In defense of Greeley
Re: “Book gets Greeley’s whiff wrong, townies say,” Nov. 12 Colorado Sunday story.
Something smells, and it isn’t Greeley.
East Coast author Dave Gilmartin’s book calls Greeley one of the absolutely worst places to live in America. Interestingly, he’s never been there, so is his evidence inadmissible?
Like every small city, Greeley has its share of problems, not the least of which is the feedlot odor that forms the basis of Gilmartin’s opinion. The reputation is worse than the odor – you occasionally smell it, but most of the time Greeley is as odor-neutral as anywhere else since the community imposed restrictions on feedlots.
Nowhere is there a mention of the university climate with its outstanding reputation among state colleges, its nationally recognized teaching programs and its outstanding university marching band. Also unrecognized are a fabulous system of huge parks, and lakes which attract unusual wildlife like white pelicans and cormorants. Neither was there any citation of Greeley’s outstanding housing market, opportunities for commerce, excellent hostelries and restaurants.
Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, America’s most influential newspaper in its day, would never have allowed research as shoddy as Gilmartin’s. Perhaps he needs to “Go West” and discover for himself what a fine place Greeley really is.
Bob Wood, Florence
GOP and the election
Re: “GOP still at the ready,” Nov. 12 guest commentary.
Rep. Tom Tancredo is clearly out of touch, asserting that we voters were only unhappy with the Iraq war and not the administration as a whole. The war represents a lot wrong: causing the deaths and maiming of tens of thousands of people based on lies, destroying the infrastructure of an entire country, unleashing a greater terror than existed before Sept. 11, bankrupting the great American piggy bank filled by the middle class, alienating nearly all of our allies and creating more enemies, and promoting waste and fraud, to name a few. Maybe the representative should read the book featured in last Sunday’s Post, “Worshipping the Myths of World War II,” or talk to survivors of IEDs, snipers and car bombs and those who live in Baghdad every day before taking war so lightly.
With the keys to the most powerful country in the world and drunk on power, the administration drove corruption and hypocrisy to new political heights, endorsed religious fanaticism in government, trampled the Constitution that it swore to uphold, condoned torture and secret prisons, ran amok over our environment, and created the greatest chasm between the obscenely rich and the rest of us that ever existed in the history of the U.S., all the while ignoring the warning signs of minor problems like health care and a real energy policy that works for the country, not for oil barons and contractors.
It’s more than an unpopular war, Mr. Tancredo. Just think of the good you could have done with all that power.
Karen Hamilton, Denver
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If denial is the first stage of grief, Rep. Tom Tancredo still has many steps to reach acceptance. He still does not understand why the Republicans lost the election. I am incredulous that, as a member of the complacent electorate, with no mental capacity to distinguish Mark Foley from others, Tancredo uses the word “exploit” twice in the early paragraphs, and promotes fear of a Congress led by Nancy Pelosi. I am tired of Republicans who claim to be victims, do not take responsibility for their own actions, and tell America to be afraid. Fear the Democrats? Fear the terrorists? We should be diligent, wary and prepared, not fearful. Americans act in spite of their fears and do not cower at the sight of them.
Bill Heissenbuttel, Centennial
Death and benefits
Re: “Qwest gives its retirees a motive to die,” Nov. 12 Al Lewis column.
I was appalled when I read Al Lewis’ column. It was irresponsible and, frankly, unethical for Lewis to make the overly dramatized claims in that column. How can any responsible journalist claim that Qwest and CEO Dick Notebaert are giving retirees incentive to die? What a horrible and gruesome accusation to lay at any company or CEO’s door. This is death we are talking about. Would Lewis choose death over a cut in life insurance?
I am a current Qwest employee, and both Qwest’s current and retired employees are lucky to have enjoyed higher levels of benefits than most other companies offer. We have been spoiled, to some extent. As the representative from AARP states, most other companies made these changes long ago. We have many Qwest employees and retirees in this community who are very grateful for the benefits we continue to receive, which are still better than you would find at most other companies.
Al Lewis traded facts and perspective for drama.
Dyani Galligan, Littleton
Are biofuels worth it?
Re: “Critics of biofuel have it all wrong,” Nov. 12 guest commentary.
I enjoyed the biofuel development commentary by Jim Greenwood and Ken McCauley. Certainly, they paint a hopeful picture that emerging corn fermentation and processing will enhance ethanol production, while improved corn yields will increase the amount of corn plants available for processing. The result would then be a substantial reduction in our dependence on foreign oil via an increase in ethanol additives to gasoline.
Although we are told of the biotechnology improvements, we are still left with two questions: Will ethanol production with these new biotechnology processes mean ethanol will no longer take more energy to produce than it yields? And if crop yields will also increase at no greater expense, can anyone tell us when ethanol production corporations will no longer require billions in federal subsidies to produce ethanol?
To Greenwood and McCauley I would say, write back when you have answers to these two questions. Otherwise, I’m left to wonder whether all our research and subsidy money would be better spent on alternative energy sources that eventually replace both gasoline and ethanol.
Martin Tessmer, Denver
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Jim Greenwood and Ken McCauley made some decent arguments regarding biofuels. They also ignored the fact that corn is a very thirsty crop, requiring more water than wheat or sunflowers. And, the aquifers where corn would be grown are diminishing at a rapid rate.
Garry Mitchelmore, Littleton
Fighting the good fight?
Re: “Getting past the myths of war,” Nov. 12 Perspective article.
Edward W. Wood Jr., (a World War II veteran) says Americans have come to believe war is good. Huh? I don’t know, nor have I heard of, an American who believes war is good. Who is he talking about?
Mr. Wood also says it’s a myth that the U.S. “won World War II largely on our own.” What is not a myth is that without the U.S. rescuing Britain (starting with the Lend-Lease program) and invading North Africa, Europe would today be a Nazi stronghold. Mr. Wood then blames the rise of Hitler on the Treaty of Versailles and the weakness of the League Of Nations. Of course, history clearly shows that appeasement by Britain and the rest of Europe allowed Hitler to take over Europe. Appeasement has never worked.
Mr. Wood claims dialogue “is the only basis for a lasting peace.” The only problem is that there has never been a case of dialogue reducing or removing the threat of oppressors such as Hitler, Islamofacists, Kim Jong Il, Iran, Hamas, etc.
The lessons of World War II are clear. If you appease the people who want to kill you, they will.
Charles Newton, Highlands Ranch
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Edward W. Wood Jr. expressed well something I have felt for a long time. Being a baby boomer born after World War II, I’ve never felt I could speak with credibility – but he can, and did, with honest, simple truth. My father’s generation served bravely under very real threats to all free people of the world, in horrible conditions in several war theaters, and we owe those young boys- turned-men immense accolades. But the myths spun out of that success contributed to an arrogant national psyche of invincibility that led us into Korea, Vietnam and Iraq – all unwinnable debacles with no clear justification for entering.
And I believe that, in attacking Iraq, we added a new twist – spiritual arrogance, where our leaders made their decisions under the private conviction that they were carrying out God’s will. (As an evangelical Christian myself, I can speak with credibility about that psyche.) My son served in Iraq for 11 months, and my mother’s heart still breaks at every mention of another needless U.S. death in Iraq or Afghanistan, and at the dozens of Iraqi deaths each day in the ethnic carnage we unleashed. May God have mercy on our national soul.
Lynn Billman, Lakewood
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Edward W. Wood Jr.’s myths sound more like rants than insight, and he poorly drums up this age-old attempt to diffuse reality in order to resurrect an agenda of anti-military strength. War is drastic surgery, not elective cosmetics, because “good” has nothing to do with the “decision” to defend and protect, and to defeat evil.
The courageous men and women who win war can largely thank a nation that backs them, and assists in the strategy for a moral and efficient victory. And the sinful treatment of our Vietnam War soldiers was our fault, not the war’s. If we fail in Iraq and Afghanistan, the cowardice of a population not supporting our troops is not something we want to read in the history books.
As adjustments are thankfully being made in our anti-terror war strategy, we should not abandon common sense and resort to Wood’s anti-military baiting. Terrorism bent on preventing government of the people, religious freedom, and sanctity of life cannot be justified. We had no choice other than drastic surgery, but what we need is better surgical methods, not illogical refusal to attack disease. We must learn from our mistakes, rather than condemn the action.
Wood’s calls for sanity are laudable, but fault-filled arguments like his disregard the rules of cause and effect.
John Pearring, Colorado Springs
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Thank you for Denver veteran Edward W. Wood Jr. ‘s timely article about the “myths of war.” I suspect there might be a rather vociferous negative reaction to his points, especially since it was featured over Veterans Day weekend. Obviously the author is not impugning the courage (or education levels) of his fellow veterans, but fearlessness, cleverness, loyalty and commitment to the cause are often exhibited by people doing extremely nasty things (airplane hijackers and suicide bombers come to mind). While, to the American consciousness, those air crews who took the war to the enemy are heroes, a dispassionate historian might look on what was done to Hiroshima, Dresden and Tokyo as “absolute evil.”
Politicians love to declare “war on” things: poverty, drugs, terrorism, etc. The reason is that “war” calls for a mobilization of resources and public opinion behind the effort and the suspension of the normal “rules” of civilized society. That is why leaders often welcome a war – any war – as a means of pushing through their agendas.
Mr. Wood has done us all a service in reminding us that there is always a terrible cost when we rationalize that it’s all right to do to others what we should not want them to do to us.
Steven Chostler, Denver
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I noticed that Edward W. Wood Jr. put “evil” in quotes when discussing what was defeated in World War WII. It seems to me that war should be the last resort when civility is missing, but it is silly to see it as unnecessary or that those evils should be in quotes.
Wood’s second point, that vision and leadership should preempt war, if at all possible, is one I agree with.
In the war on terror, most of our effort before Sept. 11 was directed to international bodies and passive restraint. That didn’t work well, and it certainly won’t work well when the terrorists gain access to nuclear weapons. Miscalculating the results of liberating Iraq was a venial sin, not a mortal one, and it is one we can recover from. In spite of the losses of Iraqi and allied lives, this is still better than what we did to Cambodia when we withdrew and left a vacuum. The option of war has to remain on the table.
John Redmond, Arvada
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Edward W. Wood Jr.’s article is quite possibly the most important piece you have published regarding the war in Iraq. The only way public policy will change is if citizens and politicians alike realize the truth in his words.
Jeffrey Sippel, Denver
TO THE POINT
We need to abandon ship in Iraq. Iran and Syria are the regional players which must decide the future fate of Iraq, not the United States. The sooner the U.S. withdraws, the sooner a regional solution can be found.
Reuben Espinosa, Denver
One had to appreciate the delicious irony of the Nov. 12 article about the Republican disaster, “Fractures started GOP’s fall,” ending on the obituary page.
Jerry Fabyanic, Georgetown
The real losers in the recent elections were the people who don’t get more media exposure for other ideologies (independent, Libertarian, Green) instead of the tired rhetoric spouted by the donkeys and the elephants.
Chris Bielinski, Littleton
Memo to the Democrats: A vote against does not constitute a mandate for. Keep that in mind, or you will be going home in two years.
John Fryar, Windsor
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