Readers write (Aug. 8): Truck drivers, Anoka-Hennepin schools' GLBT 'neutrality' stance, chiropractors, political parties

Dan Hanson's commentary about the truck driver trying to get home to see his family was moving, but the truth is that there are far more everyday annoyances that make a truck driver's life, and our roads, unpleasant and unsafe ("Some food for thought for impatient drivers everywhere," Aug. 3).

I have been driving a truck for about five years, and from the looks of it, most of you car drivers are focused only about 20 feet down the road. The best thing you can do to stay safe is to give yourself a lot of room, don't tailgate, and keep your eyes further down the road so you can better anticipate potential hazards.

Yeah, we know that everyone thinks they're a good driver. That fact won't do you any good though when someone else does something stupid and you've left yourself a millisecond to react.

Do you know how long it takes an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer traveling at 62 miles per hour to stop? Actually, I'm not sure, either, so don't pull directly in front of us and immediately slow down, OK?

While we're at it, don't start to pass us, then hang out by our trailer wheels for miles. We can't always see well there.

Learn how to merge onto a freeway. Find a spot to get in, increase your speed accordingly, and get in. Big trucks can't always get over for you. Don't expect them to.

Oh, and get off the phone!

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The Anoka-Hennepin school district touts its policy of "neutrality" regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students as if neutrality is itself a virtue (editorial, Aug. 5).

But neutrality is not possible where power is unequally distributed, as it is in bullying and other acts of harassment and discrimination.

Writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel put it succinctly: "Neutrality," he said, "helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

THE REV. KAREN HERING, Hudson, Wis.

I was excited to see the word "chiropractors" in a headline on the front page of the paper. But while reading "Amid health cuts, a win for chiropractors" (Aug. 4), it occurred to me that any win chiropractors get is usually muddled with some slander or misinformed opinion.

Rep. Thomas Huntley of Duluth, who is quoted in the story, is on the Health and Human Services committee but appears to know little about health care providers.

He says, "I do strongly support chiropractors for lower-back pain. I think they do a great job ... [but] I don't think chiropractors should be advising people on what kind of food to eat."

Everyone has an opinion, but when you hold a public office, you should have reasons to back up your statements.

I'm not here to pick on our DFLer from Duluth. The issue is simply that people are misinformed. Chiropractic care is not just about cracking bones and low-back pain. it is a model of health care that revolves around the idea that the body has the ability to heal itself and that we can affect it through chiropractic adjustments and the things we put into our body.

The burden here falls on chiropractors themselves. They are the ones who have to educate their patients and their communities. They cannot leave it to the misinformed.

DUSTIN SIMPSON, FARIBAULT, MINN.

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I don't understand how Rep. Jim Abeler's feathering of his own nest cannot be considered a conflict of interest at best and unethical at worst.

As a chiropractor, he will directly benefit from the legislation allocating money from the health and human services budget to the field.

SHARON ANDERSON, ST. LOUIS PARK

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The historian Howard Zinn once said: "In a two-party system, if both parties ignore public opinion, there is no place voters can turn."

Both parties have continually demonstrated their steadfast commitment to big business and the super-rich, simultaneously neglecting the needs of the poor and working classes. Policy decisions are justified as a matter of economic health.

What about human health? Military endeavors are justified as a necessity to defend U.S. interests abroad. What about U.S. interests at home?

BILL BOEGEMAN, PRIOR LAKE

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Having a third party to add to the mix of American politics would be tantamount to taking your mistress along to counseling in an attempt to save your marriage.