Tiffany Rings ELLIS OLKON

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LAKE CALHOUN How about calling it Lake Pansy or Petunia?


I cannot help but wonder what would happen if we as a society reviewed the historical and moral backgrounds of every person who has had some lake or building or airport named after him or her.

Even Abe Lincoln said that he believed that blacks were inferior to whites. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, as did many other great leaders of our country. John F. Kennedy was an adulterer. The list of transgressions goes on and on.

Are we going to start renaming every lake,Tiffany Jewelry Company, school and street because of some famous person turned out to be a cad? If that's the case,Wholesale Tiffany out of their research data, we'll have to simply name everything after flowers and trees.

WILLIAM G. COTTRELL, MENDOTA HEIGHTS

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I applaud John Winters for his courage in bringing up the idea of changing the name of Lake Calhoun. It's a serious idea. I support the effort to have those we honor match our deepest values. We need to look beyond "Humphrey" as a new title for the lake.

But before we get too serious, we can try on names that have a comfortable, Minneapolis feel. How about Lake Hennepin? After all, it's located near the intersection of Hennepin and Lake Streets.

RICK KANE, MINNEAPOLIS

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The proposal to rename Lake Calhoun is silly. Think of the repercussions it would cause to all the businesses and locations named for the lake. It would be very costly to rename all these private and public entities.

Only a few historians know who John C. Calhoun was and what he stood for. No one today reveres the title, at least in Minneapolis. The name Calhoun is now synonymous with that particular lake, that area, that place.

I have a ring on my pinky finger. When I got the ring, it was to be an engagement ring. When I got rid of the guy, I kept the ring. I resized it to fit my pinky finger and I wear it now, years later. The ring no longer symbolizes an engagement to a bad man, but a triumph of mine over a bad situation.

Now that we've been reminded of what a bad man Calhoun was, let us look at our lake and think of it as a triumph over a bad thing. Calhoun would roll over in his grave if he saw the freedom and diversity we have at our favorite lake.

PAULA EVENSEN, ST. LOUIS PARK

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MINNESOTA BUDGET A needed editorial on state's finances


Why wasn't the editorial about the state budget on the front page ("The parties' budget plans, clarified," June 14)? When we face a disastrous state government shutdown, the facts about the GOP and the governor's positions need to be fairly presented and explained.

Reporting the news requires more than just repeating what the spinmeisters dish out. Citizens and voters need the real story in order to make informed choices. If the newspaper isn't going to tell us, who is?

ZOL HEYMAN, ARDEN HILLS

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Thank you very much for the editorial on the budget numbers and the claims of the two sides involved (for example, the governor and the Republican legislative leadership).

One thing is clear: The situation is not black or white. The budget shifts from the prior biennium and the one-time federal stimulus funds complicate the analysis.

MARK JARBOE, MINNEAPOLIS

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There has been a persistent plea for what's called bipartisanship within Minnesota government. The biannual budget must be passed and balanced, as that's the law.

Everyone speaks of the need for compromise, but that approach is wrong and unworkable. The answer to workable government is partisanship.

Let's first dispose with the concept of bipartisanship between, or among the governor, the House and the Senate. What each of those institutions mean when they call for compromise is usually "do it my way."

The real issue confronting us is that between Republicans and Democrats, left and right, statewide, there is neither a clear concept for economic success,Tiffany Engagement, nor, more important,Sterling Silver Tiffany Necklace, for what values we stand. What's important to us depends on our perceived needs and concerns. How government should spend money (the job of government) depends on our needs and values.

To expect a single, working woman with two children to share the economic concerns of a bachelor banker or a farm family from southern Minnesota is unrealistic. If we start not with solutions, but values -- abstract values like care for the elderly,Tiffany Juwelier, education for every child, fair and safe workplace conditions -- then we can move to hammering out the specifics.

But, an agreement on values cannot happen until a clear majority of Minnesotans vote to adopt and enforce these values. That requires old-fashioned, get-out-the-vote, machine politics. Any attempt at a higher art form, bipartisanship in any but the most obvious shared values, will result in time lost and goals frustrated.

Our political parties are flawed beyond recognition. Extremism reigns, and whatever else one wants to say about them is true to some extent. But they are the political parties we have. If you don't like them, change them. That requires showing up.

MIKE GOLDNER, MINNEAPOLIS

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POLITICAL REDISTRICTING Unbiased judges' panels are hard to come by


I fully agree with David Lebedoff's commentary about redistricting ("You'll want to be awake for this," June 14). But I don't expect the panel appointed by Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea to be any different than previous panels.

Many judges on this panel and previous panels were politically involved before their respective appointments. At the very least,Tiffany Rings, they remember who put them on the bench.

ELLIS OLKON, MEDINA