What about smoke
on state Capitol lawn?
My enjoyment of Concerts on the Square the other night was frequently interrupted by the wafting smell of cigarette smoke.
So here we have a state government that feels it is within its authority to dictate to Wisconsin's 400,000 businesses what can and cannot be done on private property, with passage of the recent statewide smoking ban.
Yet it doesn't stop people from smoking on the public state Capitol lawn, just a few hundred yards outside the chamber doors where the smoking ban was passed?
Makes perfect sense to me.
-- Torrey Jaeckle, Madison

Hold lottery to allow smoking in some bars
So the cost of cigarettes is going up a couple dollars per pack. I can't imagine the result if the price of a beer or other alcoholic drink went up $2 each.
No one can tell me that alcohol does not cause as many problems, if not more, for society as cigarettes. Consider health care costs, policeman hours, drunken driving, vehicular homicide while drinking, domestic abuse and families destroyed by alcohol.
Forget the big cigarette tax increase. We already know the funds to help people stop smoking are being diverted for other things.
We have sports bars, biker bars, gay bars and even bars with strippers. A lottery should be held statewide, based on population, and certain bars should be certified as smoking bars.
The last I heard -- despite the political upheavals, politicians' affairs, lying and diversion of taxpayer funds -- the United States of America was still a democracy.
-- Fran Norman Parker, Monona

Producers keep
giving to the drones
Is it just me, or do I see more and more people living off the shrinking number of hardworking, prideful ones? They're getting money, food and health care, among other things.
How do you define socialism? I submit that it means to tax the real producers and give funds to the drones. I know that's not capitalism, which is what built our great nation.
I am pessimistic about the future.
-- Jim Cox, Lodi

Monster law breaks faith with victims
Much concern has been expressed about the governor's "Frankenstein" veto. But there has been a dearth of concern for legislation stitched together by the Legislature in the wee hours of the morning beyond the reach of sunlight or public scrutiny.
Truth in sentencing has given way to time off of a criminal sentence in varying amounts. One such amount is one day off for every 5.7 days of a sentence served.
Now there's a commonly used measure of time. Not only have the Legislature and governor broken faith with victims, they have created a monster for calculating when inmates will be released from prison.
Politicians are scarier in life than in fiction.
--Bill Darwin, DeForest

Think twice before
getting a pit bull
With the newest dog-fighting ring getting busted, people start talking about how to best raise pit bulls so they aren't vicious.
Well, if your neighbor had any type of dog and it bit you or your children, you might think twice about getting a puppy from that litter.
So what if you bred the two most aggressive Staffordshire terriers (already a feisty breed) you could find? Then inbred them four more times, each time breeding the most aggressive dogs in the litter. Ya think it might turn out aggressive?
Any dog will bite. That's what dogs do. The problem with pit bulls is they don't bite just once. After getting "fired up," they are like someone going berserk.
Think about what the consequences could result from bringing one of these pit bulls into your home. It's like walking in the Iraqi desert after the Gulf War. Do you really think they fight them because they're docile?
--Dave Lulling, Wisconsin Dells

We need special coin marking War of 1812
Your support is needed to pass a piece of legislation pending in Congress: the Star Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin Act.
This legislation (H.R. 2097 and S. 653) will help display national appreciation of the history of the War of 1812 -- some of which took place in the territory which is now Wisconsin.
If passed, this legislation authorizes the U.S. Mint to produce coins commemorating the bicentennial for the War of 1812, and the Star Spangled Banner.
The War of 1812 was a pivotal time in our country's history. It was notable for the burning of Washington D.C., the development of our Navy, and many famous battles including the Battle of New Orleans.
It was during the Battle of Baltimore that Francis Scott Key penned the poem that became our "Star Spangled Banner" national anthem.
Two centuries later, the flag and anthem, legacies of the War of 1812, continue to inspire America. Let's prepare for 2012.
-- Char Janeczko-King, Weston

Single payer is key
to health care reform
On health care reform, anything but single payer is doomed to fail. We simply can't afford to support the uninsured and the profit side of the "health care industry."
A public option would not provide incentives to lower the cost of health care because the fat is in the profit -- the marketing departments and the board rooms of the insurance companies.
We have an opportunity to fix a system that doesn't work for millions of Americans. Do it right or not at all.
I have been actively working as a nurse for 43 years, so I have seen much change in health care. Many advances have benefited all. At the same time, the health care system has grown progressively sicker in ways that we now have the opportunity to cure.
Slowly but surely, I saw hospitals develop marketing departments, competitive strategies and billboards went up luring people to Hospital X or Y. This trend has had a significant impact on the way institutions made decisions and has added wasteful cost.
The marketing campaigns were not designed to attract the greater than 47 million uninsured but those with the precious insurance dollars. All the while, our nation's people and overall health status suffered.
The profit-making side of health care has grown like a malignancy.
-- Sara Williams, Madison