Readers Write (Sept. 12): Healthy food, Ray Rice, ISIL, campaign ads, Taser case, prostitution

I am the director of Loaves and Fishes MN, a meal program with more than 30 years of experience in feeding the hungry in Minnesota, and I was interested in the Sept. 7 story "Eating habits improved in U.S., except among poor." Over the past year and a half, we have made changes to our 1,700 daily meals by eliminating desserts and adding more servings of fruits and vegetables. This change has been overwhelmingly welcomed by our guests of all ages.

I ate with a woman in Crystal who held up her plate of homemade spaghetti, a freshly tossed salad, a warm roll and melon and explained that she simply could not put that many colors on a plate at home by herself. She told me, "This is the best meal I eat." Nonprofits have had to evolve since their inception; in the 1980s, salty casseroles, canned corn, white bread and cake would have been our norm. Today we can do better, and the first step is to offer fresh food that is not always accessible or affordable for the people who dine with us.

As evidence mounts that last spring the NFL received a copy of the tape showing Ray Rice savagely knocking out Janay Palmer inside an elevator, it is becoming clear that Commissioner Roger Goodell has got to go ("Report: NFL had Rice video," Sept. 11). Whether or not he saw the tape, he needs to resign or be fired by the NFL. As he told New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton and his team after the "Bountygate" scandal, "Ignorance is no excuse."

Unfortunately, it appears that the NFL is beginning to circle the wagons. The league announced that it has hired former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct an "independent" investigation of the NFL's investigation. Unfortunately, Mueller's law firm isn't truly independent. His firm recently conducted the negotiations for the NFL with DirecTV.

The announcement of the investigation appears to be designed to slow the calls for Goodell to resign. Will the same level of outrage still exist when Mueller finishes his investigation next spring, long after the NFL season has concluded? Highly unlikely.

Goodell, through either ignorance or indifference, has presided over a league with a huge domestic-violence problem. However, the only people who have any power over him are the 32 NFL team owners. To that end, I call upon Zygi Wilf to stand up and take the lead within the circle of NFL owners and call for the resignation of Goodell. Wilf and his family have asked a lot of the people of Minnesota. Now it's time for them to show that they deserve that level of support.

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As I listen to the plans to deal with the threat called ISIL, I hear military solutions. But what of the two sources of this problem that will continue regardless of military interventions?

1) The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to inflame the region.

2) The fact that in their countries of origin, huge numbers of young people have no hope of a future with a job, a family, a home or a sense of purpose.

This tremendous lack of hope for a peaceful, productive future fuels extremist movements that do provide a sense of purpose to young people, albeit a violent one.

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In an Aug. 29 Pew Research Center poll, Democrats indicated that climate change is a bigger threat to the United States than ISIL. It seems they bought into the misguided hype from the administration and United Nations about climate change, and the president's misleading proclamation on the status of ISIL. Since the poll was taken a few days before the highly publicized beheading of the first American journalist along with other murderous atrocities and threats, I set it aside as outdated.

Then on Sept. 4, the president said he had no strategy for ISIL in Syria "yet." But in his address to the nation on Wednesday, Obama set forth a four-point strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL. I think the people will support the president so long as he remains engaged as commander-in-chief and they see progress in the campaign to destroy ISIL. But we want the administration and the media to be candid with us.

I am puzzled: Why do elected officials need to spend so much money trying to tear down their opponents? ("DFL plans $1M in Dayton ads" Sept. 11.) If they were doing a good job in their current positions, shouldn't they be able to be re-elected on their records?

I am a white woman who works in the St. Paul skyways. I frequently sit at tables before work and during breaks. I have never been told to move along, but I have seen others, mostly black men, told to do so. Why are they hassled while I am not? They're not bothering anyone. This happens at nonpeak times. If the skyway is a public space, all should be welcome regardless of race or class. This is especially important as cold weather comes.

I was dismayed to see the illustration accompanying the well-written, spot on Sept. 8 counterpoint, "Tech won't make prostitution safer." In contrast to the commentary, which made the argument that prostitution is usually forced upon a woman and is highly dangerous and degrading, the illustration showed a pair of open, sensuous lips that seemed to give a "come hither" look.