Possible expansion of Army training site
Re: “House blocks Piñon expansion,” June 17 news story (early edition).
An unprecedented victory for land owners came this past week as Reps. John Salazar and Marilyn Musgrave fought the U.S. Army to save Piñon Canyon. The Musgrave/Salazar amendment to a military spending bill literally may have saved the livelihood of farmers and ranchers in southeast Colorado.
Now those very lives are in Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard’s hands. Will they do the right thing and support their state and their constituents? Or will they shame their brothers (literally) and sisters and the people who elected them to office? They can stand up for what’s right or they can turn away. If the Musgrave/Salazar amendment isn’t carried through the Senate, then we will all know their true loyalties.
Christy Grasmick, Las Animas
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Re: “Army should rethink area expansion plans,” June 20 editorial.
Yes, the Army should rethink the approach to expanding the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. The American people and Congress should question exactly how enlarging the space will improve the military capability of the United States to defend our nation and make the world safer. Military expansion sends the rest of the world a message to prepare for more war, not peace. The full impact of the social, economic and political impact needs be shown to Congress. Let’s aim to make the military smarter, not bigger – for peacemaking, not war.
Dean Farringer, Denver
Blaming teachers for schools’ problems
Re: “School is fine – for teachers,” June 20 Al Knight column.
Poor Al Knight, still back in the ’60s and ’70s, tilting at teacher and union windmills, while ignoring real problems: failed factory schooling, failed top-down administration, failed legislators, failed “reforms.”
If it weren’t for teachers and their unions, public schools would be even more authoritarian, factory-like, stifling, distracted, silly, limited in scope and mediocre than they are.
Al Knight needs to get some history and then come into the 21st century, into American culture and (dare I suggest such a thing to a journalist?) into public schools.
How exciting to think he might discover and write about the changes we really need.
Daniel W. Brickley, Littleton
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Why is it that in any number of articles about poor student attendance, including Al Knight’s, not a single word is made of parental responsibility? Since when do schools have the primary responsibility of raising children? It seems to me that it is a fundamental job of parents to see that their kids go to school. I think school boards need to have the political courage to stand up and say that if parents are not willing or able to do their jobs, schools can’t succeed.
Chuck Woods, Denver
Columnist’s defense of “Scooter” Libby
Re: “Libby case a mess, from start to finish,” June 20 Richard Cohen column.
I had to get halfway through Richard Cohen’s column before I realized it wasn’t a joke. He was actually standing up for the poor, downtrodden “Scooter” Libby. Can you imagine holding any member of the Bush administration accountable for lying? Under oath? In front of a grand jury? Mr. Cohen obviously can’t.
Then I also see The Denver Post is getting rid of a number of local columnists in a cost-cutting measure. May I be so bold as to suggest keeping the locals but getting rid of many of the national columnists? The criteria would be simple. Just go through their previous writings and get rid of those who considered Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. to be compelling. Or those who bought the lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Or who thought Iraq was connected to al-Qaeda. That is a simple enough test.
I knew they were lies when they were told. Why couldn’t these big-shot Washington insiders? In what other profession can you be so wrong so often and still keep your job?
Michael Black, Durango
What do we want: birds, babes or immigrants?
“As population grows, birds’ songs go silent” was a meaty headline for your June 18 editorial. But the editorial itself was nothing but sweet enviro blather with no mention of the underlying problem – population growth. To leave room for not only our birds but the entirety of our natural heritage, we must bring U.S. population growth to a halt. That will require severe reductions in both births and immigration.
To hold the U.S. population at today’s count of 300 million while continuing today’s level of immigration, each new U.S. family must average – instantaneously and from now on and forever more – fewer than 1.6 children. If our population is to stop growing at 400 million (our population projected before 2050), then children per family must drop to fewer than 1.7 to allow for 1 million immigrants per year. Or, to hold the total to 400 million with only 500,000 immigrants per year, our kids per family must drop to a 1.9 average.
This is rough stuff, but what do we want: birds, babes or immigrants? Nature’s mathematics will let us have two of these, but not three.
John R. Bermingham, Denver
In defense of Palestine
Re: “40 years later, peace still elusive,” June 8 guest commentary.
Perhaps misled by 40 years of propagandized history of a six-day war, Chad Asarch of the Allied Jewish Federation blamed Palestinians for the continued occupation. Facts beg for consideration of a different view.
Occupation of Palestinian lands drains Israel’s resources, strangles a fledgling democracy and pushes non-Jewish society into desperation.
As a prerequisite to any negotiations for relief, Israel, aided by the U.S., expects all Palestinians to accept previous agreements, renounce violence, and “recognize” the primarily Jewish state. These seemingly simple requests are intended to be one-sided. Despite critical pleas from the international community, Israel has carried out a brutal occupation of lands acquired by aggression, rudely expecting the exploited losers to humbly accept and negotiate in good faith. As if that hypocrisy was insufficient, Israel calls herself the victim.
The right to resist occupation, even through violent means, is universally recognized. Are Palestinians expected to abstain from violence while acknowledging rights for their oppressors? Will Palestinians negotiate while their own tax monies are withheld, making a functioning government impossible?
Recognition of Israel is asked of Palestinians as if trivial. But any recognition of one side by the other requires defining borders. Israel remains strategically unclear about who are its citizens and where are its borders. Requiring “recognition” prior to negotiation is a semi-transparent ploy by Israel to avoid meaningful relief and perpetuate the conflict.
Seeking solutions, we must learn from un-spun history and know the subsistence existence of Palestinians. The occupation is illegal under numerous international agreements. Israel must withdraw settlers and military from the West Bank. Palestinians must immediately be allowed free access to the outside world and delivery of already collected tax revenues.
The U.S. must moderate its unconditional support for Israel and become a true mediator. For the good of Israelis, Americans and Palestinians, the 40-year occupation with its terrorist attacks and assaults on citizen targets must end.
Steve Laudeman, Denver
Harvie Branscomb, Carbondale
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