Alberto Gonzales’ resignation
I listened all day Monday to the pundits commenting on Alberto Gonzales’ resignation. Do they really think Bush simply caved in to pressure? Wake up, people. There was a powerful effort, largely behind the scenes, to begin impeachment proceedings against Alberto Gonzales. Think about it. Bush couldn’t control whether such proceedings would commence, how soon, how they would be handled, and most importantly what information they would yield. Once begun, Pandora’s box would have opened. Who do you think would have been exposed? George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, that’s who! Bush had no choice. He had to let Gonzales go to stop impeachment. He’s banking on the fact that the House will not try to impeach Cheney. Sadly, he’s probably right.
Kaye Fissinger, Longmont
Motivating students to be curious and succeed
Re: “Making school pay off for kids,” Aug. 22 David Harsanyi column.
The irony in David Harsanyi’s column was not lost on this career teacher, a former high school teacher now turned professor. On campus, I face the end product of our public school system daily and can attest to its failures and occasional successes. Extrinsic motivators – like the proposal to pay students to perform – are much like pain killers: They temporarily soothe symptoms but do not cure the problem.
Research indicates that one of the most important attributes of a successful leader or manager is to consciously cultivate a habit of genuine curiosity. In other words, successful leaders develop the habit of learning for the joy of learning. Sometimes such intrinsic motivation occurs spontaneously; the rest of the time, it’s a personal choice of learning to like it. How do we get kids to develop this quality?
If it takes cash to work through the pain of developing the curiosity habit, fine, but such extrinsic rewards must complement the real reasons students are motivated to perform well. In my opinion, the three most powerful influences on student achievement are 1) parents’ high expectations that their child will succeed in school; 2) parents’ support for doing homework and reading outside of the classroom, and; 3) parents’ involvement with the child’s school and teachers. Add pay-for-performance and anything else you wish to these foundations, but absent these, no intrinsic motivation and performance improvements are likely to develop.
David W. Stephen, Broomfield
The writer is a lecturer at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences’ School of Business.
Wildlife watchers are watching out for wildlife
Letter-writer Reg Rothwell (Aug. 25 Open Forum) joins the effort to portray wildlife watchers as parasitic dilettantes who do little to benefit nature directly. This is pernicious nonsense. As an avid birder, I contribute generously to organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society, which support the natural environment for all animals. I don’t contribute to Ducks Unlimited or the National Wildlife Federation, which work primarily to expand populations of “game” animals that hunters like to kill. I spend weekends maintaining hiking trails and improving animal habitat (which includes taking down unsightly deer platforms and duck blinds, and removing animal carcasses that hunters leave in the woods). Wildlife watchers are tireless activists in favor of environmental issues, unlike hunters, who focus on expanding hunting seasons and removing limits on the animals they can slaughter. For example, I’m currently participating with other wildlife watchers in a passionate letter-writing campaign to outlaw the aerial gunning of Alaskan wolves. Guess who’s on the other side?
Marcy Anne Roeder, Nederland
Homeless in Denver
Re: “Mayors urged not to oust homeless for conventions,” Aug. 15 news story.
A year from now, Denver will be receiving a lot of attention as the Democratic Party meets for its national convention, and the city wants to put its best foot forward. A recent news story suggests that a national group is afraid Denver will illegally and immorally sweep the homeless from the streets in anticipation of the convention.
But we at the Denver Rescue Mission are a little surprised by this concern. Denver has a well-publicized and effective 10-year plan – a national model – for finding solutions to issues that surround homelessness. Denver’s Road Home, of which the Denver Rescue Mission is a part, has resulted in an 11 percent percent decrease in overall homeless counts in Denver and a 37 percent decrease in the count of chronic homelessness in Denver. The city and human-services providers are proud of the work we do, and damaging the efforts for momentary media coverage during a political convention would be counterproductive.
Are there currently homeless in Denver? Yes, and it is a continuing community issue. But our city is doing a good job working collaboratively to deal with the issues, and the efforts are progressing and improving with each passing week.
We urge the National Coalition for the Homeless to become more involved in finding solutions and honoring those cities that have made significant progress in the effort and not issue “warnings” over imagined, but not realistic, problems.
Brad Meuli, President and CEO, Denver Rescue Mission, Denver
Noisy planes over parks
It seems a shame that when one visits any of the magnificent city, county, state and national parks and wild areas around Denver, the sounds of birds, bugs and wind are polluted by the constant rumble of jets and the buzz of small planes. Nature sounds are just as important as nature sights. Can’t the jets be confined to certain flight paths? Can’t the “sport” pilots be barred from wild areas, just as dirt bikes are? Doesn’t anyone care?
Edward Spargo, Denver
Bipartisan call for dignity, respect in political debate
More and more, political talk show hosts have been calling people they disagree with “Nazis” or likening people to the “KKK” or even “terrorists.”
Making such comparisons dilutes the memories of genocide, ethnic cleansing, lynchings or hate crimes. To do so disrespects the lives, the suffering and the deaths of too many tragic victims of hate and intolerance in history.
There is no doubt that the First Amendment gives broad protections to political speech. Nevertheless, just because we can say something doesn’t mean we should. We join together to ask for dignity and respect for divergent opinions in policy debates.
In our state and nation, differences of opinion should be tolerated. Were the revolutionary ideas of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin considered mainstream back in the 1770s? Not by a long shot.
Debate, dialogue and difference of opinion are part of what is healthy in a democracy. We can do that in a reasoned, respectful and thoughtful manner. Let’s raise the level of debate to something that is worthy of our best traditions.
No matter where one is on the political spectrum, playing with these labels merely to score political points dishonors the dead and undermines the lessons of history.
State Rep. David Balmer, Centennial
State Rep. Morgan Carroll, Aurora
Balmer, a Republican, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and served in Bosnia and Afghanistan. Carroll, a Democrat, spent a summer in post-Apartheid South Africa transitioning from decades of racial violence and oppression.
