An inhumane relationship

Our relationship with Southern neighbors is not friendly nor humane. The Bible says we should love our neighbors like ourselves, but U.S. pol-icy toward migrant workers has not been such. Our farmers need them and Washington should establish Guest Workers Program so they can come and help our farmers harvest fruits, vegetables, etc. If our government had a policy, it would know who and where they are and migrate back until they are needed for another season. Now, they are hiding, living in fear and working illegally.

Unfortunately, Washington is using our neighbors as a political issue. I have been contacting our presidents and congressional representatives to resolve this important problem since Eastern and Western Europe established their program.

Please write to President Biden, Congressional Leaders and our House and Senate members to finally solve this tragic situation? 

Mike Jaros
Duluth, Minnesota

A clear and present danger

Does anyone out there share the view that Trump still thinks he’s president? And why does the media give this blowhard the time of day? Doesn’t he get that he is yesterday’s news?

By now it must be painfully clear to all but the mentally challenged that he is a clear and present danger to all of us who stand upright. To acknowledge that this sub-human chunk of walking garbage is fully focused upon running for national office again in 2024 is a forgone conclusion.

Trump’s rabid and drooling sup-porters must simply be stopped at every opportunity if we hope to preserve America’s heritage of freedom and democratic resolve.

This country smacks of what pre-Hitler Germany must have been like.

God save us from this monstrous hallucination!

P.S. A friend told me that Trump and his wife plan to open a taco stand in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Peace out.

Ken Bracken
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Unitarian Universalists vote to oppose Line 3

Three concerns – ecosystem disruption, increased fossil fuel extraction/greenhouse gas emission, and threats to Indigenous culture – speak to Unitarian Universalist Principles, particularly “Respect the interdependent web for existence, of which we are a part” and “Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.” These violations of our principles led the UU Congregation of Duluth to join a growing number and diversity of people standing with

Minnesota Indigenous Water Protectors in opposition to the construction of Enbridge Line 3.

Following an overwhelmingly supportive congregational vote on Feb. 14, we call on U.S. and Minnesota governments to immediately rescind permits for Line 3 construction, and we encourage all citizens to support legal appeals and the nonviolent work of the Water Protectors.

A brief summary of Minnesota Line 3 concerns includes:

Ecosystem Disruption:

• 78 miles of wetlands and 22 rivers crossed
• Two continental watershed headwaters: Mississippi, and St. Louis River/Great Lakes
• 1.7 million gallons of Line 3 oil spilled near Grand Rapids in 1991 (pipeline age < 30 years; largest inland oil spill in US history)
• More than 1,000 Enbridge spills (1996-2014, U.S./Canada), nearly one billion gallons Fossil Fuel Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
• 193 tons of emissions per year for extraction, transport, and consumption
• Equivalent to 38 million more vehicles, or 30-50 years of 50 new coal-fired power plants
• 0.65°F (0.36°C) global temperature increase, if all Alberta tar sands were extracted
• Negation of Minnesota goals for electric utilities, clean cars, or the US Climate Alliance/Paris Agreement

Threats to Indigenous Culture:

• US/Ojibwe treaties guarantee ceded land access for fish, game, wild rice, and medicinal and other plants essential to the traditional Indigenous way of life.
• All citizens are bound to honor and uphold treaty rights by protecting these threatened resources.
Standing against the pipeline, UUCD joins diverse faith-based and social justice groups in addition to many climate and Indigenous organizations. Principled opposition to the pipeline is
growing, not stepping back.

Faith and interfaith groups have be-come particularly vocal. Minnesota’s chapter of Interfaith Power and Light organized a petition and letter asking President Biden to use executive actions to stop the Enbridge project. 374 individuals and organizational leaders representing more than 10 million individuals signed. Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Mennonite, and Quaker as well as Unitarian-Universalist denominations were represented, and Indigenous spiritual groups included Seventh Generation and Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, among others.

Additional signatories included not only climate (350) and environmental (Center for Biological Diversity) groups, but also a diversity of national and international organizations rep-resenting Health (National Medical Association), Labor (Green Workers Alliance), Law (Center for International Environmental Law), Finance (Divest Canada Coalition), Social Justice (Action Center on Race & the Economy), People of Color (Green Latinos), and Students (International Student Coalition).

Coalitions are forming among organizations, strengthening pipeline opposition. Greenfaith, Honor the Earth, MN Poor People’s Campaign, MN 350, and MNIPL have organized nationwide interfaith webinars and digital rallies throughout the winter; numerous tribal and faith leaders have participated. The longest-standing group, of course, is of the Water Protectors themselves, who have stood on the front lines along the pipeline route through Minnesota since construction began in early December. They themselves are a coalition, if not a coalition of coalitions: Honor the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, and many more work together to build advocacy, direct action, and education, all in opposition to the pipeline and its effects on lakes, rivers, wetlands, drinking water, and treaty rights to use of ceded lands.

Perhaps most hopeful of all, youth organizations across the country are becoming involved at a deep level. Student attorney Brent Murcia represented Youth Climate Intervenors at the Court of Appeals based on YCI’s petition stating “The resources meant to be held in trust for future generations have been squandered away by the governments that are meant to protect us, and so we feel that it is both reasonable and necessary that we are granted a seat at the table to argue for their protection ourselves.”

Some say that Line 3, now over half constructed – despite pending legal appeals in the courts - is a “done deal” and thus not worth protesting. We disagree – because a Biden administration stay is still possible, and more importantly because the project remains the wrong thing to do, in violation of our deepest commitments to the web of life.

There is a place for each individual and organization to find their own voice in standing for the protection of our water and indeed for the great web of life upon which we all depend for our existence. You can contact any of the organizations named here to consider how to best use your energy and gifts in this sacred work for our future.

Barb Akre and Beth Tamminen for UUCD’s Climate Action Team

Trumplican lecture not needed

I don’t need a lecture from a Trump sycophant on being a “true American.” I’m as American as any hairy Marine, and I’m a liberal. I support Biden and what he’s trying to do, in the wake of the most disastrous, treasonous assault on our Democracy that we’ve ever seen. My people pioneered here in the Midwest. My great-grandfather, buried in Green Bay, was a proud member of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg. You, mister, don’t get to define “true American” to me.

And if we ‘leftists’ should be careful of what we wish for, what about the wishes of someone who supported one of the worst political mistakes in American history? You too, sir, should be careful of your own wishes. Just how do you think you’re going to profit from – let alone survive – a resurgent Trump?

Ray Allard
Duluth, Minnesota