President’s speech on Iraq
President Bush said in his Veterans Day speech, “That’s why a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence, voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.”
First, they voted to authorize the use of force if necessary to enforce U.N. Resolutions, not “for war,” as many are saying. War wasn’t necessary.
Second, Bush supporters have selective memory. Before the war, they repeatedly argued that Bush, as president, has access to information the ordinary citizen and Congress doesn’t have. He just can’t tell you everything; you must trust him. Remember that? But now Bush says everyone had the same information.
Well, we now know those who trusted Bush made a costly and deadly mistake.
Bob Powell, Colorado Springs
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President Bush says that debating the start of the war again sends the wrong message to our troops and the enemy.
First, he claims Congress had the same intelligence that he had – didn’t Rice and Cheney and Powell and Rumsfeld share the most highly classified information with him? Second, I thought the freedom to publicly debate and disagree is what we were fighting for in Iraq. Third, I think Americans’ unwillingness to engage in empire-building is exactly the right message to send to the world.
Americans have always proved ourselves willing to defend our country, which is why, incorrectly as we now know, President Bush said we had to invade Iraq. We have never had much stomach for staying in places once we are not wanted – whether it was Vietnam or Iraq.
Wanda J. Venters, Aurora
Terror war detainees
Re: “Justice detained at Guantanamo; Prisoners held in long legal limbo,” Nov. 13 Perspective article.
The article about Guantanamo prisoners was interesting for two significant facts that attorneys John Holland and Anna Cayton-Holland failed to mention. First, our Constitution does not guarantee habeas corpus rights to prisoners of war or enemy combatants conducting war against the United States. If it did, we would have had trials during World War II for the German and Italian prisoners held in the U.S. Secondly, the Hollands failed to mention that our, arguably, greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War. One has to assume the Hollands would be arguing for due process for Mohammed Atta, the Sept. 11 mastermind responsible for the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans, if he were a prisoner at Gitmo. These incredibly misguided efforts on behalf of enemy combatants who have killed or tried to kill Americans are nearly impossible to comprehend and simply add to the low opinion of lawyers held by most Americans.
Rex Flint, Aurora
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A commonality exists in matters of human rights among Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, Tojo’s Japan, Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Nam, and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – all these governments denied either prisoners of war or their own citizens due process of law and used torture to dehumanize them. Now, the Bush administration has dragged our country down to the same nadir of fascism.
We know of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisoner abuses. Recently, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. has gulag-type prisons in former Soviet bloc countries.
As if our record has not been uncivilized enough, Vice President Dick Cheney has twice tried to get the Senate to withdraw Sen. John McCain’s amendment to the defense bill to ban our intelligence agencies from cruel and inhuman treatment of foreign combatants. In essence, he wants Congress to sanction further violations of the Geneva Conventions. This is morally wrong and un-American.
Why has the religious leadership of Bush’s base not spoken out against these breaches of moral and legal conduct? Why don’t they put their touted moral values into practice and oppose the immoral conduct of this administration?
John Murphy, Cañon City
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This article was an affront to the American people. Since when do Iraq/Afghanistan detainees have legal rights questioning their detention? They are enemy combatants who wear no military uniform and fight for no named country. Their aim is to kill and maim as many infidels as they can. The detainees have no rights, and if they did not want to spend the rest of their lives in prison, then they should not have taken up arms against our troops. Let’s not have any more stories about the “rights” of detainees. These low-lifes deserve the firing squad.
Nicholas J. Spiliotis, Parker
Multiculturalism issues in France
Re: “Proof that multiculturalism works,” Nov. 13 Eugene Robinson column.
I’ve read a lot from the “at all costs” advocates of multiculturalism, but Eugene Robinson’s column takes the cake. In pushing multiculturalism as an antidote for social discord of the sort seen in France, Robinson neglects to mention – as do most who advocate this cause – that it only works if all parties agree that all the cultures represented are valid. This is hardly the case with the Islamists in France.
While perfectly content to accept the benefits of life in a Western country with a venerable and luminous culture, they endlessly decry its “corruption” and do all they can to denigrate and destroy it. Their latest efforts involve demands for greater “self administration”; they seek to create a sort of religious apartheid, placing their neighborhoods beyond the control of French government. Hardly adequate partners for a society based on mutual respect for cultural differences.
Furthermore, the failure of France’s policy of assimilation did not have to do with numbers, as Robinson asserts. Historically, assimilation has worked quite well, even when faced by massive immigration, as this country can attest. The French failure stems instead from an unwillingness to fully pursue their own policy. In large part, this failure was based on racism, that evil twin of the well-known French attitude of superiority and exceptionalism. Having partners unwilling to fully assimilate counts for the rest.
In short, multiculturalism is no cure for what ails France. Quite the contrary; France’s current travails caution us all about the dangers of extending a welcome to others who do not – and do not wish to – share our values and culture. France’s current predicament reminds us once again where that road ends: in chaos.
Morgan Liddick, Silverthorne
Sex offenders among us
Re: “Fine food and a true confession,” Nov. 13 Perspective article.
Barbara Ellis writes of attending a dinner and being told that the friend’s husband is a sex offender. He solicited a 13-year-old girl over the Internet.
Ellis tells us she agreed to the dinner without knowing his “dark secret,” and had she known, “I’d like to think it wouldn’t have (made a difference), but I’m just not sure.” Of course it should make a difference! Adults who prey on innocent children are not good people. They aren’t people you knowingly accept as “friends.” Friendship is based on trust. Friends don’t sexually assault children.
Ms. Ellis, his behavior is not a “frailty,” as you describe it. It was a violent, planned attack on a child. You say “he lives his punishment every day.” Tell that to the 13-year-old girl, and to the next victim he goes after. He couldn’t even admit to you that it won’t happen again.
Your motherly instincts that say, “… separate them (sex offenders) from the rest of society,” are the only reasonable comments you made. Unfortunately, you follow it up by wondering about his family’s pain. The girl’s family is experiencing the real pain. Your compassion is misguided.
Tom Harrity, Castle Rock
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Barbara Ellis writes an interesting story about her dinner with a sex offender. I must say I would not have been as accommodating as she was with her host. She says there has been a proposal to create a colony of rapists and molesters to isolate them from society. I have a better idea, one that is certainly not original to me: castration. I mean the physical kind, not the chemical kind. Rapists and molesters have clearly and demonstrably indicated they cannot manage their testosterone. We wouldn’t have to hope and pray and be ever vigilant that those who cannot control their testosterone will have effective treatment – we can take care of the problem permanently with the most egregious offenders among us.
Mike Jennison, Broomfield
Talk radio for the troops
I feel sorry for Sen. Wayne Allard. Apparently his political views are so fragile that he dares not want any opposing viewpoints to be heard. Why else would Colorado’s senior senator vote against fairness and balance on the Armed Forces Network?
Senate Bill 1042, which Allard voted against, would have required Armed Forces Radio to balance its broadcasts of conservative spinners Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson with liberal talk shows. That way, the troops could get both sides of the story instead of just the constant vilification of Democrats and fawning support of Republicans that commentators like Limbaugh provide.
There are two sides to every story, but apparently our tax dollars should only be spent airing programs that support conservative viewpoints.
Lawrence Jones, Conifer
Helping loved ones with Medicare plan
During this Thanksgiving season, as we reflect on our many blessings, we especially give thanks to family caregivers for their selfless service on behalf of loved ones in need. As you gather together this holiday season, please sit down with your loved ones and discuss the new Medicare prescription drug benefit in terms of the coverage, convenience and cost of the various plans. Help the loved ones in your life understand and enroll in the plan that best meets their needs.
Older Americans will have their first opportunity to enroll in one of the plans that make up Medicare’s historic new prescription drug benefit under the Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act. This prescription drug coverage offers affordable access to prescription drugs, better health care choices, and extra help to low-income seniors and beneficiaries with disabilities. The open enrollment period started Nov. 15 and coverage begins on Jan. 1, 2006, for anyone enrolled prior to that date. But to get coverage, seniors must select from one of the many plans approved by Medicare.
Most older adults can save an average of 50 percent of their total drug cost under the new plans. Certain low-income seniors, who qualify for extra financial assistance, will have almost no drug expense. Older adults should carefully review the available options and select the best plan for them. Many will need assistance to make the best choices.
That’s why families and family caregivers – family, friends, partners, and others who provide essential but unpaid services to loved ones with chronic illness or disability – will play an important role in assisting loved ones with this new prescription benefit. Family caregivers provide most of the home-care services for the elderly and to those who are chronically ill or disabled, often sacrificing their own needs to offer their loved ones the opportunity to live with dignity and independence in familiar surroundings.
The U.S. Administration on Aging is reaching out to all older Americans and their caregivers as they move from awareness of the new Medicare benefits to enrollment. We want to make sure all older Americans can take full advantage of the new benefits both now and in the future. On our website, www.aoa.gov, we have included many links to sources of information. For those without Internet access, help is available at 800-MEDICARE. TTY users can call 877-486-2048. Finally, we hope you have seen the Medicare & You 2006 handbook that was mailed to every Medicare beneficiary.
Josefina G. Carbonell, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Administration on Aging, Washington, D.C.
Should Bush have nominated another woman to high court?
Re: “Setback for minorities,” Nov. 13 Gail Schoettler column.
Gail Schoettler, former ambassador, former Colorado lieutenant governor and state treasurer and Denver Post columnist is a strong supporter of women who want to break through the “glass ceiling.” In her column, she revealed her membership in the Velvet Hammer Group. Among the group’s goals is to see placement of women on corporate boards.
Schoettler was particularly critical of President Bush’s choice of a man to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
After witnessing the heads of eight major oil companies on TV scowling at their interrogators when called before a congressional committee investigating gasoline pricing, the presence of the fairer sex in the mix would have been refreshing.
But women do play a prominent role in the news broadcasting industry. In fact, male news and weather reporters on TV and radio have become almost extinct. It’s common to see women interviewing women in the news throughout the world. And on telecast NFL games, a woman now comments on the sidelines about the game and players.
Now, mind you, most all women chosen for these roles have significantly attractive features. At least the make-up artists can do wonders before the subject appears before the camera.
Notice, however, where we do not now see women in the workforce and may never see them, that is in digging. Whether it’s installing or repairing a sprinkler head, excavating for a sewer line, or planting a post, women will go only so far as moving some dirt to plant petunias or carrots. It’s man’s realm below a foot.
Norman Kautsky, Centennial
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Gail Schoettler makes a rather odd assertion in her column when she states, “(President) Bush apparently thought he’d done his duty to the 51 percent of Americans who are women, so he could return to the good old boys’ network … .” Where does she come up with the idea that she speaks for 100 percent of women? Given that odd assertion, by logical extension, we can only assume Schoettler would have then enthusiastically supported the nomination of either Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen to the Supreme Court. After all, they meet her qualifications: women and highly qualified.
Greg Nierling, Littleton
Spending Referendum C’s money on what the voters wanted
Re: “Do what Ref. C says to do,” Nov. 13 guest commentary.
Wade Buchanan and Rich Jones’ guest commentary on Referendum C is misleading. The authors state: “The items earmarked by Referendum C focus resources where they will be most effective: K-12 education, colleges and universities and health care.”
Having discarded my blue book on Referendums C and D, I went to the Internet and found an issue brief from the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute dated June 8, 2005, which restates what I remember as the provisions of Referendum C from the blue book. The first provision sets aside the TABOR formula for five years and states the increased revenue over the TABOR formula will be used “to fund health care, public elementary and high school education and higher education, pension plans for firefighters and police officers, so long as statutorily required; and pay for projects included in the Department of Transportation strategic transportation investment program.”
Although education is very important, the voters also approved spending this money on other critical priorities that cannot be neglected. Our state government has an ethical, even moral obligation to keep faith with what the voters approved.
Bill Callaway, Highlands Ranch
TO THE POINT: Short takes from readers
Reading that Bill Ritter is pro-life and is a leading Democratic candidate for governor makes me think we need a Democrat who is pro-choice. Hopefully, a pro-choice Democrat will step forward and be a viable candidate.
Mark S. Kern, Boulder
I found the picture of Muhammad Ali receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George Bush tragically ironic. Here is one of America’s greatest heroes (Ali), who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, honored by the one person who, because of his selfish efforts to prevent and ultimately kill stem-cell research, has prevented the champ and millions of others from a possible cure.
Steve Feld, Englewood
I wish President Bush would quit trying to win the argument and start trying to win the war.
Bud Gordon, Colorado Springs
I hear that Pat Robertson has predicted divine retribution against a small community in Pennsylvania for ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design. I wonder if the reverend can tell us what the poor folks in the Bible Belt did to deserve all those hurricanes.
J. Brandeis Sperandeo, Denver
The CIA is investigating who leaked the story that they have secret prisons in Europe. They are furious and say if they find the person who did it, they will send him or her to a secret prison in Europe.
Herb Spencer, Franktown
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