Netlets for Wednesday, May 14

A May 11 letter writer suggested that Sen. Amy Klobuchar should "go with the winner" and cast her superdelegate vote for Hillary Clinton, ignoring the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans who chose Barack Obama as the nominee.

In my high school government class, we have learned that our country was founded on principles of democracy and values of the opinion of the common man as much as the elite politician. Does this letter writer really believe that we should bypass those principles and give an elite party member more say than the people she represents? That's not the democracy -- or the Democratic Party -- that I've been raised to believe in.

MOLLY HENSLEY-CLANCY, MINNEAPOLIS

I agree the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton schools should not "punish" those who will not only refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance but even refuse to stand with their classmates for it. However, I suggest that the school district should first dig through the boxes of old retired library books and find Edward Everett Hale's "The Man Without a Country" and make it required reading.

Next, they should "treat" the students to a bus trip to the Arizona-Mexico border and count the number of individuals risking death by dehydration crossing the arid stretch to get into the United States and at the same time counting the number crossing the other way.

Good old ACLU. Everybody has rights. Only a few of us have responsibilities.

RAY PLOETZ, MAPLE GROVE

We are at war, and -- right or wrong -- this war is tapping our country's resources. Instead of encouraging Minnesotans to complain about the rising cost of everyday items, Kline should be encouraging us to willingly sacrifice some of our own comfort to further the war effort without mortgaging our children's future to China. But perhaps this might focus people's attention back onto the substance and true costs of our government's excesses.

Kline's solutions to our addiction to foreign oil are also tilted to long-term (arctic drilling, clean coal) supply-side concepts that coincidentally are kind to big business. No thought is given to demand-side ideas. A little conservation multiplied by millions of people makes for some immediate relief from our addiction, but Kline didn't even mention this in passing. Could it be that conservation too implies voluntary sacrifice? Could it be that our politicians are now afraid to ask any of us to sacrifice to either reach a successful conclusion to the war in Iraq or to buy back our children's future?

ROBERT K. GALKIEWICZ, ROSEVILLE

I am a former resident of Minnesota and greatly enjoy the great outdoors. One thing that has frustrated me with the Star Tribune in the last couple of months has been the lack of coverage about the proposed Lake Vermilion State Park. Only a line or two here and there about where it stands in the current legislative session.

To me, this is a historical, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn a prime piece of land on a beautiful lake into a public resource for generations to come. I know it's not as "sexy" as the current presidential campaign, but it is an important long-term ecological story for Minnesota. Some more up-to-date information about its legislative status would be appreciated.

The Star Tribune should be ashamed of publishing Katherine Kersten's continual attacks on the gay community. When they allow her to fan the flames of fear, they are party to the pain that is inflicted.

When it was just rumored that our son, Jacob, was gay, he was submitted to harassment by fellow students. We had "FAG" scrawled on our driveway, pink paint balls peppering the front of our home, raw eggs in our mailbox, our lamp posts were broken, his car window was smashed in the school parking lot and a brick was thrown through the window of our law office. We received unsigned vulgar letters in the mail. I never went to sleep at night until Jacob was safely home.

People are taught to hate. Articles like Kersten's May 12 column about the "Welcoming Schools' curriculum feed that hatred and spread fear of the gay community. Fear does terrible things to a society.

The discrimination gay students face is real and it is painful. It breaks my heart every time we hear of another student being harassed, beaten, thrown out of their family home, ridiculed by fellow students and, yes, even killed. We recently spent a day with Sean Kennedy's parents. The pain of losing their son will be with them all of their days. His beautiful life was ended simply because he was gay. It was a crime that could have been prevented if we lived in a society that valued all people. The lessons learned in the "Welcoming Schools" curriculum is one step to ensure those values are taught.