has he ever had any experience in real life?

Now he wants to be president of the United States of America, the toughest job in the world. Would you want him to manage your company?

Substance over style I don't care about which candidate has the better teleprompter skills ("McCain works hard to polish skills as orator," July 6). I do care about which candidate has the best experience.

There are profoundly important issues at stake in this election. I urge other voters to stop looking at the window dressing and start looking out the window at the real world.

We're not voting for the orator in chief; we're voting for the commander in chief. There's a difference.

CRYSTAL KELLEY, EDEN PRAIRIE

Obama's smart move People should not be surprised that Obama is moving toward the center. He knows most of the aggrieved Hillary Clinton boosters will vote for him, as will those voters on the left.

WILLARD B. SHAPIRA, MINNEAPOLIS

Good for flip-floppers Politicians and pundits need to defend candidates who flip-flop. Not only has this weak, shallow insult been overused and abused, it is rooted in a highly suspect world view: a view of a static world in which nothing ever changes. A leader who is inflexible and unyielding may not flip-flop, but he will be disconnected from reality and unable to cope with the constant flux of today's world.

In contrast, a visionary leader is always refining his ideas, even drastically changing them, as new information demands. That leader is agile, constantly on the lookout for shifting conditions, always ready to adapt and evolve. He sees opportunities and amends strategy in response. And though his position on issues may change, it is in reply to changes that occur every day. The backbone of dynamic leadership is rooted in an understanding of how things are today and how they will be tomorrow. Only flip-floppers can be free to adapt as they should and must.

DYLAN MORRIS, BLOOMINGTON

The July 3 Letter of the Day was a crude attempt to shame Minnesotans into not voting for Jesse Ventura if he were to run for the U.S. Senate.

WILLIAM MCGAUGHEY, MINNEAPOLIS

It would be a grave threat to world security were Iran to develop nuclear weapons. But what evidence do we have that Iran is close to acquiring such weapons?

Does it have centrifuges? Are there mobile weapons factories? Has it tried to purchase uranium from Africa? Has someone from inside divulged the extent of its operations?

When we have actionable intelligence on these questions, then we should preserve freedom by invading Iran. May I suggest calling it Operation Iranian Freedom?

CHIP WHITTINGHAM, MINNEAPOLIS

In fact, one of the largest voucher experiments, in the Milwaukee schools, produced "no statistically significant differences in the test scores between the public and private [voucher] school fourth and eighth graders for the 2006-07 school year."

And Howard Fuller, who was the superintendent of Milwaukee schools when the voucher program was launched, has conceded, "It hasn't worked like we thought it would in theory."

Similarly in Cleveland, Indiana University researchers "found no significant differences in overall achievement, reading, or math scores between students who used vouchers and those who stayed in public school, after taking into account socioeconomic differences."

Minnesotans, take heed!

GEORGE MUELLNER, PLYMOUTH

On July 25, 2005, my husband died of an ischemic bowel while in a specialized unit at a very reputable local hospital. He was to be discharged that morning!

As his discomfort and abdominal distention increased throughout the day, my constant pleas for help were ignored -- other than giving him pain medications. By evening, surgery was no longer an option. My husband died in most excruciating pain, while I watched.

Some have tried to explain what happened by pointing out that he was older and was being treated for cancer. True, but that's not the point. He didn't die of cancer. And I will never know what would have happened if he had been attended to properly by all the caregivers who surrounded him.