Presidential adviser Karl Rove stepping down
Another fat rat is leaving the floundering ship of state. Karl Rove was often described as “Machiavellian,” but he actually wasn’t that smart – just cynical. Rove assembled the infamous Republican “base,” composed of the rich, the racist, rifle nuts, and the so- called Christian right.
The obvious question is Rove’s next position. I’m betting on lobbyist, but there’s always a fellowship at Stanford’s Hoover Institute or the American Enterprise Institute. These corporate propaganda mills are a sort of halfway house for recovering Republicans, and Rove will fit in quite nicely.
Scott Mock, Boulder
…
Karl Rove is going. He is shutting down the office he set up to make this a one-party country. I was touched by the hint of tears as he told George that he (Rove) would intercede with God to help George continue his crusade for the welfare of America and the democratization of the world, and I felt a lump in my throat when he said that he was honored to have served his president and the nation.
I thought of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s words as he went to the chopping block: “Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the King, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs.” If he were not so disingenuous, Rove would have paraphrased Wolsey (presuming he knows any history), saying, “Had I but served my country as diligently as I have served my king, I would be receiving the applause of a grateful nation, instead of the contempt of the people.”
Allen Peacock, Berthoud
The risks of embracing nanotechnology
Re: “Economy in tatters? Look closer,” Aug. 13 David Harsanyi column.
In reading the David Harsanyi article on nanotechnology, the unbridled enthusiasm certainly comes through, but I saw no mention of the need for caution when embracing a new and unknown technology. Was nothing learned from our society’s premature excitement over “advances” that turned out to also have deadly side-effects?
Of the billions of dollars spent on nanotech research, only minuscule amounts are being spent on risk assessment, and many people in the industry are concerned about this. It is clear that nanotechnology radically alters the properties of the materials it is applied to. Yes, this is the great promise we see from nanotechnology. And rightly so. But there is also a downside. Normally safe materials can become reactive, i.e. dangerous, because of the higher concentration of surface molecules. And normally dangerous materials can become much more so.
It is also known that because of the small particle size, nanoparticles are much more easily absorbed by the skin and digestive tract, and pass through cellular membranes into the blood and organs with an ease not normally seen. Nanoparticles can be inhaled and then travel along the olfactory (odor-sensing) nerve directly to the brain. Are you getting concerned yet? The human body has never had to deal with threats like these. And the front line most exposed to these dangers will be the workers in the plants, as those corporations rush to be the first to innovate, with little concern for worker safety.
Yes, there is a tremendous potential for benefit from this new technology, but let’s not get overzealous, move too fast, and then face regrets that could have been avoided.
J. Vincent, Westminster
Does raising taxes really increase revenue?
Re: Aug. 13 Jim Morin editorial cartoon.
In a political cartoon Monday, the cartoonist shows a politician trying to console a victim of the Minneapolis bridge collapse by pointing out how good it was that the tax cuts were in place instead of the money being spent on bridge improvements.
This notion is simple-minded and disingenuous. Is the cartoonist really so naive that he thinks that higher taxes increase government revenues? Does he believe that any revenues that might derive from higher taxes might actually be spent on infrastructure improvements? Or is the cartoonist cynically trying to make a case for raising taxes, convinced that readers and voters are stupid enough to buy his line?
The facts are this: Raising taxes does not automatically raise revenues. Lower tax rates promote economic activity which, in turn, increases tax revenues. How many programs established now, or in the future, by tax-and-spend politicians actually will go to infrastructure improvement? The track record of the tax-and-spend types shows that they are more interested in funding entitlement programs than keeping roads, bridges, railroads and mines safe to keep the economy strong.
Dennis Chappell, Pueblo
Most avid wildlife viewers are anglers and hunters
Re: “Wildlife-viewing shoots up,” Aug. 10 news story.
Your article implies that one is either an “angler,” a “hunter,” or a “wildlife watcher.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, anglers and hunters are among the most avid year- round wildlife-watchers, and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually by those segments on outdoor equipment and clothing, optics, fuel, lodging, food, etc., represent an enormous contribution to the state economy. In contrast, drive-by goose-gawkers, weekend picnickers, and backyard bird-watchers spend very little in the actual pursuit of wildlife watching.
The unscientific study which presumes the so-called “growing tide” of wildlife-watchers spends more than hunters and anglers in Colorado resulted from interviews by the U.S. Census Bureau, which struggles to produce a credible count of live citizens, period. They did not interview me, nor anyone else I know. But certainly anyone who does not live in a cave would claim to be a “wildlife-watcher” if asked.
There is one important distinction that must be stressed, however: Casual wildlife viewers who do not buy a hunting or fishing license in Colorado contribute virtually nothing to the management and well-being of our state’s wildlife.
Lou Phillippe, Red Feather Lakes
Naming the Justice Center
Re: “Coors-Invesco-Pepsi Justice Center,” Aug. 13 Julia Martinez column.
Since one of the purposes of the new Denver Justice Center will be to lock people up, and since people who belong to racial minorities tend to get locked up at a higher rate than white Euro-Americans, it would be ironic to name the justice center after former Republican Gov. Ralph Carr, who spoke out against locking up Japanese-Americans in World War II.
John Cleveland, Centennial
Nottingham’s peccadilloes
Re: “FBI talks to judge’s ex-wife; She says work-computer probe follows allegation of strip club, dating website,” Aug. 12 news story.
I can’t imagine that Judge Nottingham’s peccadilloes (Spanish for “little sins”) qualify as important news to anyone except his ex-wife and possibly the professional board that will be reviewing his conduct. The press is transparently being used in a domestic relations vendetta, and I am disgusted with its zeal for the sensational. Didn’t you learn anything at all from the suicide of Larry Manzanares? If there’s a nugget of truth in all this dirt, it’s that practically every male between the ages of 14 and 75 is looking at online porn. So what?
Susan Williams, Lakewood
Debating terror, security
Re: “Even if calls not tapped, our fear is,” Aug. 9 Diane Carman column.
When I began reading Diane Carman’s column, I thought it odd that she was making fun of this nice, 80-year-old lady who shared Ms. Carman’s views about the war in Iraq. I was smiling and rolling my eyes as I read how this elderly woman was convinced the U.S. government was listening to her conversations with her sister. After all, she had once written an e-mail to President Bush advising him not to go to war in Iraq and now she sometimes heard clicking noises on the phone!
But by the end of the column I was disappointed to learn that this lady’s fear was supposed to convince me that we have crossed the line in our pursuit of terrorists. National security is a serious issue, and there are good arguments on both sides of this debate. The paranoia of isolated citizens is not one of those good arguments.
David LeSueur, Littleton
Online extras
For more letters to the editor, go to
To send a letter
E-mail: openforum@denverpost.com (only straight text, not attachments)
Mail: The Open Forum, The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, 80202
Fax: 303-954-1502
Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 200 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.
To reach us by phone: 303-954-1331
