Reactions to battle between Israel and Hezbollah
On Tuesday, I participated with a number of other anti-war activists in a demonstration at the Capitol Building, where the Colorado General
Assembly’s Executive Committee held a press conference to announce its endorsement of a grossly one-sided – and therefore utterly anti-peace – resolution
supporting Israel’s current operations in Palestine and Lebanon.
My question is simply: Why is the Colorado General Assembly wasting taxpayer dollars taking an extremely biased position in a foreign conflict that
it has absolutely no influence on? Whether you feel Israel is justified in its current campaign or not, the Colorado General Assembly certainly does not have
any bearing on it.
With the economy getting tight all across the state, it would seem that our state legislators could find something better to do on the taxpayer’s
dime. Just as importantly, isn’t the more than $3 billion that we give to Israel every year enough without our state legislature using our tax dollars to do
the work of the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs?
John Sigler, Denver
…
Re: “Calls for ‘proportional’ Israeli military response rankle,” July 25 Richard Cohen column.
Richard Cohen says Israel’s disproportionate response is a “good thing” because “The only way to ensure that babies don’t die in their cribs and old
people in their streets is to make the Lebanese or the Palestinians understand that if they, no matter how reluctantly, host those rockets, they will pay a
very, very steep price.”
To me, this logic operates on two unstated premises:
1. The lives of babies and old people are only worth protecting if they are Israeli.
2. Civilians, including children, deserve to be held responsible for the actions of groups living in their midst.
Picking a side and making innocents on the other side “pay a price” to ensure your side’s safety is certainly nothing unusual. When a group has been
wronged historically, it is even understandable. But that doesn’t make it right.
For those of us who have not picked a side and don’t believe in collective punishment, bombing almost 400 civilians is not a “good thing” nor a
legitimate form of “deterrence.” It is tragic, horrible, criminal and without justification.
Jamie Laurie, Denver
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Wednesday’s reported outburst by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who stated that the Israelis deliberately targeted U.N. observers in southern
Lebanon, is simply outrageous.
This man has shown his anti-Israel bias throughout his tenure as the world body’s chief civil servant, with nothing substantial to show during his
reign other than his ineptness and culpability in the infamous Iraq oil-for-food scandal.
This obtuse mouthpiece for a totally discredited U.N. body clearly illustrates to any objective observer that enough is enough. This nincompoop,
posing as a diplomat, should be sent back to west Africa to sort out problems in his native country.
Could anyone tell me how the U.N. can bring order to Lebanon when this useless tiger can’t even deal effectively with what’s been going on in the
Sudan’s Darfur region for years?
Alan P. Sasseen, Arvada
The possibility of safe nuke-waste disposal
Re: “The dangers of nuclear power for energy,” July 24 Open Forum.
Walt Hart’s letter reflects a lack of understanding of nuclear and other energy matters. The nuclear waste problem is a political one, not a
technical one. I think the storage in stainless steel canisters in tunnels in Nevada is probably a big money maker for contractors, but is unnecessary.
Scientific American in the 1970s described how to manage nuclear waste: simply grind it up, mix it with molten glass and put the mix in the desert of the
Nevada Test Site, which is already totally contaminated from years of nuclear testing. The glass mix will remain stable without leaching for tens of
thousands of years and the site is and will remain under guard for the foreseeable future. The solution is unpopular with Nevadans, but is not a dangerous
one.
Dave Miller, Sedalia
The need for turnout at primary elections
Primary elections will come and go, and many people won’t know they went by. Unfortunately, at least here in Douglas County, only a small group of
Republican Party faithful will show up to cast ballots and choose the candidates the rest of the party may vote for in November. Mostly, that turns out fine
– we thank the “faithful” for their work. But this year is different – we have the opportunity to elect an experienced, vibrant police commander, John
Anderson, who will bring the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department into the 21st century.
John has no ties to the “old network.” I’ve worked with him many years and always found him reliable and willing to help whenever our Rotary Club
called on him. To elect John, we can’t let just the few party faithful cast ballots in the primary: we have to get out of our habit of letting others do it
and get out and vote either by early voting or at the polling centers on Aug. 8. Let’s have our sheriff chosen by a strong turnout of voters.
Al Wonstolen, Castle Rock
Testimony of ex-gay from Focus on Family
Re: “‘Ex-gay’ stood by to testify at Dobson vigil,” July 25 Cindy Rodríguez column.
Cindy Rodríguez told only one side of the story with her characterization of my friend Mike Haley. I offer the other side of that story.
Among the reasons for Mike’s gender-identity struggles was the eight years he was sexually molested by a male family friend, a story he has told to
hundreds of thousands through the years as part of his effort to help people understand the roots of homosexuality.
He has also faced intimidation for testifying about what God has done in his life: death threats, feces-smeared Christmas cards, slashed tires,
vandalism of his home, even threats against his wife and kids. Who commits these heinous acts? Folks who think it’s Focus on the Family that is too hateful.
If Rodríguez is right in calling our media tent at the recent Soulforce protest a circus, then Mike Haley was unquestionably the strongman of
that circus, once again sharing painful, intimate details of his life with a bitterly cynical audience.
Gary Schneeberger, Public Policy Media Director, Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs
…
I read with interest Cindy Rodríguez’s column about ex-gays. I am a heterosexual psychotherapist who has had a client specialization with the
GLBT community for 37 years. I estimate I’ve seen 5,000 gay men. In my clinical experience, it’s an unfortunate misconception for a gay man to believe he can
“walk away” from his homosexuality. In my private practice, I see a number of men who get married and have children, but eventually have to come to terms
with their longing for a sexual and romantic relationship with a man. As one of my clients put it, “You can act straight, but you can’t be straight.”
From a mental health perspective, a more important goal than heterosexuality is to come to terms with your true self, whether gay, straight or
transsexual, and live an authentic life with no secrets or lies. I would recommend to your readers the book “Stranger at the Gate,” by Mel White, about
White’s struggle to come out within the context of a fundamentalist Christian background; and “Ex-Gays? there are none!” written by Sylvia Pennington, about
the two founders of the ex-gay movement who eventually fell in love with each other.
Michael E. Holtby, Denver
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