DEPORTED CRIMINALS
Get serious, and work on tightening borders
The Nov. 3 front-page story "Back in the U.S., and back in trouble" points out a serious problem with returning deported criminals who cannot be stopped in any other way from returning to continue as free men to commit their crimes against U.S. citizens. Certainly our laws are ineffective, and resorting to deportation is proving to be foolish. An obvious chink in the chain is our unsecure borders, and that attempt is proving to also be feeble if not childish.
Only one thing remains if we want to continue to deal with these nasty people in a juvenile manner, and that is we have to tell them we will have to count to 10 and then they will really get it.
WILLIAM LUNDQUIST, BLOOMINGTON
SOARING OIL PROFITS
U.S. companies benefit at public's expense
Yet another U.S. oil company has announced yet another quarter of record profits amid the greatest national economic crisis in decades ("Exxon shatters record for U.S. profit on operations," Oct. 31).
The presidential candidates have it partly right when they say that our country sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas each year to countries that don't like us very much. The part they are missing is that we are also sending hundreds of billions of dollars each year to domestic oil companies that don't care very much about the nation's well-being. My definition of good citizenship does not include adding to the hardships upon oil-dependent industries, businesses and individuals in the form of excessive profits during times when their survival is threatened by historic rises in fuel costs.
Shortly after assuming office in 2001, President George W. Bush issued a memorandum establishing the National Energy Policy Development Group, which was directed, among other things, to "develo[p]... a national energy policy designed to help the private sector." A lawsuit attempting to discover the participation and input of energy industry executives, consultants and lobbyists in the group's work was rebuffed by the executive branch, with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004.
If anything is now clear, it is that the honor system is officially over when it comes to the domestic energy industries. Not one more lease of our nation's resources or one more dollar of tax credit should be granted to these industries without the transparency and accountability sufficient to prevent future abuses at the expense of the American public.
TOM GLENNON, MINNETONKA
A DIRTY DEED
Should MISO ensure that coal is king?
I am outraged that the independent agency that controls the electric power grid in Minnesota would insert itself into the critical and highly charged decision regarding the construction of the new Big Stone II coal-fired power plant in South Dakota ("Coal plant backers pressure wind supporters," Oct. 30).
As long as we continue to build coal-fired power plants and power lines to support them, wind energy will have to fight for space in the market and the grid. The job of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operation (MISO) should be to assure that there is room for wind on the transmission wires and not try to use its influence inappropriately to bring more dirty coal onto the system.
BRETT SMITH, MINNEAPOLIS
CHARTER SCHOOLS
When should religious groups be sponsors?
Katherine Kersten's Oct. 26 column ("New Minnesota charter schools heading into a legal minefield") is so wrong, she contradicts herself. In it, she writes disapprovingly of charter schools sponsored by Muslim organizations, asking, "How can an organization dedicated to promoting religion be qualified to sponsor public schools?" That's a good question.
An even better question is why she didn't raise the same issue in an earlier column she wrote about charter schools sponsored by Friends of Ascension, another religious group. What's the difference? Friends of Ascension is a Christian group, of course. So are charter school sponsors St. Thomas and the College of St. Catherine, neither of which have drawn the ire of Kersten.
If somebody can come up with a reason why it is OK for Christian organizations to sponsor charter schools but it isn't for Muslim organizations, other than sheer bigotry, I'd like to hear it.
NATHAN HUNSTAD, ST. PAUL
•••
Two reactions to Katherine Kersten's column on the application to open three new charter schools: First, the application by an obviously religious group illustrates the weakness in the charter school program. It was ill conceived and poorly constructed. It needs to be redrawn by the Legislature to keep any religious groups out of the picture.
This leads to my second point. If the MET group can demonstrate that it has resources of up to $3 million, MET should start and fund its own schools. This is what Catholics and Lutherans do. Quit trying to get the public to fund schools for extremely religious agendas.
GEORGE VASILIOU, EAGAN
MONETARY VALUE OF ART
Like most museums, MIA doesn't estimate
An Oct. 30 Star Tribune article about the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' return of a painting by Fernand Leger ascribes a monetary value to the painting, which could be construed as the museum's own valuation of the work. Like most art museums, the MIA cannot and does not provide price estimates for works of art.
KAYWIN FELDMAN, DIRECTOR AND
PRESIDENT, MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS
