Church wedded to state?
Re: “Leading the party faithful,” June 17 news story.
Is the so-called separation of church and state dead? The Denver Post’s front page included a picture and story about the Rev. Leah Daughtry, who is also chief of staff for the Democratic National Committee and chief executive for the Denver convention. It must be acceptable to wear both hats if you are a liberal, but not if you are a conservative.
If the media is going to pound on the historical fantasy of the separation issue, why doesn’t it go both ways?
J.D. Moyers, Centennial
Robbing our children
Re: “It’s time to pay our bills; Americans want fiscal accountability,” June 17 Perspective article.
We are the first American generation well on our way to making our children and grandchildren experience a lower standard of living than we have enjoyed. How have we done it? By refusing to pay sufficient taxes for government benefits to which we feel entitled, and thus passing our bills on to the next generations for them to deal with. Who is at fault? Not just the rich, who have experienced wonderful tax relief for this century. Not just “illegal aliens,” or people on welfare who allegedly don’t pay their fair share. And not any other particular group of Americans. We can see who is at fault if each of us looks in the mirror, and reflects upon how well we have served our own interests by electing politicians who have provided us the benefits we want without raising our taxes. Wait until our kids and grandkids figure out what we have done to them!
Robert Bair, Denver
Sale of “gang” clothing
Re: “‘Gang’ clothes wanted off rack,” June 17 news story.
While some people only fantasize about gangs – as opposed to acting it out – a market corresponds to this fantasy, such as that of gang clothing. I find it appalling that both people and vendors glorify violence. Groups who consider themselves to be the guardians of society are trying to take legal action to prevent the sale of such clothing. What happened to parental responsibility? Instead of legal action, why aren’t these groups organizing a boycott? The Colorado ACLU should be supported in trying to keep this form of free speech, even if it’s offensive, from being shut down by these groups that think they are the guardians of society.
Louis Lieb, Golden
Museum misinformation
Re: “Dads say the darndest things,” June 17 news story.
I was amused by the story about museum docents’ tales of visitors, especially fathers, who make up facts. Any scientist who visits museum displays about their area of expertise knows the phenomenon. In fact, it’s not just the visitors who make up facts. Last weekend, I went with family to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and was told by a docent that a metallic meteorite was “a piece of a star” (it was from an asteroid, a 100-mile-wide piece of cold rock and metal, instead of a star, a million- mile-wide ball of hot gas) that had fallen in Vladivostok (close – the distance from Vladivostok to where it actually fell is about that of Denver to Colby, Kan.) and was molten when it hit (it may have been as molten as a table knife fresh from the dishwasher).
But, just as the knowing docents in the story said they don’t correct the visitors, I don’t correct confabulating docents, hoping visitors will remember the docents’ obvious excitement about the subject, not the details.
Tim Swindle, Tucson, Ariz.
The writer is a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona.
Energy independence
Re: “Wrong path toward energy independence,” June 10 editorial.
The “growing political will in this country to tackle global warming” you note has yet to manifest itself in terms of federal legislation elected representatives can comfortably and enthusiastically support.
Why? Because a majority of their constituents are not enthused by the prospect of guaranteed higher energy costs. Lacking said will, enviro-proponents are reduced to pursuing nonsensical legalistic arguments to suggest Congress intended to empower the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide during a time when global cooling was the scare of the day.
Uh, right.
Coal remains, by far, the cheapest practical alternative available to provide affordable energy to the masses who demand ever-increasing supplies of the stuff so that their lives may continue to be improved and enriched. Whether used to produce liquid fuel or electricity to power future vehicles, the benefits of greater domestic control over energy supply are immediate, obvious and undeniable – unlike the potential modeled outcomes of rampant global warming scenarios which, by the way, discount adaptation entirely. Your anti-coal tirade cobbles together incomplete arguments while offering no feasible alternatives; all this while highlighting unaccustomed sacrifice as the prerequisite to “significant” policy change.
Ancients used human sacrifice to placate their gods. Your approach sounds little different. I find the honesty refreshing.
Karl Koehler, Hayden
EPA and climate change
Re: “Climate clock is ticking,” June 17 Writers on the Range column by Robert Redford and Auden Schendler.
In an attempt to justify draconian government intervention in what is a naturally reoccurring global temperature cycle, Robert Redford and Auden Schendler are given to sweeping hyperbole. “(T)he greatest threat to planetary security” and “a blindingly obvious question” are not views shared by thousands of more prudent scientists.
Being the recipients of a politically motivated award or having a 5-4 Supreme Court decision go in your favor does not eliminate legitimate debate. Civilization’s contribution to greenhouse gas is about 1 percent. It is the height of arrogance to assume that man can alter the 500-year warming and cooling cycle of the planet. The cost would be stratospheric and the results minuscule.
R. B. Gifford, Aurora
…
It is no surprise that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson is dragging his feet on global warming and climate change issues. Johnson is, in reality, not much more than a figurehead whose many-year scientific background at the EPA has been used by the Bush administration to create the illusion of an agency that is headed by a committed environmentalist. Actually, Johnson has willingly let the administration use him as it wishes, with Marcus Peacock, the deputy administrator and former numbers guy at the Office of Management and Budget, actually running the agency and making the key decisions while Johnson travels the country meeting with groups and giving speeches. Peacock’s and the administration’s goals appear to be to limit new environmental protection initiatives to the extent possible while relaxing existing regulations as a reward for industry groups that have supported George W. Bush in two elections. Robert Redford and Auden Schendler are correct when they say the EPA has hundreds (actually thousands) of committed employees who are yearning for some leadership from the top to solve the climate problem.
Jack F. Salter, Evergreen
…
Robert Redford and Auden Schendler should win an Oscar for acting like they care about the environment. Here they are bashing the president for doing nothing about global warming – which is a lie. The question is: is our country doing enough? The answer is no. However, coming from the skiing industry, what is the apex of waste is laughable. The carbon dioxide wasted to just get to Aspen is the ultimate example of hypocrisy. Buying carbon credits does not exempt your industry. That’s just bad acting. That is really saying, “Do as I say not as I do.”
Robert Michel, Berthoud
…
The agency over which Stephen Johnson presides should, for the last six years, have been called either the Environmental Destruction Agency or the Fossil Fuel Protection Agency. Both names are appropriate, as President Bush and his petroleum industry stooges have schemed and colluded to change every good environmental law of the last 30 years; suppress, discard or bury scientific evidence supporting global warming/climate change/pollution; discourage automakers from producing less-polluting, higher-mileage vehicles; and sidetrack state and municipal attempts to institute helpful environmental laws.
I hope Americans are not still naive enough to believe that the EPA protects anything besides petroleum profits. Robert Redford and Auden Schendler claim that if Johnson turns things around, they would be the first to nominate him to receive his own agency’s Climate Protection Award. I’d like to see that too, but I wonder if accolades should be given to those who have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing.
R. Kiefer, Arvada
TO THE POINT
What I’ll never understand is why it’s morally wrong to use a discarded embryo for research while it’s patriotic to send fully developed humans off to kill and be killed.
Audrey Brodt, Littleton
If the Democrats are so keen on offering amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens, then they shouldn’t mind if President Bush adds just one more name: “Scooter” Libby.
Robert E. Forman, Lakewood
Jolene Sadowski (June 17 To The Point) wants us to believe that loud pipes are installed for motorcycle rider safety. If this is the case, why do the riders of the loudest bikes almost never wear helmets?
Chip Langowski, Littleton
Dateline 2009: 6,000 GIs killed. Tens of thousands maimed or wounded. General says, “Our surge is just beginning to bite. We must give it a chance.”
Dan Lyons, Fort Collins
Jim Spencer – gone; Dick Kreck – gone; stock listings – gone; usable TV guide – gone; longtime subscribers – going!
Mary Caulfield, Denver
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