Two guys (not qualified to be called men), both with a monumental lack of common sense and sense of responsibility, are reported by authorities to have killed two other men — the weapon in one case being a car and in the other, a gun (Star Tribune, Jan. 26). The "You Don't Say" quote published on the Opinion Exchange page the same day (from a French philosopher and moralist): "From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed stupendous light." David Frigaard, a teacher, and Anthony R. Sundholm, an emergency-room manager, were two such men of "consummate excellence."
Will guns be better regulated when more of us are killed by them than are living? Will scum drivers be taken off the road when more of us are killed by them than remain living?
Judith A. Peterson, Bloomington
KEYSTONE PIPELINE
What was Editorial Board thinking?
Ironic that the Star Tribune's opinion editors can work so much that's right, along with so much that's wrong, into a single editorial ("For safety's sake, approve Keystone," Jan. 24). On the one hand, the Editorial Board rightly concurs in the need for us to be weaned from fossil energy sources for the sake of a more stable climate. It has so indicated by its endorsement of the revenue-neutral carbon fee-and-dividend plan, which is acknowledged as having the support of both conservative and liberal legislators.
On the other hand, the board naively regards Keystone XL as "needed to safely transport crude from Canada and the Bakken now and into the future." How can there even be a future if we do not start shutting down the flow of crude oil now and begin seriously replacing it with renewables? Every decision like Keystone represents a critical opportunity to begin this process. Indeed, the journal New Scientist recently reported that another few tenths of a degree of global climate warming will cause uncontrollable melting of the Siberian permafrost, producing runaway warming of the Earth.
The editorial asserts that "the private sector, not the federal government, should make the ultimate decision on the project's economic necessity." What supreme body is going to make the decision that — economic necessity be damned — tar sands and Bakken crude need to be left in the ground? Instead of propping up this ill-fated project, the Star Tribune should be part of the hard sell to Congress that it needs to wake up and begin saving the world.
Stan Sattinger, Minneapolis
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The Lakota Nation and other Native Americans in South Dakota simply will not permit construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. And with good reason. It's their land, and it shouldn't be used to benefit a for-profit entity that isn't even in the United States. This pipeline would contain perhaps the dirtiest tar-sands oil in the universe as it crosses the Ogallala Aquifer, which contains perhaps the most pristine of all waters anywhere. If the pipeline bursts and oil spills into the aquifer, tell me how it's ever going to get cleaned up. We already are facing clean-water shortages. Running a pipeline over the aquifer increases the chance of polluting this vast body of water which, among other things, sustains agricultural production in several states.
Canada should route the pipeline over its own land westward to Vancouver, from where it can be shipped to overseas destinations. In the United States, we need to build rail oil tankers that are stronger than a beer can to lessen the chance of spills along our rail routes.
