Rachel Norwood, M.D., of Denver writes:

Well, I’m officially done worrying about my son’s performance on the CSAPs. On Thursday morning he was so weary (half way through his four days of testing), but I watched as he physically collected himself and got ready to go again. That’s when it hit me...
The test I took to get into medical school, intended to test the cumulative education of all my public education (12 years), college, plus pre-med work lasted just under 8 hours and was done in a day.
At the end of medical school to test the science and clinical training of four years of medical school, that would allow me to assist with surgery and deliver babies took three days, six hours each.
At the end of residency my specialty boards, designed to test four years training, was tested to the satisfaction of the National Board in about 7 hours over the course of a single day.
Now, here’s my 5th grade son digging into his strength and character reserves because some organization has done such a dismal job of designing a test it takes them four days to assess how a fifth grader is doing in school. As an academic physician that tells me that either their validity scores suck, or they have to collect so much data because they’re trying to test too many details. In either case it’s a shame to have our kids bear the burden. It’s time to re-think this entire process.

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Leonard Muniz of Broomfield writes:

I have been receiving many e-mails, supposedly from soldiers claiming to be in Iraq. They support the war and George Bush. I believe they are Republican strategists who write for the soldiers and they want people to believe we are doing the right thing in Iraq. What they don’t realize is they are placing their own brothers lives at stake. Do they really believe risking their lives is worth attempting to bring a democracy to a country ruled by religious sects? Did they really believe there were WMDs, nuclear and Al Qeada in Iraq? They are being propagandized to fight in Iraq. They MUST believe it and they don’t dare criticize their leaders. After all, who wants to believe they are fighting for a President’s ego? If they all knew the real truth they would all go AOL. Somewhat like their Commander in Chief did in the Vietnam war. The strategists are doing this because the 2008 election for President is coming up and they want another Republican. Regardless of the cost of American soldiers lives (Now over 3,200) in the meantime in Iraq.
In WWII the soldiers in the US, Japan and Germany were propagandized against each other. Japan and Germany were our enemies and we had to destroy them.
They indeed attacked us and our allies. Americans all joined together, sacrificed fought and we won.
Iraq is different. Iraq was never a threat to America, had nothing to do with 9/11 and the Iraq war has only caused recruitment for more insurgents. I has created hate and anger towards the US by all the middle east and most of the world.

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Aimee Pemberton of Aurora writes:

You got my vote on this one Rep. Garcia!
At the stakeholder meeting to discuss Rep. Garcia’s resolution for an interim committee some professionals proposed that another Department of Humans Services Division for Developmental Disabilities internal committee might be the answer to this problem or only more money would solve the crisis. But, I say in the words of Sir William Osler “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” As a parent of a child with developmental disabilities and the Board President of an Advocacy Association supporting people with developmental disabilities, I know with all sincerity if we as professionals and parents could have solved this crisis alone we already would have.
The human tragedy grows and the money isn’t ever enough. The system is drowning in crisis. Rep. Garcia’s interim committee concept offers the General Assembly the opportunity to take leadership and responsibility of this crisis on behalf of the citizens of Colorado. The General Assembly needs to understand what is and is not being done to give best possible solution. For 40 plus years we have used the same old system. We need fresh eyes and ideas via a public dialogue and that is what this interim committee can offer!

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Irwin MacLeod of Colorado Springs writes:

There are three reasons we have to close the two thousand miles of open border between the United States and Mexico. No. 1 there is no doubt that Al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalists will cross the border and could cost lives of thousands of Americans No. 2: Mexico is he largest point of entry for drugs and are killing our children thru overdoses and car accidents, crippling the minds of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Drug cartels sell over twenty billion dollars worth of drugs every year to the U.S. Close the borders. No. 3: There are over a milliion crossing the border every year. We have 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants here now. ICE arrests and deports a few hundred a month and 80 to 90 thousand illegals come across the border, so you can see this won’t work. Close the borders. We need six thousand National Guard that are already at the border to have the right to arrest and detain. If we add to that another four thousand national guard it would make it 5 to the mile , and with the border patrol it would make it make it 8 to the mile. This is less than two percent of the National Guard. During Katrina we sent five times that to Louisiana With 80 to 90 thousand immigrants crossing the border every month. and they will not stop coming until there tweleve million more. there is only way to stop this to put boots on the ground. With the ten thousand the National Guard and thousands of border patrol. YOU CAN CLOSE THE BORDERS. It is in the National interest that safety of the American people that this border is closed now.

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John C. Flemming of Littleton writes:

Since the neo-cons have consistently treated the US Constitution as a problem and not as the sacred heart of America, it came as little surprise that one of our senior Colorado conservative has fallen into line and is working to undermine the First Amendment. His self-serving article (Saturday 3-17) supporting tax money for religiously based education, especially for his own Colorado Christian University, seems reckless and very short sighted. And his citation of support from the now very politicized Department of Justice will strike most of us as bizarre, especially as it is led by the chief architect of attacks on the Constitution, Alberto Gonzalez.
I wonder if Bill gave even a fleeting moment of thought to the various religious groups that might be thrilled to receive tax money even if tax payers are outraged. How many Americans want to pay taxes to support Wahabbist schools teaching young Muslims hatred of Western culture? How many war-loving right wingers want our tax money to support a Quaker education teaching pacifism? Imagine my outrage if I heard that CCU was using my tax money to teach creationist nonsense instead of science.
The founding fathers got it right by separating church and state. Religion is much too divisive for government to be taking sides.
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Karen Shaw of Westminster writes:

I just finished reading Mike Rosen’s column lauding the fact that Utah just passed a school voucher program. I don’t find this too surprising considering that Utah has 62.4% of their population and 80% of their state legislature sharing the Mormon religion. This will be a windfall for their church schools.
Mr. Rosen also takes this opportunity to denigrate teacher’s unions. Well Mike, in this state I don’t think the teachers were the only ones who voted against the vouchers—-a vote which you would like to see ignored or overturned.
I assume you must think those of us who voted against vouchers are just not as enlightened as you. I will be happy to vote for vouchers when the private schools have to meet the same requirements as the public schools——having the same accountability to the CSAP scores, providing an education for all children no matter what their educational needs or behavioral problems and meeting the same standards for terminating uninterested and uninvolved students that the public schools have to meet.
It is easy to blame the public school teachers (and their union) for problems over which they sometimes have little control while failing to hold parents or society in general accountable for the problems which public schools face today.

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Robert Schroeder of Aurora writes:

How many citizens realize there is a preamble to the Bill of Rights? See www.archives.gov. Our founding fathers in their infinite wisdom wrote the following. “The Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution,expressed a desire,in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers,that the further DECLARATORY and RESTRICTIVE clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government,will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution.”

In layman’s terms,the Bill of Rights are restrictions on the government, not on the citizens of the United States. Therefore,any restrictions limiting freedom of religion,speech,the press or the right of individuals to keep and bear arms are not granted to the government.

Space limitations won’t allow me to grieve the unjust powers given to the police in the “War on Drugs,” which ravages Amendment IV and V and VIII. Citizens, take time to read and know your rights. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (61) | TrackBack

‘Jared’s Ad’

Jim Schwartz of Centennial writes:

First, there was Jared’s Law (Amendment 41). Next, Jared’s Tax — the potential for loss of scholarship or potential taxation of scholarships per Amendment 41 via the criteria of other (non- scholastic) considerations. And now, the hit piece ad on Senate President, and just coincidentally potential rival for the 2nd Congressional District, Joan Fitz-Gerald, with Jared’s Ad (“Ad takes aim at Senate president,” March 22). “Jared” — a misgivings greeting card — a “Contract on Colorado?” Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pathetic parade

James H. Quinn of Arvada writes:

The Marines pulled out of the St. Patrick’s Day parade because of their relegation immediately behind the llamas (“Marine vets do about-face on parade,” March 14). It could have been worse. They could have been behind the three-block parade of pickup trucks advertising a local credit union or immedately behind the people in green shirts pushing baby strollers. Of course, a place in front of the politicans would have spruced up that void. No, they were lucky. This parade was pathetic. Lucky Marines! Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Evaluating 'Everyday Math'

Alexander Givental of the University of California, Berkeley, writes:

I'd like to use this occasion to thank Linda Seebach for alerting the readers of her column to Kiselev's Geometry and Ron Aharoni's Arithmetic for Parents (published by Sumizdat.org) and for passing on my opinion about math curricula.

One of her readers, a 3rd grade teacher, asked me by email about Everyday Mathematics, a program that used to be popular in California and is still in broad use elsewhere. I'd like to summarize here my observations made several years ago while studying some "EM" materials for grades K, 3 and 5.

"EM" is quite ambitious: it touches upon many math topics far beyond the grade level. One problem is that it does so falsely. E.g.: 3rd grade teachers are served with regular polyhedra defined incorrectly, and Venn diagrams used mistakenly. Deep topics are usually handled superficially, i.e. with the focus on notation at the expense of content -- something a mathematician would never do!

Another problem is the size: Elementary school teachers, whose time is scheduled by the minute, and whose attention is divided between several subjects and the task of watching the kids, are to follow manuals of inhumane complexity and volume.

By this measure, Aharoni's Arithmetic seems 40 times more efficient!

The students of "EM," on the contrary, are not entitled to have textbooks. They are to take part in numerous activities, often decoupled from the math at hand. In the workbooks, the order of topics is intentionally chaotic, as if to instill the common misconception that math is a zoo of unrelated "strategies," facts and algorithms.

This letter is not a place for a thorough review, but in essence my message is the same as with Saxon Math: I can't think of a reason to use "EM," when Singapore Math is available.

Alexander Givental is the founder of Sumizdat.org

_______________________

Sterling Greenwood of Aspen writes:

I’m disappointed that both Mick Ireland and Tim Semrau are running for mayor of Aspen. They will split the straight-shot vote; then Councilman Torre, God forbid, a small town entrance proponent, could carry the day.
With both Tim and Mick wanting to be mayor, neither may win and we risk losing a huge new entrance development ie the “straight-shot” at the edge of town.
And sadly, too, I fear there are precious few straight-shot votes to split.
In the last entrance election three or four years ago, despite valliant efforts by both Mick and Tim to sell us the straight-shot, only some twenty percent of registered Aspen voters came out for the thing.
Even county voters balked at the new straight-shot entrance proposal, preferring to retain those silly s-curves.
And the s-curvers weren’t gracious in victory either.
Some got ugly about it all, yelling out quotes from the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson like “THERE IS SOME S—-T WE JUST WON’T EAT.” But, worst of all, Colorado construction interests missed a $60-$80 million public money gravy train.
Just think how glum Haliburton would feel financially now if we hadn’t gone to Iraq and they’d missed their bonanza — then figure that’s akin to how the big road construction concerns did feel when they were poised to build us that spiffy new grownup entrance into Aspen with tunnels under water and all and then we went and voted the whole mess down, sinking the straight-shot like a led zeppelin. We’ve got to get real in Aspen, wake up and smell the coffee! The curves must go. There must be another election.
With our puny s-curves entrance, Aspen will never actualize its potential to bloom into an industrialized city like Denver, that is our destiny! You ever see a giant tractor-trailer rig struggle to negotiate our s-curves? It takes the poor thing fifteen to twenty minutes to shudder and screech and lurch through. Plus a driver with the patience of Job.
And cops have to halt traffic in both directions during this truck opera because when the big rigs turn through the curves they need room to veer into oncoming lanes.
Reminds me of my aunt Mozelle trying to twist into her girdle, rest her soul.
Anyway, I love my new “S-CURVES SUCK” bumper sticker. And here’s a motto suggestion for all of us who want the straight-shot: “There is some s—t we MUST eat.” C’mon, guys, let’s do it for Mick and Tim — win a new entrance for Aspen, I mean.
No matter if neither gets to be mayor.

John Graczyk of Monument writes:

As everyone out there is well aware, our country is trying to resolve the dilemma of health insurance and the large amount of Americans that are uninsured. What you may not be aware of is that we may be at risk for increasing that number dramatically. 17% of all Medicare enrollees are enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs which might be in jeopardy. That’s right close to 20% of currently insured seniors and disabled Americans could lose their current health care plans.
Medicare Advantage Plans are private health plans that take part in the Medicare program. If this program is discontinued then it will have a great impact on citizens’ right here in Colorado; as well as nationwide.
Over 150,000 Coloradoans are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs. If cancelled, it would cause them to end up with huge out of pocket expenses. Many seniors already struggle to pay their expenses being on a fixed income. Is it fair that we ask them to continue to pay increasingly high prescription costs, utilities and then slam them with more out of pocket costs because some people in Congress want to take away their current health care plans?
This could be extremely damaging to our fellow citizens. Citizens who have worked their whole lives to make Colorado the place we know and love. What happened to respecting our elders? I encourage you to contact your elected officials and ask them to support the Medicare Advantage plans. Even if not for yourself, do it for a parent or a grandparent.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

The Senate resolution, S.J. Res. 9, is just another Democratic ploy to undermine our mission in Iraq. As Sen. Mitch McConnell rightly asserted, “this is the memo our enemies have been waiting for.” While the Senate is engaged in such defeatist schemes, the enemy is merely waiting for our forces to leave. Such tactics do nothing but embolden the enemy and undermine our troops on the field. The enemy is not having this debate. Does anyone not wonder why?

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Charles King of Boulder writes:

It is increasingly clear that what sank the Republicans in the mid-term Congressional election was not so much President Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq as his flagrant failure to recognize, and honestly seek to solve, our grave immigration problems. Bush was joined in his failure to secure our borders by Republican Senators McCain-AZ and Spector-PA, who, with most of their Republican colleagues, voted with Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy for the Senate’s “Comprehensive Immigration Control Act.” Fortunately, the House of Representatives had the good sense to refuse to vote on the offensive Bill. From press reports of Bush’s recent three-hour meeting with Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderon, it is clear, as Associated Press Tom Raum (Denver Post, , 2A, March 15) writes, that: “Bush’s long-languishing immigration proposals are closer to those favored by Kennedy and many other Democrats than to those of his own party.” And despite the fact that polls of American citizens for years have shown that the vast majority of us want our borders closed, and no amnesty , Bush’s view is scarcely distinguishable from that of Senator Kennedy! Does Bush still not know that American citizens overwhelmingly insist, that we remain a nation under law? And that we demand that our immigration laws be strictly enforced, no hemming and hawing about it (period)?
Unless the Republicans in both houses of Congress, and especially in the Senate, get off their duffs soon, and vote to secure our borders and seriously pursue and punish all, repeat, all who knowingly employ illegal immigrants, the Party will at the national level suffer a greater defeat in 2008 than it did in 2006.
How dumb can Bush and Republican Congressmen get! Abe Lincoln, the first Republican president, must be turning over in his grave!

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Cheri Bettini of Lakewood writes:

I am sorry to hear that letter writer Alan Phillips of Georgetown wants to seize the cars of uninsured drivers (“Seize cars of those without insurance,” March 1).
I am sure that, living up in his mountain getaway, Phillips is surrounded by people who don’t have to worry about such things as paying the mortgage, putting food on the table, paying the high Xcel bills, water bills and day-care expenses, all on $5-$7 per hour.
Phillips says liability insurance doesn’t cost that much. Well $100 per month is a lot to some people. I am not talking just about young people — when a person turns 75, for example, their insurance goes up quite a bit just because of their age. Most senior citizens are on a fixed income, and I am sure that does not include the insurance rate hike.
I am not saying people should drive without insurance, but many don’t really have a choice when it comes to making a choice between food on the table or car insurance.
What is really needed is a good overhaul of the insurance industry. Years back, when Colorado made insurance mandatory, they didn’t take into consideration just how high the rates were going to skyrocket. I am sorry I don’t get the pleasure of living in a mountain community with fresh air and no noise, but let me assure you my insurance rates are quite high also.

Jordan Von Bokern of Louisville writes:

The Democrats’ pledge of fiscal responsibility during the 2006 midterm election was a welcome change from their typical “tax-and-spend” mentality, but the war funding bill just reinforces our cynicism because, apparently, it’s still politics as usual.

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Lieutenant Steve Schultz, USNR (Ret), of Idaho Springs writes:

In your March 15th issue Ron Tupa asserts, “more troops will not help the United States win in Iraq". Sen. Ken Gordon raises the ante and declares the war is costing too much and may reduce funding for Headstart and low income-energy assistance. How typical, our democrat Senators are whining that the cost of freedom for 25 million people is probably impossible and not worth it if their pet social programs lose some funding.
For the record we won the war in Iraq as it was defined in 2003. Saddam is gone, along with his murderous regime. General Petraeus was recently confirmed overwhelmingly in the U.S. Senate to lead us out of what we didn’t see coming. As a retired Navy officer I’m sure General Petraues’s bathwater has more military and counter-insurgency experience than Tupa and Gordon put together. Statistics show that the surge is already working; bomb deaths down 30 percent, execution slayings down nearly half, shoppers back in outdoor markets, etc. The military knows it will take time to win in Iraq, that’s why they call it “The Long War”
Our Legislators shouldn’t spout disingenuous tripe about honoring the troops, then assert the troops can’t win anyway so let’s get out.
The democrats have never been strong on logic, just emotion. An electrician doesn’t hook a black wire to a red wire because it makes him feel good or because it looks nice, or not to offend the white wire. He does it because it works. War is a very logical business. The other side is made up of folks who are always thinking and tactics and goals change. If we want the land of two rivers to have a stable government that is not hostile to the U.S. or it’s neighbors we have to finish the job.

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Charles James, Northglenn

Let me get this straight — someone named Ignacio Ramirez of the Immigrant Families of Southwest Denver waltzes into our country uninvited, crowds our emergency rooms with sniffling kids, rips off taxpayers by attending our schools all the while demanding to be taught in Spanish, waves Mexican flags from cars declaring their allegiance to a foreign country, and now he wants to organize a boycott of the host country because he says his group is vital to America (“Activists call for statewide boycott/Weeklong action meant to spotlight work of illegals,” March 9).
Give me a break! Send in the National Guard and get these bums out of here.

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Philip Faustin of Denver writes:

I live in the City of Denver. I used to live in Lakewood. There are many differences between the cities. Denver picks up the trash as a city service. We had to pay separately in Lakewood although in Denver we do pay through taxes — probably more. The police are less responsive in Denver.
We always appreciated the quick, caring response in Lakewood. Denver cleans up graffiti for free. In Lakewood, neighbors organized to keep neighborhoods clean.
A few months ago, there was a big meeting in Denver about what to do about the graffiti problem. The City spends about $1 million annually to clean it up and that is increasing. A committee formed after the meeting is now recommending that the City quit doing the cleanup and make home and business owners do it within two to three days.
I am not in favor of government doing things for us that we should do for ourselves. It may be a good idea for each home and business owner to be responsible to take care of their own area and you may have to force the lazy ones to do it. So, I can’t really oppose this new idea.
But here is what bugs me. It seems like a copout on the City’s part. They call a meeting to figure out what to do and then announce that they are getting out of the business and are going to put more pressure on the little guy. Thanks a lot.
There is a nice white fence down the street from me. It looked good when it was installed. Now it has become a favorite target of paint vandals. I feel sorry for the owners. I wonder if they now regret their choice of material.
It seems that as soon as they clean up one mess, another appears.
From what I read awhile back, gangs are doing most of the graffiti and they use violence to protect their marks. They will go after another group who covers their tags. I hope that the homeowner will not become a target as well.
It seems what was left out of the committee recommendation was more enforcement by the police. As I said before, the Denver Police are not very responsive. If you look out the window and see a crime being committed don’t expect them to come running. Now there are times they will turn on the lights and siren but small crimes are a low priority. If they show up, it may be 20 to 30 minutes later, long after the criminal is gone.
If the attitude of enforcement was changed then maybe the graffiti problem could be curbed. It also does no good if once someone is caught they are allowed to breeze through the system with little consequence. These are two areas that government can do something where the average citizen can’t. I hope they will.

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Tim Levins of Monument writes:

Letter writer Keith Brady ("Don't disturb park's elk population," March 2) states that reintroducing wolves to Rocky Mountain National Park would be unnatural because they are a non-native species. In fact, wolves are natural to Colorado and were eradicated from the state in the 20th century.

I am a hunter, but I value the experience of using my camera to capture how wolves interact naturally in reducing the elk populations in Yellowstone National Park, a completely natural predator-prey ecosystem at work.

Rocky Mountain National Park without the presence of wolves is creating an unnatural state. The key benefits to reintroducing wolves to the park are disease control and reducing overpopulation in elk and mule deer.

An unexpected bonus for the park would be increased tourism revenue, similar to what Yellowstone enjoys. Let Rocky Mountain National Park return to a natural ecosystem and let nature run its course. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Respect people's vote

Rafael Millet of Highlands Ranch writes:

Last November we the people of Colorado voted "No" on Referendum I, which sought to legalize partnerships and adoption by gay couples. We also approved Amendment 43, which defines marriage as a union only between one man and one woman. Elected officials must honor the people who elected them. No to House Bill 1330! Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (59) | TrackBack

Vets get short shrift in medical treatment

Nick A. Adlon of Sheridan writes:

Soldiers wounded in action face conditions unbecoming their sacrifice. These men and women deserve much better and much more. What is worse is the simple reality that those who violate U.S. laws are given better treatment than these soldiers.

Illegals are given free emergency medical treatment at any hospital without question. While they are receiving this, men and women who fought for this country are subjected to mold-infested rooms and subhuman care - even Gitmo detainees are treated better.

Congress had better do better for these vets, and for all of us vets who served this country. We earned in the sweat we gave, the tears fallen for our fellows and the blood we shed. We have earned it, we earned better than this.

Take the money that is given to the detainee facilities and illegals and help those who have earned the care.

Walter Reed is only the tip of the iceberg - Congress should look in all veterans hospitals not just there. All vet hospitals are below par while illegals are treated much better. All are suffering while detainees, by comparison, live pampered lives. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Senate Iraq debate

Jackie O'Brien of Lakewood writes:

Great photo coverage of the Colorado Senate debate hearings regarding Iraq (March 15). Especially expressive was the photo on page News 24 showing 22-year-old veteran Don Ottoway after his touching testimony about his personal war experiences in Iraq and how the resolution sends the wrong message. The look on Ottoway's face as Democratic Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon places his hand on Don's back says it all. It appears that Gordon may have a knife firmly placed in Don's back at the same time his mouth is spewing the Democratic Party rhetoric of supporting the troops, blah, blah, blather. I can imagine the young soldier couldn't wait to get home to take a shower. Sen. Ron Tupa's and Gordon's political futures depend on our failure in Iraq; they prefer to declare war on the Republicans and our president rather than Islamic terrorists. Are you proud, Colorado? Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

Focus on the state

Mark Sear of Lakewood writes:

When I voted on my state representative, I was under the impression that state problems were to be the focus. There is no shortage of them, from education funding to road repair. If legislators don't have enough work to do with our homegrown problems, maybe they should just go home.

There is no reason for them to be debating Iraq policy, as that is the job of our federal representatives. Please, those of you in the Statehouse, do the job that you were sent to do and leave policy that you have no authority over alone.

There are plenty of ways for those who want to make their positions known to those who have the authority to deal with Iraq policy.

Richard L. Wilde of Elizabeth writes:

What would be your response under the following circumstances? You are the boss. One of your employees comes to you and states; I am going to look for a new job. It is going to take me about two years to find this job. In the meantime, I would like to keep my current job. I will not be able to spend much time or give it much effort during the next two years. However, I would like you to continue to pay me my full salary. In addition, I want to maintain full benefits and perks, including retirement and medical plan, office space and full use of the phones, staff and mail room to assist me in looking for my new job. If I cannot find the job I want, I want your assurance that I can keep the job I have.

Sound preposterous? How many congressmen and senators and governors are getting this wonderful treatment from us taxpayers while they attempt to get elected president?

I think you, as the boss, just might say no to this absurd proposal. Correct response should be: If you want a new job, resign from your current job. Shouldn't this common-sense rule apply to our politicians? Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Inane editorial

Jack J. Woehr of Golden writes:

The editorial on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confessions ("'KSM' a reminder of the heart of darkness, March 16) was exceedingly inane. If American civilization has declined to the point where journalists take seriously the government's gloating over confessions extracted by torture, I don't know what to think. Whatever happened to your newspaper's blathering on about "Give the people light," etc.? Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Life becomes 'taxing'

Bob Zwiezen of Centennial writes:

Last November, when Bill Ritter and the critters gained control of the governorship and the state legislature, I made the comment that life in Colorado was going to become very taxing. And sure enough, here they came with all the tax-raising and wealth-transfer schemes ever conceived by devious political minds. The crowning touch so far has been Senate Bill 22 ("Taxation by regulation," editorial, March 18) allowing a private company to do their dirty work for them. I'll give them their due. They are among the most creative OPM (Other People's Money) addicted politicians in the U.S. I can hardly wait to see what they come up with next (just kidding). Enjoy folks, it's only going to get more taxing from here. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Cleaning up graffiti

Ron Rutterof Littleton writes:

In order to reduce the graffiti problems ("Graffiti a growing headache for city," March 17), it would behoove the enforcement agencies in the metro area to require the parents of arrested juveniles and the juveniles themselves to do the cleanup work. I guarantee it would reduce the problem if the parents realized they would be forced to do this work without exception or excuse.

M.A. "Pete" Kinnamanof Los Animas writes:

After reading of the planned expansion of Piñon Canyon and the unnecessary, illegal taking of private property - which happens to be the last true ranching area of our state - it occurred to me that President Bush's Islamic fundamentalists are not the only fascists in our world! Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Boundary dispute

Barbara St. Johnof Wheat Ridge writes:

Thank you for the article "Barbed ire: Flap over land turns ranch life prickly," (March 3), which airs a dispute involving 100-year-old property rights. The question seems to be whether old (1886) government survey lines between two ranches near Creede are still valid, even though current technology finds some errors. If boundaries have been accepted well over 100 years, I do not see that it makes sense to re-survey all the back yards, property lines and ranches in Mineral County to see if they are indeed different. Besides going against past law, this could cause unnecessary dislocations and ill will. We have enjoyed staying at Soward Ranch over many years and find this a great imposition on the Lamb family, whose forebears homesteaded the land. I'm sure that if Herbert B. Story Jr. has paid taxes on a few acres needlessly, he could be reimbursed. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

City name change is frivolous

Patti Swanson of Milwaukee, WI, and Commerce City writes:

Two articles have come to my attention recently regarding the upcoming vote to change the name of Commerce City- ‘Costly name change considered to alter Commerce City’s image’ (Charley Able) and ‘Don’t give up on city name’. I cannot vote on this issue because I am a registered voter in the state of Wisconsin; however, I do have a vested interest in the outcome of the vote as the owner of a lovely home in “old” Commerce City. A member of my family lives in my second home and handles its maintenance.
At least twice a year I look forward to spending time at my ‘home away from home.’ I consider the whole idea of the name change as frivolous. The financial impact on the city and its citizens must be the deciding factor in favor of retaining the name Commerce City. Mayor Ford is right on target concerning this impact. Who is in a better position than he-a life long resident and elected official-to know what is best for our community? I am appealing to Commerce City voters; Please vote to keep the name-Commerce City!
Commerce City is fortunate to have retained its industrial base unlike the community where I presently live. The loss of industry here has shifted the tax burden to homeowners resulting in property taxes that are four times greater than what I pay for my home in Commerce City. Embrace the contributions of factories and businesses in Commerce City and spend taxpayer money on pollution control, public school and park maintenance, and roads and infrastructure in Commerce City’s “aging neighborhoods.”
Please don’t waste taxpayer money on changing our community’s name!

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Donna Harrison of Centennial writes:

During the week George Bush was bragging about how much financial help the United States gives South American countries a story appeared in the paper about the Office of Management and Budget’s rule change which would save money by cutting those pesky Medicaid payments to certain public hospitals. I didn’t think the Bush administration could sink any lower, but I was wrong. Financing aid for foreign countries, the unconscionable war in Iraq, and sustaining the egregious tax cuts for the wealthy is made possible by increasing the misery of the old and poor. The devastating effects Medicaid cuts would have in health care for the poor and to the hospitals which provide that care is nothing short of criminal. Does Mr. Bush intend for people who depend on Medicaid and Medicare to simply die if they have no health care possibilities? If Denver Health, University of Colorado Hospital and others have to cut back services or close their doors due to Medicaid payment cuts thousands of people will lose health services, even those with Medicare. As an additional slap in the face, the OMB is also asking for cuts in the graduate Medical Education Program. Perhaps Mr. Bush thinks fewer doctors will be needed if all the superfluous poor folks die. This rule change must die before human beings die.

Judith Lorraine of Denver writes:
We do not belong on foreign soil — in any aggresive manner! This is treasonous actions on these flim-flam leaders we have — they are raping and pillaging America! They are giving it away to Mexico. When was Bush elected president of Mexico? They are trashing our precious Constitution and Bill of Rights daily! with the internationalization of corporations — who is going to pay all these taxes for all these countries we are subsidizing? One world order — One world government — it is the killing of America!

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Ken Bonetti of Boulder writes:

I have learned to my dismay that immigration enforcers are treating illegal immigrants like criminals rather than violators of civil law.
This is a vile tactic. Such despicable official behavior ignores the realities poor immigrants face and the great contributions they make to our economy and nation.
One reality is that the poor in Latin America are in part victims of self-serving US trade policies that further impoverish and impel some to seek work in this country to survive. The contributions immigrants make to the US economy are obvious, as Colorado officials are considering yet another morally reprehensible action, the use of slave prison labor to pick next season’s food crops in the absence of immigrant labor. These disgusting policies simply waste valuable public resources, drive immigrants to other crossing points at great economic and human cost, and morally taint our country.
If those poor immigrants were white and blond, would we allow our government to treat them like common criminals? These policies do nothing to solve problems, real or perceived. They simply waste valuable resources, forestall effective solutions and create the impression around the world that Americans are hateful and cruel racists.

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Russell Brunecz of Aurora writes:

According to the following post http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17702224/ President Bush is accusing Democrats of “partisan fishing". “Calling the Democratic response to the firing of eight federal prosecutors a partisan fishing expedition". The Democrats in both the House and the Senate are only doing their job in providing justice and truth for the American people in their public official’s actions. Providing the checks and balances described by the founding fathers of this nation. Yet, it is the President who is attempting to politicize the investigation into the firing of Republican Attorneys, who he himself appointed to the Department of Justice. Democrats in the House and Senate are coming to the aid of Republican US Attorneys who may have been released unlawfully. Justice is simply taking its rightful course. The President is grandstanding at best. To think he will be able to prevent the subpoenas of those within the White House for example, Karl Rove, Harriet Myers etc., etc. from public testimony into the firings is ludicrous. To attempt a Nixonian course of action into a lawful investigation is without a doubt an attempt to cover up. The words of former President Nixon come to mind, “If the President does it, then, it is not illegal". This investigation should proceed post haste in the interest of the American people who’s vote counts in this nation.

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George Lilly of Denver writes:

As Mike Littwin gushes over Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, while mocking Tom Tancredo and excoriating the Republicans, is there any doubt what his political bias is? Yes, unfortunately! Therefore why doesn’t he just come out and say publicly in his column that he’s a hard-left Democrat? The reason is simple. If he did that, he would set a precedent for the rest of the columnists, and then we’d all see just how left wing the media really is!
We don’t want that now do we?

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Baxter Pharr of Silverthorne writes:

While the majority of scientists and an increasing number of citizens are recognizing the growing threat of global warming, it seems that some of our politicians are still stuck in the dark ages. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut has sponsored a bill called The Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 which aims to reduce the U.S. emissions of greenhouse gasses by 50% by 2050. It appears that Colorado Senator Ken Salazar will support this bill and work to get it enacted into law. Colorado Senator Wayne Allard, however, has responded to the bill by stating: “Due to the global nature of the spread of greenhouse gasses, the US should not implement arbitrary restrictions that will drive industry and jobs to countries that do not have similar restrictions. Until science surrounding global climate is clear, I am unwilling to commit the United States to damaging economic hardships and substantial reductions in our quality of life.”
With only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. emits about 30% of the world’s greenhouse gasses. While over 150 nations have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, only two industrialized nations (the U.S. and Australia) have refused to do so. While fuel mileage standards have not increased in the last 20 years in the U.S., standards in China and European nations are almost twice as high as ours. In fact, American automakers can’t sell their vehicles to China because we don’t meet their fuel standards! Carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere are at the highest level (over 300 ppm) in the last 650,000 years. Ten of the hottest years on record (going back to the 1860s) have occurred in the last 12 years. 2006 was the hottest year ever recorded in the U.S. If this isn’t convincing evidence, wait to see the results from the new IPCC report. Please e-mail your elected representative at his website www.allard.senate.gov and tell him to wake up to the reality of global warming. Remind him that politicians who remain dinosaurs are heading for extinction.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

Navy Captain Paul Sherbo has it right in his Speakout column. It is indeed encouraging to hear our veterans speaking out in defense of our troops in Iraq, especially when the mainstream media is invested in their defeat. It is veterans like Don Ottaway and Diggs Brown, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who know the real story. If more Americans were listening to the troops instead of the mainstream media, there would be less screaming and more dedication to the task at hand. The enemy is not having this debate. Should Americans be any less dedicated?

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James Lewis of Denver writes:

While working a real-estate deal last month I found out exactly what one parking ticket means. It can mean $5,000.00 or more. See, to collect unpaid revenues from non-moving violations Denver sells the debt to collection agencies, which can then list these unpaid violations as defaulted or excessively delinquent on a credit report, effectively lowering a credit score by up to 100 points. That’s enough to easily lower good credit to fair and fair credit to poor. My best estimate is that the city of Denver gets $10 to $20 for each ticket collected. That seems like great news for the city, but it’s also a perfect example of false economy. Poor credit and higher interest rates lead to lower buying power which leads to significantly lower purchase prices on large items such as houses and vehicles. With Denver’s generous tax rates the tax on a price delta of just a few hundred dollars offsets that collection.
I’m not suggesting that not paying parking tickets is not wrong. Tickets are an effective method for enforcing much needed parking regulations, and I pay a few every year. But Denver is taking punitive measures that are disproportionately extreme and in the end, benefit nobody but credit and lending institutions. A city that leads the country in foreclosures, can’t keep polls open during elections, and can’t get its streets plowed for two months doesn’t seem to need another reason for residents to disparage their home town.

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Richard Colwell of Parker writes:

In uncovering the media’s bias against U.S. involvement in Iraq, one only has to look at the source of the conflict. So much attention was given to Weapons of Mass Destruction (or lack there of), leading one to believe that it was the only excuse for going to war with Iraq. The fact is, there were 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions supporting this decision, including the mass torture of civilians and repeated attacks on U.S. aircraft over the no-fly-zone.
Now I’ve recently learned of a book, called “Saddam’s Secrets", that insists these weapons DID exist in Iraq just prior to the 2003 invasion. The author is a former Iraqi general, Georges Sada, who served as Vice Air Marshall under Saddam Hussein. In the book, he describes in detail how Saddam’s regime “transferred chemical agents from Iraq to Syria” by converting two Iraqi Airways Boeings into cargo planes. The 56 flights, according to Mr. Sada, attracted little attention because they were thought to be providing relief to Syria after a dam collapse in 2002.
Of course, without physical evidence, Sada’s book would have drawn its own critics — assuming it were ever brought out for debate. So then why is it that a former Iraqi general’s claims of WMD received such scant coverage (if any) from ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN, while leftist millionaire Michael Moore and his so-called documentary about 9/11 enjoyed more attention than it deserved? There’s your bias.

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Mark Krautler, Broomfield

Justifying an illegal war Rightly or wrongly, wars are waged by civilian leadership. The military obeys the orders of the President and the Congress. By necessity, the military must act with all force and decisiveness to maximize mission success and minimize casualties. We cannot ask soldiers to debate the war when hot searing led and metal are flying their way. I support our military, where ever they may serve. These are our nation’s sons and daughters, mothers and fathers thrust into harms way. But, if a war is born on the wings of a lie, as I believe the Iraq war was, I cannot support the war itself. There is no ambiguity here (Paul Sherbo, Iraq: running away screaming – “if the people who do the fighting support the effort, how in the world do their opponents justify their opposition?”). I justify my opposition quite simply. President Bush illegally lied his way into this war with no thought to those who would fight it or pay the price for it. I cannot and will not support that. It’s been demonstrated Iraq had no connection to 911 (Bush said this himself!), no weapons of mass destruction, did not attack us and was not an imminent threat to our homeland. Saddam Hussein, one of many brutal dictators, was contained. He, himself, was containing the factions, Sunni and Shia. Inspectors were on the ground doing their work. Intelligence, patience and political cooperation could have taken Saddam out eventually, without the gross destruction we have wrought. And yet, after billions of tax dollars spent, the master mind of 911 still roams free. If what you start is tainted to begin with, how can continuing it be right? We have broken plenty and have plenty to fix. This will not happen militarily. Think a never ending arcade game of Whak-A-Mole. Despite the fact we should never have invaded a sovereign nation, we must now do what we ought to have done when Bush claimed “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended”, redeploy the military and empower the Iraqis to rebuild their own country. Electricity anyone? Yes, we “broke” the lid off the box, more like Pandora’s box. We did not go to Iraq to solve thousands of years of faction infighting. The ongoing civil war is not ours to stop. It is folly to try. Go ask the Brits!

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Joey Hemminger of Denver writes:

I am so sick and tired of having the religious agenda crammed down my throat each and everyday I read the news.
Today, March 16, 2007, I read Republican candidate Sam Brokeback, I mean Brownback, is verbally spouting his support for our Pentagon’s top general, Peter Race, in labeling homosexual acts as immoral.
I don’t see how this exactly coincides with serving our country? Sam Brownback states, “I’m a Catholic, and the church has clear teachings on this.” Well Mr. Brownback, I am not Catholic and I really don’t care what your perception of church teachings are. I don’t believe I am the only one in this country who feels this way either.
Homosexuals are everywhere whether you like it or not.
You can’t stop nature.
We are postal workers, construction workers, lawyers, politicians, pastors, UPS workers, newspaper carriers, doctors, editors, athletes, accountants, truck drivers, counselors, volunteers, policeman, soldiers, VOTERS…….the list goes on and on.
You have offended a great many of people and I am disgusted and will continue to be disgusted every time I hear about you and YOUR closeted, one-sided, religiously directed agenda.

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Kathleen Day of Idaho Falls, ID, writes:

I would like to comment on this bill that was voted down for banning smoking in the Casinos in Colorado.
I was a Casino worker in Blackhawk and Central City, Co in 1992-1997. I was affected by the second hand smoke and the coin dust. I was a supervisor of the cashier cage, then a lead cashier, and finally just a cashier. I got really sick and was diagnosed with Asthma as a result of these two situations.
There was only one satellite cage that I could worked in that didn’t affect me, because it didn’t have the piped in air. Which in the end, the reason why it affected me was because I worked there at that casino from December 1993-Feb. 1997 and they never cleaned or replaced the air filters in their recycled air system. In the end I had to quit as they said they could not just let me work one cage, as it was not fair to the other cashiers, even though I had a doctors note stating for me to just work in the one cashier cage because of my asthma. So I was forced to quit. Later about a year or two later, I heard that there were customers at that Casino that got really sick from there, it was investigated and found out that the air filter was the cause of making them sick, and they were ordered to take care of the problem. So now I can’t go anywhere, where there is smoking, or a fireplace, or wood stove, because it flares up my asthma. Plus the filters was recycling the old used air, in which the coin dust stayed in the cages also causing people to get sick.
So I know what it is like working and playing around a smoking environment.

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In Colorado, jails and prisons have become de facto psychiatric treatment programs for individuals with serious mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders. Most of these individuals are not violent criminals but rather have been charged or convicted of minor, nonviolent offenses directly linked to the symptoms of their untreated illnesses.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal to invest $8 million in mental health and substance abuse treatment to reduce the numbers of repeat offenders represents a welcome step forward in addressing the tragic and unnecessary criminalization of people with serious mental illness.
In the long term, this investment in vital services will benefit all Colorado citizens by enhancing public safety and reserving jails and prison cells for true criminals.
Lacey Berumen, Denver executive director, National Alliance for the Mentally Colorado

Since 1982, when the 16th Street Mall was opened with the free “Mall Shuttle,” we at the Regional Transportation District have been excited about the positive changes in the downtown area, or at least most of the changes. While much has been done over the years to make downtown Denver a great destination for metro residents and visitors, it is becoming apparent that there are areas that do need a major face-lift. The 16th and California streets area, from the Convention Center to 17th Street, is one that needs immediate attention.
With the Democratic Convention coming in about 16 months, the time is now to commit the resources needed to updating this area. There is much that can be done in the short term to improve the image that we all would like to convey, and it would be a great beginning to jump-start a major upgrading of the mall and the nearby area.
Bill Elfenbein, RTD Director, Denver

I believe I still live in America, but I’m beginning to wonder.
I’m told I don’t know what I vote for when I vote. I’m forced to wear a seatbelt and I’m told second-hand smoke will kill me.
I am not a smoker, but I do not feel it’s right for politicians to take our rights away.
Organizations such as VFW, American Legion and the Elks have boards of directors who know what’s best for their organization. The VFW and American Legion are made up of veterans who served this country to protect our freedom of choice. I’m a veteran and was proud to serve my country.
Give the vets and business owners a break. They pay taxes, too.
Robert Thomas, Arvada

Kudos to Mike Rosen for hitting the nail on the head with an excellently written column (“Public school bondage,” March 16) on the inadequate, inept, hypocritical, destructive government school system and the blessing of choice the liberals offer only when it comes to abortion.
George Lilly, Denver

Why is Sen. Ron Tupa so fixated on opposing fees at park-n-rides (“RTD park-n-ride fee for some gets initial Senate OK,” March 17)? He cites that taxpayers already paid for those park-n-rides. However, taxpayers have committed a lot more money for a functioning Regional Transportation District and a FasTracks program. Seems like if we want to be fair to taxpayers, we should charge the people using the RTD system who don’t pay taxes toward the district. I’ve heard of not seeing the forest through the trees, but this is an example of not seeing the forest through the blade of grass.
Mark Najarian, Denver

Your letters section seems to be filled with whiny Republicans who are complaining about the Dems gaining control of the state legislature and dang nab it, those tax-and-spend socialists are doing nothing but raising taxes.
These disgruntled cheapskates should stop complaining and move to a low-tax state like Mississippi or Alabama which take turns ranking 49th and 50th in every measure of human quality of life there is. I’m sure they would be a lot happier living off the magnanimous trickle-down prosperity promised by the GOP.
The Colorado legislature and our governor already know that much of that trickle-down in fact, trickles up and out. Bill Ritter you’re doing a heckuva job!
Lynn Highland, Morrison

My family and I have known Acen Phillips and his family since the early ’60s. He baptized me in the Little Church on the west side. He has always been there when our family needed him and I know he has a good heart. I pray that God will bless him and his family during these trying times (“Lawsuit alleges fraud by Rev. Acen Phillips,” March 14).
]Peggy Cook, Brighton

Americans should start connecting the dots. The dots in question are the number of corporations that are now involved in public sector activities and are profiting enormously but providing shoddy or inflated costs for their work.
The scandal at Walter Reed has occurred because some of the maintenance and other work is being done by the private sector. The private sector has profited by its contract work in Iraq. Halliburton has shown its true patriotism by it will move its headquarters to Dubai.
This administration would love to hand over the running of the most successful program ever — Social Security — to the private sector. Money held in Social Security accounts should receive more than a 1 percent return of interest. Contributions to the system end at the $90,000-a-year level. Change this to a higher cap and our perceived problem with Social Security would be fixed.
Introducing the private sector into the public arena assures that corporations will make a profit, not that the work will be done more efficiently, timely, or better than it is being done at present.
Susan A. Schiller, Denver

Eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke, don't drink. ...but you will die. Statistics may show that you can extend your life by x number of years by following the above listed edicts — thank you very much!
Just what I hope for ...more years in a nursing home, more years of arthritic pain, loss of hearing, loss of vision and loneliness! Smoking may be hazardous to your health, but so is aging.
I am appalled at the amount of time, money and energy that is being expended on the smoking law by our legislature. If they must develop a political stance -- there must be more pressing issues... In fact, that goes for all of us! Let's worry about Iraq, terrorism, global warming, gun control, gay marriages, racism, abortion, even Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. Smoking pales in comparison, yet seems to be the easiest thing to control and take issue with for the do-gooders.
The answer to this seemingly important issue is so simple! Abolish the smoking law, which never should have been enacted in the first place. If there is a need for “law,” let it be one of choice. Let smokers smoke and non-smokers stay away from it.
There are enough places for both! Now, wasn’t that easy?
M. Andersen, Brighton

Councilman-at-large Doug Linkhart’s remarks regarding graffiti show that he is truly a racist. What do baggy pants have to do with crime or graffiti?
He states that kids with saggy, baggy pants all over the place make people feel fearful. I live on the East side of town in the Clayton neighborhood and a lot of people wear baggy pants, but I do not fear them because they are my neighbors and friends. Perhaps Linkhart does not best represent the interests of Denver neighborhoods, since he is so willing to stereotype and label people because of their style of dress.
Denver residents should not tolerate his intolerance.
Taylor Critchell, Denver

I am very disturbed by the plan to pull out of Iraq. Liberals are very fast to point out the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam. Perhaps we should learn from that debacle.
When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam over, more than a million Vietnamese people were slaughtered for their support of the U.S. It would seem to me that Iraq holds the potential of being worse than Vietnam.
I don’t remember Jane Fonda or Sen. John Kerry apologizing for the million people who died because of their agenda. Will those in favor of withdrawal from Iraq be willing to accept responsibility for a potentially large number of deaths of Iraqis who support us?
Donald D. Vogt, Morrison

On a death march from Anzing, Germany, to the Austrian Alps in April 1945, my father, a Jewish prisoner at a subcamp of Dachau, was barely alive. The bedraggled marchers were dying from exhaustion, lack of food and water, when they were intercepted enroute by the American liberators at Tutzing, Germany.
Were it not for Brig. Gen. Felix Sparks and his American forces, my father surely would have perished (“Display of mettle,” March 10). He was hospitalized for months to regain his health. There were those for whom it was too late, but many others were saved.
After he recovered, my father returned to Lithuania and retrieved me, his youngest child; I was all he had left. We came to the United States on June 3, 1949.
In 2004, at the International Conference of Holocaust Child Survivors and Second Generation held in Denver, we honored Brig. Gen. Sparks.
On behalf of our group, I want to express gratitude to liberator Sparks and support his being honored with the Distinguished Service Cross.
My appreciation to the Rocky’s Jim Sheeler for writing an outstanding article.
Rosalyn Kirkel, Denver>
President, Colorado Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust

Global warming sure has been a hot topic lately, with some predicting catastrophe in the coming years while others brush it off as no big deal.
Global temperature increases and melting icecaps could be nothing more than a natural progression of the Earth. What I don’t understand is why we need to tie pollution to global warming in order to do something about it.
When Denver goes through an inversion, the pollution accumulated over a couple of days poisons the air. Eventually, the wind blows the pollution out of the valley and we start all over again.
That pollution has to go somewhere. And if cities all over the world are pumping out clouds of toxins day after day, year after year, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s not good for the environment. Any measures we can apply to protect our air should be taken. I, for one, don’t like to see the air I breathe.
Vince Rozmiarek, Indian Hills

The mouse found in a bag of potato chips by a Lewis Palmer Middle School student in Monument (“Chewing seen as likely,” March 20), which a Frito-Lay spokeswoman said chewed its way into the bag after it was delivered, leaves an even more disturbing question. What, in the bag, killed the mouse?
Robert D. Finnell, Centennial

In response to the recent Speakout column by Bill Blomberg on the Electoral College and taxation (“Electoral balancing act, by the numbers”), it should be pointed out that there is, at best, a tenuous connection between the Electoral College and taxes.
If the president of the United States could levy taxes by decree, there might be some validity to Blomberg’s argument. However, tax legislation can be initiated only in the House of Representatives where California holds a 53-to-1 advantage over Wyoming.
The Electoral College was established to limit, to some degree, the tyranny of the majority in presidential elections — i.e., the more populated states vs. the less populated states. It would make as much sense to allow the popular vote in the 10 most populous (54 percent of the total population) to select the president. At least the candidates would only have to campaign in 10 states and thus make better use of their money.
Personally, I do not believe that the residents of the state of Wyoming want their state to become a colony of California.

John Ewing, Fort Lupton

Denver City Council has passed a measure for the May 1 ballot seeking voter approval to increase the term limit for the Denver district attorney from two terms to three. My sense is that a district attorney, in order to make the office nonpolitical, should have not have a limit on terms. Yet, I support this proposal in order to equalize it with the terms for other elected officials in Denver.
City Council members, the mayor and auditor can serve three terms of four years, but the district attorney serves only two terms.
As a member of the Denver Community Corrections Board, I see how complex the criminal justice system is and that experience is everything. By the time a district attorney has hit his stride, a two-term limit ends that public service. Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, an expert on solving crimes with DNA, has done a great job so far, and, if eligible under this proposed law, should be returned for two more terms.

Paul B. Rosenthal, Denver

In 2005, I spent a month in South Africa researching the so-called claim of elephant overpopulation (“Elephant woes,” Globe, March 1). The local conservationists I worked with had developed a successful contraception for the elephants on their reserve. When they offered it to the South African officials, they were asked “What’s in it for us?”
Many South Africans see elephants as economic commodities rather than the highly evolved sentient beings that they are. South Africa’s Environmental Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk represents South Africa’s desire to make money off of elephant ivory, skin and meat.
But Cynthia Moss, in Kenya, who has conducted the world’s longest ongoing observation of an elephant herd (over 35 years), told me: “Elephants will not eat themselves out of house and home.” Rather, they will pull back on their birth rate.
South Africa is on a propaganda campaign to get the world to support the slaughter of thousands of their Kruger Park elephants. Elephants are a rare treasure that belong to the world community. Unless we are content to accept a world for our grandchildren where the only elephant they will see is in a picture book, none of us should buy van Schalkwyk’s justifications.

Kristal Parks, Denver
Director, Pachyderm Power

DUI scofflaws — those who insist on driving after their license has been revoked — have been allowed to snub their noses too long. Why are we allowing them to drive to court the second time, and then drive away again? Let’s put some teeth into this safety issue — impound their vehicles on the second offense. And then, let’s take it one more step: If a friend or relative lends them a vehicle while their license is revoked, that friend or relative loses his or her license as well. Need to get to work? Use public transportation, walk, bike or hitch a ride with a friend or relative.
I’ll bet we will not be seeing them at the judge’s bench as often, and perhaps we will read less about killing or crippling innocent people. Lawmakers, citizens, neighbors — it is time to toughen up!

Wayne Peterson, Aurora

I just wanted to know why, if we can provide reparations to the American Indians in the form of all the freebies they get, we can’t do the same for descendants of slaves in this country? The slave labor used to build this country was invaluable as every businessperson would agree.
And if we can’t do that, why not do away with the special benefits the American Indian has, i.e., the massive reservations, special casino deals, mineral rights, even with a major part of that population lacking a pure bloodline, etc. After all, that was many years ago and we need to be one United States.
Let Congress give the American Indians their homes and businesses as a final thank you, then turn the rest of the land over to the Bureau of Land Management for all of us to enjoy equally.

Jason Miles, Denver

I’d like to thank Jefferson County Commissioners for saving metro Denver TV viewers millions of dollars. After six years of questionable debate, the Lookout Mountain HDTV tower providing “free” over-the-air HDTV is a reality (“Lukewarm approval for TV tower,” March 13). The commissioners' rezoning approval will save us all $70-plus a month (cable and satellite HDTV charges).
No doubt this six-year delay has caused a financial hardship for all metro Denver low- and middle-income citizens. The only lesson to be learned from this needless six-year delay is that, in the future, we need to consider the total impact on all parties involved and not just special-interest and factional government groups. This late decision affected the total metro Front Range but was totally driven by the Canyon Area Residents for the Environment and the city of Golden. Thanks again, commissioners.

Richard Schneider, Arvada

The piece from Slate about the proposed Iraq hydrocarbon law in the Rocky’s March 13 Editorial and Opinion section exhibits a stunning degree of naivete and shortsightedness (“Hurrah for new Iraqi oil policy”).
Who is Christopher Hitchens and why did he get so many column inches in the Rocky?
I’d suggest that the least the Rocky could do is make its readers aware of a very different viewpoint on the matter by Antonia Juhasz, “Whose Oil Is It, Anyway?” as published the same day in the New York Times (see nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13juhasz.html?r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin).

Amy Durfee, Denver

How hilarious is that? Rocky media critic Jason Salzman whines about all the bad stuff being reported about Boulder (“Coverage of Boulder woes is often condescending,” On the Media, March 17). Maybe it’s a quagmire? If you take his article and replace “Boulder” with “Iraq” and replace Salzman’s picture with Bill O’Reilly’s ... Think about it! Maybe we should withdraw — from Boulder.

Pete Abbott, Littleton

The West was settled by pioneering, self-reliant people who nevertheless knew how to look out for each other and when to speak up for their communities. It’s time to speak up for downtown Denver.
Most of us are mighty proud of our hometown, and with good reason. Denver is rising to new heights, with thoughtful planning, inviting attractions and stunning architecture that bring millions of tourism, convention and investment dollars to our economy.
That’s why it’s so disappointing to see the gateway to our community blotted with vacant buildings and dilapidated storefronts, raising concerns about public safety and our quality of life, not to mention the overall impact to downtown business.
Some of these buildings have been in disrepair for decades. Is it possible that these owners have not seen what their neighbors have been up to? How we’ve been improving, renovating and revitalizing this great city, block-by-block? I think they need to hear from each of us who deeply cares about Denver and its future.
As co-chairman of the Downtown Denver Partnership task force to revitalize the city’s core, I can assure you we are ready to work with anyone who shares our pride and our vision for a better community. We’re looking for those pioneers who are ready to step up and get it done — now.

Leo Kiely, Denver
CEO, Molson Coors Brewing Co.

Colorado politics is a violent thing. At least, according to the Rocky Mountain News, it is.
Like an enthusiastic fisherman who claims he once caught a fish this big, the Rocky might have slightly exaggerated its coverage of Colorado politics.
In its March 12 editions, the Rocky reports on “fierce battles yet to come at Capitol” and how — although “political veterans” are bored now — there are “ ... some of the fiercest battles ... yet to be fought.”
We are warned that “the biggest fight of all could happen Wednesday ... ” And, as if written by Homer himself, we are told of a defeated party that “has wrung its hands, lamenting the damage done by the other side of the aisle.”
We even learn of a legislative bill that, believe it or not, “blew up.”
Who needs C-SPAN with political reporting like that?

John Patrick Ritter, Highlands Ranch

Rocky media critic Dave Kopel correctly identifies Paul Campos and Ann Coulter as two of a kind (“Coulter and Campos: Two sides of the same coin,” On the Media, March 10), but Campos enjoys quite an advantage locally since the Rocky publishes his political baloney once a week, while it seldom — if ever — runs any Coulter commentary or anything similar.
With leftist liberals such as Campos and entertainer Garrison Keillor (whose snide political remarks hitting on conservatives are so unnecessary) taking over the Rocky opinion pages, any hope that the joint-operating agreement would result in preserving two politically independent major newspapers in the Denver market seems dim indeed.

Percy Conarroe, Longmont

Rocky reader Rusty Campos (“Drop ‘Prickly City,’” Talk Back to the Media, March 3) needs to step back and take another look at artist Scott Stantis’ Carmen and the Coyote. He has to keep in mind that Stantis is a conservative. This is a person who sees Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as intellectuals, George Bush as a war hero, Condoleezza Rice as a diplomat and Dick Cheney as a senior statesman.
With this view of the world, and the performance of this crew, it’s a wonder he even cracks a smile at all, let alone tries to brighten someone else’s day.
Lighten up. If you really want to see a sorry sense of humor, go over to The Denver Post and take a look at Bruce Tinsley’s duck (Mallard Fillmore). Sometimes Stantis is even funny.

Sam Domenico, Golden

I am an avid reader of the Rocky Mountain News Spotlight comics section.
There are two strips I would like to see removed: Diesel Sweeties and Lio. I am a big fan of Mark Tatulli’s Heart of the City strip, but not Lio.

Tom Guidera, Littleton

In the interest of full disclosure, Rocky Mountain News editor and publisher John Temple should have revealed in his March 11 column, “View from Mile High not so down,” that Time magazine reporter Bob Diddlebock, whose reporting on Denver Temple criticizes, used to be a reporter for the Rocky.
In the interest of full disclosure, I know this because when Diddlebock worked there I, too, worked at the Rocky.

Brad Thompson, McMinnville, Ore.

I want to thank Rocky Mountain News writer Gary Massaro for his article highlighting the work of Excelsior Youth Center (“Teenage girl with troubled past cooks up new approach to life,” March 1).
I was especially touched by Javier Manzano’s picture of Kiki Lewis. That beautiful face made my day! I wish that young lady all the blessings and luck this world can offer her.
Thank you, Massaro, Manzano and the Rocky Mountain News, for showing us the good in this community.
And please, please be brave enough to continue with these types of features. There is more good out there than most papers and magazines care to acknowledge.

Ellen Busch, Parker

Several weeks ago, after the initial release in Denver, I saw The Departed. Several people of all age groups walked out before the end of the picture. I am guessing they wanted to escape the violence, the murders and, above all, the saturation of the F-word.
And yet, this film won (over better-acted films such as The Queen) the coveted Academy Award as Best Picture of 2006.
What message does this send to millions of moviegoers across the world? Is it that we, as a nation, are what we are.
Wrong award for the wrong film.

Art Knott, Denver

I was disappointed that the Rocky’s recent coverage of the Academy Awards made no mention of Sherry Lansing, the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. She is a great humanitarian and gave a very moving and gracious acceptance speech.
June Jones Paulding, Lakewood

In reference to “Lukewarm approval for TV tower,” the March 13 HDTV tower article in the Rocky — I believe that the Canyon Area Residents for the Environment would gain more support in their opposition to the HDTV tower being built if they would explain how it is more hazardous or dangerous to replace the existing four towers with one.
The article also mentions that the group is concerned about the future HDTV “structure’s potential collapse.” It would help CARE’s cause if we knew how likely this is, why this potential collapse might occur and how this danger is different from any other structure being considered?
Deb Carney, an attorney for CARE, stated “Lake Cedar won today. History will judge this very harshly.” It would be helpful if she could explain the basis for that statement, with undisputable facts, so that we might support their cause.

Tom Wycoff, Westminster

Our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to our democratic principles by signing the Declaration of Independence.
George Bush will have his “victory” in Iraq the day the Baathists, the Kurds, the Sunnis, the Shiites, et al., put aside their centuries of grudges and conflict, and make similar commitments to Bush’s vision for their country and oil. A few thousand more American troops ought to do the trick, you think? Perhaps before a president presumes to transform a country that doesn’t pose a threat, he should read a book about the people who live there. God save us from this madman.

Andrew R. Lewis, Englewood

Thanks to Mike Rosen for helping desanctify “Father Abraham” Lincoln (as some call him to this day). He was indeed one of our worst presidents for the reasons Rosen gives, and many more (“Let’s impeach ... Lincoln,” March 9). Unless ... As a “limited government” conservative, Rosen couldn’t actually approve of Lincoln’s despicable and unconstitutional actions (and the similar ones by George Bush), could he?

John Mosby, Limon

Dean Benjamin of Federal Heights writes:

Let me respond to Mr. Frederick’s letter of March 20 (Electoral college? Aye).
He mentions “. . . the possibility of populous states’ minorities overriding the majority votes of less populous states.” “(???)” He did not address the matter that, as I pointed out in my original letter, a candidate needs to carry only the 11 (eleven) most populous states (California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina) for a total of 271 Electoral votes - enough to get a candidate elected - no matter if he did not get the majority of popular votes in the other 39 states.
Therefore, the most populous states can, indeed, override the wishes of the majority of the voters.

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Charles Buchanan of Denver writes:

Thank you for printing the letter by D.W. Griffith of Denver (March 18th, 2007)in which he lectures us not to “get all weak kneed” over Iraq just because “several hundred brave Americans lost their lives". His thoughts are a great example of how classic warmongering works.
First, you undercount and minimize the dead -"several hundred” have died instead of several thousand- while reciting irrelevant factoids like “In 2006, almost 2,600 people were murdered in California,” as though murders in California somehow justify the carnage in Iraq.
Then you claim that Iraq is part of the “broader fight in the war on terror", conveniently forgetting that Al Qaeda wasn’t in Iraq before we invaded, and that they’re only responsible for a tiny fraction of the violence there now.
Finally, you end by saying that (opposing the Iraq war) “is the ultimate dishonor to our Americans in uniform who risk it all for the stupidity of others.” Equating dissent with treason and cheerleading for war with patriotism are among the favored rhetorical tricks of warmongers.
But the letter writer does get one thing right. The brave men and women fighting in Iraq are dying “for the stupidity of others". They’re dying for George W. Bush and his ignorance; dying for the rubber-stamp Congress that followed him off of a cliff; and dying for the likes of D.W. Griffith, whose callous letter provides a great example of how easily a warmonger can discount the sacrifice of others in order to take political potshots from the safety of his keyboard.

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James J. Tenant of Centennial writes:

My 3/17 MOAA newsletter (legislative update), stated the VA has 209 Veterans Service Centers up and running nationwide with various services, that aids our returning combat veterans in their transition back to civilian life. I was floored when I read the VA is giving these vets employment counseling, guidance, and referrals. This statement by the VA flies in the face of reality. Vets federal 5/10 point hiring preferences with all federal agencies, state and local government agencies, and their corrupt contractors, has been vaporized.
On more than one occasion I’ve been told by Denver VA rehabilitation and employment counselors, President Bush expressly prohibited them from aiding vets in getting federal government career civil service employment positions. I was also told by these employment counselors that the only employment assistance they could give to vets was resume writing preparations. Worse yet, despite federal law (CFR Part 211 and FPM chapter 211), all federal agencies in the Bush administration have thumbed their collective noses at employment preferences for disabled vets’ spouses and natural mothers.
Former Colorado Gov. Owens had even more stringent anti-vets employment rules in place. The State of Colorado Veterans & Military Affairs agency, was also expressly prohibited from aiding vets in getting federal funded ($14 billion) state jobs and contracts (CBMS, T-REX, Fas Tracks, and Stapleton/Fitzsimons redevelopment projects). Gov. Ritter has been in office for more than 60 days and those same federal wrongful appropriation rules are still in effect. He is also allowing the state personnel director to have multiple and differing hiring practices at all state agencies.
The traditional state agencies have their own process and state universities and water treatment facilities have system that is also mutual exclusive. These activities are trap-doors, IED’s, WMD, snipers, etc. for vets seeking jobs. 30 days ago, I discovered Metro State College had out-sourced its hiring function to a foreign Hindu-Indian owned executive search firm. I spoke face-to-face with this people concerning a Metro vice-president vacancy. Their employees could barely speak English and they were totally ignorant of federal hiring preferences, for disabled military vets. Gov. Ritter doesn’t understand, he can’t delegate his accountability, responsibility, and fiduciary duties, with regards to federal fraud, waste, and abuse of scarce taxpayer funds. Where are Speaker Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Reid when you need’em?

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Anthony Garcia of Castle Rock writes:

As a union member I personally feel that what Gov. Ritter did was the right thing to do. We should put more scrutiny on our unions and make them work to get us and work for us, and not be held captive to the notion that we are to all be unionized just because a group of lawmakers that the unions had in their pockets passed a law requiring the workers to pay dues even when they felt the unions were doing nothing for them. I personally would love to see Colorado become a right to work state as Wyoming and several other states are, when the workers have a choice to be a part of something it is always better for both the union and the workers because the members that belong actually want to contribute. I worked in Wyoming and was a member of the CWA and we had a stronger union local that only had 30 members in it than the local 7777 for CWA in Denver with 3000 members because when you strongly believe in what you are a part of, it is a passion that is relayed though your actions. Sadly our local under its current leadership is failing and it is shameful and disgusting, we have given back to the company on every contract for the last 20 yrs. So what is our union really doing for us? I still feel that a union is a viable part of corporate America and we need one, however several of my fellow brothers and sisters at the last meeting turned in papers to see if we could get a different union to represent us because it seems that our union has given up and is letting the company win.

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Ramsey A. Fahel of Arvada writes:

US Postal Service won’t let you refuse mail.
If the US Postal Service would abide by its own rule, each homeowner could easily stop junk mail from getting into their mailbox by putting a written notice on their mailbox expressing their preference.
The US Postal Services practices are supposed to be according to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). The DMM contains provision 508.1.1.2 that says, “Refusal at Delivery: The addressee may refuse to accept a mailpiece when it is offered for delivery.” I interpret this rule to mean that if a homeowner wants to refuse an unwanted mailpiece (i.e. junk mail), the homeowner can do so when the mailpiece is offered for delivery. More to the point – refuse it before it is put into the mailbox!
In practical application, since the postal carrier comes to homes at different times each day, the homeowner cannot be waiting at the mailbox to dialogue with the mail carrier about each mailpiece. The only realistic way to interpret 508.1.1.2 therefore is that the homeowner should post a notice on the mailbox telling the postal carrier about the homeowner’s preference. The notice to the postal service must be specific and unambiguous. For instance, a homeowner should certainly be able to write, “No mail that is not addressed to the Jones” because that does not require the postal carrier to make a subjective judgment. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable to write “no junk mail” because the definition of “junk mail” is subjective and the mail carrier cannot decide.
Unfortunately, the US Postal Service has written to me that they will NOT honor a notice refusing mail, not matter how specifically it is worded, because the postal carrier does not have time to sort through the mail at my mailbox to pick out the pieces that are not addressed to me. Therefore, the US Postal Service is passing their sorting and disposing task onto me by putting all the mail they want into my mailbox, even though this seemingly violates 508.1.1.2.
Since the U.S. Postal Service will not abide by 508.1.1.2, homeowners need to stop unwanted mail at the source (i.e. by blocking the sender from sending it). We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.

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David Cook of Loveland writes:

In this time of Democrat war protesters getting massive press for being against the war in Iraq, one wonders why we should believe Democrats want peace. For almost 100 years it is they, not the Republicans who have been the real war mongers.
Wilson, a Democrat, got us into WW I. Roosevelt, a Democrat, got us into WW II, Truman, a Democrat, got us into Korea. Kennedy, a Democrat, got us into Viet Nam, Johnson, a Democrat, escalated it. Nixon, a Republican, got us out of Viet Nam. If you call the spat in Grenada a war, we Republicans take responsibility with Regan. Buish 1, a Republican, in and out of Kiwait and Iraq. Clinton, a Democrat, got us into the Balkans. Clinton also got us into the lead up this war in Iraq. It was he and the present Democrat leadership that called for this war and said they would fight it, not Bush. Bush is just finishing it, like Nixon did for Kennedy. In addition, many of the Democrats above were elected on a no war platform. In essence, they lied about their intentions, just like they are doing now!
You are concerned about 3500 casualties. So much so that it is on the news and in the mouths of protestors every day.
Wilson’s war killed 180,000 Americans. Roosevelt - 480,000, Truman - 53,000, Kennedy - 58,000, Regan - 5 or 6, Bush 1 - 10 or 20, Clinton, counting the attacks he would not respond to and the WTC which came from it, and this war as the result? Well, you figure it out.
Now, if this makes you mad because I am telling truth about Democrats, then you and I both know you do not care a wit about ending wars or the deaths, this is all politics against Bush and Republicans. You are just using the war. If this opens your eyes to the reality of Democrat bloodlust and their lies about it (and the press not telling you about this truth) then welcome to the peaceful, truthful, low war death, Republican Party.

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Dave Bufalo of Denver writes:

RE: FasTracks Budget Deficit
For background information, I have had a forty year career involved in various phases of the design and construction of buildings and public works projects as a professional engineer. I have directly managed large projects as well as supervised a staff of mult-disciplined professionals for multiple projects totaling over a billion dollars. I have also managed the final construction and operational readiness program, except for the baggage handling system, to open Denver International Airport in February 1995. While working in Alaska, I had a peripheral association with the construction of the Alaska pipeline.
Now, given the magnitude of the budget deficit for the proposed FasTracks project, there are only two solutions: Either get more money or drastically reduce the scope of the project - period.
Design - build - operate - maintain contracts will do nothing to make up the deficit. It only means that costs will be spread out over the contract life which will include the cost of the budget shortfall AND the cost of financing the debt as well as associated management fees. RTD ridership and the taxpayers will still be paying for the budget shortfall.
Private sector contractors will not take on risk without some type of compensation for assuming that risk. Yes, on a design- build contracts the design build - contractor has more control, but within the contract, the contractor will have a contingency amount to cover risk and other unknowns, which may or not be made evident to the owner.
Further, I do not see leasing existing facilities as a vehicle to create new money. It is not much different than getting a second mortage on your house. You still have to pay it off and you still have to pay the interest on the loan. Here again, the ridership and the taxpayers wiil be footing the bill.
There is no easy solution for this dilemma and there is no magic cure for a project that starts out underfunded. Any proposed solution should be approved by a vote of the taxpayers. The budget deficit and the potential scope reductions are just too large to do otherwise.

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Stephanie Boddiger (no hometown provided) writes:

This year the St. Vrain Valley School District decided to have a late start day every month. These days were designed as teacher work days. As a student at Skyline High School I think these days are pointless and a waste of time. The class periods are shortened from 50 minutes to 30 minutes. With the class periods being shorter there is not enough time to accomplish important class work. When the bell rings and the teacher finally starts class they basically take attendance and have a small lecture. There really is not enough time to get involved in that particular days assignment. I feel as a student that my time is not being used appropriately. I don’t really accomplish anything during these late start days. Is there really a point in going? NO! Another reason that late start days are pointless is students don’t always show up to class. Students know that there classes are shortened and know that these days are essentially free days for them. Why would they bother going to class? I know that more students stay up later because they know that they can sleep in longer. I know this because I am one of those students. When there is a late start day I will stay up late the night before because I know that there will not be a whole lot going on during class. I don’t have to be 100 percent.
The teachers only have a short amount of time to get things done during the late start days. So, why not give the students the entire day off? This would give the teachers plenty of time to accomplish what they need to get done. Maybe by having the whole day there would not be a need to have a late start day once a month.

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Laurie Bell of Denver writes:

Once again, here’s Mike Rosen providing us with the insight that can only come from someone who has not set foot inside a classroom in decades (“Public School Bondage”). Yes, the Utah teachers’ union is going to fight this. Since teachers ARE in the classrooms of our public schools every day, they have the means of understanding the problems with school vouchers. Here’s the thing: you can’t compare schools to businesses and think that if you wave the almighty dollar in front of their noses they are magically going to “compete” for it by turning out nothing but top-of-the-line “products.” Our educational system is different from that of other countries because our philosophy is to attempt to educate every student to the best of our abilities. Private schools are able to look superior because of their advantages: specially selected students with interested, involved parents, lower class sizes, enough money not just for extras like technology but for paper to make copies, and a complete lack of people like Rosen constantly picking them apart and holding them responsible for the world’s ills.
It’s not competition between schools that will make them better—many of our teachers are already working harder than Rosen could possibly imagine against incredible odds with students who come to them woefully behind in their education. What makes the difference is competition inside a school’s walls and the possibility for lower-achieving students to learn alongside students who have higher goals and for whom learning is a priority. If school vouchers become a reality, that type of competition will disappear and we will further widen the great divide between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

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It’s four years now since the Iraq war began. We’ve seen nearly 3,200 troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. According to a recent Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war and 56 percent want the troops out, even if civil order is not restored there.
So what is our Congress, including the Democrats, doing to represent our views? Mostly it is going along with the administration’s war. Although they sometimes mouth mild disagreements with tactics or talk about withdrawal well in the future, they appear ready to vote for another $93 billion in war funding. Continued funding will only prolong the war. It will make our country and our troops less — not more — safe, worsen conditions in Iraq and cost us a small fortune we don’t have. Meanwhile more troops are dying every day and those returning are receiving substandard medical care.
The power to declare war falls on Congress, not the president. Yet Bush is now poised to attack Iran and Congress is again doing nothing about it.
A Congress that continues funding the Iraq war, does not stop a war on Iran, and does nothing to impeach a war criminal president is complicit in what’s happening. They will earn titles for themselves as war criminals and lose our votes next election.

Nancy Sullo, Boulder

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s deadline for the withdrawal of American soldiers has the potential to suck the lifeblood of morale out of American soldiers fighting for freedom in Iraq. Someone needs to drive a stake in the heart of this scary idea that gives our enemies another weapon to demoralize our cause in the war against terrorism.
America will not be protected from terrorism by a retreat from Iraq. The war against terrorism erupted on 9/11 when America was attacked within its borders. One of the rallying cries after 9/11 was “Different Century, Different Enemy, Same American Resolve.” Pelosi’s proposal makes this statement ring hollow. Like the Romans of old, Americans have lost their will to fight for their freedom. Pelosi’s demand only confirms Saddam’s earlier statement that America was a paper tiger.
There are ignorant critics who liken the war in Iraq to another Vietnam. One lesson Americans should have learned from the Vietnam War is the utter stupidity of sending troops in harm’s way while revealing contradictory public strategies that undermine the success of our armed forces by undermining their morale.
We need to prove both Pelosi and Saddam wrong by being steadfast in our cause and so that those who already paid the ultimate price for freedom did not do so in vain.

Michael C. Coon, Lakewood

In response to Gen. Peter Pace’s statement on Tuesday that homosexuality is immoral, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We don’t need moral judgment from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.”
Since when do we not need moral judgment from our leaders? Where would we be without the courageous moral leadership of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and others to overturn slavery and fight for civil rights for blacks in the United States?
In his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the Rev. King wrote, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.”
Pace is drawing the same kind of moral conclusion as King when, it appears, he looks to God’s moral law for guidance. We need this kind of leadership in a society where it is becoming far more common to follow our passions, rather than an established moral anchor.
I am thankful for leaders like Pace. If we succumb to Pelosi’s call to abandon moral judgment, we will only drift steadily toward the tyranny of what feels good at the moment — in other words, anarchy.

John Hannah, Centennial

Survival of the fittest — it’s been part of evolution from the beginning.
Should this credo apply to the marketplace of health care? When factoring in all modest expenses and medical insurance, and then adding the prescription my doctor says gives me the best chance of continued survival in the long run, I would be operating at a deficit each month of about $800: one prescription, with insurance, $520.
Of course, the point of the Bush manner of dealing with health care is “personal responsibility” and don’t get sick; why should other people pay for another’s mistakes or unhealthy living? I acquired a disease before anyone really knew what it was, much less how to prevent it. I am tired of not being able to afford to pay for my own health care, and even if I could, I would be turned down for pre-existing conditions. My employer is wonderful, but it is a small company and it cannot afford to provide health care. I have pared to the bone my expenses and can no longer afford to live. This is America?
Should it instead be “survival of the richest”?

Brett Rosenberg, Aurora

Once again, Vincent Carroll misses the point. Whether or not introducing the profit motive into the incarceration of human beings is “immoral” (as the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition claims), there is no doubt that doing so is bad public policy (“The oversight gap,” On Point, March 8).
The profit motive gives the private prison industry a huge incentive to “keep its beds filled” (thus it lobbies aggressively for tough sentencing laws like the “three-strike rule”) and very little incentive to provide rehabilitation services (such as education, job training and drug/alcohol treatment). Is it any surprise that, with a profit-driven penal system, the U.S. now has more people behind bars (2 million) than any other nation on Earth?
Carroll may be loath to admit it, but there are some aspects of government that are just too important to be turned over to the private sector. The prison system is one of them.

Steve Justino, Centennial

For those who would like to understand what’s behind global warrming — science and politics — Google Video has the recent British Channel 4 broadcast, The Global Warming Swindle at video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4520665474899458831
&q=global+warming+swindle.
It’s about an hour and a quarter long, with no commercials. Catch it before some politically correct bureaucrat suppresses it.

Richard Savage, Franktown

I overheard a group of Middle Schoolers refering to World War II as “that short war.” Kind of sad isn’t it, but interesting how historical perspectives change for different generations.

David Ferlic, Wheat Ridge

Steve Thrapp of Fort Collins writes:

In likening George W. Bush to Abraham Lincoln, and the debacle in Iraq to the American Civil War (“Let’s impeach ... Lincoln,” March 9), Rocky columnist Mike Rosen has revealed himself to be not only a “right-wing nutjob,” but one that has finally flown off the bolt.

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Dale Thorup of Cañon City writes:

The Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Counsel and Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline do not serve to protect the public from corrupt attorneys, magistrates, and judges. Instead they serve to screen those individuals from the complaints of an otherwise defenseless public.
Obviously they seek to hold those corrupt individuals to a lower standard than that prescribed by law and to which they would hold the citizenry, they purport to serve, accountable.

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Gil Martinez of Brighton writes:

Mike you forgot to include me in the IMPEACH Bush and Cheney project. I am 72 years old and honorably discharged from my time in the service, which is more than these two guys can say. These two are an embarrassment to this country, around the world. President Bush isn’t smart enough to know that VP Cheney is using him. Look how many of our young people have lost their lives and are maimed for life from the lies these two promoted. This dosen’t even come close to the Iraqi civilians who have died or are maimed. I remember the saying “I did it for Daddy” do you? How many have to die for Daddy?
Also no pardon for Libby, since this President won’t even pardon the two Border Agents who were protecting our country from a drug carring Mexican. They did more for this country that Scooter Libby has ever done.

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Jay Lea of Denver writes:

Todays story about the FEDS trying to cut aid to Cold War Veterans who were suffering the effects of radioactive contamination should be a wake-up call to anyone who believes the Federal government has the best interest of American citizens in mind when it comes to fulfilling their obligations. Absolute control of money is the only thing that seems to matter to those in the Federal goverenment. They take money away from Veterans hospitals to spend on other less pressing issues .
They do their best, secretly, to deny promised benefits to Veterans and others who served their country and ended up sick and dying because of it. We all should realize that Federal promises mean nothing anymore. If they go as far as the documents show they did in this endeavor to deny deserving people their benefits, how many other things have the Feds blatantly lied to the American public about? If an investigation is warranted in this matter, what about the Oklahoma City bombing? What about TWA800? What about 9/11? What about the proposed North American Union that the mainstream media refuses to expose? How much longer will the States allow the Federal government to run roughshod over citizens rights? Please citizens, wake up and get involved with what is happening in the USA, before it won’t matter anymore.

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Lawrence Jones of Conifer writes:

In his March 9th opinion column (On Point: A common-sense bill) Vincent Carroll bemoans the cost to tax payers of government subsidies for ethanol.
But what is the cost to taxpayers in dollars and lives to fight wars in the Middle East to protect the flow of oil? We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the Iraq War, sacrificed the lives of over 3,000 American troops, and seen tens of thousands more wounded. And that’s without even mentioning the human costs on the Iraqi side which one report in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated at well over 600,000. Is our precious oil really worth such costs?

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Thor Johnson of Arvada writes:

I agree with Dieter Zerressen, we Christians should not be threatened by a TV special called “The Tomb of Jesus.” To begin with, true believers know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus couldn’t be in a tomb. Mark 16:6 tells us “He has risen; He is not here.” This is a statement of faith that all believers hold dear. But, since scriptural proof will not convince the unbeliever, let’s look at rational proof. The TV special claimed that the bones of Jesus family was also found in the tomb. Since Jesus family lived in Galilee, in a town called Nazareth, in Northern Israel, why would their bones be found in a tomb in Jerusalem? If archaeologists want to find the bones of Jesus family, I suggest they look around Nazareth. If anyone wants to find out what really happened to Jesus body, I suggest they read the biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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Meghan Horrell of Wheat Ridge writes:

I am sending you an e-mail with regard to my opposition to HB 07-1330. As a Catholic, I am in agreement with the Colorado Catholic Conference on this issue. The statement that follows is from the Conference’s website: http://www.cocatholicconference.org/content/view/81/1/ Public policy in Colorado regarding adoption must be crafted within the framework of marriage and the traditional family structure. The Colorado Catholic Conference believes the presence of a married mother and father is the optimal setting for the education and growth of a child. We believe the primary role of the Government is to promote the common good which includes the promotion of legislation and policy that is in the best interest of the child. House Bill 1330 does not meet this criterion and for the reasons stated above the Conference does not support this legislation.

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Fran Cassidy of Tabernash writes:

Global warming is real and has tradgic consequences. I am a witness. I have stood on what was once the sandy shore of Saint Augustine Lake in central New Mexico and I could only try to visualize the natural beauty that must have existed. I walked down into what was the lake bottom where only a few pitiful springs remain and now home to numerous rattlesnakes. A rock shelter called Bat Cave has protected the shore line sands which prove the lake was over 165 feet deep and many miles lonog.
What a pity it was destroyed by global warmiing—eight to ten thousand years ago! Duh!! (Sources: American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 3, Jan. 1949, and my participation in the Harvard/ U of New Mexico archaeological excavatioon of Bat Cave, 1948).

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Terrie Barrie (no hometown provided) writes:

Once again, please accept our deepest appreciation for publishing the latest article on the fiasco of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. Ann Imse and Laura Frank did an excellent job reviewing the 800 plus emails posted on the House Judiciary website and capturing the level of “backroom negotiations” that place the cost of the program over science and the law.
I had sent this article to quite a few Congressional staffers and they were appalled. This article might just be what the sick workers needed to energize Congress to reform this program.

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History shows that the United States has an unequalled record in freeing nations and people who have been brutalized by invaders or powerful dictators.
We have twice freed the Philippines. We were among the leaders of the Allies in two world wars where France and many nations in Europe were occupied or invaded. Now they are free and self-governed. A dozen or so countries. Twice. Many nations in Asia were freed and helped.
During World War II, when the Army landed my outfit in France, I was happy to say to displaced persons from several countries, “Lafayette, we are here.” We Allies picked them up, put them on their feet and helped them to be free people again. Our heart is in the right place.
The world is not perfect, but we have a track record on freedom and help that no nation has approached. Let’s quit being sorry for not being perfect and get back to the important work of doing the right thing as best we can.
“Lafayette, nous sommes ici.” “World, we are here.” With heart.

Nate Bushnell, Centennial

It was bad enough that Halliburton allegedly ripped off U.S. taxpayers for $2.7 billion for waste and overcharges in Iraq. Now they are moving their corporate offices to the tax haven of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It’s a cheap shot at taxpayers in the U.S. We will have to make up the taxes Halliburton will not pay on its $13 billion in Mideast oil revenues and pay for their Iraq mistakes.
And Vice President Cheney thinks Democrats are unpatriotic.

Jerry Michals, Aurora

It just amazes me that so many people think global warming is a fallacy. As a resident of Colorado for 48 years, I have witnessed the change in the weather. I remember when I was a child, summer days would include a short rain shower in the late afternoons, winters were so cold that snow stayed on the roads for months, and the higher-elevation mountains had snow on them all year long.
In 1993, my brother and I were hiking on the Continental Divide near Berthoud Pass when he explained to me what watershed meant. Then he sadly told me the snowfields — where rivers receive their source of water — were melting.
The Colorado we loved so dearly was changing for the worse.
Whether people believe in global warming or not, please conserve water for future generations. It is a precious resource that doesn’t begin at your water faucet.

Cindy Allen, Aurora

The Rocky article of March 9, “Coalition calls for boycott,” states that a coalition of groups dedicated to defending the rights of illegal immigrants is calling for a boycott of Colorado businesses, presumably by illegals and their supporters.
Perhaps the groups calling for this boycott could suggest the illegals also boycott the emergency rooms, schools and so forth that provide many of the services that are intended for legal residents and citizens.
While they are at it, they should also boycott those who supply the phony documents that are used to gain employment and contribute to the problems of identity theft and the depression of the wages paid to Americans.

Thomas Johnson, Aurora

Our state senators and representatives took an oath to uphold the Colorado Constitution. So why are they bad-mouthing and tinkering with Amendment 41?

Robert R. Tiernan, Denver

Robert D. Tonsing of Morrison writes:

I just read an article in the Rocky about another skier dying on the slopes. As with every other skier death I have read about, this skier died on an intermediate trail, which is typically groomed. Some fault for these deaths should be put on the ski areas, which seem to take pride in creating artificially smooth, carpet-like ski surfaces, which encourages skiers and boarders to go faster than their ability level should allow.
If skiers had to learn to ski on natural powder, chopped up and chunky snow, moguls and uneven conditions, they would ski slower, and with more skill, and wouldn’t crash every time they encounter something different on the snow. Ski areas should stop enabling people who are not skiing in control, by creating artificial snow conditions.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

Over six months have passed since the unprovoked abduction of the three Israeli soldiers. Yet, their families have heard nothing from them. Why do we not hear any demands for their release? We hope the White House and the Congress will act promptly to hold their captors accountable for this flagrant violation of human rights.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

The Iraq debate at the State Capitol is nothing more than a call for defeat. It would seem that a resolution for winning would be more appropriate. If the liberal Democrats were truly desirous of ending the war, they would be supporting the troops instead of undermining their mission. Yet, it would appear that the resolution is merely a slapdash attempt to castigate the Bush administration, and nothing more. Rep. Mike May’s refusal to participate in this defeatist scheme is not a “childish game,” as Sen. Ken Gordon would have it. We hope that other conservatives will show their heartfelt support for our valiant troops. They deserve better.

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Scott Snyder of Denver writes:

I hear desperate faux conservatives saying that Mrs. Wilson was not covert. The CIA asked the Justice Department to investigate who had leaked her identity. THEY are the ones who classify and know who their classified agents are. No one else. If the CIA says she was a covert agent, and ask for an investigation into who blew her cover, that is the end of it; Only the CIA knows who their secret agents are. If they say that information was classified, it was classified. They are the deciders.
Also, regarding the same action that exposed Valerie Plame also exposed the cover agency of Brewster Jennings, an international company who was ostensibly an environmental studies company, but was in reality a cover company enabling our country to develop contacts, spies all over the world, in places like Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria and other countries that we have legitimate concerns and justification to spy on. Brewster Jennings was actually spying on nuclear proliferation. And every one of our contacts, spys that Valerie Wilson developed, has now been placed under exposure and possible death. And now, we do not fully know the nuclear capabilities of these dangerous countries. A nuclear bomb could possibly detonate in a major American city because of Valerie Wilsons exposure.
Serious.
Threatening.
Treasonous.
Robert Novak should be in a cage in Guantanamo.
And all to hide the fact that our president used misleading statements to terrorize our fellow Americans to justify a war on Iraq, using documents that our CIA had already determined to be clumsy forgeries. Comprising our safety to hide immoral and lying motives. It’s a huge trangression, much bigger than critics have been saying. They hide the truth and compromise our safety for political power. Valerie Plame was to remain undercover for the rest of her life, to guarantee the safety of the contacts she had established. And now the “hate America,and cover up for their party” sleazy critics are free to spue their insane justifications for a pardon for Libby. And the CIA, because of the extreme sensitivity of the truth, cannot refute officially the lies and distortions. They cannot officially SAY what Valerie Plame Wilson did. It’s too sensitive.
What a setup for immoral partisans! A freebie!
No chance of having their vile propaganda disputed!
How sick and irresponsible have some of us become! How truly unpatriotic! What immoral fakes and phonies! What whores for political power. Shame.

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Patricia Smith of Thornton writes:

Tina Griego fails to address how overcrowed our schools are and how they are affected by the influx of illegal immigrants.Maybe if the illegals realized there was no hope of citizenship even after schooling they wouldn’t subject their children to the trials of border crossing.Educating the children [GRADES1-12]is fine but without legal papers it is a dead end for their future. The parents need to take responsibilty and realize illegal =unlawful.Strive to make Mexico a better place with your skills and the free education we give you.

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K.A. Skala of Denver writes:

Your caption translates “ninGun Ser Humano es ILEGAL” in the picture of a kid protesting our laws (3/9/07, pg.8 of NEWS) as “No human being is illegal".
Close, but it does not say that. It says “Being human is no way illegal” (by the way, it should be “ningún"). That is not the issue. They should not teach the kid demagogy. What IS the issue: it is crashing the border that is illegal. Tell the kid: Ningún ser humano es ilegal. Es verdad. Pero invadir sin papeles un país ajeno es.

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Laurie Sirotkin of Longmont writes:

As a participant in Project Occupation, a nationwide effort by average citizens to ensure elected representatives listen to constituents and end the war in Iraq, I must comment on remarks cited in the March 9th article “Anti-War Push.”
I have been present twice in Representative Udall’s and Senator Salazar’s offices, both alone and with others committed to bringing our troops safely home. Those affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center went through nonviolent training in preparation for this effort. The ethic of the Center and participants is nonviolent action, including our language.
U.S. citizens may not realize that they have the constitutional right to make known their disagreement with votes cast by their elected officials.
They have the right to do this in person, by telephone, letter or e-mail.
This is what democracy is about, the same democracy we espouse to create elsewhere. With billions spent on a war based on the false premise of WMD, instead of here, elected officials should hardly be surprised that constituents are unhappy and convey this unhappiness.
In Representative Udall’s office, protestors did not insult the staff. We were as friendly as possible, and with the exception of those who chose to remain in quiet acts of civil disobedience, we left when asked to leave.
More than 3,100 American soldiers have died, with many more Iraqi civilian deaths, and Iraq is less stable now than a year ago. Mr. Pacheco is naïve if he underestimates public sentiment against the war, and he is in error if he equates the proper expression of those feelings with personal insults.

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J.M. Schell of Arvada writes:

Not so fast, Dave (Dave Chandler, Letters, 3/12/07). Yes, for the public schools, CSAP testing is all about the money. But know all the facts before holding your kids out of CSAP.
This is our 9th grade daughter’s first year in a public school. We knew from the first week that she was at least a year ahead of her classmates in math and science, and 2-3 years ahead of them in English and history. At second semester we tried to have her moved to Honors classes. Care to guess what scores from what series of tests in the 8th grade, a public high school demands you have in order to qualify for Honors and Advanced Placement classes, and probably for International Baccalaureate studies? And you’ll need them from 5th grade for middle school Honors classes, too.
Remember being told that these tests would never be used this way? Remember being told about a jolly fat man who brings children presents on December 24th? True, they can’t force your kids to take the tests. But before opting out, remember what they say about paybacks, and remember that since the schools can’t do anything to you for costing them these thousands, they are very happy to take their pound of flesh from your children. And that pound of flesh will very likely negatively impact their college chances and choices and very probably the rest of their lives.

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John Ruckman of Lakewood writes:

Dick Cheney came out of his high security den again this week and made one of his now patented statements to a conservative group, telling them that Democrats are harming our troops when they don’t totally back the administration’s policies. Does this man ever think of anything other than, nasty hate filled remarks against the opposition party? Does he have any thoughts at all that deal with human beings rather than right wing policy? What is his motive in his constant harangues against the Democrats—and all others who don’t agree with him and his neocons? I am beginning to agree with those who have been publicly saying that Cheney may have a mental problem. He certainly acts like it, and that is far more dangerous for our country than opposition pols questioning policy moves that may not be in the best interest of our country and our troops.

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John Ruckman of Lakewood writes:

So Newt Gingrich has become a “born again Christian"? He seemsto be just one of a long line of pols who somehow “find Jesus” at the most appropriate moments. People don’t just find Jesus, this is a lifetime thing, not onewhere you wake up one morning and are totallytransformed into a wonderful person. Gingrich has been one of the most underhanded and whoremongering pols in Washington for many years. To say that he is now a new, and lovingperson is to stretch credibility farther than it can sensibly be expected to go, and for the TV “christian leaders” like Dobson and Fallwell to immediately take him under their wing is even worse.

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Franki Rader of Thornton writes:

Bush has decided to cut Medicare and Medicaid to help pay for his war. Seniors have paid into this all their working lives. After they retire, they have to take Medicare as their Primary Insurance, their Company Insurance is Secondary.
Medicare cuts the bill down then pays 80%; the Company Insurance pays 80% of the 20% . After you are drawing Social Security, they deduct payments for Medicare part B.
There are a lot of things Medicare won’t approve. If Medicare won’;t approve then your Secondary won’t pay anything.
Your Social Security is taxed as earned income. It should be free of taxes and treated as Insurance.
The Feds are taking money out of Social Security and Fica for their pet projects.
Seniors paid into it with the idea that it was Insurance. Some say S.S. is going broke because more people are retiring than are paying into it.
Some refer to it as Welfare, some as the Government giving it to you...Neither is true, we are entitled to it.
Bush is bankrupting the Government with his war. I guess, so that “They” can install the New World Order or One World Government that Bush Senior talked about when he was Pres.
Young working people should wake up and make their voices heard., otherwise they will be paying into it for nothing.

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Fred Pulver of Carbondale writes:

As Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” points out, as the Earth’s ice caps melt due to global warming, more of the sun’s energy is absorbed by the ocean and less is reflected back into space. Polar melting then accelerates due to the increased area of water that can then absorb the sun’s energy.
The rest of the Earth then experiences increasing temperatures, more water evaporating and rising into the atmosphere, and accelerated desertification of areas where vegetation has been reduced by grazing and farming practices that leave the earth exposed to the sun’s direct rays.
Greater amounts of water condensing in the upper atmosphere then increase the destructiveness of deluges such as experienced during Hurricane Katrina.
To stop this one-way trip to global catastrophe, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. As “Inconvenient Truth” truth points out, the reductions required can be accomplished simply by enlisting everyone’s help by burning cleaner fuels, car-pooling, turning down thermostats, sealing homes from heat loss during winter, installing thermo-pane windows, using lower-wattage, energy-saving light bulbs, turning off lights when we leave the room, etc. We must tighten governmental restrictions on industrial pollution, but we must all do our part too.
As Bill Becker pointed out in his article “Going Nuclear on Warming” in Sunday’s Rocky Mountain News, we have around 10 years to save the Earth from the worst environmental disaster in recorded history. Like the movie “The Perfect Storm", we could otherwise face the intersection of several trends that could make life impossible for most of the Earth’s inhabitants.
The little things we do or don’t do could make all the difference in the world. We will either hang together or survive together.

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Michael Pravica, assistant professor of physics at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, writes:

As a participant in the American Physical Society’s March Meeting in Denver this past week, I would like to thank the residents of Denver for their hospitality and for your newspaper’s positive coverage of the meeting ("Love your groovy gizmos? You can thank a physicist,” Wed. March 7, News page 6).
Physics is the most fundamental and most difficult field of human endeavor because it deals with the root mechanisms that put our Universe together (energy and matter). Beyond simple electronic gizmos, physicists such as Nikola Tesla gave us the 21st Century, electrifying our world and enabling humans to tap into and generate enormous sources of energy such as hydroelectric power, and transmit that energy via alternating current and wirelessly. We all benefit from the hardwork and brilliance of physicists. In today’s energy-starved and warming world, we will need yet again to turn to them to solve our impending problems.
We as a society should celebrate their priceless achievements and support their efforts.

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David O’Shea-Dawkins of Denver writes:

Irish-American Heritage Month is here. In just two months we will celebrate Cinco de Mayo, although I never understood how Cinco de Mayo replaced Mexican Independence Day, Diez y Seis de Septiembre, as Denver’s primary Mexican-American cultural celebration.
I was thinking that, except for geography, the Irish-American and Mexican-American cultures have a lot in common. Predominately, we are Catholic and live in countries that have been fought over and occupied by foreign countries. All of our songs are about loves sought and lost, or battles we have fought and won, but ultimately lost the “war” (Vinegar Hill and Cinco de Mayo come to mind). Irish poteen is much like Mexico’s tequila, and our pubs and cantinas keep the confessionals busy on Saturdays.
The literary world is blessed with great authors from both countries, and so often their written words flow so quietly that sleep is the only reason we stop reading. A more contemporary literary comparison of the two cultures similarities can be read in Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes,” and Victor Villasenor’s, “Rain of Gold.”
Now, I must admit, there is that part of our cultures that is not equal. There are no corn beef and cabbage burritos. There should never be corn beef and cabbage burritos. I can survive without colcannon, but not without a red tamal from La Casita.
Mexican cuisine is far better than Irish cuisine. In fact, in many parts of Ireland the words food and cuisine do not appear together.
Therefore, as we celebrate our cultures heritage I will raise a pint of Guinness to your bottle of Negra Modelo with a celebratory cry of Salinte and Salud, to your health. to our Days of Celebration.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

After reading in the RMN about the US Government secretly schemed to limit payouts for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers, including thousands from Rocky Flats. I am not surprised by this info. This is our government at it best. Always throwing a wrench into the works.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

So now a laptop containing the SS#, birthdays and home addresses of the National Guard troops deployed to the US-Mexico border has come up missing. This is not the first time I have read in the paper or TV. Why do companies and government continue to have sensitive info on portable laptops. Social Services, Banks, Government offices, ect. I tired of getting letters in the mail stating that my info has been compromised. Keep this info only on large computers and not protable ones.

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Tina Martin of Denver writes:

I am a single mother of two children. My son has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). He is speech delayed and he has a slight learning delay. I have chosen to send him to parochial school here in Denver. At the beginning of the school year, I was told that they were unable to provide any services beyond Title I, which helps with basic skills (letter name and identification, writing skills, etc...) because Denver Public Schools did not have the resources to help. Fortunately, I was able to get him some speech therapy through Denver Health, however, his teacher feels that he would benefit from in-school speech therapy on top to give him more of the help that he needs.
In January, my school principal invited me to an open meeting with DPS Special Education Department. At that meeting, they pretty much advised us that this school year was a lost cause. Apparently, there are no certified people to work with our children. We were told that the money is there, there is just no one to do the job.
I want to let the parents of children in private and parochial schools in Denver know that their voices are needed to get the attention of DPS to provide special needs services to our children. We need to find some way to unite to make our concerns known. If DPS refuses to listen to the concerns of the many principals and staff from our schools, maybe they will be forced to listen to parents and community.

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Rex Loesby of the Sierra Minerals Corp. writes:

Governor Ritter:
Early this decade, Governor Bill Owens put together a task force to work with our universities to establish Colorado as a high-tech center that would attract new business. Owens wanted to establish a new university focussed on computer technology. It was an ambitious plan that would have required substantial private sector funding. It foundered when the dot-com crash hit in 2001.
It seems to me that the initiative, while well intentioned, missed the mark.
Owens wanted to duplicate the high-tech success stories centered in San Jose, Austin, and Boston. And while Colorado is a second tier technology center, a better approach would be an effort that takes advantage of Colorado’s strengths and focusses on the critical issues facing our planet.
The Colorado School of Mines is one of the best earth sciences universities in the world. It could serve as the focus of a program that brings in the atmospheric expertise at NOAA and CU, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, and the agricultural programs at Colorado State. Colorado could become the world center for advanced research in energy production and environmental studies.
I work in the private sector as a mining engineer, so I am no expert in how to accomplish this. But it seems to me that just announcing that Colorado intends to go in this direction might get the ball rolling. Minor additional or refocused funding for the schools involved would help.
This kind of initiative could make your tenure as governor one of the most productive and beneficial Colorado has ever seen.

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D.J. Damien La Goy of Denver writes:

Having been a victim of a predator when I was young, I can assure you that what ever your thoughts on creating a special license plate to identify them, pro or con, it is all moot.
A predator is a very driven. I truthfully think it will make no difference if they get the urge to fulfill their (albeit, sick) desires. With this type of behavior that has almost no recovery rate, it borders on instinctual drive. Think of what animals in the wild will do to follow their instincts, be it food, sex, migration. Nothing will stop them. Even the most seemingly unintelligent creature will perform acts of genius to achieve their end.
The predator is no different. In fact the law may have the unintended consequence of making it even harder to track and catch them. Ever hear of a rental car? Throw that into the equation and they will be even harder to find because now you’ve taken the vehicle’s description out of the game. They can rent a different model from the multitude of car-rental lots available to them, many of whom run shady operations that routinely rent to drug dealers. Some of these predators spend unreal amounts of money to build “play-rooms” filled with expensive toys. Slapping down a wad of cash for an untracable car would be nothing to them, especially if it helps them to continue their demented practice with more secrecy and success.
The problem with politicians, and often citizen driven initiatives, is they are written and passed with very little study. I don’t have a degree to come up with the scenerio I just gave you above, but I’m sure an expert on child predators could have would have told the the same thing.

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Theresa Jacobs of Denver writes:

The DREAM Act would allow undocumented high school graduates who have resided in the state for five years, an opportunity to build their future and contribute to society through the promise of affordable and reasonable in-state tuition. Colorado struggles with one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the nation, one that has continued to decline slowly, over the last decade. In addition, a smaller percentage of high school graduates goes on to enroll in college compared to other states, leaving us more reliant on recruiting qualified workers from outside Colorado.
The DREAM act can only help our state by providing an incentive for more young people to complete high school, avoid crime, and meet the challenges of a workforce that requires increasingly technical skills.
Colorado should not fall behind other states that give all their children a chance for an education, including California, Texas, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, and Kansas. A disproportionate number of students of undocumented parents have excelled in our schools, and they are poised to repay our investment in their elementary and secondary education.
Undocumented students deserve the same chance to achieve success as any other student who has grown up here, worked hard, contributed to society, and has potential to fulfill. A well-educated citizenry is good for Colorado!

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Mike Hogan of Lakewood writes:

Letter writer Doug Leek is upset with TV documentaries purporting to find physical evidence of Jesus’ physical body.
Certainly Leek is entitled to his opinion and that is what makes the Rocky’s Letters such a favorite of mine, colorful opinions. However, when the Rocky’s editors allow Leek to misstate history, they should also allow others to point this out.
Leek writes, “The historical evidence of the existence of Jesus is well developed… Many atheistic scholars are in agreement that this man existed, angered the religious and political establishments of the day, and suffered the “extreme penalty” of Roman crucifixion.” No, Leek, non-Christian historians know that Jesus was not a historic, but a mythical person. And that is not my opinion it is a fact. Go the public library, not your church, and check it out. And there is no, none, noda shred of historical evidence that the Romans ever went looking without finding Jesus’ body. Again, that is not my opinion it is a fact. And to name-drop the Jewish historian Josephus (38-107 CE) and the Roman historian Tacitus (55-117 CE) as attesting to the historic existence of Jesus is disingenuous at best. While each has a very, very short entry as to a Jesus that existed in history, non-Christian historians recognize each as a forgery, and have for centuries. To his credit, Leek challenges us to “study the evidence for Jesus themselves.” I agree wholeheartedly, just do it at your public library, not a church.

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Lynn Highland of Morrison writes:

Mike Rosen’s outrageous comparisons of America’s Civil War with the War in Iraq is astounding at so many levels; not in the least, his comparison of the leadership of Abraham Lincoln with the absent leadership of George W.
Bush.
First of all Lincoln could speak the English Language, unlike the inarticulate Bush. Lincoln rose from poverty, through the ranks of soldier (in the Black Hawk War), to steamboat worker, to clerk, to lawyer, to the presidency. Bush is what Lincoln would have referred to in the vernacular of his time, as a “shirker” —one who runs away from military obligations.
Bush, accustomed to wealth and privilege, and legacy admissions to college “was born on 3rd base and thought he hit a triple” to quote the late Ann Richardson.
LIncoln’s first born son was an officer in the Union army and served with distinction. Bush’s two offspring can barely stay out of the bars, much less, serve their country.
Lincoln always had a clear mission during the Civil War, and the mission has been long ago lost in the Iraq war—if there even was one to begin with.
To compare a war of choice, based on lies, and one that is so mismanaged as to be laughable if it weren’t so sad, denigrates the efforts of the abolitionists and the brave soldiers who sought to keep a nation together during America’s civil war- they did not seek to destroy a sovereign nation asunder, as is the case with the Iraq war.
Surely you Bush supporters can find a better comparison - like Napoleon arriving in Moscow - now there’s an apt comparison.

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Frank Galmish of Denver writes:

I am a Catholic of half Irish ancestry. I also am an Army vet of the Viet Nam era. I was shocked to see the treatment of our honorable Marine vets by the organizers of the Parade and I am appalled at Parade President Larry E. Lawler. Even though he can say that the placement of the position of the Marine vets wasn’t meant as an act of disrespect-it still is an act of disrespect. I used to love the parade and when our children were small we used to take them. I was intending to take our grandchildren but not now and I doubt I’ll even watch it on TV either. I find it especially shocking that this is done at a time when young Marines are very much in harm’s way while our great country is in a very real war. The Marines have ALWAYS been there for us and this is the way we treat them. How shameful! Shakespeare once wrote that an ungrateful child is worse than a serpent’s tooth and he was correct. If we cannot show better gratitude to our vets who are our great benefactors, then the expression Shakespeare use applies also to those who forget what we owe these heroes. The Marines have a beautiful motto: “Semper Fi". Too bad we cannot say the same. I served in a different branch of the service but I will never forget the great men and women of our Marines.

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Dr. Walter Figel Jr. of Castle Rock writes:

Amendment 41 is doing exactly what the taxpayers wanted. That is to shut down the seemingly endless flow of money, gifts, tickets, dinners, and lunches provided to the elected officials and employees of the State of Colorado by lobbyists. Obviously, the politicians and senior civil servants do not like it one bit as evidenced by the constant whining over the law’s unintended consequences. The law was never intended to stop scholarships to children who have worked hard to earn them and awarded on a competitive basis. It was designed to shut down unearned scholarships to children of politicians that lobbyists would like to influence. The most recent whining was from our Governor regarding not being able to accept an all expense paid vacation from Lufthansa. It is not only the ticket, but the hotel, food, and entertainment that they would doubt also supply to him and another twelve persons to commemorate their nonstop flights to Munich.
In addition, I would assume that he would not be taking personal vacation days for this excursion to Germany. I do understand that this new service will have a large economic impact on Denver and the State of Colorado according to your paper. If that is true, then the Governor should go and PAY his way with taxpayers funds that could be justified based on the increase in economic activity. That would be a reasonable expense that we as taxpayers should be willing to fund. However, there is no circumstance conceivable where he should accept thousands of dollars for a business trip from a private foreign corporation much less a personal trip. The strong message presented in Amendment 41 is that no one in the public trust should accept anything of value from businesses or people whose profession it is to influence the outcome of decisions and votes of elected officials. They must remain at arm’s length at all times and never give the appearance of impropriety. It is really that simple, get over it, abide by the intentions of the law, and stop the whining - it’s unprofessional and makes Colorado look bad.

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Cheryl Redmond Doyle of Littleton writes:

Although I admit that the only facts that I have are what I have read in the newspaper, I would like to know how the situation of the relationship between a mother, Linda Damm, and her fifteen year old daughter got to the point that the daughter felt that she had no other options than murder. Ms. Damm’s family’s admission that the mother was a “functioning alcoholic” and admission that the relationship between mother and daughter was very strained shows knowledge by family members of a serious problem and the lack of intervention. Did the school have knowledge of the situation? Why was the child not removed and living with another family? Just what is a “functioning alcoholic"? Other than the prosecutorial reason that the “nature of the crime is serious,” why are we charging the daughter as an adult? What happened to the term “juvenile law"? Is there no redeeming value to this child of a “functioning alcoholic"? What exactly went on the Damm house between mother and daughter that caused so much anger to lead to murder? The situation is tragic for four young lives and the deceased.

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Hank Curtis of Fort Collins writes:

There’s no shortage of hypocrisy in Washington within both parties, but of late, the Republicans have been serving it up like a “Super Size Me” fast food chain. It’s hard to feel too much sympathy for Scooter Libby when Republicans were relishing charges against President Clinton for the very same crime – lying to a Grand Jury.
But Scooter wasn’t simply lying about sexual indiscretions like Clinton, but rather was successfully “throwing sand” in the eyes of the prosecution to hide the orchestrated campaign by his boss Vice President Cheney and his boss President Bush in choking off any dissent from war critics like Ambassador Joe Wilson – even if that meant smearing Wilson and probably outing his CIA wife Valerie Plame.
What makes it worse is that Bush and his inner circle already knew the uranium claim that Wilson questioned was bogus – their own intelligence people warned them the evidence documents were likely forged – yet they continued to use the claim in their pre-war rhetoric and the famous 16 words in the President’s State of the Union speech in 2003.
Now granted Scooter has become the scapegoat, but assuredly Bush will eventually pardon him. A president who regards the Geneva Conventions as a nonbinding technicality and habeas corpus an outdated concept like last year’s fashions, isn’t going to start playing by the rules now.

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Father Bill Carmody of Colorado Springs writes:

Alice Madden sponsor of HB 1330 admits that the gold standard for raising children is one mother one father. She recognizes that children with one mother and one father are the most socially adjusted , do better in school, and have a better chance of succeeding in life. Yet, she claims that the gold standard can not be met in every case. Thus, we must allow adoption of children to single people, and unmarried couples both gay and straight.
Her premise is wrong. Colorado can meet the gold standard for adoption of children. Approximately, one in seven married couples in the State of Colorado struggle with fertity . We have several couples waiting to adopt a child and willing to sacrifice for a child. They wait patiently for a child. After all, a child is a gift; not a right. Just because you want a child, doesn’t mean you will get one. There have been several couples who yearned for a child and no child was available and/or the birth mother picked another couple. It is a silent cross that many childless couples carry.
Yet, adoption services are not in the business of giving childless couples a child. No, adoption services are in the business of finding parents for children who need parents. The focus is always on the best needs of the child; not the wishes of a childless couple. Our children deserve the gold standard, our children deserve to have the best chance at success. Our children should have a mother and a father.

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Jimi Bernath of Englewood writes:

Why haven’t I heard any of the Democrats vocalizing about the war bring up what seems to me a central issue: the 14 permanent U.S. bases planned for Iraq, and the monumental fortress U.S. Embassy being built in Baghdad? What the real mission was and is, beyond the financial spoils, should be focus of the debate, after how to spare the Iraqis any more misery.

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Richard P. Beck of Colorado Springs writes:

I have been hearing a lot about the unscientifically proven global warming and its consequences. Some say it will effect people a few generations from now and others say it may not occur for one or two thousand years. So I’m not overly concerned about global warming.
However, I’m deeply concerned about the ocean drying up and I have personal scientific facts to prove my statement. I am not beholden to or funded by any special interest group, nor do I not make any money traveling around the country preaching my conclusions.
How, you ask. To better illustrate my study, consider this fact. When you are a patient in a hospital, they maintain an “Intake/output” chart to monitor your consumption and discharge of liquids. Strangely enough, the output never equals the intake. That means the body uses or consumes liquids. So, believing I am an average individual, I kept track of my personal intake and output. I consume on the average, 10 glasses of water based liquids such as water, coffee, tea, soda, juice or other beverages each day. I estimate my output at about 5 glasses each day. That leaves about 5 glasses of liquids unaccounted for. I must have consumed or somehow used those 5 glasses of liquids.
I hear the earth’s population is somewhere near 6 billion people. Multiply 5 glasses by 6 billion average inhabitants, and that equals 30 billion glasses of water that seems to be disappearing each day. Since I am unable to equate the volume of the ocean to a glass full of water, I can only estimate that in 1 or 2 million years, the earth’s oceans will be dry. Perhaps this is what happened to the Martians and how they caused their planet to dry up.
Now this really concerns me.

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Mark Benner of Anton writes:

Before leaving on his trip to South America George W. Bush was asked about his “War on Drugs” policy as it related to Colombia and President Alvaro Uribe. The President said Uribe “was a man of peace.” He also emphasized the need to continue U.S. aid to Colombia in the “War on Drugs”. Sunday in Colombia Bush called Uribe a friend, and ally in the War on Drugs.
At the same time the president spoke these words, Uribe’s integrity as a man of peace and as a reliable agent of the “War on Drugs” was being undermined by arrests in Colombia of Department of Administrative Security director Jorge Noguera, and the resignation of Foreign minister Consuelo Araujo. Araujo’s resignation comes in response to the arrests of her brother and father and other members of Colombia’s Congress, all of whom are close “friends” of Uribe. The resignations and arrests are the result of connections to Colombia’s notorious right wing death squads, which not only visit violence and murder on Colombia’s population caught up in the civil war, they like the rebel groups they oppose are also part of the illegal drug trafficking network. It appears U.S. aid in the “War on Drugs” is being funneled to drug trafficking and inflicting terror. Perhaps the president should choose his friends and where he spends U.S. tax dollars with more discretion.

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Keith Maranville of Aurora writes:

As I read Marguerite King’s letter to the web about guns in cars I cant help but laugh. Ms king, do you really think the “scum” you refer to really care if a law is passed to ban guns in cars?? If they are the real scum they could care less about your silly law.
Hence, when there is a problem of road rage the only person armed is going to be the scum you refer to and the law obiding citizen who gave up their gun because of your law will be dead. Please remove your rose colored glasses and see the world for what it is, law obiding citizens should not be disarmed by law because the criminals and “scum” don’t follow the laws anyway.
When the good lord made this earth he made one huge mistake, instead of resting on the 7th day he should have been busy making ignorance painful and rested on the 8th.

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George Lilly of Denver writes:

As in the past, the candidates don’t want too hot a spotlight on them. That is to say, they want, as John McCain said, to have “their record and their ambition for the future” as the criteria by which they are judged. Now Newt Gingrich is coming out of the closet with his miscreant behavior and getting it laundered through the inimitable James Dobson so the “Christian” community will find him palatable.
The one question that no one can seem to answer is, if a candidate is an immoral hypocrite in his/her personal life, what will make them any better in their public life?

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Jeff Kocsis of Littleton writes:

I see the International Association of Fire Fighters has seen fit to come out of the woodwork, Anita Hill-style, to attack Rudy Giuliani now that it looks like he just might create problems for their Democrat candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Never let it be said that our labor unions are politicized. I’d be curious to hear what the rank-and-file New York fire fighters think of this decision by their dues-sucking leaders. In the mean time, Rudy has my support, and unions have my contempt, now more so than ever.

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Pete Jabs of Englewood writes:

9/11 was an inside job caused by the George W.Bush administration and the republicans. Those two planes didn’t bring the World Trade Center down; carefully set explosive charges set weeks before by the FBI brought those buildings down. This was one of the only ways to get our militery into a costly war with Iraq and Afganastan. A lot of people and corporations made billions of dollars off of this scam. The u.s. is just trying to get control of the middle east because this is where all the oil and money is. By the way, we dont’t even need oil or coal. We can get 100 MPH on four ounces of water( using hydrogen fuel cells). We can also power the entire planets energy needs for the next 300 years with one foot of “zero-point energy;” which our scientists and engineers have known about for over 100 years.

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Irene Hoe of Singapore writes:

I visited the Denver Botanic gardens this afternoon and happened to read your story afterwards.
It hasn’t been so long since it was snowing in Denver, so I wasn’t expecting much.
Still, I was quite dismayed by the current state of the gardens. It was not helped by preparations for the Bugs installation.
Of course, it was summer the last time I visited the gardens a few years ago. Not only were the place wonderfully verdant but it was also filled with wonderful African sculptures at the time.
The contrast between then and now could not have been greater.
At about 4pm yesterday, when I sought to have a drink and snack at the cafeteria, it was already closed, an hour before closing time. So I got a soda from the vending machine and the gardens did not earn the $10 I would have spent.
Any new CEO can always do with more revenue. So I would suggest that he attend first to what is often a reliable moneyspinner for museums and other visitor attractions - catering. A good restaurant and cafeteria can have importan knock-on effects, such as drawing more business to the excellent gift shop.
The gulf between the gardens’ summer and winter incarnations leads me to think the place earns its keep for only half a year, and hibernates in cold weather.
In retail, this would make the difference between being open for half a day and operating around the clock.
If the gardens hopes to draw more members, what will it have to offer them on a regular basis - excluding the holidays - during the cold weather? It does not even appear designed or constructed to function when it dips below 60 degrees F.
I think it is wonderful that there are so many benches and other seating throughout the gardens, But I cannot imagine many would want to use them when it is cold.
Another thing: I love the tropical house but, inexplicably, nothing seems to have been improved since I was last there.
I do love the gardens and hope to find them revitalized, thriving and, dare I say it, profitable, when next I visit Denver.

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Jan Herron of Evergreen writes:

No one is more realistic about his chances of becoming President than Rep. Tancredo. He understands the consequences of being labeled a “single-issue” candidate because of his dedicated leadership on illegal immigration. What’s interesting is that this enormously important issue is one that most other presidential candidates appear to be avoiding at all costs. The issue of illegal immigration is the umbrella of multiple issues facing voters, especially in 2008.
Tancredo’s 98 out of 100 rating by the American Conservative Union should light the fire of those rightwingers left in the dark who are discouraged by McCain and Giuliani, or suspicious of Romney. Whatever the eventual general election choices are, Congressman Tancredo is deserving of careful consideration by Republicans seeking a genuine conservative option.

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Ronald B. Gamino of Denver writes:

So now we are well into the year 2007 and here we sit in many of the same predicaments. Seems to me like we are still asking the same questions with regards to our energy crisis ... How can we get our alternative energy sources more affordable and readily available for consumers? How are we going to become less dependent on foreign oil? Will taxing Big Oil have the likely cause and effect of consumers then paying more?
It is all very complicated when you look at it as a whole. I know one thing that is not that complicated… My costs for my printing company have been on the rise for a few years now, with little help out there for the small businessman.
Taxing is not the cure-all answer. Moving everything over to wind energy is our single solution. Altering the daylight savings time 3 weeks might be helpful but doesn’t touch the large picture here. Unfortunately we are so deep in this energy crisis that a solution is far from simple. Does that mean we don’t proceed forward and try to make life better for us all? Absolutely not. We need to question what is going on in Congress. We need to be proactive. We need to ask our elected officials to fight for a better America.
Sure, we all want our wallets to stop taking the hit; we all want our kids and grandkids to grow up in a healthy environment and see the spectacular natural wonders of the world. We don’t want species to continue to be added onto the endangered species list. As I see it, if I want to see this stop, then I need to take action and be heard. I am writing to local elected officials and letting them know how I feel and urge you to do the same. We all know it’s broke, now go out and support what you believe and fix it!

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Robert E. Forman of Lakewood writes:

In a recent letter (Rocky Mountain News, Tuesday, 3/13/07), Robbie Garland was just the latest to repeat a blatant misconception when he wrote that “There is no reference to a deity in our Constitution.” Apparently people who think that thought have never read the Constitution to verify whether or not that statement is true — because it is not.
The date the Constitution was signed is as much a part of the Constitution itself as is any other word or signature the Constitution contains. The date is a part of the Constitution — and nothing can ever change that fact. The Constitution is a legal document and, as is the case with most legal documents, the date the legal document was dated and signed is just as much a vital part of the legal document as is any other part of it.
And anybody who has a copy of the Constitution or can take a couple minutes to find it online (type in ‘US Constitution’ and hit ‘search;’ it took me about a minute) can look at how this legal document was dated: It reads: “Seventeenth day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.”
There are two key words to focus on: our and Lord. In the context of the date, the “Lord” referred to can only refer to one Lord to the absolute exclusion of all others: Jesus Christ. No one but a complete fool can or will dispute that.
The other key word “our” refers to who? It refers to, specifically, the signers of the Constitution who signatures follows. But it can refer to, in general, to the nation and/or the people of the nation for whom the Constitution was created, written and signed.
There is therefore one absolutely indisputable fact: The Constitution of the United States — the “supposed” Supreme Law of our nation — absolutely and positively makes a direct reference to a “deity;” but not just to any old deity; but to the one and only one the signers ever considered to be “our Lord": Jesus Christ — because the phrase “in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven” refers to Jesus Christ alone to the absolute exclusion of all others.

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Dr. T.J. Dillon of Denver writes:

I have been reading several sources of information on the lack of citizen participation and interest in State and Local Government.
It occurred to me that this might be corrected, at no cost to the Governments, if all citizens were allowed to participate in direct investment of the Municipal Bonds issued by the several entities. They would pay the same price as the awarded bid price. The amount would be small compared to the number of bonds which the bidding brokers would acquire.
This would avoid the citizens need to pay the excessive rates charged by the bond brokers. Citizens would have a very vested interest.
It would be stipulated that no one could own more than [X]thousand dollars and must be carried to the predetermined funding date.
It would be very similar to the U.S. Treasury Department’s program.

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Darren Clemenhagen of Nederland writes:

Ever since the announcement of the Scooter Libby conviction right-wing apologists like Jay Ambrose have been attempting to rationalize the actions of the Bush administration. I am writing to express my outrage and disgust at Ambrose’s column that appeared in the Friday edition of the Rocky Mountain News.
When the Bush administration decided to go after Joseph Wilson by exposing his wife, Valerie Plame, they did not stop there. Robert Novak, in his column about Plame, also revealed the name of an active CIA operation, Brewster-Jennings.
Brewster-Jennings operated under the pretense of being an energy consulting firm; this front gave the company cover to actually investigate issues related to weapons proliferation. Why would the administration knowingly engage in a campaign that exposed an active CIA operation? What possible justification could the administration have to do so?
I ask the reader to think critically for a moment: What do you think happened when the name Brewster-Jennings appeared in print? When the identity of this CIA operation became public knowledge, any CIA operative or foreign national who had ever associated with Brewster-Jennings found their cover compromised. Hostile governments and terrorist organizations knew instantly who had been either a spy or an informant. What possible good could have come from this revelation?
The Bush administration constantly harps on the need to support the troops. People such as Valerie Plame and the other operatives associated with our intelligence community serve on the front lines of this war, risking their lives in the pursuit of vital intelligence. How can this entire affair be considered anything other than a serious breach of national security and an act of treason? How can Republican supporters continue to defend the indefensible with respect to this betrayal?

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Allen Campbell of Colorado Springs writes:

I Get so tired of Ken Gordon and his misinformation about second hand smoke. I can’t accept that he’s oblivious of the National Cancer Institute, OSHA, DOT and now the new Stanford studies that clearly say that second hand smoke is Not the cause of cancer. Either he can’t read, doesn’t read, or chooses not to read anything that disagrees with his ignorant, zealous and just plain wrong, (I hesitate to say opinion because opinion requires, at the very least, some investigation as to the facts of a particular issue), understanding of what is so and not so. As a representative of the people he should not fail to explore the truth of an issue and should care if his public statements are accurate and truthfully tell the people the reality of an issue. He is not alone in this failure, many of our elected officials allow personal preferences to hold sway over the truth of a matter. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs but, beliefs are often wrong and should never be allowed to become more important than proven facts.

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Sister Antonia Anthony of Denver writes:

The “Leahy Law” prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. This law should be applied to Mexico, a U.S. trading partner and certainly the recipient of U.S. military aid. This week I received from Mexico the notice that Diego Arcos Meneses, a Ch’ol Indigenous health promoter and catechist of Nuevo Tila, Chiapas, in the Lacandon jungle region, was unjustly detained, beaten, jailed, put at the disposition of a judge who gave no consideration to the testimony of witnesses, and now is real danger of a lengthy prison sentence. His crime: as health promoter he went to aid neighbors of Viejo Velasco who had been subjected the previous day to a massacre in which some of the attackers were dressed in military attire. He was detained by police and is the scapegoat for a crime motivated by an old land problem with high governmental responsibility. This human rights abuse does not stand alone. Cases of human rights abuses in Oaxaca this year also have been documented. Let us demand that the United states hold the government of Mexico to accountability for the human rights of its people.

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In 2003, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines told a concert audience that she was ashamed that President Bush hailed from her home state of Texas.
Conservatives responded to this very innocuous remark by rabidly boycotting the band’s concerts and records and demanding that radio stations not play their songs.
Unless conservatives are nothing less than self-serving hypocrites, they will now do the same to Ann Coulter.
Coulter, obviously unable to speak intelligently about Edwards’ qualifications, instead resorted to personally attacking John Edwards with a offensive and derogatory slur.
If conservatives have any integrity they should demand that major bookstores stop selling her books.
They should boycott her appearances and refuse to support any candidate or cause that hires her services.
Of course, I know this will never happen because “do as we say, not as we do, let them eat cake” conservatives will ignore Coulter’s latest shameless act of self-gratifying provocation with their usual sheepish fervor.
Instead, they will, as always, blithely follow the treacherous wolves that lead them toward their own demise, bleating their support for them all the while.

Thomas Mannion, Denver

According to an Associated Press news item (“Hillary Clinton woos gay voters,” March 6), neither Hillary Clinton’s “campaign nor her Senate office made any announcement” that she would be making a keynote speech to the “nation’s leading gay rights group,” the Human Rights Campaign.
“Asked twice at a Monday campaign stop in Iowa why she did not publicize her speech to the group,” the report went on, “Clinton said: ‘You’ll have to ask my campaign.’”
And yet Clinton supposedly told the group, “I am proud to stand by your side.”
Where? In the closet?
Neither she nor her campaign nor her Senate office publicized her appearance. Why? Was she embarrassed? Was she concerned about how her reaching out to the gay community would affect her reaching out to Christians, Jews and Muslims who frown on homosexuality? Was she or they or someone hoping for a better offer on where to be that night?
She may have said that she was “proud” to appear before the gay-rights group, but everything else seems to indicate that she really was not-so-proud to be there or to be associated with them.

Robert E. Forman, Lakewood

As reported in the March 3 story, “Rove, Pelosi both in Denver to rally party loyalists,” White House political adviser Karl Rove asked, “How can you say you support the troops and yet you want to deny the funds necessary to do the job and protect them in battle?”
Just eight years ago, on May 19, 1999, 40 Republican senators actually voted to withdraw funding from 5,600 American troops in the field in Kosovo.
So I suggest that Rove ask this question of his fellow Republicans, and, while he’s at it, he can also ask them how they reconcile “supporting the troops” with the disgraceful treatment of troops at Walter Reed Hospital, which is a direct result of the Republican administration’s budget policies and incompetent management.

Dan Danbom, Denver

I looked at the Rocky’s time line of events ranging from President Bush’s Jan. 28, 2003, State of the Union address to the Oct. 28, 2005, indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and couldn’t help but notice that the Rocky forgot to mention the 9/11 commission’s findings in early 2004 that debunked Joe Wilson’s self-serving and partisan claim that there were no dealings between Saddam Hussein and the Nigerien government to buy uranium.
Actually, pretty much the entire news media conveniently missed that little tidbit. I guess it wasn’t important — not when you’re trying desperately to bring down a president you don’t like.
Well, there was never a crime committed in the first place, but a special prosecutor has to hang somebody for something, so I guess Libby is as good a scapegoat as anyone.
It’s such a pleasure watching the machinations of our injustice system.
Do you suppose the Democrats will now be satisfied that they finally got to retaliate for that other Kafkaesque absurdity, the Clinton impeachment? I wouldn’t bet on it.
(Of course that was payback for Iran-contra.)

Jeff Kocsis, Littleton

It is time — past time, really — to retire a certain catchphrase that is heard in every phase of our lives, from sports to business to government and beyond. A phrase that is meaningless, explains nothing, adds no value to any discussion and yet is uttered almost as often as the word “like,” most often by someone just trying to fill the silence or attempting to baffle the audience with their self-perceived educated elocution. Which catchphrase is blathered entirely too often?
“It is what it is.”
Let’s briefly examine this redundant pearl of wisdom a bit further. If, for example, it isn’t what it is, then what is it? Why not enlighten the masses with the corollary, “It’s not what it’s not”? Perhaps we could get philosophical: It is what it is, unless it is what it’s not, and then it is what it’s not. We could go on forever. Instead, let’s vow to never utter this idiocy again. Like, you know, dude — whatever!

Jim Waechter, Highlands Ranch

The answer to letter writer Carrie McKoy’s question of March 1 (“Brrr!) — “Where did ... ‘global warming’ go?” — is that it is already here. Unusual, out-of-control weather all over the United States including our own state’s horrific snowstorms for 10 weeks on end and Europe’s everlasting fall and now already spring and no snow there.
Read the weather reports. Get a clue. Bush has not paid any attention to it either for six years as “our king.”

Mathilde Morris, Denver

The March 5 Rocky Mountain News story, “Housefuls of the faithful and barrels full of laughs,” contained this comment from Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, describing the new chief of the state Republican Party, Dick Wadhams:
“A leader who is resourceful enough to know that when life gives you macaca, you turn it into majorities.”
Her comment may have been intended as humor, but the word macaca is offensive and is a slur no matter how used or for what purpose.
Personally, I believe the slur was intentional and was referring to the recent election loss of Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen, largely attributable to his racist views.
Spence deserves the same fate for her hurtful and callous “humor.”
And I’m disappointed with the Rocky for seeming to think her comment was witty and giving it undeserved attention in that sidebar with her picture.
I will not vote for someone who uses terms like that and I won’t subscribe to a newspaper that condones its use and even seems to think it’s funny.

William “Jerry” Andersen, Littleton

After reading the recent letter by Dorie Werner regarding colorectal cancer (“Colorectal cancer is a quiet killer,” March 8), I have to ask: Why are so many otherwise intelligent people refusing to have the screening for colon cancer? I was screened recently and this is the sequence of events: I spent the previous day drinking a liquid diet and a liquid laxative. The next day I had the procedure. I felt nothing throughout and had no lingering effects. What’s so difficult about that?
Come on, people — don’t be stupid. Talk to your doctor about scheduling a screening if you are over 50 — it could save your life!

Wendy Grudin, Clifton

The killing off of Captain America parallels the downward spiral our country is in. The patriotism that used to mean love of flag and country is quickly disappearing. But have no fear, this heroic Marvel character will be back ... this time as Captain Americana!

H. Janell McElwain, Aurora

I just read in the Rocky about a proposed boycott of business to “bring attention to the economic contributions of illegal immigrants” (“Activists call for statewide boycott/Weeklong action meant to spotlight work of illegals,” March 9).
They must be joking, right? I call on all Coloradans to purchase as many goods, visit as many establishments, and show your support for the rights of citizens, and the power of our economic contributions by paying taxes, and using our buying power to overwhelm this proposed boycott.
This is not about the plight of the immigrant, nor is it about support for closing the border, or amnesty for that matter. This is about showing support for businesses that follow current law. The boycott, according to the story, will be from March 21 to April 1. Let’s show our support for current laws as written, and support our businesses that follow the law in hiring practices.

Dan Dane, Thornton

The requirement for proficiency in English will become more of an issue as time goes by. A certificate (diploma) that indicates adequate educational skills for a given country logically should include the ability to “understand and communicate” in that country’s language.
Instead of making it a requirement for graduation, make it an added “self-esteem” item. A doctor goes through his education and gets a diploma. If he goes further in his learning he gets an addition to the original piece of paper.
Why not put “English Proficient” on qualified high school diplomas? This might make some students work harder. It would not put down those who didn’t get the added achievement, but it could be earned at a later date.

Jim Reid, Denver

I’d like to thank Colorado lawmakers for showing the public that they have no concern for any of the important issues that are facing the state. By recommending a second state song (“Friends ’round the podium pick ‘Rocky Mountain High,’” March 13), we will have something to sing while our homes are in foreclosure, our jobs are sent to China and India, and our water is sold to the highest bidder. Thanks a lot!

Raygina Kohlmeier, Fort Collins

John Wren of Denver writes:

It’s being suggested that we have a Presidential primary election in 2008, followed by our neighborhood caucuses across the state a few weeks later.
This is a bad idea. In Iowa Presidential candidates spend about $40 per caucus attendee, it would similar here in Colorado if our caucus system was given the same TLC the Iowa system receives from the Iowa media, civic leaders, and the major political parties. Instead, we get a stream of these efforts at reform where none is needed.
Nothing would weaken our caucus system more than splitting it off from the Presidential race. People who are against this misguided change should speak out now.

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Jean Wall of Denver writes:

The short answer to Mr. Suttie’s question “does history repeat itself?”(letter 3/5 /07) would be yes,but not in this particular comparison. While there are always lessons to be drawn from historical parallels,there needs be common ground between the two.Suttie’s equation of the Vallandigham peace plank with objection to the Iraqi situation is a desperately poor comparison. Consider: secession vs. foreign invasion, preservation of the union vs. overthrow of a foreign government , resort to force necessitated by circumstances vs. invasion based on redoubtable and ultimately dead wrong intelligence about WMD ( remember the weapons inspector Hans Blix confirmed this PRIOR to the invasion and we proceeded despite that confirmation.) Then there’s the execution of this ill-begotten adventure. The White House and Pentagon (headed up by people who had scrupulously avoided combat and /or any military experience whatsoever) pursued a pet theory of prosecuting a war with a light, efficient force despite the advice of experts that the approach was untenable . The result was an under manned, under supplied over stretched force that was sent on a fools errand. The Administration kept insisting that “Mission Impossible” was “Mission Accomplished” and that their strategy was working despite what was evident , that after years of not working that it simply needed time to work In the mean time, the nature of the conflict and the relevance of American troops in that conflict has shifted substantially. The loss of “coalition” support didn’t bring about a reassessment, the rise of sectarian militias didn’t bring about a reassessment, the loss of American lives and the slaughter of civilians didn’t bring about a reassessment .The loss of a Republican majority in the midterms finally brought a change in leadership at the Pentagon .You do the math.
Then there is the issue of the billions of dollars that have been siphoned off through waste , fraud and theft while soldiers “make do” with hillbilly armor and rely on their families to supply them with body armor and other personal safety equipment. In the waning days of the last (Republican dominated)Congress, the office that oversees these expenditures and seeks accountability was defunded and dismantled. Then the White house pursued a troop surge and will ask for another 90 billion dollars in funding with only fewer safeguards against misappropriation than before and more troops in harm’s way without adequate equipment.
I’m insulted intellectually and personally at the suggestion that objection to this war is based on an anti- Bush vendetta or mere knee-jerk pacifism . Given all the factors, Mr. Suttie could not remotely make the case that this Administration has the best interest of “ the country -or the world “,or that this is a rerun of 1864. Yes, Mr. Suttie, where are the history students?

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Emory Walker of Denver writes:

Hooray! We get to pay more for stamps.

We can solve the dilemma of postal rates in an instant but it will never happen. The USPS should simply eliminate 3rd class mail. Everything should be 1st class which would mean little or no junk mail. The post office would probably have to give us refunds because of all the expense they would not have.

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Andy Vanous of Durango writes:

This letter is in response to the Regulatory Overkill editorial that appeared on March 2, 2007. With regard to senate bill 24, perhaps some education on what Certified Athletic Trainers (ATC’s) actually do would be in order, because it is a far cry from “spotting a workout buddy in the gym who pays you for the service,” as your editorial so ignorantly stated. By the sounds of it, you have athletic trainers and personal trainers mixed up. I agree that regulating a spotter in the gym would be excessive, and overkill by the state, however the job of an ATC is vastly different. As an ATC employed in the collegiate setting, I find the editorial and its ignorance insulting. I can count on my hands the number of times I have acted as a spotter for someone in the gym as part of my job.
ATC’s are responsible for the health care of physically active individuals in a variety of different settings. A large part of an ATC’s job is working with injured people to return them to activity.
This includes injury prevention, evaluation and diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and reconditioning of injuries, along with several other duties. ATC’s have rigorous educational training, with myself and many of my colleagues having post-graduate degrees related to athletic training. The state puts regulation on people who have much less impact on an individual than a health care provider, so why would it be overkill to regulate individuals who may be dealing with athletes in a life and death situation? There have been plenty of incidents when people who were not qualified to do so were practicing athletic training duties and harm was done as a result.
ATC’s are employed in a variety of settings, including: clinics, high schools, colleges and universities, professional sports, physician’s offices, industry, military, law enforcement, and others. The athletes I work with on a daily basis show nothing but appreciation for myself and the rest of our athletic training staff. ATC’s play an integral role in athletics, and I would be willing to bet that if you asked individuals who actually know what an athletic trainer is and what our job entails, I would imagine that you would find more credibility and validity to the proposed licensure. A prime example of this appeared in your newspaper on December 16, 2006 in the article, The Tale of the Tape, where the relationship between Steve Antonopulos and John Elway was mentioned, and how much Denver’s beloved Hall of Fame quarterback appreciated the work that “Greek” did for him throughout his career. I can guarantee you it was much different then spotting # 7 as he lifted.
Like nearly every other ATC, I take great pride in my job and wouldn’t trade what I do for a living. I think it is unfortunate that a portion of the population does not understand the profession that we are so passionate about. Not only are a majority of ATC’s overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated, but we struggle to fight the misconceptions of the public with regards to our job duties and responsibilities. Education is critical, and it is my hope that the opinion expressed on SB 24 would be different if the background of the bill and who is affected by it was better understood.

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Student athletic trainer Kolin Tomlinson of Durango writes:

In response to Editorial “Regulatory overkill”
I was very disappointed to read the opposition to SB 24, especially given the authors lack of knowledge surround Athletic Trainers and their profession. To quote the articles opinion of SB 24, “You need a note from the state to spot a workout buddy in the gym who pays you for the service?” is very ignorant and reflects poorly on whomever wrote it. I suggest the author take some time to understand the differences between a personal trainer and an athletic trainer before coming to a conclusion on SB 24. Although they are both “trainers” in title, Athletic Trainers have a much different and, in many ways, a much more demanding education (4 year undergraduate degree), certification (NATABOC), and job requirements then that of a personal trainer.
The Athletic Training profession has grown rapidly as a close and constant contact to athletic teams at the high school, college, professional, and possibly middle school levels. Knowledge in injury prevention, assessment, and rehabilitation makes Athletic Trainers an essential part of any sports medicine team. There is a large amount of responsibility and trust placed on Athletic Trainers as they are in close contact with the adolescent and adult athletes. While I respect the right of the author to his opinion, an uneducated or misinformed opinion reflects poorly on the author.

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Jeff Tokarsky of Parker writes:

Scooter Libby is “guilty” of “lying” to a grand jury investigating a crime that never happened. Your tax dollars at work. Makes me proud of American jurisprudence.
The real story is the Niger trip. Joe Wilson, a career State Department bureaucrat, was sent by the his wife and the CIA to Niger. A boy was sent to do a man’s job. Investigate that. The Ambassador was not required to sign a confidentiality agreement and wrote more about his trip to the NYT than to the CIA. His “report” has subsequently been investigated by Congress, its content refuted. Again ... your tax dollars at work.

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Steve Thrapp of Fort Collins writes:

Ironic that Sue Marquardt’s letter (RMN 3/8/07) was titled “A poor analogy,” as it was indeed a poor analogy.
First off, her numbers are incorrect. Marquardt claims that “When they landed on the beaches of Normandy, there were more men that died in that first hour than the 3,000 casualties that we’ve had so far in Iraq. In fact, according the D-Day Museum’s official site, the total number of allied dead for the entire first day was 2,500, of which 1,465 were Americans. And in Iraq, the number of Americans dead currently stands at 3,188.
Second, as is often the case in these arguments, Marquardt ignores the 23,000 other American casualties in this war. Thanks to advances in armor and medical care, the ratio of wounded to dead is about 8 to 1 in Iraq, compared to around 3 to 1 in World War II, so their numbers are far more significant than in that conflict. And because the bulk of injuries are caused by IED’s, many of these survivors have lost limbs or suffered horrible brain injuries, or both. Discounting their sacrifice does them great disservice.
Finally, Marquardt seems to intimate that her faulty figures somehow make the war in Iraq more palatable. Our reasons for engaging in World War II were far different than the excuses for unjustiably invading Iraq and continuing to occupy it.

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Cathy Swartwood of Morrison writes:

Re: Italian Heritage license tag proposal (Sons of Italy want License plate to honor their Italian Heritage)
What planet have the opponents of this measure been living on? They say that the state has no business promoting one ethnic group over another. Every time I make a phone call to a business I am forced to choose between Spanish and English, my cable company has a Spanish tier of programming, the forms I use at work are both in Spanish and English. There are MANY Spanish-speaking TV and radio programs. I have heard announcements at SEARS made in Spanish (I felt like I wasn’t in the States) and the list goes ON and ON. There has been a promotion of one ethnic group over all others for years and years. I can’t believe the opponents even made that remark or are we all just numb to it by now?

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

According to the National Review, “there should have been no referral, no special counsel, no indictments, and no trial.” I could not agree more. The conviction of Lewis “Scooter” Libby is nothing less than a criminalization of conservatism, pure and simple. It is, in essence, a blatant leftist attack on the Bush administration in a case where no underlying crime was even committed. The fact that the real culprits in this drama were not even questioned tells us all we need to know. In short, justice demands that the President pardon Libby. He deserves no less.

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Henri E. Stetter of Steamboat Springs writes:

The recent debate in the US Government on the Iraq policy and troops surge left out one very important human subject: the daily destruction of modern Iraqi society by the reckless war.
The deaths, misery and suffering that Americans have brought upon these poor people, by far outweighs all the politics and debate about what is best for US troops. The US has the full moral responsibility for the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries of Iraqi citizens.
Imagine one moment American cities suffering these kinds of daily bombing and mass murders, while some other nation debates the finer point of their troops levels. Would we be outraged?
Does anyone still wonder why hatred of America is growing exponentially in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.
Because of this misery, an estimated 2.5 million Iraqis have fled their country, mostly to Jordan and Syria and 40.000 to 50.000 more attempt to follow them every month.
The real news is what is happening in Iraq to normal families, children. They live in constant fear. People can not any more walk in their own neighborhood without real worry of attacks.
Imagine yourself living in these conditions, while the dark suited and prosperous politicians of a foreign country debate how to proceed.

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Dick Snyder of Denver writes:

In his March 9 column, Bush apologist Mike Rosen attempts to defend President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war with a fallacious set of analogies submitted by “Phil Rogers of Golden.” The idea is to show how Bush’s conduct of the Iraq War is in many ways analogous to Lincoln’s leadership during the American Civil War.
The argument works only if the assumptions behind the analogies are correct. In this case, none are.
The Confederate States of America was not a sovereign nation. It was an attempt by rebellious slaveholders to set up a separate nation on U.S. territory. With the exception of one tiny principality, no foreign power recognized the CSA as being sovereign.
Secession posed a critical threat to our country. Had the secessionists succeeded there would be no United States of America as we know it today.
Lincoln was not an abolitionist. The Emancipation Proclamation did not abolish slavery.
Lincoln’s was not the only president to revoke civil liberties in wartime. Unlike the USA Patriot Act and the Guantanamo incarcerations, Lincoln did not intend his actions to proceed indefinitely.
Lincoln may not have been properly sensitive to southern cultural differences. Since when are slavery and white supremacy defendable values, especially when a minority of southern slaveholders attempted to impose them on the rest of the country? Were ideas of racial equality foolish for the time? If Rosen were to read the Lincoln’s speech delivered at Gettysburg, PA in November 1863, he would learn that the idea of racial equality is fundamental to our nation’s being.
The claim of “military mismanagement” shows the ignorance of those who level the claim. Starting with a standing military of less than 20,000, Lincoln quickly mobilized and equipped a force that at any one time would number more than 500,000.
In two years Union forces seized the entire rebel coastline, partitioned West Virginia and took most of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee out of the war. The only theater the Union couldn’t dominate before 1864 was Northern Virginia.
The charge that Lincoln rejected the counsel of commanders is without foundation. He did reject the counsel of bad commanders, namely the cowardly and derelict George McClellan.
It is sacrilege compare the cheap influence peddler currently sitting in the Oval Office with our greatest President. If Rosen needs to defend this man, let him look elsewhere for his analogies.

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Jim Slotnick of Arvada writes:

I’d like to praise the Colorado House of Representatives for stepping up to rescind the unfair smoking restriction exemption that was granted last year to casino operators. There was no defensible argument for granting the exemption. The well healed casino lobby somehow managed to convince our lawmakers that profits (and the associated tax revenue) were more important than people’s health. All Colorado employees are entitled to a hazard free working environment. Non-smoking casino patrons (a significant majority) should not be forced to breath noxious fumes to enjoy limited stakes gambling. HB 1269, currently being considered by the Colorado Senate, will level the playing field for all businesses in the state. I hope that our elected officials will ignore the casino lobby and do the right thing this time.

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Dave Shanks of Highlands Ranch writes:

Your article on February 22, 2007 entitled “CU teacher catches flak for essay on supremacy", raised some continuing questions on the hiring practices at CU. While I support Joshua McNair’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment, I cannot understand why CU would select an instructor that supported lies about racial supremacy - especially in today’s times, where our society seeks tolerance and acceptance. Instead, CU chooses to spend our children’s tuition and tax dollars on someone influencing the next generation with incredibly stilted views. The article further stated that while he was an undergraduate, Mr. McNair sponsored a speech by a Holocaust denier. Again, I am offended that CU would allow such a speech to occur on the campus AND then go on to HIRE someone so irresponsible with truth and a follower of these twisted ideologies. With two children about to enter college, I cannot even consider sending either one to CU - Boulder for fear of what false teachings and influence in their lives might take place. I love Colorado and the life we lead in this beautiful state. However, I am deeply disappointed that our “top scholastic institution” employs the likes of Ward Churchill and Joshua McNair that espouse ignorance, hatred and violence over knowledge and truth. When will the CU administration take a firm stance and uphold a commitment to teachings that enhance our children’s education and development of positive values they carry into society? After all, they are our future. If we fail to lead and teach them well today, we will all pay the price later on.

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Alex Schatz of Lafayette writes:

The Rocky Mountain News failed to do its homework when it categorized a legislative proposal to regulated landscape architects as “pointless oversight of working Coloradans.” The Rocky’s March 2nd editorial ("Regulatory Overkill") asserts that the proposed legislation targets “miscreant landscapers” who perpetrate “landscaping fraud.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
For starters, no one is proposing to regulate landscape contractors or any other entrepreneur “landscaper.” A broad swath of supporters in the construction industry understands that working landscape architects are design professionals, with training and professional activities similar to architects and engineers. Certification of this profession, landscape architecture, is based on a test that covers critical public health and safety skills in outdoor construction design. A landscape architect cannot be certified without a state-issued license.
Fortunately, the bill’s supporters have done their homework. For example, there is an extensive list of cases of physical harm, property damage, and financial injury associated with incompetent landscape architecture. It is undisputed by those who have reviewed this evidence that improperly designed or constructed landscape features can cause harm, including both financial loss and loss of life.
As with architecture and engineering, recognizing landscape architects in statute allows consumers to rely on standards of professional competence as they make decisions about major investments in design and construction. The Governor will need to look no farther than the first page of this legislation, to the list of sponsors and co-sponsors, to understand that the creation of a landscape architect credential in Colorado, like the same credential that already exists in 48 other states, is the result of strong, well-informed bipartisan support.

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Linda Sanders of Littleton writes:

Don’t allow criticism of your reporting the Manzanares story stop you. I’m sick of the double standard evident between “the People” and the “above-the-law” judges. This story shows that Manzanares’ had the gall to to be in possession of stolen merchandize with the confidence of immunity because he had friends in high places. His attitude is not a rare condition among “elitist” judges who have contempt for the law - he was just too sloppy for his “friends in high places” to thoroughly protect him - even though they did circle the wagons around him.
I base my opinion on the fact that I have worked closely with certain Judicial Review Committee members and discovered that there are too many judges who consider the law their personal property - to enforce or ignore as they deem appropriate (to the detriment of the party who relied on published law. Oh right - these are just “disgruntled litigants"). The majority of those on the Judicial Review Committee have professional conflicts (e.g., their careers as lawyers & ex-judges require they maintain the status quo) rendering their “review” of judges ineffective. (They turn a blind eye to complaints against judges who are disloyal to the law). Senator John Andrews has (unsuccessfully) tried to address this, and a recently introduced bill (by Mr. Sommers) to reform “judicial review” methods died in Committee last month, allegedly because judges are just too good and we don’t need reforms. You need to expose a few more stories like this Manzanares story. Maybe then, judges will be embarrassed into operating with integrity.

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Lisa Pummel of Centennial writes:

The hype and panic around prairie dogs reads like a scene from a science fiction movie. “The maniacal alien dogs are taking over our planet! Everybody run for your lives! I know, let’s poison them! No, let’s blow them up!”
Okay, movie lovers, put down the popcorn and get out your science book.
Did you know that prairie dog tunnel systems are believed to help channel rainwater into the water table to prevent runoff and erosion, and also can serve to change the composition of the soil in a region by reversing soil compaction that can be a result of cattle grazing?
Did you know that prairie dogs are known to control the populations of several weed species, such as mesquite, which has been found to overrun some lands where prairie dogs are no longer found?
The prairie dog is a recognized keystone (or integral) species of the short -grass prairie ecosystem. They contribute to the lives of other mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects of the prairie, by providing habitat and food. Abandoned prairie dog burrows are frequently used as homes by burrowing owls, white-tailed rabbits, badgers, weasels, snakes, and even foxes. As a prey base, the prairie dog supports a wide variety of species including the swift fox, the coyote, weasels, snakes, hawks, eagles, and the endangered black-footed ferret.
Before we blast or poison an important species off the planet, let’s educate ourselves about the bigger picture of the balanced ecosystem that supports life at all levels. Perhaps the “teachable moment” before us is that when man has historically taken a careless shot at nature, he has often reaped pollution, disease, global warming and other unexpected consequences. In the name of what’s “best” for man, we’ve hurt the planet we need to survive.
There is no doubt that prairie dogs can be a nuisance. There is proof that prairie dog towns can be destructive to the land. But is it wise to destroy the environmental house to exterminate the bugs? Let’s not allow science fiction to answer that question.
For more information, contact Rocky Mountain Animal Defense at www.rmad.org

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Richard Postma of Littleton writes:

There is an interesting analogy between the perjury conviction of Lewis Libby and the perjury impeachment (but no criminal trial) of Bill Clinton, which led to acquittal by the senate.
Clinton’s defenders pointed out that perjury is seldom prosecuted, but it was also pointed out by others that usually perjury is prosecuted if the perjury contributed to an acquittal for a related crime! It is dropped if discovered in time to convict in the criminal case.
Now consider the two cases, where things worked out backwards. Libby was prosecuted and convicted of perjury during the investigation of a matter that turned out to not be a crime. That is, no related crime, no prosecution or trial, let alone an acquittal!
On the other hand, Clinton committed perjury during a trial for sexual abuse for which he was acquitted, before the perjury was proven. If it could have been established that Clinton made a habit of using subordinates (Monica Lewinski, et al) for his sexual gratifications, it would have been much more likely that Paula Jones could have obtained a conviction for Clinton’s attempt to use her. So under the conditions stated above, Clinton should have been prosecuted, but Libby should not!
Now I wonder if Sandy “Burglar” will be prosecuted for theft of classified documents and lying about it!

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Howard Morton, executive director of Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, writes:

Attorney General John Suthers partisan attack on the House Judiciary Committee is unbecoming to the statewide office he has been accorded by Colorado voters. We are particularly offended by his remarks that “folks there are not as interested as Republicans in your public safety” with reference to the committee’s vote in favor of House Bill 1094 which proposed the abolition of the death penalty with the savings invested in resources to solve Colorado’s 1200 unsolved murders.
First of all, the vote in favor of HB 1094 was a bipartisan 9 to 4.
Secondly, Mr. Suthers testified against the bill but offered no alternative for funding the assets needed to track down the killers walking among us, the murderers living in our neighborhoods.
The Attorney General and the Governor (both former District Attorneys) have turned their back on this problem: In Colorado, three out of ten killers are never prosecuted for their heinous acts. Of the 4000 Colorado murders committed in the past quarter century, one person has been executed. The cost to taxpayers: $4,000,000 per year.
I believe most Coloradans would agree that this money would be better spent investigating cold murder cases than paying for those kinds of results. As for the families of these victims, we don’t appreciate having our issue cast as a political football. Most of us are willing to exchange vengeance for justice.

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Liz Morse of Denver writes:

i am writing this email in response to an article i read in today’s paper called ‘music may ignite mayhem’. i am an avid ICP fan and have been for many years. i have not beaten, stabbed, shot, axed, or committed any kind of violent act against ANYBODY before or since i have been listening to the music. i am actually convinced that the message behind their music has pulled me out of a serious rut. what is the message i’m talking about? WE ARE NOT ALONE. ICP is positive about god, family, and close friends.
i have listend to ICP for quite some time, and so far, i have turned out fine. i am successful in school, and am starting college early by the way. the point i’m making is people who listen to the Insane Clown Posse or any other group signed to the label are not deranged maniacs who randomly go out and kill people. we’re fans of music. since when is that a crime? and for the media (you) to go and broadcast this image of us as some violent sub human culture is wrong and extremely offensive. the image the outside world projects of us makes it difficult to get jobs, go to school, and even walk down the street. the police hassle us, teachers and people in positions of authority treat us like a cancer that they have to keep isolated before we infect the other kids in school or on the street. it’s crap.
also, i noticed there were some lyrics printed by the article from two CDs that ICP has put out. i’d like to add on to these with some lyrics i feel are better to represent the juggalo community. they go like this: “Truth is we follow GOD, We’ve always been behind him, The carnival is GOD and may all juggalos find him...”
-Thy Unveiling; The Wraith Shangri-La in conclusion i’m an extremely offended by this article, and i’m sure i’m not the only one. small minded people fear what they don’t understand, and now i know just how small minded my community is.

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Beverly Morrisey of Littleton writes:

Each day I read letters in the RMN from so many of you whose thoughts and beliefs are also mine. You recognize an ignorance and disregard of morality and social issues in our country. You love America and want to keep it safe. How can we all join to form a voice? Hopefully the RMN will print this but there’s no guarantee.

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Kyle Miller of Boulder writes:

The recent controversy over the new energy drink, Spike Shooter, has unleashed a damning and destructive image for all energy drinks on the market. Media outlets do not understand what ramifications a headline like, high school bans energy drink, can have on an entire industry when really only one reckless company is to blame. It is the classic childhood case of someone ruining things for the rest of us.
First of all, Spike Shooter should not be granted the privilege of being called an energy drink. A caffeine supplement would be a more appropriate title given the 300 mg of caffeine per 8.4 ounce serving. Other popular energy drinks such as Red Bull and Rockstar only contain 80 mg per 8.4 ounce serving. In addition, Red Bull and Rockstar are ripe with vitamins, taurine and other components that produce energy. Spike Shooter is deficient in those ingredients, but is abundant (1,057 mg) in the mysterious Spike Shooter Formula as listed on the can’s nutrition facts. Spike even has to carry a warning to its consumers telling those under the age of eighteen to avoid the drink entirely, but even those who are of age should begin by drinking half the can. I have never heard of a company that asks you to waste half of their product to fully enjoy it, have you?
Most energy drinks are not dangerous and do not send customers straight to the hospital. In fact energy drinks are a great way of achieving that quick pick-up when the midday drowse plagues your afternoon and they make an awesome study aid for students. So don’t let Spike Shooter’s image ruin energy drinks for everybody and next time you visit a convenience store consider a Red Bull or a Rockstar or a Monster; they are all still friendly to the body.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

So the Lafayette family and the young girl that is accused of killing her mother want to be let out to attend her mother’s funeral. This is so she may grieve like any other young person. I say that any other young person does not plot or take any actions in killing their parents.

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David A. Lien of Colorado Springs writes:

As a lifelong outdoorsmen and a former Air Force officer, I’m concerned about the few remaining wild places and wide open spaces (i.e., roadless areas) in Colorado. A recent roadless areas editorial from a Front Range paper said, in part, that Governor Ritter’s hesitation in adopting former Governor Owen’s roadless petition is “an attempt to overturn the apple cart on behalf of those who didn’t get everything their way on the roadless issue.”
First, public backing for protecting all of Colorado’s roadless areas was demonstrated unequivocally by the outpouring of support for the 2001 Roadless Rule and in public comments documented by the 2006 Roadless Area Review Task Force (RARTF): In both cases, over 90 percent of Coloradans requested the complete protection of all roadless areas in the state.
So, most Coloradans were taken by surprise when they found out that in the Owen’s Roadless Petition fine print, low and behold, there were some juicy special interest giveaways inserted at the last minute: nearly 400,000 acres of industry concessions, primarily ski areas and coal mines. Now that the Owen’s give-away language has seen the light of day, the public does not support it. Even our own Division of Wildlife (DOW) doesn’t support it!
Along with the good folks at DOW, we hunters and anglers are simply trying to protect the last public lands outside of wilderness where we can walk away from the ugliness of development and the noise of OHVs to find undisturbed, high-quality hunting and fishing habitat. Yes, as the editorial in question clearly stated, this is about “access.” As our public lands backcountry becomes increasingly overrun with oil and gas fields, clear-cut logging, and more new roads and trails, illegal as well as legal, we who are traditional, muscle-powered, quiet-use recreationists are having our access stolen. We are not fighting for ideals, but for survival and our fair share of the public lands pie.

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Mark Lewis of Colorado Springs writes:

On the issue of the bill to stop the expansion of the Army’s Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) in southeastern Colorado, I would like to add some points.
I believe the Army’s analysis.
The analysis from the “After Action Report” on the invasion of Iraq: “The roots of the (3rd Mech) division’s successful attack on Baghdad are found on the training fields of Fort Stewart, Fort Irwin, and Kuwait.”
They further conclude, “The division owned and influenced 16,100 square kilometer battle space (230x70km),” AND “the National Training Center (Fort Irwin, 642,000 acres) rotations produced a seasoned fighting force that was trained and ready to fight and win on any battlefield.”
This analysis from the Army makes some very important points. There is NO mention of the PCMS for training needs, as the existing training grounds were, in the Army’s opinion, perfectly sufficient.
Their analysis not only makes the point that it is NOT necessary to train on 16,100 square kilometers, to be prepared to fight on 16,100 square kilometers, but in the Army’s opinion, the training they got on the existing training grounds prepared them to fight “on ANY battlefield".
I believe the Army’s analysis.
The failures in Iraq have been political, diplomatic, and ideological, not military. Training for the urban warfare of the present conflict doesn’t need vast amounts of space, especially, in the case of the PCMS expansion, an area from Colorado Springs to Denver (65 miles) and as wide as the distance from Colorado Springs to Kit Carson (130 miles). This is 8,800 square miles they want to take by Eminent Domain! The 418,577 acres commonly quoted, is ONLY phase 1 of the seizure. The 18 year plan is for 5.5 million square acres!
I Believe the Army’s analysis.
I think they have admitted they don’t need to expand the PCMS to be trained sufficiently, in fact there is no indication they need the existing PCMS, they already took by Eminent Domain, at all.

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Doug Leek of Arvada writes:

I am amazed at the hypocrisy of conservatives and liberals alike, who have put on the false front of righteousness in their attack on Ann Coulter.
Liberals are gleeful today that they have the opportunity to defame a popular conservative figure even though a recent comment by a liberal Bill Maher, that a Dick Cheney assassination would’ve been beneficial, has slipped under their radar. Conservatives, on the other hand, are bowing to the political correctness that has enveloped our society and are merely engaging in political pandering. Half of them probably laughed hysterically when they first heard what Coulter said, as I did. Well, I for one think it’s ridiculous to even give Coulter’s remarks a second thought. Should she have spoken this word? No. It’s not a nice thing to say. Get over it! Should I have laughed? No, but I’m human and it was funny. Get over it! If you’re in your thirties or forties, you remember being called this word a thousand times in school. If you went home crying to mama, she probably told you to get over it. If she pandered to your insecurities, then she was doing you no favor. Let’s not pander to silly insecurities and focus on the weightier matters of life.

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James Kottenstette of Denver writes:

Whenever I see a number like 16,203 reported in the newspaper, I stop to see if the story is about something that was actually “countable.” When I find that the count is really a guess, then I wonder what is the matter with the reporters and editors.
What’s the agenda? Why do they permit guesses to be reported as facts...particularly when a State Agency is the source of the guess? Why am I hassling you? You know darn well that 2981 homeless persons, included in the precise total of 16,203 persons, were not counted at all. You led your readers to believe that 2981 homeless persons, persons that could not be found for the survey, should be included and conclusions drawn as presented in your article.
The real story here is that 18.4% uncounted maybe a good guess, or a terrible guess. What I am saying is that you needed to know something about the confidence level attached to this guess and how the missing people were apportioned into the different Colorado regions in order to bring this story into sharp focus.
Better yet, report the actual distribution of 13,222 persons surveyed last August, and then tell the reader if an error in the experts’ WAG of +18.4% additional homeless persons would impact public policy in hitherto unsuspected ways. You know, is a better guess 4,000 or is it 1,000 homeless people left uncounted, and so what.

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Denis Gessing of Denver writes:

Regarding Ms. Marjorie Brown’s Letter ("Print too small, light") Could not agree with you more, Ms. Brown. Could hardly get through the best story of the day, regarding those young folks who, along with ACLU have taken on the Bush administration for denying them admission to a public meeting.
But I can barely get through other stories of less interest. The reason being that the harder it is for me to read the print, the quicker I loose interest. I think I’ve given the new format a fair shake, but as a life long newspaper reader, I feel more than a little ignored by the Rocky.
I know, I know you guys are a big company and need to figure out how to stay competitive. But ask your marketing boys to take another demographic look. I just can’t imagine that this type of newspaper or any type of newspaper is going to appeal to that coveted 18 to 26 year old consumer who is too young and technology hooked to appreciate the pleasures of reading the morning paper.

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It looks as if the new congressional Democratic majority is going to roll over for Bush’s war. The president, after all, is such a compelling political opponent, with less than 30 percent public approval.
And he’s a lame duck, or have we forgotten already?
Our debonair 2nd District representative, Mark Udall, seems quite concerned that the GOP smear machine will charge that he’s soft on defense and lacks proper respect for the troops (“Split on splitting from Iraq,” March 9).
Heavens! That scurrilous charge could sour Udall’s irresistible opportunity to become a U.S. senator next year.
Nobody wants to see Udall’s chance for such a coveted and comfortable seat spoiled in such an unfair manner, certainly not Udall himself. So, he shall vote to fund the Iraq occupation as long as the president wants — forever if need be.
Covering his political rear end while soldiers are killed in a misbegotten war he initially voted against is just the style Udall’s advisers say he needs to credibly compete against his likely contender, the scintillating former 3rd District congressman, Scott McInnis.
Everyone’s looking forward to the debates, for sure.

Cord MacGuire, Boulder

The American people have it all wrong. We won the Iraq war. We fought it to defeat Saddam Hussein. He’s dead. Mission accomplished. Now, we’re involved in the broader fight in the war on terrorism.
Lyndon Johnson started fighting poverty 40 years and $4 trillion ago, and the same people who call Iraq a quagmire would bristle at the suggestion that we admit defeat and quit in that “war.” They are the same people who tell us that poverty is worse than ever.
In 2006, almost 2,600 people were murdered in California. Six hundred were murdered in New York City alone. Seven thousand people died from accidental prescription errors and 100,000 died from medical errors in U.S. hospitals. Let’s not get all weak-kneed because several hundred brave Americans lost their lives so that those same people can practice their particular brand of hypocrisy. That is the ultimate dishonor to our Americans in uniform who risk it all for the stupidity of others.

D.W. Griffith, Denver

Shame on the Rocky Mountain News for calling HB 1011, which would have extended the same legal protections to victims of violent intruders in the workplace as in the home, a “gun bill” (“Gun bill dies in committee,” Feb. 27).
This bill, which was endorsed by the Rocky, had nothing to do with firearms and everything to do with the inalienable right of self-defense.
One can only guess why the Rocky chose to purposely misidentify the essence of this important legislation, which was defeated by the Democratic majority of the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
And one can only guess why the Democratic leadership of the Colorado Senate purposely sent a bill focusing on criminal procedure that was approved by the House and its Judiciary Committee to a committee that has nothing to do with judicial matters.

Anthony J. Fabian, Aurora
President, Colorado State Shooting Association

As most Coloradans know, the elk population in Rocky Mountain National Park has exploded recently, creating a massive problem for the park.
I am a hunter and I believe that a monitored and closely enforced hunt should be allowed, because a hunt would be of greater benefit then culling the herd. People would be using the meat, and might donate it to a homeless shelter or a starving-child fund. This might require a federal law to be changed but, in the end, it would be the most sound and beneficial way to control the population.
Culling would introduce a large number of scavengers to the area, and might have unforeseen aftereffects. A hunt could be as controlled as a culling, and could be raffled, with the proceeds donated and used for the greater good.

Nate Gautier, Aurora

David Pimental of Cornell University has estimated the energy cost of corn production and its conversion into ethanol as 131,000 BTUs per gallon. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of 77,000 BTUs per gallon. Therefore, there is a net loss of 54,000 BTUs per gallon of energy when ethanol is burned in gasoline or via some other method. This loss of energy is wasted except for sending 54,000 BTUs per gallon into the atmosphere and, consequently, global warming.

George G. Risley, Lakewood

I’m so glad we weren’t present when Jorge the jaguar, while protecting his territory at the Denver Zoo, attacked and killed zookeeper Ashlee Pfaff when she entered his cage.
Third in size to the tiger and lion and with the most powerful jaw of all the big cats, who would expect otherwise from such a wild animal?
This tragedy was compounded when a zoo guard shot and killed Jorge. All of this occurred in front of zoo spectators.
Zoo president Clayton Freiheit reportedly said, “We are deeply saddened by this loss ... a part of our family ... one of our own.” Mayor John Hickenlooper said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened at the loss of a city team member and send our condolences to everyone in our community who is grieving this loss.”
What about condolences and grief for the unnecessary death of a magnificent, endangered, captive animal of the zoo?
We are sorry that what apparently was a careless mistake resulted in a human tragedy. But, there are those of us who are grieving for the loss of Jorge, too.

Eve and Judy Reed, Centennial

Thank you, Walker S. “Buddy” Smith Jr., for your level-headed article about delisting gray wolves in the West (“Delisting of gray wolves a good prospect,” Speakout, March 2).
Montana and Idaho have written smart, science-based management plans for their wolf populations. Wyoming, in keeping with its dismal record of politics-based wildlife management, will likely have no say about its wolves for years to come.
Wolves can affect elk populations.
But they also make elk act like elk instead of cows, keeping herd size small and limiting overgrazing in riparian zones. (In areas of Yellowstone, we’re seeing the first regeneration of aspen and willow in 50 years.)
It’s time to let Idaho and Montana manage their wolves as promised, and to join Smith (listen up, Wyoming!) in protecting elk from the real threat to their survival: habitat loss.

Melissa McKibben, Centennial

In response to Carrie McKoy’s letter of March 1, “Brrr!,” I wholeheartedly agree. Seeing as how it was what she considers to be uncomfortably cold outside, all global climate models based on decades of research, study and peer review are completely invalidated! Take that, Al Gore!

David Gilbert, Fort Collins

Rex Wood of Lakewood writes:

Colorado is one of six states that does not require a student to prove his or her competence in the basics in order to graduate. Coloradans’ love affair with local control of graduation requirements effectively lowers standards for and expectations of students. Minimally, students should be required to prove competence at a standardized state level in high school in at least two math classes, two science, two social studies, and reading and writing. The current CSAPs are a joke because they are not tied to graduation, and there is no reason for students to take them seriously because there are no consequences. If Colorado students wish to compete effectively in today’s marketplace, then their parents and other Coloradans need to get on board the education bus because at this point, it’s leaving them at the station.

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Rhonda Roseto of Westminster writes:

So the “experts” say that only a guest-worker program will put an end to illegal immigration? Which experts might that be - La Raza? Sen. Ted Kennedy? The Chamber of Commerce? Immigration attorneys? There are a number of sources that you could have been quoting, all of who have a vested interest in a larger inflow of immigrants to “do the jobs Americans won’t do". However that opinion is not universally shared. There are far more people who question what a guest-worker plan has to do with securing our borders to keep out illegal immigrants.
A guest-worker plan won’t prevent millions of employers from continuing to employ cheap illegal labor unless more stringent enforcement in the workplace is adopted. A guest-worker plan won’t help unless employers and CEO’s of big corporations are imprisoned and/or heavily fined for circumventing the law.
A guest-worker plan won’t work unless we put billions more into the computer systems and personnel at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department. The system is backlogged by several years already. Can you imagine the chaos and fraud if we were to add several million more cases? Finally a guest-worker program won’t prevent drug smugglers and other people seeking to harm us from slipping into the country. Currently thirty percent of the population in the Federal Prison System are foreign nationals. How will a guest-worker program change that?
Also let’s examine the meaning of a guest-worker. Do you mean a situation that allows a person to come with his family and to stay and eventually become a US Citizen? That is what the Senate bill (S. 2611) of last May sponsored by Sens. Kennedy and McCain defined as a guest-worker. To many of us, that is not a guest-worker. A guest-worker comes alone, does the job, gets paid a competitive wage, some of which is withheld until he or she returns home. If we need the labor and they need the job, why should that have anything to do with becoming a U.S. citizen?
So many people mention a guest-worker program as the perfect solution without really understanding the limitations or ramifications. We still need to secure our borders and imprison frequent illegal crossers, provide meaningful workplace enforcement and eliminate programs that reward illegal aliens.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

Dr. James Dobson is right on target in his commentary on the place of children in traditional marriage. The question of children being raised in a non-traditional family would not have been asked a few years ago. Does the fact that moral absolutes are considered out of date in our society mean that traditional norms are no longer valid? Not at all. Moral absolutes are as relevant today as they were in Biblical times. Right is not made wrong simply because someone does not happen to believe it so.
If God so designed the family that children would have a married mother and father, such an arrangement is not made invalid because one does not believe in God. In short, Dobson’s argument that a mother and father are essential in a child’s upbringing is invincible.

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Jim Thrailkill of Aurora writes:

Some say that the Biblical account of Jesus’ empty tomb is a fiction devised by Jesus’ Disciples.
That cannot be for back in that day and time, had the Disciples concocted a fable, they would not have given such preeminent roles to women.
All four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John record that women were the first to greet the risen Lord!

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Don R. Sherwood of Boulder writes:

When I saw the headline on the front page (03-06) of the RMN, it occurred to me that the numbers might be exaggerated.
As I read the highlights column on the left side of News page 4, I gathered these “facts": 16,203 Estimated number of homeless in Colorado, Colorado Interagency Council on Homelessness 20,730 Estimated number of homeless in Colorado, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development 754,000 Estimated number of homeless in the United States on any given night, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development I then went to the U.S Census Bureau’s web site. Here I found the following: 296,507,061 Estimated U.S. population, U.S. Census Bureau, as of July, 2006 4,753,377 Estimated Colorado population, U.S. Census Bureau, as of July, 2006 Thus, Colorado’s population is 1.59% of the U.S. population, as of July, 2006.
As a very simple “reasonableness test", I applied this per cent of the U.S. population (296,506,061) to determine Colorado’s proportionate share of the homeless population, which would be 11,971.
Since the crack but uncritical, likely short on math skills staff at the RMN, published, unquestioningly, the study indicating the Colorado homeless population was 16,203, which is 35.4% higher than the proportional share of the U.S. Census Bureau’s national homeless estimate. To it’s credit, the RMN writer also inferred there might be some inconsistency, when the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate was 20,730, an increase of 73.2% over Colorado’s proportional share of the U.S.
homeless population.
Unless there is something “bad wrong” with Colorado, how can these disparities be explained?
I appreciate that “journalists” are mathematically challenged. However, even your staff should have asked some intelligent questions when obvious disproportionate numbers are presented as “facts". For example, why weren’t these questions asked, prior to reporting the disproportionate numbers in Stuart Steers’ article 1. Why would Colorado’s homeless population be so disproportionate?
2. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on the cost of utilities?
3. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on the cost of housing?
4. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on it’s population of citizens experiencing at least one serious disabling condition?
5. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on it’s population of citizens reporting substance abuse?
6. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on it’s population of citizens reporting a medical condition?
7. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on it’s population of citizens reporting HIV/AIDS?
8. Where does Colorado rank, among the states, on it’s population of citizens reporting a developmental disability?
Of course, it is possible that there are rational answers to the above questions. But, I would bet a steak dinner there aren’t. Further, I would bet another steak dinner, at your favorite Denver steak house, the questions weren’t even considered, much less asked.
Is it any wonder that the credibility of the news media, as well as the RMN is declining to an all time low, followed by your circulation?
Rather than cutting costs and the size of your paper and type, you might want to try producing an improved product. “We’re no worse than the competition” is simply a recipe for going out of business - a loss to you, but more importantly, a loss to your readers.

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Robert DeWitt of Pueblo writes:

Your story about the 3 Republican Representatives walking out of the State House of Representatives’ Education Committee meeting was disturbing to me.
The fact that no debate is allowed by a party (in this case, Democrat) chair is a sad testimony of politics at its worst. A bill, SBA 61 (of which sole purpose is to, evidently, destroy the charter school movement in Colorado), a bill which shouldn’t even be connected to political parties, is gutted and railroaded through the committee by the chair, Rep. Merrifield, who owes his seat to the Colorado Education Association. Anyone who can read can see that this bill is written to allow the school districts, and through them, the CEA members from being accountable for their failure to provide quality education to all of their students. The “one size fits all” comments (in a past issue of the Rocky Mountain News) about the federal No Child Left Behind Laws by the head of Wyoming schools could substitute for the approach of the majority of Colorado’s public school system, except when individual chosen (by the district school boards) schools in certain areas can discriminate in their enrollment and financial advantages. Regardless of the bill’s content, not allowing opposing testimony from the state Charter School Institute’s representative by the chair was a reprehensible and vile action. Of course, Senator Windels only allowed two minutes per opposing speaker in the Senate Education Committee hearing, scheduling it so that the CEA representative, the Colorado Association of School Boards , and the Colorado Association of School Executives could present their support with as much time as they wanted. Not surprising that Windels is the Chair of the Senate Education Committee. It is a sad and sickening side of politics as usual. But the real losers are the students of Colorado.

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Cindy Lowry of Arvada writes:

If American workers are not protected and our civil liberties are taken for granted, then we are moving three steps backward . The Bush Administration from day one has only cared about corporate interests and not the average American working citizens. Its’ time that the tables were turned.

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Dr. George W. Krieger of Elizabeth writes:

Well, here we go again. It seems that almost immediately after approving Sen. Francis Knauss’ bill to adopt A.J. Fynn’s “Where The Columbines Grow” as our state song in 1915, people have been trying to replace it. In 1917 it was pitted against 4 other songs and won out again. At one time people wanted Roscoe Stockton’s “C-O! HelLO! Hooray! D-O” as state song. In 1947 the song “Hail, Colorado” was proposed. In a compromise, it was ultimately chosen as the state Marching song. Madeline Beckman wanted her song “Onward & Upward” in 1952 - it failed. In 1969, the Up With People song “Colorado” (if I had a wagon...) was proposed by Rep. Betty Ann Dittemore and then sung by fellow Denver Westerner Pete Smythe (and a children’s choir) for the state legislature. It too failed. Perhaps a decade or so ago, John Denver’s excellent song “Rocky Mountain High” was proposed as the state song. It suffered the same fate as the other contenders (ostensibly due the “high” being an unnatural one). The point is that every few years, there is a turnaround of what people consider to be popular and contemporary. That doesn’t mean we need to throw out what is old and replace it with new (heck, what about that ancient “Star-Spangled Banner” - seems like it’s time for “God Bless The USA” right?). I propose a compromise just as in 1947 - create a new category like State Of Colorado Popular Song and then throw open the competition to songs like the Up With People song, John Denver’s song and even the song popularized by Merle Haggard “Colorado” (there’s a place where mother nature’s got it all together). My personal pick would be Utah Phillips’ “Colorado State Song” inviting people to come, bring their money and then go back home. Thank you.

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George Lilly of Denver writes:

Does the news media find itself ignorant of the NAFTA Superhighway or are they complicit. This is the most underreported (nearly unreported) story of the century.
The NAFTA Superhighway will connect Canada, Mexico and the United States, and it will for all intents and purposes erase our border and “harmonize” our laws on trade, law enforcement and transportation. You think there’s a lot of illegal immigrants here now, wait until this and the Free Trade Agreement of Americas (FTAA) are complete!
It’s surely true that the media is leftist in its posture politically, but don’t they care a whit for the United States? With the U.S. merged with Mexico, we will inherit all of the evils that accompany that, for example; massive political corruption, kidnappings, abuse of women, rampant pornography, crime and drug use.
A merger with Canada will give us the same worthless medical care they have. Do you want to wait three months for a mammogram if you’re a woman, or how about 16 weeks for removal of a kidney stone? Ooh that hurts! Losing sovereignty hurts the most, and you leftists will not like the result.

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Angeliar.Morris of Denver writes:

Since moving to Denver in 2002, I have had my share of experiences with cab companies. I have to write and say that being disabled, I agree with others who have also had bead experiences. But... most have really been good with yellow cab. It is the only company that I call and will ever call on again. I have found the metro cab drivers to be both very rude and particular in whom they will or will not pick up. With yellow cab, they know the value of a dollar. Get it while you can. More small trips will at times add up to more than one big trip. I had an elderly lady snatch my cab at the local grocery store last winter and when I went in to recall for a cab the cab driver called my last name but she got in anyways and the driver said he would be back but never did. I was left in the cold with my daughters ice cream cake for her birthday for over another hour. I have not had to wait very long for a yellow cab since, no matter how small my trip and they are at least decent to me on my ride. So, Thankyou Yellow Cab, and I know you will do your best to correct others who may have a bad experience.
As with anyone with a vehicle, if you must call a cab, make sure you have a little time to wait.

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Ron Perkins of Littleton writes:

What’s wrong with this picture?
Politicians spend multimillions of dollars (sometimes it’s even their own money) to get elected to a job that pays $160,000 per year. How does that compute? Speaker of the house Pelosi promises a democrat majority free of corruption and then has to recall most of her appointments because her first appointees were tainted by scandal.
The Senate unanimously confirmed General Petraeus as the new commander in Iraq and then immediately sought to stop funding the military effort while claiming to support the troops. Makes you want to start banging heads.
Border Patrol Agents do their job of catching illegal aliens running drugs on our southern border. For their efforts the agents are tried and convicted of wounding a criminal drug runner trying to escape into Mexico. The criminal was given immunity from prosecution to testify against the agents. The agents are sentenced to prison and the criminal was awarded a large monetary settlement for suffering a wound. While enjoying immunity he was caught a second time running drugs into the U.S. Over zealous prosecutors in the Justice Department need to be informed that the Constitution is not a suicide pact.
Mr. Green Jeans Gore exclaims “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” and we must all deprive ourselves of SUV’s, heat, lights and travel to reduce those dastardly carbons. And all the while he divides his time among three large energy hungry mansions and flies around in private jets spewing carbons many times more than the average citizen. Don’t you just love those limousine liberals and Hollywood environmentalist who want everyone to hang their cloths out to dry instead of using an electric dryer? Thank you Barbara for that wonderful world saving hint. I can’t wait to see your unmentionables flying at half mast.
Is this country rotting from the inside out, or what?

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Wayne Watson of Denver writes:

I often find Paul Campos’ editorials knowledgeable and logical. This recent one showed great ignorance of atheism and was devoid of logic.
I strongly disagree with his premise that the differences between believers and nonbelievers is and ought to be relevant to political life. Our Constitution states “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office” and “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". While I agree that an atheist couldn’t be elected a dogcatcher in America today, I find it a sad commentary when a qualified individual who would use his brain and logic to make important political, economic and military decisions be effectively barred from office simply because he does not believe in God. Contrast that with our current President, a strong believer, who says “ God told him to attack Iraq".
Mr. Campos believes that anyone who makes lots of “ought” statements cannot be a genuine atheist. He singles out Edward Wilson because Wilson believes we ought to preserve biological diversity and humanity as a profound moral imperative. Campos finds that nonsensical.
I find it incredulous that Mr. Campos would think a genuine atheist wouldn’t care in the slightest if species and even the human race not to mention the earth were wiped out after their death. Mr. Wilson has children, grandchildren, family and friends that he wants to have a better world. He has greatly added to our biological knowledge that he wants to pass along to future generations as all great scientists do(the majority of scientists are nonbelievers).

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John Wren of Denver writes:

March 7th the ballot will be set for the May Denver elections. It appears there is a conspiracy of the incumbents and the media to keep this important fact secret.
Where are the articles now about who has filed to run, and deadlines for others who might be interested? Why haven’t the newspapers reported the poor job being done by the Denver Election Commissions posting this information on their website? Our Optimist Club invited a City Council Person speak yesterday who is running for reelection.
Not one word was said in the 1/2 hour talk about the election and her position on issues. “We get along with the Mayor, and that’s the way people like it,” she said as she put on her coat to leave.
Most people I talk with are unhappy with the Mayor and the City Council for their performance with snow removal, the lack of progress with the new Justice Center, the mishandling of the homeless and immigration problems in Denver, etc.
There will be great interest in the May elections, I’m sure.
If we end up with a ballot in May with few good choices, the primary blame will be with the poor job that’s been done by Denver newspapers.

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Tyshaun Young of Denver writes:

My name is Tyshaun Young. I live in Denver county. I am also 14 years old and i am writing you adout the jaguar attack. I think that the zookeepers should have more then just one zookeeper in the zookeeper corridor while they are in there. If another zookeeper is in there they will see every move that the animal makes and talk to the other zookeepre to make sure that he/she is o.k. I think that they should always have protective gear such as specialized clothing and taser like equiptment. I also think that if you have another episode like this or the bear attack that was in 1920 I am afraid that Denver will not have a zoo anymore. So place keep the zookeepers safe at alltimes.

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Ernest E. Valdez of Thornton writes:

This country has gone to pots and Bush started it all by starting an unprovoked war. Perhaps the greatest most devastating wrong that a nation can do. So what is the theft of a little old lab top computer by a simple little old city attorney got to do with anything in this country anyway.
What the heck, if Scooter Libby can sacrifice himself for top administration officials of this country by just simply lieing through his teeth why worry about the small stuff. If we allow thousands of our nation’s young to be lost on a war that should have never been, why cry about an old used piece of equipment? Billions of our much needed dollars are squandered away out in a desert somewhere and we sit around and fiddle our fingers, worried half to death about old piece of equipment.
Everything has gone to pots, from top to bottom, what else can go wrong? Even our voting machines don’t work. Those foxholes are still there in my street. And we cry about an old computer! Why, we ought to just push the button and open up every single jail door in this country. Let them all out.
Two thousand and eight is just around the corner. Let’s us start anew, in an environment free from all corruption and Bushruptions. Let us bring our soldiers home where they belong. Let the little old city attorney have his little old lab top, he paid for it didn’t he?

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Michael Trimble of Littleton writes:

When I saw Ann Coulter’s remarks concerning Democratic presidential-hopeful John Edwards, my first remark was, “Ooooh- I bet Paul Campos writes a column about this!” My second remark was that it would be a great subject for a little office pool, betting on when Campos would have the column out for publication. We didn’t have the pool, though. Everybody wanted the “He’s writing it right now,” box. In my immediate memory, this is the third column Campos has published ranting about Ann Coulter.
Coulter knew what would happen when she dropped her little throw-away line about how she can’t remark on Edwards, because “It turns out you have to go to rehab if you use the word ‘faggot.’” It was not a genteel remark, but then, Coulter is not know for gentility. To the contrary, her biting sarcasm sells a lot of books. Insofar as this goes, Campos is right, just as it is true that Molly Ivans made her living with biting “humor” from the opposite perspective. Campos’ statement that a Democrat would be “instantly destroyed” for such a comment, though, is frankly laughable, even leaving Molly Ivans out of the comparison. I think I must have missed Campos’ column condemning Whoopee Goldberg for her very own vagina-monologue, comparing W.’s last name to pubic hair at a Democratic fund raiser for John Kerry, but last I checked, Goldberg is still working (and still bashing Republicans, one presumes). Shall we also discuss the Dixie Chicks, and Robin Williams? I think my point is made...
Humor is made of surprising twists. Obvoius twists are not clever, and not funny, like using the word “bush” as a double-entondre. There would be no twist, and therefore no surprise and no humor, not to mention being certainly offensive, had Coulter said, for example, about Barney Frank the same thing as what she said about Edwards. The fact that no one really thinks Edwards is gay gives the comment something of a surprise twist, which is why Coulter got a laugh (and some applause) for that comment. Everybody sat for a moment, trying to understand what she could mean by saying that, and then, presumably, people started to think about Edwards meticulous primping and grooming, and made the connection I think Coulter was trying to satirize.
And make no mistake, that’s exactly what this is: Satire. Offensive? Yes, some people are clearly offended. Funny? Humor, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. Some laugh, some do not. Politics? Undoubtedly. I, personally, wish she had not said it. I, personally, will probably still buy her next book.
Whether or not someone finds Coulter’s remarks beyond the pale, it is noteworthy that Campos took the time to work into his column five examples of calling Coulter “a (expletive).” He did it as if it were a mere example for comparison. Five examples, though... it is as transparent as if I were to work into this paragraph (for comparison only, of course), “Campos is said by some to be a jack*ss. If he were not a jack*ss, he would not be saying such things. Of course, being a jack*ss is what some columnists do, so the fact that Campos is thought to be a jack*ss should come as no surprise... but I would never say that about him, myself, no matter how much he deserves it.” Observe that I’m still one “jack*ss” short of Campos’ five examples of “(expletive).” The “*” has the same effect as Campos writing “(expletive)"- it draws the eye, and attention, away from the substance of the words, and into the intent of the insult. Coulter’s line was used exactly once. Campos is not making a comparison, he is calling Coulter a (expletive), even while writing “any decent person would avoid” saying such a thing.
For the record, I do not think Paul Campos is a jack*ss. I think he is a thoughtful man, with, usually, a nice writing style and with occasional and very acute episodes of exceptionally good insight. I enjoy his column more often than not, even though, more often than not, I disagree with him. His obsession with Ann Coulter, though, is getting tiresome. Maybe he could take that up with a therapist, and leave it out of his columns.

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Jim Threlkeld of Denver writes:

I hope my Democrat friends forgive me for agreeing with Mike Rosen, but he “nailed it” in his “This is MADDness” column. The real DUI problem always has been and always will be with multiple offenders. I am a recovering alcoholic who for many years consulted with the Santa Clara County California court system for their DUI programs. Three things usually happened to a first offender. (1)He experienced the humiliation of the arrest, the booking process and sometimes day or two in jail.. (2) A substantial fine was levied. (3) An expensive alcohol awareness program was required in order to save the drivers license. The combination of the three was usually sufficient to cause most first offenders to moderate or eliminate their use of alcohol before driving an automobile.
As for the multiple offenders. These are alcoholics with serious problems. Most can’t remember the last time they were in possession of a valid drivers license. They not only drink and drive without licenses, they will also borrow a car if they don’t own one. Two solutions have been tried with only moderate degrees of success. One, a mandatory alcohol treatment program, often 30 days in-patient followed by a stay in a half-way house. Or two, a lengthy jail sentence from one to fifteen years depending on the seriousness of the offense. The alcohol treatment program works only for those with the desire to stay sober. The jail sentence temporarily protects the community. Sooner or later these untreated alcoholics are back on the street and behind the wheel of an automobile.
If a county desires to experiment with an expensive ignition interlock system, try it with multiple offenders who still own automobiles. Any reasonable attempt to save lives is worth a try.

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Brian Stuckey of Denver writes:

The White House is fully justified in the eviction of the three critics from the 2005 public forum in Denver. If anyone owes an apology, it is certainly not the White House. It is right and proper for the Bush administration to take whatever action is necessary to protect the president from possible troublemakers. The facts indicate that this was indeed the case. This is hardly a “wanton trampling of free speech rights,” as you suggest. On the contrary, the abusive language of the critics does not even suggest free speech. It is, in essence, an example of the extreme hatred of the left towards this administration. Your editorial is a case in point.

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Medwyn Sloane of Highlands Ranch writes:

“Al Gore Triumphant” (Marianne Means) and “Libby Trial Sheds Light” (H.D.S. Greenway) were just awful -the very worst (best?) of liberal commentary, full of lies and deliberate distortions. Neither has any redeeming social value. Why don’t you guys trade these two in for some rational, literate, truthful liberal columnists?? There really are some around.
Ms. Means gushed all over “Big Al” (much weightier guy than in White House days!). “He has transformed An Inconvenient Truth into a blockbuster event....” - when this farcical Power Point slide show is pure propaganda, with carefully cherry picked factoids, completely devoid of scientific evidence for its wild claims. “He never dreamed of himself as being a politician....” - oh, please - he’s ridden that gravy train his whole life.
There was a point back in the 80s when he sounded like a reasonable and able congressman - but those days are long gone. And then the truth comes out about the carbon credits he traded for to fuel that extra large size southern mansion in Nashville!
Mr. Greenway is a far distant lefty. His fundamental lie in this editorial is the totally discredited idea that the Bush administration was out to get Joe Wilson. Heck, that guy thoroughly discredited himself when he turned in a truthful report after his trip to Africa, and then refuted the report in a NY Times Op Ed!! And, no, dear Valerie wasn’t under cover during the pointless special prosecutor’s “investigation.” So now Mr. Libby is being run through the ringer for no reason, and the jury is so concerned over rendering a verdict that the “twelve good (persons) and true” want the weekend off to do personal errands!
You can do better than this, sports fans.

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Mimi Ryun of Northglenn writes:

Amendment 41 was voted in by the people of Colorado for one reason and one reason only!
To put a stop to lobbyist “buying and paying for” undue influence from our elected officials, period.
It was not intended to stop a child from accepting a scholarship if their mother or father happen to work for the state regardless of what that person does without taking into account whether or not they have influence in the law making process.

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Burghilde Ruffatti (no hometown provided) writes:

Once again, the government abuses its power to prosecute the poor while lining the pockets of the never-ending greed of certain people and companies. Those continuous raids of establishments who hire undocumented workers have very little to do with stemming the influx of illegal labor to the US or discouraging “identity theft” but help a great deal in keeping the privately run prisons populated and insure an ever-increasing “demand” for new prison constructions by a few privileged corporations (does the name Halliburton sound familiar?!).
Not only are raids not the answer to a broken immigration system which has people waiting for up to 20 years in an applicant status while we benefit from their labor, but it reeks of Nazi tactics: persons who fit a certain racial profile get rounded up without warning and without any consideration about what happens to their families, then shipped across the country to be locked up in prisons for years without a right to due process or visitation.
If the government was really concerned about illegal immigration, rather than using undocumented workers as scape-goats to distract from the bigger picture, it would work towards comprehensive immigration reform and solutions for the cause of the problem rather than attacking its symptoms. I will never understand why the so-called capitalistic laws of demand and supply are only valid when it comes to multinational corporations finding cheap labor in any other country they please without having to respect national borders, while it is illegal for the work-force of foreign countries to do likewise.

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Dick Prosence of Meeker writes:

Discussions of global warming are extremely confusing. Everyone seems to agree that the earth is in a warming cycle. The arguments rage over how much is due to human activities.
Recently a letter to an editor called my attention to a paper by Richard S.
Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then another letter has attempted to discredit Professor Lindzen’s conclusions by implying that since it was published in 1992 it is out of date. But how much can have changed in atmospheric conditions and methods of research in 15 years? Probably not a lot. In that same letter the Cato Institute, publisher of the professor’s paper, is labeled a notoriously right wing conservative entity, and apparently for that reason should have no credence.
Would that same writer discredit many publications of work by college professors, the majority of whom lean toward the liberal left?
Professor Lindzen writes an interesting conclusion in the first paragraph of his paper: “I must state at the outset that, as a scientist, I can find no substantive basis for the warming scenarios being popularly described.” He goes on in a analysis supporting that conclusion.
After reading through the discussion of models, research and conclusions, I decided Professor Lindzen points to a serious problem having nothing to do with climatology. A lot of people, Hollywood types, politicians, environmentalists, and scientists are jumping on the “global warming” band wagon because in many cases there is money to be made. Professor Aaron Wilavsky of the University of California has described “global warming” as being the mother of all environmental scares. Careers are being built around the issue.
Continued usage of carbon fuels and concomitant generation of carbon dioxide is vital to our economy and our standard of living, and that of the world.
We need to concentrate on developing extremely clean coal-fired power plants to utilize our largest natural resource. The construction of the cleanest of all power plants, nuclear, should be encouraged by simplification of the licensing process. The media should report both sides of this issue in a fair and balanced manner.

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Arv Jarasius of Westminster writes:

The House of Representatives was elected to legislate, to pass and modify laws for the good of the country. Instead of doing their job, they are wasting valuable time on a “non-binding” resolution concerning the Iraq war.
If I want to hear about what they feel, I read their web sites. They are there to take action not waste time debating and voting on something that has no force of law and is, basically, meaningless. The house members participating in this should refund the US treasury the equivalent amount of salary they should have earned during this activity.

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Steve Lang of Denver writes:

An AP article in the March 2 Rocky reported Maj. Gen. George Weightman was removed as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center after the Washington Post uncovered horrible conditions and stupefyingly inept bureaucracy there.
Although the article didn’t say so, Weightman’s interim replacement was Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley.
This is the same Kiley who headed Walter Reed for two years, until 2004, and subsequently, as the Army’s surgeon general, was the supervisor of its director. This is the same Kiley who, when he headed Walter Reed, was told by the wife of a Republican member of Congress that there were problems there. This is the same Kiley who was told, as Army surgeon general, that there were problems at Walter Reed. And this is the same Kiley who pooh-poohed the Washington Post stories as “one-sided.”
I will leave aside the question of how the Army can possibly think Kiley is the right man to set things straight at Walter Reed. But how is it possible that the Rocky’s AP article about Weightman’s firing doesn’t mention Kiley by name, let alone detail Kiley’s own checkered history with the hospital?

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Ken Pitt of Arvada writes:

Top 10 Reasons Why Larry Manzanares Won’t be Prosecuted for the Theft of the Laptop Computer 1.. He claims to have bought the computer from someone in a parking lot, and everyone knows that legitimate computer dealers often pedal their wares from parking lots behind the City and County Building.
2.. Everyone knows that public officials never steal or take bribes.
3.. He’s a Democrat, and while everyone knows that Republicans must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law at all times, Democrats are always considered to be innocent by default, at least as long as there are Democrats in the Mayor’s office and Governor’s mansion.
4.. The top DA brass has turned the case over to a special prosecutor to be reviewed until such time as everyone has forgotten about it.
5.. State government is sure they can figure out how to implicate President Bush, Dick Cheney, Carl Rove, and/or Scooter Libby in the theft.
6.. Mr. Manzanares has agreed to resign over the incident; although, he’ll immediately be hired back as a consultant at three times his old salary.
7.. The Colorado State Court Administration first wants to get a look at the laptop to determine whether Mr. Manzanares spilled butter on it, as this would have legally made it an English muffin instead of a computer.
8.. The lying conservative media trumped up the charges against Mr. Manzanares for political reasons.
9.. Mr. Manzanares swears that he got the laptop form the same legitimate source where he got his 25 State of Colorado ashtrays and 12 State of Colorado letter openers.
10.. The whole thing is a vast, rightwing conspiracy cooked up by a purely-partisan state court administrator, with ties to Al Quaeda and the Repbulican Party.

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Leonard Muniz of Broomfield writes:

Over 3,120 American soldiers and 150,000 Iraqi’s have died in the Iraq war.
We have spent billions and billions are involved in fraud and corruption.
The Bush administration influenced North Korea, Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
The Iraq war has created more insurgents, militants and volunteers into Al Qaeda.
Everyone says the Congress voted for the war. According to Wesly Clark and others we have discovered that the Bush Administration influenced, cajoled the CIA and FBI to come up with false information of the WMD’s, nuclear and Al Qaeda connection.
So now that we know all this why haven’t we fired, impeached the whole Bush group who caused this? Because the then Republican dominated congress refused to take responsibility for this fiasco. They claim the entire world community would see us as dysfunctional and disorganized.
The world already sees us as dysfunctional, war mongering and arrogant.
I say we would make more peace and gain more credibility by admitting our errors and firing and impeaching the Bush administration, getting out of Iraq, finishing up in Afghanistan and leave.

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Gayle Merves of Lone Tree writes:

I find it is interesting that Rove’s tactics of lying about what an opponent did or will do is seen as a virtue to republicans. His viciousness in attacks on opponents, (even republicans!) is seen as something desirable. Rove’s tactics are the reason this country has become so polarized and the reason why politicians can’t seem to find common ground on the issues. The fact that the republicans, who see themselves as morally superior to everyone else, see Rove as a role model show the depths of their depravity.

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Lonnie Meder of Thornton writes:

On 2/28/07 you published an article Trailing the IT revolution. The second header in the article was Colorado’s decline to ninth in new economy index laid to inadequate higher “education funding That line should have read Colorado’s decline to ninth in new economy index laid to inappropriate higher “education spending.
IE. 1) Ward Churchill. 2) Sports program sex problems. 3) Attempting to spend $300,000 to do a national search for a CU president after Hank Brown was appointed by Governor Owens —- because the poor darlings in staff didn’t get a chance to PICK THEIR BOSS —— I worked for 50 years in high tech, wrote and taught multiple computer classes, and never got to pick my bosses. 4) Tenure —- I was very important to the businesses I worked for —- they really couldn’t do without me —- I mean REALLY, —- but I could still be fired or cut at any time. 5) Diversity —- CU can’t even identify how much they are spending on DIVERSITY (from an Independence Institute study), yet they want to hire a Vise Chancellor of Diversity —- don’t know about you, but if you can’t identify what you are spending, you shouldn’t get any more.
After reading multiple writings by Larry Penley (President of CSU) over the last couple years, I get the distinct impression that constipation can be blamed on insufficient funding of “higher education.”
Did anybody consider in these so called studies that IBM has considerably downsized and sent many jobs overseas, that Sun has downsized, that Storage Tek is no longer in business, etc. etc. These changes didn’t happen because of insufficient higher education funding.
When is the news media going to start telling the truth about this sacred cow. It’s become a crock!!!!
P.S. I have serious doubts that the RMN will print this letter because I don’ t feel you have professional honesty anymore when addressing the higher education subject.!!

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

Now the Colorado Judicial System has ask the police to drop the case of a stolen laptop against Larry Manzanares the DA. I say that he must have known that the laptop was stolen because he took it home and used it. It had to have material that was related to his office from where is was taken. He used it several time. He must have known what was on the computer. Did he get a receipt? I think not. Did he ask any info from the person that he bought it from, I think not. Now that are talking about dropping the case. I say that he should be fired and charged with possession of stolen property. No one buy’s things in a parking lot and assumes that everything is OK. He is a DA, he is aware of what he does and he should know the penalty of he actions.

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Pete Klammer of Wheat Ridge writes:

Shaving your head used to be an empathetic gesture of solidarity, support, and sympathy towards peers fighting cancer by undergoing chemotherapy.
Celebrity-turned-superbimbo Britney Spears kinda stole that from us now, didn’t she? The guys on the team can still do that for their struggling teammate, but right now a girl can’t join in without drawing stares from strangers who are obviously thinking: “rehab?”
Instead of wondering why these decadent jet-setters are getting so much press attention, maybe we should be asking the press why they aren’t filling their pages with so much coverage and investigation that there shouldn’t be any space left for stars’ shaving alerts.

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Tommy Holeman of Boulder writes:

These republicans just can’t seem to grasp that the working Joes of our country have begun to question their competency at governing a Constitutional Republic.
Whether it’s understanding the plight of the working poor, or just not caring about them is a topic of conversation around many dinner tables.
Health care is unavailable or unafordable for too many families, and the neo-con mind set seems to be “Well, why don’t they just get another job that provides health insurance?” or “Why don’t we just dip into our trust fund and pay for it?” Neither scenario is practical or even possible.
The country club set that’s been running our country into the ground as well as into expensive wars is finally being taken to task for what’s happened the last 6 years.
Working Joe is not happy, and he’s realized that it’s HIS sons and daughters that have gone to war and it’s HIS tax dollars that have been squandered. Despite the lies that “The oil revenues will pay for the war” or “The war will last 6 weeks, maybe 6 months"... WMD’s ...Mushroom clouds over New York, etc. etc, etc.
Call your republican legislators and let them know that we’re done with them (To quote the Bush matriarch) , declare that Watergate was not that long ago, and that we realize that the similarities between G. Gordon Liddy and Scooter Libby are painfully obvious.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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Michael Hart of Denver writes:

In response to RMN article ‘Riders decry trips in Taxi Hell” ( Feb 28). I have been in the taxi business for eighteen years (formerly serving five years as Communications (call center and dispatch) Manager) for Metro Taxi. Although I sympathize with the Ms. Shaw’s experience it is the exception and not the rule. Metro Taxi alone dispatches more than 500,000 calls per year. Less than one percent of those calls results in a customer complaint either directly to the company or by way of the P.U.C., which is responsible for regulating the taxi industry in Colorado. True enough, there are those cabbies that would prefer to take a trip to the airport rather than take the short ride but this too is the exception not the rule. Most drivers are very ethical and take pride in providing good customer service. De-regulation would change all of that. As stated in Alan Gathright article, “cabbies are required to pick up all fares under current law". Without that “current law", cabbies would be free to refuse service to anyone, operate unsafe and uninsured vehicles and set their fares on a per trip basis (talk about Taxi Hell). After all, who would be there to stop them. Taxi dispatch centers, with the P.U.C. regulation behind them, do their best to insure that cabbies are picking up the fares they agree to service. De-regulation would leave a dispatcher helpless in this effort. If there is a way for the unethical cabby to get out of taking a trip he doesn’t want to take he will. The blame for poor service ultimately lies with each individual driver and not with the company or its dispatchers.
No the answer is not de-regulation but more stringent enforcement of the regulations already in place. The P.U.C. has the authority to impose fines on a cab driver for many different reasons including refusing or failing to pick up a customer ($200.00), yet in the five years I spent in management I had only witnessed one such fine imposed on a driver. Hit the driver where it hurts and you will find he would much rather take the short trip than to pay the fines that can be imposed and in turn you will see a dramatic improvement in service. More is not necessarily better. P.S. How about asking readers with both bad and good experiences to contact you?

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Lynn Highland of Morrison writes:

Putting erroneous quotes from the likes of Neil Bortz, in your editorial section is something your paper should watch more closely. Mr. Bortz pontificates sarcastically, in the March 6 Rocky editorial page that if the American people like the government employees and government oversight of Walter Reed Army Hospital, they are just going to love government-run health care.
We now find out that outsourcing is exactly a large part of the problem currently targeted at Walter Reed. Some genius in the government decided to get rid of 350 skilled government workers and replace them with 100 obviously incompetent IAP CO. employees, the same company that bungled the Katrina contracting effort. I hardly think Mr. Bortz will retract his wrong statement - to defend it as merely his opinion is ridiculous—It is distressing to see the Rocky publish wrong information without checking the facts.

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William Hambric of Broomfield writes:

It can’t be easy to both advocate harsh punishment for a convicted criminal and at the same time minimize that criminal’s acts, yet your March 7, 2007, editorial on Scooter Libby managed to pull it off.
In the first place, saying the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent constituted “no underlying crime” completely disregards the facts; she WAS an undercover CIA agent, as the grand jury’s investigation made clear. If she hadn’t been a covert agent, the CIA wouldn’t have filed a crime report shortly after Robert Novak’s infamous column, nor would the case have made it out of the grand jury.
Furthermore, if trial testimony established that “half the Washington press corp” was talking about Valerie Plame, it was doing so because of the Bush Administration’s efforts to ensure people were talking about her. Trial testimony also established that the Bush Administration, especially Vice President Cheney, was obsessed with destroying the credibility of Ms. Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, who had criticized the Administration’s Niger claim and the infamous “sixteen words” in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union speech.
The Bush Administration’s actions not only called a dedicated public servant a liar, they destroyed a CIA operative’s career, sabotaged her undercover operation, undermined the Administration’s own efforts to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iran, (how’s that for irony?) and furthered the Administration’s goal of manufacturing justifications for a senseless, needless, wasteful war on Iraq. THERE are your underlying crimes.
Your attempts to link Patrick Fitzgerald with Kenneth Starr simply don’t hold water. Mr. Starr’s prosecution began with a failed real estate deal and ended with a purely political attempt to impeach President Clinton for adultery.
That impeachment will go down in history as a blot on the U.S. Constitution and on the dignity of our nation.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation uncovered a far more grave blot on our Constitution and our dignity, but one perpetuated not by the Special Prosecutor, but by the Bush Administration. Nevertheless, your editorial attempts to minimize the gravity of these crimes. The fact that only Mr. Libby has been prosecuted has nothing to do with any perceived weakness in Mr. Fitzgerald’s case.
Rather, it’s a reflection of his cautious investigation and of the Administration’s determination that it sacrifice only one patsy per scandal.
Finally, your complaint that the appointment of a Special Prosecutor “is almost always a bad idea” is simply hard to swallow. The “bad idea” that was the Starr investigation didn’t prevent your paper from endorsing the result of that bad idea, the Clinton impeachment.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation, on the other hand, exposed the Bush Administration to be a power mad, manipulative bunch of serial liars and war-mongers, determined to destroy anyone who opposed their goal of a war with Iraq.
Does the Rocky Mountain News think it’s a “bad idea” that we know this? Is it better that we live, as the Bush Administration wants us to, in blissful ignorance?

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Denis Gessing of Denver writes:

On Monday a letter writer pointed out how, unlike the United States, Britain has a member of the Royal family willing to serve in Iraq alongside the regular grunts.
Tuesday night ABC aired a documentary detailing the horrific ordeal of reporter Bob Woodruf, who in turn is exposing the horrific, and often hidden, world of brain injury; the number one injury among our returning soldiers and Marines and what is not being done for them by the VA.
Today the Rocky ran a story of a Loveland man whose Marine son is about to return for his third tour of duty. Rightly so this father is angry- like a lot of other military families- that his son is risking his life for a lie, an unjust dead end war. He backs the Colorado Senate’s anti-war resolution. A resolution that was introduced by Sen. Ron Tupa who has now softened the measure from earlier drafts calling for a phased withdrawal. I would encourage both Tupa and the Senate to do other wise.
I would encourage them to add to this resolution a proviso, a message to all those seeking the Presidency in 2008. Simply put it would read to this effect: Any sitting American President who declares war on another country does so by first offering up every able bodied member of his (or her) immediate family for service. This goes for all cabinet members and administration members from the top on down to all who support the war. Then see what kind of armor the troops get. What kind of rehabilitation returning vets get. But most importantly, how much closer we examine the serious nature of war.
Support the troops. Bring them home now and continue to support them with both the medical and mental health care needed. Either that or send in the twins and all the other privileged children of the deciders and armchair warriors.

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Ernest M. Duckworth Jr. of Sedalia writes:

"An Inconvenient Truth” By Gore May Not Be The Truth At All, But The Inconvenient Solution Is Really Inconvenient And Not Possible Anymore
Man-made global warming is being labeled as a myth and one of the biggest scams of modern times. This may be true and it also may not be true.
However, one thing that we all can agree on is that the ‘GUNK’ in the air in our big cities is slowly killing us.
A truth is that the air in our big cities is almost as pure as the air at the top of Mount Everest compared to the air in Beijing, Singapore, Bangalore or worse yet, New Delhi. Thus, our air is bad but the air of other cities is worse and make no mistake about that. However, worldwide we are all seriously shorting our life spans by polluting our world’s air.
A second truth is that the air has got ‘GUNK’ in it from our vehicles, and this is because of the fuel that we are using to power our vehicles. Also, much of the fuel that we are purchasing is helping finance the jihad that is being waged against all Christians, Jews and non believers. This is almost everybody folks!
A third truth is that the solution to cleaning up our air worldwide, improving our life spans worldwide, and at the same time stopping jihad worldwide, is to change the fuel of our vehicles to hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel however is an inconvenient solution, because it can only be made efficiently from nuclear energy. Any other manufacture of hydrogen from other fuels is quite absurd, outrageously inefficient, and will only make our air pollution worse!
Thus, the inconvenient solution to “An Inconvenient Truth” is actually to follow France’s example of supplying all electricity with nuclear energy.
But this is now the crux to our real dilemma in this land of the free where the minority is loud, the majority is silent, and thus our direction usually wrong!
How do we start building nuclear power plants again that were stopped thirty (30) years ago by the same type of present day Gore followers? How do we start building nuclear power plants again when we have deregulated our electrical power industry?
“The Inconvenient Truth” to “An Inconvenient Truth” is that we in the United States have been headed down a one way path for the last thirty (30) years, and the only solution is to admit we have made a very grave mistake. Thus, we must turn around on this one way path and begin building nuclear power plants like there is no tomorrow, because, guess what? There may be no tomorrow!
The final inconvenient truth is that there is no tomorrow for any of us because: (1) Can you picture Gore’s current followers now admitting their mistake of thirty (30) years ago condemning nuclear energy generation of our electricity? (2) Can you picture our Representatives in Congress admitting their mistake in deregulating the electrical power industry? (3) Can you picture the electrical power industry taking the very high financial risk on their own of building nuclear power plants under the current deregulation mandated by Congress?
I can’t! No way will any of this happen. So guess what? “The Final Inconvenient Truth is that there is no tomorrow for any of us.” Too bad, so sad, your Dad.

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Grant D. Cyrus of Boulder writes:

I’m still in touch with a few retired diplomat friends of my dad and I understand what they mean when they say in certain foreign policy circles that ‘America, thy name is Jerry Springer.’
Poor troubled and tenacious Tom Tancredo. In placing last in a recent Republican straw poll he proves even most Republicans want no part of his single-minded hatefulness of policy. He ain’t going anywhere at all mon, I’m willing to bet.
Serious and sophisticated Conservatives and Republicans would do well to begin to distance themselves from the spoiled, raving Ann Coulter temperamental teenager if they plan to ever again be perceived as a serious political party.

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Roy M. Cantrell of Aurora writes:

Sure would like to see three extremely popular, outstanding candidates for the 2008 Presidential election: A Republican, a Democrat and an independent. That would be something!

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Charles Buchanan of Denver writes:

James Runavich in his screed against “liberals” (Liberals forget 9/11 - 3-7-07) optimizes the intellectual bankruptcy of the so-called conservative movement. Conservatism has morphed into an Authoritarian Cult and the way it works is simple: If you support Bush you’re a “conservative". If you criticize Bush in any way you are a “liberal".
His faulty premise that “liberals are motivated by their feelings and emotions more than sound foreign policy” couldn’t be more ironic. He parrots a familiar Bush fallacy - “we have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” - that was specifically designed to appeal to fear, cowardice, and people’s emotional response to 9/11.
The writers conflation of Al Qaeda’s attack on New York and the war we started in Iraq is typical nonsense that shows just how good the President has been at “catapulting the propaganda” - to use his own words. You have to be under a pretty thick blanket of ignorance to still believe one had anything to do with the other.
Despite six years of total rule by conservatives, Mr. Runavich blames all of the failings, mismanagement, callous indifference and outright crimes of George W. Bush and his incompetent cronies on some non-existent cabal of “liberals” that exists only in his mind. As an exercise, I suggest that he compare the writings of Authoritarian Bush Cultist and conservative icon Ann Coulter with those of another famous propagandist Joseph Goebbels; replace the word “liberals” with “Jews” and the similarities are striking.

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T.P. Beh of Castle Rock writes:

What planet does Paul Campos come from? Reading his latest commentary (The liberal media’ ploy), it’s obvious the man is either not dealing well with reality or abides in some parallel universe where everything’s the opposite of the one in which most Americans, except for those in Boulder and probably Massachusetts, live.
In Campos’ universe, there’s no liberal bias in the media. In fact, the poor media have been so bullied and intimidated by those whining Republicans, they get away with things that would instantly destroy any Democrat (like William Jefferson of $90,000 in the freezer fame?). His primary proof is the failure of the New York Times to mention Ann Coulter referring to John Edwards as a faggot at a conservative political gathering. I guess in Campos’ world, if the NYT doesn’t say something it doesn’t exist. But for the rest of us it appears that everyone else in the intimidated and unbiased media have been doing little but piling on Coulter, if not calling for her crucifixion” that is when they haven’t been touting the latest evidence that Jesus was just a man who engaged in sex with a former prostitute. (Again, perhaps understandable in the world of Campos, as it is getting to be that funky Easter time of year.) Campos is particularly irked that presidential candidate Mitt Romney would intentionally want to associate himself with Coulter, instead of denouncing her as the hate-monger that she, in his contrary universe (where the greatest crime is implying anything negative about homosexuality), obviously must be.
Oh well, hopefully the NYT will catch a clue one of these days and stop being a conservative rag. In the meantime, poor Paul may wish to seek solace from fellow Boulderite and parallel universe occupant Ward Churchill, who I believe is still receiving his $100,000+ salary from the people of Colorado after calling the 9/11 victims little Eichmanns.

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Here is a simple solution for those Rocky readers bothered by smokers and secondhand smoke: If you don’t like it, look for a job elsewhere or frequent a nonsmoking establishment. There are enough around that you shouldn’t have to make it your business to infringe on others’ rights. (This is America, right?)
Smokers know what they are doing — they don’t need you to tell them it is bad for their health and yours. Smokers are no less intelligent then the next person, so quit patting yourself on the back. It could be both ways — smoking and nonsmoking establishments. That way everyone is happy and no one has to interfere in the business of anyone else.
And, if you are so determined to make it your business to force your wishes on others, make cigarettes and cigars illegal and keep your mouth shut about the tax dollars you will no longer get!

Coni Householter, Estes Park

I do not understand why everybody believes that there are only two options for moving forward in Iraq — surge more troops in to stop the violence or pull our troops out of Iraq.
I believe a third option makes better sense: move our troops out to the borders, out of harm’s way and let Iraq have the civil war and bloodbath that most appear to want.
Once the Iraqi people have had enough bloodletting, then allow our military to help with security until Iraq’s government and military is sufficiently stable to run the country.
If the resulting government does not want any help, then pull our troops out of Iraq.

Colin C. Case, Highlands Ranch

I think there is a hypocritical situation going on in Colorado concerning mandatory use of seat belts for adults but the optional use of helmets for motorcycle-riding adults.
I don’t think adults should be ticketed for not buckling up since failure to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle is not a ticketable offense.
We know that both save lives and injuries — that’s obvious — but who would fare the best in an accident, an unbelted driver surrounded by a car for protection or a helmetless motorcycle rider with absolutely no protection whatsoever? Fair is fair!

Mimi Ryun, Northglenn

Vincent Knight of Fort Collins writes:

“And Columnist Mike Rosen is a Flower, not a Cactus”
Mike Rosen’s attack on environmentalist F.R. Pamp (“Enviro-socialism,” Feb. 23) was completely accurate.
A recent letter to the editor in the March 9 edition titled, “And Columnist Mike Rosen is a Cactus,” attacks Rosen’s assessment of Pamp as a Bolshevik. The author states that “nowhere in Pamp’s article did he remotely suggest communist-style government intervention as a means of controlling the material excesses of our American elites. He merely questioned the necessity for such gross indulgence, the mind-set behind it and its impact on the planet and our finite resources.”
The fact remains that there are two basic economic systems currently being employed in the world, capitalism and communism (by the way, how is the quality-of-life in North Korea and Cuba?). Elements of socialism are present in our mixed capitalist systems, and these elements depend on “government intervention as a means.” What, you didn’t honestly think that the majority of the people out there were going to voluntarily give away up to one-third of their earnings so that the government can redistribute it and otherwise do with it what it pleases? Janet Elway and most people like her would not just give the remainder of their resources away either.
Seeing as Pamp’s article is an attack on the excesses of capitalism, the only possible solution to this “problem” is the application of the only other system, communism (a.k.a. socialism in practice). By definition of his subjectively stated problem, the excesses of capitalism, the implication is that a “problem” such as this can only be solved through Bolshevik-style communism, in other words extreme government intervention.
Put differently, if it is not communism, then it has elements of capitalism, whose excesses are the stated problem. Communism is Pamp’s only possible would-be solution, the only system without elements of capitalism. Mike Rosen’s assessment of Pamp’s solution is implied by Pamp himself.

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Pete Klammer of Wheat Ridge writes:

It has sold millions of yellow-ribbon trunk stickers; It’s a great “patriotic” slogan: “SUPPORT THE TROOPS!".
Now that both parties, in the promptly-retracted words of Obama and McCain, have admitted the word “waste” into play, I have a better slogan for those yellow ribbons: “DON’T WASTE THEIR DAMN LIVES IN THE FIRST PLACE!”

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Chris R. Hotz of Greenwood Village writes:

Can we all clarify something? Global warming is a scientific fact, global temperatures have in fact risen over the past several years. Mankind’s impact on global warming is a theory. A mere 20 years ago, there was a theory that we were entering an ice age. I believe the theory that mankind is responsible for global warming is highly flawed, and can not hold up under scientific scrutiny. Others would disagree with me, which is why it is a debatable theory. Facts are irrefutable, theories are anything but. Most of what I read in the mainstream media lumps global warming (fact) together with mans impact on it (theory). Separating the fact from the theory allows people to draw their own conclusions, rather than combining the two to support a very obvious political agenda.

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Hale Hilsabeck of Lakewood writes:

Re: Mike Rosen’s March 2 editorial which dealt with Rep. Joel Judd’s House Bill 1189 (tougher laws for DUI offenses); I have a comment and then a question. First, I was cited for a DWAI - Driving While Ability Impaired (.08%) - in 1996 as the result of an accident caused by an extremely inebriated passenger who grabbed the steering wheel in my car and put us head-on into a power pole as I was taking them home after a night out at a local tavern. I attended the required alcohol awareness classes as part of the sentence I was given, and the number one message in the program was that there is *no* safe amount of alcohol to drink prior to operating a motor vehicle. I would now agree wholeheartedly with that - not only because it impairs the driver’s ability to control a vehicle, but because, as I discovered the hard way, it also impairs a driver’s ability to control the actions of any *passengers* that may be riding with them. The decision making process, when guiding a car or truck on a public roadway, can involve more than just the operation of the gas pedal, brake, and steering wheel.
Second, a car or truck is simply an efficient means of conveying people from one place to another - just like, say, an airplane. So, how many drinks would Mr. Rosen consider to be acceptable for an airline pilot to consume before taking off with 150 passengers? - Or is it more important for *those* vehicle operators to remain completely sober only because they would kill more people at once if they made a mistake?
After due consideration, I don’t think it constitutes “paranoid, risk-averse, nannyist control” to keep people who are even “barely tipsy” - as I was 11 years ago - from behind a steering wheel. And if it saved “only one life", yes, it would be worth it. I’m pretty fond of mine; how about you, Mr. Rosen?

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Jan Herron of Evergreen writes:

Congressman Tancredo’s speech at Friday’s CPAC convention speaks volumes and said “conservatism doesn’t need an adjective, it needs a leader". Rep. Tancredo was clear in stating that republican candidates running for President avoid discussion on illegal immigration. He also told the packed-full audience that he would like to see a candidate that he could vote for and not the “lesser of two evils” and I totally agree! Who else is there in either party willing to still stand firmly in opposition to the massive illegal alien invasion? Tancredo’s voice surely reflects citizens nationwide who still insist on keeping America’s sovereignty. His call to remove the blatant and rampant lawlessness engendered by our current, inept candidates and politicians surely angers the politically correct, and, nothing angers the politically correct like the unvarnished truth. Simply put, Tancredo isn’t “ready to make nice” with the GOP, he wants the issue of illegal immigration out in the open and he made that clear at CPAC. Let’s get the party started!

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Larry Harrison of Lakewood writes:

Global warming/cooling have been the subject of much study/research over many years (in the 1970s global cooling was the concern). GW proponents at this time are either convinced or feigning conviction that GW portends a disaster of global proportions, that man’s contribution to it is significant and indisputable and that immediate expenditures of global proportions are required to ward off this imminent disaster. Wouldn’t it be grand to be able to PR our own agenda, whatever that may be, based on our own biases and favored views while ruling out most opposing views? Sounds a bit unfair I will admit and is rarely possible in our open society. Somehow, however, the national mainstream media in large measure presents GW as an established fact in this one-sided fashion. Proponents of GW and their media lobby are attempting to dupe the American public into believing as they do in the absence of credible evidence to the contrary. This leads me to believe that GW proponents are somewhat shaky in their belief that the public would buy into their position were full disclosure provided. This lack of balanced reporting is, of course, inimical to the public’s reasoned understanding of this vital issue and could foist a financial albatross around the Nation’s neck.

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David Hakala of Denver writes:

The Rocky’s blog entry on Denver taxi service is really an eye-opener for me! I’ve lived in Denver since 1978 and I’ve never had a single problem with a cabbie. I don’t take cabs often, maybe 2-3 times a year. But when I do it’s usually from a nondescript bar and never for more than 10 miles. Yet the cabs have always shown up promptly; the cabbies have been friendly and courteous; and they stuck pretty close to the most direct route to my home.
The horror stories I’m reading here nearly all seem to involve downtown and LoDo. All but one of the cab rides I can recall taking originated in Glendale, Aurora, and other outlying parts of town. I wonder if competition between customers is at least partially responsible for poor cab service?
Downtown is full of tourist hotels, which seem to be cabbies’ Holy Grail. It makes sense they would vie for those fares at the expense of others. Perhaps cabbies in outlying parts of town see less differences in the desirability of fares and so treat them all with greater respect.
One solution would be a merit system in which cabbies get plum fares based upon their service to short-hoppers and especially the disabled and other voucher-using populations. Make that low-income cab voucher a ticket to a coveted DIA trip instead of a no-tip losing proposition.
Then we might see cabbies act like Boy Scouts, fighting each other to help little old ladies across the street.

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Robert Green of Westminster writes:

It seems obvious that we need some sort of universal health care system. Perhaps the best approach is a combination of an expansion of Medicare and the use of private insurance companies. This would encourage competition, since medical costs are going up faster than the rate of inflation. Some have suggested using co-pays as a means of discouraging running to the doctor with a minor cold.
Staying healthy is the best cost-reducer. A good diet and regular exercise are obvious aids. Also fundamental to good health is our state of mind: Our beliefs about life and ourselves, our relationships, our job satisfaction, and perhaps most importantly, whether we believe our thoughts can influence our health.
Consider the use of double blind testing of new drugs to eliminate the placebo effect. This is where one group is given the new drug and the second group is given a sugar pill. In many tests the placebo effect is as high as 30%, and as high as 50% with mood altering drugs like anti-depressants. It would be helpful to have the research part of mainstream medicine conduct some unbiased studies into this, as well as some of the more “way out” treatments like light therapy, energy healing, and past life regression. These treatments produce lasting results with some people. Just because we don’t understand the underlying mechanism with these treatments, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them.

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George I. Geikas of Boulder writes:

There have been several letters in the RMN recently asking the question; “ Why not err on the side of safety in the Global Warming debate?”
The answer is; as with all policy questions that which is the result of a cost-benefit analysis.
To begin with CO2 has only three narrow absorption bands in the Greenhouse region; is a small percentage of the total atmosphere and human contribution is a small percentage of the total CO2 emissions; (oceans being the largest).
Thus one has a small number of a small number of a small number which is a very small number which we have any control over. Even assuming any significant reduction were possible it would be at a prohibitive cost. Thus any initiative with such a high cost-benefit ratio had better be absolutely necessary. I have yet to see any evidence that assuming a long-term warmer planet: (and that is a big assumption), is necessarily a bad thing. Greenland would be green again.
Now if these writers are suggesting alternative sources of energy so as to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, that is an entirely different question and in the long term will have to be attained and is a desirable goal.

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John Erhardt of Denver writes:

The News’ article titled, “Political Web sites play dirty” skims right over the surface and misses some very important distinctions between the left and right blogospheres.
First, there’s an important distinction between anonymous political blogs and pseudonymous ones. At SquareState.net for example, each of us blogs under an assumed blog-name - very much akin to a nom de plume. Every piece I write has that name as a link which calls up everything else I’ve written at the site. An email address is also listed.. While not an exact identity, a reader can establish trust whether the blogger is consistent and truthful or not. I, as well as most, do this to distance myself from my day job which is not at all involved in politics. Some even chose to use their real names. That is quite a bit different from a blog with no identity such that even the number of people running the blog is in question.
Second, the article fails to mention Dick Wadham’s history of using underhanded tactics in the past such as paying anonymous bloggers in the South Dakota senate race for John Thune and coordinating with gay prostitute, GOP shill Jeff Gannon.
As Stephen Colbert said, “facts have a well known liberal bias", and we at SquareState will continue to search for that truth, while it seems the right, as paraphrased by Wadhams in the article, will continue to shovel more crap. It’s too bad he tried to lump all of us together when clearly all the lies, distortions, and fake websites come from one side.
You’ll notice that three of the blogs created in the last few weeks, when criticized and debunked by us and others in the lefty blogosphere, have been deleted — an obvious admission of guilt that such sites were indeed fake.
Another difference I’d like to point out for SquareState is that it is a community blog. Anyone is free to create an account and blog away.
Offensive content is removed and repeat offenses can result in banning.
However, we love a good productive argument. This results in a community policing effort where content can be called into question as needed.

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Certified athletic trainer Jennifer D. Dougherty of Bailey writes:

Athletic Trainers DO NOT work in GYMS It is unfortunate that the RMN would print an editorial with absolutely no research behind the subject about which they are writing. With regard to your piece on Regulatory overkill and SB24 it would have been in everyones best interest for you to have educated yourself on what an athletic trainer does as a professional. I think your confusion lies with the profession of “Personal Trainer". There are BIG differences between the two professions. Athletic Trainers are allied healthcare professionals who provide injury prevention, immediate treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries and ilnesses. The best know example would be “the Trainer is going on to the field” you hear this several times each Bronco game. These people are Athletic Trainers who are assessing and treating head/ neck injuries, torn ACL’s, heat stroke, fractured bones and asthma attacks, just to name a few things we treat on a daily basis. Athletic trainers work primarily in rehabilitation clinics, physician’s offices, hospitals and yes— in high schools, colleges and professional sports..NOT teaching athletes how to lift weights but treating patients for injuries. This includes children.
As a private practioner it is bothersome to me that under current Colorado law almost anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves an Athletic Trainer. There is a tremendous potential for harm when an unqualified professional provides these types of services. In Colorado, even if a qualified professional causes harm through negligence or otherwise there is no measure for recourse. 44 other states found the need to license Athletic Trainers. If Colorado doesn’t we’ll become the dumping ground for the “bad apples". I am sure that the citizens of Colorado will appreciate the public protection that SB24 will provide, especially the parents of minors in youth and school athletics.

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Pat Desrosiers of Denver writes:

Dear Professor Campos: I agree that Ann Coulter should not have said what she said. If the media is as you say, let’s call it a “botched joke” and we won’t hear about it again. Oh, that’s right, John Kerry is a liberal. His friends in the media are (all together now) Liberal.
Trent Lott loses his leadership position due in part to media pressure after remarks made at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party. Robert “Kleagle” Byrd uses the N word on TV and nothing is said. George “Macaca” Allen is, rightly, sent home after the last election. Howard Dean calls Republicans every filthy name in the book and states that blacks won’t be seen around them except for the maid staff (that explains all the African Americans in Bush’s Cabinet). He, like every other leftie, gets a pass from the media.
Hillary’s Aunt Jemima act in Selma goes unnoticed by the liberal media, as does Barak Obama’s lapse into Ebonics at the same event (and his lie about his birthdate).
C’mon, Prof, we in the world aren’t stupid.
Fact is, only someone living under a rock or blinded by left wing brain damage calls our MSM conservative. Moreover, you have the gall to continue to use that noggin full of bad wiring to poison young minds. Shame on you.

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Jessica Cumley of Denver writes:

The many Americans struggling to rebuild their lives and their homes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita need to know that Congress has not forgotten them. Hope was provided when three members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee flew to New Orleans in January to re-focus attention on the progress – or lack thereof – of rebuilding efforts.
The crafting of sensible policies requires the correction of three common misperceptions.
First, the aftermath of Katrina is not merely a local crisis; it is national problem. The importance of the Mississippi River is difficult to exaggerate. The river is our only natural national transportation system for the movement of exports and imports.
Second, Katrina was not a “natural disaster”; it was a human-made disaster triggered by natural events. There has been too little focus on what could have prevented it from happening in the first place. The flooding, caused by the breaching of the levees, was the direct result of human mistakes and neglect.
Third, the federal government was responsible for the causes of the human-made catastrophe; not the people of New Orleans. Over decades, our government made decisions that eliminated the wetlands as the natural buffer against storms and allowed the water surge to devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region; it enacted mistaken policies for the use and protection of the entire river; it designed and constructed levees which were known to be inadequate; and it failed to develop policies of environmental justice for poor and minority populations.
What is needed is not merely assistance, but rather accountability. We urge that the new Congress make Katrina—and the prevention of another Katrina—a priority.
As a supporter of the Law Students for Government Accountability, a national organization of law students from across the country that is dedicated to working with Congress to prevent another disaster like Katrina, I will be supporting friends and partners who are traveling to Washington, D.C. on March 14 to meet with our Representatives to ask them to sign a non-partisan Statement of Principles pledging to take the steps necessary to prevent another Katrina.

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Charles Buchanan of Denver writes:

Reading Jay Ambrose’s editorial defending convicted felon Scooter Libby made me wonder if the truth is no longer a prerequisite for getting published in your paper. There are too many falsehoods to document briefly, but I’ll highlight the most obvious ones.
Referring to Bush’s State of the Union speech in which he claimed that “Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa” Ambrose says “The British have never recanted what it said", but leaves out an important fact: Once it became public that the claim was false, the Bush Administration itself recanted. According to reports in the Washington Post, Bloomberg and New York Times, the CIA tried unsuccessfully to get the British to remove that claim from the public dossier on which Bush’s claim was predicated and had warned the administration before his speech that the information was “highly dubious".
The claim that Valerie Wilson was the one who sent Joe Wilson to Africa is also false. The office of the Vice President requested a trip to Niger to check on the uranium claims. Who better than Joe Wilson? He had good connections in Niger, had served as Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, had the distinction of being the last American Diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein, and had made a similar trip in 1999. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee Report Valerie Wilson merely arranged a meeting and left once she introduced her husband .
The claim that there was nothing illegal about leaking Plame’s name is absurd. If Plame’s identity had not been classified, the CIA wouldn’t have referred the matter to the Justice Department. The prosecutor said that the reason there was no indictment for the leak itself is because Libby obstructed justice. Enforcement of the law requires the truthfulness of witnesses. That is why perjury is illegal.
He calls Fitzgerald an “overzealous, vastly empowered, pit-bull prosecutor” in an attempt to impugn his character, but fails to mention that he is a Republican; appointed and empowered by a Republican Attorney General.
He says Fitzgerald should have “abandoned this case long before it got to the stage of ruining a man’s life", apparently taking the position that a crime should not be prosecuted if it ruins the life of the criminal. That’s pretty amazing coming from the “law and order” party. When Clinton lied under oath they were clucking like hens for impeachment and making impassioned speeches about the importance of the “rule of law". Now that the tables are turned, their position is clear: If a Republican did it, it’s not a crime.
The fact that you chose to print this easily refuted pack of lies has damaged the credibility of your newspaper. Shame on you.

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Carole Bolduc of Wheat Ridge writes:

Well, talk about “above the law.” Please! Re: Assistant City Attorney flashing her badge facing a leash-law ticket.
Having a dog that I walk daily and living in Wheat Ridge where there is definitely a leash law, I consider it a real slap in the face when people with their dogs off leash think they need not follow the law.
There is nothing more unnerving than to be walking with your dog “on leash” and have one or more dogs run up to you, which are not on leash, particularly, if you are a senior citizen, which I am. There has been more than one time that I have had to grab the collar of an uncontrolled dog and wait for the owner to catch up. Their first comment is, “Oh, he/she won’t hurt you!” Oh really? Well, maybe their dog takes a dislike to mine and decides to jump her. What about that? I don’t care if your dog is your “best friend,” “your buddy,” and you “love” him/her dearly....it is still an animal, and you don’t know for sure what he/she is going to do, particularly when there is another dog involved! I said something to a young woman who was walking in the Greenbelt with her dog off leash. She is one of those who told me that “he wouldn’t hurt me.” When I reminded her there was a leash law for this Greenbelt, she proceeded to tell me I was a “mean, old woman!” Well, maybe so, but she’s opening herself up for a nice lawsuit should something bad happen.
People who feel it necessary that their dogs be let off leash while in public places should take them to “dog parks” where that is allowed. Their only problem is, they fear their dog might get beat up. Well, duh! My take is, they can’t care a whole lot for their dogs if they don’t have them under control...they might meet up with a dog “on leash” who doesn’t care if he hurts either them or the off-leash dog! May I remind Ms. Dani Eliscu, she is not “above the law” just because she is the Assistant City Attorney. What gall when she works in the city’s Prosecution and Code Enforcement Section, which prosecutes animal control violations. Hooray for Office Mouton. Atta boy! stand your ground.
Ms. Eliscu should thank her lucky stars she’s not under my employ, or she would be without employment!

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Steve Abrams of Del Norte writes:

In lieu of high speed chasses by police they should be equiped with flare gun type devices with darts containing tracking beacons shot into the back of a vehicle and followed by satelite.

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Democrats took control of the state legislature in 2004 by criticizing Republicans for spending legislative time on “God, guns and gays.” So what have the Democrats done? In 2004 they put so-called gay “rights” into the criminal laws. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 they tried to get gay “rights” into the employment laws and in 2006 sent a gay civil unions measure to the voters.
Now in 2007 (“Fetus measure rejected/Bills advance on gay rights, guns, contraception,” Jan. 30) they are bringing back yet again that homosexual employment mandate, proposing a bill to restrict concealed-carry weapon permits, and resurrecting the vetoed hospital emergency contraception bill that would override the rights of private, religious hospitals. Sound like God, guns and gays to me.
I don’t question the right of the Dems to differ with me on these bills. What offends is that the Dems so look down on the voters that they intentionally misrepresent what the Dems stand for, just to get elected.
How about real elections where the Dems run honestly on ever more gay rights, gun control, open borders, unrestricted abortion and suppression of Judeo-Christian religious freedom?

Kirk Brush, Fort Collins

Letter writer Lance Gillis (“God is part of our American heritage,” Feb. 22) claims this country was founded by Christians and offers as proof a prayer by George Washington. That is weak proof for such a profound statement.
I submit that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. This nation was founded by free thinkers, deists, Christians, atheists and Freemasons.
There is no reference to a deity in our Constitution. Thomas Jefferson said, “Question with boldness even the existence of a God.” James Madison said, “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind.” And the Treaty of Tripoli, bound by Article VI, Section II of our Constitution, and signed by President John Adams, declares that “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
If Gillis would read our Constitution and the literature of the Founders, he might better be able to understand that the United States is not a nation under God, but a nation under its good citizens in this great democratic experiment.

Robbie Garland, Aurora

With regard to Rocky Mountain News pop music writer Mark Brown’s critique of my recording, All My Life, and his comment that I was “shamelessly aping” Sinatra (“Joel’s single a bit creepy,” Spotlight, Audio of the Week, Feb. 27) — rest assured that if it had actually been my intent, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t Frank. A competent music critic would have been able to discern that I was in fact shamelessly aping both Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole.
Furthermore, since when does impersonating a music critic entitle Brown to be the moral arbiter of what constitutes a meaningful relationship?
Creepiest song of 2007? Perhaps. Creepiest opinion of the year? Definitely.

P.S. — “Dude,” that isn’t a porkpie hat.

Billy Joel, New York City

The government and its agencies never cease to amaze me. The Division of Wildlife is extolling Colorado’s natural beauty on billboards. This is the advertisement form thrust upon motorists, providing more distraction from safe driving. It blights urban areas and disgraces the beauty of our landscape.
The fact that government agencies use this roadside garbage will not be overlooked by outdoor advertising lobbyists and their lawyers. It will be hard for legislators to fend off more pro-billboards legislation if government itself supports this visual prostitution of our landscapes. Who are these unthinking DOW environmental hypocrites?

Peter Groth, Lakewood

I thought that the last presidential election was the lowest I’ve ever seen the Republican Party stoop: going to the lowest level to demean and disgrace a combat veteran.
Now we hear Ann Coulter using the term “faggot” in the same breath with “John Edwards” — a filthy act.
I should not be surprised, nor should the rest of America. I will remember this on Election Day, as will a lot of my fellow Americans. Edwards handled this with dignity and aplomb and will be strongly thought of at primary time.

George E. Mayl, Denver

The fact that Amendment 41 passed by a fairly wide margin shows two things: First, voters do not think through the ramifications of the words they read unless millions of dollars are spent educating them that the language is misleading. And second, Common Cause has mastered the art of creating misleading language.
Let’s not forget that Common Cause, the force behind Amendment 41, was also the brain trust behind Amendment 27, conceivably the worst campaign finance law in the nation because it effectively limits political contributions from individuals and corporations but not from unions.
Common Cause is a decidedly left-wing organization, but my guess is that the unintended consequences of Amendment 41 were a function of muddled liberal thinking, whereas the terrible consequences for free speech and electoral fairness created by Amendment 27 were almost certainly intended. What we really need is a ballot measure to repeal any constitutional amendment supported by Common Cause.

Ross Kaminsky, Nederland

While reading Vincent Carroll’s snarky column item about former Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar acceptance speech, I could almost hear Carroll’s teeth gnashing (“Of course it’s political,” On Point, Feb. 27).
When Gore said, “It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue,” most of us understood him to mean that this issue is so important, it should be above politics. Either Carroll is too dense or too mired in Republofascist politics to admit this.
When the oceans start to rise, Carroll and his Republofascist cronies will probably say, “Don’t worry. In 500 years the waters will recede.”

Wesley D. Smits, Denver

I am a retired Vietnam veteran and I think our government should send the troops needed to Iraq or pull out all of our U.S. troops.Whether we support the war or not, we cannot let our troops who are already out there be senselessly killed by not getting the manpower and supplies they need. If we do not replenish the troops, these guys are going to get killed like they did during the Bataan death march.

Vincent Lucero, Parker

President Bush has stated that Britain’s removal of troops from Iraq is a partial success. Why not remove all U.S. troops from Iraq and call it a total success?

Leonard Aragon, Denver

Austin Genger of Centennial writes:

The elk populations in Rocky Mountain National Park should be reduced dramatically and quickly.
Recently there has been intense overcrowding of elk there. There are so many up there that the elk have even been known to wander in the nearby cities, up to nearly a hundred at any given time. Although, there is the dillema of the law that states that hunting there is not allowed. Should it pass though, it would be vastly helpful with the effort. I believe that instead of being culled (hunted and left where they were shot), the elk In Rocky Mountain National Park should actually be hunted.
Culling is a complete waste of a natural resource that people (such as hunters) would greatfully take advantage of, but not make it so then the species there would be to the point of there not being enough to continue the population. Yes, there is a law that prevents the hunting up there, but should it be passed, there can be a limit set to the limit a hunter may harvest. In all reason, hunting should actually be used to subdue the overpopulation in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Why waste when you can feed people that can also eliminate a problem at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

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Cindy L. Espinoza of Grand Junction writes:

Follow the money ... the Employee Free Choice Act is a desperate agreement between labor unions and the Democratic party, both anxious to herd more dues-paying workers into unions by the trainload. Under this deceptive act, employees can “freely” choose to organize, but if the union fails to muster enough votes, those who tried but failed are at risk for unjust reviews and outright firings. Pelosi of course knows it’s suicide to sign one’s own name to a ballot when one is at risk of losing one’s life—or in America, just your job. This ploy is the hotshot that will herd fearful workers onto the trains to the promised workers’ paradise.
There is no voluntary choice in this act, just vote counting. Under the act, union bosses will urge employees to turn in a unanimous vote. If they don’t, and the vote to organize fails, those who signed their names to a “yes” ballot will have just painted a huge “Fire Me First” sign on their backs.
Look for union bosses to high-five Pelosi for this colossal swindle that’s sure to gin up unanimous votes to organize— and therefore pour more money into union and Democratic coffers. Let’s hope and pray that there are enough thinking Republicans to torpedo this barely-American legislation whenever it rears its ugly head.
Various members of my family have been or still are union. This vicious legislation is a terrible breach of trust that unions or Democrats really care about the working man. Obviously they care only how many pockets they can pick.
Employee Free Choice Act really means “union—or unemployed.” Reminds one of another deceptive slogan, “work will make you free.”

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Joshua Covington of Fort Collins writes:

I was a little confused by Paul Campos’s February 27th article, “The believer-in-chief". He explains that most individuals who call themselves atheists aren’t really atheists because they still believe in a kind of moral system, and a moral system is the same thing as God (I’m assuming Campos is referring to the Christian deity).
Now first, I think Campos has incorrectly linked morality with religion. While the two are often mentioned in the same breath in popular culture, they do not need to connected, and often are not. Morality, as I interpret it, is basically caring about others and acting accordingly. It usually just comes down to the golden rule. One does not need to believe in any deities to act with compassion. However, Campos seems to say that the mere belief in morality is a belief in God. I’m sure that some Christians may be a bit insulted to be told that their god is really just an “ultimate moral order". I think the problem with this article is that Campos is redefining terms. Whereas normally atheist just means not believing/worshipping any deities, Campos has changed its meaning to not having a belief in a moral system. This really isn’t fair. If God just means a moral system, then lots of people would believe in God. Atheists could do the same thing and say that atheism means having any doubt at all about whether a deity exists and there would suddenly be many atheists in the world. I think it would be best to let people define their own categories and decide for themselves whether they are an atheist, an Orthodox Christian, or something in between.

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Carmen Brown of Berthoud writes:

Our newspapers have not been folded in the center recently. And they are not consistently folded in the same place. When you hold it, it falls apart, or you have to refold the page to be able to read all the column.
So, who or what does the folding? Can they please do it better?

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John M. Berger (no hometown provided) writes:

Reflecting upon the recent events, such as the Academy Awards winning documentary on global warming and the ongoing frigid weather, a mental picture comes to mind. I think that chief spokesman for this sham, the reality challenged former VP, Al Gore, should attire himself in a similar fashion as the medieval sorcerer, Merlin The Magician and later Mickey Mouse. That is, while prognosticating global Armageddon, shaman, Gore should appear in a long gown with a tall pointed hat adorned with celestial and Zodiac symbols and, of course, sporting a magic wand! I really think that this would help him validate what many of us may not otherwise grasp. For example, laymen may not understand how a reported rise in global temperature of. 06%, in the past 100 years, will surely result in massive ice melt and resulting coastal flooding in the next 50 to 100 years. For that matter, folks may not understand how these predictions can be made by those who can’t accurately predict the weather for the next 30 days ahead! It may also be difficult to comprehend that it is reported that ice caps on Mars are melting, while there is no known human inhabitation there (must be the exploratory vehicles we have sent there). If we can just develope the mind set of Mr. Gore and realize that we and not natural solar changes are solely responsible for all of the impending doom, we will be able to destroy our entire economy before it ever happens!

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Long ago, primitive hunters used fire to stampede herds of buffalo over cliffs. Today, fire is being used to cause another kind of stampede. The threat of human-caused global warming is the fire this time. We are told that it is our fault and that we must do something!
Never mind the fact that the planet was warmer during the Medieval Climate Optimum. Never mind that the Earth was just coming out of the Little Ice Age when truly accurate temperature readings started to be kept. Never mind that the hysteria is over a rise of just seven-tenths of a degree in a century. And do your best to forget all about that coming ice age hysteria only 30 years ago.
We are told about how expert the scientists are who push this theory, and how anyone who disagrees is simply in the pocket of, well, some powerful group that does not have our best interests at heart. We are told that the carbon dioxide produced by mankind, and especially Americans, is the problem, but you never hear how tiny the fraction of this gas produced by humanity is compared to all the carbon dioxide naturally in the atmosphere.
You know what the fire is. You know who is waving it, trying to panic you into a mindless stampede. It is time to start looking for the cliff.

Steven Rowe, Brighton

The historical evidence of the existence of Jesus is well developed ... even for the nonreligious person. Many atheistic scholars are in agreement that this man existed, angered the religious and political establishments of the day, and suffered the “extreme penalty” of Roman crucifixion.
Afterward, his body went missing. Whether you believe the biblical account or not, the fact remains that Roman and Jewish authorities never solved this “disappearance,” which occurred in spite of the presence of Roman guards.
Not only do we have the biblical accounts of Jesus’ life, but we also have the testimonies of other reliable manuscripts, including the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus. Should the discovery of a single bone box, labeled with the names “Jesus” and “Mary Magdalene” challenge the strong, contrary historical evidence? (“Documentary: Caskets belong to Jesus, family,” Feb. 27, and “Director’s ‘Tomb of Jesus’ angers Christians,” How Coloradans Worship, March 5.)
To assert that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and died a natural death, having his bones placed in a box, certainly raises many problems that are not being critically considered. I would challenge anyone who cares to study the evidence for Jesus themselves. Don’t let a promotion for a documentary settle it for you.

Doug Leek, Arvada

CSAP testing is a fraud.
The report in the March 5 Rocky Mountain News — “See-Sap! Schools begin their yearly sweepstakes run today/State-mandated tests put educators on funding spot” — proves the point.
The concept behind this one-size-fits-all testing was to provide an impartial survey of how schools are teaching our children.
Pep rallies, prizes for performance, special tutoring and heavy pressure from administrators have created an artificial testing environment. Under these conditions, the testing results become highly suspect.
Why do schools feel so compelled to go to these extreme measures to inflate Colorado Student Assessment Program results? Because the testing is solely about keeping and gaining money from the state and federal government. CSAP is a prime example of centralized education, and the usurpation of local school boards’ power to decide what is best for their own students.
I encourage parents to opt their children out of CSAP testing. More important than the funding schemes of national and state politicians is to instill the joy of learning in our children.

Dave Chandler, Arvada

In regard to “In PKD’s universe, author is smiling at success,” the March 3 Rocky Mountain News article about Philip K. Dick, I resent the comments about Fort Morgan.
In the article, it is mentioned that Dick is buried in a “bleak municipal cemetery in Fort Morgan,” and that his grave is “uncomfortably close to Interstate 76 and downwind of a smoke-belching sugar beet refinery.” It also refers to him being “buried in a lonely Colorado prairie town.”
Why is it that people refer to rural Colorado towns in such a manner? As a 20-year resident, I am proud of Fort Morgan. The people in rural Colorado are hard-working, genuine, honest people. The writers who live along the Front Range seem to look down on rural Colorado, but seem to forget where a large percentage of their food comes from. We are all Coloradans, not just the people along the Front Range and the Denver area.

J. Kelly Theisen, Fort Morgan

I read the little blip that was hidden toward the back of a recent Rocky about the bill that one of our elected officials would like to introduce to keep law-abiding citizens from having a gun in our vehicles (“Bill would put limits on guns in vehicles,” Feb. 19).
I really don’t see law-abiding folks as the ones who need another law rammed down our throats.
Here’s a crazy idea: Let’s lock up the gangsters and thugs who are responsible for the carnage that Rep. Joel Judd, D-Denver, must be talking about.
This looks to me like another Democratic ploy to try to make the responsible gunowners who are not breaking any laws suffer because the politicians are too afraid to go after the scum that are causing trouble for us all.

Anthony Garcia, Castle Rock

I’m sick of the media hoopla regarding Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They’re ignoring the most qualified candidate — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — just because he lacks money.
Richardson is working hard to turn New Mexico green, has improved students’ standing in school and was a U.S. representative for years in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. He was President Clinton’s diplomat worldwide to negotiate the release of many hostages and was U.N. ambassador and energy secretary.

Kathy Glatz, Denver

Two comments regarding Michael Neil’s short letter of Feb. 26, “Unfair, unjust war.” First, wars are never intended to be fair — they’re intended to be won. Second, he says, “All we see is chaos and civil war.” He’s correct, and shame on the mainstream media, but that is all we see.

Jerry Harrop, Greeley

Let us, for the sake of civil discourse, assume that the scientists who claim (with 90 percent confidence) that human activity plays an important role in global warming are wrong. Let us, instead, consider the deadly asteroid metaphor.
A massive asteroid heads for Earth, and astronomers estimate (with 90 percent confidence) its impact in 10 years will cause massive and catastrophic changes to the planet and everyone and everything that lives on it unless efforts begin now.
Would not the greatest debate center around how to minimize the asteroid’s effects rather than around whether it exists? Nature will always have the last laugh on our folly and foolishness.

Rex Wood, Lakewood

I am not a TV junkie, but it used to be nice to sit down in the evening and watch a good TV show. That hardly happens anymore due to commercials, previews of upcoming shows and previews of the 10 p.m. news.
The breaks in the shows are beginning to take up more and more time. I timed one break a few months ago. It had 13 segments — commercials and previews. Last Wednesday we got five minutes of show and then five to six minutes of garbage.
I realize the networks need money to air shows, but it is completely out of hand. There are too many commercials. As for previews — stop. I do not care what the 10 p.m. news will have on it. I will either watch it or turn it off. It has nothing to do with previews.
What is the problem? Is it money, like so many other things in this country? Are actors or actresses too lazy to record a full show? Are the writers too inept to write a full show? Is it an American public who will put up with this?
I, for one, do not watch TV much anymore. I think I will buy a TiVo so I can fast-forward through all this malarkey.

Charla Colson, Centennial

Congratulations to James B. Meadow for his first-place award in the annual Colorado Associated Press Reporters & Editors contest (“Rocky staffers bring home Best of Show, 11 top awards,” Feb. 24).
Whenever I start to read an article and feel that I am listening to the person being written about, I check and — sure enough — it’s one by Meadow.
He has the knack of placing you right in that person’s life!
One recently was about the officer who got shot and killed in Aurora while driving to lunch after a break in a class he was taking. It was of his funeral and I did not know him but I sobbed throughout the article.
I keep forgetting to let the Rocky know how much I enjoy his writing and obituaries. Give him my best regards and keep him on the payroll!

Janet E. Berens, Aurora

It strains credulity to imagine that readers of The Sunday Denver Post’s Perspective section are agitated enough to respond to the twice-monthly musings of conservative John Andrews in numbers sufficient to require a special section for their letters — yet are hardly ever moved to write by the dependable liberalism of Post regulars Gail Schoettler, Ed Quillen, Fred Brown or Bob Ewegen.
Perhaps Rocky Mountain News media critic Jason Salzman can address the mystery of the selective indignation of Post readers in a future column.
I suggest he title it, “The myth of liberal media bias.”

Steve Baur, Westminster

Was it necessary for the Rocky Mountain News to run the picture of Michelle Berra on Feb. 28?
We, the public, really don’t need to know what she looks like. I’m sure she is going through her own private hell about the accident and our seeing her picture does not help her in any way. Frankly, it is none of our business. What was the Rocky thinking?

Kathryn Gray, Denver

Editor’s note: Berra is the 17-year-old who was behind the wheel when her car slammed into another car on Jan. 15, pinning two fellow Berthoud High School students and costing them their legs.

Mike Littwin’s Feb. 3 column, “A long affair spent over coffee,” regarding the death of syndicated columnist Molly Ivins deserves special commendation.
He writes beautifully — with warmth, simplicity, humor and compassion. Those of us who admired and agreed with Ivins can certainly identify with the comments made by Littwin in his column.
Lucky for the Rocky Mountain News to have such a good writer on staff! I wish Ivins could have read this great commentary!

Cynthia MacDowell, Denver

The photo by Ken Papaleo of a deer and an eagle at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, featured on the front page of the Feb. 24 Rocky Mountain News, is one of the most outstanding examples of photography I’ve ever seen. I suggest the Rocky run it again with a story on how Papaleo accomplished the shot. Not only would it be of general interest, but it would be an example of excellent photography for those studying this art form.

Earle R. Wilson, Wellington

Could the Rocky print the names of the letter writers in boldface and a little larger? Would it cost too much?
The writers are at least as important as the topics of the letters.
Reading this mini-paper while holding a magnifying glass has made it harder to hold.

Elinor Miller Greenberg,
Centennial

Craig Gassen of Denver writes:

When the Mark Foley scandal hit Fox and CNN and others incorrectly attributed his party affiliation as Democrat. At the time this was explained as an accident. They have now said that they will do more to make sure this type of “accident” doesn’t happen in the future.
The Rocky Mountain News has developed a similar problem in that the paper has no consistent policy on identifying elected officials by party affiliation when individuals of a particular party get in trouble. In fact the paper has reveled a slant towards not mentioning party affiliation when a Republican gets in trouble. Meanwhile the paper consistently identifies Democrats for even small incidents. So, while the owners and editors of the paper may think this is fair I think it shows a clear bias. Please consider creating and disseminating a policy regarding identifying all elected officials by party affiliation.
Thanks, I hope to see a change in this embarrassing episode in the coming days and months as I continue reading The Rocky Mountain News in its fun new format.

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Stephen H. Cohn of Northglenn writes:

If Democrats and a handful of Republican House members truly believe the Iraq war is destined to fail and more U.S. troops are going to die, then they are morally obligated to end funding for the war. The House of Representatives controls all federal spending. They could end the war effort now.
If these same representatives believe that President Bush’s plan could be successful in bringing a stable democratic government to Iraq, then they should support the war effort including the surge.
What they have done is condemn the surge and the war effort, with a symbolic nonbinding resolution. Their hope is to gain a political advantage, but all they have done is encourage the enemy and put a target on all American troops.
We should all remember Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter, Mark Udall and John Salazar for valuing a political advantage more than American lives.

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Tom Carllon of Lakewood writes:

Are Rocky columnists Mike Littwin and Bill Johnson giving too much publicity to Republican Sen. Dave Schultheis? (Rocky Talk, Feb. 17.)
In one day — and on the same page (!) — Schultheis receives mention numerous times in each column. Mike Littwin ventures that Schultheis has lost his mind with his arguments opposing the emergency contraception bill. Bill Johnson practically accuses Schultheis of not supporting our troops and their families by voting against a mental health pilot program for spouses and children.
On second thought, maybe Schultheis needs to have more of his extreme right-wing views given publicity by these columnists. Only then will the voters be able to make an informed choice next time they go to the polls.

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Norm Brown of Denver writes:

I completely agree with the Rocky in its editorial of Feb. 19, “Common Cause bailout,” regarding House Bill 1304. I agree totally with you.
I live in CongresswomanRep. Rosemary Marshall’s district and think she has done a great job representing us in the state House of Representatives. However, this time she is wrong.
Amendment 41, while well-intentioned to rid us of lobbying influence over government officials, was extemely poorly written and the reason I voted against it. Nevertheless, the voters prevailed and placed it into the state Constitution. The only way to get rid of the terrible consequences of the law is to go back to the people in the 2008 general election in 2008 to clean up the law in very simple, straightforward language to amend it. Representative Marshall would be well-advisedserved to concentrate on this task.

Steve Baur of Westminster writes:

Shame on you, Bill Johnson.
You feel the need to preface a perfectly fine piece about a young serviceman in Iraq who paid the ultimate price for his country, with five paragraphs of —criticism of critics of the war’s critics!
You stand on the grave of this fine young man who never questioned the mission his country gave him, to take partisan shots at those partisans who disagree with you.
Shame on you.
Readers know where you stand. You could have let the story of the young man and his single mom tell itself and make your point for you.
Instead you choose to tee off on the partisan left’s favorite targets—fans of talk radio.
Who’s the real partisan here?
Shame on you.

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Gary Barker of Aurora writes:

In his commentary piece of Feb. 10, “A political climate,” economist Ross McKitrick cautioned that not all scientists agree with the recent summary report of the U.N. panel on climate change.
There is not a single major scientific theory in which there is unanimity; not quantum theory, not plate tectonics, not the theory of evolution and not even the theory of gravity, yet all influence our everyday lives. All that science can ever achieve is provisional consensus.
Given that humans are conducting a global experiment in which the outcome is uncertain, error on the side of caution is prudent in the case of global warming. If scientists are wrong, the worst that can happen is temporary economic discomfort as we switch to a green economy.
We have been sufficiently warned of the consequences if they are right.

Christopher Becke, an AP physics teacher at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora writes:

Sen. Penry and Rep. Witwer state that America has a problem in creating engineers for our tech-oriented world, then propose that all Colorado high school students take 4 years of math and 3 of science. In a way, this is similar to suggesting that in order for Amerca to produce better hockey players, Colorado students should practice basketball.
In most high schools, the typical science curriculum consists of a year of earth or physical science, followed by biology, chemistry and physics. Being the last course in the sequence, typically only students taking four years of science (not three) will complete a year of physics, which is precisely the course that generates interest and develops skills in the field of mechanical engineering. This fact has resulted in the current level of only 30% of US high school students taking any course in physics. If Penry and Witwer’s proposal is intended to solve the issue they raise, then it falls short. Requiring three years of science will ensure that more students take chemistry (basketball), but will not necessarily increase the number of students taking physics (hockey).
A more successful approach would be to aggressively promote in Colorado high schools the Physics First alternative sequence supported by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). With the realization that biology is founded in the chemistry of living things, and in turn, chemistry is driven by the fundamental physical forces described in physics, it is both a more logical and intellectually scaffolded approach to teach physics, chemistry, then biology. The curriculum would be much more sequential and coherent. Althought many would argue that freshmen do not have the necessary math skills to successfully study physics, if taught in a conceptual way, it is actually much more accessible to students as they are dealing with the phenomena experienced in everyday life. More information on Physics First is available at http://members.aol.com/physicsfirst/.
I hope Penry and Witwer reconsider whether or not their proposal effectively addresses preparing students for success in an increasingly technology-reliant world.

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G. Wilson (no hometown provided) writes:

I am absolutely horrified at what happened with the killing of the jaguar. This woman obviously should not have been given the responsibility to handle an animal that is a predator. She was irresponsible and lost her life as a result.
On the other hand, the jaguar is an endangered species, a caged animal and it should have been the responsibility of the Denver Zoo to protect it. They didn’t. We won’t know why the jaguar did what it did...it is the nature of the animal, but it lost its life as a result. Throughout the world, animals are at the mercy of mankind and are always the loser! Obviously the Denver Zoo is comfortable with that tragic axiom. From the Denver Zoo’s web site: “Conservation, It’s Our Mission We value animals, big and small, from all over the world. We envision a world where all people respect, value, and conserve animals and their habitats globally...we hope to foster an appreciation of the world’s wildlife and conservation of these irreplaceable wonders of the world.”
This is ludicrous, laughable and a lie! They can “spin” their story anyway they want (and they are)...the bottom line is they were incredibly irresponsible in all facets of this very sad story! They should lose their license, funding, accreditation, and their doors should be closed. Send the animals to a place where they will be taken care of.

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Jacques Voorhees of Dillon writes:

In her Feb. 9 attack on U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, “Tancredo ready to spread vile views,” syndicated columnist Maria Elena Salinas notes that “ ... minority congressional caucuses ... are necessary because racism in America is still alive and kicking.” (“Tancredo ready to spread vile views,” RMN 2/9/07).
Unfortunately, racism in America is still alive and kicking precisely because well-meaning people like Ms. Salinas refuse to adopt a true “color-blind” view of the world. She, and others of her ilk, continue to see people as members of rigidly defined racial groups. (Sorry, Tiger Woods, we’re not sure where you belong.)
Most of us, inspired by Martin Luther King’s dream of a color-blind society, try to look past race and see people as unique individuals. It is repugnant that there is a Black Congressional Caucus for the same reason it would be offensive if there were a White Aryan Caucus or any other artificial grouping of lawmakers based on — of all things — race.
Such institutions are divisive because they perpetuate a culture of racism — the insidious practice of seeing people primarily in terms of skin color. I would speculate that if MLK were alive today, he would be agreeing with Tom Tancredo on this one.

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Steven Long of Arvada writes:

It’s obvious that Ted Haggard and his tribe live in a world of unreality, denial, and hypocrisy.
No one is 100 percent heterosexual or homosexual despite whatever claims they may make. Ted’s three weeks in rehab for “sexual addiction” is like treating someone with a broken arm for a headache.
It’s almost laughable that Haggard plans to get his master’s degree in psychology so that he can help others. Is he aware that the American Psychiatric Association removed “homosexuality” from the DSM (diagnostic manual) in 1973?
No matter how well-intended Haggard might seem, I would not allow him near my psyche with a 10-foot pole.

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Janet A. Huhn of Thornton writes:

I am quite upset about two things in regard to the shooting of the jaguar at the zoo. First that a person who cared about animals was mauled and killed. The second uas the senseless killing of an endangered animal. If the guards were quick enough to respond with guns to end a life, why are they also not equipped with tranquilizer darts instead of/or as well as bullets. The cat could as easily been tranquilized as shot and killed. This was a senseless end of two lives. This is not to say that one is more important than the other, but it should be an example for an immediate change.

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Lynn Highland of Morrison writes:

I receive the “TV Week” in the Sunday paper, and was searching for the cannel for James Cameron’s “THe Lost Tomb of Jesus” which was advertised on television as appearing at 7:00 on March 4.
I looked and looked in “TV Week” and came across the very vague entry “The Tomb” at 7:00 on the Discovery Channel, with an additionally vague reference to archaeologists.
Why did you not publish the entire title, and why wasn’t it mentioned that it was James Cameron’s documentary, controversial though it is?
There wasn’t anything on the cover of TV Week, which really is not informative.
Am I to conjecture that you are offended by this documentary or that you believe your readers are?
I had to go online to find out when it was actually being broadcast. And newspapers are wondering why people turn to the internet - Surely, you can do better than this - not all of us are religious fanatics.

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Tod Gilmore of Parker writes:

President Bush said he was certain Iranian agents had supplied Shiite militants in Iraq with weapons that had killed American troops, and that they were agents of the Iranian government.
White House press secretary Tony Snow had explicitly endorsed the Mr. Bush’s claim on Monday.
Now Then we heard Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, cast doubt on its veracity. And after pressure from Democrats and others, Mr. Bush now says, “What we don’t know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did.”
It’s again obvious that this administration is tampering with intelligence material to justify another military strike, this time against Iran. It’s time we stop this administration before thousands of more lives are lost.

I’m always amazed how excited Christians get when anyone investigates any tenet of the Christian faith and comes to a different conclusion (“Director’s ‘Tomb of Jesus’ angers Christians,” How Coloradans Worship, March 5).
My question to all Christians: Is your faith on so tenuous a thread, so flimsy, so weak, that any little criticism can shake your faith to its foundation? Do you ask yourself why, if your faith is so real and so based on real events and so well-documented, you run around like Chicken Little when someone offers a different explanation?
Who cares? Be happy that you found the “one and only true religion” and be done with it. There are situations, and certainly this is one, where a little smugness could go a long way. When you overreact like a magician whose audience is looking behind the curtain, you cast doubt on your own presentation.

Dieter Zerressen, Denver

It’s surprising to me that so many people are willing to jump on a drug company’s bandwagon for its newest “miracle drug,” Gardasil. How many times have we been “assured” that a drug is safe, and then, a few years down the road, have an “oops” pop up?
Are we going to rush to mandate this vaccination for all girls, only to find out, possibly in five to 10 years, that an “unexpected” adverse reaction is causing deaths or severe health problems for these girls? Will Senate Bill 80 co-sponsor Sen. Suzanne Williams (probably retired by that time) come back and demand state payouts for the victims?

Richard Stringer, Northglenn

I have just read James C. Dobson’s Speakout article on why fathers matter (“Criticism aside, fathers matter,” Feb. 28). What I find astonishing is that Dobson does not mention the word “love” in the entire article. Somehow I believe that is the most important ingredient in raising a child, not the sexual orientation of the parents. Think about it, Mr. Dobson.

Kendrick T. King, Denver

We read with concern the Rocky Mountain News editorial of March 2, “Regulatory overkill/Lawmakers flirt with several bad bills.” The Rocky ridiculed pending legislation that would license athletic trainers, stating it “would needlessly require practitioners ... to hang out their shingles, even though public safety is not at risk.”
We couldn’t disagree more. This legislation is not about your buddy spotting you in the gym. It’s about protecting everyone, especially Colorado’s children in athletics.
Athletic trainers are allied health-care professionals. Licensure guarantees that when someone tells you they’re an athletic trainer, they have a four-year college degree and certification by a national agency. That’s why more than 40 other states have already acted.
Athletic trainers work in industrial settings and gyms, hospitals and clinics, schools and pro sports teams and in the performing arts. They work with physicians to prevent and rehabilitate injuries. They manage emergency situations on the athletic field. About half work in places that bring them into contact with adults, which means that the other half work with children and adolescents. We can’t think of anything more important than maintaining good health and knowing the qualifications of health professionals who take care of your kids in school.
Colorado deserves to have licensed athletic trainers. If they’re not licensed, how do you know they fit the bill to provide the service that you need? Will you feel confident in their care?
You bet this is a public safety issue.

Chuck Kimmel is the president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. He is a resident of Dallas.

Mike Rosen’s attack on environmentalist F.R. Pamp (“Enviro-socialism,” Feb. 23) was so far over the top, I’m surprised he didn’t get a nosebleed. Pamp apparently had the gall to write a column criticizing the mega-consumptive lifestyles of the rich and famous, singling out Janet Elway and her 17,000-square- foot home. Rosen’s response? He called Pamp a Bolshevik and likened him to a watermelon — green on the outside, red on the inside.
Of course, nowhere in Pamp’s article did he remotely suggest communist-style government intervention as a means of controlling the material excesses of our American elites. He merely questioned the necessity for such gross indulgence, the mind-set behind it and its impact on the planet and our finite resources. Which was enough to set Rosen off on his Bolshevik rant.
Seems like Pamp struck a nerve. Rosen’s hypersensitive defense of America’s obsession with wealth, status and vacuous ego gratification says much more about Rosen than it does about the “enviros.” If Pamp is a watermelon, Rosen is a cactus — prickly on the outside and hollow on the inside. Personally, I’ll take the watermelon any day.

Martin Rush, Denver

About 55,000 people will die from embarrassment this year. Colorectal cancer — cancer of the colon and rectum — is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. for men and women combined. Despite the fact that it is highly preventable, it is the cancer that nobody wants to talk about.
We, the members of the Rocky Mountain Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates find it tragic that so many people will die needlessly from a disease that is so highly preventable, beatable and treatable.
It is estimated that 30,000 lives a year could be saved if men and women would simply get screened. This March is the eighth annual Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. We urge Rocky readers to talk with their health-care professionals about getting screened. You might look and feel fine, but once you turn 50, you need to get screened for colon cancer.
For more information, visit preventcancer.org/colorectal.

Dorie Werner, Englewood
President,
Rocky Mountain Society
of Gastroenterology Nurses
and Associates

The recent Rocky Mountain News articles on the use of illegal aliens in the local construction trade were very informative (“He was told, ‘Just come back under a new identity, and we’ll hire you back,’” Feb. 26; “Some firms play loose with the law” and “Bidding battles not fair, owner says,” both Feb. 27).
However there was one paragraph that seemed to have been taken directly from the mouths of the construction companies rather than representing solid fact.
Essentially it implied that illegal labor was necessary to fill the gap brought on by a drop in U.S.-born construction workers.
I believe the Rocky put the cart before the horse.
There is a drop in U.S. workers because the construction sector is making an end-run around them by hiring cheap illegal labor. U.S. workers can’t support a family on slave wages and have sought other fields that don’t yet rely on illegal labor.

Rhonda Roseto, Westminster

The University of Colorado recently announced to faculty that those who subscribe to Pacificare’s extended network HMO will no longer have access to Boulder health-care providers starting July 1.
We are encouraged to switch to Pacificare’s UA network, which has a grand total of four primary-care physicians, and no emergency room or specialists, in Boulder.
That’s right, you will have to drive to Denver when your appendix is bursting or the baby is coming. Good luck getting an appointment with one of those four Boulder doctors when your kid’s got strep throat.
The sad thing is that Boulder has some truly exceptional health-care providers. Now the largest employer in Boulder is pulling out its support of them and their employees.
Nice job, CU!

Jamie Scott, Boulder

Rocky columnist Paul Campos seems to totally disregard the idea that Iran has a hand in the killing of American soldiers, even though Iranian complicity — starting with Khobar Towers through direct involvement in Iraq — has been pretty much a given that no one seems to seriously question.
Does Campos even care if American soldiers are being killed by Iranians? I can’t seem to find anything but a seething hatred for people like Hugh Hewitt and Glenn Reynolds, and the American government in his Feb. 20 opinion piece, “The right’s Ward Churchill.”
If Iranians are indeed killing American soldiers, what would Campos suggest, I wonder — more diplomacy or perhaps a few misguided cruise missiles to let them know we mean business, the way Clinton did?

Mike Sigman, Durango

On The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer recently, the subject of Iraq came up. Of course, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., stated that this war has gone on longer than World War II. He failed to mention that although World War II didn’t last as long, thousands and thousands of our men died on the battlefield.
When they landed on the beaches of Normandy, there were more men that died in that first hour than the 3,000 casualties that we’ve had so far in Iraq. Thousands and thousands more!

Sue Marquardt, Denver

It is not fair to try to characterize Hillary Clinton as completely calculating. Indeed being calculating to some extent is very much a part of almost every professional’s life. Our doctors, lawyers, engineers, social and political planners, academics and other professionals, all do an awful lot of calculation in their respective work. And there’s no difference in serious politics.
For those who would condemn a calculating Clinton (particularly white males, according to what I’ve read) I say look no further than Condoleezza Rice if you want pure calculation — some would even say evil calculation and implementation of a very poisoned foreign policy.
No, not very fair at all to dump everything on Clinton. And, thankfully, I don’t think she’ll allow it either.

Grant D. Cyrus, Boulder

Apparently the politicians still don’t get it. Gov. Bill Ritter says he can’t accept air tickets to Munich because of Amendment 41, yet does not feel justified in spending state money for the tickets (“Ban keeps Ritter off flight,” Feb. 23).
The whole point is that his job is to be doing things that do justify using state money and not accept payments to do other things. Actually I think he should go on the trip using state money but, given his position, he did the right thing by declining the tickets.

Jim Briggs, Lone Tree

I cannot understand the logic in our legislators. You have to wear a seat belt while in the confines of a car or truck, but they can’t see the logic in wearing a helmet on a motorcycle. Is this a law for safety or for revenue? (“Bill to allow cops to stop drivers without seat belts advances,” Feb. 28.)

Dave Usechek, Northglenn

I am appalled by this president, this attorney general, and this Congress railroading Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean into their criminal convictions and resulting prison time (“Tancredo: Imprisoned border agent badly beaten,” Feb. 10).
By their efforts in this case and their open-borders policies and practices, they obviously represent the country of Mexico and illegal alien drug smugglers over the safety and interests of the American people to the latter’s continuing detriment and damage.
With these policies and this president’s needless start-up of the disastrous Iraq war and its occupation alone, President Bush can kiss his positive legacy goodbye. Trust me, history will find Bush to be one of the worst presidents in American history, if not the worst. If Bush is still alive in 20 years, he could pick up a history book and read about his disgraced presidency. And you can take that to the bank!

Robert Luppi, Olathe

Liberals are motivated by their feelings and emotions more than sound foreign policy. How soon they forget the reality of 9/11. How did that feel? They forget that terrorists would kill them, their sons, their daughters, and their grandchildren in the blink of an eye. They can’t comprehend that, as we withdraw from Iraq, Iran moves right in and we free all of our declared enemies’ resources.
By fighting terrorists in Iraq we are keeping them focused on killing us infidels in Iraq, not New York, Washington, Denver, Los Angeles, etc.
So as liberals move for us to lose this war they better come up with a plan for fighting it in our streets, and nuking it out with Iran. Ahh, that will feel better.

James Runavich, Denver

There is some talk about when political caucuses should be held. I think they should be held in April or May. The weather is better and more people are likely to attend — the more the merrier. I don’t like clustering caucuses. They are supposed to be held within neighborhoods and should be. Just look at last November with the centralized voting centers — what a disaster!

Jo Anne Gray, Denver

Jack Woehr (no hometown provided) writes:

I read in my Rocky Mountain News ("Farmers to fill migrant-worker gap with prisoners", RMN 2007-02-28) that prison slave laborers will be used to replace freedom-loving, enterprising migrant workers.
It makes me wonder if there is anyone in Colorado left who cannot see that the rapid growth of imprisonment and the anti-immigrant lobby are both part of the same sociopolitical movement. And a very ugly, authoritarian, American-freedom-hating movement it is.

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Thomas W. Wilberding of Boulder writes:

Is junk mail so bad? asks the Rocky Mountain News in a Feb. 16 editorial.
In a word: yes. The Rocky’s views on this issue seem to be delivered directly from the junk-mail industry’s mouth.
Why does the Rocky think we all call it “junk” mail?
Bravo to this proposed house bill; the sooner the better.

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Tom Tripp of Fort Collins writes:

Please be consistent in identifying the party affiliation of people in the news.
It has been brought to my attention that when Democrats get into trouble they are clearly identifed as Democrats. But when Republicans are in trouble their party affiliation is not identified.
Strive for even handedness in reporting the news.

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Michael Trimble of Littleton writes:

“Unwinnable.” Why didn’t I think of that argument years ago? I really missed the boat on this one.
Democrats and leftists around the country and around the world want the US military out of Iraq, and they argue this point by calling the war “unwinnable,” the same way Walter Cronkite called the Vietnam conflict unwinnable in 1968. Well, hey, it worked back there in the 60’s, why not now? It’s hard to argue with success! Here’s the beauty of the argument: You don’t have to define “win” in order to say something is unwinnable. That’s why it doesn’t work, for example, in professional sports. Nobody seriously thought that the Chicago Bears would “withdraw” from the Superbowl (or “redeploy” to the NBA), even if everybody said, “The Superbowl, for the Bears, is simply unwinnable.” That’s because the Bears’ coaches, players, staff and owner would all have said, “Hey, we win if we have more points at the end than the other team. That’s not unwinnable.” Worse luck for them that the Colts didn’t think it was unwinnable, either. But for almost anything outside of sports, this is a great argument. Just think of the possibilities: “No, I didn’t do my algebra homework, Miss Reynolds. I have come to realize that math is unlearnable, obviously, because there will always be more math to do in the future. I can’t ever just stop and say I have done it all, it’s time to go home. That’s how I know nobody wins in algebra.”
“Internal Revenue Service? Hi! I just called to say that I won’t be paying my taxes anymore. See, even if I pay this year, you’re going to want more next year, so taxes are just unpayable. Thanks for all your help, though.”
“Sorry, boss, I didn’t sell any vacuums today. But it doesn’t really matter, does it? However many vacuums I sell, the manufacturer just keeps shipping more over here, right? I think they must be unsalable because we have more here now than yesterday! Why don’t we all quit selling vacuums, and just watch them stack up?” I’ve also noticed some things around the house that are clearly ‘unwinnable.” Like dusting, especially the top of the refrigerator. I’ve learned that even if I successfully dust it today, soon there is more dust. Apparently, refrigerators are undustable. Grass? Unmowable. Food? Uncookable, and dishes, unwashable anyway. I guess we all learned something about shoveling snow this year, too, didn’t we? Unshovelable. In fact, most things in life are clearly unwinnable.
Of course, some people are real spoil-sports when it comes to this philosophy. They say things like, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right,” and “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can get done today.” My dad even once told me, “Make hay while the sun shines,” and he was real big on, “If at first you don’t succeed...” Can you imagine? Don’t people understand that some things are never finished? That if you try to get something done, it may not be really done right away, maybe not even as soon as you hoped? And you may even have to do it again sometime- heck, you might even have to do it again soon!
So, Iraq is “unwinnable,” because it’s not done yet, and our soldiers keep having to fight, sometimes even several times a week. Maybe even more than once a day. And you know, even if they were done in Iraq, we would just have to send them out again sometime, and ask them to fight again somewhere else.
Those dumb insurgents, I really don’t think they don’t understand these things are unwinnable. Fortunately, we know better. Makes you wonder why we, or anybody else, even has a military. And along those lines, let’s talk about welfare. Seems that no matter how long you give folks welfare, it’s just never done, right? So, why even bother? You just have to give them more money later. And all this talk about medical care- that’s a loosing proposition if I’ve ever seen one. People keep wanting to get well from all sorts of things! And new diseases come along from time to time, so even if we handle their health for today- well, you get the picture. Hey, we’ve got LOTS of things to talk about, now that I understand the argument...

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Richard Taylor of Littleton writes:

Over the past 10 or so years the Oscars have gone down from just a joke to the bottom of the barrel. This year a man who’s family grows that boon to humanity, tobacco , and I’m told, who’s only higher education is an undergraduate degree in Bible, has the B———— to tout himself as an expert in global warming, aka recovery from the little ice age.
Of course he had nothing to do with, except lend his name to, that picture that laughingly got an Oscar. He obviously dosen’t have the mental ability to do so. The Hollywood lie-berals have struck again.

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Sue Schreiber of Erie writes:

The smaller format Rocky still has a major problem. Often the paper is not folded in the center. As much as five letters from the first right-hand first appear on the left-hand side of the page. This negates the smaller format because then you have to take the paper apart to read it. I have complained often about this and each time I am told that they are working on the problem and to please be patient. It is disappointing that a major city newspaper cannot fold its pages correctly. Maybe you should check with the National Enquirer to see how they manage to do it.

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Christian Rudolph of Boulder writes:

The Rocky Mountain News has developed a pattern of omitting party designation for local Republicans who get into trouble, but they publish minor incidents by Democrats and identify their party designation.
The Rocky should establish a pattern of identifying all elected officials by party affiliation.
Please report the news fully and accurately on both sides. Your bias is alarming.
Currently, you are tilting your bias toward Republicans.
Please report the whole news instead of your current practice of leaving critical information out.
Coloradans are smart enough to make decisions for themselves without the slant.

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John Ruckman of Lakewood writes:

I don’t understand all the newsflashes regarding Mr. Cheney’s so-called close call.Dick Cheney has never in his life been anywhere near enemy fire—and he doesn’t intend ever to be. This man is, by far, the most heavily guarded and pampered of any of ourleaders throughout history. He takes no chances, in any way. That has been his style since he was a youth in Wyoming, when he found it necessary to avoid the draft in favor of schooling and politics—he has not changed. If only our troops, whom he was instrumental in sending into a totally unnecessary and unwinnable situation in Iraq were ten percent as well guarded.

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Leon Rodriguez of Denver writes:

George W. Bush stated a couple of days ago that “money trumps peace.” That is truly a ridiculous statement which illustrates a lack of morality and conscience shown by The President of The United States. There is supposed to be a higher good, a higher morality and the compliance with the reasonable laws of a nation of decent people. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and republican cohorts are setting forth a litany of horrors in the boardrooms across our country in constant collusion of setting prices for obscene margins of profits, buying influence in all sections of the government, turning the defense industry into a grab of riches for their friends at Haliburton, Bechtel, Kellogg, Root and many other close friends of the Bush and Cheney families. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and republican cohorts don’t give a damn about America, democracy of peace.
Their greed is their only vision. As Bush says, “Money trumps peace.”

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Nina Pesochinsky of Denver writes:

I am writing this letter to ask you to please designate the DeBoer neighborhood as a historic disctrict. Not only odes it have important architectural structures, such as the mural studio and a signature tower, but also as a site of cultural events.
Our dance company has performed many times in the DeBoer neighborhood over the last several years, including during art and poetry events, as well as during cultural exchanges.
It is an important site to be preserved because of its original historical legacy and more current involvement with the arts.

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Brian Olson of Highlands Ranch writes:

As everyone continues to look-back at our winter storms and excess of snow, some people are suggesting all sorts of solutions. Of course, all these solutions cost us money.
My suggestion is to buy shovels, pull prisoners out of their cells, chain them together and put them to work.
Yep, Chain Gangs.
Fresh air for drug dealers, pimps and gang-bangers. Clean sidewalks and streets for us.
And I won’t even charge a consulting fee.

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Brian Olson of Highlands Ranch writes:

As everyone continues to look-back at our winter storms and excess of snow, some people are suggesting all sorts of solutions. Of course, all these solutions cost us money.
My suggestion is to buy shovels, pull prisoners out of their cells, chain them together and put them to work.
Yep, Chain Gangs.
Fresh air for drug dealers, pimps and gang-bangers. Clean sidewalks and streets for us.
And I won’t even charge a consulting fee.

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Carrie Meyer, athletic training education program director at Fort Lewis College in Durango and vice president of the Colorado Athletic Trainers’ Association, writes:

This letter is in response to “Regulatory overkill: Lawmakers flirt with several bad bills” on March 2, 2007. I believe you have athletic trainers confused with personal trainers. Let me try to highlight a few distinctions between the two in regards to their educational backgrounds.
The American Medical Association recognized athletic trainers as an allied health profession in 1990. As allied health providers, athletic trainers have a rigorous academic program which they must complete in nationally accredited undergraduate or entry-level masters programs. These programs have academic courses related to 12 different domains (i.e. pathology of injuries and illnesses, orthopedic assessment, medical conditions and disabilities, acute care, conditioning and rehabilitative exercise, pharmacology, nutrition).
Athletic training students must also complete clinical rotations in addition to the coursework. Students complete these requirements over a minimum of 2 academic years. They then are eligible to sit for a national certification exam to become certified athletic trainers (ATC®).
Personal trainers, on the other hand, do not have such rigorous requirements.
Depending upon which personal training certification is wanted, a person may only have to take a weekend course to qualify with no other related academic or clinical background. In addition to the rigor of the academic programs, personal trainers do not have the breadth or depth of content, both academic and clinical, within their programs as compared to athletic trainers.
Athletic trainers in Colorado do need licensure. They provide immediate care for injuries on the playing field and rehabilitation according to the instructions of the physician. I would say that could put the public at risk, wouldn’t you?

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

After reading the article about people in wheelchairs trying to get cab. I also use cabs a lot and over 55yo. I I am able body. If my cab cannot or will not arrive, I simply walk the mile or two. I sometimes forget that there are less able people that rely more or certain transportation. Sometimes we forget that we take that simple things in life and not think about the less able. I say that I have also notice the cab drivers not wanting to take a fare for only a mile or two. Not to much money in short fares. Or the drivers think that the people will not tip enough.

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Merlin Logan of Denver writes:

I see you are carefully identifying the political party of any Democratic legislator or Congressman who screws up but you’re not similarily identifying Republicans who make some kind of mess. If you are an extension of the Republican Party, why don’t you come out and say so. Is this kind of reporting bias taught in Journalism schools??? I think not. Newspapers in this country are losing readers right & left, and biased reporting is probably part of the reason. Can you understand that?? Attached is an article which details the damage that deceitful media is causing our country and our democracy.

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Annett Lischka of Denver writes:

I like to give my vote on preservation of the DeBoer neighbourhood.
The urban forest of master landscape designer, with rare Mongolian oak should not be destroid to build a modern, artificial community.

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Robert Lipton of Lakewood writes:

What’s this? Al Gore uses 30,000 dollars worth of gas and electricity at one of his three houses. Well yes , but at this house for four months he purchased “green power” at an extra charge of 400 hundred dollars a month.The extra 400 is used to help subsidize renewable energy research and sources. So.. the message is if you have enough money you don’t have to sacrifice any use of energy. Thats quite an egalatarian message: on a par with Marie Antoinette"s “let them eat cake".

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John Jennings of Colorado Springs writes:

Roy Suttie of Westminster writes in the March 5, 2006 Rocky Mountain News, “it seems to me that no president since Lincoln has ever borne so much extreme hatred as (George W.) Bush.” Mr. Suttie, you must not be old enough to remember Richard Milhouse Nixon.
True, Bush is a much worse president. He lied us into this quagmire in Iraq, while Nixon inherited Vietnam from two Democratic presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, who had escalated the war despite warnings from the previous Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nevertheless, the Watergate scandal and decade-old war drove Nixon’s approval rating to 24% (Gallup, August, 1974), making Bush’s current 29-31% look rosy.
In his last years in office, Nixon could not travel anywhere in the US without being met by massive demonstrations calling for his resignation. Stories about anti-war activities were as common on the evening news as car-bombings in Iraq are today. Literally a million people turned out one Sunday in Boston to protest the war.
Certainly the left’s dislike of Bush is even more intense than the right’s dislike of Bill Clinton, and with good reason. But both seem genial compared to the tsunami of loathing that poured over Nixon from almost every corner of this country.
The proof: Despite the needless death and debt his disastrous leadership has caused, Bush will serve out the final years of his second term. Unlike Nixon and Johnson, he will pay no price for his failure. The price instead will be paid in lost loved ones, damaged soldiers’ lives and increased taxes stretching out over the next 75 years.

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John Hupp of Columbine writes:

The thinner paper and smaller page size of the new Rocky are OK with me, but I hate the tiny print. I could read the previous version just fine; now I need to go find my reading glasses to read the paper. Anybody over 45 would appreciate a return to bigger print. The weather, comics and news font size all need to be enlarged to make reading the paper pleasurable again.

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Diane Hansen of Denver writes:

What’s with identifying Democrats who get into trouble by party affiliation yet conveniently dropping the same for Republicans. Equal representation please.

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Dennis Goldman of Aurora writes:

Steve and Cokie Roberts’ most recent column (RMN 3/2/07), Dems must tread very carefully, advises democrats to continue to criticize George W. Bush on his Iraq policy, but to eschew their “moral” convictions to actually take any legislative action. Cokie & Steve think that losing in Iraq is a ‘political’ winner for the Dems; as long as their hands are clean they plan on pinning everything bad on Bush.
Omitted from the Roberts column is any mention of al Qaida’s responsibility for making a mess of Iraq, the desire for America to prevail in Iraq or for the Iraqi government to succeed. Messers Roberts not only expect the U.S. to lose in Iraq, they are openly cheering for the failure of democracy in Baghdad, as their best hope for a democrat victory in Washington D.C.
Ironically, while Steve & Cokie disparage Vice President Cheney for taking on anti-war critics, these despicable columnists make the Veep’s case themselves. Claiming that Dems were elected with an anti-war mandate belies the defeat of Ned Lamont. Voters may have been unhappy with Republican governance, but the vote in 2006 was not one for retreat or defeat in Iraq.
As Obama, Edwards and Richardson vie to be the first to abandon our international commitments, Hillary claims that,”had I known then what I now know today, I wouldn’t have voted to give the President the authority to invade Iraq.” In other words, Mrs. Clinton is saying that she would have voted to have left Saddam in power, would have been satisfied when the U.N. inspectors got hood-winked, would have allowed Gulf War sanctions and no-fly zones to be dismantled and would have trusted that Hussein and Sons, Inc. would not reconstitute nuclear capabilities and would have believed that those weapons would not be handed-off to terrorist organizations.
By the way, if President Bush could get that same ‘do-over’ (given perfect hindsight), what would he have done differently over the past 4 years? Apparently, in the next Clinton Administration, ‘The Buck does NOT Stop here”.
If you think that today’s democrats stand for defeat, I give you Cokie & Steve Roberts.
If you think that the democrat front-runners were for cutting & running, I give you Barak, John, Bill and Hill.
But if you think that winning the peace is paramount, let’s give the troops time to improve conditions on the ground in Iraq.
Betting that the war is headed for a crash, may not be prudent and our next great “folk hero” may yet be George W. Bush.

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Darin Garrett of Highlands Ranch writes:

If we can have a “No Junk Mail list” like the “No Call list” that would be great. I would sign up. Please tell me where to sign up for the “No Crap On My Door list” Or the ever popular “Stop throwing the paper I did not order in my driveway list” I’m sure I am not the only one who tires of picking up blowing newsprint or ads to fix or clean my yard and or carpet. Getting tired of cutting all the rubber bands off the door knob? How about all the tape stuck to the door? The people who distribute the aforementioned material do not understand the simple concept of “No Solicitors” Sign me up!

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D. Furman of Denver writes:

It is very noticeable that whenever a situation arises where there is something positive about a Democrat or the Democratic Party, you fail to make any mention of the party affiliation, yet where even the most petty matter that could be construed as negative is concerned, you always mention everything possible to implicate the Democrats; however, when a Republican or the Republican Party does something that is considered negative—and there has been a lot of that in recent times—you fail to mention any party designation or affiliation whatsoever.
It is grossly unfair and blatantly prejudicial to act in this manner and we sincerely hope that it will stop. If you attach party affiliation to articles regarding one party, you should do the same with the other.

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Mary Fergesen of Denver writes:

I was excited when the first “new” Rocky arrived because it was folded correctly. None have been since then until this morning, Feb. 12. Please try to keep on folding correctly. I find it very annoying to have to refold the paper every day.

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Inge Dulaney of Denver writes:

Subject: Support the DeBoer Historic District, neighborhood-save 515 E. Iliff I have lived a block from Washington Park for over 40 years and have been a gardener at Rosedale Community Gardens for the past five years. Through all these years I have enjoyed the beauty of the City. During the summer months I am in the DeBoer neighborhood every day and love driving by the trees and gardens. The wonderful houses are some of the most interesting buildings in the City and to have them destroyed and replaced with “McMansions” would be a crime.
Please vote to help preserve this part of history of Denver.

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Mike Clem of Denver writes:

I support the Historical Designation of the DeBoer Neighborhood and the people who live there. As a native of Denver I am very interested in maintaining the historical sections that have not already been bulldozed and torn down yet. I understand the desire for growth but I also believe it’s important to maintain the openness and substance of Denver for future generations. I also support the constitutional rights of private citizens over the granted rights of public corporations.

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Jonathan Butler of Boulder writes:

House Bill 1292, a bill to ensure that schools provide “science-based” sex education in order for adolescents to make responsible and healthy decisions, is an advocate for factual information. Yet, the false information, provided by the lobbyist for this bill, shouldn’t be trusted, should it? Here are some facts that you might want to know.
“Mendez, Steadman, & Associates” were hired to lobby the House to vote “yes” on House Bill 1292. This firm provided a “fact sheet”
slandering a curriculum published by FRIENDS FIRST, a community-based, non-profit, abstinence organization. The fact is that the firm had never read FRIENDS FIRST curriculum and never knew that FRIENDS FIRST continuously updates their curriculum in order to ensure up-to-date “science-based information". But it’s ok; we’ll take your word for it, just like the House did. Here is our number one issue: abstinence-based programs like FRIENDS FIRST, who educate students to make responsible and healthy decisions, and who provide scientific, up-to-date, and factual information ARE under funded.
Instead, this bill is trying to establish a health program that will meet the overall concerns of parents, communities, school boards, and the Department of Education. Does anyone else see the problem with trying to combine the opinions of this diverse group? Each will have their own opinions of what needs to be taught in order to make a comprehensive health program. We are going to end up right back where we started!
We should be thankful enough that programs like FRIENDS FIRST are taking the reigns to educate youth about sex. FRIENDS FIRST pride themselves on providing their curriculum on science-based information. Oh, but wait. These types of programs are being accused of providing inaccurate information, right “Mendez, Steadman, & Associates"? I guess we’ll just have to take your word for it, just like you forced the House to do by providing inaccurate information.

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Charles Buchanan of Denver writes:

Paul Campos proposition that people wouldn’t vote an atheist for President (RMN 2-27-07) because atheism and “profound moral imperative(s)” are mutually exclusive is flawed. His premise that a “genuine” atheist does not care what happens to humanity is born of ignorance.
I don’t speak for all atheists, but I know that I have much to learn about why and how we exist in space and time. There may indeed be a universal designer, but based on the evidence I find it highly unlikely. What I do have is an open mind, and that is what truly separates “believers from non-believers". After all, for believers what more is there to know than what you read in your holy book of choice? You just cherry-pick evidence to fit the framework of your chosen doctrine. Atheists are free from these narrow constraints, and therefore choose their moral framework and belief systems from a variety of sources.
What Campos doesn’t understand is that for humanity survival is a genetic imperative. Like any species we do what we do with the goal of continuing to exist. That is why when I look at my children I have a feeling of love like any parent, religious or not. I want them to thrive in the world. That is my moral imperative. However, I’m not running for President. I’ve merely formed an exploratory committee.

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R. Beaufait of Louisville writes:

I just wanted to point out that there are many ways and means of fighting for a cause, or a principle of conviction, including non-violent methods.
In fact, most successful social changes have occurred through non-violent tactics rather than violent tactics. Most of our heroes and holy men have preached the benefits and virtues of non-violence throughout history. War and violence are but primitive behaviors for the lesser evolved ones, an easy reaction to give into, no particular skill or virtue is in it, and it has been a terrible interlude from which civilization eventually recoils from, and then actual constructive dialog and actions begin to take place.
Fighting for peace is an appropriate phrase, as millions of us all over the world are fighting for peace. Each in our own way, the best way we deem to be fit, by our own conscience and principles that we stand for. We dont have to become the evil to fight the evil. Each to his or her own, as it should be. And no one is any less brave in pursuing the non-violent tactic the works best for them. For some of us, violence (or war) is never the answer!
“Love thy neighbor” and “Do unto others as you would be done by” seem to be forgotten echoes from the past these days (or at least by reading the newspapers) and getting drowned out by the shrill voices of war.
Give Peace a chance!

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It’s a shame to think that after almost four years of duking it out in Iraq that we’ve made little to no progress in the war on terror. We had three reasons for going to war with Iraq: We were to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction, put an end to Iraq supporting terrorists and end the reign of a madman.
It seems that all this administration has been able to do in these four years is to create more terrorists, spend a heck of a lot of money and distract the military from finding al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. So far, the cost of this war totals $358 billion. It’s quite sobering to think how that money could have been spent differently in curtailing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
With that being said, what do we do? Well, we have a responsibility to clean up our mess and leave Iraq a better place than we found it. There is no magic bullet. Hard work and ingenuity now will pay off dividends down the road. Leaving now would certainly mean a full-blown civil war in Iraq. What’s more, it could lead to an involvement of much of the Middle East and certainly the United States in a much broader and dirtier war in the not too far future.

Casey Saltness, Golden

Why are U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and other right-wingnuts against comprehensive immigration reform like the McCain- Kennedy bill? Simple: Real reform of the system would solve the problem. If that happened, no one would pay any attention to these mean-spirited politicians.

Tom Kowal, Westminster

Now that Colorado has gotten this much-needed snow, I will bet that everyone is thinking that our water problems are over.
This is so far from the truth. All of this snow, unless it is put into storage, will run down to California, Arizona and Utah. We will also have the added problem of flooding during the spring thaw.
Colorado is not protecting one of our most valued assets.
The farmers, along with every other citizen, should demand a solution instead of watching our water trickle downstream.

Susan Ueblacker, Lakewood

When it comes to westbound traffic on Interstate 70, sometimes simpler is easier:
Those with last names beginning with A-F will be allowed onto the interstate from 6-8 a.m.; G-L allowed 8-10 a.m.; M-R allowed 10 a.m.-noon; and S-Z allowed noon-2 p.m. Rotation subject to change.

A. Gordy, Watkins

Regarding Mike Rosen’s column on “Enviro-socialism” (Feb. 20): As I recall, Dr. Zhivago was indeed appalled by the crudeness of the Bolshevik Party hack who informed him of the confiscation of his house.
I recall also the very next scene in which Zhivago sincerely confides to his wife that the dividing up of their home was an act of justice given the mass hunger and homelessness which plagued his country.
Because he had a basic sense of right and wrong, I suspect the good doctor would have agreed with F.R. Pamp’s description of a 17,000-square-foot home as a “wretched excess.”
Rosen might prefer Ayn Rand to the Marxists, but in selectively editing a work of art for propaganda purposes, he seems to have taken a page from the Russian censors who also enjoyed rewriting history to suit their purposes.

Richard Gould, Denver

There is simply no commonality between controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill and the supposed right-wing professors mentioned in Paul Campos’ column of Feb. 20, “The right’s Ward Churchill.”
Churchill is a professorial fraud. He is a demonstrated plagiarist and liar. He did this during his work as a professional teacher of young people. There is no other issue.
I believe Churchill to be of low character. Simply look to his efforts to wangle as much money as he can from the good people of Colorado. I think most people, after being “found out,” would want to hide. What amazes me most is that there are actually folks out there who seemingly, against all logical good sense, support Churchill.

Warren G. Zivi, Boulder

Mike Littwin’s description in the Feb. 22 Rocky of what transpired at the first Democratic presidential forum in Carson City, Nev., was absolutely hilarious (“Hollywood War finds a new front in hills of Nevada”). I can hardly wait to hear what his take on the first Republican presidential forum is going to read like. Hard to imagine it could be much funnier, but considering the “material” he’ll have to draw on — even without the Hollywood crowd contributing to the event — I’m anticipating some hearty yuks. Maybe, however, we all should be crying instead of laughing?

Terri Thaler, Denver

I find the letter and the information put forth by various county sheriffs in the Feb. 20 Rocky Mountain News dishonest and unnecessary (“Database needed to confirm permits”).
To apply for a concealed-carry weapons permit you must pay more than $150 for an extensive background check, as well as have training in the use of a gun. Once it is determined that you have no criminal background, and have passed a training course, you are issued a license.
Furthermore, once you receive your license you are registered by the county you live in. There is no law against counties sharing the information with each other — it’s even been encouraged by the sponsors of the original concealed-carry bill.
Moreover, I have not been able to come up with any information through the Web of even one instance of a concealed-carry weapons permitholder being convicted in a serious gun-related crime. Yet we are to believe the sheriffs that a list is needed because some have? Or is it because some might?
And what business is it of the state to need to know why I might or might not have a permit?
Let’s be honest: Left-leaning government wants to know who has guns and is obviously too lazy to make a phone call.

Aaron McLucas, Northglenn

When the Constitution was approved and the Electoral College was founded, it could take days or weeks for news to travel from the states to the nation’s capital. Even longer when the country was expanding westward.
The Founding Fathers who set up the Electoral College had no idea of the instant communication that would be available 200 years later.
Does the Electoral College truly represent the “will of the people”? When a candidate gets only 51 percent of a states’ popular vote, but gets 100 percent of the Electoral votes, is that really fair? If the electoral votes were divided by the percentage of the popular vote received by each candidate, then that is tantamount to having elections decided solely by the popular vote.
As it stands now, a presidential candidate need only to carry 11 states to gain enough electoral votes to be elected — even if he got less than half the total popular vote! It has happened before.
The Electoral College is an outdated and outmoded means of selecting the president of the United States.

Dean Benjamin, Federal Heights

Jack Wedding of Arvada writes:

As an American citizen I ask you this question, what ever happened to our law-a-biding citizens in the hiring portion of our work force? Well, I guess that I can state very clearly only one word GREED and the realization that they can and are getting away with this practice.
After reading the 2-26-07 Rocky Mountain News those greedy people should be to ashamed to admit that they are intentionally hiring illegal people for working purposes but if they continue to get away with this practice and in the long run can cheat the illegal out of their money, not that it should matter to the business community who gets cheated, who really cares, I sure don’t, but I am concerned that those illegal people are using my tax money for many different purposes, medical, schooling, food stamps, housing etc. I do care, it’s my money and I’m tired of aiding those lawbreakers but alas greed has won out again.
How can our government allow this blatant problem to exist, yet the situation can be printed and with pictures of illegal men basking in the lime light with no worries about being deported, however they can complain about being cheated and also to tell just how easy it was to enter our country and take away work from American citizens and don’t tell me that there are not enough workers that are Americans, those illegal workers are working for below pay scale and probably don’t pay any taxes, social security etc. and I’m subsidizing this practice?.
Where does the penalty phase of our great system come into play, maybe, just maybe when there is no more work for an illegal our government will slap a few wrists and the illegal people will all go back to where they came from.

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Howard B. Walitt of Grand Junction writes:

Reference: George Will’s column, “ ‘ Letters’ helps us imagine the humanity of the enemy,” 25 February 2007, page News 5.
Mr. Will, a man of great intellect and historical knowledge, should be ashamed of himself for writing this column. It is sad that he (as well as Clint Eastwood, director of the “Japanese perspective” film about the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, “Letters") should succumb to such regrettable political correctness when dealing with the most unrepentant barbarians in the twentieth century, the Japs of 1930-1945. (While it is no longer acceptable to use this term about our Far Eastern ally, that is the nomenclature used during their years of Banzai bestiality and Bushido.) It is now 60 years since the end of World War II, and the government of Nippon, and precious few of its citizens, has ever acknowledged, much less apologized for, its frenzied barbarism during the 1930 - 1940s period of history. Japanese school texts gloss over or fail to mention the almost unparalleled atrocities perpetrated by the nationalistic and imperialistic Japan of that age, which sought to create its euphemistically benign “Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” Lest we forget, as the Japanese would have the world do: the rape of Nanking (China); unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii); Bataan Death March (Philippines); “comfort women” (Korean sex slaves for Japanese soldiers); POW slave labor (e.g., Thai/Burma railways; Japanese mines and factories); Unit 731,and other sites (lethal germ warfare experiments, using POWs and Chinese civilians, in Manchurian “labs"); and on, and on ...
Nearly 75 years after Japan began its foul and bestial campaign of aggression and conquest in Asia and the Pacific, they have yet to confess to the unspeakable misery, death and ruin that they wreaked on the world. It is unfortunate that it is politically incorrect to mention these historical facts because Japan is now an ally, a cultured people, a valued trading partner . one of the “good guys.” [For those with a strong stomach, an instructive read is, “The Rape of Nanking, The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II,” Iris Chang, Basic Books, 1997.] As a nation, they should be regarded as a pariah state, until they openly admit, both to their own people, as well as their victims, the sadistic inhumanity for which they bear total culpability.

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Michael Trimble of Littleton:

In regard to the “Make my day better bill,” about armed self defense in businesses, perhaps a bit of clarification is in order: When I say, “It kills me to go to the dentist,” I don’t mean I think he will shoot me.
If I say, “I just died when I saw the prices!” I’m not talking about a mortal wound.
When a retail manager tells his sales people to “Develope a killer-instinct,” it’s like, A METAPHORE (I’m pretty sure on that last one, if only because it’s relatively harder to get dead people to write a check than live people).
We heard all the rhetoric about the streets running red with blood when the legislature debated concealed-carry permits. And again when the assault-weapons bill expired. We heard how dangerous it is to allow weapons in cars, and how road-rage drivers would be shooting up the highways. So far, concealed-weapons permit holders have a pretty good track record. It turns out road-ragers don’t NEED another weapon to kill- they’re DRIVING one. In spite of everything we hear about the wanton mass slaughter of innocents, none of it has happened. Not here, not anywhere.
But let’s give a really big hand to our state legislaters! If someone breaks into my office while I’m there late doing the books, he’s not only safe from being shot, he also won’t get an irritating cough from second hand smoke! I mean, it’s bad enough that I’m paying his rent and buying his recreational drugs with the money he steals; I for SURE don’t want to have to pick up the higher medical costs if he gets sick... and after all, it’s all for my own safety in the work place, right?

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Steve Schweitzberger of Littleton writes:

Kevin Vaughan mentioned something in today’s “Crossing” (02/27) that is relevant to the issue of parenting and mentoring, relative to street violence and gang recruitment.
What ever happened to reform schools? Carolyn Baxter, today’s subject of The Crossing, didn’t seem to have bad parents, or a bad environment, or a bad school. Yet Baxter credits reform school for saving her from a “destructive life".
We spend a lot on education, for the sake of passing literal tests, yet there is obviously something missing in the life of many youths. It is easy to blame bad parenting or the urban environment, neither of which seem to be the reasons Baxter found her inspiration elsewhere. Does her history provide a lesson for today?
Perhaps modern mentoring programs, seeking to counter the allure of street-gang recruitment, are successful because at certain stages of life everyone needs to know someone outside their family cares about their future.
If “tough love” implies what parents must do when children need correcting, what would we call a reinstitution of the reform school process? Also, there once was a common practice of letting lawbreakers have an option of joining the military as an alternative to jail time. Has public tolerance without tough love caused gang membership to provide a sense of belonging for too many young adults? There seems to be a growing consensus that young adults benefit from new perspectives they might only find if they leave home for a while. Maybe a “reform school” change of environment could be called something else. Publicly-funded through existing education resources, a “room and board change of environment", providing youth new opportunities for perspective without stigmatizing parents or the students taking advantage of their temporary change in habitat.
I wonder how many parents would voluntarily let teen age children go away for a month. I don’t know what political-correctness caused us to abandon reform schools for those identified as, “at risk". We live in a world where every youth should now be considered at risk.
The Crossing may have brought something for today out of lessons from the past. I am grateful today for the history lesson.

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Walter Plywaski of Boulder, ex “native” of Lodz ghetto, Auschwitz and Dachau, writes:

Mr. Joshua McNair “teaches” writing at University of Colorado after “winning” a prize for his 2004 essay ("Organization, Cooperation and Action") from the virulent neo-Nazi Stormfront” website operated by former Alabama Klan leader Don Black. Black claims not to be a a hatemonger (!). His idea of “White Pride” involves demeaning, demonizing and menacing Jews and non-whites, and his concept of “victory” includes the creation of ethnically cleansed political enclaves.
Besides inviting a world infamous Holocaust denier to speak CU, McNair also received praise from the “gentlemanly” KKK leader David Duke.
McNair advocates conspiratorial discrimination against all “nonwhites” in all fields of human and American endeavor. His diatribe on the Stormfront website is now removed as Stormfront prefers not to state its racist views; instead sells hate with a wink and a nod.
McNair states, ‘".. it may hurt to acknowledge, we cannot ignore the tremendous success of that most solid, focused and thus most powerful group in our midst today and how they amassed the supremacy they now enjoy. “ That description is usually applied to Jews in white supremacist literature. (Rocky Mountain News, 2/23/2007).
It is ironic that this junior-Goebbels McNair’s freedom of speech is protected! He would surely forbid all not “Anglo Saxon Protestant” to proclaim their opinion. He wrote “Let’s start organizing all of our people so that we can utilize their respective positions. Then, let’s organize our most promising young people and begin placing them where they need to be so that they can in turn help the young people of tomorrow.” (The Campus Press, 2/24/07) A CU spokesman asked “Do you want to attend an institution that seeks out people with the same political ideology as our own?..."; using such logic, the university should seek out child molesters teach courses on sexuality.

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Crystal Middlestadt of Denver writes:

RE: Inmates to replace immigrant farm workers February 27, 2007 The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution retained the right to enslave individuals within prison. Amendment XIII Section 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. -Dec. 6, 1865 (www.theblackcommentator.com).
I don’t anticipate much incentive for comprehensive criminal justice reform if prisoners continue to be a source of virtually free labor. Let’s face it, this “pilot” program is not about providing inmates with job skills; it’s about increasing the profits for corporate America! Companies that contract prison labor include, Microsoft, Boeing, Victoria Secret, and Nordstrom.
Replacing immigrant farm workers with prisoner “slave” labor is no answer to some of the most pressing issues facing the state of Colorado, comprehensive immigration reform and curbing the ballooning prison population. Without the right to organize for humane and fair working conditions, prisoners are especially vulnerable to exploitation by corporations seeking to profit.
I challenge our policy makers to take the profits out of prisons and create true opportunities for rehabilitation.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

Ex Gov. Bill Owens paid thousands of dollars for severance pay to his cabinet directors. Marva Hammons received more then 55k. She get monies for doing her job. Has anyone been following how the Dept. of Human Service has been losing money. They can’t get their computers working right. Overpaying food stamps. I say that she gives back the money to help pay for many many problems.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

An Opera singer is NY was not charged with Drunk Driving because they could not prove that he intended to drive drunk. What a defense. I wonder if people could use this defense here.

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Leroy M. Martinez of Denver writes:

It is amazing how the city of Denver can trace a stolen laptop to City Attorney Larry Manzanes house. Why can the US Gov. or Social Services do the same whenever they lose a laptop?

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Dr. Jerry Lemon of Englewood writes:

This war is differently reported than was WWII. Dusty Saunders writes that the story of Bob Woodruff, the ABC news correspondent, will get huge coverage about his injury in Iraq by a bomb and his subsequent survival. I’m happy he “received expert medical care"and that he is recovering. But Woodruff “ will appear regularly throughout March on a variety of news and talk shows discussing his experiences and plugging a companion book by his wife .” An hour long TV documentary will feature him talking about his recovery and the "soldiers, doctors and family who helped save his life. The hour, aired on the second-to-last night of the February sweeps, obviously will give ABC an audience boost.” The March interview rounds will include Larry King, Wolf Blitzer, Van Susteren, Rose, Matthews, Winfrey, and de Generes! Saunders comments “some cynics have raised the question of interview overkill” and that this seems “a heavy promotional pitch to sell the book.”
Now Ernest Hemingway, no slouch at self promotion, was a short-term war correspondent in Italy in WWII and he was not wounded there. He didn’t write much about his limited activity there either.
But, while in Italy, he signed a letter to a friend , “Ernie Hemorrhoid, the Poor Man’s Pyle.” (This self-deprecatory pun refers to Ernie Pyle, of course) Is this a bit different approach than Mr. Woodruff’s accounts will be? As Mr. Saunders says, "we’ll wait and see.”

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Duane J. Leise of Longmont writes: