Netlets for Friday, March 13

As economic analyst, Bachmann falls way short On Thursday, Rep. Michele Bachmann was on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives railing about the amount of money each family will have to pay as a result of the money allocated by the federal government since President Obama was inaugurated.

Apparently Bachmann thinks that the world started on Inauguration Day. She is ignoring all of the money spent on the unnecessary Iraq War, the money that went into the pockets of Halliburton, KBR and other contractors, and the money that could have been saved if the previous administration had dealt with the economic crisis as it was unfolding rather than ignoring it.

It is way past time for those in Bachmann's district to tell her to stop talking, put her ideology on the shelf, educate herself and behave in a responsible manner to help solve the economic crisis.

CORINNE ROBINSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Rating early ed programs Your Feb. 23 editorial got it exactly right: Creating a rating system to evaluate early care and education programs is an important step in Minnesota's goal to ensure every child enters school ready to learn. A quality rating system is just the kind of tool parents need to choose the preschool program or child care setting right for their child.

However, in showcasing the Parent Aware quality rating system as an example of an effective rating structure already in place, the editorial mistakenly stated that the state would require the use of Parent Aware statewide. In fact, Parent Aware is just one of several models that will inform the Legislature as we develop the best way to evaluate early care and education programs including licensed child care and school-based programs.

We hope to continue learning from the rating systems already in place and implement a statewide rating system that would: give parents the information they need to make informed choices for their children; recognize early care and education providers who exceed basic standards; and ultimately, through positive competition, raise early childhood quality across the board.

REP. SANDRA PETERSON, DFL-NEW HOPE; CHAIR OF THE BIPARTISAN EARLY CHILDHOOD LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS

Stimulus funds should move in a green direction Thanks to Macalester professor Raymond Robertson and Twin Cities Rise! CEO Art Berman for their powerful arguments (backed up with real numbers!) regarding the benefits to taxpayers, communities and employers of using stimulus funds to move unemployed or underemployed workers into good jobs and providing the training necessary to do this (Opinion Exchange, March 6).

I would only add that if that training and those jobs address needs in the new green economy (alternative energy, building retrofits, efficient heating and cooling, etc.) the benefits are even greater. Such jobs help reduce energy bills, slow global climate change, improve air quality, reduce dependence on foreign oil, etc. To paraphrase Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy, "dollars for green job training are the hardest working dollars in the economy."

BRETT SMITH, MINNEAPOLIS

Nuclear power is viable and safe Ken Bradley and Monique Sullivan (Opinion Exchange, March 5) continue a trend among many environmentalists, which is to ignore significant facts when discussing nuclear power feasibility.

Second, there is a reason why it costs so much to build a nuclear plant in America: The environmentalists tie these projects up in the courts for years, which significantly drives up costs with the goal of killing the projects.

Last, environmentalists talk about nuclear waste and the need to deal with it effectively before building new plants but then don't want to acknowledge how in France nuclear waste is being re-processed today into new energy sources, thus significantly reducing the amount of waste and storage capacity needs. We need to recognize that even people with good intentions can be so inflexible and blind to their passions that ultimately they hurt our country, our citizens and continue to fuel our dependency on foreign oil.

BRIAN W. GROGAN, MINNEAPOLIS

Embryonic stem cell change is an atrocity Steve Sack's March 11 editorial cartoon makes clear that the newly issued "health care initiative" takes no account of religious beliefs. Even more fundamentally, it changes the meaning of "health." Now "health care" includes the violent termination of an individual human being's life trajectory.

C.S. Lewis pointed out that an easy way to confuse people is to change the meaning of words, quoting an ancient English hymn: "Herod sent the Word to slay/ and slew the little childer."

"Abortion" is no more a subsection of "privacy" than killing and dismembering the youngest, most promising members of our race is a category of "health care." Where is Dr. Mengele?