Readers Write (Dec. 12): I-94 noise barriers, torture, federal budget and pension cuts, airline image

Until recently, I didn't believe in time travel. Then I saw what's happened on eastbound Interstate 94 between Franklin Avenue and Hwy. 280. Someone went back to the 1970s and got some cargo containers, cut them apart and used them to "decorate" the sound barrier walls ("Drivers, neighbors love and loathe new noise-muffling panels on I-94," Dec. 11). Now I want to believe in magic. If you have a magic wand, please wave it and make this relentlessly ugly "improvement" vanish.

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Urban planning is an art and a science. Cities work hard to create infrastructure that is functional, efficient and, shall we say, tasteful. Well, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has missed the mark on its new noise barriers along I-94. Ideally, the barriers reduce noise pollution for the surrounding neighborhoods, but they should also blend in with the surrounding foliage and terrain. The new barriers, in blocks of brown, blue, green, cream and gray, look like railway cars or shipping containers in an industrial park. One must wonder why MnDOT would choose such industrial and, frankly, tacky panels that hundreds of thousands of commuters are now going to have to look at twice every day during an already ugly commute.

It would have been nicer to spend our tax dollars on creating a more subtle barrier in one color, such as dark green or brown. I am all for urban art and creativity to beautify our common spaces, but MnDOT has created an eyesore that will now be there for decades.

After reading the opinion pages' coverage of the torture report, I am stunned. In all of the columns and letters selected for publication, not one, including the Star Tribune's own editorial analysis, mentioned that torture is a federal crime, under both the Federal Torture Act and the Convention Against Torture treaty ratified and signed by the United States.

Punishment for those found guilty of violating these laws can include long prison terms or death. The opinion staff's incomprehensible failure to even report these bare facts illustrates a total contempt for the rule of law.

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People understand that horrible things can happen on a battlefield, but when American forces removed people — both combatants and noncombatants — from the battle, the values of our nation became the standard for their care.

Drone strikes extend the hand of military power to every corner of the battlefield, where we must expect an enemy's fierce resistance. Condoning the torture of those in our care as acceptable policy will ensure similar treatment for our military forces. When that happens, we will share the shame and disgust.

To the honorable U.S. Rep. John Kline:

If you allow multiemployer pension plans that are underfunded to significantly cut benefits to retirees under age 75, I want you to make damn sure that you reduce your own congressional pension payments by the largest percentage reduction that any of your constituents see, and I want your personal reduction to remain in effect in perpetuity ("Proposed cuts catching pensioners by surprise," Dec. 11). Need I remind you that your pension funding source is itself underfunded.

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Yet the various headlines in print and online imply that it was Kline and Kline only who is involved. Clearly biased.

Shame on the Star Tribune with this partisan approach!

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This is not the way to correct a problem Congress has created by allowing multiemployee groups to pay too little into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

Rather, it is further pandering to the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, which boasts on its website of minimizing contributions to the PBGC. Its lobbying efforts have been very successful. In 2014, multiemployer plans paid a flat rate premium of only $12 per participant covered, while single-employer plans paid $49.

The article about Sun Country "flying" more than 100 kids to the North Pole at Terminal 2 ("A flight of imagination to the North Pole," Dec. 10) brought a big smile to my face. It was just what I needed after reading Jon Tevlin's column that same day about Delta firing a 61-year-old employee with 26 years of experience for giving his opinion on company wages ("The steep cost of free speech: a job gone in 30 seconds").

Shame on you, Delta — don't be surprised when you find a lump of coal in your stocking this year.