Religious insensitivity at Air Force Academy
Re: “Report denies bias at AFA; ‘Insensitivity’ on religion still cited,” June 23 news story.
The Denver Post missed the point in its coverage of the Air Force’s report on religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy. The Air Force found “a failure to fully accommodate all members’ needs and a lack of awareness over where the line is drawn between permissible and impermissible expression of beliefs.”
Those are serious charges. The Air Force is ordering nine separate changes in policy, some of them systemwide, to try to fix the problems it identified, and it referred seven specific incidents to the chain of command for further investigation and action.
A casual reader of your paper would never have realized that the Air Force was at all critical of the academy, reading headlines that stated, “Report denies bias at AFA,” and, “Probe absolves general at AFA.” The reader would have to delve deep into the second page of the article before encountering any of the serious problems highlighted in the Air Force report, such as findings that superior officers promoted their own religion to subordinates, or that the academy did not properly accommodate the religious needs of minority cadets.
The superintendent of the academy recognizes the problems and is working to fix them; so are the commandant and football coach, Fisher DeBerry.
You do your readers a disservice when you focus on the one line in the report that found no “overt religious discrimination,” and bury the other 90 pages of important findings and serious concerns.
Marvin Levy, Board Chair, Anti-Defamation League, Denver
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Re: “What’s permissable to ACLU?” June 23 David Harsanyi column.
When right-wingers were up in arms about alleged “liberal bias” in Colorado universities in 2003 and 2004, the Republican legislature introduced a so-called Academic Bill of Rights to protect tender students from proselytizing faculty members. Now that we’re confronted with evidence of actual religious proselytizing by the leadership and faculty members at the Air Force Academy, conservative mouthpieces like David Harsanyi are the first to scream about the First Amendment rights of academy faculty members and administrators.
What would happen to me if I put a banner up in my classroom that said “Team Atheist,” or told students that they should pressure their classmates to work for the Green Party? My guess is Harsanyi and other right-wingers would conveniently forget their impassioned defense of faculty rights at the Air Force Academy. But these are things I would never do, because like most of my colleagues on American university faculties, I believe in values like free thought, open inquiry, and intellectual liberty for students and faculty alike.
Ann M. Little, Greeley
The writer is an associate professor of history at Colorado State University.
Lawsuit against railroad for train-car accident
Re: “Teen hit by train wins suit; $11 million for ’02 crash at Castle Rock crossing,” June 24 news story.
The verdict against Union Pacific is disappointing but not surprising. We’re all too accustomed to situations like this in which poor judgment results in serious injury, and the person responsible then sues and is rewarded handsomely. It’s not about personal responsibility, it’s about greed, and cashing in.
Foolish juries perpetuate these kinds of lawsuits.
In this unfortunate case, anyone with an IQ over 90 would know that it wasn’t the railroad’s fault. A train can’t stop on a dime, and it’s not like it swerved to hit her. Her car was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was partly pushed there by her boyfriend.
It’s a lot easier to sue than it is to accept responsibility.
Let’s hope that an appellate court quickly overturns this ridiculous verdict.
J.B. Reed, Denver
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Missy Martin has been an inspiration to all of us. What a beautiful young lady. She has never for one moment made a spectacle out of her disabilities that were caused by this unfortunate train-car accident. I would much rather hear about Missy’s life on “Dateline” than that of the “runaway bride.” I hope Missy will write her story and I hope someday a movie will be made out of it. What a wonderful, bright and very brave young woman!
Jennie Williamson, Lakewood
Effects of asbestos
Re: “Naturally occurring asbestos stretches fibers’ deadly reach,” June 19 news story.
An important point was left out of your recent article on asbestos in Colorado and the current asbestos bill before Congress.
This legislation presents huge new hurdles for victims to receive compensation, and excludes many asbestos victims, even those with cancer. Victims of the criminally indicted W.R. Grace Co. mine in Libby, Mont., receive special and deserved compensation. But other victims of community asbestos exposure, such as families living near asbestos processing plants across the nation, or in asbestos-polluted neighborhoods. including those in Colorado, would receive nothing.
A study by the non-profit Environmental Working Group showed that W.R. Grace’s mine in Montana shipped at least 941 shipments of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from Libby to four locations in Colorado between 1948 and 1993. These four communities include Denver’s west side, Florence, Greeley and Lamar. The bill in Congress would deny justice to thousands of Colorado residents who suffer from or will contract life-threatening asbestos diseases.
Ask Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard to vote for the interests of Coloradans, not corporations, and demand that everyone poisoned by asbestos in our state be treated as fairly as the people in Libby.
Bill Vandenberg, Program Director, Colorado Progressive Action, Denver
Proposed smoking bans
Re: “Should Denver ban smoking or wait for state?” June 23 Open Forum.
Letter-writer Anne Mitchell answers the question asked in the headline of her letter when she states: “I completely avoid restaurants that allow smokers since I do not wish to expose my daughter to this health hazard. Even if I still smoked and had no children, I would avoid smoke-filled restaurants since I do not wish to patronize companies that knowingly allow harm to come to their workers.”
Her statement is exactly why no ban is needed at all. In a free country, the market is supposed to dictate which businesses succeed and which fail. The “dive” bars that recently closed in Pueblo are examples of how not to legislate the open marketplace. I’m quite sure the displaced workers would rather have their jobs back, even with the statistically insignificant risks associated with secondhand smoke.
James Hoople, Denver
Tuition at CU
Re: “Tuition proposals for CU rejected,” June 22 news story.
According to University of Colorado Regent Pat Hayes, the regents’ “top priority is to provide a quality education for students in Colorado.” CU alumni, students and parents of students concur, but most of us aren’t in favor of resorting to Marxism to do it.
A hefty tuition hike to pay for services we receive and quality we want to preserve is one thing; a hefty tuition hike to expand forced charity is another.
CU’s proposed (and quite rightly rejected) sliding-scale tuition would be fitting in socialist economies such as Cuba or North Korea. However, those countries are neither models of prosperity nor renowned for their institutions of higher education, so I question why the regents are even tempted by such schemes.
It must be infuriating to socialists that citizens of capitalist countries – whether low, middle or high income – feel entitled to the fruits of their own efforts, their own fiscal prudence and, yes, their own good fortune. Some folks at CU are evidently convinced that they’re the best judges of who is most deserving of our income and savings. Fortunately, Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee doesn’t agree.
Christine Dice, Lafayette
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