GLOBAL WARMING
Don't confuse it with the weather
"My what a cool summer, what's all this about global warming?" I've heard this sentiment expressed by numerous well-educated folks recently -- enough that I fear it's pandemic.
Global warming and climate change are both misnomers. Global climate destabilization is the best term. But since the last thing the problem needs is another rebranding in lieu of action, I'll give that soapbox a rest.
The important thing to remember is that climate is not the same as weather. Our cool summer may be an outlier, or it may be a sign of more unpredictable weather to come. All we know is that soon changes in our climate will be irreversible. The costs of inaction are too great. The U.S. House passed an historic energy bill in June, but it is collecting dust in the Senate. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken should use their spurs and speed things along.
CARL SAMUELSON, ST. PAUL
PAWLENTY'S PLAN
Seems he's forgotten about his day job
Minnesotans should be outraged that their purported governor, Tim Pawlenty, would outline his health care plan not in a Minnesota newspaper, such as the Star Tribune, but in a Washington Post opinion piece, which the Strib reprinted.
Not only does the substance of the plan concern me; it's also Pawlenty's ceaseless attempt to arrogate to himself national political status (if no one else will) in his headlong rush toward the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Invoking "my friend" Newt Gingrich even in mild criticism is all part of the act of Pawlenty trying to muscle his way onto the national political stage.
With all of the problems Minnesota faces, it's time for the governor to come home and start governing again, however poorly we may regard such governance. The people of Minnesota did not reelect a presidential candidate; they elected a governor.
To recall a long-forgotten Minnesota episode involving a congressperson, Coya Knutson, smitten with Potomac Fever who allegedly neglected her husband, Andy, back in Minnesota: "Timmy, come home!"
