Traffic on I-70
The July 16 Perspective article “Tackling I-70 congestion” and subsequent responding letters (July 23 Open Forum) obviously hit many nerves. The best solution is, indeed, rail – but not the exorbitantly expensive high-speed variety. The Swiss have, for many years, been using modern electric trains that use cog rail for steep grades and regular tracks for fast running on lower gradients. Regenerative electric braking maximizes energy efficiency. The transportation capacity of a single track far exceeds that of a single highway lane, takes less real estate, and is more environmentally friendly.
A railroad modeled on this proven technology would be the lowest-cost solution, providing speed and comfort that would be acceptable to most people. Also essential, however, is an efficient gathering and distribution system (and parking) at both ends of the line, as well as a very friendly system for handling luggage and skis. RTD and the free Summit County bus system are good starts at both ends of such a system. The rail line must also directly serve DIA. Car rentals also must be available at the western terminus for those needing it. Finally, costs must be competitive with the cost of two people traveling by car.
Robert H. Leilich, Silverthorne
Political polling
Re: “Does polling still work?” July 23 Fred Brown column.
Fred Brown’s piece on political polling might have left out a phenomenon to help explain the reluctance of folks to participate in polls. That would be a backlash to “push polls,” a tactic that’s been increasing in frequency.
Push polls are not a legitimate means of gauging public opinion, and leave many people angry at being used. After a few times when it’s obvious the questioner doesn’t want your true opinion, but only to count your “answers” to claim support for a pre-determined position, you don’t want to play anymore. Since it’s impossible to tell whether a poll is objective before participating, it’s easier to decline at the beginning.
Pollsters may believe now that decline in participation hasn’t hurt the validity of results, but that isn’t certain.
Ralph Taylor, Englewood
News judgment
Re: “Fixing the bad news,” July 23 Ed Quillen column.
Ed Quillen’s remarks implying that conservatives complain that the so-called liberal media focuses on the bad news, not the good, was very funny. However, he misses the point.
In Quillen’s satirical style, here is an Anywhere USA Times story (if present-day editors were in charge):
“June 5, 1944. The long-anticipated invasion of Fortress Europe is set for tonight. Airborne troops are jumping into Normandy behind designated landing beaches where amphibious troops are set to land tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Editor’s note to the public: The Pentagon asked that we not print this story. We at the Times, however, used our better judgment and printed it anyway. It is a big story and we are in the business of selling a lot of papers.”
The point is, conservatives are not stupid. The news is mostly bad. We just regret that people like Quillen find bad news to be funny and profitable.
B. Wilkinson, Westminster
Energy conservation
Re: “Myth: Energy conservation is costly,” July 25 Diane Carman column.
Diane Carman’s column should be required reading for all managers of public buildings. Who hasn’t walked into a fast- food restaurant in summer shorts only to be greeted by a blast of frigid air? How relaxing is it to eat with goosebumps? Shops leave their doors “invitingly” open, passing on to their customers the costs of trying to air- condition the great outdoors. The outside door of a meeting room on the Auraria campus is propped wide open in sweltering heat by people seeking relief from – of all things – the air conditioning! And for this we need to build new power plants? Public building managers, please give your patrons, your pocketbooks and the environment a break.
Teresa Audesirk, Golden
Military recruits
Re: “Counter-recruiter is in a race to educate military-age teens,” July 23 Cindy Rodríguez column.
When “counter-recruiters” such as Erin Durban claim that “students deserve to know the whole truth about military life,” it would be useful if they themselves understood the truth.
Durban is correct in asserting that military enlistees have no (or little) control over where they will be sent and what they will do. But why is this portrayed as negative? Is it undesirable for a young man or woman lacking direction or motivation to leave the comfort and familiarity of the known for the unknown of military service? What is negative about young men and women joining the military to find themselves by escaping the paradigms that have defined and constrained them?
Durban also claims that while in the military, you “lose all your freedoms.” Clearly, members of the military accept reduced levels of personal freedom in order to maintain organizational integrity and effectiveness; this concept of “service before self” is an essential aspect of military culture. But to suggest that they lose “all” their freedoms is patently false, and indicates a dangerous lack of knowledge on the part of someone claiming to offer contrasting advice and guidance to potential military recruits.
Chris Winningham, Westminster
Battles in the Middle East
Re: “Foreboding in the Middle East,” July 23 Perspective articles.
Your headline might have easily read “Foreboding in the world.” The battle between Israel and Hezbollah is an indication of what is to come for us all as jihadists try to change the world’s governments to fit their own world views. More than 2,000 rockets have been fired into Israeli urban, civilian areas (from launching pads as close as Aurora is to Denver) since this latest war began. The stated goal of Hezbollah, Iran and even some related groups in the U.S. is to annihilate Israel. If they accomplish that goal, or even accomplish a limited success today, where do you think they will operate tomorrow?
Joan Baronberg, Denver
…
Maybe the Bush administration and the American people would better be able to think about an immediate cease-fire if Americans could put themselves in the shoes of the Lebanese, who at this point are dying in this conflict at a 10-1 ratio with Israelis.
If you had lost a child or a parent in a bombing raid, if the infrastructure of your country and your home had been destroyed, if foreign fighters invaded your homeland because of the actions of Hezbollah – a fundamentalist political faction with which you disagreed – just what comfort would it be to hear from the American secretary of state that “A cease-fire would be a ‘false promise”‘?
Perhaps Condoleezza Rice thinks that Lebanon is a region of “false life.” She seems to be saying that after more bombing and bloodshed, after the fleeing of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the region, Lebanon will return to normal. Does that mean that mothers can have other children eventually (not to worry), or that the old were old anyway and their loss is insignificant? How would you feel if you were Lebanese?
The U.S. and Great Britain should stop supplying Israel with sophisticated weaponry and join the United Nations in calling for negotiations and an immediate end to the bombing on both sides.
Rev. Sara Emrie, Englewood
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Much is being made of the loss of “innocent” Lebanese civilians. The Israelis are being portrayed as callous murders, as a result. Let us be clear: These are civilians, but they are not “innocent.” They knowingly harbor and encourage the terrorist group Hezbollah. Like Iran, the country that supplies it with arms, Hezbollah has sworn to the destruction of Israel. Hezbollah hides within the civilian population in southern Lebanon, and stores caches of small arms and rockets in civilian and public buildings, such as schools, hospitals and mosques. The Lebanese government makes no attempt to control these activities, tacitly allowing Hezbollah to operate freely.
As such, in its attempt to root out Hezbollah, and the threat it represents to Israeli security, Israel is going to wind up killing civilians. While tragic, it is not Israel’s fault. Hezbollah, on the other hand, targets only civilian populations with its rocket attacks on Israel. Its intent is to kill as many people as possible. There is a huge difference in the way the two sides operate.
Michael Kanarish, Parker
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Why is the Western world doing its best to ignore the horrific death and destruction now being rained down on the civilian structures and people of Beirut? Israel has every right to seek out and attack the Hezbollah terrorists who aim crude rockets at Israeli cities, but Israel has no moral nor legal right to target the civilian population of Lebanon and Beirut. Lebanese civilians by and large didn’t ask for Hezbollah militants to set up residence in their cities, and they have no power to expel them. The bombing, maiming and incinerating of Lebanese civilians by Israeli forces, financed and encouraged by American taxpayers, is a criminal act that ought to be condemned by the civilized world.
Jim Muhm, Englewood
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No one would have expected the Allies in general, and the French in particular, to accept a cease-fire in the summer of 1944. Similarly, the Kuwaitis – and the Saudis, for that matter – would not have called for a cease fire in 1991, that would have left an intact Iraqi army on the Kuwaiti border. In both cases, the goal was to finish the job and eliminate the threat. So why should anyone expect the Israelis to accept a cease-fire at this point unless Hezbollah agrees to disarm and move back from the international border – the very same border whose violation by Hezbollah began this cycle of violence? The job must be finished, the threat must be removed.
Sam Jonas, Centennial
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The current conflict cannot be resolved by returning to the status quo. Until Hezbollah is subdued militarily, it is indeed ludicrous to suggest that a cease-fire will lead to peace. Iran and Syria must be held accountable for sponsoring terrorism in the region. President Bush is right to support Israel in its endeavor to dispatch Hezbollah from Lebanon. Anything less will merely lead back to the status quo.
Brian Stuckey, Denver
TO THE POINT
Is southern Lebanon the new Oradour-Sur-Glane? Is Gaza the new Warsaw ghetto? Will human nature ever change? The more we change, the more we are the same.
Martin Brown, Centennial
It’s all in the delivery. If a person straps on explosives and blows up innocent civilians and himself, he’s a terrorist. If he uses a plane and drops bombs on civilians with no harm to himself, he’s a hero. Either way, it’s the children who suffer.
Norm Jain, Aurora
Cambridge, Mass., is a “welcoming city,” explained Tim Toomey, city councilor, on why the city re-passed a sanctuary policy for illegal aliens. Attention, illegal aliens in Colorado: Go east, young illegal men (and women), go east.
Paul Karmi, Carbondale
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