Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 5, 2008

President George W. Bush has declared that we are not in a recession. Comforting words from a president who declared victory in Iraq six years ago.

DON KERR, BLAINE

To borrow a phrase from my conservative friends, President Bush "just doesn't get it." He criticizes Sen. Barack Obama for saying that he'd talk to the new Cuban leadership without preconditions. The president says that we should not talk to dictators.

Well, the United States talked to archenemy Saddam Hussein when it supported him in Iraq's war against Iran. President Bush himself talked to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a military dictator who overthrew an elected civilian government.

The more troubling aspect of the president's comments is the very idea that you can solve problems peacefully without talking to your enemies. Whether it's international diplomacy or the playground, you don't solve problems by talking only to your friends.

LOUIS HOFFMAN, MINNEAPOLIS

Student test scores are a convenient, though not always accurate, method used to compare performance between different nations' pupils. And those test scores do reflect a growing gap in knowledge between American and foreign students. Some argue that because Department of Labor statistics show that only 30 percent of American jobs require advanced education, college may not be as important as some believe (Readers write, Feb. 29).

But college is not simply job training, subject to a cost-benefit ratio of tuition paid and salary gained. College is an educational experience, where one is taught to think critically and independently. Let's remember that years ago, individuals went to college not because they wanted to make more money, but because they wanted to learn.

In general, it is these educated individuals -- better informed and able to evaluate all types of information -- who contribute most to our society in the form of spirited debate and innovation.

Continuing education should be a goal of everyone, whether through formal means or not, just as better fitness should. And perhaps the best way to be a citizen and a patriot is to contribute to this and future generations.

ANTHONY STEYERMARK, ST. PAUL

Former state Rep. Phil Krinkie, now the head of the Taxpayer's League, wrote a scathing March 1 counterpoint directing venom and hostility at Rep. Neil Peterson for voting in favor of overriding the governor's transportation bill veto.

These representatives and senators took a stand for the people of Minnesota -- a stand to lower the fatality rate on our state's roads and highways, a stand to improve the congestion in the metropolitan area and a stand to improve our economy. They chose Minnesotans over petty party politics.

For their courage, these representatives have been stripped of their leadership posts and severely chastised by the neoconservative component of the Republican Party all across Minnesota. This is terribly unfortunate. We need more politicians who show this kind of fortitude. I will be supporting each of their candidacies for reelection, both in their primaries and the general election.

There is a reason that Phil Krinkie is a "former" state representative. Simply put, his style of skewing and misrepresenting facts revolted his constituents, and they removed him from office. Now he is lobbying for the Taxpayer's League -- a perfect fit! The depth of distrust and contempt for the Taxpayer's League among anyone who knows its tactics is deep and wide.

SEN. STEVE MURPHY, DFL-RED WING

Hooboy, I feel so much better now! The Minneapolis City Council, after extensive debate, has decreed that disposable coffee cups are no longer allowed at their meetings (Star Tribune, March 4). My dedicated council member, Scott Benson, has even passed a resolution regarding what kind of dish soap can be used to wash out the ceramic mugs.

TED WENTINK, MINNEAPOLIS

To those who so quickly and vehemently oppose letting illegal immigrants have driver's licenses, a question: Would you prefer drivers on our roads who do not know the rules or would you prefer drivers who do?

RODNEY HATLE, OWATONNA, MINN.

The straight facts The continual denial and cover up of the tragedy in Cottonwood continues to make me laugh in bewilderment. A March 1 letter implored people to "wake up" and claims the bus tragedy was not due to illegal immigration. The same day, a Star Tribune story identified the woman who was arrested for the fatal bus crash as being from Minneota, Minn.

Here's the truth: The woman is from Guatemala and is in the United States illegally.