Letters to the editor for Wednesday, July 30

We support the coalition of legislative and local governments that wants to eliminate the stoplights at Interstate Hwy. 494 and U.S. Hwy. 169 and promotes other projects necessary to improve driving conditions from Mankato to the metropolitan area (Star Tribune, July 27).

We also want the symbolic stoplights removed from comprehensive planning for the backbone highway that runs north through our metro districts to the notorious Devil's Triangle north of Hwy. 694.

All of us need to work for a comprehensive, systematic transportation plan for bridge and highway repair and construction. We supported the federal grant to reduce congestion on Interstate Hwy. 35W south from downtown Minneapolis to Lakeville, a route that not that many of our constituents travel on a regular basis. Reducing congestion and promoting safe highways is not a parochial right. Let's work together to rebuild another backbone highway.

SEN. ANN H. REST, DFL-NEW HOPE, AND Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka

The proposal to create a new imaging center in Edina, funded by several provider entities, represents a further commercialization of health care, worsens cost inflation and contributes nothing to the health of our citizens. Medicare data clearly indicates that when physicians have a financial interest in free-standing, for-profit imaging or surgical centers, referrals to these centers increase, higher fees are charged, and indications for the tests and procedures are expanded.

There are as many MRI scanners in the Twin Cities as in all of Canada. Is the health of Canadians compromised by fewer imaging studies? Obviously not. There is no relationship between the number of tests and procedures performed in medical care and the health outcomes of the patients.

More medical care is not better care. The Health Department should carefully examine the merits of this expansion of imaging services.

The firings, deportations and marches at the Kosher food plant in Iowa would have led my father, a very Orthodox cantor, to curse the infidels. And he wouldn't be talking about the employees, but their employers.

Considering the retail cost of kosher meat, they have no economic excuse for their actions except the old standby of greed. And where were the rabbis who were in the plant to assure kosher production? Perhaps they're part of the new generation of blind umpires that many employers send abroad to assure humane standards. After all, it's just a job.

FRED HAHN, GOLDEN VALLEY

A no-win situation After much thought about illegal or undocumented aliens, I can't come up with any easy solutions. We cannot just open the borders and let everyone in. Our system cannot handle the demand on our education, health care and other social services. If we let in all the Latinos, will we have room for Africans, Asians and Europeans?

The problem with undocumented aliens is that they are open to unscrupulous employers and landlords. It is not right to underpay them, make them work long hours in unsafe conditions and live in substandard housing because they are unable to complain for fear that they will be sent back. Illegals also bring down the rate of pay for legal workers.

BILL BRAM, MINNEAPOLIS

After reading the July 23 article "Isn't she pretty in pink? Well, that's one point of view," I'm beginning to understand better how far the marketing of princesses and pink has really gone.

Companies selling princess paraphernalia are marketing to young children who are often fascinated by sparkles and beautiful things, but this marketing does not stop at young girls. My 5-year-old son had a princess-themed birthday party. He wears pink every day because it is pretty and beautiful. Who wouldn't want to feel pretty? I know a good number of 4- and 5-year-old boys who are as excited about all this pink princess stuff as my son is.

As a parent, it is really difficult to get away from the influence of marketing, even with limited or no TV. There are some great organizations that work to protect the messages our children receive from the media, but it doesn't seem like enough.

On a recent trip to the library, I asked Leo if he was aware that there are princess stories that are not about Disney princesses. He acted shocked. We checked out an old book of classic stories, and the Cinderella story was much more complex, gruesome and interesting. He loved it, yet the Disney princesses still have a stronghold on his preferences. I enjoyed these same stories as a kid, but not in the same way that kids today seem obsessed over them.

ANNA DELMORO PETERSON,

MINNEAPOLIS

In reference to a recent comment by Barack Obama during his speech to the people of Germany in Berlin: I am a citizen of the United States of America -- not of the world, and will always remain true to this concept.

DARRELL E. RITZEMA, FRIDLEY

I have practiced family law in Hennepin County for the past 25 years. Judge Jim Swenson was a family court judge -- and later, chief judge -- for many years. He is a brilliant jurist, runs a tight courtroom and had the ability to understand the many complex matters that are common in many divorce cases.

To substitute a disgruntled referee for such a respected judge would be a great loss to the people of Hennepin County.