Netlets for Monday, Oct. 6

And don't even think about bringing balloons The Oct. 3 front-page article "Schools as birthday-cake-free zones" really made me frustrated. I am a mom of two boys, 2 and 6 months, and am wondering if they will be able to do anything when they get to school.

Come on, taking away birthday treats on your birthday? Kids only do that maybe through second or third grade; they aren't going to become obese simply by treats brought to school. It is their parents' responsibility to take care of their eating habits.

When I was growing up, we knew so and so was going to bring a treat the next day and it would give us something to look forward to. It's just sad to think of how fun school was when I was younger and how it's becoming so rigid these days.

KARIANNE STOHR, SAVAGE

Ordinary people can do the right thing Our family watched Paul Newman's movie "The Verdict" the other night. It struck me that this movie was more relevant than I imagined with our current political situation.

Newman was playing an intelligent but small lawyer trying to do the right thing fighting a case against the church, represented by a high-powered and very wealthy law firm. He should have had a slam dunk, but witnesses were either bought off or afraid to testify. Even the judge had been "bought and paid for." No matter how right he was, the money and power seemed impossible to beat.

In the end, a jury of ordinary people saw through to the truth and made a judgment in favor of justice. It gave me hope, that somehow, through all the greed and corruption of our current administration, ordinary people can vote for justice on Election Day.

Republican ticket goes negative In an attempt to distract the public from the economy, Sarah Palin is playing the terrorist card on Barack Obama. Attempting to scare the American public with debunked stories for personal political gain is a form of terrorism that Palin is engaging in herself. This tactic is beneath the presidency. It is clear that McCain-Palin are again putting election first and country second by going to the negative extreme.

ROBERT SPEETER, MINNETONKA

Only the best for the U.S. I was surprised that you published such a long letter on Sept 29, criticizing people for not wanting to give Sarah Palin a chance to learn on the job as vice president of the United States.

As a health care educator, I used to be angry at and critical of patients who wouldn't allow medical students to perform procedures on them. Now that I have had the opportunity to see and experience more of the egregious disasters caused by less than competent physicians, I am more sympathetic and I have begun training young doctors to perform dangerous procedures on cadavers.

I love my country and value it as much or more than my own life and health. Please don't criticize me for only wanting the smartest, best educated and most experienced team at the highest level of my government.

An outsider could inspire trust In just 250 years we've accomplished so many wonderful things in a nation started by thoughtful men with new ideas that were reactions to a power that sought to squash the independence and abilities and creative imaginations of a nascent people.

What abilities we have! But this thing, this -ism we base on capital enterprise, that runs our country and fuels our sense of well-being is beyond most of our understanding. We don't know how it works and so we've come to trust some unrecognizable other that it does work in our best interests.

But now we don't know whom to trust. "They" have let us down. Some of the greatest minds among us are afraid to let an ailing system fail on its own terms. We're all afraid.

Someone needs to convince us through reason and facts that we'll be OK. But this person has to be an outsider, one who hasn't forfeited our trust by lying to us or standing to profit from us.

Is there a voice out there in the world speaking loudly enough? Please, we need someone we can trust.