Netlets for Monday, Feb. 9

Politicians shame corporations into canceling retreats -- and add to local and national economic woes Politicians eager to score political points by attacking events like the one Wells Fargo & Co. planned in Vegas should remember that each canceled event adds time to this long economic recession.

The Wells Fargo event in Las Vegas would have provided income to hundreds of people employed by the hotels, restaurants and casinos in Las Vegas. Bloomberg.com reported that the canceling of corporate meetings is adding to the casino industry's woes. Wynn Resorts, the biggest U.S. casino company by market value, has said that it will cut pay for all salaried employees in Las Vegas and reduce hours for others as the recession drives away consumers. Wynn shares have lost 75 percent of their value in the past year.

Canceling corporate events like this one for Wells Fargo will increase the use of unemployment benefits, cut consumer spending and force the government to use our taxpayer bailout money to help the same people who would have been employed by this event.

Let's ask our politicians why they support canceling events like this one yet support taxpayers bailing out these same workers by paying for longer unemployment benefits, food stamps, health insurance and stimulus projects aimed at hiring these same people who would work the canceled events and not needed any taxpayer bailout relief.

AL GIRAUD, MINNEAPOLIS

Better relations with Muslim world would start with honest self-examination There are a few missing references in the Feb. 2 letter "Respectful relations with Muslims world have been rare": the cozy relationship that the United States had with the shah of Iran, the deportation of many Muslims since 9/11, the U.S. policy and inaction in Darfur, the war on terror moving to Iraq and the misinformation disseminated from the Bush administration that Iraq was somehow involved with the attacks on 9/11.

I believe that in order to move forward with respectful relations the United States has to acknowledge that our foreign policy has not always been respectful. We also need to be mindful of the instances noted. I hope that the Obama administration along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton can move beyond the myopic and broad-brushed argument contained in that letter and find us a better footing with peaceful Muslims across the globe.

Real school reform should focus on bell curve I read another letter in your paper recently, advocating smaller class sizes and more spending on K-12 education. I don't advocate spending more or less on K-12, just more spending on higher education. In fact, our current expenditures would be better allocated toward higher ed.

I also feel that mainstreaming and small class sizes in K-12 try to help the poorer students at the expense of the better students. We should do like Asian countries and separate our students into different classes based on their abilities. Special students should receive special help. The average students could easily do well in classes of more than 40. Put the resources where they will do the most good, with the poor students and with the excellent students. We would then get something for our K-12 money.

CHARLES CLIFFORD, ST. ANTHONY

Propaganda from Palin deserves a response The Feb. 1 column by Gov. Sarah Palin grossly overstated the potential supply of oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and understated the environmental damage due to oil exploration. Drilling for oil will benefit the people of Alaska much more than help this nation.

• The oil extracted belongs to the oil companies, not the U.S. citizens.

• Oil production does have detrimental effects on wildlife. It has been 40 years since the Exxon Valdez crash in Alaska and the fishers there have not recovered and may never be productive again.

• Professionals have estimated the potential oil to be small, not huge as she states. It will be nowhere as large Saudi Arabia's fields.

• There will not be thousands of jobs produced to support the drilling of ANWR. Once the fields are up and running it does not take many people to man the operations.

ANWR is the last undeveloped area on this continent. Oil exploration will have significant detrimental effects on the environment and wildlife. Do we have to be so greedy and selfish to destroy every environment on this planet so future generations will have nothing of wild to find awe and grandeur? How could you print such trash without a factual rebuttal to this poorly written article?

RONALD WILLIAN HEGNER, INDEPENDENCE

BRIAN K. TOREN, PRIOR LAKE

Palin should use her political power to protect natural resources There will never be enough of anything to satisfy the ego-centric minds of humans. When have we ever stayed within the boundaries of decency, kindness and protecting other beings when given the illusion of obtaining more power and more money? We are connected to all living things -- that's the real power. When one living thing is destroyed, it sets off the chain reaction of events that spreads approval in small but ever-growing mindsets that just a little more won't hurt.

Fifty years or so from now, Sarah Palin won't be here to face the consequences of her desires to perpetuate the continual march toward destroying this planet's life force. Self-serving desires to keep herself satisfied with political power illustrates the disconnection we all are engaging in. She has a great opportunity to instead promote her state as an example of where we should draw power, where we should place our values -- protecting some of the last of natural resources that sustain all of our lives -- not the temporal things that will run out in 25 years.