What Columbus Day backers have wrought
Re: “A new name for Columbus Day?” Jan. 22 Julia Martinez column.
While it’s happening much faster than anticipated, it’s happening nonetheless. Columbus Day may be sacrificed for “All Nations Day” – and right here in Colorado, where it all began a century ago. We have only to thank the myopic Columbus Day Parade fanatics who were unwilling to compromise and allow Columbus Day to evolve into Italian Heritage Day. In the final analysis, the only thing Columbus Day Parade supporters have done for the Italian-American community is to contribute to the ultimate loss of our holiday. Had they agreed to compromise, we would have led the nation in a respectable evolution of celebrating Italian heritage. Now all they’ve done is begin the dominoes tumbling towards the eventual loss of the holiday across the country.
Joe Aiello, Littleton
Requiring school-age girls to get HPV vaccine
Re: “HPV vaccine should be routine for all,” Jan. 21 editorial.
I am concerned by your paper’s endorsement of the HPV vaccine for young girls. Yes, on the face of it, a vaccine that can prevent cancer could be a good thing. However, there are a number of serious issues to consider when recommending that adolescent girls be injected with a new drug.
If states adopt a “no shots, no school” mandate, it will mean that girls as young as 9 will be forced to take a vaccine for a disease that, unlike polio or measles, cannot be transmitted in the school setting.
Drug company lobbyists have joined with federal and state public health officials to persuade legislators to pass laws barring girls from attending elementary school unless they get the HPV vaccine. The numerous recent accounts of pharmaceutical companies putting profits before public interest and safety should give us considerable pause.
I am the father of a 2-year-old girl. She will not be receiving this vaccine.
Phil Silberman, Denver
…
I am appalled that The Post’s editorial regarding HPV vaccination addressed the health of only female children. I worked on a research study that included HPV testing, as well as HIV testing and counseling. HPV is not only responsible for cervical cancer, but rectal cancer in males who have had receptive anal sex. The vaccine should also be considered for male children. Granted, the general public can be quite homophobic, but this is a much larger issue. Consider that some male children may indeed grow up to be gay. Also consider that some male children are molested, regardless of their orientation. Do they not have a right to be protected from a disease such as cancer, regardless of what their future may hold? I say that all of our children should have access to the protection this vaccine can provide. This is far too serious for us to ignore, even if some of us are far too uncomfortable to discuss it.
David A. Cline, Denver
Does married minority really have it that bad?
Re: “Married in America: the new minority,” Jan. 23 Open Forum.
Letter-writer Mike Thomason rejoices in the new found “minority status” of married couples, sarcastically insisting that a new era of special privileges and special-interest advocacy beckons. Well, putting Thomason’s derision of minority politics aside, don’t Thomason and his sweet bride already have enough special privileges?
As a married couple, the Thomasons already 1) enjoy preferential status in federal and state tax codes; 2) are typically paid more than single people at work; 3) allowed to take maternity leave and bend office rules to accommodate childhood emergencies; 4) are socially recognized with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, lavish weddings, bridal and baby showers, and anniversaries; and 5) already have several right- wing organizations (Focus on the Family, the American Family Association) promoting the “marriage agenda.” And, lest Thomason forget, last November’s Amendment 43 was all about securing (exclusively for heterosexuals) a special right to marry.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether the Thomasons’ conjugal relationship is in the statistical majority or minority – in America their status as a privileged married couple is secure.
William Autrey, Boulder
Ice golfing in Colorado
Re: “Ice golfers are walking on water,” Jan. 24 Rocky Mountain Ranger column.
‘Tis a privilege to live in Colorado! That’s something we talk about every day in our home.
What fun to open up The Post and read yet another example of the creative, exciting people who populate our beautiful state and their many delightful ways of enjoying our natural bounty.
Thanks to columnist Rich Tosches for the story of the hardy ice golfers and their “radar balls.” We might just have to head up to Twin Lakes and give it a try!
Chris and Dana Woodbury, Littleton
Plan ignored by Cheney
Re: “Ex-Powell aide: Cheney snubbed ’03 Iran offer,” Jan. 19 news story.
According to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Lawerence Wilkerson, in early 2003 an Iranian offer to help stabilize Iraq, end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and increase the transparency of its nuclear program was rejected by Vice President Dick Cheney. In return for its cooperation, Tehran had asked the U.S. to lift sanctions and to dismantle an Iranian opposition group that still has bases in Iraq.
This outrageous action should be added to the long list of usurption of power that Cheney has perpetrated, to the detriment to the interests of the United States, and should, at the very least, be investigated by the Congress.
David M. Justice, Colorado Springs
Union bill in legislature
Re: “Bill would ease limits on unions,” Jan. 23 business news story.
We do not need to make it easier for unions to further ruin the state/country. Over the past couple decades, unions have thought only how can we gouge the company. The unions think short-term, and when jobs started moving out of the country, they complained that companies did not care about their employees, when in reality it is the unions’ fault the jobs left. Companies need to take care of their employees, but unions are old-school and archaic.
John Alcorn, Colorado Springs
Qualifications of the Ritter administration
Re: “Cabinet’s solid background,” Jan. 24 editorial.
I wonder if others noticed the incongruity of your editorial comments on Gov. Bill Ritter’s new Cabinet. You point out that Ritter’s appointment of Ron Binz to chair the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is impressive because he is a national regulatory policy expert, whereas you failed to point out that Russell George, who has been nominated to head the Department of Transportation, has no reported expertise in transportation.
Wouldn’t Colorado be better served with a head of the Transportation Department who is an expert in the field? I would much prefer to fly on a plane piloted by an expert pilot than one who has never flown a plane before, or drive under a Colorado bridge being constructed by a company supervised by a Colorado Department of Transportation headed by an expert in the field.
Robert G. Dickinson, Lakewood
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