Readers write for Friday, March 11

A month ago, in the afterglow of a Super Bowl win for the Packers, I was a proud expatriate from Wisconsin. Today, it's an embarrassment ("Stunning GOP vote ends standoff in Wisconsin," March 10).

The motivation behind the disgrace, perpetrated by Gov. Scott Walker and state Senate Republicans, is now clear. It wasn't about the budget. It wasn't about how "we're broke."

It was, very simply, bare-knuckles, scorched-earth politics. The unions and Democrats offered countless concessions and compromises, but that wasn't what Republicans were after.

Their goal was to neuter the Democratic Party and make a villain of public employees. For the moment, it's mission accomplished.

It only gets uglier from here.

DAVE VERHASSELT, ST. LOUIS PARK

• • •

Walker's decision to bite off his leg (by removing spending provisions in the bill so that a vote could take place) may get him out of the trap, but he is gravely wounded.

The citizens of Wisconsin now see clearly what his true motive has been all along, and the hypocrisy of union-busting under the guise of fiscal discipline. He won't get far.

STEPHEN S. ECKMAN, MAPLE PLAIN

• • •

Gov. Scott Walker for president! It is nice to see that we still have elected officials who believe in doing the right thing for the right reason. It is also a grand example of how ineffective unions are. You cannot simply demand things; the requests need to be responsible.

The next step should be to replace all of the Democrats who abandoned their jobs. You can't just quit because you do not agree. That is why we have a political process.

DEAN STRUNC, CRYSTAL

* * *

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison just finished his opening testimony at his colleague Peter King's hearing on radical domestic Islam. How academic, poignant and, most of all, strong. Mr. Ellison clearly illuminated the view from the high ground. Thank you, Keith, and be proud of your work today.

BRIAN PETERSON, ST. LOUIS PARK

• • •

Congressional hearings are political grandstands, and it's nearly impossible to take them seriously. It's outrage burlesque.

Sen. Carl Levin scowls theatrically over his granny glasses at a general, or jowly lawmakers harrumph about steroids, and we collectively roll our eyes.

But there's nothing funny about the "radicalization" hearings of Rep. Peter King, R-New York. These hearings simultaneously misstate and trivialize the issues in a forum that allows only incitement.

King has a long association with political violence. He was one of the most prominent American supporters of the IRA at a time when the group bombed London subways, Hyde Park and Harrods and nearly decapitated the Thatcher government (in a 1984 hotel bombing).

He was so toxic that the Irish government boycotted New York's St. Patrick's Day parade in 1985 because he was grand marshal.

In a 1987 interview, King said he never "gloated" over the killings, but argued that such deaths would be acceptable in other revolutionary movements. Roughly half the 3,500 killings in "The Troubles" were tied to the IRA; of these, 600 were civilians.

King eventually played a role in brokering a cease-fire, but violence has a long memory. Just last month, Belfast police disarmed a bomb that IRA dissidents had hidden on a child's bike. Some genies do not climb gently back into their bottles.

We should all be concerned about what King has uncorked this time.

DREW HAMRE, GOLDEN VALLEY

* * *

After listening to WCCO for my entire life, I am saying goodbye, as the station did to Gophers sports ("WCCO says goodbye, Goldy," March 10).

After buying out so many of my favorite broadcasters, the station is no longer the radio leader in the "Great Northwest." No longer will this be the station that was a must-listen for me.

MARY ROBINSON, HOWARD LAKE, MINN.

* * *

A puppy almost dies from almost being mailed in a sealed box, and people are practically falling all over themselves to adopt the puppy. There is outrage, and it is front-page news.

An 18-day-old baby girl is thrown in a snowbank, and the story is buried in the local section ("Mom 'slammed' newborn into snowbank, charges allege," March 9). There are no lotteries to adopt her. No one is speaking up for her!

So I am to believe that a puppy's life is worth more than an 18-day-old baby's life. I now see where priorities lie, and it is a sad state of affairs.

LORETTA VANPELT, MINNEAPOLIS

_______ Readers: To offer an opinion considered for publication as a letter to the editor, write no more than 250 words to opinion@startribune.com. Include your name and the city where you live. Follow us on Twitter @StribOpinion