Letters to the editor for Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I am absolutely devastated that Jesse Ventura decided not to run for the Senate in Minnesota. While I understand his desire to protect his family from the viciousness of the media, I mourn the loss of a "true voice of the people."

The fact that so many people all over the country rush to support Ventura is proof that "we the people" are not being represented in government. Jesse champions all of the causes and ideals that the common man (and woman) wants -- isn't that what an elected official is supposed to do?

The sad fact is that if we don't vote at all the usual Democratic-Republican candidates will take control of our lives anyway; if we do vote we have only one of the above to vote for.

Are there any other Jesse Venturas out there? If so, we the people need you.

JEANINE GURLEY, EASTOVER, S.C.

Let's say so long Only a narcissistic blowhard with no sense of irony would go on a national news program to announce that he doesn't want to be bothered by the press.

OK, Jesse, it's a deal: We will gladly refrain from bothering you or your family if you'll agree to stop trying to insinuate your juvenile wrasslin' shtick into the state's business.

Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, America's two largest mortgage finance companies, own or guarantee $5 trillion worth of mortgages. That's nearly half of all the country's outstanding home loan debt. They're about to crash, but you and I will bail them out.

During the good times, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders and corporate officers made out like bandits, literally. They kept all the profits. Now, during bad times, the American taxpayer will give them a handout. It's a case of privatizing profits and socializing losses.

Yes, Freddie and Fannie, there really is a Santa Claus, but don't thank the American taxpayer. Thank the Reagan Revolution and conservative whiners who back in the '80s whined so much that America finally did away with regulation of the mortgage industry.

M.L. KLUZNIK, MENDOTA HEIGHTS

A July 14 letter writer supports the MFIP family cap -- which denies an increase in benefits to children born to a parent receiving cash assistance -- on the ground that it deters poor families from having children.

But in fact, working people do effectively get a raise in the form of an extra tax exemption.

The only effect of the family cap is to drive children deeper into poverty.

Twice in two years, the Legislature has voted to repeal the family cap, only to have the provision removed in last-minute negotiations with Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office. The continued existence of this worthless law proves that Pawlenty's basic mean-spiritedness trumps his alleged "prolife" stance.

BEN WEISS, ST. PAUL

I believe that the latest cover of the New Yorker is not satire, but slander!

Any American, Republican or Democrat or Independent, should be appalled and boycott this magazine, and subscribers should return it to the publisher without accepting it. Let's get politics back on the high road.

ALAN STONE, MINNETONKA

It never fails to amaze me how out of touch with reality Katherine Kersten is. The latest example: Her July 14 column in which she sings the praises of Wal-Mart ("Wal-Mart means low-priced goods and good jobs").

All that is necessary to compare Kersten's hallucinations with the stark, depressing realities of Wal-Mart is to read some of past and present employees' nightmarish anecdotes that are told in the "wake up Wal-Mart" website.

There depressing stories are told about its outrageous insurance prices, endless hours of forced overtime, diminishing break time, attacks on any efforts to unionize, etc. Wal-Mart is a brutal, antiunion sweatshop.

Let her try Kersten's column on Wal-Mart concludes with the hideous statement, "the folks who hate Wal-Mart are often the sort who usually make a big deal about how much they care for low-income people"?

Maybe Kersten should lace up a blue smock for 90 days at the world's largest retailer and try raising her family at $11.30 per hour. It might not be as good as she thinks.

RICK BRAUSEN, HOPKINS

A more honorable calling If Kersten thinks Wal-Mart is such a great employer, maybe she should take a job there. Stocking shelves would certainly be more honorable work than her current employment: vilifying gays, Muslims and non-Republicans.