Colorado Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:36 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBackThe middle class
Besides the fact that college tuitions have shot up greatly, many middle class students no longer go to their first or second choice colleges, they go to public institutions instead, because they cannot afford to do otherwise. Some public institutions are pretty good, but many lack updated facilities. Many families that used to have well paying manufacturing jobs lost them in the last twenty years. If they were able to get new jobs, these jobs often paid 30% less than what they were making. Add on higher gasoline prices, and rising health care costs, and I would say that the middle class is “taking it in the shorts.”
Commerce City
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:35 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBackID program
I am adamantly opposed to theBasic Pilot Employment Verification System, a systerm that would essentially create a governmentpermission slip to work for everyone, regardlessof their citizenship status. The basic pilot programhas the ability to dramatically infringe on the privacy of ordinary people. Ithas proven to be ineffective andinaccurate, containing errors on a full two percent of U.S. citizens and about 50% of the non-citizens who should be eligible to work. As a U.S. worker, I am appalled that I could be denied the right to work based on a faulty government database.
The thought of being required by the government to carry a high-tech ID card with both my Social Security card and Visa cards with biometric features reeks of Big Brother. I feel no safer and no more secure knowing the government has created a one stop shopping source for identity thieves. I would like to see some real comprehensive immigration reform, not quick fixes.
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackIraq
Another way to put this fact “SECULAR Saddamit insurgents (who, we hoped, would sign a separate peace with US, have fled, leaving in control of Anbar, only the implacable AQ fanatics.” Reason to celebrate?
Such implacable optimism reminds me of MarkTwain’s cheerfully reconstructed memory of a fight he was in: “I thrust my nose firmly between his teeth and threw him to the ground on top of me !”
Dan
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackProsecutors
Lakewood
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackTinted windows
Here we are, five short months later, and another “drive by” on another sports figure. By another car with tinted windows.
Tonight the police are looking for a vehicle invloved in another “drive by". It is described as having tinted windows.
I’m not saying that all people who choose to break the law by tinting their windows are breaking other laws, but since most of our violent crimes are committed by people driving vehicles with tinted windows, would it not seem prudent to begin our war on gangs by enforcing the law against tinted windows? In Colorado, folks might be surprised to learn that an “opaque or nontransparent or a metallic or mirrored appearance” to the front-seat windows is AGAINST THE LAW.* Please excuse me if I sound patronizing, but could we please enforce this law? I don’t know who decides which laws we enforce these days (it sure isn’t the citizens of Colorado), but maybe they could give folks a 30 or 60-day grace period, and then start ticketing people breaking this law. It would be inconvenient for some (you should have read the rules first, duh - http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=10257&sid=6), but it would make us all feel safer. More importantly, it would be inconvenient for the parasites of society if they could no longer cower behind tinted windows.
Most importantly, it would be a start.
(Code 1950, § 507.8; Ord. No. 697-82, § 1, 12-13-82) State law references: Windows unobstructed, C.R.S. 1973, 42-4-224.
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackCell phones
To the parents of the six children who admitted using their cell phone in class, congratulations! You have managed to raise children who have an utter disregard and disrespect for authority. I know, I know; your child’s safety is far more important than any silly school rule. After all, when someone else’s precious darling brings a gun to school, you want to be the first to know about it. But take heart, your child’s disrespect for you is probably exceeded by their disrespect for their teachers.
Castle Rock
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackStress disorder
Mr. Vander Jagt made reference to General Sherman in his letter, which called to mind for me another famous general, General Patton, who had slapped a soldier who was suffering from PTSD-or “Battle Fatigue", as it was called-during WWII. Patton, too, was incensed at the soldier’s seeming “cowardice". Perhaps Mr. Vander Jagt is himself a combat veteran, who was able to endure the horrors of war. Unfortunately, not all soldiers who experience combat are able to withstand the trauma it entails. Does that make them “cowards"?
The soldier referred to in the letter was, in my opinion, courageous even to have joined the Army in a time of war, knowing that he would very likely experience Sherman’s “Hell” of battle-a choice he freely made, and a choice not given to the soldiers who were drafted to serve in WWII and Vietnam. I can’t say that I would have joined the military now, with a war going on, so perhaps I am guilty of cowardice as well.
We should pray for the young soldier, and for all his comrades who are now in harm’s way- and we should not be too quick to judge those who have gone through what many of us have not.
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Posted by denver-admin at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDems ready to hit us in the pocketbook again
The free-spending Democrats are at it again. Not being satisfied to tax us to death, they are now attacking our pocketbooks through the private sector (“Dems plug line of bills on alternative energy,” Jan. 18).
They have “announced a raft of bills to diversify the state’s power portfolio and drive new economic development and educational opportunities.” It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
The key question in all this is how is it going to be paid for and who will pay it?
The proposal calls for mandating the utilities to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources, planting wind generators at schools, and biofuel grants. Since all of these ideas have not reached a level of cost as low as the fuels we are now using, this is going to cost consumers more. Way to go, Dems! Are there any practical thinkers on the Democratic side of the aisle?
Roger Wilson, Golden
Posted by denver-admin at 12:02 AM | Comments (57) | TrackBackPoint out GOP excesses
Why don’t the tax-and-spend Democrats, who so quietly accept that title, point out the relationship between the borrow-and-spend Republicans’ highly touted current prosperity and the some $3 trillion increase in the national debt in the last six years. Total national debt is about $9 trillion now, I hear.
Give any high school lad an unlimited credit card and he can appear very prosperous, like the richest kid in town, in just a couple of weeks. But down the road — somewhere, sometime, somehow — someone is going to have one heck of a credit card bill to pay off! Speak up, D’s!
Guess who will pay for all this apparent prosperity — of which I get to see none!
Ray Lashley, Grand Junction
Posted by denver-admin at 12:02 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAbolish Electoral College
How can the Rocky, in all honesty, write in its Jan. 22 editorial (“Don’t neuter Electoral College”) that “SB 46 has the potential of disenfranchising Coloradans to serve a cause that purports to promote democracy.” Purports? That is exactly what SB 46 is all about! Our presidents should be elected by a direct vote of the people. Neuter the Electoral College? No. Abolish it! Then, we can talk of democracy.
Don’t render meaningless all the votes cast for a losing candidate in any state. To do so is true disenfranchisement.
Rick Kearney, Colorado Springs
Delaying the inevitable
The Rocky Mountain News says that President Bush’s “conviction regarding the war on terror is genuine, so much so that he’s bucking public opinion and Congress itself in his determination to succeed” (“Mostly dead on arrival,” Jan. 24). The Rocky doesn’t give him enough credit for his ability to see reality.
Not even Bush can still believe he can succeed in Iraq. He must be well aware that the “surge” (escalation) is merely delaying the inevitable, kicking the can down the road until he’s out of office, so his administration doesn’t go down in the history books as the one that lost the war.
Ben Anderson, Castle Rock
The journalistic and factual quality of this editorial is minimal. The cost threat appears to be a fear tactic to irrationally scare off supporters. In reality, only those who truly enjoy riding solo in the rush-hour grind and standing in TSA security lines for hours on end should join the
Careful decision-makers will recognize the great long-term benefit of the Ranger Xpress. With reasonable and measured support at the federal, state, county, city and private levels
Restoring the backlog of costly blacktop repairs should have no bearing on pursuing the benefits of the Ranger Xpress. The
R
Loveland
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Posted by denver-admin at 04:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe new Rocky
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Posted by denver-admin at 04:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackThe new Rocky
First of all, there is nothing new about constant change in order to mislead the readers,
Secondly, the new smaller size begins to mirror the minds of your editorial page and opinions. Although, I have my doubts that you can ever reduce the size enough to compete with the miniaturized intellect reflected in the writings of Mike Rosen, Vincent Carroll and John Temple.
Lastly, is it only coincidence that the progressive thinking of Mike Littwin, my favorite columnist, has been relegated as far back in the paper as possible without leaving altogether ?
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackCost of water
Just a quick note about the misinformation that the media doesn’t check and the public some how accepts as fact.
We all see the reports in this paper and others that water costs more per gallon than gas.(check Friday or Saturdays paper) That simply is not true. The only water that costs more is bottled water and that is a choice like Calvin Kline Jeans. It is not needed like gasoline. Non Bottled water is pennies per gallon! Period! Check your water bill...do the math...water per gallon is no where near the price per gallon of gas.
Buying bottled water is a choice like buying a coke or a candy bar....Am I supposed to be happy because a pound of snickers is like over $17 per gallon and gas is $3.00 per gallon! Come on! The oil companies are raping America and all we do is look to the side and whimper like a wounded deer that has had an arrow shot through its temple.
Thank You.
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackKnow-it-alls
Bob Nielsen
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:57 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBackGod & man
L
Mr. Walsh claims that the world has endured well enough despite the fact that most people are not Christian. In our world we have much suffering
Westminster
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:56 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackSaddam Hussein
Does she weep for the thousands of Kurds who were maimed, tortured and ga
The hanging brought the end to one of the vilest creatures this world has known. Though his death doesn’t make up for the rapes, murder of babies, kids
The letter demonstrates the twisted thoughts of the hysterical anti-war movement which has poisoned the debate.
Iraq war veteran
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:56 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBackHealth care
When I learned that Medicare Part D would become available in 2006, I researched the drug plans and chose one whose formulary included the drugs that I need. I signed up for this plan and
The problem with the Medicare prescription plan is not the plan itself, but the difficulty in determining how to access the best plan to meet the individual needs of the consumer. It is complicated and Webbased
The law is working, which is why I am urging our congressional representatives to vote against the drastic and very risky legislation to put the government in charge of negotiating drug prices. Currently
I fear that with government interference, many of the drugs I need to take will no longer be available to me through my prescription drug plan as there are no generic equivalents for them.
I urge
Thank you.
Centennial
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackGovernment
Brighton
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:54 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackReligion in schools
First is the fallacy, oft
The article in question revealed the shortcomings of several online learning programs in which some parents had enrolled their children as an alternative to traditional classroom instruction. If any of these parents’ choices were for the reasons Abbot
The place for teaching faith is in church and in private religious institutions
Lakewood
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackState of the Union
Fear, a tactic often used, well what about our country’s energy crisis- seems pretty scary to me. Our current energy situation is serious. Mr.
President said we “need to solve problems not leave them for future generations.” I couldn’t agree with him more!
We need to take action now. We must invest time and money into research and technology of renewable and alternative energies. Ideally it would be great if this was all we had to but our nation is addicted to oil and natural gas.
We can’t just expect to quit cold turkey. To reduce our dependence on foreign oil we need to, safely, open up our countries land and resources for domestic exploration.
Step by step, we will start to bring our nation closer toward energy independence. The president had one thing right, we do need to take action now, and not leave problems of today for future generations.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackNo one’s owed an apology for a blizzard
So, Rocky columnist Bill Johnson seems to think the Regional Transportation District should apologize for the blizzard (“Sorry seems to be the hardest word at RTD,” Jan. 19). I wonder if Johnson expects an apology from the pizza places who were clearly derelict in their duties for not getting through with the pizzas. My kids’ school also should be ashamed that they could not operate just because of a few snowflakes and I feel an apology from them is in order, too. Also I did not receive my newspaper for a few days, so put the Rocky in line to say sorry, too.
An act of nature shut our city down for three or four days; for someone to be looking for an apology is very petty. If every business that could not operate properly due to the storm had to apologize, imagine how long the line would be. It would look like a voting station on Nov. 7. I can see the line now: RTD, Ronald McDonald, the Burger King guy, Yellow Cab, Metro Taxi, DIA, Dominos, Pizza Hut, and so on and so on — all saying sorry to Johnson for not running flawlessly during a blizzard.
In short, Mr. Johnson, neither you nor anyone else for that matter are owed an apology for an act of nature. I say get over it and move on.
Keith Maranville, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBackWill Denver ’08 see a repeat of Chicago ’68?
Amid the hullabaloo regarding the Democratic National Convention coming here is forgotten a large possible downside.
We are engaged in an unpopular war and the fever swamp (i.e., Michael Moore, Daily Kos, etc.) is already pressuring the new Democratic majority to immediately abandon Iraq to the savages.
The Dems have a huge quandary. They must hide their hard-core liberalism long enough to get a president elected in a “New Democrat” fashion, as with Bill Clinton. Folks won’t vote for someone with the views of a “San Fran Nan” Pelosi — she’s far too dangerous. Hiding their leftism will be difficult since this means at least giving lip service to the war against the Islamonazis and keeping us engaged in same.
If the summer of 2008 finds us still in Iraq and Afghanistan, we might find some protesters here in Denver for the convention. Remember Chicago in 1968? I do, and this could be worse. Much nastier bunch today, these angry hatemongers on the left. Be careful what you wish for — you might get it.
Pat Desrosiers, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackDems eager for ’08
Republicans I know say they find the Democrats’ love-in at the state Capitol, in Washington, and in capitals across the country disgusting. I just tell them, “It’s a sight better than the Republican hate-in we’ve been forced to witness of late!”
Also, it does my heart good to see John McCain throw his support 100 percent behind the lame and wounded duck, W. By all accounts, McCain had been the sole Republican with any chance of winning the presidency in 2008. He just single-handedly sank the Republican ship (or what was left of it).
There is one thing that Republicans do well, and that’s not listen to the people. We common folk are just champing at the bit. We wish the election were today. Then there’d be real celebrating!
Joe Felice, Aurora
Bible among most precise of ancient texts
Letter writer Travis Schriner (“Jesus spoke about tolerance, not hatred,” Jan. 12) is mistaken about the accuracy of the Bible.
First of all, the canon was not created or changed by the church. The church recognized that the Bible was inspired by God when it was written.
Second, the Bible is recognized as the most accurate book of its time.
When archaeologists found the Dead Sea scrolls, they compared the scroll of Isaiah with Isaiah 53 of the Bible. The only change they found was the addition of one three-letter word out of about 400 words in all, and that word does not change the meaning of the whole passage. After 1,000 years of being copied, the Bible has little difference (if any) from the original written documents.
Melissa D. Barnett, Broomfield
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (23) | TrackBackSchultheis goes too far
As a Republican, I believe that Democrats must give thanks every night for state Sen. David Schultheis. He is “Exhibit A” for those who associate conservatism with bigotry and meanness of spirit.
It was bad enough that he sent an open letter to a family that had just lost children, questioning whether they were in this country illegally. But now he’s outdone himself.
His criticism of Gov. Bill Ritter’s goal of reducing the dropout rate for minority children — because of a supposed impact on illegal immigration — defies rationality.
Colorado needs to address illegal immigration, but also needs to find ways to give minority children a better chance in life.
If Schultheis is typical of Colorado Republicans, then the Republican Party will deservedly remain the minority party.
Tom Giordano, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBackSOS! Scrape our streets
I am very disappointed by the lack of response by the Littleton and Englewood city governments regarding snow removal on residential streets.
Although snow-removal crews have done an excellent job of clearing the main streets of snow and ice, most residential streets have been left untouched for more than three weeks now.
Not only does this irresponsible inaction affect the taxpaying residents of both cities, but it also creates hazardous driving conditions for everyone and results in unnecessary costs in suspension, alignment and other vehicle repairs for the individuals who must drive on these streets.
Please come scrape the ice and snow off of our residential streets.
Kevin Rohrman, Littleton
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBackRain, not glacier melt
The Associated Press article carried by the Rocky Mountain News on Jan. 23, “Alps glaciers will slip away by year 2050, scientists say,” was interesting. In it, the AP flatly stated, “Runoff from melting glaciers caused severe flooding that devastated parts of Switzerland in the summer of 2005.”
In fact, much of southeastern Europe — particularly Romania, but also including Switzerland — was hit hard by flooding in the summer of 2005.
Romania has no glaciers. The cause of the flooding was unrelenting rains in August, not melting glaciers.
William Knudson, Boulder
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBackSecondhand fumes
Recently I was playing slot machines in a Black Hawk casino. I came home reeking of other people’s secondhand scents from perfumes, colognes and various other artificially scented products, which are far more ubiquitous than any secondhand smoke I noticed.
People can avoid smoke if they choose to, but what about those of us who experience adverse health effects from secondhand man-made fragrances that also contain numerous harmful chemicals? Is the air really cleaner? Perfumes are also indoor air pollutants, and cause many people migraines and asthma.
Connie Pitts, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (26) | TrackBackA link to 9/11 at last
In his letter of Jan. 23, “A plan for Iraq,” Leonard Muniz suggests that Congress put a deadline of Sept. 11, 2007, on any troop surge.
President Bush should welcome this suggestion. At last, the Iraq war will have something to do with 9/11.
Jim McCauley, Fort Collins
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
By standing against HB-1050, Display of Flags, Rep. Lundberg perpetuates a ban on flying the POW/MIA Flag and continues the fear and confusion of the flawed current state statute. Lundberg appears in the AP story to imply that HB-1050 would allow any flag to be permanently displayed. This is false picture of the bill on three points: first - that only the US, Colorado and POW/MIA flags are allowed on the flag-poles of state facilities, second - that the educational needs basis of other displays are correctly returned to the discretion of local school boards, and third - that foreign flags are only displayed for “...special, occasional, ceremonial purposed...” according to Federal Law.
Perhaps this is just another of Lundberg’s acts to oppose and criticize anything initiated by a Democrat. Reading the entire bill before speaking on the House Floor would be a good technique. Regardless, he’s wrong and Colorado’s veterans and members of the Armed Services deserve an apology.
HB-1050 is a necessary reform measure that removes awkward and harmful language in the current state law, allows appropriate honors and recognition to veterans and the armed services, and restores control of methods of instruction to local school boards.
With those truths revealed, how can Representative Lundberg explain his opposition?
His Capitol telephone number is 303-866-2907, and his email is Kevin@KevinLundberg.com. Please join me in explaining to Representative Lundberg that he’s out of line on this issue.
Loveland
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIsrael
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:25 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackUnborn children
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:25 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBackBill Ritter
Centennial
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackRocky’s coverage
We would also like to thank most graciously, those who have sent contributions to the All Veterans Honor Guard that we may continue our service to our fallen comrades. We are proud to offer military honors and consider it an honor to do so. Again, your contributions are greatly appreciated.
Centennial
for
Aurora
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMike Rosen
(Populists equalize poverty, Jan. 19, 2007). Close down all the food banks and homeless shelters - we don’t need them!
When trying to justify the unjust, Mr. Rosen tries to marginalize those who do not think like he does. He likes to label people to equate them with something bad ("progressives” equals “socialists"). He presents weak excuses, such as income inequality being a “result of the concentration of abilities in a minority of men". Last time I checked, there were a lot more people with abilities than just the top 1-2% of the population.
Mr. Rosen also likes to present the “straw man” argument to justify his position. In this case, the “only” alternative to policies of progressive taxation is “absolute income and wealth equality". Really?
There are NO other alternatives? Why do we send politicians to Washington? We could have Mr. Rosen solve all our problems!
Then, Mr. Rosen tells us to be wary of misleading economic statistics “glibly tossed around by populist politicians", and then he “glibly”
throws out a misleading statistic of his own - one that he really loves, since he uses it ALL the time. “[T]he top 2 percent of Americans pay two-thirds of all income taxes". That is using a small number versus a large number to mislead the reader. How about this statistic: the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth. Or, in the years 1983 through 1998, the average household wealth of the top 1% in the U.S. increased by 42.2%, while the bottom 40% DECREASED by 76.3%.
My hard work just results in the guys at the top getting insanely wealthy, while I get a token raise, or lose my job to outsourcing. With those odds, where is the incentive to work harder?
Larkspur
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:22 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackGangs etc.
The response from Evergreen Editorial proves to me that prevention of violence must include information related to “risky behaviors of victims". Status-quo has been to let victims rest in peace. Investigations, for public records, don’t often list circumstances in the lives of the victims which led them into harm’s way.
The context of my letter to Ed Stein included reference to drugs and presumed gang retaliation as the primary motive in the unsolved Littleton Subway murders of Nick and Steph’, Columbine High student sweethearts, on Valentine’s Day 2000.
Evergreen Newspaper said allegations of drug distribution by a victim had not been alleged or reported by anyone in law enforcement. Maybe not for the record. I do have a photo of Sheriff Stone holding a cardboard billboard, with names of juveniles and faces of adults, listed due to (mostly) drug-related investigations in the aftermath of the Subway murders.
If one reason gangs thrive in the Denver metropolitan area is because victims families are intentionally spared the additional grief of truths about the risky behaviors of their loved ones, then perhaps we had better learn to better handle these truths before American cities end up like Baghdad Iraq.
By the way, excellent update by Marilyn Robinson on the Cold Case of the Littleton Bowling Alley murders from 2002. If you report similarly on the Columbine Subway Cold Case, remember it is in Jefferson County. Ever since the massacre at Columbine High School, most of the media labels our part of Unincorporated Jefferson County as Littleton by mistake.
The United States Postal Service identifies some of Jefferson County as “Littleton” for ZIP-code purposes only. Mislabeling the jurisdiction of unsolved crimes doesn’t make us any safer, and perhaps sends tips to the wrong investigators.
Littleton
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackLafayette vote
This issue is more than just a question of revenue for the city of Lafayette. This issue asks the citizens of Lafayette to question the ‘bigger is better’ and ‘more is not enough’ philosophy so pervasive in our culture and one we are helping to spread around the globe. This philosophy threatens the well-being of many so that a select few can earn huge profits at the expense of our planet’s limited resources.
There are more than the individuals who own the land in question involved in this issue. At a minimum, also involved are those individuals who own and work in local hardware and lumber stores will be affected due to the lower prices Lowe’s is often able to offer as a large corporation - a corporation in which most employees will never meet the ultimate owner who is likely earning a salary that is at least 10 times more than most Lowe’s employees can even dream of making.
Enough is enough. Now is the time for the citizens of Lafayette to vote their consciences. Residents of Boulder County can also impact this issue by helping the citizens group, Preserve Lafayette (www.preservelafayette.org), raise enough money to purchase the land and preserve it as a rural buffer and wildlife habitat on Boulder’s County’s eastern edge.
Lafayette
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWinter driving
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackElectoral vote
Recall the 2004 vote in which the cliff-hanging question was to whom Ohio’s electoral vote would go. By a slim margin, Ohio’s 20 electoral votes and the election went to Bush. What if Ohio had voted for Kerry instead of Bush and also had decided to give their electoral vote to the winner of the national popular vote? Then their 20 electoral votes — and the election — would still have gone to Bush since he won the popular vote by about 3 million votes. Check it out. Just Google “electoral college” on the Internet.
The same math works for the combined 19 electoral votes of Colorado and Arizona. If the voters of both states had gone for Kerry instead of Bush (tipping the election to Kerry) but they gave their votes away to the winner of the national popular vote, Bush would still have won.
Our electoral vote is important. It is Colorado’s bargaining chip that forces national decision-makers to pay attention to us. Changing a system that has served this country well is a two-edged sword.
The people of Colorado rejected this idea two-to-one in a referendum in 2004. Why are Colorado’s legislators so eager to thumb their noses at this decision of the voters? Giving our electoral votes away no matter how We The People vote is a sure way to trivialize Colorado. Changing a system that has served this country well is a two-edged sword.
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackUnion members
I speak from experience, having paid dues in the United Auto Workers and permit fees in the Steel Workers.
Tom Melrose, Highland Ranch
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackCorporate crime
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackImmigration
I
And, to what avail? This system would still be fraught with problems.
For instance, this system would require the creation of massive government data bases of our most private information posing a substantial risk to U.S. residents’ personal privacy and civil liberties, which are already dwindling under our current administration.
This system would also put the responsibility of
There is already rampant discrimination against
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackOutsourcing
However, there are several measures we could adopt:
—second, wipe out pointless tax-breaks for the wealthy;
What Carroll is gloating about is the undoubted fact that our one-party Republicrat system WON’T do anything to mitigate outsourcing harm to our middle-class workers.
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackSnow
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackIraq
At this stage, in order to be victorious over the insurgents - if that
Our Commander-in-Chief missed his window of opportunity of providing security to the Iraqis when it might have been relatively easy, so there is no use killing more innocent civilians and sacrificing more of our own troops. Time to fold up the tents, Mr. President. Your party
Arvada
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackEnvironment
Arvada
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:10 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBackClimate change
Greenwood Village
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:08 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBackPro-union bill
I
Although there have been many reasons for, and explanations of, the win ratios required under the current Act, I feel that none of them have told the real truth about the unconscionable requirements put on the employees and their representative (union) to prevail. For example, a bargaining unit of 10 employees seeks to negotiate a contract with a union membership clause. The employees vote 6 to 4 in favor and they lose. Or, even worse, when the election is held lets say only 4 people choose to vote in it and all vote yes. The employee representative (union) still loses because, even though the vote is unanimous, less than 50% of the bargaining voted in the majority. Nowhere in our country. except Colorado, is any election held that requires one side to “win” with a 75% majority. I think it is safe to say that very few, if any, candidates carried 75% of the vote on November 7, 2006.
It is ironic in all this discussion that no one informs the public that regardless of the outcome of this special election, the union, by law, must spend its money representing dues payers and freeloaders alike, without discrimination. That is like requiring the Rocky Mountain News to distribute its product to all residents of the State and allowing only those who want to, to pay for it. This is fairness?
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackGreeley & gangs
Some years back Greeley residents decided they did not like the rising number of crimes committed by gangsters occurring in their city. In response, the police department bolstered the size of its gang unit. (The team is considered to be one of the most knowledgeable and effective in the state.) The city’s recreation leaders developed additional alternatives for kids headed towards a gang life. The local newspaper highlighted the gang issue. City Council added police officers to the streets.
Beginning in 2006, the police department focused on gang intervention as the cops’ primary goal for the year. That goal has continued into 2007. All officers, not just the gang unit, were tasked with locking up violent gang offenders. The Weld County District Attorney’s Office obtained lengthy sentences for a number of dangerous gangsters, and continues to do so.
As a consequence, gang violence in Greeley has steadily declined for the last three years. In 2004, 44 incidents of gang violence were counted in Greeley. The figure dropped to 33 in 2005 and 17 in 2006. We still have some gangsters, but what we are doing is working, and we are going to keep up the effort.
Greeley is a great city with a lot of really nice people. It is also a city that, like every other, has crooks who, given the chance, are willing to victimize others. Some of these criminals happen to call themselves gang members. But to portray the city as gang-infested or unsafe would be erroneous. Greeley is a great place to be, and we intend to keep it that way. We are working to make the city even safer in the future.
We are doing very well, thank you. But work remains to be done, and we are pledged to accomplish it.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackChild support
I hope Colorado rights this wrong.No man should have to pay for his wife’s infindelity.That’s insane!
I would like to see the bill go farther.I would like to see the bill address refunds to the men who have been “duped” as the article put it.
This man should be paid back every penny he has paid in child support.As well as other men that have paid child support for children that are not their’s.
I would even go further with this bill.I would make it mandatory for DNA tests to be done before child support gets determined.
I would also make the women pay all court cost and attorney fees if found that the husband or boyfriend is not the child’s father.
I think we need a little deterence to stop woman from claiming children are someone’s to get child support.
This power that women have over men to pay child support for children that are not the mans child is an insane policy that harms everyone ,except the woman.You have children who think that one person is their father and then they find out that they don’t know who their father is.
What message is the mother sending to her children?
I urge all lawmaker to correct this wrong and make it mandatory that the men that are duped get reimbursed the money they have paid.
Thornton
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFirefighters & cancer
The Rocky contends that the proposed law is an attempt by unions to “make up for lost time", however as the Rocky later notes, the proposed law would equally apply to volunteer firefighters, who aren’t unionized, and career firefighters, many of whom are also not unionized. So much for that (weak) argument.
The Rocky also failed to do even the most cursory research into firefighters and cancer. A study conducted by the University of Cincinnati found that firefighters are at a far higher risk of contracting certain types of cancer than people in many other professions. The study found that the rate of testicular cancer is 100% higher for firefighters than the general public, that the rate of prostate cancer is 28% higher and that non-Hodgkins lymphoma is 50% higher than the general public.
A study by the insurance industry found that the mere act of serving the public as a firefighter brings about an approximate 5 year reduction in life expectancy versus the general public.
With all this in mind, even the Rocky should see past it’s typical anti-labor stand and support this legislation that will make sure that those that take care of the public are themselves taken care of.
Colorado Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:05 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackChild support
According to ABC News*, “Supporters of paternity identification bills point to a 1999 study by the American Association of Blood Banks that found that in 30 percent of 280,000 blood tests performed to determine paternity, the man tested was not the biological father.” “Most state laws are based on Medieval English common law, which assumed that a married woman’s husband fathered all of her children. The U.S.
Supreme Court upheld this presumption in 1989 when it gave a custodial father rights over a noncustodial biological father.” The Supremes also upheld slavery and put Jehovah Witnesses in jail for failing to salute the flag, against their religious beliefs.
While your at it Arnie, in between telling others how to pay for the rest of their lives for the lies their spouses perpetrated on them, maybe you can adopt a few dozen of these kids and pick up the tab. Then you can walk a mile in their shoes.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWolves
DOW pays for “confirmed” livestock kills now, but that process means about 1 out of 10 actual kills are “confirmed". Families are paying the rest of the cost.
Once they are delisted, each of the 3 states must have a plan in place to compensate ranchers who are now carrying the burden. DOW and the rest of the cheapskate wolf lovers will have no responsibility whatsoever. The wolf numbers must be brought down to a reasonable level to protect ungulates and private property.
Greybull, Wyo.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackEnglish language
I admit that I was somewhat seduced by the English from the beginning, especially in terms of their basic cultural and postwar ‘Commonwealth’ geopolitical perspective. But it is the incredibly beautiful language with all of its complex nuances and subtleties and what it is possible to do with it that most intrigues me. Consequently I’m either exactly the right guy or exactly the wrong one to ask what in the world has happened to the English language in America? It has become so distorted as to be almost unrecognizable and actually painful to the ears in the way that it is treated/practiced here. Most other English dominated/founded/colonized countries speak the language almost musically and there is no language more eloquent and beautiful to listen to when done well.
I find it ironic then that so many Americans vehemently demand that ‘fereigners’ speak English which in truth they don’t themselves. I’d be much more comfortable if in the future the true believers insisted rather that the ‘fereigners’ speak some facsimile of English as do they, that’s all.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackIraq
I am tired of the cost in blood and treasure and agree we should pull them out NOW!!!!!!
Loveland
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIran
“Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran’s President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, ‘Israel must be wiped off the map.’ Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as this article [by Arash Norouzi] will prove.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NOR20070120&articleId=4527 The words “map,” “wipe out” or “Israel” were never spoken.
On October 25th, 2005, President Ahmadinejad, delivered a speech at a program titled “The World Without Zionism.”
“In his speech, Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West’s apparatus of political oppression against Muslims. He says the ‘Zionist regime’ was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its assets.
Palestine, he insists, is the frontline of the Islamic world’s struggle with American hegemony, and its fate will have repercussions for the entire Middle East.”
“He concludes by referring to [the late Ayatollah] Khomeini’s unfulfilled wish: ‘The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very wise.’ This is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted so famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be calling for regime change, not war.”
You would do well to spread this message far and wide to possibly avert more psychpathic insanity from those consciousless, cold-blooded killers who are working overtime to enslave humanity in their “New World Order.”
Glenwood Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAmendment 41
Then you have the ever helpful politician, Democratic Sen. Peter Groff, who won’t lift a finger to support these kids. These are your future voters, Senator. These kids not only deserve these scholarships, but, have earned them by working harder than you do, I assure you.
I cannot help but wonder, if these kids had been your own, would you be so quick to shoot them down, or would you be on the front page, for a “photo-op", flexing your democratic muscle, and doing everything in your power to exclude scholarships from this amendment? Or perhaps this was a child of a relative, neighbor, or monitary supporter- would you be so quick to say “Our hands are tied??” I seriously doubt it.
It is time the politicians start doing what is RIGHT for the people. These kids EARNED these scholarships, GIVE them the money! I for one am tired of the bureaucratic smokescreen that politicians hide behind. The Democratic Party is supposed to be for the people. If that is the case, fix this now, so, in the future, deserving students don’t get slapped in the face when they get rewarded for putting forth an effort with no expectations. Great message your sending here.
So, yes, you may have a “mess to clean up” but, do your job and put forth an effort to do it.
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackIraq
Four years ago, I supported the invasion of Iraq. I thought that a man who had invaded his neighbors, who had used weapons of mass destruction, who had ignored seventeen United Nations resolutions, who had failed to establish his compliance with his treaty obligations, who had murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people, and who had attempted to assassinate a former President was a person who deserved to be removed. However, I would have rethought that support if I’d known than what I know now.
I wish I’d known then that the United Nations would dishonor the memory and honorable service of Sergio Vieira de Mello by removing all United Nations presence from Iraq after de Mello was murdered, all the while obstructing the U.S. to hide the Oil for Food Scandal.
I wish I’d known then that the entrenched bureaucracies within our own government would undermine the policies of the President at every opportunity and fail miserably at their role in reconstructing Iraq.
I wish I’d known then that the American media would refuse to tell the stories of Medal of Honor winners or other heroes like the Deuce-Four (even though “unprofessional” journalists like Michael Yon managed to get their story), refuse to show pictures of enemy atrocities while magnifying embarrassments like Abu G
I wish I’d know then that the political class would grow a mile-wide streak of cowardice, including taking such “principled” stands as unanimously confirming the general who has advocated and would implement the President’s new strategy, while simultaneously contemplating several measures that would express disapproval of said strategy.
I wish I’d known then that just five short years after getting a “wake up call” which we would “never forget,” the country would roll back over and hit the snooze button, blithely returning to the post-Vietnam glory days of American impotence and Iranian ascendancy.
Yamamoto was wrong, apparently, when he warned his Emperor that they had “awakened a sleeping giant;” he just chose the wrong strategy to slay that giant. One body, one drop of blood, one kamikaze at a time would have been a better way to fight America . . .
As we seem poised to prove—yet again.
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSpace program
First was Apollo I and then the shuttle Challenger. We have lost brave men and women in the quest for knowledge that is space. We have lost scientists, military and even a teacher for the greater good of all mankind. We have not stopped seeking answers, and I am sure that those we have lost would ask us to strive forward in the quest. We can not abandon space exploration any more than we can abandon our individual lives. Space holds more answers to any question we can ever ask, past, present or future. For no matter what we are able to answer, there will always be more to be found. As we remember those who have died, let us respect and honor them. Let us expand our quest into space, let us land on foreign planets in the name of Grissom, White and Chaffee. Let us name interstellar transports in the names of Scobee, Smith, Resnik, McNair, Onizuka, Jarvis and finally let us name a research station in the name of McAuliffe. These men and women gave their all for all of mankind. As did the crew of Colombia. Mankind’s greatest achievement is the ability to overcome strife and adversity in the pure pursuit of knowledge.
When we land on Mars, Neptune and GOD who knows what else, let us remember those who have gone before us. Let us remember that we stand on the shoulder of giants and that these brave “Star Travelers” did, on a fateful day, did indeed “Reach Out and Touched the Face of GOD". GOD speed Challenger, Apollo 1 and Colombia. May the stars welcome you always to their fold and embrace you. May we, the people of earth, one day honor your memories and reach out and find the answers to questions you asked.
Sheridan
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Dr. Jordan and countless others have worked and continue to strive tirelessly to bring MSCD to a position of pre-eminence in our state. A crucial factor in this emergence is the attention received by the media. This goal and vision is a cooperative, team effort, and one that certainly should not be taken lightly.
I must question your judgment on placing a file photo of a CU Boulder student studying in Norlin library to highlight this piece. The photo was pulled from your 2003 archives. Surely your institution must have archived photos of students studying at Auraria library on the Auraria Higher Education Campus. If not, given the immediate geographical proximity of your office to Metropolitan State College, it should not have been too arduous to obtain a photo of a Metro student studying.
I do applaud the Rocky Mountain News for its general success in accurately informing the public. This time, however, I feel your desk may have slipped in its attention to detail.
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Posted by denver-admin at 12:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackWhy Qwest, Rocky dislike Net neutrality
The Jan. 13 Rocky Mountain News editorial failed to provide readers with an adequate context for what the Net neutrality fight is all about. If giant corporations like Qwest are successful in their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts to gut the Internet Freedom Protection Act, consumers and small businesses alike will suffer.
Currently, every Web site on the Internet is equally accessible. That means I can access a small one-person news blog as easily as the Rocky Web site. It also means that I can access AT&T-owned Web sites over Qwest infrastructure without Qwest interfering to make AT&T’s content slower and less desirable. The current system of Net neutrality offers a level playing field where a small independent bookseller can compete head to head with giants like Barnes & Noble online. Large corporations like Qwest want to be gatekeepers that control which Web sites load fast, which ones load slowly and which ones won’t load at all. That’s what the Net neutrality fight is all about.
Lawrence Jones, Conifer
Posted by denver-admin at 12:02 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack2 other key reasons to oppose Net neutrality
The Rocky is right to oppose new federal regulations on the Internet, but the editorial missed two important reasons this is such a bad idea.
First, Net users are increasingly seeing online delays caused by video downloads and other data-rich applications. Meanwhile, spam and spyware remain out of control. A federal law that mandates “neutrality” would stop Internet providers’ ability to prioritize legitimate content that consumers genuinely want.
Second, neutrality regulations would be a serious roadblock to bringing the benefits of high-speed Internet (including distance education and medical specialties) to rural Coloradans.
Christopher Wolf and Mike McCurry
Co-chairs,
Hands Off the Internet coalition
Washington, D.C.
Officials must admit scourge of gangs
Colorado law enforcement officials have obviously known for some time of the increasing gang problem in Colorado (“‘Colorado has been targeted,’” Jan. 20). I can recall little significant mention of this issue from elected officials, however, and I’m wondering why. Could it be that Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper are ignoring the problem in view of its significance regarding the attraction of future business or conventions?
Elected officials should be at the forefront with regard to protecting Colorado’s citizens from criminal activity. With the exception of U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and the Rocky Mountain News article noted above, I’ve never heard of the Mexican drug cartel’s direct connection to Colorado.
It is imperative that those we have elected at least start some dialogue pertaining to these deadly organized gangs. If we don’t admit publicly that Colorado has indeed become a hub or “sanctuary” for these activities, how will we deter those who view us as soft targets of the future in their quest to more intensely dominate our state, our cities and our neighborhoods?
Doug Duncan, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAmendment 41 needs quick correction
I am writing to add my support to the call for immediate corrective action on Amendment 41. As the Rocky’s editorial of Jan. 1 points out (“‘Sorry, your majesty, I can’t accept the Nobel’”), we should not have to wait for a University of Colorado professor to decline a Nobel Prize before fixing this broken amendment.
However, it’s not only Nobels that could be affected. Apparently, awards such as the MacArthur Foundation “genius grants” would fall into this category, as would many other lesser-known awards.
Colorado is already having trouble attracting and retaining top-notch researchers into state higher education. We don’t need any more disincentives.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of the authors of Amendment 41, but what they believe about the effects of this amendment is not important. It is the interpretation of the amendment by the courts that matters. Until such time as a case goes before the courts, I’ll trust the opinion of the state attorney general over that of Common Cause, Jared Polis, or any of the other backers.
One question: Since he paid for the original campaign, can we send Polis the bill for the election to fix the problems?
Greg Wimpey, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBackResistant bacteria no evidence of evolution
Believers in the faith of evolution can be counted on to claim bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics as proof of their religion (“True critical thinking not in church schools,” Letters to the Editor, Jan. 2).
This is an example of natural selection — no new genetic information is created in this process, merely selection from an existing pool.
Evolution depends on mutation, something that almost always causes a deleterious degradation of the genetic makeup of an organism. Sometimes mutation may cause the elimination or duplication of some genes which might give the organism a survival advantage. So it is that we see induced mutation of fruit flies giving rise to extra wings. The wings were already there; chance creates nothing!
I’ve searched in vain for an example of a mutation that gave rise to novel genetic information which resulted in beneficial new traits in an organism.
Such examples should be numerous if evolution were the creator of all life.
Brad Wood, Littleton
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (28) | TrackBackForget a ‘win’ in Iraq, let’s get out — now!
I think it’s way past time to cease the endless prattle about how to “win” this fiasco in Iraq. Let’s remove our troops, not send more in!
Question: What is there to win in Iraq? If we “win,” do we get to keep Iraq, or do we have to share it with the imaginary “Coalition of the Willing”?
I would like to have our co-commander-in-chief, Dick Cheney, answer my questions since the C.I.C. himself is vitally busy promulgating a strategy — after four years without one — to competently prosecute a senseless war in which the United States alone has lost more than 3,000 soldiers, with more than 12,000 maimed, and possibly as many as 100,000 innocent Iraqis killed.
It’s time to bring the troops home, give Iraq back to the Iraqis (albeit without a leader) and fire Halliburton — now! We certainly hanged Saddam Hussein posthaste, and I suggest we use that same alacrity in leaving Iraq!
Lillian Norgren, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (43) | TrackBackBack to Carter
So Mike Littwin doesn’t like U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s platform which, at its most basic level, is protecting America (“Tancredo covets platform, not presidency,” Jan. 18). Well, at least he has a platform and is not afraid to speak his mind.
We know nothing about Sen. Barack Obama, because he has no platform and offers no new ideas or direction for the country. Sen. Hillary Clinton, that’s another story: We know much about her — need I say more?
It appears Littwin would like to go back to the good ol’ days of Jimmy Carter and his bumbling cronies.
Richard A. Dombrowski,
Centennial
Tancredo trips up
I trust I wasn’t the only reader to enjoy the irony of U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s quote regarding the dangers of the United States becoming a bilingual country: “ ... I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think it’s something that brings us apart, not together.”
“Brings us apart”? Before he insists that everyone learn to speak English, perhaps he should master it himself.
John Goldstein, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBackDoing God’s work?
Democrats and liberals constantly talk about the “separation of church and state” yet their politicians sound like my priest at Sunday Mass! Gov. Bill Ritter, in his recent inaugural, said government “exists ... to ensure we take care of seniors, that we take care of the disabled. It exists so we take care of those who struggle mightily for whatever the reason.”
I am new to Colorado, but does our Constitution really say that? My church and the Bible tell me to help those in need, but an amount is suggested and not withheld from my paycheck.
I am tired of paying my taxes so politicians can attempt to do God’s work — after they take their cuts off the top. I can only pray to God for some relief since voting sure doesn’t seem to help.
Jeff Tokarsky, Parker
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (25) | TrackBackExtend smoking ban
Kudos to Rep. Anne McGihon and Sen. Ken Gordon for introducing a bill to add casinos to the list of workplaces where smoking is prohibited (“Smoke-free casino bill on tap,” Jan. 13).
I have been to Black Hawk once in the past year and don’t care to go back into the casinos because of the smoke smell. I sympathize with the employees who are forced to work in those conditions. I don’t believe that restaurants have suffered from the ban and hope that casinos will be added to the list.
Jan Frederickson, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (379) | TrackBackZoning board ordeal
Have you ever been to a Denver Zoning Board meeting to voice an opposing position? Spare yourself the humiliation. It was somewhat of a surprise to realize their votes are cast well before the meeting, but we never expected to be treated by city officials, particularly the chairman, with such rudeness and disrespect. Their message is clear: your presence and opinions are wasting our time.
Cathy Fielder, Denver
The Rocky is right to oppose new federal regulations on the Internet, but the editorial missed two important reasons this is such a bad idea.
First, Net users are increasingly seeing online delays caused by video downloads and other data-rich applications. Meanwhile, spam and spyware remain out of control. A federal law that mandates "neutrality" would stop Internet providers' ability to prioritize legitimate content that consumers genuinely want.
Second, neutrality regulations would be a serious roadblock to bringing the benefits of high-speed Internet (including distance education and medical specialties) to rural Coloradans.
Christopher Wolf and Mike McCurry
Co-chairs, Hands Off the Internet coalition
Washington, D.C.
Why Qwest, Rocky dislike Net neutrality
The Jan. 13 Rocky Mountain News editorial failed to provide readers with an adequate context for what the Net neutrality fight is all about. If giant corporations like Qwest are successful in their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts to gut the Internet Freedom Protection Act, consumers and small businesses alike will suffer.
Currently, every Web site on the Internet is equally accessible. That means I can access a small one-person news blog as easily as the Rocky Web site. It also means that I can access AT&T-owned Web sites over Qwest infrastructure without Qwest interfering to make AT&T's content slower and less desirable. The current system of Net neutrality offers a level playing field where a small independent bookseller can compete head to head with giants like Barnes & Noble online. Large corporations like Qwest want to be gatekeepers that control which Web sites load fast, which ones load slowly and which ones won't load at all. That's what the Net neutrality fight is all about.
Lawrence Jones
Conifer
Thank you for the new format of the Rocky. I love it, and only wish the Saturday Rocky was the same. I spend more time on weekends folding the paper to a manageable size than it takes to read it. And I also appreciate the new placement of news stories and columns.
Poor Mike Littwin, though. He has had to come face to face with the fact that he, Tina Griego and others are not news reporters, but rather writers of opinion columns. This means that placing these columns in an Op-Ed section is the right thing to do. I have, in fact, written to the Rocky before about placing columns in the news section when they are not news.
Littwin also doesn’t like to share space with someone who isn’t paid to write opinions, such as writers of letters to the editor. He believes we are all “clueless.”
Well, as someone who isn’t paid, but has had 30 letters printed, indicating a degree of Rocky editorial appreciation, I can assure him that I, and others, are not clueless, and we are as capable as he is of having a valid opinion that can be expressed with a degree of literacy.
If Littwin isn’t happy with the placement of his column and his pay, I’ll volunteer to replace him. I am also capable of writing on a wider variety of subjects than he apparently is.
Get over it, Mr. Littwin, your column is where it belongs.
Florence Michael, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBackNo current events?
While the Rocky had announced, warned and otherwise prepared us for the new physical dimensions of its daily product, it did not warn that the type size would also be reduced to almost unreadable and that it was giving up current events. Front-page coverage of a train-bus wreck from 45 years ago just doesn’t grab much interest.
This is indeed a sad day for those of us in the Rocky Mountain region who enjoyed our first cup of coffee with the Rocky Mountain News.
Liz Wolfson, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAll-time favorite
The Rocky Mountain News is my all-time favorite newspaper. The new size is most convenient, and the quality of the color work is outstanding.
A request: Please don’t bury the Spotlight section in the Sports section. It’s a bit awkward to have to wade through Sports to find it.
Keep up the outstanding work.
Ken Urban, Arvada
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackOnline letters worse
The Rocky’s new online version of the letters to the editor page reeks of infantile stupidity.
To have to click on each one, read it, then go back to grab the next one is a complete waste of time and will preclude me being able to enjoy that part of the Rocky.
Too bad — you had a good thing going.
Ted Sell, Las Vegas
Thank you, Rocky
Thank you very much, Rocky Mountain News, for bringing back the Bridge column and Today in History.
I’m also grateful that the Rocky has not totally eliminated various stock prices, selected commodity prices, and large mutual fund prices as did The Denver Post.
That is the reason why I now subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News, after receiving the Post for the past 37 years.
Don Monroe, Centennial
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBackI’m writing to strongly applaud Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposals for a new energy future for the state of Colorado. Given the abundant natural resources available to us here in Colorado, our failure to use them previously is nothing short of offensive.
The potential for renewable energy sources here is mind-boggling, and I couldn’t be more pleased that we’re finally laying out strong targets for using wind and solar power. These initiatives will help our economy, our security and our environment.
Much thanks also needs to go out to all the organizations that have been working to develop a new energy future for so long — thanks for fighting for Colorado’s future.
Dan Stafford, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBackWay to go, Jeannie!
I don’t usually bother reading descriptions of what celebrities wear, because I don’t care, but the Rocky sucked me in with a headline about the Ritter inaugration (“A night to kick up his boot heels,” Jan. 13).
I was charmed to learn that first lady Jeannie Ritter has the confidence and good sense to wear what she likes without feeling she has to bow to style gurus and the notion that something has to cost a fortune to be just right. Way to go! Here’s a celebrity role model I could recommend.
Linda Berry, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack‘Stress disorder’ used to be called cowardice
The sad picture in the Jan. 13 Rocky of the forlorn young soldier who wants out of the Army because of the dreadful things he saw in Iraq (“Terrors of war linger for some”) will impress a lot of mommies, perhaps, but not many men.
This fellow joined up intending to spend a lifetime in a proud career in the military. One problem: Apparently he did not think it might involve battle, or, if it did, Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman could not have been right in describing it as “hell.”
Other soldiers are horrified and sickened by the consequences of firefights but they hang in and prevail.
This fellow claims “post-traumatic stress disorder” from things he saw and wants a kindly nation to turn him loose. It will sound a whole lot more like cowardice to many. Cowardice in the face of the enemy used to get you a firing squad; now it is called PTSD and you are sent home to your family while fellow soldiers fight to the end.
Lee Vander Jagt, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (37) | TrackBackThe exemption from the smoking ban for casinos does make good sense despite what the Rocky Mountain News ("Extend smoking ban to the casinos," Jan. 17) and Sen. Ken Gordon state.
A casino is not a restaurant, a movie theater or a bar. Some casinos have a policy of no smoking in their restaurants (great) and at least one has a large no-smoking area for customers (also great). To a smoker, a casino is a place where you can lose your money, have a drink and a cigarette - all ill-advised vices (in some people's opinion). These "pleasures" are a part of the Old West atmosphere. Colorado casinos will indeed lose money should the smoking ban be extended to them. Unfortunately, they could very well lose the money to other states.
Roy M. Cantrell
Aurora
Pro-union legislation a naked power grab
House Bill 1072 is a naked power grab by that most un-American of all American institutions, the AFL-CIO. The “labor movement,” which has nothing to do with the actual performance of labor and everything to do with how much can be gouged from employers by the legalized extortion process known euphemistically as “collective bargaining,” is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Democratic Party that continues staggering and lurching to the far left.
Clearly, the unions are only too happy to help in efforts to bring collectivism and socialism to our republic. The deck has been unfairly stacked for the unions since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935; it’s characteristic of them to want another unfair advantage by negating the Labor Peace Act in Colorado.
With only 11 percent of the nongovernment work force unionized (down from almost 50 percent at the end of World War II), it’s obvious that the average American worker has gotten wise to what unions are really all about. And the unions must do something to boost membership.
As Whittaker Chambers noted presciently, “The left can triumph in America only through duplicity and subterfuge.” And both are the stock-in-trade of America’s labor unions and the commissars and gauleiters who run them.
Frank Howe, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBackA delicate balance
It’s only now, with House Bill 1072, that the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry is worried about upending the delicate balance between labor and business (“House OKs bill friendly to unions,” Business, Jan. 23).
For years, when the Statehouse was stacked with labor haters and its friends, CACI lobbied heavily for a right-to-work (for less) law, which would not add just one finger to their side of the scale, but most of the fingers from most of the CEOs in Colorado and the nation.
There was never a mention about labor balance then. Now that CACI and organizations like it see a slight against them, they all start preaching about equilibrium in the business community.
What hypocrites.
Douglas Champiny, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAs realistic as Bush’s plan for Iraq
Upon announcing his administration’s new strategy for winning in Iraq, President Bush also asked for any fresh ideas. Here is my plan, which I believe is as realistic at this point as his:
First, I would send in a spec ops unit led by Chuck Norris; there would be a lot of hand-to-hand combat, with the terrorists being thrown across tables and chairs that break easily.
Next I would order a pinpoint air attack by an ace air squadron with Tom Cruise leading the way. While the targets are being shown getting blown up, CNN and Fox News could add a stirring contemporary musical soundtrack, to lift the war-weary American morale.
Finally, Steven Segal would single-handedly move in to secure the troubled areas of Baghdad. He would do this by twisting the evil terrorists’ arms and bending thumbs until they cry “Uncle!” The other bad guys seeing this, would immediately throw down their weapons and run. Segal would then defuse a bomb attached to a major oil pipeline with two seconds left on the countdown.
My plan is under review.
S. Bath, Northglenn
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBackNaming of Berman to ed board disappoints
I was displeased to see that Elaine Berman was appointed to serve on the State Board of Education after an eight-year stint on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education.
The district’s performance declined while Berman was a member of the DPS board, so how are her years of DPS service a credential for an analogous state position?
While she was president of the board, the DPS retirement plan was “double-dipped” by retirees who returned to the workplace, and “triple-dipped” by administrators who purchased years of service instead of having to work for the district for the same period of time as other workers. Doesn’t this describe her values as a public representative?
Heck, for an entire year her board didn’t even approve any meeting minutes! I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can predict how much Colorado’s schools will change for the better with Elaine G. Berman as a member of the State Board of Education: Not a whit more than DPS improved under her command.
Kathy G. Hansen, Bailey
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackCU’s Brown a shill
What’s with all the shock and lamentation about the impending departure of University of Colorado President Hank Brown? He accomplished the mission for which he was appointed. As a shill for Referendum C’s horrendous tax hikes, Brown betrayed his avowed conservative ideals for a nice, fat $360,000-per-year job.
Now that CU is swimming in extra cash that should have been returned to the Colorado taxpayers, and the assurance of more funding hikes soon, the liberal higher education establishment no longer needs to put a phony conservative face on this disgraced institution.
Anthony J. Fabian, Aurora
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack‘Swear not at all’
Note to those in North Carolina and elsewhere who insist that oaths must be taken on the Bible only (“Court to hear question of oaths using Quran,” National Briefing, Jan. 17): “But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” (Matthew 5:34-37)
Jesus himself expressly forbids the swearing of oaths, yet you would have us swear with our hands on his very words.
Mary Morris, Denver
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBackUnlikely Dems will govern ‘responsibly’
Bill Ritter believes that we need to live up to our part of the social compact, “ ... the covenant that says government exists ... to ensure we take care of seniors, and the disabled, and for those who struggle mightily — whatever the reason.”
Whatever the reason? If I am struggling because I am lazy or stupid or lack ambition or drink too much or have just had an unfortunate life, is Ritter going to take care of me?
“Government has a responsibility ... to improve the quality of their lives.” No, it doesn’t. Government has a responsibility to protect our borders, maintain our infrastructure, enforce our laws and little else.
Ritter also wants to build a “more efficient, innovative government that is careful with your money ... ” How is he going to be more careful with our money when he is taking care of us all, whatever the reason? “We will govern well. We will govern to solve problems. We will govern responsibly.” I sincerely doubt it.
Mike Starr, Thornton
Saw it coming
Let me see if I have this right: We elect Ken Salazar to represent Coloradans, send him to Washington, and he delivers a speech inside the U.S. Capitol in Spanish? Quick, someone tell him he is an American, not a Mexican. He has to make up his mind which he is serving.
I knew this would happen if we elected him. I didn’t serve in the military most of my adult life so we could speak Spanish inside Congress. Bad enough he will not enforce our laws against his illegal immigrant friends. We will never vote Democratic again if they continue like this!
Patrick Cipolla, Estes Park
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBackTeacher didn’t care (I)
I am a former student of Speakout author W.L. Herrick (“North High teachers take fall for inert students, bureaucratic bog,” Jan. 13). In his column, Herrick said that we students “don’t care” about our education. Herrick is the one who didn’t care enough to stay. He didn’t teach us anything. All we did was watch movies, and he didn’t even explain why we were watching the movies.
Carlos Sanchez
Freshman, North High School
Teacher didn't care (II)
I am a former student of Speakout author W.L. Herrick.
Herrick didn’t stop “more than a dozen fights in the first three weeks,” as he claims. He only stopped three fights, and one fight he watched without trying to break it up. Herrick uses a lot of big words in his column, just like he did in his freshman English class. All we learned last semester was that Herrick has a big vocabulary.
Mr. Herrick, I did try in your class. When it became clear that you didn’t care, that’s when I stopped trying. I learned one thing, actually. I learned that it’s OK to criticize students and insult them in the newspaper.
Juan Salazar
Freshman, North High School
Sharlene White
Colorado Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackSnow
Westminster
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRocky redesign
Highlands Ranch
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:15 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBackIraq war
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:14 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackClimate change
What caused these previous periods of massive global warming and cooling? Perhaps prehistoric Republicans trashing the planet? Remarkably, your reporter failed to put the question to the scientists he interviewed. Until the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with its 2,500 scientists, faces up to this genuine inconvenient truth and addresses it head on, I will remain a skeptic.
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:13 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBackNational Western
I recently traveled from my home in Utah to attend the draft horse events at the National Western. This is arguably one of the pre-eminent events for the draft horse. The display of horses and horsemanship was the most spectacular I have ever seen. You are to be congratulated on being able to attract such a wonderful event and to have such excellent participation, by such a high caliber of exhibitors. You would be right to proclaim that if you haven’t seen the draft horses at the National Western “you ain’t been nowhere and you ain’t seen nothin’.”
HOWEVER, why in the world can’t you clean the hall. The floors in the stands are filthy and that’s giving you the benefit of knowing that the facility had been used a lot in the last two weeks. It did not appear that any cleaning beyond basic emptying of the trash receptacles was done from day to day.
As a matter of fact it didn’t appear that the stands and the concourse had EVER been cleaned. A pressure washer at Costco is only about $150, and you could probably purchase it for much less. GET one or two or ten and use them.
Your show can’t stand another year without your cleaning the place up.
And oh the restrooms, that was another indignity that we visitors had to endure. Why no hot water during the show? And clean them hourly, if not at least daily. Install more dryers, install paper towels, fix them up and keep them clean.
Just because the show deals with farm animals, the hall doesn’t have to resemble a barn. Come to think of it, I’ve been in barns that are lots cleaner.
Fruit Heights, Utah
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDemocrats
2. Despite the vote of the people of Colorado my tax dollars are to be given to “selected” abortion clinics to be used to kill 1 to 9 month old pre-birth babies.
3. UNIONS—the money behind/in front and on the sides of the Democrats will be allowed to have you fired if you do not give them your money! (armed robbery?) Unions are the largest and wealthiest “corporations” in America.
4. We will have State/Nation run Health Care! Heart attack anyone? Just wait your turn, someone with an ingrown toenail was here first! Been in a car accident with near death injuries? Oh well, someone ahead of you has a bloody nose. Don’t take my word for this, Check out England or closer, Canada.
Canadians come across to the U.S. for urgent Medical care daily.
5. Morels! Are being lowered to the bottom denominator under the cover of “Free Speech". Hate is the order of the day. You must hate anyone who does not follow their “superior” ideas.
6. Religion? No Christian or Jew will be allowed to voice their faith and Atheism is being made the National Religion.
DEMOCRATS —you’ve got to love ‘em!
Aurora
Illegal immigration
Lakewood
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:10 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBackIraq war
troops need to be removed from harm’s way by the end of 2007 (favored by 56% of Americans). Reps. Woolsey, Lee, and Waters have introduced a bill that would require U.S. withdrawal from Iraq within six months.
Legislators should not use a Bush veto threat as an excuse to hold back from pursuing an exit strategy.
We, as citizens, should express our outrage about this illegal war.
Contact Rep. Mark Udall (303-650-7820) and Sen. Ken Salazar (303-455-7600) to tell them to oppose further funding of the war in Iraq.
On Saturday, Jan. 27, at 12:00 noon in front of the Boulder County Courthouse between 13th and 14th on the Pearl St. Mall, there will be a rally and march sponsored by the Rocky Mt. Peace & Justice Center.
Dress warmly and bring your friends, family, and work colleagues to join hundreds of others to peacefully and energetically state, “Stop the war! Stop the funding! Bring our troops home!”
Boulder
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRocky redesign
Well, I have a suggested solution to both of those problems. I find so much redundancy in every article that writers get carried away with their own self worth. Consider cutting 15% of each article and see how much space you have to enlarge the print size. You know, the Boomers are coming and getting older too and their vision will also diminish.
Now that I have said all of that, I suspect you wish I had just stayed with the congrats stuff and left the rest alone. Alas, I have to rely on getting my Rock
Murphy, Texas
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackParis Hilton
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackVoting by mail
Leroy M
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackTom Tancredo
Littleton
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:02 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBackIraq war
In doing so, I am hewing to long-held American values that were first developed during our historic armed insurgency against British rule.
People everywhere have a perfect right to resist foreign domination. That’s why this principle is properly embedded in our own Declaration of Independence and reiterated in International Law.
For this reason alone, the U.S. occupation of Iraq deserves to be vanquished.
Boulder
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:01 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBackIraq war
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP—Gates.html?source=mypi SAFE? NOT FOR LONG ! The insurgents and Sadrites, with this handy timetable, will just lie low for a few months, then rise to kill again.
I can’t believe that even the Bushies are that dumb. This is surely Bush’s way of backing down covertly on the ‘extra troops’ caper.
But this temporary surge is quite ruthless. Nothing will be accomplished, and the caper will be costly in dollars and casualties.
But so what ? It’s not Cheney’s millions; it’s not the Bushies’ children.
Dan
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackElection reform
Lakewood
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackClimate change
Pope Urban VIII today blocked publication of Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei, which discusses the theory that the Earth and other planets actually orbit the Sun. This heresy flies in the face of the known truth that all heavenly bodies orbit the Earth. Earth is the center of the universe since it is the home to all Mankind - the highest creation of the Divine Creator. For his failure to recant this heresy, Galileo Galilei has been imprisoned.
Dateline: Atlanta, 2007 C.E.
The Weather Channel’s Climate Expert, Dr. Heidi Cullen, PhD has recommended stripping television meteorologists of their American Meteorological Society (AMS) credentials if they do not subscribe to the inconvenient truth that global warming is not a normal, naturally occurring cyclical phenomenon, but that its predominant cause is mankind’s activity on the planet, and that global warming poses the greatest known threat to life on earth.
The best scientists test their own theories, rigorously trying to disprove them. It’s better to disprove yourself before publication than face the ridicule of your peers. Refusal to consider data which does not agree with one’s theories and beliefs, however popular, promotes bad science. This happened in 17th century astronomy and is happening today in climatology. Power and politics were at work then as now, as is anthropocentrism: The belief that natural phenomena must be caused by man since man is so important. Pope Urban’s and Dr. Cullen’s positions and pronouncements against discussion and dissent seem remarkably similar.
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackEnvironmental legislation
Edgewater
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackSUVs
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackElection reform
Should serious problems arise, the public knows who is responsible.
November’s election fiasco was a result of sloppy software and balky personnel, not the election commission structure itself. The same result could easily have happened under an elected clerk and recorder and his/her appointed election director.
Denver’s clerk and recorder has enough duties already. Duties that occupy his/her time to the fullest. S/he doesn’t need more added to his/her plate.
Denver’s current structure has worked fine for decades. Vote
P
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackEnvironmental legislation
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAnimal cruelty
THANK YOU FOR BEING THE VOICES TO THE NEGLECTED, ABUSED, AND FORGOTTEN ANIMALS WHO ARE UNABLE TO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.
THANK YOU TO THE CONSUMERS WHO CARE ENOUGH TO CALL AND MAKE REPORTS OF NEGLECT, ABUSE, AND ABANDOMENT.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK, DEDICATION AND LOYALTY TO FOLLOW UP ON THESE COMPLAINTS. AND A BIG THANK YOU FOR CHARGING THESE OWNERS WHO ARE ARROGANT AND IGNORANT AND WHO SHOULD NOT OWN PET WITH ISSUING THEM CITATIONS.
THANK YOU TO THE MANY ANIMAL ADVOCATES AND THE ANIMAL CONTROL DIVISIONS FOR BEING THEIR VOICE AND “GUARDIAN ANGELS.”
MY DEEPEST THANKS TO ALL OF YOU.
Arvada
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackStrange times
I suggest we save ourselves a lot of aggravation and perhaps some money down the road. When someone from the loony left brings up a concern next time (war, environment, human rights, etc.) perhaps we should consider listening. Look at the environmental concerns we’re facing. I remember watching a group of crazy high school teachers walking to school on the first Earth Day back in 1970. Now 37-years later, some are suddenly discovering that “Houston, we have a problem". The problem is those who have laughed it off probably won’t be around long enough to experience what may happen with the environment or its potential impact on our health and economy. By the time this happens, these folks will probably have passed away. However, their children and grandchildren will unfortunately feel the pain of 37-years of ridiculing this a growing threat.
Perhaps if we try listening and thinking about an issue rather than blowing it off because the messenger appears to be part of a political faction we disagree with, our children might not be facing some of the issues we have today. Now I see why so many are opposed to cloning; we’re afraid future generations will clone us for the purpose of kicking our butts for leaving them with this mess.
Larkspur
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackJohn Temple
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackVoting
However, after reading today that “The Colorado Senate approved a bill that would give Colorado’s electoral votes - and those of several other states - to the Presidential candidate who carries the national popular vote, regardless of who Colorado voters preferred
It’s a basic question? Why vote at all when in 2004 we voted against the California money and voted down Amendment 36 only to have the democrat controlled Senate end run us? Why vote for enforcing illegal alien laws when sanctuary cities end run us and offer illegal protections or won’t enforce the law? Result on this one? DA’s who won’t do their jobs get elected governor. Why vote for TABOR laws when money grubbing politicians and special interest groups end run us in the State House and in city councils? There are plenty of other examples, but these will do.
It’s a basic question. Why vote at all?
Colorado Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackMiddle East
“Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran’s President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, ‘Israel must be wiped off the map.’ Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as this article will prove.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NOR20070120&articleId=4527 by Arash Norouzi. The words “map,” “wipe out” or “Israel” were never uttered.
On October 25th, 2005, President Ahmadinejad, delivered a speech at a program titled “The World Without Zionism.”
“In his speech, Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West’s apparatus of political oppression against Muslims. He says the ‘Zionist regime’ was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its assets.
Palestine, he insists, is the frontline of the Islamic world’s struggle with American hegemony, and its fate will have repercussions for the entire Middle East.”
“He concludes by referring to [the late Ayatollah] Khomeini’s unfulfilled wish: ‘The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very wise.’ This is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted so famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be calling for regime change, not war.”
You would do well to spread this message far and wide to possibly avert more psychpathic insanity from those evil murderers who are working overtime to enslave humanity in their “New World Order.”
Glenwood Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackForests
Yearly cities and ski areas push their way ever further onto land that should be forest. They say it’s to raise money to pay to run the rest on the forest. With this short sighted mentality we will eventually rent all forests to pay for the bureaucracies that run them and have no forest left. Surely “It can’t happen here". Big money ski areas and their lawyers are now “In charge” of our forests with their only goal being growth. Arapahoe Basin and Wolf Creek being our latest debacles.
The USFS must immediatly stop the loss of forests and get back to the intent of the law that created it. No amount of money can replace a forest. We must stop the (To borrow from an old and dear song that is too easily quoted in Colorado these days) “Taking of paradise, putting up a parking lot” or city or more and bigger ski areas or private rivers etc. etc.
Greeley
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAnimal cruelty
More and more restaurant-goers are seeking out dining establishments that make socially responsible purchasing decisions. They have ample reason to oppose the confinement of pigs and calves raised for veal in crates so restrictive, the animals cannot even turn around for their entire lives. Consumers are also rightfully concerned about factory farms cramming egg-laying hens in tiny cages that prevent them from spreading their wings or walking.
Other restaurants should follow The Kitchen’s lead by leaving animal factory farm products off their menus. For more information, readers can visit HumaneEating.com.
Washington, D.C.
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackPlea bargains
Are you plea-bargaining, probation-giving, coddlers beginning to get the message????
You stink at your jobs,
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHold students, parents accountable
I want to commend the
Earl “Chip” MacEnulty II
Colorado Springs
Falling oil prices? We must have a probe!
The price of crude oil is plunging. How can that be? Predictions are it will drop to $40 per barrel before it levels off.
Ron Perkins
MLK marade takes a disappointing turn
On Jan. 15,
As usual
This new element to this yearly tradition is certainly disappointing. I’m hoping enough people will speak out about the apparent hypocrisy and we can get back to the true meaning of this day.
Andee Miller
Enough with MLK
The
Robert Johnson
A viable renewable: do it with mirrors
In their
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden determined that the solar resources in the
J. Thomas McKinnon
Energy alternatives must be marketable
Alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar, will benefit Colorado only if they develop as a free-market alternative to conventional fuels. If development is forced by legislation or by plebiscite
Bill Richardson
What's happened?
Time to put Colorado to the front of the class as far as disgusting, putrid behavior goes:
What has happened to my ol’ home state of 42 years? All in the name of being “progressive.
The
Gregory Haas
Defund the war
Whatever it takes to end this nonsense, I’m for it
Eric Hartman
Democracy is a government of, by and for the people; formerly, in America; composed of three (3) seperate but equal factions representing the masses.
Bush Democracy: (concerning Iraq War) "...I don't care what they (Congress, American People) think, I've made up my mind..."
(concerning human rights) "...I'll be the one who defines torture..."
(concerning the Constitution) "...no rights for anyone I define as a terrorist..."
(fiscal irresponsibility) "...You give all the money and tax breaks to the ones at the top, and they'll tinkle down on those at the bottom..."
(ibid) Due to an unfunded preemtive war and tax cuts, Social Security for the masses is now calculated to run out sooner than when we took office.
Bush: Despot, Tyranny, Dictatorship. Resultant: Impeach for high crimes.
Michael C. Zink
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:12 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackNorth High teacher
I am writing in response to Mr. Herrick's Jan. 13 letter to the editor about the "nightmarish," "harrowing" experience he had at North High School. I am one of his former students. I don't understand how he could call us lazy when he had us watching movies instead of doing work the whole semester. Also, he says he broke up over a dozen fights. To be honest, he broke up no more than three. He also witnessed another fight and did nothing to break it up. It makes me made that he said we don't care when he didn't take the time to find out how much we did care. If this school is so bad, why did he stay here for the whole semester? Why didn't he bail on us sooner? We never once talked about dropping out, like Mr. Herrick said. If we wanted to drop out, why were we coming to his class in the first place?
Alyssa Wiggins
Student, North High School
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:12 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBackCancer drug
I recently read an article about cancer research in Canada led by Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta. He has shown that a simple drug called dichloroacetate (DCA) that has been used for years to treat people with mitochondrial disease could cure most types of cancer. When Michelakis tested the drug on cancer cells in culture, they died. When he gave it to rats with human tumors, the tumors shrank. It does not appear to affect normal cells, has no side effects, and should work on all cancers. However, since it is an old drug and extremely inexpensive to produce, it cannot be patented. That's because pharmaceutical companies are not likely to fund costly clinical trials with DCA because they won't be able to make a big profit. Many drugs for diseases haven't been produced for this reason, especially those that affect poor people in developing countries. It's a shame that pharmaceutical companies have so much power and are able to profit at the expense of our health and our lives. Michelakis is trying to get private funding for clinical trials, but the drug companies will probably scurry to find patentable compounds with a similar action to DCA and if any of these reach the market, they will be grossly overpriced. I think it would be an outrageous scandal to have such a cheap alternative with such amazing potential not given a chance simply because it won't turn a big enough profit for the drug companies.
Sharlene White
Colorado Springs
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:11 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBackFraud
Okay, the FBI, CIA and Pentagon can call your bank and get the bank's records about you if the bank wants to cooperate. Of course, so can a local used car lot. Come to think of it, so can all the employees of the bank, the Federal Reserve, the IRS, and probably the Colorado Department of Revenue Collections department. I wonder what Drug Enforcement Administration agents can get without a warrant?
And anyone who is smart enough to lie over the phone can probably get a fair amount of information.
Checks and credit card transactions are public information. That is why the government makes it illegal to use cash for any transaction over $10,000 without filling out a form and sending it to the Treasury Department. These are old laws.
Yaakov Watkins
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIllegal immigration
I have withheld peoples names from the following account to give the hurting families some privacy.
Around December 30, I met a very brave and interesting man. His family has lived in what is now Colorado for around 250 years. He had been a very enterprising small business owner with several employees. He and his family are proud, hard working citizens who have lived the American dream. Then one day, a bar near Ft. Lupton served a 16 year old boy enough liquor to raise his blood alcohol level above 0.3. That 16 year old boy, later drove his uninsured vehicle into the side of a two ton truck, rolling it and injuring several people in both vehicles, and devastating many families. That DUI 16 year old, an illegal alien. is now 19 and still free as a bird.
The driver of the two ton truck, the small business owner, was blinded. While undergoing two cornea transplant operations, and recovering, he gradually lost his business to pay his medical bills.
a. As he lost his business, his employees lost their jobs, impacting several more families.
b. His mortgage company could have re-financed his home loan, but instead foreclosed on his home, destroying his excellent credit rating.
c. His insurance company at first refused to pay for his new prescription lenses, obviously needed for his "new" eyes. They finally relented, but then refused to pay for the frames - expensive for him, but pocket change compared to the cost of two eye surgeries. If this tragedy had not happened just a couple weeks before "no-fault" insurance ended in Colorado, he would have been further victimized by the insurance industry.
This former small business owner is apparently the same national origin and ethnic heritage as the DUI teen that ruined his life. He is no fan of illegal immigrants wherever they're from. Without justice, our country is broken.
James Wade
Loveland
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:10 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBackMike Rosen
Regarding Rosen’s article, Populists Equalize Poverty, Jan. 20, does it ever occur to Rosen how pat and cowardly his defense of the rich and the capitalists is? If the poor and the masses, as he derisively terms them, take power, so what, they take power. By his own writing, it’s "relative." What Rosen and his kind really insist on is that power stays in realm of the rich. Period. Power is okay as long as it is held by a minority that somehow, it goes against ——— for the majority to have power. And yet, that is exactly what we are supposed to have, and do have, under our Constitution.
Rosen tries desperately to write that he is only referring to economics, yet he first quotes de Tocqueville, that "there exists in the human heart a depraved taste for equality," which Rosen uses to justify the world, and then Durant, who claims power influences economics. Under the rush of these two "giants," Rosen can’t help himself and so brings government into his argument by stating, incredibly, that "the U.S. government [HAS]long been in the business of redistributing income through progressive taxation; on the one hand, and transfer payments to the poor and middle class." Does the public understand through this chaotic nonsense what Rosen really sees? Anything collective is evil, e.g. government, and for him we are made up simply of "winners and losers." Then it’s always labor unions to blame; as when "they don’t like the results they meddle in people’s lives and business." Of course, business never meddles; but what about corporate welfare, corporate lobbyists, and the hundreds of millions for business politicians in campaign contributions?
I think what really fuels Rosen’s nonsense is a fear that the people, under the U.S. Constitution, will realize their legitimate potential, and he might not like the consequences.
Kenneth Valero
Littleton
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFrightening
With the present situations in our county I find myself quite insecure and frightened. During WWII I would have felt quite uncomfortable if a person with a German or Japaneese name were in a position of power here. Now we have a man, Barack Obama, with the name of the Arabic people we are at war with, and two vicious, sociopathic women, Pelosi and Clinton in positions of power.
I shudder.
Richard Taylor
Littleton
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Iraq
Joe Stern
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSpanish “pre-buttal”
It’s more than that. It is one phase in a staged bifurcation of the nation: “In the late twentieth century, developments occurred that, if continued, could change America into a culturally bifurcated Anglo-Hispanic society with two national languages . . . The driving force behind the trend toward cultural bifurcation . . . has been immigration from Latin America and especially from Mexico.” “Mexican immigration is leading toward the demographic ‘ reconquista’ of areas Americans took from Mexico by force in the 1830s and 1840s . . . Along with immigration from other Latin American countries, it is advancing Hispanization throughout America and social, linguistic, and economic practices appropriate for an Anglo-Hispanic society. ("Who Are We? The Challenge to America’s Identity” by Samuel P. Huntington, 2004) Whether one considers these developments desirable or not, the undemocratic character of this transformation should challenge every one. Narrow —- mainly commercial and elite —- interests are driving this change against the popular will.
Soon enough, it will be a fait accompli.
We will then be urged to be “realistic,” accept the loss of the historic American nation and embrace diversity, open borders and a North American Union.
It’s utopian folly but it may be unstoppable.
Tom Shuford
Lenoir, N.C.
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackDisabled & snow
I was able to assist a blind man this week who had made a wrong turn and was trying to
M.J. Shelton
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIllegal immigrants
Thank You nad God Bless You in your efforts.
Leroy Sanchez
Dallas
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackHPV vaccine
We have a group of legislators who insist on passing this feel good legislation that infringes on our rights. Ken Gordon the clown prince of the Colorado state senate has co sponsored a bill to eliminate smoking in casino venues. Gordon who ran a dismal campaign for secretary of state apparently wants to leave a legacy. His campaign incidentally was not taken seriously by many.
Having spent eighteen years working in an Atlantic City casino I can tell you, you will lose a lot of casino business if Gordon’s bill passes. I quit smoking cigarettes forty years ago, I do enjoy an occasional cigar. Should this legislation pass I will not enter a Colorado casino. If the smoke bothers some employees then I suggest they seek other employment.
I ask you what is next, the thought police and double speak as in Orwell’s 1984? Wake up folks the Patriot Act protects us from terrorists. All of this feel good legislation is designed to protect us from ourselves, how funny is that?
Ed Saltzman
Grand Lake
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackGangs
As you know, because we discussed this problem in the late 1980’s when these violent gangs first appeared in Denver, only a small percentage of this number are active, hard-core gang members. The remainder are peripheral or that part of gang number statistics that does not reflect the inconsistencies of collecting the data; purging delays. duplicity, degree of involvement, transient population, erroneous data collection, incarcerated, for instance.
I do not intend to minimize the danger and costs gangs impose on society, but to combat their aggressiveness communities and the police must have accurate numbers. They must understand degrees of involvement so that they may direct the appropriate levels of resources to the appropriate levels of involvement (isolate and incarcerate hard core, treat peripherals).
I think the police and communities know this, now let your readers have all the facts.
David O’Shea-Dawkins
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRenewable energy
Unreported in the RMN is a major stumbling block in advancing renewable resource energy. From The Fort Collins Coloradoan’s 1/17/07 article, Ritter, Democrats outline renewable-energy economy plan, was a hint regarding the Personal Property Tax’s (PPT) impact on renewable developments, 17 Jan 2007. PPT is serious issue for turbine operators. The newer machines’ cost of installation and infrastructure is about $3.5M each. Approximately $2M is the nacelle (cabin on top) and its rotor, directional system, shaft, bearings, gear box, generator(s), transformer and various required parts plus the meter, switches, wiring, elevator, hoist, etc; all usually called personal property. Tax at the usual rate is a heavy burden, offsetting some of the renewable, generated production. What better incentive would there be for immediate development of the community and state economy than to strongly or completely reduce this burden on a industry trying to get significantly started in Colorado?
Jim Newcomb
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackElectoral votes
Although our nine electoral votes are not many, they are a vital bargaining chip forcing national decision-makers to pay attention to our state’s needs. If we give those votes away to the voters of other states, those national authorities have absolutely no reason to pay any attention to the citizens of Colorado. Do we want the voters of Texas, California, Florida and New York to decide how our electoral votes are cast?
The Electoral College was established to protect the less populous states. This idea to give our votes away probably results from the disappointment of some in the last election, but that emotional overreaction is not sufficient reason to surrender practices that protect Colorado’s citizens.
As a terrible idea, giving Colorado’s electoral votes away to more populous states would rank with President Bush’s naming Donald Rumsfeld as his Secretary of Defense. To those who advocate this radical surgery: The Law of Unintended Consequences may prove this despicable action to be a sword that cuts both ways.
If this proposal passes the Legislature, let’s hope that Governor Ritter has the courage and common sense to veto it.
Finally, a note to Denver’s newspapers: One sentence low on page 14 is absolutely inadequate coverage of a story of this importance. This vital topic needs more sunlight.
Thomas E. Mullins
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 03:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackSnow removal
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackCity employee
Call me crazy but isn’t there a thing like job performance and qualifications and past results in the process? Doesn’t resigning after all youknowwhat broke loose at election time before anybody could find a decent rail to run him outa town on raise a red flag or two, should raise flares. Me being just joe shmoe working guy,first thought I have is This guys got some really good dirt on somebody way up in the foodchain or the people about to hire him are friggin idiots. I suspect mayor Hickenlooper had Sue Cobb say he would be “a good fit” because the employment law department isn’t screwed-up to his expectations and six months of paying Wayne Vaden $150.00 an hour to consult is cheaper than hiring somebody who may actually get results. the taxpayers will get the “good fit” . If Mr. Vador “works” six months-1040 hours, that’s $156,000.00 they should feel “consulted’” allready. So,children of Denver, lesson learned-to double your income, first completely fail, resign to avoid what you have coming to you and never forget the Colorado Motto “No Lawyer Left Behind !
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackUnions
I wonder how the proponents of the Labor Peace Act (and right-to-work laws) would like to have the tenets of “open shop” unionism applied to all professions. Here is how it would work: 1) An attorney is retained to represent a group of consumers in a product liability case. He is required to represent ALL of them, but they can each decide for themselves whether or not to pay him, and he must provide equal representation for the payers and non-payers alike. 2) A homeowners association is responsible for maintenance of the pool and community center in a neighborhood. Each individual homeowner decides whether or not to pay their dues to the association, and they cannot be denied use of the pool and community center for nonpayment.
This is America, home of democracy and majority rule. Majority means 50% plus one. HB 1072 seeks to bring about exactly that in the workplace.
Tom McIntosh
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRocky coverage
I read about our soldiers’ deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan every day, but reading one family’s story of dealing with their grief was overwhelming and heartbreaking. Thank you so much for printing this story.
Marilyn Mattson
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSpace pollution
Leroy M
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:55 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackSnow removal
Leroy M
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackCharles Krauthammer
He doesn’t note that this ‘Plan B’ would hand our half-billion dollar ‘GreenZone’embassy over to the Shia who will end up ruling Baghdad.
He doesn’t even note the most likely change, plan ‘C’, which would short-circuit the civil war: facilitate the split into Kurdland, Shialand, and SunniArabLand. US should protect convoys of refugees to make the ethnic cleansing (already ongoing) involve as little bloodshed as possible.
Why do these neocon hawks ignore the ‘split’ possibility advocated by Sen.Biden? Because they can’t stand the thought of an independent, oil-rich Shia ministate possibly allied with the Shia Iran they hate.
But this ministate will inevitably be instituted, when Shia give up the dream of controlling all of Arab Iraq.
Dan
Fort Collins
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackClimate change
When they got through the ice, they brought up of all things - ferns! Global climate change has been going on for a long time before man ever came on the scene. It certainly is the epitome and height of arrogance to think that man can have any effect on the weather. Yes, concrete and asphalt, when in high concentrations, can absorb more solar heat that tundra and dirt. The percentage of surface area covered with man made materials is infinitesimal.
Meanwhile in today’s paper, Boulder, Colorado has just had a gathering of global warming scientists who have confirmed global warming. So what? You have ferns in Alaska. They can’t prove that man had anything to do with it. But, those who wish to plan our lives from the womb to the tomb and lower our standard of living so that we all ride bicycles instead of driving cars will push for more government regulation and intrusiveness. Oh dear Mother Earth what shall we do - boo hoo hoo.
George Lilly
Denve
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:53 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackSpanish “pre-buttal”
I am a first generation American. My father was born in a German colony in Russia in 1891. My parents spoke German in our home but embraced this beloved country and learned to speak the common language, English. I value my limited knowledge of the German language.
It is my belief that families should celebrate their heritage and this country
I have no quarrel with a translator bringing the message of the
The purpose of language is communication and a common language is necessary.
Clarence M. Lederhos
Arvada
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackIraq
So let the Shiites take over, which ( the administration had to know ) would happen when Saddam Hussein was overthrown. Maybe the Saudis will come in to support the Sunnis, and then the Iranis and Syrians, to support the Shia. Should they get involved in Iraq
The Saudis, in a form of political justice, may find themselves having to deal with their progeny, Al Qaeda. All this might be very interesting for Americans, for a change, to view from ( hopefully ) the outside.
R. Kiefer
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIsrael & Palestine
Greg Horak
Aurora
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackGeorge Bush
Greg Horak
Aurora
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Clifford May
Let me make a comment or two about this snippet you wrote as one of the grabbing paragraphs, “The combatants sent to Guantanamo are those believed...". You do carry on, but there is no need for me to. That statement followed your plea to America suggesting that we should not care about these folks; these people are there for a some valid reason. Thanks for letting America take your word for that fact!
I don’t know which day/month/year of U.S. History you missed in middle school, but holy cow, you missed a headfull. I will refrain from reciting the Bill of Rights at this point, instead, consider the fact that nothing unites the left and the right more than denying one of basic rights, including “due process". Your attempt at defending Guantanamo, does nothing except align hippies with the NRA, and that is very hard to do.
Conservatives, Liberals and Libertarians see this the same - something is very, very, very wrong. The revolution is nigh and the revered Clifford May is defending the indefensible.
(Apologies to certain Libertarians who have held this exact view for quite some time. Consider me with you.)
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMike Rosen
Rosen - How about the “redistribution of wealth” in the form of the looting of the U.S. treasury so that those poor unwashed taxpaying Americans can watch as it is “redistributed” to the war machine, and more crony contractors, feeding at the public trough. These thieves and liars can’t even win a war or rebuild infrastructure, and this “redistribution” has created a humanitarian crisis that the rest of us “unwashed” will have to clean up. STEALING the nation’s wealth is not exactly what could be called earned income.
I don’t see much of the outlandish wealth granted to the corporate world “trickling down” to the rest of the population, which is the is the fallacious idea put forth by the Reagonites - I see most of it going out to CEO “rewards and incentives” to people who hardly have great intellects or great character, and to foreign accounts where the U.S. government can’t touch it— Come on Mr. Rosen! When you give examples of redistribution of wealth, let’s have ALL the examples!
Lynn Highland
Morrison
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDemocratic convention
Another fact that Ritthaler conveniently leaves out of his little rant is that there are more terrorists recruits for Al Qaeda now whose objective is to destroy America than any time before the invasion of Iraq. If Ritthaler bothered to read a newspaper besides the News or watch a news channel besides Fox News, he would also see that several Democratic congress people are proposing to redeploy some of the Iraq troops to Afghanistan, where Taliban attacks have dramatically incresed and the original terrorist threat to our country, that fellow named Bin Laden, is still running free. So, in closing, Mr. Ritthaler should be honest and blame the current administration for increasing the terrorist threat to this country, instead of hurling childish little freshman diatribes at the Democrats, who never were responsible for the thre
Ethan Hatchett
Lafayette
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackMike Rosen
Or take Rosen’s column on health insurance (1/12/07). We are warned of a “ploy” to throw around “sensational figures” about the number of uninsured. The unnamed plotters are “pretending” that a snapshot of the uninsured is the same as a permanent population. So who are these schemers? Well, if we take Rosen’s argument at face value the conspiracy would have to include the entire social science establishment. Anything from polls to economic data are presented by people of all political stripes without explanations that they are snapshots. If someone presents a poll without breaking it down by how long people have held a particular belief are they “pretending” that that snapshot is a permanent belief?
Rosen speaks of populist “conspiracy theories and simplistic fantasies” about how the world works. It is in Rosen’s fantastical world, however, that we are confronted on every side by a vast conspiracy of “inbred liberals", “progressives” (read “socialists"), Democrats and anyone else he doesn’t like. It seems to me that it is Rosen who is guilty of trying to create the hysteria he attributes to his anonymous foes.
Ben Harnke
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackUnions
A minority of citizens elect our government representatives, pass laws, and modify our constitution. A minority of citizens dictates that everyone pay dues (taxes) to Caesar as a condition of liberty, let alone employment. A minority dictates who even has a right to be in this country, let alone a right to work. Why does your editorial board oppose The American Way in this instance?
David Hakala
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIslam
In the minds of Muslim idealists, the world of Islam was formerly led by a glorious succession of caliphs – religious rulers esteemed as highly as the most powerful potentates of Rome. Various dynasties reigned from Medina, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and last of all from Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Turks now known as Istanbul.
The Ottoman dynasty ended catastrophically after World War I, when the last of the caliphs was deposed. The last great Muslim empire was partitioned, with all but its Turkish heartland divided between the victorious Western allies. Islamists have never forgiven the West for this humiliation, and their internal rivalries are only surpassed by their shared hatred of the West and Israel.
Dreams of global rule by Islam fuel the ambitions of al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and other subversive Muslim groups. Like the fascists of the 1930’s, their leaders are autocrats who allow no dissent, and anti-Semitism is one of their major tenets. They carefully study Hitler’s book Mein Kampf under its Muslim title Jihadi. So fascism is back — but now driven by the radical creed of Mohammed!
Even the shallowest review of the Kor’an and Muslim history reveals that terrorism and violence are endemic to most forms of Islam, but advocates of liberal multi-culturalism are still unwilling to concede this point.
We must pray that their misguided concessions to Islam will be disavowed by governments throughout the Western world, and that our leaders will effectively address the perils we face.
Steve Hagerman
Grand Junction
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackAurora police
Mark A. Golden
Aurora
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRecycling
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackUnions
After reading that the legislature is going to pass a bill forcing people to pay union dues even if the don’t want to be in a union, the first thing that popped in my head was,This Is Un- American.
Is this where all the union dues went for during the political campaigns?House Bill 1072 is the wrong way to make unions stronger.It’s not what union members stand for and it’s borderline communism if anything.
Does the Democratic Legislature and the Democratic Governor really think this is fair to all involved?This bill is a bully bill.It bullies worker’s and companies into not having a choice on where there hard earned money goes.Choice!
It is a disgrace to all the hard working long term union members who believe in freedom to choose what is right for them and their families.It makes unions look bad and that is not the case.
I urge the Legislature and Governor to not pass this bill.It’s bad for worker’s,it’s bad for employer’s,it’s bad for unions,and it is not what freedom stands for.
Tracey L. Fanning
Thornton
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDepression
Employers will never accept depression. It is often a long term illness and needs many different Dr’s,many different medication’s,time off for appointment’s and insurance.Employer’s are not happy when insurance is used as often as it is needed by a person with depression.It is a long term illness and the medications are very costly and are changed regularly until the right one is found for that person.
Depression isn’t a once a year check-up. It could be once a week,once a month,but it is a long term process.It’s been 4 years since the death of my mother and I am finally on one medication and doing much better.It was pure hell getting to this point.Employers will see you as an insurance liability,days missed,mentally not able to handle everyday work,work long hours etc.. In other words if you suffer from depression you are a liability for a company.
I am fortunate that I don’t have to work.As for the millions out there that do you will get the complimentary one week of understanding from your employer after your traumatic event that will trigger your depression.After that you are a liability and subject to termination.You have one week to snap out of it or hide it very well.You have my sympathy.
Tracey L. Fanning
Thornton
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackLafayette annexation
If Lafayette really needs another “big box” store, I question the location. As a new “Super Wal-Mart” goes up across town, there will be yet another abandoned store needing redevelopment. The eastern edge of town is the only entrance to Lafayette that as yet remains undeveloped. In addition, there are precious wetlands just west of the proposed site, which serves a beautiful array of birds and other wildlife that will undoubtedly be adversely affected by a project such as Lowe’s. If you have not been over to see the area, please do, it is beautiful. You can access it from Burlington, just east of the tracks.
Lafayette has both a lumber yard and hardware store that will obviously feel the financial pinch and possibly be put out of business by building a Lowe’s here. That is sad from my perspective, because if we continue in this vein, Lafayette will begin to look just like every other town in this area, which offers an abundance of corporate, oversized, chain shopping and little else.
We already have 5 other cities within reasonable traveling distance that offer Lowe’s, Home Depot or both. Since the city has a history of offering tax incentives to some new businesses coming in, do we know how this particular business would benefit our town? With no proposed road improvements, an already horribly congested area will become much more burdened with traffic.
Finally, I understand the Waneka family wishing to sell their property for fair market value. I believe they have a right to do so. It seems, however, that all options have not been explored. Lowe’s is huge, with big corporate dollars. As a community, it seems that we should be able to come together to support the family’s desire to sell without sacrificing another piece of Lafayette’s soul. The people of this town are indebted to the Waneka family for all their contributions. I know another avenue can be found.
R. Dunne
Lafayette
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackWayne Allard
Greg Dobbs
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackFamily upset
You don’t think his family was upset enough to know what he had done???
You will be happy to know that his family did not reap one dime from his ill gotten gains, as a matter of fact most of his family are in the construction business and have been for over 40 years in this town!!!
Read it again!!!!!!
Judy Bernal
Denver
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDarrent Williams
I moved from Denver to St. Louis last year. I was very disturbed by the Williams murder and I have been following via your website. I would hate for this to become “OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND” for the public, reducing the possible opportunity for more leads.
Mary Beal
Arnold, Mo.
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackTV tower
I’m pleased that our two Colorado senators do not suffer from this mental health affliction and together settled the issue.
Martin J. Allen
Centennial
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Posted by denver-admin at 02:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAllard simply didn't want to lose in '08
After hearing Sen
Judging by the electoral failures of other Bush-enablers who were up for re-election in November (like George Allen and Rick Santorum), voters aren’t likely to stick with the senators who vote with the administration 95 percent of the time.
Bo Tuerk
Rocky's stance on rail system shortsighted
The
The editors believe the Ranger Xpress, proposed by former state representative and RTD Board member Bob Briggs, is too expensive and would attract too few riders to make the venture worthwhile.
It is exactly for this reason that Briggs and his organization, the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority,
Though the scope of the study m
Intercity passenger rail service provides a comfortable, safe and reliable alternative mode of transportation for those who cannot or may not wish to drive. Given the snowstorm experiences of recent weeks, I would imagine many travelers would gladly trade a trip on I
Jon Esty
Denver
Giuliani type needed
Hit-and-run on Denver streets
I
A Denver mayor, concerned with the city instead of
Fern Rossi
Change of heart on smoking ban
Awhile back, Leilani A. Mueller, Northglenn So, M.J. Fogarty Congress should allow only enough funds for the new troops and the Iraq war until Sept. 11, giving Leonard Muniz Coincidentally, the Bob Johnson, Thornton W Frank Galmish Scott McInnis couldn’t get elected dogcatcher in a Republican primary (“Allard seat open in ’08,” Jan. 16) Mike Eller This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. Illegals & health care This letter has not been edited. It is amazing that the well-financed organization that wrote Amendment 41 could not for This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. In 2000, the Rocky Mountain News urged voters to elect neophyte George W. Bush over the vastly experienced Al Gore. Now Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial pages, laments the lack of experience of Senator Barack Obama. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. I am 16 years old and I look forward to the Rocky's bridge column each day. Where is it? How am I ever to beat my grandmother? My aunt and her friends think I play a fair hand and, until now, the Rocky has been part of the reason. Please put it back! Ian P. Warner Editor's note: Beginning Tuesday, the Today in History and Bridge features will be returning to the pages of the Rocky Mountain News. It appears that the Rocky Mountain News has elected to stop printing the Today in History feature. This is unfortunate as the feature was both informative and entertaining. While I understand that a paper is a business, it is also an instrument that should convey information to its readers, not simply be a vehicle for retailers to peddle their wares. It appears the the Rocky may be forgetting its responsibilities in this regard. Today in History was a pleasant and interesting feature and the Rocky should consider restoring it to its pages. A lot of readers would probably appreciate it. I know I would. Thomas B. Johnson I am disgusted at the The Sunday Denver Post's prominent, front- page, violent, prurient and obscene photographs of Saddam Hussein's recent hanging (Dec. 31). Here we see sad proof that enlightenment is a long way off for our nation and our civilization. It is bad enough that America has a hand in this Iraq mess, but the Post's photos seem to glory in the barbarism. The newspaper business has made many technological advances, but nearly no moral progress in the past 200 years. M. Baker I'd like to add my concurrence for the letter from Jane Imber (" 'Diesel' fumes," Talk Back to the Media, Jan. 13) who was wondering why on earth anyone would select this exceedingly lame comic strip, Diesel Sweeties, for publication in the Rocky. I too have been amazed that such a poor quality strip would be chosen, particularly when there must be dozens of other more deserving strips available. Al Foster Thousands of Rocky readers enjoy working the crossword puzzle each day. Many times this is done on buses, planes, light rail trains and in car pools. Before it was redesigned, the page carried the crossword puzzle on its righthand side. In that configuration a reader could fold the Spotlight section in half which gave firm pen support for filling in the puzzle, as well as making it more convenient for the reader and those sitting nearby. With the puzzle now in the middle of the page, it makes that impossible. When the Rocky makes changes, its focus should be to make the paper more user friendly! John Schoenfeld Brian Maass of Channel 4 has tried to create a news story because two Colorado citizens have lawfully applied for concealed weapons permits ("2 Nugs seek permits," Jan. 13). These citizens are Denver athletes who feel the need to legally carry a firearm for protection. As we all know, celebrities are quite often targets of violence and mayhem. Law-abiding citizens have the right to apply for a firearms permit without harassment from the media. It's nobody's business but theirs. Shame on Channel 4 and Brian Maass. While I'm at it, shame on Channel 4 for canning Stephanie Riggs and replacing their wonderful 4 p.m. news with Oprah. Ugh! I now watch Channel 7 news. Jon Opdahl Imagine my surprise on Jan. 3 when I read what seemed to be thoughtful suggestions in "Senators,' representatives' to-do list" only to find this under the list of recommendations for U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo: "Find new cities, celebrities or world religions to use as sparring partners." I had to reread the other suggestions to see if the Rocky had snide elements for other members of the delegation. Then I had to check to see if I was in the Commentary section. Neither was true. I don't usually support criticism that the Rocky is biased, but the bias came through clearly in this instance. That is not up to what I would hope are our journalistic standards. Richard H. Bush t was a mistake for the Rocky to print the predictions of Pat Robertson ("Evangelist predicts 2007 'mass killing,' " Jan. 3). To give him coverage serves only to terrify the vulnerable and amuse the cynical. His rants are no more newsworthy than those of any lunatic. Civic Center Park features several of these sad folks every day. Why give coverage to Robertson's gaseous output? Someone wisely said, "When you talk to God, that is prayer. When God talks to you, that is psychosis." And, may I add, when you presume to tell others what God said to you, that is the pinnacle of arrogance. Robertson's record of prophesy is poor, his fearmongering tiresome and the Rocky's coverage of his nonsense is preposterous and unproductive. Carter McClintock This letter has not been edited. I This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. "Grim” stats only undermine our efforts in Iraq On January 1, 2007, we reached another “grim milestone” in Iraq, according to the associated press - 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed. Grimmer still, is the major media’s daily reporting of the death toll as if it were reading a score card. I’m certainly not taking this number lightly. I have the greatest sympathy and admiration for those who have given their lives in Iraq and their families, but I would hardly call 3,000 casualties in 4 years a grim milestone. Consider these numbers: We suffered 405,399 American deaths in the Second World War, 54,246 in the Korean War, and 56,244 soldiers were lost in Vietnam. In fact, there are more than a few battles in American history in which we took significant casualties, such as Gettysburg (7,058), D-Day (approximately 2,500), Iwo Jima (nearly 7,000), and more recently, the 3,000+ civilians lost on 9/11/01. If Americans are spoon-fed a steady diet of the “grim” details seven days a week, then eventually public opinion will turn against any war, not to mention encourage our enemies to step up their attacks. This letter has not been edited. After I called (in your letters pages) Jimmy Carter the greatest living American, I was rebutted by a snooty letter in those same pages and by an anonymous postcard ("Jack - you’re an idiot") to my home. The shock of the latter was somewhat ameliorated by the fun photo of the leggy Puma model on the obverse. This letter has not been edited. I applaud the Catholic Archbishop, Charles Chaput, for his column in the Denver Catholic Register. Chaput is within his rights to challenge the Governor for his plans to restore family-planning clinics. If Gov. Ritter is “pro-life,” as he purports to be, then it behooves him, as a Catholic, to adhere to the teachings of the Church. State funding should in no wise be given to Planned Parenthood and other such clinics, which are known to promote abortion. We hope that the Governor will listen and act accordingly. This letter has not been edited. Ah, the beauty of doublethink, indeed. It very fitting that Mr. Tom Longua cited George Orwell’s work on the subject and process of doublethink in his letter to the editor on January 15th. I speak particularly of the totalitarian governments logic, and the latter of the three mottos that follow thereafter: “ignorance is strength.” It is fitting, because while Mr. Longua feels obligated to defend his position on abortion, he fails to apply logic to his argument. He stated that DeGette’s plan for the advancement of stem cell research will require the “killing of thousands-maybe millions-of human embryos.” While it is true that her plan requires human embryos, Mr. Longua cannot seem to grasp the concept that abortion is a legal right granted to women. If people are getting abortions anyway, why can’t we utilize this, and save the lives of people suffering from alzhemers, dimensia, or Parkinsons? It seems a fruitless exploit to continue rants on how harmful abortion is. Since no one has proven when exactly life begins, why cant we focus on helping those whose lives have already? This recurring theme of being only pro-life until birth has plagued the right-wing for years, and the fact that it, too, is subject to the principle of double-think is not sinking in too well. Perhaps I am a little too optimistic, but I will continue to hope that the far-right will stop complaining about other people, and start to complain about the issues we can change. This letter has not been edited. Much as I like Paul Krugman, I have to say that his knee-jerk criticism in his Monday Jan. 15 column of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed universal health care program barely hours after it was announced leads me to conclude that he’s clueless when it comes to health care. Krugman, a Princeton economist, clearly favors a single-payer system “similar” to Medicare. More about that in a minute. This letter has not been edited. This comes as a shock to me - because it is already taking place! The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun closing its nationwide network of scientific libraries, effectively preventing EPA scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and information on issues from toxicology to pollution. This letter has not been edited. At first quick glance I thought that media darling Barack Obama was shown walking on water in that big color picture in Wednesday’s Rocky (page 25A). But no, it was just blue carpet or concrete, not sure which. This letter has not been edited. After re-reading Ashley Ruiz's letter of Jan. 11, "After 5 years, abuses of detainees must end," I wonder what fantasy world she has been living in. Perhaps she and the rest of Clueless International were either sleeping or "out of town" when we were besieged with pictures online and in the media, showing people being beheaded. Of course I don't recall reading anything about Amnesty International's outrage over those "little happenings." But those folks were Americans, not "poor" foreigners who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for due process and so-called "nightmare of justice," let's clear the air: These detainees are not U.S. citizens. They do not wear uniforms (hence no Geneva Convention rules). They do not believe anyone but Islamists should have a place on this planet. Ruiz wants them to have due process? She should move to Iran, China or North Korea and see how well her outrages are accepted. Of course, I doubt we would ever hear from her again, as the track record of "justice" in those lands seems to be lagging as well. Jim Capano In response to Constance Preble's letter stating that horses are not pets and that the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is unnecessary, I would like to add my two cents' worth ("Horses not in same category as cats, dogs," Jan. 2). Millions of Americans do feel their horses are pets. I am one of them. Preble states that horses cost between $200-$250 a month to feed and care for and yet the cost for carcass removal is too high; therefore we should just slaughter horses so we don't have to see old horses on the side of the road. What total nonsense. If you can afford to feed a horse and care for it, you can afford to have it buried in a pet cemetery or taken to a rendering plant. And if you can't, you have no business owning a horse. I get so tired of people not being responsible pet (or "livestock," according to Preble) owners. We do not need to continue slaughtering part of our heritage to help out irresponsible owners. I urge everyone to ask their senators to support the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Barbara Hanson I read with great interest "Piles of garbage have many down in dumps," the Jan. 11 Rocky Mountain News article concerning garbage collection (or rather, lack thereof) during the recent blizzards. I was especially interested in the following part about Allied Waste: "Kelly Cook, a spokeswoman for Allied Waste Services, which has more than 100,000 customers in the Denver area, said the company is trying to get everyone back on schedule by Monday. 'We have not heard (from) a lot of people who have been missed for three weeks,' she said. 'It's not widespread.' " Her first sentence should really have read, "We have not heard (from) a lot of people who have been missed for three weeks - or more - because we have not answered our phones since Dec. 22. When our customers have called in to see when they can expect a pickup, they have either received no answer, a constant busy signal or they were placed on hold for 30 minutes or longer only to be cut off before they could speak to a person." In my neighborhood, the last pickup was Dec. 15, which makes today, Jan. 12, four weeks since we have had a pickup. At the very least Allied should have provided a recording informing callers just what was going on. Instead they chose to ignore their good, paying customers. As soon as I can get ahold of one, a different trash service will get my business from now on. Linda Longworth Letter writer George I. Geikas ("Don't criminalize political missteps," Jan. 9) uses some highly questionable logic to justify continuation of the Iraq war. He says, "(Rocky columnist Paul Campos) is in no position to predict what the outcome (of the war) will be . . . Such conclusions (that the war was a mistake) are a long way down the road." In his circular reasoning, Geikas uses the continuation of the war to justify the continuation of the war. Suppose his friend had a gambling addiction, and he suggested to his friend that he stop gambling. His friend refuses, saying, "Since I am going to continue gambling, you don't know what the outcome will be, so your position has no merit." Would Geikas be persuaded by this argument? There may be reasons to continue the war, but an unknown outcome - because the war is being continued - isn't one of them. He ends with this comment: "I am incensed that there are so many people . . . who pretend they were innocent bystanders when this decision was proposed. If one disagreed, the time to protest is long gone." Did George Bush merely propose going to war? Isn't he, in his own words, "the decider"? I was one of the many who did disagree; Bush ignored us all. Bill Jevons The administration's new moves against Iranian terrorist groups, if they are being carried out as described to us, make very good sense, are useful in quelling terrorism and could reduce violence in the world over time. If only the administration had been so prudent and right- thinking four years ago prior to invading Iraq. Just think how far ahead we could be in our anti-terror efforts today! John Ruckman There are two things that are becoming so obvious that, to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, even editorial writers may take notice. The first is that President Bush will continue his increasingly dangerous and rotten empire building in Iraq no matter what the costs to our soldiers or the Iraqi people, even as the country goes up in flames of the civil war he created. The second is that the Democrats won't have the courage to stop this fiasco. They know the old accusations of "not supporting our troops" are becoming meaningless, yet they still freeze. It's as if they're Superman having kryptonite thrown in his face. They're forgetting to consider the real point of whether or not our foreign policy is justified. The Democrats continue to twist and turn, making distinctions between funding the "surge" and funding the war. Many are still reluctant to even call for a timetable for withdrawal. Trying to micromanage the war and cutting selected funds won't stop this president. The administration will just rummage through the hefty Defense Department budget. No, if Pelosi and her friends have any real guts, they will pull the plug on this surge and the whole war by cutting funds in toto. In doing so, they would show what supporting our troops really means - bringing them home safely. American voters spoke out in November that they are no longer willing to spend blood and treasure to establish and defend any more puppet regimes in faraway lands. The question is, are the Democrats really listening? Hank Curtis How sad that the very “ranchers” and “cattlemen” who value the precious lives of their “products” (i.e., sentient beings called “cattle) when they are sold to the slaughterhouses cannot even care enough to protect these “products” from hypothermia when a severe snowstorm renders these poor animals virtually helpless. Is it too much to ask for ranchers to build sporadically-placed warming huts for their cattle to at least get out of the cold, rain, and snow, and possibly have a small amount of protection from natural predators?? I can’t imagine that these huts would take too much away from the ranchers’ profits, and, DUH, indeed, their profits would be increased, NOT decreased with deceased animals!! What a concept! This letter has not been edited. With the New Year’s execution of Saddam, the routing of Al Qaida in Somalia and now the hanging of Hussein’s top henchmen, 2007 is starting off to a pretty good start. Despite these positive developments, we can always count on Rocky Mountain News columnist, Paul Campos to find something to whine about (Commentary 1/16/07). Today, Campos takes on Bill Kristol, Editor of the Conservative national magazine, the Weekly Standard, all-star panelist on the leading cable news round table on television and now, a weekly columnist with Time Magazine. As to the specifics, of Campos’s charges against Kristol, I’ll leave those to Kristol himself to refute, but as to the timing of Campos’s rant I suggest the following: When Bill Kristol speaks to Conservatives on FOX News or in his own publication, the Standard, Campos could care less, but now that he’s earned access to a National liberal readership, Campos is afraid that he (and other liberals) will have to actually debate a well-reasoned Conservative viewpoint. This letter has not been edited. "Powerful tool protects state heritage" would have been a better title and theme for the News editorial of Dec. 26 ("A lucrative scheme to not develop land"). Colorado's innovative conservation easement tax credit is an effective tool that protects our state's priceless heritage. Here in Mesa County, the tax credit has helped conserve orchards around Palisade, wildlife habitat along the Colorado River, and scenic, productive ranchland. The tax credit has made Colorado a national leader in private land conservation. The growth in the use of the tax credit means that more property owners are choosing to conserve the natural lands that make Colorado what it is. As with any innovative public program, the credit can use some fine-tuning. The land conservation community stands ready and eager to work with the state to ensure that future generations of Coloradans get the maximum benefit from our conservation activities today. Rob Bleiberg
Why should nonsmokers be subject to our smoke? If they choose not to smoke, the. . and . . however unfair it is to us.
Smokers pleased to bridle their business
I am in my 70s, very healthy and I smoke. I like to smoke
We used to spend time and a lot of money on vacations in California,
I’m sure that the
A plan for Iraq
Bush and Iraq
My, these pit bulls certainly are vicious
On Page 5A,
On Page 14A,
Just look at those vicious dogs! You can just tell from the pictures that they’re about to jump up and take someone’s hand off! I can’t understand why the
What chutzpah!
McInnis a nonstarter
Too many longtime Republicans remember the antics of he and Ben Nighthorse Campbell during their final year in office. These two gave away safe seats to the Salazar brothers and helped precipitate the decline of the party in Colorado.
This is not a winnable “war” because of its ideological basis - tribal holy wars, if you will. Our presence there is merely supporting one of the terrorist factions. How is this bringing democracy to Iraq? In fact, contrary to what our President says, the U.S. presence in Iraq is not making us safer, but inciting more terrorism against us. Our government needs to put an end to our involvement in this senseless bloodshed. Two million Iraqis have fled their increasingly and deadly violent country, and we’re still sending our kids there.
How can one make any sense of that? Democracy is supposed to be a government by and for the people. Currently, most Americans are aware of the situation in Iraq and want it to end. We can help do that by asking our representatives to support Bills H.R. 508 and H.CON.RES.197.
Sharlene White
Colorado Springs
Iraq war
2)
The authority over these issues is described in our constitution and the laws of the United States. For the sake of our soldiers and the sovereignty of our country, these decisions can never be left to a congressional whim or public vote.
Kipp Welch
Phoenix
Illegals & health care
There are probably 20 million illegal aliens in the US and, according to another recent article in the News, 250,000 families of illegal aliens (which means (750,000 actual people) live in Colorado. My question, Dr. VanderArk is this: how many of the 47 million across the US and 770,000 in Colorado who you say are uninsured, are illegal aliens? I don’t see any breakout of that in your article.
Dr. VanderArk may be able to shrug off (or more likely, dodge) his share of the taxpayer cost of insuring all these illegal aliens, but my family cannot. And nobody—least of all well-to-do do-gooders like Dr. VanderArk—is offering to pay our health insurance.
J.M. Schell
Arvada
Fixing mess that is 41
To me, it appears to be another reason to be so very careful about putting narrow-scope, special-interest legislation into the state constitution where it does not belong.
I know the people who voted for it felt — because of all the hype — that they would be solving a problem, but
Arvada
Recycling's importance has been clearer of late
The difference is that we have recycled all of our glass, plastic, cans, paper (incl
Recycling is so easy to do, and these last weeks of
Annette Sapp
Mexican immigrants are keeping ship afloat
G
Mexican immigrants are not the terrorists
Luis Ramirez
Denver
Senate race
Robert Porath
Boulder
Sex offenders
Leroy M
Denver
Oil prices
Lakewood
African-American flag?
Mark Lieberman
Littleton
On Point
Carroll reminds us that he wrote a column nearly a year and a half before the 2000 election questioning George W. Bush’s lack of experience. But he stops short of revealing a very relevant piece of information: who did he vote for in 2000? Al Gore with his 24 years of experience as an elected official (eight as Vice President, eight in the U.S. Senate, and eight in the U.S. House of Representatives) or did he vote for George W. Bush and his scant four years of service in state government?
Anyone who voted for Bush in 2000 cannot be taken seriously as they lament the lack of experience of Barack Obama. It’s fine that Carroll wrote that column back in 1999, but when it came time to put his vote where his mouth is, who do you think he voted for?
Conifer
Eavesdropping
Ladies’ night crusader out to line his pockets
Horner
Horner is like that kid you remember in grade school who spent most of his time ratting his fellow students out to the principal for any number of frivolous misdeeds.
The real outrage here is a gullible and naive civil court system that’s all too willing to entertain misanthropes who revel in putting up needless and numerous roadblocks
Ron Corey
Highlands Ranch
Darrent Williams
David Acheson
Arvada
Fort Collins
Daily history lesson
Aurora
Disgusted by Post
Lakewood
Amen to that
Lakewood
Puzzling placement
Lakewood
Shame on Channel 4
Fort Collins
Rocky's snide jibe
Aurora
Coverage a mistake
Denver
I’ve taken part in these marches in the past, but this was my first after having lived out of state for awhile. When I arrived at City Park at the start of the parade, I noticed that a rabbi was being introduced to pray and as he started his prayer, loud noises from some other p.a. system started blaringsuch that I could barely hear the prayer that was being lifted up to God. Confused, I walked over to where the other voice was coming from and I discovered another rally being held simultaneously to the primary one. I asked one of the people attending that event what was going on and she answered that this alternative rally is a new event “more in the spirit of MLK” than the other one – which she derided as “watered-down, corporate sponsored, de-radicalized". A bit indignant, I shot back that MLK was a Christian pastor and he’d not likely be thrilled about having a speech drowning out someone at prayer.
A friend of the young woman overheard us and interjected that this new rally is grass-roots movement “of the people” and I’d likely be welcome to say a prayer if I wanted to on their speaker system. And then he handed me a slip of paper describing theorganizers of that rally.
After a few more words were exchanged, I walked back over to the main rally in time to hear the end of someone else’s prayer and then, with no transitional words or pause at all, someone took the microphone and started sharing about how great Kaiser Permanete is for helping sponsor today’s events. I’m sure it wasn’t their intent, but it actually felt like “These prayers brought to you by…” And then, as the parade started, I couldn’t believe the number of people walking around with State Farm hats and scarves and signs saying “State Farm, we share the dream.” It felt like the event was being cheapened by having corporations exploit it with their promotional freebies.
I understand that these sponsoring corporations give money to the MLK Foundation, but is their sponsorship of the Marade actually needed? Various religious groups and social justice organizations could easily hand out hats and scarves as well has hot coco or coffee - and, in honor of MLK’s concern for economic justice, you can sure it’d be Fair Trade chocolate and coffee! The other thing that rubbed me wrong was that the smaller, newer, “more radical,” alternative rally had theirfolks chanting “The people, united, can never be defeated!” – while they had people walking about with smaller bull horns heckling and goading the larger crowd of people whowere at the other rally. Talk about ironic.
Moreover, some of the language coming from the main speakers of the alternative rally was less than to be desired. This is supposed to be a family event and there were many children present. Feel free to be radical politically, but if you can’t say it without vulgarity, it may not be worth hearing.
The whole thing was quite sad and I’m not sure that the man whose birthday we were supposedly honoring would’ve appreciated much of it. Clearly, there’s room for moderates, liberals, and radicals, etc. under MLK’s big tent, but darn it, why’d it have to feel so tense and yucky? I urge the leadership of both of rallies to meet together in advance of next year’s Marade. A repeat of what took place this year would not be something I’d care to experience again.
That said, long live MLK’s dream of a “beloved community” living together without war, without racism, without economic exploitation and in peace, harmony, and justice for all!
Roger Wolsey
Boulder
Iraq
and other western forces. Refugees International has called this the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis in the world. Given our central role in Iraq, I believe we have a responsibility to help these people. We need to lead an international initiative to support Middle Eastern countries hosting Iraqi civilians. We need to recognize and support the constructive role Syria is playing in hosting Iraqi refugees and help it keep its borders open. We need to significantly increase our support to the UN Refugee Agency so that it can meet the needs of Iraqi refugees. We need to agree to resettle vulnerable individuals, particularly refugees who had to flee because they worked for Americans, including U.S. government, military, contractor and nonprofit organizations.
Iraqis are fleeing because they have a genuine and credible fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Whether Sunni, Shi’a, Christian or Palestinian, they have been directly victimized by armed forces. The refugees, faced with no legal work options in their current host countries, are now hoping to resettle in Europe and North America because they know that if they return to Iraq, they will die.
The rapidly increasing and deadly violence in Iraq has made civilian life untenable, and is creating a refugee crisis that is essentially exporting the nation’s instability to neighboring countries. It is essential that the U.S.
government take the necessary steps to meet the needs of Iraqi refugees. We need to exhibit what democracy is really all about.
Trash service
Aurora
Gangs
If some millionaire Bronco did not get killed at some club where folk were too busy flashing money and “bling” and indulging in drugs, drinking, and conspicuous consumption, while carrying guns, your headline about gangs would not have wasted the ink it has now wasted.
One tip-off to the shallow content of the article was that it trotted out the old “summer of violence” rhetoric, which was a term created by the media anyway.
I see the local “authorities” have again trotted numbers of “confirmed” gang members, and the article even repeated the lame criteria used to “confirm” the status of the members. If you have the time for even simple research, you’d see these “criteria”
originated with California authorities over 3 decades ago. When your reporters recite them it seems authoritative, but the criteria have more holes in them than Swiss cheese.
Your naive and inexperienced reporters recount that the last gang figures were released in 2003, and totalled 220 gangs with 14,000 members, but here is where your reporters again did not do any homework.
When the DPD gang unit floated those figures back in 2003, I and several others found that the figures the coppers cited stated that over 90% of the alleged gang members were Black or Brown.
Then we got the number for alleged Asian gang members.
Then we researched the US Census for Black, Brown and Asian youth in the prime gang ages [I think we used 14 to 26].
By comparing the cops silly assertions to the hard data of the Census for Denver, we found that the only way the figures could be true was if 2 of 3 of all Black males, 50+ percent of all Latino males, and 1 in 4 Asian males in the cited age brackets were gang members. That IS NOT TRUE and is probably statisically impossible. And to state the data in those terms demonstrates the RACISM implicit in the claim...
When we went to Judy Cisneros, Michael Hancock, Doug Linkhart, and Councilman Garcia with our findings and concern, NONE of them contested our findings, but neither would they look into the issue. Garcia essentially said he did NOT want to be perceived as being “soft” on gangs.
The only ones who paid less attention to us were the cops [FOR A WHILE]and the print media. Then, weeks later the cops lopped off several thousand names from the so-called gang list after our little research campaign. Neither daily, of course, found this worthy of any ink.
Reporters need to open their eyes [and their brains] before trotting out this hysteria-ridden “data.”
The person who crunched the figures for us in 2003 is a former gang member with tatoos. He also obtained a Ph. D. at UC Boulder. If you want a real “gang authority", contact him. He is Robert Duran who is now teaching at New Mexico State University at Las Cruces. [RobertDuran@mail.weber.edu]
Denver
Benefits system
Can’t find former State of Colorado Human Services executive director Marva Hammons? Are we giving her a state retirement check? If so, this check should be stopped, until she answers a host of federal funds questions. Hagedorn should join forces in a bi-partisan effort, with state auditing sleuth’s and rep’s Gardner and Cadman, state attorney general, and Denver Deputy USAG, so they can drill-down and find out how $223 million in taxpayers’ funds were actually used. Hammons and Owens are solely responsible and accountable for the CBMS project’s compliance to federal procurement, hiring, and contracting laws.
A great place to start their audit would be Hammon’s perennial USDOL-OFCCP VETS-100 reports, which discloses the data and facts, surrounding the CBMS project’s contracting and hiring of combat disabled military veterans. A special treat would be Hammon’s hired a CFO during her tenure and I would be tickled pink to know if that successful candidate was a vet or just another illegal political appointment. The real culprits in the CBMS fiasco, is the entire bipartisan state legislative body, who succumbed to Owens “mushroom” policies.
James J. Tenant
Cenennial
Emergency management
The governor is our state’s commander-in-chief. Gov. Ritter is solely responsible for all facets of emergency management throughout Colorado, which includes DIA, oil refineries, interstate highway system, etc. All praises to him/her “on-high", Rocky Flats is closed. Owens continually showed his incompetence during multiple rock and mudslides on I-70 and Hwy. 6. He was ignorant of the fact, President Ike created our nation’s interstate highway system for the following reasons: (1) national security - to move troops and their equipment, (2) commerce, and (3) going to grandma’s house and the ski slopes. Owens allowed prolonged weeks of gridlock on these vital transportation arteries, simply because he was incompetent and he had successfully put the bipartisan legislative body in a mushroom state of mind. Astonishingly, the generals and admirals at Ft. Carson, NORAD, National Guard, and Space Command, never complained about this issue. In their defense though, they know Owens and Bush, both have a history of firing senior military officers that don’t agree with them and their reckless decisions.
The state gov’t should “trot-out” its emergency management plans, so they can be scrutinized by the citizenry and to train the public in general. Coloradoans are starting to reap what it has sown with regards to incompetent emergency managers. The ball started rolling when Butch Montoya (video-journalist) was appointed Denver Public Safety Manager. He was replaced with LaCabe (prosecutor/cop). Owens (draft-dodger) advertised the state emergency director’s position for public competition, lo and be hold, his GOP crony, inept George Epp (cop-draft dodger), was illegally politically appointed (violation of U.S.Senate appropriations/state constitution) to the position. Did I mention I applied for this job with my federal 10 point FEMA hiring preference?
Diversity spending
The GOP is famous for finding irrelevant wedge-issues, to deflect their guilt or pilfers in other areas. If the GOP posse of Cadman and Gardner really want to do all taxpayers a favor, then they should audit the disbursements made in the $14 billion in federal funds spent in the T-REX, Fas Tracks, and Stapleton/Fitzsimons redevelopment projects. Until I read their audit findings, these projects will always be remembered by me as GOP cash-cows, graft, and pork. Gardner and Cadman should tread lightly here, because they just find the undisclosed location of more “roomies” for Cunningham and Nye.
Colorado has more than 400K military veterans. Those of an ebony-hue, would appreciate knowing from an audit conducted by Gardner/Cadman, how and why, Owens (draft-evader) nullified their federal disability, contracting, and employment benefits, in the aforementioned federal projects. Maybe Gardner and Cadman can lend a hand. Across all racial lines, our vets have seen their benefits package vaporized by Owens and the GOP. Gardner and Cadman should repeal Owens’ illegal standing order which prohibits State of Colorado Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Labor (Veterans Employment & Training ) employees, from aiding vets in getting state jobs and contracts. Invader-in-chief, President Bush, has the same “standing order” as Owens, with his U.S. Dept. VA veterans employment counselor’s.
On both sides of the political aisle, our congressional reps and entire state legislative body, have failed our veterans in their lack of fiscal oversight, stewardship, “due -diligence", accountability, responsibility, and overall shirked their sworn duties. Cadman and Gardner should purge all of Owens’ lingering illegal appointees to state career civil service jobs and give those earmarks to their rightful owners, vets who served when America faithfully and honorably, when she called them to serve.
As a personal request. My family, bank account, and I, would appreciate it if this dynamic duo would audit why I applied for more than 250 jobs in the past 17 years with numerous state agencies, and never got an offer of employment. Thanks to the likes of Cadman, Gardner, and their draft-dodger led GOP-posse, I proudly join U.S. Rep. John Murtha (USMC Vietnam War hero), “I wouldn’t serve in today’s armed forces".
James J. Tenant
Race relations
After a playoff game Saturday night, an out of town nephew and I went to visit a Denver relative (through marriage) from Uganda. There may be a difference in attitude between an “African” who becomes “American", in modern times, as contrasted with African-Americans who hold slave-trade grudges. The difference might help resolve issues where racial culture and stereotyping is a factor.
The talk after the playoff game went racial in a heartbeat. Perhaps there is some truth to the assertion that, “White people don’t understand black athletes or their culture". Folks who know Uganda know how violent things can get if you show up at the wrong location. One thing our conversation identified was the willingness of young athletes to venture into risky territory. Especially young black men.
My relative from Uganda knows a lot of Denver athletes. Because he is a Black professional he can hang around with Black athletes at a social level where conversations about gangs, drugs, and partying, sometimes stereotypes whites. There is no denying some gang deaths have merited more ink than others.
That was not said well. I can’t say it any better. Someone should.
I would bet that my relative from Uganda would sit down with an honest reporter and say it better. Putting one’s family name In a newspaper column is asking for trouble if gangs and ethnic culture are to be openly discussed. Not everyone is as big and brave as Claudie Minor. But I see brave men stepping up to the plate.
I noticed in the “sports column” of Dave Krieger that Minor, and ‘good old Denver District Attorney Norm Early (who ran for mayor of Denver in 1991 and I got to know him as a friend since I ran then also) are having discussions in memory of Darrent Williams. It has been 17 days since the Denver street-murder of #27.
I wonder how Denver media will respond when gang-prevention specialist Rev. Leon Kelly adds a new name to Denver’s gang death list, and bumps Williams off the top of the scroll. I haven’t yet seen the full list of Kelly’s “gang deaths", but I do know the list is long, and it can not include everyone who has died because of drugs and gangs in the Denver metropolitan area.
Kreiger mentioned violence in Baghdad in context to violence in Denver. It seems to me the organizational charts of Iraqi militias is probably quite similar to the hierarchy of gangs in America. It’s time to draw a line in our own sand.
Steve Schweitzberger
Littleton
Driving
One of the biggest safety issues in the flying profession is listening to communications while operating a high performance machine. Training in this area is ongoing. I do not know where these drivers get their training but I would not feel safe while driving in heavy traffic and trying to communicate on the phone.
Driving is a privilege, not a right so let us regulate the conditions. Here are a few starting steps.
1. Drive in the right lane (same requirement as slow driving) and hang up when changing lanes. This allows all distracted drivers to play bumper car among themselves.
2. Park & Talk 3. We are now compiling statistics on talking and accidents. Instead of bigger fines make the penalty for second offenses the same as DUI and highly publicize the rules.
4. There is a simple test to determine one’s ability to multi-task. If you have an accident you must take the test if you wish to continue to talk and drive.
If you took the test and found you were really suffering from delusions of adequacy and you could not safely drive and talk, would you hang up and save the children? Probably not!
Jim Reid
Denver
Illegal immigrants
In the article, I quote, “As we enter the last few days before Christmas, we urgently pray that God will grant our law enforcement authorities prudence, justice and restraint in carrying out their duties…” I hope that our law enforcement - and medical personnel continue to carry out their duty – whatever it may be. Who are we to ask our law enforcement to NOT do their job. In fact what does the bible say about tax collectors and guards alike? I think the hang up is that the Catholic church doesn’t see illegal immigration as a crime, because if they did, then it should be enforced –right? Just because you don’t agree with it, doesn’t mean it’s not illegal. Imagine a society were people followed only the rules they agreed with. I’m sure the Archbishop has heard the term “cafeteria catholic” – one who picks and chooses what they want to believe or adhere to. But isn’t that what the Archbishop is doing with our laws? He is picking not to adhere to our current immigration laws – (we know they’re illegal, but let them be). Aiding and abetting a criminal is against the law – and by encouraging it, the Archbishop is somewhat culpable for people that get caught doing it, however, I doubt the church is going to pay their legal cost. No one is saying that we shouldn’t help the poor. If an illegal immigrant comes to your church, by all means feed them, cloth them, and give them shelter – and then call the police; just as you would anyone else who is breaking the law. Would you aid a burglar or a thief (outside the sanctity of confession)? Make no mistake about it, the thief and the illegal are both victimizing society- just in different ways.
Certainly a man with the education and experience of the Archbishop, can see the economic burden illegal immigration is costing this country. To acknowledge that fact and say “yes but” – is not acknowledging it, but minimizing its impact. The Roman Catholic Church has an estimated asset value in the hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide. Perhaps they wouldn’t mind footing the bill for the unpaid medical, education, social services, legal costs, loss of taxes not being paid (by illegals), and other expenses that illegal immigration costs us (the taxpayers), and not the non-profit entities like religious organizations (not tax paying).
As a church leader the Archbishop is doing exactly the opposite of what I as a catholic expect of him. I expect him to empower and lead, not take on public policy and encourage people to break the law. He’s setting the wrong example of how to help people help themselves. There is an immigration process in place – whether he likes it or not, it is in place and should be followed until it gets changed. I would like to see our politicians fix the immigration policies (that’s their job) and our religious leaders worry more about saving souls, keeping us focused on God, teaching us external/internal morality, and taking on the larger atrocities being committed to innocent people around the world – like Africa. Would the Archbishop feel the same and go to the extent that he has if the “undocumented” workers were 10-12 million Muslim workers? Because if he would, there are hundreds of thousands of dead Africans that could’ve used his help and hundreds of thousands more in dire need still.
There are more pressing issues in our country besides immigration for the Archbishop to hang his hat on. There’s pornography, abortion, morality, sermons that actually make sense, drug/alcohol abuse, homosexuality, church attendance, catholic education of Catholics, the ten commandments, and many more. Stick to serious issues –like educating the billion plus Catholics about the billion plus Muslims; can you say Holy War - someday?!
Doug V. Mahoney
Littleton
Electoral College
The founding fathers of the United States created the Electoral College specifically to protect the rights of states with smaller populations, such as Colorado, from being subject to the whims of larger states without being able to express their opinions.
At present, even if a candidate for President wins the electoral votes of most larger states, he or she would need the electoral votes of other states to achieve the total required to be elected President.
Under the compact advised by Colorado’s lawmakers, Colorado will no longer have any voice. Winning the popular vote will require a candidate to only carry the votes of large municipal areas and large states. Candidates will no longer need to visit Colorado or court its voters, as they would be assured of Colorado’s electoral votes regardless of whether a SINGLE Colorado resident voted for them.
Why would Colorado citizens want to give away their voice in the political process in order to support the choice of the rest of the country? Would Coloradans be willing to allow any other decisions regarding the state to be made exclusively by voters of other states? Why would they be willing to throw away the votes of what may well be the majority of Colorado voters to support a choice made by voters elsewhere?
I urge everyone to IMMEDIATELY contact Governor Ritter and urge him to veto this dangerous bill and allow Colorado voters to keep their voice in selecting the President of the United States.
William Kucharski
Louisville
Bonnie Erbe
Doctors involved in the pursuit of enabling a pregnancy are
They should be ashamed.
And this from a staunch supporter of abortion on demand:
Short of dropping the notion of transplanting wombs to facilitate pregnancy, Ms. Erbe suggests that, rather than conduct any testing on animals whatsoever (testing which has born fruit a thousand times over),
Ralph Harris
Iraq
There’s no denying the fact that some critical mistakes were made in dealing with Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but to give up now and withdraw troops would only serve as a feather in the cap for Al-Qaeda and the other insurgents operating in that country. As for the 3,000, perhaps we should consider what the casualties might be in the future if we allow these radical Islamists to take control of Iraq and further threaten our security with Iran only miles away to support them. Historically, that would be a poor tribute to soldiers that have fought and died there so far.
Richard Colwell
Jimmy Carter
Take your pick whether Carter is or ain’t the greatest living American, but I’ll say one thing without rebuttal: Carter was the closest thing to a Christian, that is, what Jesus might call a Christian, to be president in the twentieth century.
Jack Woehr
Golden
Abortion
Brian Stuckey
Denver
Abortion
Travis Schriner
Strasburg
Paul Krugman
Krugman contends the Governator’s proposal was too “complex.” Maybe the east coast smog is getting the New York Times columnist. The California proposal, modeled after one enacted in Massachusetts, is fairly simple: everyone has to buy health insurance. If they can’t afford it, the state will subsidize the premium. Why not let the program be implemented, to see if it works? The fact is, the public is now too distrustful of government to support a federally run single-payer system. And liberal democrats are introducing a universal health care proposal in the U.S. Senate this week that similarly relies on private health care policies.
As for complexity, I buy a health policy and deal with a single company. Nice and simple. My mother, who is on Medicare, is another story altogether. She has four policies – Medicare Part A which covers hospitalization, Medicare Part B which covers physician services, a private Medigap insurance policy that covers everything Medicare does not pay (which is a lot!), and, now, Medicare Part D, her prescription drug plan. Now that’s complex!
Richard J. Schneider
Denver
The EPA
Several libraries have already been dismantled, with their contents either destroyed or shipped to repositories where they are uncatalogued and inaccessible. Some members of Congress have asked the EPA to cease and desist because scientists and the public need unconstrained access to this critical information to protect our health and environment.
This administration is doing everything it can to render the EPA helpless in protecting the environment. While the Union of Concerned Scientists - which put me onto this scam - suggests complaining to Stephen Johnson, EPA administrator, I believe that if someone really wants to help save this agency¹s integrity, contacting their Congressional representatives , and publicizing the situation, would be much more effective.
R. Kiefer
Arvada
Barack Obama
However, your newsroom editors really outdid themselves with their big play of an incredibly fluffy and marginally newsworthy story by an Associated Press writer trying her darndest to make a shaky connection of the new Illinois senator with Abraham Lincoln (both from Illinois — wow!). I was also struck by your copy editor’s fawning headline above the story: “Senator following in footsteps of fellow Illinoisan Lincoln.”
If Obama were to don a stovepipe hat and begin growing a beard I suppose your journalists would try to convince us readers that reincarnation is surely at work here.
All Obama did was file paperwork for a presidential exploratory committee the day before, but what an opportunity this made for newsroom liberals to once again puff up their favorite candidate. And another opportunity for newspaper readers who want some fairness and objectivity on the news pages to once again sigh and consider canceling their subscriptions.
Alan Hobden
Florissant
Windsor
Horses pay price for irresponsible owners
Denver
Allied Waste's strategy: ignore its customers
Arvada
A circular argument for continuing the war
Boulder
Too late wise
Lakewood
Dems don't have the guts to stop Iraq fiasco
Fort Collins
Animal cruelty
It is a true moral irony that there are HUMANE laws to protect ANY OTHER innocent animals left out in the cold and snow; however, there are none for “ranchers” and “cattlemen,” who obviously do not care enough to protect their “investments” with even a bit of shelter. To me, it is legalized cruelty and even more reason to shun the cattle “industry” and promote vegetarianism.
Kathy Hixson
Lakewood
Paul Campos
Rather than simply tearing down everything Republican or Conservative, lightweights like Campos, will now have to actually advance alternatives ideas and solutions. Forced to put up or shut up - my money is on Kristol.
Except for offering pointers on dieting, Paul Campos’s missives have yet to get anything right. He’s a college law professor that never writes about the law and alongside an intellectual giant, such as William Kristol, America will see that Campos isn’t qualified to bag Kristol’s groceries.
Dennis Goldman
Aurora
Executive director, Mesa Land Trust
Grand Junction