A fool in the White House?
Concern about released sex offenders
I’m concerned about the hysteria surrounding the release of convicted sex offenders who have done their time. They are forever stigmatized by having their names published on a sex-offenders list, available online.
Prospective neighbors want to be notified when an ex-sex offender moves into their neighborhoods. Some call for them to be relegated to special housing complexes dedicated solely to sex offenders. That should work wonders for their prospects of having a normal dating relationship.
According to a study done by the Department of Justice, in 1994, approximately 4,300 child molesters were released from prison in 15 states. Over the subsequent three years, 3.3 percent of them repeated the crime. By inference, 96.7 percent of them didn’t. I understand there are a few “incurable” child molesters, but they are the exception, not the rule.
We seem to be intent on making it as difficult as possible to enable these people to have a normal re-entry back into society and lead a normal life.
Personally, I would be more concerned if my new neighbor were a convicted murderer, or armed robber, or assault-and-batterer, but the system isn’t set up to tell me about them.
Jeff Miller, Thornton
Referendums C and D
Re: “Budget cuts detailed in a Ref. C defeat,” Oct. 21 news story.
The Post’s article outlined proposed budget cuts should Referendums C and D fail. Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, is quoted as saying, “The idea is to scare children and little old ladies.” Well, I’m neither a child nor, as yet, a little old lady, and you bet I’m scared.
Colorado prides itself as a leader in the tax-cut movement. In fact, according to federal statistics, Colorado state taxes are the lowest in the nation compared with personal income. This, however, is not something to be proud of unless we can also say in the next breath that we are able to maintain such low taxes while at the same time provide basic health and human services for our residents. And “basic” here means adequate funding for public education and health care and aid for the elderly, poor and disabled. As proposed by C and D, continuance of these services would cost the average taxpayer a refund of $491 over the next five years – less than $100 a year to keep our state a vibrant, healthy, safe place to live.
We have the fourth most educated population in the nation. Let’s show our smarts: Vote “yes” on Referendums C and D.
Megan Henry, Centennial
…
How appropriate that a week before Halloween, those in favor of Referendum C are trying to scare us to death. If one is to believe their claims, life as we know it is about to end. The governor’s budget director is claiming that failure to pass Referendum C “would spread pain from border to border,” according to The Post. They create lists of items and make threats that will punish us all if they can’t get their hands on money that belongs to us. The only thing the proponents haven’t done yet is stand on the street corners with signs that read, “The End Is Near.”
If one is to believe all the claims by the elected officials and special-interest groups yearning to get their hands on our money and spend it, if Referendum C fails we will become a welfare state or a Third World country. Latest claims: parks will close, colleges will have to raise tuition to unaffordable heights, funding for the arts will end, food for the poor will be eliminated, prisoners will be put back on the streets, there will be a rush by criminals to buy guns because background checks can’t be completed, seniors will lose their homestead exemption, etc.
On the other hand, those of us who are anti-Referendum C see other things happening. Government officials will have to live within a budget just like the rest of us, unnecessary or questionable items will be eliminated, special-interest groups will have to find other ways to raise money other than just holding their hand out, and colleges will have to cut costs first before raising tuition. Best yet is that there will have to be a reduction in the government work force by both attrition and layoffs.
L.W. Hunley, Grand Junction
A fool in the White House?
Re: “Wanted: Fool in the White House,” Oct. 20 Linda Chavez column.
Unlike Linda Chavez, I am one of those U.S. citizens who indeed does believe that George W. Bush is an idiot. This president’s isolation from the real world appears to be essentially complete. His pride in – as he has claimed – not reading newspapers is dangerous and shameful. Do we also assume that he never listens to the radio or watches television for information? And, as Chavez notes, he is completely surrounded by yes- men. Of course, another possibility is that the cabal of yes-men have created the perfect public front in this president and that in fact he has no thoughts of his own.
If I were the president, I would establish a program of citizen symposiums wherein anyone in the country could apply to meet with the president in regularly scheduled round-table discussions by submitting an essay on any topic of their choosing. Then, once a month, maybe 15 of the submissions would be selected and the authors would be flown to Washington to meet with the president. This would be a meeting of equals with a moderator. Why hasn’t any administration implemented something like this?
But in the meantime, concerning this specific column, thank you, Ms. Chavez, for making public what at least half the country has long known: This emperor has no clothes.
Robert E. McCullough, Denver
Who is responsible for improving education?
Re: “Helping Colorado students,” and “Seven steps to better state education,” Oct. 16 Perspective articles.
Sure, we need to do many, if not all, of the things Heather McGregor and Jared Polis recommend, but above all, we need leaders in the African-American and Hispanic communities who will vociferously step up to the plate and continuously advocate, in every possible way, the value of education. Last year, according to CNSNews, “Bill Cosby pleaded with blacks to stop blaming the ‘white man’ for their problems and he reiterated his harsh critique of the current state of African-American culture.” But it is not enough for Bill Cosby to do this. We need every black and Hispanic community leader to be out front on this.
Yes, we need to do more to improve our schools, but in a country where we now hear so much about values, isn’t it time we place at least some of the responsibility for poor student performance squarely on the shoulders of students and parents who do not place a high value on education? Clearly this is not exclusively a problem for minorities, but wouldn’t it be great if leaders in these communities would lead the way in “selling” education?
H. Michael Hayes, Westminster
U.S. policy in Iraq
Re: “Rice takes heat for Iraq,” Oct. 20 news story
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended our Iraq policy as a “generational struggle” analogous to the Cold War. Instead of communism, the new enemy is extreme fundamentalist Islam. We will only defeat this enemy, according to Rice, by establishing democratic institutions in Iraq and its neighbors.
This argument is the latest in a series of disproven reasons put forth by this administration for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Did we sign on for this assignment? How will we ever know if this is the correct policy? Do we wait 50 years? What are the milestones for progress?
Senators on the committee, on both sides of the aisle, did a lousy job finding out the answers to these questions. Our leadership failed us. Orwell’s constant state of war, articulated in “1984,” to beat down the people is coming to fruition.
Charles E. Stuart, Centennial
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