Readers Write for Wednesday, Dec. 23

Where have ethics and honesty gone? As I listen to the health care debates, it becomes more and more apparent House and Senate members are more interested in "payola" votes. I find it repulsive that the morals of these elected persons have been reduced to such a low level of dishonesty and lack of basic ethics.

Each and every person elected to office should be required to take "Ethics 101." I believe the University of St. Thomas has such a class offered.

Vote in 2010 to get rid of this deplorable behavior and make our elected representatives raise their level of behavior.

JUDY SIEVE, APPLE VALLEY

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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is trying to derail health care reform over abortion and threatening to withdraw from charity work over gay marriage, never seems to have much to say in opposition to capital punishment, flagrantly unjust wars or the policies that have fueled a massive growth in the disparity between rich and poor of the last three decades. While American Catholics exist across the political spectrum, it seems that the hierarchy is determined to serve as a wing of the Republican Party.

ALEKS HINDIN, ST. LOUIS PARK

The New Testament God sent his son to preach love, forgiveness and peace. Definitely liberal.

Michele Bachmann is praying to the Old Testament God for help in defeating the health insurance reform bill. If we get divine intervention coming to the aid of the army of lobbyists now shaping the health care debate, reform is in big trouble.

It is time for all the New Testament people to make their voices heard.

DENNIS PEDERSEN, MINNEAPOLIS

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PAT PROFT, ORONO

If Wheelock Whitney wants to help the local sports community ("Will the Vikings be the next asset this state loses?" Dec. 18), I suggest he visit a local rec center -- many of which are "wreck" centers! There are better ways to spend our dollars than on giveaways to millionaires.

STEVE LAW, ST. PAUL

Regarding the Dec. 21 article "Kicking the Facebook habit": This is a letter I sent to my 400-plus "friends" on Facebook explaining why I was quitting the website:

"I'm quitting because I'm tired of the publicity of everything on Facebook. I'm overwhelmed by the 'everyone-being-in-the-same-place-at-the-same-time' situation of Facebook. I'm sick of the permanency of anything ever said (commented). I hate the humanity that is sucked out of the world and into the computer, happily glaring out of a screen surrounded by ads. Our vocabulary is being taken over by the computer and cell phone, and friendship has become a business. Taking pictures of yourself used to be considered disgustingly narcissistic, and to be honest, most of your self-portraits move me to pity and being creeped out.

"I hope to see you all again. I promise you this though, if I see you I will make time for you. I will be there. And when I'm listening to you speak, I won't be texting. This is not abandonment, Facebook is the abandonment."

Where is Howard Beale in all this madness? Are we "shocked" that Alvin Toffler didn't write science fiction?

ELLIOT JOHN NOVAK, RICHFIELD

Brett Favre should have left the game when head coach Brad Childress told him to. Childress is supposed to be the boss. How Favre got away with this is a mystery to me.

MARY KASPER, CEDAR, MINN.

Brad Childress was seen arguing with Brett Favre on the sidelines Sunday night. The coach wanted to pull the quarterback and when the argument was over, there was Childress standing on the sidelines.

OK -- so who's the coach again?

BOB HUGE, EDINA

Garrison Keillor was channeling Ebenezer Scrooge when he wrote his Dec. 20 column. He calls the Unitarian Church "an outfit."

The Unitarian Universalist denomination is a religious organization with 200,000 members in 1,000 churches. We are "an outfit" like the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutherans, or the Baptists. Keillor writes "that the changing the words of 'Silent Night' by the Unitarians of Cambridge, Mass., is wrong, wrong, wrong."

The words have already been changed, so unless Keillor sings the song in the original German, he is wrong, wrong, wrong.