The new U.S. dollar coins
Re: “Let’s retire the greenback; Give $1 coins a chance,” Feb. 11 Perspective article.
Kudos to the government for minting more dollar coins. We need three more improvements to our currency.
First, different denominations need to be different sizes. Sight-impaired people would benefit immediately. They would have very little problem discerning the worth of bills in their transactions. The rest of us wouldn’t have to fumble around under low light levels selecting bills.
Secondly, let’s get rid of the boring and stodgy engravings and pep up the currency. We have had the same images on U.S. bills since at least the 1920s. We have more people, places and events to celebrate than the few on our currency. Other countries’ money features artists, scientists, thinkers and scenery important to the local heritage. Wouldn’t it be great to see Pikes Peak on the back of a $20 bill or Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on the back of a 10?
Finally, let’s kill those pennies. They are the bane of our pockets, drawers and tills, and according to mint estimates, they cost more to make than they are worth.
Ken van der Laan, Denver
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This article was written by two women who obviously have not spent any time in men’s pants. If they had, they would have noticed that the males frequently have holes in one of the side pockets of those garments due to all the pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters they carry. Now Kimberly Field and Lisa Ray Turner propose to make matters worse by adding a $1 coin to that collection.
Paper bills can be kept in order by denomination, which is why when an item being purchased costs $6.73, men are more apt to hand the clerk $7 rather than fumble through their change trying to find 73 cents. Women, on the other hand, will open their handbag, pull out their wallet and take out $6. They then open their coin purse and fish through it until they find 73 cents. Happens all the time.
More coins adds weight to the pants and increases the wear and tear on the pocket. While doing away with the paper dollar may save the government money, men will be spending it having their pockets replaced.
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
Joe Power, Denver
Iraq war protesters
Re: “Coloradans working for peace in Iraq,” Feb. 11 Perspective article.
I appreciated and enjoyed Sandra Fish’s article on Colorado anti-war activists. Her portrayal of four different types of activists was especially clever and creative.
The only critique I have is that all of the persons whom she highlighted are white. That gives a very biased and prejudiced view of the peace movement. There are innumerable persons of color in the city, state and nation who are peace activists and who have struggled long and hard to stop the current Iraq war, as well as other injustices in our society.
We white folks must consistently be aware of our actions like this that are exclusionary and racist in nature and work toward changing and eradicating them.
Rev. Tisa M. Anders, Lakewood
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It seems reasonable to point out that everyone connected with this article has past or present ties to the Republic of Boulder. Or, translated: More hogwash from the lunatic fringe.
Jim Sullivan, Thornton
How much do we need?
Re: “A sense of entitlement,” Feb. 11 Colorado Voices column.
Columnist F.R. Pamp’s ideas trouble me. First, his disappointment over “excessive” consumption versus what we actually need is perplexing. Surely no one “needs” piano lessons, golf clubs, a perennial garden, or an iPod to survive, in the strict sense of “need.” I can’t imagine how humanity could define a point at which the further acquisition of goods and services would be excessive. And I shudder to think of how standards of living worldwide would suffer if we were to produce and consume only what we need to survive.
Second, I can’t discern with certainty whether Mr. Pamp is merely preaching or actually advocating public policy. But when he delights in smoking bans and yearns for a future in which large houses are subdivided into apartments, I suspect he is, at heart, a social engineer. He is guilty of what The Economist magazine dubs “soft paternalism.” It is a desire to pass legislation that restricts people’s behavior for the greater public good. Each step along this path to a more perfect society seems relatively benign at the onset. Incrementally, however, the cumulative effects are ever more invasive and corrosive of personal liberty and individual choice.
Marc A. Johnson, Denver
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F.R. Pamp calls it as it is. I’m sure he is not picking on Janet Elway (heaven forbid), but using her as a perfect example of the extravagance that we as a society promote: Look at me. See what I can buy with little or no regard to how it affects the environment.
Why do these people need these huge mansions, especially when, many times, there are only two people living in them, other than to feed their own egos?
Dave Darling, Aurora
TO THE POINT
Denial is no longer an option. The question cannot be avoided. We must, as individuals and as a nation, face it unflinchingly: What will America be like without Anna Nicole Smith?
John Chamberlain, Longmont
Regarding the veto of the union bill: My goodness. Do we have a statesman in the governor’s office instead of a politician? How refreshing.
Virginia L. Wielgot, Aurora
So, the Big Tobacco companies are reneging on the tobacco settlement. When you make a pact with the devil … well, you make a pact with the devil.
Tom Bunge, Denver
I don’t get it. The burning of fossil fuels is supposed to adversely affect the atmosphere (global warming), yet the city of Denver and DIA are firing up huge industrial machines to melt piles of snow and ice faster.
Percy Conarroe, Longmont
Of course Bill Owens’ political appointees are defending their bonuses. Did we expect otherwise? What would be surprising is if one of them actually said they didn’t deserve it.
E. Hall, Grand Junction
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