June 2007 | Main | August 2007
I think it is a waste of money for the US government to give Colorado more Homeland Security money due to the upcoming Democratic convention. Denver will be the safest city in America during this time. Terrorists know that Democrats are soft when it comes to terrorism. So they will do no harm to this city and will support any candidate the Democrats elect to represent them.
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Cuba and Castro
The Cuban who wrote about Castro needs to know . That Castro was Cuban caused and created. If those Cubans who fled in the 1950’s had the guts to fight for Cuba like Castro did. They would still be in Cuba.Castro with a ragtag ill equipped and outnumbered army beat those who supported Bastista and made a living off the poor of Cuba. Do Not feel sorry for him at all.
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Bush’s war policies
It’s remarkable how President Bush’s war policies have alienated even some of the United States’ most reliable Middle East partners. Even the typically servile Saudis have tired of the disastrous doings in Iraq and have openly announced their support for the tenacious Sunni insurgency there.
The Saudi Wahhabist royal family would love to see the Shiite Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, deposed and have baldly named Iraq an “illegally occupied” country.
In response to these dramatic diplomatic deviations, Bush now characteristically offers his wavering Gulf clients the only thing he’s capable of delivering. He’s placed more than $20 billion of hi-tech U.S.-made weaponry on the table, enough it’s hoped to convince the Saudis to stifle their insurgent Sunni allies inside Iraq.
Moreover, Israel’s understandable concern over such a destabilizing deal will be allayed with financial and military emoluments worth billions more, prompting, in turn, a balancing boost in armaments and funds to prop up Egypt’s corrupt police state.
That these hackneyed arrangements, when inevitably approved in substantial form by Congress, will continue to fatten the wallets of Bush’s friends in the military-industrial-oil complex is, of course, merely a convenient coincidence.
Peace.
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CNN presidential debate
News is coming out that only two of the many GOP presidential candidates have so far agreed to participate in the upcoming CNN debate. Could it be that most of them are afraid of modern technology, especially when it will expose them to the real world of real people on national TV, rather than—as Bush/Cheney/Rove have taught the past six years—to talk only to preselected and thoroughly vetted audiences as these people always do.
It is about time that all the candidates become exposed to what the majority of people think and feel, rather than just the minority who agrees with most of their positions.
It will be revealing to see if any more are willing to talk to the people at large. My guess is, in the end most of them will participate to keep from losing face entirely, but most of them will do badly and will be embarrassed by their positions when compared to the majority of the country.
This is what politics should really be about, exposing all who run for office to a large audience that represents a cross section of citizens, not to only those who have enough cash to buy scads of TV time for thirty second sound bites. Good for CNN and Cooper Anderson for offering us this revealing format.
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Bill Johnson and Ward Churchill
It’s worth noticing when your columnist, Bill Johnson, takes on the cause of someone who’s not a minority, because it is rare. On 7/27, he chose a white guy. Not your average white guy; a white guy who masquerades as a Native American to acquire a plum position as a professor at a state university. And not just a pseudo-Indian, but a flaming plagiarist who minors in intimidation in his classroom and assault for those who challenge him, be they Italians or real Indians. And yet Johnson champions him.
The amazing irony in Johnson is that this professor likely denied a minority member from that plum position by posing as an Indian. Of course we are talking about the pseudo-Indian, unqualified professor, and super-demagog; Ward Churchill. His supporters, including Johnson, opine that it was his “Little Eichmanns” paper that motivated CU to oust him. That is a big red herring. It was actually the publicity from that paper’s publicity that caused CU to have their noses rubbed in their own incompetence by having promoted him to a position he was never qualified to hold. And yet Johnson champions him.
It would seem that Johnson is reacting to the feeding frenzy of the Right by being a contrarian to reason in championing Churchill as he tilts at the rehire windmill. Just because the Right is in a feeding frenzy, it does not mean they are wrong. Inflaming passions is Johnson’s stock in trade, and he certainly ought to acknowledge a righteous cause. Banishing Churchill from his banal classroom screes is not only the right; it is the obligation of a well-run university.
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Bush administration
Leroy Quet
But the thing is, it is THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ITSELF that has CAUSED, in the first place, the very problems that Americans want Congress to address!
I doubt many Americans want Congress to just let Bush and friends get away completely with their illegal activities. Should the White House be REWARDED for messing up our country and the world by having Bush Admn officials’ wrong-doing uninvestigated simply because Congress is too busy fixing the problems caused by the Bush Admn itself??
That would defy all sense of justice.
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Joe Nacchio
One can certainly sense the glee and gloating from the media and the public with the stiff sentence handed down to Joe Nacchio.
Lest the editors and columnists of the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News get too heady eith being able to kill so many trees for a story, be they reminded of the late-1990s when they filled endless pages with glowing stories about Nacchio and Qwest. Any counterpoint was quickly ridiculed and squashed. I did not see the newspapers as co-defendants for aiding and abetting Nacchio’s efforts to blue-sky Qwest to investors, but perhaps they should have been. Those who take sides indiscriminately simply for the sake of personal advantage are guilt of pandering.
Within the context of a retributive justice system Nacchio’s sentence certainly seems ‘fair.’ But what can we say about the retributive system in general? What, really, does it accomplish in such cases? Other than temporarily sating one of the lowest of human emotions - vengeance - not much.
Two wrongs don’t make a right; but if the human race hasn’t learned that by now, it is not likely to ever learn it. We’ll keep going with a retributive system of justice and judges intoxicated with power belching out the tired old bromide, “A stiff sentence will send a message to others” whilst knowing full well there isn’t a shard of evidence to indicate any such thing.
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Joe Nacchio
I miss the smile. You know, the big, cheery, arrogant, catch-me-if-you-can smirk Joe Nacchio (and his wife) always put on for the media when going to-and-from the courthouse during his trail?
The half-page photo of Nacchio in the Rocky Wall Street West (7/28) was just missing oh, I dunno, that certain something. I guess learning that you’re going to be spending the next six years locked up, even in a federal minimum-security country club (will the cons in the laundry room there be able to get Joe’s tennis whites —really— white?) sorta takes the starch outta your shorts. Penning a check for around $60 million—lopping a whopping what, 3-4% off the top of his ill-gotten fortune (but still plenty left to keep the missus in the style to which she has grown accustomed while you’re away, Joe!)—has probably added another frown line to Joe’s face, too. I bet he’d already earmarked that folding cash for a(nother) yacht.
Well, at least Joe has one thing to smile about: in a minimum-security pen, he won’t have to worry about putting smiles on the faces of any hardened, violent criminals in the showers.
Too bad.
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Iraq
RMtnNews devoted nearly a full page to D. Pipes’ pipe-dream about ‘salvaging ’ our Iraq project. “We’ve lost the occupation, but we can win the war.”
Pipes wants us to retreat to desert bases. He hopes this will a) unseat Syrian & Iranian regimes (b)assure free flow of oil and gas (c) and fight Qaeda.
In other words, he wants to set up permanent bases in Iraq. Now the House of Representatives must fund such bases. But the House has passed 7 resolutions opposing permanent bases. The last measure passed by a uniquely bipartisan majority: 400 votes vs. 24 against the ban.
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Mike Rosen
Mike Rosen believes that the Republicans might just make a comeback in 2008.
He thinks that if they continue to sit quiet and quiver in the corner over the blatant violations of our constitution, the lying, cheating, killing, perjury, and shredding of the constitutional checks and balances, that no one will notice and they won’t have to take responsibility.
The Republicans sit and twiddle their thumbs while their party aids and abets the worst president in the history of the earth.
Does Mr. Rosen really think that llibertarians and independents are going to forget about this in 2008? Yeah. He’s hoping.
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Democrats should focus on what matters
Oh, yes! The Democrats who now have the majority in both houses of Congress are doing just fine.
They tried to ram an immigration bill down our throats that consumes over 200 pages (as it showed on my version of Microsoft Word) and that is almost impossible to read, let alone implement.
They are wasting everybody’s time with investigations of the president’s firing of a few prosecutors.
Of course, these Democrats never mention that Bill Clinton fired them all when he was president.
They are consuming resources investigating why the president had the NSA spy on our enemies’ phone calls.
And to top it off, one of their leading candidates for president, John Edwards, runs around claiming that the war on terror is just a bumper sticker.
How misguided these democrats are.
They should stop wasting all of our political talent on such trivial matters and instead focus on how to win the war with the radical Islamists. This is an enemy that has repeatedly stated in writing what it wants to accomplish — our demise, our destruction, our submission or death.
Apparently, the Democrats are more interested in grabbing power than in protecting this great country.
Colin C. Case, Highlands Ranch
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (62) | TrackBackRebutting Libby case misrepresentations
Ethan Hemming’s July 10 letter concerning the Libby commutation, “Bush’s twin messages,” showed such reckless disregard for the facts that it cries out for correction.
Fact: Article II Section 2 of the Constitution states that the president has the power to reprieve and pardon and that this power is absolute and unreviewable by Congress or the courts.
Fact: This pardon power was intended for various purposes including political purposes (and, from the start, the Libby matter was about a political policy dispute over Iraq).
Fact: The prosecutor knew from the start it was Richard Armitage, a Bush antagonist, not Libby who leaked Valerie Plame’s job.
Fact: Plame wasn’t a covert operative — she had a desk job at the CIA and her top-secret code name there was “Valerie Plame.”
Fact: A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report concluded Joe Wilson lied repeatedly in testimony to them.
All this is a matter of record for those interested in the truth. Libby’s conviction ranks among the most egregious examples of criminalizing political differences.
With the passage of time, cooler, more objective historians will define it as the “perversion of justice” it so richly merits.
Richard Eggers, Niwot
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (42) | TrackBack‘We all deserve equality’
After I read the Rocky Mountain News editorial on Jonathan, I was excited that he will be able to realize his dream of going to college (“The missing option in Colorado,” July 20).
But at the same time, I felt disappointed because there are many more students who need help.
I will be one of those students.
I am studying really hard so I can have the opportunity to go to college and to have a better job, because with the money from a better job I can help my family survive.
I am a high school student in Denver and in three years I will be graduating. I would like to have the support.
My parents are also immigrants, and they cannot afford to pay approximately $34,000 a year for out-of-state tuition at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
I have five brothers and sisters, and we all would like to go to college. By denying us the education that we deserve because we do not have documentation, the government is making sure we stay poor.
This is an injustice. We all deserve equality.
Paola Perez, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (60) | TrackBackA few tips on how to earn a good tip
In response to letter writer Patti Rankin (“Servers need the tips,” July 16), I have a few corrections and thoughts.
Most servers earn at least $4 an hour or more. Health care is offered at a reasonable cost after working for 60 to 90 days.
Now to the meat of the story. I don’t know where Rankin works, but if the utensils have paper napkins wrapped around them, there is a good chance you aren’t going to see a 20 percent tip no matter what you do.
If a server thinks he or she can just slap a plate of road kill on the table, walk away and wait for the big tipper to pay for college, he or she must be dreaming.
Servers are the middlemen between the kitchen, bussers, food runners and even dishwashers.
Ever had dirty utensils, glasses or rotting condiment bottles on the table?
Thought so.
If an order is wrong, it is the server’s job to fix it ASAP.
Servers control their own destinies and tips.
Bring it fast, hot, good, made to order, smile, get over it and then we will consider a 20 percent tip.
Just a few tips to help out.
Darin Garrett, Highlands Ranch
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBackSome questions to ask yourself
These questions are for those that are asking the candidates, “How can Washington make my particular life better?”
Can a lifestyle change help me with my own health care or economic problems? If so, why won’t I make this change?
Why is it someone else’s responsibility to alleviate self-inflicted problems? Am I willing to accept restrictions on my freedoms from those I expect to finance my relief?
Am I willing to get the education and do the work that is necessary to advance myself? If not, why?
Am I willing to look for solutions that do not include (or expect) a government-imposed solution?
Am I more worried about claiming my “rights” than fulfilling my responsibilities?
A cartoon caption says it well: “The problem with society is that there are too many people with too many rights.”
Mark Sear, Lakewood
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBackFree speech Chicken Littles
It was amusing to hear college professors cry that the free speech sky is falling in the wake of Ward Churchill’s firing (“‘A fateful decision’ for faculty,” July 26).
After a lengthy investigation, it was proven that Churchill, among other things, committed plagiarism, invented facts and manufactured sources for his research.
If that doesn’t justify a professor’s termination, I don’t know what does.
I wish the Rocky Mountain News and other media outlets giving a forum to all the free speech Chicken Littles out there would care as much about the rest of the Constitution as they do about the First Amendment.
Anthony J. Fabian, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
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College education
I’m a well-educated student here in Denver: I work hard to get good grades because I want to go to college and be a future dentist here in Colorado.
Now, I feel like my dreams are getting crushed, because neither the DREAM Act has passed, nor an instate tuition bill.
I come from a hard working family, which earns enough to support us, but my family doesn’t earn enough for my college education because universities would charge me out of state tuition, because I’m not a legal resident. No disrespect, but that is by far the most stupidest policy I have ever seen! Why are legislators prohibiting students from an education? Why are people in power deciding my future? Why don’t you want me to be a dentist?! What benefits do you get? Just because I wasn’t born here shouldn’t mean I have to pay more. I have lived here in the U.S. ever since I was one year old. It’s not fair that you shut the doors in our faces. I’m a human being’ too. Education is a right, not a privilege.
I urge you to let students go to college with in-state tuition. No matter what, we ARE going to college. I am going to be a dentist, and I will fight, no matter how long it takes. Stop this NONSENSE. USE YOUR BRAIN and have COMMON SENSE. Put yourself in our position! You had the right to go to college. Why can’t we?! Pass the DREAM Act so that I can be a part of the U.S. Pass in-state tuition now, so we can have justice to go college.
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Ward Churchill
The university should have nailed him when he violated plagiarism policies, prior to the 9/11 thing, and for that the university is at fault, and probably hypocritical. But, as a CU alum, and my son currently enrolled, I would hate for CU to continue to emply a known cheater, one who is unrepentent and will not admmit he’s wrong - we have enough of that in the white house
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Health care
If Mr. Salazar wanted to tax his brain, instead of the people, he would address the underlying causes of our current health care system that is failing to meet the needs of American families. But it is much easier to just slap another tax on cigarettes and tobacco. After all smokers are in the minority. Consider these issues that are not being reported: SCHIP is funded not only on a 156% cigarette tax increase but a proposed tax that will decimate the premium cigar industry by raising the cap on cigar taxes an astounding 20,413%! No other product is subject to a tax rate that even approaches this level.
Many of the manufacturers and retail tobacconists that sell handmade cigars are small family businesses. This onerous tax is almost certain to bankrupt them. What about the children in Honduras and Nicaragua whose family’s livelihoods will be destroyed by this tax? Are their lives any less important? It is one thing to raise taxes reasonably to support a worthwhile social program. But no industry can be rationally expected to absorb such a drastic tax increase without going out of business. Cigars already fund the Colorado state coffers with a 40% state tobacco tax. You are in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
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Republican/Democratic parties
We have to remember the Republican Party came into existence at the time of Abraham Lincoln, in part because the Whigs could not get past their denial about slavery, but also because the United States was about to be transformed from the agrian to industrial age. Through the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt it was a progressive party; then it flipped and began to represent the interests of large industrial age businesses centered in the Yankee north. The Democrats became the defenders of the poor, minorities and union workers.
I argue that as we enter the 21st century, the Republican Party will go the way of the Whigs. Each time it has come to power it has demonstrated an appalling inability to get the job done. Like the middle-aged male who just doesn’t get it, it’s leaders deny the existence of problems such as health care and the environment. Its solution to education is merely to dismantle the public school system and give vouchers to those now paying for private education. Its solution to immigration is just to load up the busses.
I grew up in a Democratic family, but have been Republican for thirty years since I went to college. I now see myself as an Independent, as do most of my friends. To Mr. Rosen, I would say, “sometimes the pendulum quits swinging and, shortly thereafter, there is an irreversible transformation". The industrial age and historical forces that perpetuated your political party are all but gone. Time to embrace the 21st Century and create a fusion party using intelligent design; time to get it!
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Marijuana use
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Bush administration
The performance of the rest of this Congress, in contrast, has been sorely disappointing. No better should be expected from the Republicans of this Congress since most are not even embarrassed or shamed by a president of their party who has single-handedly, and with malice aforethought , bequeathed this nation and its riches to his leech-like friends, and punched holes in the belly of this nation through which he and they are sucking the juices of democracy.
We who voted for Democratic candidates in the 2006 Congressional election can only wonder what happened to their resolve; if they are afraid to face down the president to end the war in Iraq - or failing that, to impeach him - how would a Democratic administration ever deal with terrorists or malevolent despots? Indeed, how would one ever get elected?
Most Americans would rather see this Congress deal with President Bush now than to concentrate on being elected in 2008. Otherwise, there may be little opportunity to accomplish the latter.
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Deputy charged with tampering
Hummmmm. It is time to throw the book at a police officer who know the law and continue to brake the law.
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Ward Churchill
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Prison and inmates
The Colorado DOC has one 756-bed “supermax” and another 948-bed high security prison planned (total of 1,704 beds) for an inmate population of 22,519. The percentage of beds needed for disruptive, escape-prone inmates is far different for the total inmate populations served (1% for BOP and 8% for Colorado). To spend an additional $102.8 million for another Colorado maximum security facility may better be used on re-entry initiatives such as increased programs in education, anger management, and substance abuse.
Inexpensive, proactive facilities like the Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs reduces recidivism while maintaining a safe community.
By 2011 one in every 178 U.S. residents will live in prison, according to a report entitled,
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Thank you for an illuminating article
My most sincere thanks to Lisa Ryckman and her editors for a compelling and illuminating article on mental illness (“Hope, dismay create ‘family roller coaster,’ advocates say,” July 21).
In particular, thank you for including Mental Health America’s definition of mental illness: “Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders; they can’t be overcome by willpower and bear no relation to a person’s character or intelligence.”
Until five years ago, when new medications freed me from the worst effects of bipolarity, I encountered continual and painful prejudice from friends, family and co-workers.
I can’t count the number of times people would suggest I could overcome my problems through strength of will. In other words, the disease was my fault.
Why does our society blame the mentally ill but consider it inconceivable to treat a patient with cancer, diabetes or multiple sclerosis in such a manner?
As a bipolar survivor, I continually preach the benefits of modern medicine and therapy. I work to educate others to the true horrors of mental illness. And I encourage fellow sufferers to come out of the closet. As long as we remain ashamed, society will seek to shame us.
Kate Forgach, Fort Collins
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackLiberal arts give job candidates a leg up
I just couldn’t let Dennis Hammond’s letter go unanswered (“Math, science are key in education,” July 24).
Hammond writes against the “liberal arts,” which he may be confusing with the Republican political re-definition of “liberal.” The two are not the same.
The liberal arts have traditionally included language, music, literature and the other fine and performing arts.
Learning math and science without the liberal arts is unbalanced.
Having worked as a headhunter, placing engineers in high-tech jobs, I quickly learned that the candidates most valued (hired fastest, paid the most) were ones who had good communication skills and a good command of the English language.
There will always be a plethora of drone-like techies, and they have their place — usually reporting to the guys who can speak and write well, as well as doing the math and science.
Hammond boasts of using algebra “almost daily.” How often does he use the English language? More often, I’d wager.
Imagine a world without poetry, without music or literature. I wouldn’t want to live in such a world.
That’s sad. It’s even sadder that Hammond would advocate such a shriveled world for young people.
Chris Murphy, Lakewood
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBackBush’s bull-headed stance on display
The article on President Bush’s bull-headed stance on the Iraq war (“Flat out of patience, Dems tell president,” July 13) just further verifies the diminishment of the office of president by showing his refusal to listen to the American public through its congressional representatives when he said he doesn’t think Congress ought to be running the war.
Never mind the previous outrage of a personal indiscretion of a president with a blabber-mouthed intern, this current administration has far exceeded that conduct in gross immorality.
In my mind, the lying and hyping of intelligence to attack another county is probably the unforgivable epitome of immorality — the cold, calculating deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and, in particular, the deaths and maiming of our soldiers.
Lillian Norgren, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (130) | TrackBackRepublican Party has strayed from its roots
It is with a remarkable madness that the Republican Party, particularly its members in the Senate, continue to provide cover for the most incompetent and power-hungry administration this nation has ever seen.
Karl Rove may have envisioned a 100-year conservative Republican reign for America, but all of the lies and failures of government, the blatant disregard of international law and the systematic dismemberment of the Constitution are not passing unnoticed by the public eye.
It is painful to watch a once respectable political party that championed personal responsibility, accountability and the rule of law sink so low in its inordinate and emotionally crippled thirst for power.
Robert Porath, Boulder
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (30) | TrackBackStick to the words of the Constitution
I was quite amused today to hear that Ward Churchill and his lawyer, David Lane, are filing paperwork in court to sue the University of Colorado for violating his First Amendment rights (“Churchill fired; next shot in court,” July 25).
I should point out that the only people that can be sued in this case are those in the U.S. Congress.
Concerning free speech, the Constitution only limits the actions of Congress. Congress cannot write a law making certain speech illegal. People cannot be arrested solely because of things they say.
However, people can lose their jobs because of the things they say if their statements are not in the best interests of the employer, as in the case of the CU and Churchill.
I challenge anyone to explain how language in the First Amendment relating to the actions of the Congress in any way can be applied in this case.
There is no connection if you stick to the words.
If you start thinking as a utopian or base your argument on what you think is fair, you can go anywhere with the First Amendment.
But if you stick to the words, Congress is the only one that cannot limit free speech.
Steve Hellmann, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (28) | TrackBackIf you don’t like CU’s actions, leave
So, some students and supporters are upset and ashamed to be going to the University of Colorado after the valid termination of their plagiarizing, lying, cowardly, bigoted hero Ward Churchill.
If you fall into this group, let me give you some advice: If exposing and removing Churchill is causing you so much pain, then leave (and don’t let the door hit you on your backside when you go).
There are thousands of people who would gladly take your place and prefer not to be exposed to the simplistic and unfounded rants of someone like Churchill.
One basic fact remains out of all of this: Most CU students want to be educated, not lied to, as Churchill is now famous (or is it infamous) for.
J. B. Adams, Arvada
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBackNowhere man
Ward Churchill says that he is “going nowhere.”
Well, he is a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land ... I borrowed that line from a song by the Beatles — I wouldn’t want to commit plagiarism.
Jim Gronert, Wheat Ridge
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBackMaybe the Rocky Mountain News can answer this question for me: “Mommy, why is that man taking a nap on the floor? Does he not have a bed?”
This question is, of course, in reference to the July 17 cover picture of Aaron Snyder as he lay dead on the floor of the Capitol building, and it was not a question I was prepared to answer for my inquisitive 3-year-old.
Why does the Rocky insist on putting pictures of dead people in the newspaper?
I am not ignorant of the happenings in the world, which is why I read the newspaper.
However, I do not care to see pictures of dead people.
It is insensitive to the innocent victims, and it is attention that the crazy people of the world do not deserve.
Jodie Miller, Arvada
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (84) | TrackBackApology owed
I have to say that I am thoroughly disgusted with your July 17 front-page picture of Aaron Snyder’s body.
I can’t even imagine what this man’s parents are going through, and then to wake up and see this.
People, no matter what they did, deserve dignity, even in death.
You owe this man’s family an apology!
Heather C. Neil, Thornton
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (28) | TrackBackWine column a treat
I don’t care for wine. Everything except Mogen David wine tastes like vinegar to me! But I never miss Jennifer Rosen’s wine column. I believe she could write about logarithms and make the subject interesting and entertaining. I hope you appreciate what a treasure you have.
Judy Retz, Colorado Springs
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBackListen to your true readers
Every day in every way, the Rocky Mountain News is getting smaller and smaller. Soon it will just fade away into ... what? Cyberspace?
Dusty Saunders, Robert Denerstein, Linda McConnell. Who will take the place of these talented, experienced people? Honest-to-God newspaper people or 20-year-old computer geeks?
Please stop tinkering and just put out a newspaper! The alleged readers you appear to be catering to wouldn’t subscribe to a newspaper if John Temple came to their houses and read it aloud to them every morning.
Show some respect for your loyal, longtime subscribers. It would be nice if you catered to us for a change.
You’ve heard the litany of complaints from your true readers.Stop assuming we’re all going to die soon and our opinions don’t matter. I’m in my early 50s and it’s possible that I could be a subscriber for another 50 years.
Mary Chandler Mahoney, Englewood
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBackCorrections cast doubt
I wish I could say I was amused by the lengthy list of corrections to Bill Johnson’s column about the upside-down flag protest (“Woman’s flag upside down, as are neighbors' responses,” July 11).
Like many good storytellers, Johnson never lets the facts get in the way of a good story. That’s permissible from a friend telling a tale over a beer, but it’s not permissible from a newspaper columnist.
Johnson’s history of corrections leaves me unable to judge the accuracy of anything he writes, and it causes me to wonder about the truthfulness of your other columnists.
How much longer is the Rocky Mountain News going to put up with him?
Dan Rubin, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackShame on Campos
Paul Campos’ despicable comment regarding Joe Paterno, calling him “incontinent,” was cruel and unwarranted (“Looking at Vick via Orwell,” July 24).
For someone “over-educated and privileged,” as he says he is, I was shocked. He belittles himself with this attempt at humor at the expense of an outstanding gentleman. Shame on you.
Rita Smith, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBackNot suitable for kids
The July 17 cover picture of the Rocky Mountain News is very inappropriate.
We have 9-year-old twins whom we encourage to read as much as possible. However, we cannot even let our children see that day’s paper.
Showing a picture of a dead man in the Capitol building, while it may be breaking news, is in poor taste. I am disappointed in the decision your staff made.
Karen Hay, Centennial
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBackKeep sports in the sports section
It seems that more and more sports articles and photos are appearing on the front page and in the news section.
The July 20 Rocky Mountain News had a 24-page sports section, and, in addition, most of the front page and all of NEWS 8 were dedicated to sports.
This seems to be occurring fairly often. Surely in this day and age, with all the things happening here and around the world, there has to be something more newsworthy to write about. Those two pages are celebrity oriented and could have been in the Spotlight or sports sections, not on the front page!
Patricia Mathes, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
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Ward Churchill
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Ward Churchill
Churchill is acting like all that went before is some kind of protected behavior. He has to come to the realization that his firing was not about what he wrote in September 2001. He brought himself to the attention of inquiring minds through no fault of anyone else but himself. It was after his article came to light, that other facts concerning this man’s behavior began to be brought to the attention of the university. Facts and concerns that had nothing to do with his September 01 writings.
Facts and concerns that had everything to do with his qualifications to be a university professor, and how he got to where he was in the first place.
It was those facts and concerns that were proven to be accurate enough to the Regents of the University of Colorado to act in the manner that they did, and justifiably so.
This whole situation is not a Fruit of the Poisonous Tree situation, as Mr. Churchill and Mr. Lane would like us to believe.
Take your lumps Mr. Churchill. You have earned each and every one of them.
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President Bush’s “war on terror” speech
As the President rightly asserted, “Iraq’s not the reason that the terrorists are at war with us,” referring to the fact that America was not in Iraq when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 1993, Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, the USS Cole in 2000, and New York and Washington in 2001. This is an obvious statement and should need no clarification. Yet, for the benefit of the Democrats, it is necessary to elucidate such facts. The enemy has disclosed its sinister plot from the very beginning, yet some still don’t get it.
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Ward Churchill
For nearly six years, Churchill has remained a disgrace and embarrassment to CU, starting with his contemptible September 2001 essay on 9/11 berating victims and arguing US foreign policies provoked the attack. Further investigation resulted in charges of guilt on seven counts of research misconduct.
In May of 2006, an Investigative Committee concurred, recommending dismissal, Now...after mountains of negative press and years of waste and wrangling, the Board of Regents ....finally, voted 8 to 1 to fire him, at last - decisive, but why not unanimous?
Does Boulder’s Regent, Cindy Carlisle, approve of his behavior? Now, compare this situation to the “real world.” Assume that a sales manager suspects that a salesman is guilty of misconduct, disgraceful and harmful to the company. Investigation reveals that the man is misrepresenting the company’s products, making invalid claims, falsifying his travel itineraries, etc.
Well, the sales manager doesn’t need an investigative committee or board of regents or a chancellor to take action. Once the proper documentation is in order, an “exit interview"- termination, that is - takes place with a witness present and within minutes the justification is validated and the firing process complete.
In business it is all about appropriate consequences for dishonesty and misbehavior coupled with a sense of urgency to avoid further damage.
In academia, why must a “blockade” called “tenure” protect the guilty and derail the wheels of justice? It is absurd!!
Thank goodness, in general, the commerce of our nation is not stymied by tenure or our economy would be at a standstill instead of thriving as it is today! God Bless America!
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Bond issues
The focus we keep hearing about from City Council is all about which projects will be funded and will everything make the wish list. In reality there will always be politics around which projects do or do not make the list and we will always have more projects than money. The money however is always going to be coming from the taxpayer and what has been proposed doesn’t solve the problem.
The infrastructure committee has come up with the “Pay-as-you-go” model for funding new projects. This model sounds good, and who would argue with not spending more than you will have. The problem here is that we may have the money on paper, but we won’t have it in reality.
Some of the money that is part of “Pay-as-you-go” actually sits in the city’s general fund to the tune of $6.8 Million for roads and buildings according the committee reports for 2007. Although the money is ‘designated’ for roads and buildings, that money can and has historically been diverted to pay for other things. That’s how we got here in the first place and nothing that is being proposed changes that.
In addition as councilwoman Jeanne Faatz has pointed out, if we increase the bonding capacity to address the current backlog we will still be short of money. The ballot measure to increase taxes to pay for maintenance and ‘bridge the gap’ is not enough to cover the cost of the additional projects.
That means we would fail “Pay-as-you-go” right out of the gates and put us back in the hole which means we haven’t solved the problem. To truly solve to problem, money that is designated for capital maintenance has to be set in a special fund that ensures the money will be used as it is intended and until that is done for ALL the money that supports these capital projects, we should not be increasing our taxes. Why did a bigger hole?
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H. Payne’s cartoon
Every once in a while a political cartoon comes along that hits the nail directly on the head; this is one of them. The Dem’s strategy in Iraq makes as much sense as forfeiting a baseball game when your team is ahead.
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Can Democrats and Republicans work together?
Hardly anything gets done in Congres, neither party has the clear plans or cares for society and their own country?
It would be nice to see both parties to start working together -not fighting and get things done.
Dear team of House of Rpresentatives , the way you talk to us -public makes you look like none of you has any knowledge of economics. What you say and/or do, do not make any sense for many of us.
Who suppose to have more knovledge - You or us? Can you talk with more respect for yourself and others, not criticizing everybody around you like politicians used to talk with the grace class and knowledge of the subject.
The way you talk in public is not even acceptable in average work place, definitely not acceptable at the management level. Please consider.
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Ward Churchill
How Churchill came to be the chairperson of ethnic studies with his biased views is a tragic waste of taxpayer funds. Instead of promoting understanding and acceptance among the many ethnic people of the world, he has only alienated and caused further division. Hopefully the Board of Regents will scrutinize the scholarship of their professors to prevent further incidents that cause has much harm as Churchill has.
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Ward Churchill
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Education is more than ‘irrefutable fact’
Once I had determined that Dennis Hammond was not joking in his letter to the editor (“Math, science are key in education,” July 24), I felt compelled to write that as impressed as I am that he uses algebra on a daily basis, chucking those high school courses not directly related to the physical realities of the world is hardly good advice.
We teach history so that we may learn from the errors of the past to avoid incessant repetition of our mistakes. We teach civics so that we may understand and appreciate why America is the greatest socio-economic experiment in the life of our species, thereby perpetuating our citizens’ ability to do their part in the nation’s continuing success.
And, since the vast majority of decisions made by human beings are based on opinions rather than irrefutable fact, we teach that too so that students may become proficient in creating informed and thoughtful opinions rather than spouting ill-conceived and shallow pomposities.
Jeff R. Wilkins, Fort Collins
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (21) | TrackBackNot proud of CU
My wife, two of our sons and I are University of Colorado graduates.
We are not proud of that institution. I cannot believe that there are very many Colorado parents that would like their children to be influenced by Ward Churchill, this so called academic.
I do not believe that you can teach culture and respect. It is learned in the home, in the family, in the Boy or Girl Scouts, in the neighborhood, in the church, in the shopping center, etc., and in the humanities.
Freedom is gained with respect for other people’s freedom, not by disdain.
How do the courses that Churchill was teaching add anything meaningful to our knowledge base as a society or prepare anyone to be more productive, contributing in the competitive world we live in?
Bob Stamp, Littleton
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (50) | TrackBack