Netlets for Wednesday, April 8

DWI enforcement abuse Minnesota's current driving while intoxicated enforcement practices are finally coming under scrutiny. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, has introduced legislation that would mandate significant changes.

There is no question that current enforcement violates many of our rights as citizens of the United States.

Most recent DWI legislative efforts in Minnesota and some other states have cast a blind eye on many of the principles upon witch this Republic was formed.

We are to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure, we are to be innocent until proven guilty, we have the right to a trial, and we have the right to due process. The list goes on and on.

Numerous are the accounts where those accused of DWI (and similar ATV, boating and snowmobile) offenses have suffered loss of property, have been forced to pay hundreds to recover vehicles, have lost driving privileges, have even lost employment, before ever being found guilty of anything. These consequences have even befallen some who were acquitted or found not guilty

We have succumbed to the impassioned lobbying of groups such as MADD. We should know better. It is time to correct things.

An officer with a breathalyzer is not a judge and jury. Blowing 0.08 should not void your rights as a citizen.

PETER T. BROWN, LINO LAKES

Election mess, thanks to those you elected Letter writers carping about the delay in deciding the winner of the U.S. election should remember that the politicians they may well have voted for were the ones who made it easier for citizens to use absentee ballots, vote early, vote as students outside their home precincts, vote off-site if bed-ridden (and possibly incompetent), register on Election Day and register by having a precinct resident vouch for them, all of which complicated the task of election officials. Take credit for your contribution to the mess.

R.C.H. SCHMIDT, MINNETONKA

There's nothing now green about nuclear energy An April 4 letter writer expressed the opinion that nuclear energy is Minnesota's greenest energy. That one can consider nuclear energy to be "green" certainly defines green differently than many of us would.

Green energy should not do harm to the planet and all of us living here, as coal does. But to trade the harm coal is doing now, for the potential harm of nuclear waste sometime in the future is a poor trade for us and for the future generations of the planet. Until it is safe to take the waste generated nuclear energy production and spread it on the farmland on which we grow our food, it is not "green." I hope our legislators can see this and will not make such a dangerous endorsement of nuclear energy.

At-will nation? Ford and General Motors have both announced plans to make car payments for customers who lose their jobs "through no fault of their own." But who will decide that? The United States purports to have a legal and economic system that most workers are employed "at will," and can be fired for any reason, or no reason. Yet tens of thousands of employment lawsuits are filed each year, usually alleging of the narrow exceptions to at-will employment, such as discrimination. This is because loss of a job has substantial financial, societal and emotional consequences that cannot be ignored.

Just as no-fault divorce did not eliminate family law litigation, at-will employment does not mean a lack of employment law litigation. If anything, recent regulations and other laws have nibbled away at this doctrine on the edges. In 2007 the Minnesota Supreme Court stated that accrued vacation pay can be withheld if an employee is fired for "misconduct." Unemployment and COBRA benefits are also tied to "misconduct." Expansions to the Family Medical Leave Act and Americans with Disabilities Act may also lead to more litigation. For all we claim to be a nation of "at-will" employment on the books, Americans infuse employment relationships with moral judgments and expectations of fairness which result in disputes that end up in the courts.

V. JOHN ELLA, MINNEAPOLIS

Toughen up and take care of yourself Under the new stimulus program a family of four on welfare will be getting $80 more a month. Those of us who are working and will have to pick up the tab for the stimulus program are getting $28 more a month. I know we have to do more to help the less fortunate, but it would be nice if someone would remind the less fortunate that they also need to do more to help themselves.

If you're an alcoholic, get sober. If you're a druggie, get straight. If you're uneducated, go back to school. If you're lazy, get off your butt! If you, who have the ability to take care of yourselves, will only do so, the rest of us can take care of those who don't.