Readers write (March 5): Vikings stadium, voter ID, Rush Limbaugh

They keep getting the stadium closer and closer to where it ought to be -- from downtown St. Paul to Arden Hills to the Farmers Market to the Basilica, and now to "near" the Metrodome. Next, how about the final, logical step -- at the Metrodome?

No one has ever explained why the current stadium can't be fixed so the Viking$ would deign to play their games there. I grant that it doesn't have a sexy removable roof, and its luxury boxes may seem slummy to bigwigs and the restrooms are inadequate. But unless I missed something, the playing field is still 100 yards long, with space for the end zones. Its surface seems OK. The seats still fit bottoms. New luxury boxes could be installed, even paid for by those who want them. And surely there is sufficient architectural and engineering expertise in this megacity to figure out how to put a nice sliding roof over the whole rebuilt Metrodome complex, luxury boxes and all.

WILLIAM DOWNING, FALCON HEIGHTS

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When I saw Zygi Wilf smiling and saying, "The dream of keeping the Minnesota Vikings here for generations to come is close at hand," I quickly grabbed for my wallet. But it was already gone, and Zygi's franchise instantly was worth $200 million more than it was earlier.

WAYNE MARTIN, PLYMOUTH

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To make the agreement more one-sided, the people will get no revenue (return on their investments) from stadium naming rights or NFL events. Even though some of its members like every deal sight unseen, I sure hope the Legislature takes a hard look at this "deal."

JAMES M. BECKER, LAKEVILLE

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It's a sad day when political leaders exult over a $975 million stadium and, at the same time, the University of Minnesota president ("State of the U: Kaler suggests year-round academic calendar," March 2) begs the Legislature for more state support "as a way to minimize or eliminate tuition increases." We could afford both if we were willing to pay more taxes.

ARVONNE FRASER, MINNEAPOLIS

Hey, Minneapolis City Council: Standing up for your principles and rejecting a city subsidy for the Vikings is not a courageous thing to do in liberal south Minneapolis. It's the easy thing to do. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and take the best deal you can get. That is not sexy or satisfying or even good, but it is courageous. If Minneapolis rejects the stadium subsidy, the thing will be built next year at a much higher public cost in the east metro, greatly contributing to urban sprawl and damaging downtown development for a generation. Yeah, it sucks that a billionaire gets a subsidy, but the alternative is not refusing him the subsidy, it's giving him a larger one for a worse outcome. It sucks, but do it.

KEN DARLING, GOLDEN VALLEY

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My grandma, God rest her soul, grew up farming in southwestern Minnesota. She never drove, so relied on her children for transportation, especially after Grandpa died. Some of you might have a grandparent like her.

She was sharp as a tack and active in her high-rise apartment building socializing, baking her signature caramel rolls, and each day making sure every one of her neighbors was accounted for. We came to help her often, and were grateful for anyone who offered to give here an occasional ride or help carrying her purchases.

LISA WERSAL, VADNAIS HEIGHTS

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Could someone please explain to Rush Limbaugh that the birth-control pills that women take do not work on the same principle as the Viagra pills that he takes (you remember Rush and the 29 Viagra pills that he was illegally possessing as he reentered this country from his trip to the Dominican Republican with three of his buddies back in 2006). A woman takes a birth-control pill as prescribed whether she is going to have sex that day or not, so when Rush suggests, as he recently did, that a woman taking $3,000 worth of birth control pills is having too much sex and is a slut, he simply doesn't understand that the number of birth control pills being taken is never a measure of how much sex a woman is having, unlike the Viagra that Rush has to take each time he attempts to have sex. Rush: As disgusting a person as you have proven yourself to be, you have also proven yourself to be extremely ignorant on the subject of birth control. And by the way, does carrying 29 Viagra pills for a weekend in the Dominican Republic make you a slut?