Defining a tax increase
Re: “Propping up property tax,” March 13 news story.
Well, as usual, the Democrats get the governor’s office and the tax increases start. Gov. Bill Ritter announcing a freeze on property taxes when property taxes are supposed to be reduced is a tax increase, no matter what they call it. The biggest joke is them calling it school financing instead of a tax increase. Why don’t they at least admit tax increases when they implement them? People need to realize that this is just the start and need to take this into consideration when the 2008 election is upon us.
Democrats, as always, are tax-and- spenders and don’t understand the concept of cutting spending in one place to spend in another. If we all ran our businesses or households the way Democrats run government, we would lose everything we had.
Jeffrey S. Homel, Castle Rock
…
Having shown their total gullibility by approving Referendum C, the citizens of Colorado are apparently now going to be deluged by as many tax increases as the lying politicians wish to send our way. Gov. Bill Ritter’s recently announced property tax increase is just that. They should pass a law against politicians taking financial advantage of people too stupid to cut through their rhetoric, but you’d never find a politician who would vote for that.
Chaun Cadwell, Parker
Citizen-initiative process
Re: “Ideas driven to ‘protect’ constitution,” March 15 news story.
Those state legislators who are eager to make it more difficult to amend the state constitution through the citizen-initiative process miss the point entirely. Citizen-sponsored amendments over the past 15 years or so have not occurred because of a too-easy process, but because of our elected representatives’ continued failure to address important issues when the legislature meets. Take, for example, the state’s fiscal and budgetary problems. If the legislature had solved those problems, the TABOR amendment and Amendment 23 (school financing) would not have come to the fore in the first place.
Get over yourselves, legislators, and stop looking to increase your power and weaken ours. Do a better job for us, and citizen initiatives will not be needed. They are a reflection of your poor performance, not our “abuse” of a process.
Steve Pacetti, Lakewood
Dire warning on sleep aid
Re: “Insomnia pills must warn of sleep-driving,” March 15 news story.
Let me get this straight: There’s a pill whose side effects include getting up in the middle of the night like a zombie, unconscious, to do things like fix and eat food, have sex, even drive a car. The Food and Drug Administration deems it safe and legal so long as the pharmaceutical companies slap a warning label on it. You really have to wonder who the fine folks at the FDA are working for – the people of this country or the pharmaceutical lobbyists. All I know is that a warning label on some lady’s sleeping-pill bottle does me no good when she’s about to run into me head on with her Suburban while “sleep driving” at 3 a.m.
Emily Frazee, Colorado Springs
Detainee’s confession
Re: “Detainee confesses he’s mastermind of 9/11 attacks,” March 15 news story.
Surprise! The administration has for 5 1/2 years accused Osama bin Laden of planning all the world’s terrorism, and has not been able to catch him. Now, after months of torture and without proper counsel, Kahlid Sheik Mohammed has suddenly confessed. Any jurist with any respect for the Constitution of the United States must throw out the confession and any other fruit of the rotten tree. If this does not happen, I fear for all our rights.
Carl Bruckman, Denver
Elk overpopulation
Re: “Using hunters to cull elk in national park,” March 14 Open Forum.
Whether Park Service sharpshooters or supervised sportspersons do the shooting, the carcasses of surplus elk should remain in Rocky Mountain National Park to recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem for scavengers, decomposers and ultimately plants and animals to reuse. Since available phosphorus is often the limiting mineral, it is important that bones and antlers remain in the ecosystem. Given the dearth of natural predators, e.g., wolves and grizzly bears, culling should simulate natural predation as much as possible to conform with RMNP’s goal of maintaining natural ecosystems. Female elk should be killed almost exclusively in order to control elk numbers. Park visitors mainly want to see mature males, which should not be culled. Hunters have always been leading wildlife conservationists. I believe that many skillful shooters would volunteer, not for a sporting hunt, but to help RMNP in necessary culling of excess elk.
Dale Hein, Fort Collins
Pointing proper blame
How many White House scandals do there have to be before the finger is pointed at President Bush? He appoints these people. He and his advisers set the tone. That tone, time and time again, has been to suppress any constructive opposition to or investigation of the president, his policies or members of Congress who support him. Those who disagree with the president are either fired or their reports are manipulated before reaching the public. Congress should stop wasting time going after the scapegoats and get to the people who are really responsible: the president, the vice president and Karl Rove.
Doug Graen, Denver
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