Funding for veterans’ medical care
Re: “Senate wise to boost VA funds,” June 30 editorial.
The $1 billion shortfall in veterans’ medical care, which was first discovered in April but only recently disclosed publicly, is inexcusable. The blame falls squarely and solely on the Bush administration.
Not only has the administration failed to provide funds to pay for care for those injured and maimed in Iraq, but it fought against legislation to provide medical benefits for the reservists and National Guard fighting alongside the regular army in Iraq. It is also troubling that the administration raised enrollment fees and drug copays for the health care services of returning veterans. There can be no excuse for treating our solders this way.
American taxpayers should be furious – here is an administration that believes our nation can afford to give huge tax breaks to rich individuals and corporations but is unable to find funding for medical care for the wounded and health care benefits of returning veterans.
Karen Wallace, Lyons
Can war on terror be compared to World War II?
Re: “The connection between Sept. 11 and Iraq,” July 11 Open Forum.
Letter-writer Ralph Nash compares the U.S. entry into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor to the invasion of Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Nash implies that, just as there was a connection between the 1941 Japanese attack on America and the U.S. war with Hitler’s Germany, there is a connection between the terrorist attack on New York and Washington and our current war in Iraq.
The puzzle piece missing in Nash’s analogy is that in 1941, Japan and Germany were allies. When Japan attacked the U.S., the U.S. declared war on Japan, which led Germany – as Japan’s ally – to declare war on the U.S. In other words, Germany drew the U.S. to the European front; we did not simply decide to go to war with Germany since we were already at it with Japan.
No such connection has been made (because none exists) between renegade terrorists and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It is incorrect to assume all those who understand this lack of connection are liberals. Rather, we simply have our critical thinking caps on.
Lori Klosowski, Longmont
Illegal immigration
Re: “The misguided furor over illegals,” July 8 Reggie Rivers column.
Reggie Rivers got it backward when he said we’re unwilling to deal with the realities of illegal immigration. The reality is that our government, catering to greedy corporations, has allowed millions of illegal aliens to sneak into our country and for employers to hire them in blatant violation of our laws. We, the people, have not “lost our sense of proportion,” Reggie. Indeed, the gargantuan numbers and size of the problem demands our elected public servants listen to the vast majority of Americans and secure our borders.
Fred Elbel, Lakewood
State fiscal reform
Re: “If state can’t do the math, why pay up?” July 7 David Harsanyi column.
The gist of David Harsanyi column runs deeper than dollars. It’s another attempt to demonize budget reformers as inept bookkeepers and big spenders. Didn’t business leaders and voters alike make it clear that they wanted the budget fixed – all politics aside? Sure, money in the pocket sounds good, but not if it means less services, poor roads, crumbling schools and trash build-up. Ask anyone who’s tried to renew their driver’s license recently and see if they think we can do “more with less.” This hand-wringing about wanting our money back sounds a lot like “every man for himself.” Kudos to Gov. Bill Owens and the legislature for coming up with Referenda C and D. They are at least recognizing the common good and planning for the future.
Susan Denny, Denver
Post-partum depression
Regarding Brooke Shields’ much- publicized use of antidepressants for post-partum depression, I’d like to offer the opinion of Julian Whitaker, M.D., founder of Whitaker Wellness Center in California. According to Whitaker, “PPD should be treated as a medical, not a psychiatric condition. Add psychiatric drugs to the hormonal imbalance that occurs at birth and you’ve potentially created a time bomb. Texas mother Andrea Yates was prescribed antidepressants for PPD, became psychotic and drowned her five children. New mothers need to be warned of this risk.”
Shields may feel that she’s helping others by sharing her experience. Whitaker’s opinion illustrates the other side of this issue.
Jan Fowler, Eldorado Springs
The cost and quality of a college education
Re: “Teaching aides’ language barrier stymies students,” July 8 news story.
This article is an engaging discussion of a symptom. However, it ignores the two underlying issues. First, students and their parents are unwilling to pay what it would cost if regular college faculty were to provide all instruction. This means that graduate students have to teach, too. Second, foreign applicants to our graduate schools are often better-qualified than domestic applicants. This means that English will have to be a second language for some, if not many, graduate student teachers.
Your article outlines the current solution to these problems: Try to improve the English-language skills of foreign graduate students and monitor their performance. The alternatives would be to pay more for faculty or produce domestic students with better training and a greater commitment to scholarship.
Jeffrey S. Zax, Boulder
The writer is a professor of economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Is the morning paper still useful?
I canceled my subscription to The Denver Post not because I did not want to pay for the paper – I simply did not want to read the paper. Using paper to get me “news” is antiquated, cost-inefficient, slow and wasteful.
Last Friday, you delivered me news that happened more than 24 hours before. Was anyone alive Friday morning who had not yet heard of the terrorism in London? To deliver me this stale news, you had to cut down trees and/or expend considerable energy in recycling yesterday’s day-old newsprint. You had to load the paper in vehicles powered by fossil fuels, thus making the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil.
Lastly, I do not want to waste time reading The New York Times- Denver Edition. If I wanted to take the Times, I would take the Times. I want transparent reporting, together with clear and crisp analysis from someone west of the Hudson River, and I want to get it in an environmentally friendly way.
Robert Tucker, Evergreen
TO REACH US
Phone: 303-820-1331
Fax: 303-820-1502
E-mail: openforum@denverpost.com
Mail: The Open Forum, The Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, 80202
Letters guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 200 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.
