Alternative to law requiring seat-belt use
I ask those debating a new seat- belt law to consider which approach would encourage seat-belt usage more often:
A) A new law allowing police to pull over anyone they suspect might not be wearing a seat belt.
B) Allow auto insurance companies to sell “seat-belt mandatory” and “seat-belt optional” policies. The former would be much cheaper but void all coverage except liability if anyone in the covered car was not wearing a seat belt.
The latter respects people’s freedom. If someone wants to pay an extra $600 per year so they don’t have to wear a seat belt, let them. It’s their life and their money. Option A sounds formidable, but we all know how many people are traveling at or below the speed limits, don’t we? Option B is a stronger motivator. I don’t know anyone who’d want to pay for auto insurance and then void their coverage by failing to wear a seat belt, do you? Would you walk out of the store without the item you just paid for?
John R. Pack, Parker
Bush administration’s selling of public land
Re: “Bush calls for sell-off of Western public land,” Feb. 8 news story.
As a former Air Force officer and a member of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, I am concerned about the ongoing efforts by the Bush administration to exploit and sell off our public lands. For example, over the past five years the Bureau of Land Management has shown a dogged determination to open public land to oil and gas drilling, at the expense of wildlife and water protections and public recreation. The Bush administration also recently detailed its proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forests and other public lands. The proposal follows a failed GOP move last year to allow the sale of potentially millions of acres of public lands under the auspices of mining claims, which followed a plan by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., to sell off 15 national parks. As Ansel Adams said, “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”
I grew up with woodlands, wildlands and public lands at my doorstep, and I can name a hundred places where I can no longer camp, hunt, hike, bike, canoe or climb because private landowners closed off access. That makes public lands increasingly important. It’s the ultimate property-rights issue. Let’s not let those who are currently running our government dismantle our public lands.
David A. Lien, Colorado Springs
…
Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, in saying that there are 350,000 acres of National Forest that “no longer serve National Forest System needs,” has made clear the total inability of the Bush administration to manage our public lands as the national interest requires. What Rey means is that this acreage is not of interest to the timber industry, whose lobbyist he was for two decades before coming to government. His only interest is in cutting trees in national forests, although this is a money-loser for government. The Bush administration totally ignores the crying need to protect our precious heritage of public lands for the sake of the Americans who will come after us – a need all the more important given the continuing explosion of the American population, with its concomitant destruction of open space.
Peter Bridges, Crested Butte
Saddam Hussein’s hunger strike
In no way should Saddam Hussein’s Ghandi impersonation be impeded. His right to peacefully protest the barbaric puppet court trying him under conditions that never existed under his regime should be respected. In fact, this would be an excellent time for the U.S. to cede all administrative oversight for his custody to the Iraqis. His physical confinement and security would still be America’s, and U.N. monitors should be permitted to guarantee that he is not tortured or mistreated. Other than that, he should be unrestrained in showcasing his character for the world to openly witness. Within weeks, the entire tenor of his trial would change and slip from his grandstanding grasp.
Hussein is very unlikely to maintain his fast on his own. The Kitten of Kirkuk is too weak and sensitive to his own discomfort to continue too long. When even his supporters see what a pathetic paper tiger he is, they’ll be forced into honesty about their own ambitions and aspirations. Then Hussein can be hanged in the manner justice and Islam demand, and the good implied by his removal can balance all the bad that’s come from bringing it about.
Jeffrey H. Miller, Saguache
Olympic figure skating
Re: “Kwan keeps pride by leaving,” Feb. 13 Mark Kiszla column.
Mark Kiszla opines that Michelle “Kwan’s ticket to Italy was punched as a lifetime-achievement award, rather than on merit.” Kwan was awarded a place on the Olympic team because, healthy, she would be the most appropriate competitor available. She wasn’t able to get healthy enough in time, and took herself out. It’s our loss, as well as her team’s.
As far as her accepting the place when she was not able to compete for it, I believe that would only have been poetic justice. In 1994, when an injured Nancy Kerrigan appealed for a place on the team and wound up with a medal, the girl who got bumped was 13-year- old Michelle Kwan, who was typically gracious about it. I’m sure Emily Hughes will skate her heart out, but she might have been less exuberant about Kwan’s misfortune.
D.A. Mueller, Colorado Springs
More stuff to ban
The recent push to ban smoking in Colorado is a step in the right direction, but I doubt it will make much of a difference in the quality of (my) life. That could only happen if a few of these were banished: Ashton Kutcher, guns, cellphones, SUVs, spousal abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, Howard Stern, rap music, gangs, teens who think the pre-eminent value is to be cool, homophobia, xenophobia, racism, misogyny, drunken drivers, David Spade commercials, Rob Schneider movies, the National Basketball Association, passengers who ignore the carry-on luggage limitations, homelessness, Pat Robertson, front- page news about the Broncos, waiters who introduce themselves, Wal-Mart, the extra-grammatical use of the word “like,” Avalanche uniforms, news anchors who think they are Rob and Laura Petrie, dreadful presidents, and two or three of my neighbors.
Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch
Orwell’s “1984” written in 1948, not ’30s
Re: “Comparing George Bush to Orwell’s ‘1984,”‘ Feb. 10 Open Forum.
In his letter criticizing Reggie River’s column, Robert H. Bucher makes comments that are factually not true. He states that George Orwell’s “1984” was written in the mid-1930s. It was in fact written in 1948 and published in 1949. Perhaps Bucher is thinking of Orwell’s account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, “Homage to Catalonia.” In this book, Orwell warns against the greatest threat facing Western civilization: rising fascism. “1984,” written after World War II and its horrors, is a warning against totalitarianism, whether it be Nazism or Stalinism. True, Orwell’s politics changed over time (his was a great mind, after all), but he never abandoned his position on the left, unlike Stalin, who betrayed socialist ideals by becoming an iron-fisted tyrant.
Thomas Imber, Paris
Colorado Voices
If you have good ideas and a writer’s touch, we hope you’ll apply for Colorado Voices. It is a den for part-time columnists, a feature we created in 1999 as a forum for contributors from across the state.
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