Generosity of philanthropist Warren Buffett
Letter-writer John Wickham (June 30 Open Forum) denigrated Warren Buffett’s generosity by charging that amassing individual wealth under a capitalist system is valueless and somehow unethical, or at least bereft of moral virtue. (He called it “unconscionable.”) These are the typical snipes of a socialist or communist, a person who fails to appreciate the power of capitalism to raise everyone’s welfare, who wants to eliminate all wealth disparities. It was this kind of thinking that doomed generations of Russians to poverty, and is now being repeated by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
We should loudly celebrate Buffett’s accumulation of wealth – and his decision to eschew what he called “dynastic wealth.” He and others like him are true heroes, recognizing their debt to a capitalist society, without which they could not have amassed their wealth. Our children should be taught to emulate these men and women, taught to pursue their own legitimate profit-making strategy, thereby accumulating wealth and personal prosperity.
The capitalist system is the best in the world at ensuring this individual prosperity is multiplied within the community, shared by untold thousands of citizens literally following in the wake of successful men and women. Only by celebrating the likes of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates can we spread the concept that capitalistic wealth is, to a great extent, derived from society at large.
Sonny Williams, Monument
Another soccer mom’s take on the drug war
Re: “One soccer mom’s take on the drug war,” June 28 Colorado Voices column.
Jessica Peck Corry hopes her daughter will never smoke marijuana. Since that’s the case, she should hope it remains illegal. The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes the legalization of marijuana, cautioning that “any change in the legal status of marijuana, even if limited to adults, could affect the prevalence of use among adolescents.”
Marijuana is against the law because it’s a dangerous, addictive drug.
This is a health issue. According to the American Lung Association, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more cancer-causing material than cigarette smoke. A June United Nations report refers to cannabis use as a “pandemic,” noting an increase in cannabis-related health damage. This might explain why more teens now enter treatment for marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined, including alcohol.
Today’s marijuana is at least eight times more potent than marijuana of the 1970s. Accordingly, thousands of adolescents, whose brains are still developing, suffer from depression, memory impairment and diminished judgment because of marijuana.
Under most legalization plans, drugs would remain illegal for those under 21. But nearly a third of current drug users are teens – so a black market would still exist to supply them.
You only need to look at Prohibition to see that criminalizing an activity suppresses it, and legalization increases it. During Prohibition, alcohol consumption fell almost 60 percent and related liver cirrhosis and deaths fell dramatically. Today, alcohol consumption is more than three times greater than during Prohibition, and is estimated to cost our country at least $184 billion a year in lost productivity, crime, and health-care costs.
In addition to directing the DEA, I’m a soccer mom, too. I’m doing everything possible to keep drugs away from my own children and everyone else’s – not making drugs easier to get.
Karen P. Tandy, Administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
…
When I finished reading Jessica Peck Corry’s column, I was totally astonished that any mother would come up with a reason to legalize marijuana. Her idea is to legalize it, tax it and fund college scholarships, and said some of the money could be used for treatment programs. This is asinine reasoning. Legalize a drug and then we can pay for treatment programs for the drug we legalized?
She complains about the government spending billions on anti-marijuana ads. So, to save that money we should stop trying to get kids to realize drugs of any kind harm your future, we should stop the ads and use that money for college.
We don’t need another drug legalized. We have enough problems with alcohol and tobacco. I’ve been around people who smoke marijuana, and they are kind, mellow, laid-back and non-violent. They are also nowhere in life after smoking for many years. They hold down meaningless jobs and spend the rest of their time high.
We don’t need to tell people it’s OK to get high on marijuana.
Tracey L. Fanning, Thornton
President Bush and the abuse of power
Re: “High court rejects detainee tribunals,” June 30 news story.
It’s not about the detainees. The Supreme Court decision declaring that President Bush does not have the authority to set up military trials at Guantanamo without prior approval from Congress is more about a president’s blatant abuse of power and less about the prisoners’ rights.
The founders of our country designed the Constitution to limit the power of any single individual or branch of government. This balance of powers, a critical element in the success of our democracy, has been ignored, sidestepped and trampled repeatedly by President Bush, who seems to believe that he’s been handed a blank check for his war on terror.
Bravo to the highest court in the land for taking a step toward restoring the balance of powers that has gone dangerously out of kilter during this administration.
Linda Posson, Fort Collins
Intelligent design
Re: “Federal judge’s ruling on intelligent design,” July 4 Open Forum.
Here we go again – folks wanting religion (“intelligent design”) taught in science classes. Intelligent-design proponents have not been able to get their ideas published in the peer-reviewed scientific journals. They have produced no evidence supporting intelligent design as science. On the other hand, over the years, thousands of articles supporting evolution have been published in scientific journals, and the evidence for evolution only grows stronger as time goes by. Science teachers should be teaching science, not religion.
Vivian Mower, Denver
Don’t keep the change
Bravo for Bill Husted. In his June 26 column, he complains about servers who don’t give the correct change to their customers. He’s right to want his 28 cents back. It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle. The change from a check belongs to the customer, and the customer has the right to decide what the tip will be. Imagine this current trend getting out of hand: What if a customer pays a $10.72 check with a $100 bill? Does the server get to decide what to do with the change?
Though it’s rare, when the check amount is reversed, some servers give their customers the extra 28 cents. That’s OK, because at that point it’s the server’s money and the server gets to decide what to do with it.
What’s wrong with management at these restaurants that they can’t or won’t train the wait staff to return the proper change to customers? Enough, already!
Milanne Kolquist, Arvada
Criticism of the U.N.
Re: July 3 Mallard Fillmore cartoon.
I just read Bruce Tinsley’s shocking, deeply offensive and highly ignorant “Mallard Fillmore” in Monday’s paper. I highly recommend he take a trip outside the United States to visit areas of the world where the United Nations is doing good work and improving the lives of millions (health, education, peace-building, etc.), so that he would be able to give us better, more educated opinions worthy of The Post’s readership.
Javid Djalili, Denver
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