Celebrating the United Nations’ 60th birthday
Re: “The U.N., as it turns 60,” Oct. 23 Ved Nanda column.
Thanks to The Denver Post for printing a column highlighting the good work of the United Nations. The U.N. is a large, bureaucratic institution with the potential to impact all aspects of individual human experience. This makes it precisely the type of organization that tends to worry U.S. citizens, since we apparently value individual liberty more highly than anything else. But as Professor Ved Nanda makes clear, the U.N. has been highly effective at increasing global peace and security, protecting human rights for people of all nations, and improving the health and welfare of our planet’s most vulnerable populations, including children and victims of political oppression. Not only do these efforts make it more likely that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of individual liberty here in the U.S., they assist us in our efforts to extend those benefits to people around the globe. Whether one believes that the U.S. should or should not be the world’s police force, it is hard to deny that the work of the U.N. supports our most deeply held values and goals.
Nancy Matchett Kubik, Englewood
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In crediting the relative world peace since 1945, Ved Nanda is attributing cause and effect where it may not necessarily apply. If there has been no world war, isn’t it more likely due to the fact that the U.S. and the Soviet Union were both too terrified to start one, and the western European nations have finally learned to cooperate peacefully, with or without a United Nations? Of course, there was the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, which killed more than a million people, and the ongoing conflict in central Africa, which, as far as we can tell, has killed more than 3 million. The U.N. ignored the genocide in Rwanda, then actually exacerbated the genocide in Bosnia by refusing to allow the Bosnians to arm themselves. It was unilateral French intervention that finally stopped the carnage in Rwanda, and virtually unilateral American intervention that stopped the carnage in Yugoslavia, so what did the U.N. actually accomplish toward the peace process?
I will allow that U.N. has its uses, but let’s be honest – neither enforcing peace nor ensuring human rights are its strong suits.
Jeff Kocsis, Littleton
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Thank you for Ved Nanda’s column in last Sunday’s Post. Too often the general public thinks only of the Security Council and the General Assembly when the United Nations is mentioned, and remains unaware of the important day-to-day work of the many agencies.
Without the World Health Organization, the efforts to contain the spread of the bird flu virus would be severely weakened. In the news reports of aid flowing to the victims of the tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake, the packages, vehicles and aid workers of UNICEF were well in the foreground.
Having worked with refugees in Africa many years ago I am well aware of the important work of the UNHCR (the U.N. refugee organization), and have followed its work to the present day. I am grateful for the return of the U.S. to the work of UNICEF, and look forward to the reform proposed and urged by Kofi Annan for the Human Rights Commission. On this 60th anniversary of the U.N. , let us give thanks for its achievements and work to strengthen its work in the world.
Ed Hawley, Denver
Joe Citizen and the news
Re: “Who cares about news?” Oct. 23 Fred Brown column.
Declining citizen interest in the news, very much like declining voter turnout at elections, seems to me to be the natural result of folks giving up on the notion that citizen knowledge of and participation in public affairs make any significant difference in their lives. Mainstream pundits and politicians don’t like us to notice, but the corporations that own and run our governments and media are less likely than ever to put issues vital to people and community ahead of values that enhance the corporate bottom line. Sadly, examples abound, but here’s one for free: Americans watch their sons and daughters get shipped off to war, and are assured through the media, government’s propaganda arm, that they’re going off to kill other people’s kids and maybe die themselves for “a noble cause.” This, after the pretexts for the unprovoked war on Iraq have proved to be lies, plagiarism, forgeries, and more bald-faced lies. And the media, whose bottom line is dependent on access to the authors of a never-ending stream of lies, threats and incompetence, daily caves to power on every front page and with every bra ad.
So why would Joe Citizen lose interest in being spun at and lied to? You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, said the poet.
Bruce McNaughton, Denver
Houses that produce more energy than they use
Re: “Energy tab: Zero; Futuristic homes rely on the power of the sun and high-tech construction,” Oct. 23 business news story.
The article on Boulder homebuilder Eric Doub’s house was great. It’s exciting to see projects like this happening around us. Obviously, Doub went to the extreme on his project as an experiment and a showcase.
But I am more impressed by the Habitat for Humanity model, which is based on the needs of a more modest income. I think we can achieve zero-energy homes more readily than some builders will admit. It’s a matter of choice. At a cost of $150 per square foot, a $20,000 photovoltaic system would be paid for by eliminating approximately 130 square feet of house. On a 3,000 square foot house, it seems it would hardly be missed. I know this is a simple equation and the real world is more complicated, but the principle is sound.
Our houses, like our cars, have become too big to sustain. Instead of focusing on the extra costs of renewable energy, why not focus on the extra costs of a house that is too big? I hope more people will consider combining the sun’s energy with a smaller house that will require less energy.
Steve Eagleburger, Denver
Referendums C and D
Re: “Governor candidates debate Refs C and D,” Oct. 26 columns by Rep. Bob Beauprez, Marc Holtzman and Bill Ritter.
The columns by the current candidates for governor give an excellent opportunity for comparison. Only Rep. Bob Beauprez has his facts and position straight.
Bill Ritter talks about tuition increases, Coloradans without health insurance, and child immunization rates. Colorado’s tuitions, even after increases, are well below the national average. Health insurance coverage has nothing to do with state spending, and Colorado ranks as the 13th healthiest state in the nation. Ritter’s pro-C arguments are empty.
Marc Holtzman is correct to call out supporters of C on their Chicken Little rhetoric, but falls into the pro-C trap by saying that Colorado ranks 47th in K-12 spending. Actually, Colorado ranked 27th by averaging all measures of school spending in the same study, rather than just looking at spending as a percentage of state income. Holtzman is correct to oppose Referendum C. But we must not buy the rhetoric that K-12 is underfunded in Colorado.
Beauprez wisely ignores misleading statistics. He simply points out that Referendum C asks for much more money than even the big spenders say the government “needs.” More importantly, he notes that C fixes nothing; it only delays the problem. By avoiding the inflammatory sound bite and the deceptive statistics, Beauprez gets it right on C and demonstrates his fitness to be governor at the same time.
Ross G. Kaminsky, Boulder
rEditor’s note: The writer is a regional coordinator for the Colorado Club for Growth, but wrote this letter as his personal opinion.
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If Rep. Bob Beauprez believes dollars that are not returned constitute a tax increase, I can’t help wondering why the salary increases promised state employees by law that have been cancelled by the legislature in three of the last four years aren’t pay cuts. Despite the fact that state employees have contributed $80 million to balancing Colorado budgets since 2001 and now rank dead last in the nation for employment benefits, the only savings this candidate for governor bothered to mention is the opportunity to freeze payrolls for another few years.
If Referendums C and D fail, no long-term solution is likely to be found in an election year. Neither will the Colorado business community quickly raise an additional $5 million to explain the complex package of constitutional amendments that will need to be cobbled together to provide the permanent fix Beauprez claims he prefers. If he gets both his wishes, Gov. Beauprez will find himself presiding over an accelerating disintegration of public services that will not be readily restored.
Miller Hudson, Executive Director, Colorado Association of Public Employees, Denver
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Can we really elect Marc Holtzman or Rep. Bob Beauprez as governor? Let’s face it, “scrutinizing tobacco lawsuit proceeds, selling state assets, and deferring state employee payroll increases” sounds like what we’ve been hearing from the Republican side all along: Put it off and we’ll deal with it tomorrow. Today, Colorado has a higher-education budget burr that needs immediate attention. The College Board recently published a study that indicated Colorado hiked in-state tuition rates an average of 17 percent at its four public institutions to $4,260, a $620 increase from a year ago, the steepest tuition increase in the nation. Fixing the financial situation has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?
Trev Martin, Boulder
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Years of government mismanaging the people’s money has made skeptics out of most taxpayers. It’s so easy to spend other people’s money. The politicians were having heydays before the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. They detest having the citizens hold their feet to the fire. And the news media let them off the hook with words like “shortfall.” In the real world, it’s called gross financial mismanagement, the inability to add and subtract within your means.
Jerry Baker, Englewood
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If Referendums C and D pass, the politicians will have a lot of money to play with. I can promise you two things will happen: They will start new programs that will require taxpayer funding forever; and they will initiate a host of new special-interest tax credits, to go along with the 16 currently on the books. You can kiss any future refunds goodbye.
K. Z. Bradford, Littleton
U.S. policy in Iraq
Re: “U.S. starts retreating from lofty Iraq goals; Strategy for pullout outguns democracy,” Oct. 23 news story.
This article is extremely disturbing. In the real world there won’t be a short-term policy in which our troops pull out, and a second long-term policy that leads to democracy, stability, justice and prosperity. What exists when the troops leave will be both the short-term and long-term policy.
If the United States leaves under conditions suggested by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the enemy of the United States will loudly and successfully claim victory.
If troops pull out of Iraq in the spring, as suggested, it will encourage expanding insurgent wars across the Islamic world. Believing they have achieved victory in Iraq, insurgents will become very active in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are now becoming more active in Afghanistan.
If the United States cannot achieve its war goal of bringing democracy to Iraq, then before the troops leave we must have a peace treaty signed by all important factions. Either by democracy or treaty, the war must be over before the United States pulls its troops out.
Paul Bonnifield, Yampa
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Put the Iraqis in charge.
The Post’s article describes how the U.S. presence in Iraq is commonly viewed as “occupation” by the Iraqis and that this is strengthening the insurgency. On the other hand, if the U.S. pulls out, the picture is even uglier. When our goal was to bring democracy to Iraq, why are we debating the future of Iraq?
We should say to the Iraqis: “We are at your service: here to help you, not control your country.” If our generals take their orders from the Iraqis instead of from Washington, they are more likely to be successful.
Sarah Kurtz, Golden
One man’s castle
Re: “Living simply on tattered gold mine,” Oct. 23 Al Lewis column.
I was very interested in Al Lewis’ column about Joseph Thomas-Hazell and his home. For all the decades I have lived in southeast Denver, it has cheered me to drive by that small, gray house sitting quietly in its little island of natural vegetation, amidst the concrete towers of commerce that press in upon it. How ironic that one of the structures looming over this unobtrusive home is the former Silverado Savings & Loan building, that symbol of excess and irresponsibility whose bailout cost us all, as taxpayers, so many millions of dollars. I am sorry that some of the people who live and work in the surrounding area are so affronted by Thomas-Hazell’s property. I myself am affronted by the monuments to affluence that have sprung up in my own neighborhood in recent years, giant shoe boxes encrusted with faux river rocks, festooned with preposterous pillars, fake towers, and floorless balconies, far out of proportion to their lot size, and consuming more energy in their construction, heating and cooling than whole villages in much of the world. But yes, their miniature lawns are unblemished by any offending signs of human activity, so my objections (aesthetic, environmental) have no authority in the laws, the very laws which no doubt will ensure that the little house on Mexico Avenue will soon disappear.
Mary Beth Twining, Denver
TO THE POINT: Short takes from readers
Opponents of Referendums C and D are the same crowd that cheerfully spends “our dough” on schools and roads in Iraq, but balk at spending “their dough” on schools and roads in Colorado. Go figure.
Roy Legg, Highlands Ranch
If you vote to change TABOR and you don’t think you’re going to pay more in taxes, you’d better wake up from your coma. Because that’s what’s going to happen. TABOR is keeping government small. Exactly what the voters want.
Robert H. Whyte, Lakewood
Forget the other reasons to vote for C and D, here’s the crucial one: Your average non-saving Coloradan will spend his rebate and not remember where it went a year later. But he will remember the tax bill that takes its place.
Pat Gilmore, Denver
We’re getting ripped off at the pump, our homes will be cold and dark, banks/credit card companies are squeezing out what is left, and now an anti-consumer bankruptcy law. What’s next in government’s war on the American people?
Linda Scott, Aurora
Oh, boo hoo, Bill Romanowski. Like this was a huge surprise that you confessed to using steroids. If you want to cleanse yourself, do so in private. But to do it in public just to sell books is disgraceful. Anyone who buys your book should have their finger broken and have someone spit in their face. I can’t wait to see it in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart in a couple of weeks.
Walt James, Centennial
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