Netlets for Saturday, Jan. 5

Judge James Rosenbaum, in his review of the William McGuire settlement, asks the Minnesota Supreme Court what he can do (Star Tribune, Dec. 28). Here is my suggestion on how to untangle the legal wrangle surrounding McGuire's stash of $874 million in stock options:

Invite all the UnitedHealth insured and staff to a gathering at the Minneapolis Convention Center or the Xcel Arena (lunch provided by you-know-who) and have McGuire stand before the assembled citizens and explain why he thinks he is worth all that money. Their response -- claps, positive, boos, negative -- will determine the outcome. Surely he would welcome this opportunity to resolve the distress this situation is placing on him and his family.

WAYNE L. HORNICEK, SHOREVIEW

Voters Alliance concern is misplaced I am one of those senior citizens (age 77) for whom the Minnesota Voters Alliance believes that instant-runoff voting would be too complicated to figure out. My goodness, I can't understand how I learned to use a computer, a VCR, a DVD player and the multitude of other push-button gadgets that have entered our lives. That does not include the countless forms and questionnaires having to do with retirement, health care, etc., that older adults have to complete.

The insult is made worse by saying that we wouldn't have the brains to consult an election judge with any questions that we may have.

I have been waiting my entire adult life for a fairer voting procedure and finally we have it.

VONNIE THOMASBERG, MINNEAPOLIS

Does any sane person really believe that God gives a hoot about the brain-cudgeling distinctions offered by Prof. Stephen J. Heaney in his Counterpoint? For me, it's just another piece of evidence to support the rather modest idea that the self-appointed soldiers of God on this planet don't really know what God thinks about homosexuals or, for that matter, about how people ought to live on this Earth.

JOHN HUMPHREY, MANKATO

Is St. Cloud system teaching hate? On Christmas Eve I received an e-mail from the president of St. Cloud State University, Earl H. Potter III, outlining steps the university is going to take to address the more than 17 hate crimes that have been reported. Just the previous day I received an e-mail informing me that another hate crime had been committed.

As a faculty member at St. Cloud State I am angered, saddened and embarrassed. Although I sincerely appreciate and admire the plan of action outlined by Potter, I am left wondering if this is not a larger issue that may include the admissions process within the university. I have only been at St. Cloud State for a year, but it is my understanding that hate crimes have been occurring long before I began there. What standards are we as a university and as a society holding the youth of our future to? The St. Cloud State website states that "You want your world to include an education at a university that believes in teaching first." What are we teaching?!

I firmly believe that part of the education process is to let our students know that hatred is unacceptable, ignorant and wrong. At an institution of higher learning one should push to eradicate ignorance and replace it with enlightened thought that has been fostered by the system which is in place. I would venture to guess that if hate crimes, and their predecessor ignorance, have been occurring within a system for years, that system may be fostering them.

JEREMIAH J. HAWKINS, MINNEAPOLIS

Unmet needs, and not enough Nettie Monroes Thank you for your Dec. 28 article on teacher Nettie Monroe and her efforts to raise money to provide basic supplies to her students. The moral of this story, though, should be that more funding needs to be put into assistance for families, children and schools.

It is too easy for exceptional stories like these to lull the rest of us into a false sense of security-- that someone else is taking care of the problem. In fact, there are not nearly enough Nettie Monroes to fund all the needs out there that the government should be responsible for meeting. It is on all of us to demand that those needs be met.