Netlets for Monday, November 17

Smearing the secretary of state Katherine Kersten all but states that a fair recount under Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is not just improbable, but quite impossible (column, Nov. 12). She implies that Ritchie is going to fling the laws of the state of Minnesota into the gutter and proceed on his own whim

Does Kersten have so little faith in the secretary of state that she is certain that he will steal the election for one of his own? Is it really her opinion that any Democrat who happens to be secretary of state in any state cannot perform his or her duties without regard to law? Without reproach? Without consideration for the will of the people?

The recount has not even commenced and already Kersten assumes the outcome to be defective. How utterly cynical! If Kersten is the spokesperson for the conservative side of the political spectrum, as she claims to be, then any hope of cooperation across the political divide is doomed.

JOSEPH WRIGHT, BLOOMINGTON

The key line from Katherine Kersten's Nov. 12 column: "[Secretary of State Mark] Ritchie has shown no evidence of misconduct." I guess that explains why the rest of her column was nothing more than baseless speculation and irresponsible smears.

PATRICK TIMMONS, SHOREVIEW

And in this corner... Why should we go through the arduous and expensive recount for the Senate seat when we have all the ingredients right here in Minnesota for a more appropriate event to settle the matter?

The victor of this Senatorial Battle Royale will probably gain more respect from everyone than the winner of the recount, which despite the outcome is sure to be bitter partisan issue for years to come.

DAN DUDDINGSTON, ST. PAUL

40 years old is not a "design flaw' I am sure the federal investigators are correct in the assessment of the cause of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, but I don't agree with what appears to be putting blame on the original design. Any engineer will tell you the quality of the product delivered is directly proportional to the quality of the requirements given. Forty years ago did the designers assume a number of bridge refurbishments, did they assume the amount of traffic would increase and the size of cars and semi-trucks would grow, did they assume that contractors would stockpile hundreds of tons of material on the bridge? They could not have expected this 40 years ago.

I would assume the gusset plates were designed to the specifications that were provided 40 years ago. It seems to me that the specifications were not revisited as changes were made to the bridge and to traffic patterns on I-35.

I would suggest that we don't blame a 40-year-old design. Rather, we should look at the quality of the work we do today with respect to our infrastructure and make good decisions (add on or start over) based on today's requirements and conditions.

Outdoor smoking ban? Just stay indoors Regarding the debate over smoking bans on campuses and other outdoor areas, perhaps those who are so in favor of such bans should just stay indoors. After all, if out for a walk they might just get a whiff of the smoke from their neighbor's fireplace or campfire, or heaven forbid be forced to inhale the carbon monoxide in the exhaust fumes from a passing car or the nearest furnace flue.

Yes, tobacco smoke can be annoying and of course dangerous in confined spaces, but let's try to keep things in perspective here. There is a long list of dangerous sources of air-borne particulates that pollute our outside airspace far more than small amounts of burning tobacco. And that list would include the car one drives past the guy who is just out for a smoke.

TOM JOHNSON, PLYMOUTH

The Republican Party, yesterday and today Mitch Pearlstein is correct ("You can thank the GOP for racial progress," Nov. 12)! What he forgot to mention is that the southern Democrats who opposed Civil Rights became today's southern red-state Republicans.

Turns out political affiliation is fungible. Just ask our own Norm Coleman. Neither Presidents Lincoln nor Eisenhower would recognize Pearlstein's GOP.

So let taxpayers be the owners First Wall Street Bankers. Now the Big Three automakers. Who is coming for a handout and free lunch next? The lobbying industry?

The government is prepared to let the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and 2,000 jobs go down the river because there was no money to save this one plant and now taxpayers are being told, not even asked, that they will be bailing out the entire auto industry.

Obviously free enterprise has failed. Why should taxpayers bailout the Big Three when in a few months the price of each of the Big Three's stocks should be less than $1 a share.

Taxpayers will have the opportunity to purchase the entire automotive industry for a real bargain for far less than what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing us.

A board consisting of all the stakeholders could be brought together and we could finally produce quality products which are environmentally friendly, not to mention affordable.

The Big Three cry poverty after they have taken the wealth created by North American workers and invested that wealth in quest of cheaper labor and resources overseas.

I don't believe politicians would even consider turning over one penny to these greedy corporations without even having had the opportunity to see their books -- all the books, including their international operations.

What taxpayers finance, taxpayers should own.

Nationalization under public ownership is the solution to the problems of the auto industry.

The time has come to put people, jobs and the environment before corporate profits!