The 109th U.S. Congress
How about that outgoing Republican Congress? They had 103 working days this year and passed only two of the 11 appropriations bills necessary to set the federal government’s budget. Around midnight on Friday, Dec. 8, they punted and passed a “continuing resolution” to keep government programs operating only through mid-February.
They didn’t have the guts to openly cut 630,000 children from access to health care and take heating/cooling assistance from 600,000 families, but that’s what they did through this one “continuing resolution” which freezes government spending at the level of spending for the previous year or less. (They did find time to enact more tax cuts for millionaires, however.)
They left a huge pile of unfinished budgetary business for the next Congress to deal with because, apparently, leaving a quagmire in Iraq wasn’t enough. Thanks for the memories!
Devin Nordson, Boulder
Auto dealerships
Re: “In defense of the modern auto dealership,” Dec. 8 Open Forum.
I read the letter from Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, defending the ethics and honesty of the modern auto dealership. My recent experience indicates that he is not well-informed.
Last month, I shepherded my niece through the purchase of a new car at the largest dealership in town. In the course of our dealings, the sales manager told me three blatant, bald-faced lies.
Mr. Jackson says, “Happy customers become loyal, repeat customers.” My niece received a discount that was offered to new graduates and/or first- time buyers. I suppose this is intended to induce brand loyalty in new customers. But neither my niece nor I will ever patronize that dealership again.
Edward C. Miller, Broomfield
Online school report
Re: “Online schools flunk audit,” Dec. 12 news story.
Having read The Post’s article and having gone online to Hope Co-Op, I see a disconnect. Gov. Bill Owens has preached his version of public school accountability during his tenure, and then he and his legislature allowed so-called cyberschools to spend our tax dollars without meaningful accountability.
For shame. Contrast the rich education that 5-year-olds have had at Kendallvue Elementary in Jefferson County under Mrs. Froge, for example, and a computer, parents’ books and a mentor training children. That’s like contrasting whipping cream and skim milk. Children suffer.
Children learn differently. A few can go to a computer or book and learn algebra, with a little guidance, and go on to college algebra. Others need a teacher who patiently demonstrates and explains in class, plus peer coaching and maybe some homework. Still others need that class plus tutoring by the teacher. How does cyberschooling accommodate those differences? Aren’t we interested in children learning?
A point I see politicians making is that cyberschools are just as successful as public schools, that anyone can teach, blah, blah, blah. We don’t know what the children are learning, but we’ll fund it anyway. Cyberschools need only money and have everything a child needs.
For shame, Governor Owens. You have let some children down.
Robert Gunnett, Morrison
Accusations against Cosby
Re: “Cosby feels Mile High heat from ex-models,” Dec. 13 Bill Husted column.
In Bill Husted’s column on accusations against Bill Cosby by two former models [who worked for Jo Farrell’s JF Images in Denver], Jo Farrell worries about what this will do to her golden reputation in Denver. She needn’t worry. Those of us in the non-profit sector who know Jo [who now runs the Farrell Group] and have profited from her expertise in communications know Jo’s character and know her to evidence complete integrity and generous compassion. She had no role in this celebrity flap, and the brief gust of publicity around it will not tarnish her reputation in the slightest. She’s still true gold to those of us who know her and her splendid work.
Dennis Kennedy, Denver
Death of Chile’s Pinochet
Re: “Country split, even after death,” Dec. 11 news story.
Augusto Pinochet should be remembered for his harsh tyrannical rule and remind us of what happens when the United States supports “friendly dictators” who engage in state-sponsored terrorism. From 1973 to 1989, Chileans lived in an atmosphere of fear based on repression of political opposition, press censorship, summary executions, false imprisonment, torture, disappearances and exile. The slow pace of Chilean justice prevented the aging dictator from having to face the crimes he committed with his authoritarian project. Henry Kissinger, President Nixon’s national security adviser, helped to set the stage for the military coup that toppled democratically elected Salvador Allende; later, he told Pinochet, “You did a great service to the West in overthrowing Allende. Otherwise Chile would have followed Cuba.”
Yet The Sept. 11 commission report of 2004 pointed out the folly of backing repressive regimes: “One of the lessons of the long Cold War was that short-term gains in cooperating with the most repressive and brutal governments were too often outweighed by long-term setbacks for America’s stature and interests.”
Washington’s efforts to convince the world that we stand for freedom, liberalism and democracy will continue to ring hollow until this lesson is learned by those in charge of American foreign policy.
David Dent, Broomfield
Outgoing U.N. chief Annan
Re: “Symbolism in Annan adieu,” Dec. 13 editorial.
I believe you were too harsh on outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in your editorial. Certainly his legacy is mixed – whose isn’t? But the pluses far outnumber the minuses. His diplomatic skills have been exemplary and his peacemaking efforts have contributed to saving countless lives. You call his efforts at reform futile, but this is certainly a harsh and premature judgment. It takes time to change direction of a huge bureaucracy. But surely Annan has made a substantial start, not the least with the formation of the new Human Rights Council and the ongoing efforts to change the makeup of the Security Council. These efforts and many others will come to fruition in the years ahead and will contribute substantially to his legacy.
But that is water under the bridge. The resignation of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador and the advent of the new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, present us with a golden opportunity to repair the breach between the U.S. and the U.N. We will need the trust and cooperation of our allies in the global struggle against terrorism. At the time of Bolton’s nomination, President Bush felt that he did not need the U.N. He could not resist the opportunity to poke a stick in the eyes of his political adversaries, even if it came at the expense of the long-term interests of the U.S. Let us hope the president has the wisdom to choose diplomacy over confrontation in his choice of Bolton’s successor.
James J. Amato, Woodland Park
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