February 2007 | Main | April 2007
In a recent letter, "Drop Prickly City" (Talk Back to the Media, March 3) Rusty Campos characterized the comic strip Doonesbury as having a political slant while Prickly City is engaged in character assassinations as a regular theme.
He also says that there isn't much funny about ongoing "bitterness and rage" directed at an individual. Let me see if I have this right .
I find Prickly City very funny (and right on the mark). I find Pelosi to be a joke (and good fodder for a conservative cartoonist); and I believe that Doonesbury and Prickly City should both be available to the reading public.
Prickly City points out the warts on liberal political and agendas, hence touching a raw nerve in liberals who would protect the great unwashed from reading anything but liberal propaganda and the correct political slant. Conservative writings and cartoons should not be burned in a totalitarian dark ages bonfire. To those who don't like Prickly City I say, "Get a grip!" To the Rocky Mountain News I say, keep Prickly City and keep up the good work.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 PM
| Comments (3)
| TrackBack
Spelling bee finalists
Maureen Supple of Littleton writes:
I confess that I almost never read the sports section of the Rocky, but I am guessing that any tournament that ended with a tie for fifth place would be reported so as to include the names of both of the fifth-place players. So why is it that when you report on the state spelling bee, you mention only one of the fifth-place finishers? Any of the 288 students who competed would be thrilled to place fifth, and I imagine that their parents and friends would want to be able to point to their name in the paper. Unfortunately, one of the fifth-place winners this year can't do that, because you didn't print his or her name! And those of us who are interested are stuck with your coverage, since you sponsor the event. How much space would it take in the paper (or even on the WebKeep Littwin in back
Michael Hult of Arvada writes:
When the Rocky Mountain News adjusted its format of the paper, I was extremely impressed with the organizational changes and the content. Relegating Mike Littwin's left-wing political drivel to the back pages of the paper was a positive step. Also, Ed Stein's liberal, anti-establishment cartoons are becoming tedious. Littwin's columns belong in the classified ads under "downers" and Stein's cartoons belong in the comics (except that his political cartoons are not amusing). Please do not let Littwin beg his way to the front pages of your paper as his views are very biased and they don't reflect an objective opinion that your readers are entitled to. Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBackOne-of-a-kind hero
Sam and Mary Piro of Denver write:
The article by Jim Sheeler on "One Last Honor"Protect Earth from asteroid
Hank Riehl
Excessive CSAP testing
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.
Republican strategy, approve and continue the Iraq war
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.
Disabled waiting in line
Aimee Pemberton of Aurora writes:
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!
This letter has not been edited.
Border must be closed
Bill Armstrong wants tax money for religious schools
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.
Mike Rosen on Utah vouchers
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.
How many citizens realize there is a
In layman’s terms,the Bill of Rights are restrictions on the government,
Space limitations won’t allow me to grieve the unjust powers given to the police in the “War on Drugs
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
_______________________ This letter has not been edited. Charles King of Boulder writes: This letter has not been edited. Charles James, Northglenn Tim Levins of Monument writes:
Letter writer I am a hunter, but I value the experience of using my camera to capture Rocky Mountain An unexpected bonus
Illegals are given free Walter Reed is only the tip
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
The
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
This letter has not been edited. Judith Lorraine of Denver writes: Ken Bonetti of Boulder writes: This letter has not been edited. 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. 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. I believe I still live in America, but I’m beginning to wonder. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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. 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! 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? 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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?” Kristal Parks, Denver 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. 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. 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). 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”). 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. Leo Kiely, Denver Colorado politics is a violent thing. At least, according to the Rocky Mountain News, it is. 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. 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. Sam Domenico, Golden I am an avid reader of the Rocky Mountain News Spotlight comics section. 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. 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). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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.” John Hannah, Centennial Survival of the fittest — it’s been part of evolution from the beginning. 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). 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 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 History shows that the United States has an unequalled record in freeing nations and people who have been brutalized by invaders or powerful dictators. 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. 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. 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. 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 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.” 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. 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. 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?” 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. 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? 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. 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: 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? 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). 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. 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 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. This letter has not been edited. This letter has not been edited. 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. 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. 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). Anthony J. Fabian, Aurora As most Coloradans know, the elk population in Rocky Mountain National Park has exploded recently, creating a massive problem for the park. 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. 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). Melissa McKibben, Centennial
‘Jared’s Ad’
Pathetic parade
Evaluating 'Everyday Math'
The Aspen mayoral race
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”
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.
Discontinuing Medicare Advantage
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Another Democratic ploy
Our grave immigration problems
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!
Food or insurance?
I am not saying people should drive without insurance
War funding bill promotes cynicism
This letter has not been edited.
Statistics show the surge is working
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.
Some immigrants sure have gall
This letter has not been edited.
Cleaning up graffiti
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Respect people's vote
Vets get short shrift in medical treatment
Senate Iraq debate
Focus on the state
Candidates should resign to run
Inane editorial
'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
Life becomes 'taxing'
Cleaning up graffiti
Illegal taking
Boundary dispute
City name change is frivolous
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!
Devastating Medicaid cuts
Stay off foreign soil
W
Treatment of illegal immigrants
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Littwin a hard-left Democrat
We don’t want that now do we?
This letter has not been edited.
Some politicians stuck in dark ages
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Veterans know the real story
This letter has not been edited.
The real cost of parking tickets
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.
This letter has not been edited.
The untold story about WMD
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.
Of course, without physical evidence, Sada’s book would have drawn its own critics
This letter has not been edited.
Wars waged by civilian leaders
Mark Krautler, Broomfield
This letter has not been edited.
Tired of religious agenda
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.
Health of casino workers
Kathleen Day of Idaho Falls, ID, writes:
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.
More funding for mentally ill welcome
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
Mall face-lift needed
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
Let clubs decide
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
Rosen column on mark
George Lilly, Denver
RTD parking fees
Mark Najarian, Denver
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
Praying for Phillips
]Peggy Cook, Brighton
Private sector will only worsen matters
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
An iron-clad fact
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
Baggy pants no crime
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
Iraq pullout fallout
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
Grateful for Sparks, other U.S. liberators
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
On behalf of our group
My appreciation to the Rocky’s Jim Sheeler for writing an outstanding article.
Rosalyn Kirkel, Denver>
President, Colorado Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust
Don’t fix the blame, fix the air
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
What killed mouse?
Robert D. Finnell, Centennial
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.
Expand number of terms DAs can serve
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.
Resist S. Africa’s elephant campaign
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.
Director, Pachyderm Power
Time to get tough with DUI scofflaws
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!
Why the reparations?
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.
Thanks, Jeffco
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.
Another view of 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).
Boulder ... or Iraq?
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.
CEO, Molson Coors Brewing Co.
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?
Advantage Campos
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.
Ease up on Stantis’ ‘Prickly City’
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.
Ax ‘Sweeties,’ ‘Lio’
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.
Full disclosure
In the interest of full disclosure, I know this because when Diddlebock worked there I, too, worked at the Rocky.
Teen’s tale appreciated
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.
Not-so-dearly ‘Departed’
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.
Omission disappoints
June Jones Paulding, Lakewood
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.
God save us from Bush
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.
Desanctifying Lincoln
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq war
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Disabled veterans
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?
This letter has not been edited.
Pro-union legislation
This letter has not been edited.
Junk 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.
This letter has not been edited.
Dems & Iraq
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.
This letter has not been edited.
FasTracks
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.
This letter has not been edited.
St. Vrain school days
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Mike Rosen & schools
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.”
This letter has not been edited.
Go-along Congress complicit in travesties
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.
Quash demoralizing Iraq deadline
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.
Pace finds guidance in God’s moral law
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.
In health care, is it survival of the richest?
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”?
Missing the point on private prisons
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.
Watch ‘Swindle’
&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.
War perspectives
This letter has not been edited.
Atttorneys & judges
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Bush administration
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Federal government
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Ethanol vs. oil
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?
This letter has not been edited.
Jesus
This letter has not been edited.
Adoption bill
This letter has not been edited.
Climate change
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).
This letter has not been edited.
Nuclear workers
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.
This letter has not been edited.
America’s heart is in the right place
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.
Halliburton’s chutzpah
And Vice President Cheney thinks Democrats are unpatriotic.
Weather changes seen
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.
Extend boycott, please
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.
Why tinker with 41?
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Abducted Israeli soldiers
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq & Colorado
This letter has not been edited.
The Libby case
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Tina Griego
Patricia Smith of Thornton writes:
This letter has not been edited.
Spanish lesson
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Udall & Iraq
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.
This letter has not been edited.
CSAP testing
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Vice President Dick Cheney
This letter has not been edited.
Newt Gingrich
Medicare, Medicaid & Iraq
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Climate change
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Physics
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Irish & Mexicans
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Nuclear weapons workers
This letter has not been edited.
Compromised info
This letter has not been edited.
Special needs children
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.
This letter has not been edited.
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Plates for child predators
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.
This letter has not been edited.
The DREAM Act
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!
This letter has not been edited.
Jesus a myth
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Mike Rosen
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
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.
This letter has not been edited.
St. Patrick’s Day parade
Frank
This letter has not been edited.
Amendment 41
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Alleged teen killer
This letter has not been edited.
The Libby case
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Adoption debate
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq
This letter has not been edited.
Climate change
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
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Bush visit to Colombia
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 Col
This letter has not been edited.
Guns in cars
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.
This letter has not been edited.
John McCain
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?
This letter has not been edited.
Firefighters union vs. Giuliani
This letter has not been edited.
9/11 conspiracy
This letter has not been edited.
Denver Botanic Gardens
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Tom Tancredo
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Wind power
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!
This letter has not been edited.
God in the Constitution
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Municipal bonds
Dr.
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.
This letter has not been edited.
The Libby case
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?
This letter has not been edited.
Smoking
This letter has not been edited.
Human rights abuses in Mexico
This letter has not been edited.
GOP sheep won’t bleat over Coulter’s slur
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.
Was she truly ‘proud’ to speak to gays?
“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.
Questions for Rove
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.
Time line failed to note Wilson charade
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.)
Wherever you go, there you are
“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!
Warming is here now
Read the weather reports. Get a clue. Bush has not paid any attention to it either for six years as “our king.”
Offended by senator’s sense of humor
“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.
Cancer screen a snap
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!
So long, Cap
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.
English as an add-on
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.
Rocky Mountain low
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq vs. U.S. Civil War
Then there is the issue of the billions of dollars that have been siphoned off through waste , fraud and theft while soldiers “make do”
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Postal rates
Emory Walker of Denver writes:
Athletic trainers
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Athletic trainers
Student athletic trainer
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Scooter Libby & Joe Wilson
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq vs. WWII
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Italian heritage plates
This letter has not been edited.
Scooter Libby
This letter has not been edited.
Iraq 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.
This letter has not been edited.
Mike Rosen, Bush & Lincoln
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Smoking ban
This letter has not been edited.
CU
This letter has not been edited.
Landscape architects
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Manzanares & the laptop
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Prairie dogs
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.
Libby & Clinton
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!
This letter has not been edited.
Death penalty legislation
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Insane Clown Posse
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Forming a voice
This letter has not been edited.
Controversial energy drink
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Accused teenage killer
This letter has not been edited.
Roadless areas
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Pinon Canyon expansion
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.
This letter has not been edited.
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 Ma
This letter has not been edited.
The homeless
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.
This letter has not been edited.
The Rocky
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.
This letter has not been edited.
Ambitious Udall dilutes anti-war stand
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.
Let’s not get all weak-kneed over Iraq
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.
‘Make My Day’ bill was not a ‘gun bill’
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.
President, Colorado State Shooting Association
Elk hunt espoused
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.
Ethanol’s drawbacks
Some mourn the loss of zoo’s jaguar, too
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.
Delisting wolves will help end habitat loss
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.