Killing of Pakistanis by unmanned U.S. plane
Re: “Pakistanis denounce U.S. over fatal airstrike,” Jan. 16 news story.
In a delicious perversion of the “democracy” that President Bush is claiming to spread in the Middle East, 17 Pakistani civilians were killed by an unmanned American drone on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border last Friday. In response to all the women and children killed, Sen. John McCain leads a verbal charge in Congress saying that it’s too bad, but anytime we suspect a terrorist lurks somewhere we’ll go after them. Then the Pakistani government, hated by its people but closely allied with the U.S., says that indeed there were four or five “terrorists” in the village but their bodies were removed by their compatriots before officials could find them. Hello, how do we know that?
Alaeldin Rachid, Fort Collins
Push to create domestic partnerships in Colorado
Re: “Dems to push gay-rights issues,” Jan. 17 news story.
I am not a religious, bigoted zealot, nor do I wish to replace the state constitution with the Bible. However, I am opposed to the Colorado Domestic Partnership Act, which may be on the ballot in November. And I want to slap those who say it is not an attack on traditional family values and wake them from the politically correct stupor that they must be in.
I am a full-time mother and my husband supports me and our family. I depend on the social and political recognition of my marriage to protect me – i.e., health-care coverage, inheritance rights, etc. To hand out pseudo-marriage certificates to same-sex couples would minimize and trivialize me, my marriage and my family. Those of us who seek the time-honored family ideal should be outraged that the traditional roles of husband and wife are not being better protected and treated with more respect by our representatives in government.
Heather Clark, Englewood
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Well, well, well, finally a statement from Focus on the Family that gays and lesbians can get behind! Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, is just so concerned about adult siblings who live together being left behind by the Democratic proposal to legalize domestic partnerships for same-sex couples that he says, “To limit those rights only to those who have sex a certain way is highly discriminatory.” For a second, I thought he was talking about the push to bar marriage from all those who don’t do it heterosexually. One wonders how he might spell “hypocrite.”
Jack Balas, Berthoud
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State Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald would have voters believe the proposed domestic partnership referendum is about fairness and equality. No, it is about money. Insurance benefits, medical decisions, end-of-life arrangements and taxation are involved.
And what’s next? A man’s domestic relationship with a 7-year-old boy, or with his dog? A woman’s domestic relationship with her cat or horse?
Jeanne Off, Henderson
Al Gore’s criticism of Bush’s eavesdropping
Re: “Bush broke law, Gore says,” Jan. 17 news story.
Thank you for your coverage of Al Gore’s stirring Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech. The speech should be required reading for all truly patriotic Americans.
Gore, who actually won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential elections, spoke with clear moral authority, pointing out, in unflinching detail, the damage that President Bush has done to our constitution, and to our constitutional form of government. Gore is not exaggerating when he states that “A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government.”
Some people might choose to ignore Gore’s speech, assuming that it’s just politics. But this is not a partisan issue. Gore’s speech was introduced by former Congressman Bob Barr, a very conservative Republican from Georgia, who has been a very strong proponent of the Constitution and the right to privacy.
We the people need to contact our senators and congresspeople and urge them to support Gore’s call for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to pursue the criminal issues raised by warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the president.
Stephen A. Justino, Centennial
New Orleans mayor
Re: “N.O. mayor: Storms sent by angry God,” Jan. 17 news story.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in his Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech, joined the ranks of Pat Robertson as grand buffoons for daring to claim that they know that God has intervened in order to place his judgment alongside theirs about some political decision someone else has made.
By declaring that God used Hurricane Katrina to smite the U.S. for fighting for freedom and national security in Iraq, Nagin exposes himself as both an idiot and a charlatan.
He and Robertson should slither back under the rocks they inhabit and leave their private conversations with God private.
R. Barry Crook, Aspen
In defense of Oprah defending James Frey
Re: “Oprah’s blessings to a lie,” Jan. 18 Richard Cohen column.
Oprah Winfrey stated that James Frey’s book, “A Million Little Pieces,” retained its “underlying message of redemption.” In response, Richard Cohen wrote that “fame and wealth has doped her into believing that she possesses something akin to papal infallibility.”
I was waiting for someone to say something hyperbolic, and Cohen did not disappoint me in the media’s ability to take a shot a someone who was not responsible in any way.
I do not believe that Oprah taking a stand different than what she did would serve any purpose.
Yet someone finds blame where they can. A cheap shot and undeserved, in my opinion.
Criticism and blame should stop with Frey and the publisher. Oprah is supporting and honoring our ability to rise above the trials and tribulations of the circumstances we create or encounter.
Richard Hart, Denver
Thanks to Broncos from Canadian city
I wanted to take this oppportunity to thank the Denver Broncos football club for showing its support for the Canadian Football Leauge and specifically the Edmonton Eskimos.
After Edmonton’s CFL Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Allouettes, the Broncos placed a full-page ad in our newspaper congradulating the Esks and the city of Edmonton. I thought this was an amazing show of class from a big-leauge team, taking time to congragulate us on our win.
Thanks, Broncos, and the city of Denver. Good luck this weekend against in the AFC Championship and hopefully the Super Bowl as well.
Joe Patricio, Edmonton, Canada
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A storm is heading west. This storm first destroyed Cincinnati before tearing its way into Indiana. Once there in Indiana, men, women and children cried as the storm of Steel reigned down upon them.
Now the storm is heading west into Colorado. Men, take your women and children and head west, deep into the Rockies. (Leave now to beat the congestion at the Eisenhower Tunnel.)
The city of Pittsburgh sends its condolences to all in Denver. And if you feel the need to follow a true sports team, well, Steeler Country extends well beyond Pennsylvania. Wear the black and gold and you will see the light. Give me a Hallelujah and an Amen.
John J. Markus Jr., Pittsburgh
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