Readers write for Jan. 7, 2011

Tim Pawlenty was one of two governors to refuse provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

By accepting those provisions, Gov. Mark Dayton has now made sure that only one state -- Alaska -- continues to hold out against affordable care for individuals and businesses.

From Michele Bachmann's scathing criticism of Dayton in these pages ("Governor goes unilateral on health care," Jan. 6), you would think his actions were radical.

In fact, he did what every other governor in the lower 48 did without hesitation. Many of them are conservative Republicans.

Bachmann's diatribe is only the latest chapter in the continuing saga of an extremist who is out of touch with the will of her constituents.

No wonder she wants to run for president.

No other Republican candidate is extreme enough for her.

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The 86-year-old World War II veteran protesting "Obamacare" in the governor's office has access to care through the VA, a public system (like Britain's). He also has Medicare, a single-payer system (like Canada's). Just what part of government involvement in health care is he so upset about?

DAVID AQUILINA, MINNEAPOLIS

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Dayton is to be congratulated for taking the high road in dealing with protesters (even those shouting out unqualified interpretations of the Constitution), showing that he is a statesman rather than a rigid ideologue ("Critics get a say as Dayton opts in on health law," Jan. 6).

Hopefully, others in office will model the governor's approach and work to value opposing positions during what is sure to be a contentious legislative session.

If ideology is set aside in favor of reasoned solutions, there is a chance we will see positive results.

JOHN HELGERSON, VICTORIA

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U.S. Rep. John Boehner wept when he accepted the position of speaker of the House. That's great. I'm all for men showing their sensitive side. It made me wonder, though -- does he also weep when he sees a child living in poverty without health care?

I'm confident that Twins baseball experts Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire, Terry Ryan and Bill Smith would agree that pitching is 80 percent of success in major league baseball. It's surprising, then, that no pitchers are included among the players whose numbers are honored at Target Field.

Bert Blyleven's election to baseball's Hall of Fame makes him an obvious addition, and I believe that Jim Kaat, the franchise's leader in victories, also should be added to the display.

NEIL NAFTALIN, MINNEAPOLIS

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Congratulations to Blyleven. The great injustice remains that Tony Oliva -- who may be the greatest overall Minnesota Twin -- has not been voted into the Hall of Fame. Tony O. could do it all.

I am one of those people who have opposed nuclear power mainly because it generates waste that lasts millions of years.

However, there is another kind of nuclear power plant -- the Integral Fast-neutron Reactor -- that uses nuclear waste as fuel. After the energy is extracted to generate electricity, the fuel rods have radioactive half lives of only hundreds of years rather than millions.

Current light water reactors extract only 1 percent of the nuclear energy from fuel rods, leaving the rest as nuclear waste.

Another advantage of IFRs is that any element heavier than actinium can be used as fuel. If we ever banned atomic bombs, we would have a way to extract the energy without exploding them.

JOE SCHMIT, MINNETONKA

JAMES L. POHL, ALEXANDRIA, MINN.

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Look at the qualifications. Bachmann has as much legislative experience as our president when he ran, plus she has a great deal more business and real-world experience. Yet she will continue to be mocked by the mainstream media.

DARYL WILLIAMSON, EDEN PRAIRIE

I think the graphic used for the article linking a woman's size to her career success ("When it comes to pay, size matters," Jan. 6) was very telling.

I'm unsure what message the artist was trying to convey, but it reinforces my belief that the issue is much more complex than the article presents and can't be captured by statistics linking pounds of fat to dollars and cents.