Teaching respect

THUMBS UP: It’s probably a lesson that can’t be taught often enough – have respect for others and treat people as you would want to be treated.

This lesson was the focus of a day-long retreat at the National Guard Armory for 10th graders at New Ulm High School on Wednesday.

The Youth Frontiers Respect Retreat is an anti-bullying campaign that focuses students on positive traits and personal goals, and lets them talk about the impact of bullying and negative actions. We hope the seeds of respect that were planted will take root and lead to a better, kinder school atmosphere.

Political hardball

THUMBS DOWN: Maybe that’s the way they do it in Jersey, but Gov. Chris Christie has every reason to be embarassed and ashamed at the revelations that his top aides were behind an orchestrated lane closure on the George Washington Bridge entry in Fort Lee, N.J., causing huge traffic jams in the city to punish the Fort Lee mayor for not endorsing Christie in his re-election campaign.

Christie, seen as one of the top GOP hopefuls in the 2016 campaign, may not have had knowledge of his aides’ actions, but no doubt they felt Christie would approve of some kind of political retribution.

Christie may have hurt his presidential chances for 2016. This kind of “Get mad, then get even” philosophy isn’t going to win many supporters.

Ethanol support

THUMBS DOWN: Corn growers and ethanol producers in the U.S. are rightly concerned about an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to reduce the amount of ethanol required in its Renewable Fuel Standard. The EPA wants to reduce the amount of ethanol blended into the nation’s fuel supply by 1.4 billion gallons.

The EPA should think long and hard about the impact such a decision would have on the fuel and the corn market. That would be 1.4 billion gallons more of gasoline that would be burned, fattening the already bulging coffers of the big oil companies. It would hit hard at the price of corn, which has been dropping.

We think the EPA?should keep the Renewable Fuel Standard where it is.