WAMMToday has included here several unpublished Letters to the Editor from local activists and writers on current issues such as homophobia, torture and yes! generosity.

Dear Editor,
My husband and I are the proud grandparents of two wonderful boys, ages 16 and 11, who also happen to be good athletes and exceptional students.  They love and respect their parents because they have experienced the  bonding of love that has surrounded them since birth and the life that goes on in their family…the games, the schoolwork, the chores, the discipline and the prayers.  They are just a regular family and would like to be accepted as one but there is one big difference…at least as far as our Republican legislators are concerned.  They have been raised by two nurturing Moms, instead of just one.  Yes, they are being raised lovingly by “same-sex” parents and our Republican legislators want to place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that will forever enshrine in our constitution discrimination against families of same-sex couples like theirs.  

 This is not about protecting marriage or family but merely an excuse, and an unconstitutional one at that,  to provide a diversion from the real issues of the day .  It is hard to believe that with so many community needs that would provide greater unity and security for all Minnesotans, some of our legislators would pick this polarizing “wedge” issue. 

 Rather than working on legislation that would protect our children and families from joblessness, homelessness, going to bed hungry or being randomly shot on our streets they are choosing to spend their time making our  gay people the scapegoat for the problems that plague modern marriage and inescapably inferring that their beloved families and the children of those families are second class citizens.  It is despicable, it is mean-spirited and it is, I hope, anti-Minnesotan! 

Darlene White, Edina, MN

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May 8, 2011
Dear Editors,
As only a layman with several years background in learning about the facts of torture, I am amazed and discouraged for your incredibly misinformed points you promoted about torture in Sunday’s article by Jay Ambrose, Scripps Howard News service, “Torture is serious, but our debate about it is silly.”

Please ask Matthew Alexander, author of the recent book Kill or Capture to allow the truth to be publicly presented. His many years as an official government interrogator of hundreds disputes most if not all of what Ambrose claims.

 Or, consult the book by Harvard educated attorney Jennifer Harbury, Truth, Torture the American Way to learn the true facts, too. Your misinformation proposes the continuance of torture which by all international standards  maintains torture is both immoral, illegal and just plain dumb and non-productive! There are many more experts who would claim similarly. 

If you are too busy to pursue the truth, please do a service to your publication and consult with local attorney Coleen Rowley and/or experienced and informed local Chuck Turchick to present the facts [emails included to the editors of the paper].

What background does writer claim to entitled him such a presence in your publication?  You did not share.

Thank you for your attempts to be fair and balanced.

Sincerely, Robert Heberle  Veterans for Peace, Retired teacher
St. Anthony, MN

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Letter to Editor:

 I was struck twice this week by the profound power of generosity.  First, in Waconia, a weaver of dreams (“a fairy godmother of gowns,”4/23/11) tailors used bridesmaids’ dresses to provide  prom dresses for financially strapped teens. 

 Then, a former librarian leaves a dramatic gift of $646,000 to Hennepin County’s libraries (“Librarian leaves $646k for Hennepin bookshelves,” 4/25/11) to enhance a “conduit for education. . .for the general public.”

 We need to harness the power of this generosity of spirit to uplift our connectedness as diverse people.  We may be unequal in our wealth and gifts, but we are not unequal in importance to our world.  Embracing that respect for each other is fundamental to our success  as a family, community, nation and world.

 Such stories of kindliness help me remember that we live in a world of plenty.  We have to overcome our fears of financial insecurity to enable us to solve some of the inequities of birth and individual abilities.  Please, let us be generous with each other.

 Hilary Beste, St. Louis Park MN