A sampling of recent editorials from Colorado newspapers:
NATIONAL:
The (Colorado Springs) Gazette, Sept. 9, on why the mosque near Ground Zero should be permitted:
The Rev. Fred Phelps is Baptist. So is former President Bill Clinton. Phelps is a disbarred lawyer. So is Clinton. An idiot might say the men have much in common, engaging in guilt by association.
Phelps pickets the funerals of Americans killed in war. He terrorizes the mothers, fathers and siblings of dead service members by saying God hates their deceased loved ones because they died for a country that tolerates “fags.”
Phelps, his followers and his large family of lawyers broadcast faxes that call people “fags” and tell us whom God hates. Tuesday’s fax shouted “God hates Catholics.” It said “the Catholic Whorehouse is full of idolatry, adultery and heretical lies about the word of God. Because filthy Catholics have forsaken the truth of God, He has forsaken you!” Phelps maligns all Catholics because a tiny fraction of the priesthood consists of pedophiles who sought the ministry to gain access to kids.
Again, Phelps is an ordained Baptist minister. Many of his Baptist children and followers are members of the Kansas Bar Association. They commit written and verbal atrocities each day to impose distress on millions of Americans, and they do it all in the name of their legal profession and their beliefs as Baptists. Does this mean we should associate Baptists and members of the Bar with the hurtful acts of this fringe group of Baptists and lawyers? Of course not. We know that nearly 100 percent of Baptists and nearly 100 percent of lawyers do not roam Earth to verbally assault people in grief. We do not demand that Baptists and lawyers suffer for Phelps and his Baptist followers.
The old Jewish Mafia terrorized big cities with murder, drug trafficking, racketeering and sexual slavery. Yet, few would have condoned national opposition to synagogues because of crimes committed by a small fraction of Jews.
Pedophiles have infiltrated the faculties of public schools, yet we don’t keep teachers from building homes in our neighborhoods.
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The late Rev. Paul Hill, a Presbyterian, murdered abortion doctor James Barrett and his bodyguard in 1994. Christians have murdered nine abortion workers since 1993. Other Christians have threatened violence, attempted murder, and committed assaults, arson and bombings to express religious objections to abortion. Yet, we don’t see national upheaval if someone tries to build a church near an abortion business.
Islam consists of more than 1.5 billion Muslims. Nineteen psychopaths attacked us on Sept. 11, on a promise of virgins in Heaven. The list of distinguished American Muslims is long and impressive. Yet, we are hellbent on impeding mosques on private property because of horrific atrocities that nearly 100 percent of Muslims had nothing to do with? Why are we opposing mosques throughout the country, violating the spirit of property rights and religious freedom, for the sake of an idiotic indulgence of guilt by association? Why does a wannabe book-burner insist that an imam move his proposed New York mosque because of terror the imam did not commit? Americans are supposed to be smarter than this. This country is about freedom of association and religious liberty, not guilt by association and religious oppression.
Editorial:
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Loveland News Reporter-Herald, Sept. 13, on the U.S. Postal Service needing to rethink it’s business strategy:
For millions of Americans, the U.S. Postal Service is a lifesaver.
It provides a convenient and relatively inexpensive means to receive the medications they need. For some, it is the link that allows them to live independently, outside of an assisted living or even nursing home style of care.
So when the Postal Service announced earlier this year that it is considering dropping its Saturday delivery service, it also sent a message that those users will feel a little less secure.
It also sent the message that those Americans living in rural areas—the people for whom the Postal Service was created at the founding of the country—are going to have one more option removed from them.
There is no doubt that the Postal Service is facing the same economic hardships as almost every sector of the economy. It lost $3.5 billion in its fiscal quarter that ended June 30. However, some technological changes in society are also at work: The rise of e-mails and social networking has decimated the private first-class mail business, while the economic slowdown has resulted in far fewer parcels being delivered across the nation and internationally.
A reduction in service is not the way to convince the public that it is essential, however; in fact, it will likely push more people away. And as the Postal Service pushes away customers, it will also push away or drive out of business those companies that depend on the mail delivery system for everyday functions. The spiral will continue.
Postal Service products and services are now available in more places than ever before—banks, grocery stores and others. As these trends continue, the agency should look for savings as it partners with industry, not turns its back on it.
Editorial:
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STATE:
The Denver Post, Sept. 11, on Sen. Bennet’s attack ads on his opponent:
For weeks now, Bennet’s campaign has been running a television attack ad that offers a number of out-of-context quotes and dubious assertions regarding Buck’s positions.
On Social Security, for instance, the viewer sees a video of Buck claiming, “I don’t know whether it’s constitutional or not. But it is horrible policy.”
If viewers were given more context, they would also see that it was a questioner who asked Buck: “Is it constitutional for the government to have a Social Security program where it directs the monies that we put into it?”
In short, Buck is dismissing the constitutional question rather than volunteering it, before plunging into a substantive discussion of the history and future of Social Security.
Not all voters will agree with Buck’s conclusions, but they’d be better served if Bennet would debate the structural problems of the program and possible solutions rather than simplifying his opponent’s intentions and trying to foster fear. Unless Bennet believes any recommendation deviating from the status quo is extreme.
The ad goes on to feature a video snippet of Buck declaring, “We don’t need a Department of Education.”
Buck did use those words in the course of answering a larger question regarding federal spending cuts. But he followed up by explaining that “education decisions are best left to a parent and a child, a parent and a teacher, a school board to determine curriculum. A one-sizefits-all system coming out of D.C. is a disaster and it has been a disaster for years.” Whether you agree with his contention or not, it is nuanced opinion worthy of debate.
(Officially, Buck opposes shutting down the Department of Education, and says so often.)
Next, the ad alleges, “Ken Buck wants to end student loans for middle-class kids.” This is a complete falsehood.
At the time, Buck was discussing the federal government’s takeover of the student loan business—a program previously shared with private banks.
The Denver Post supported President Barack Obama’s initiative. Yet, we also understand that those who think the federal government has no business running this program are not saying they want to end student loans for the middle class. And Bennet understands that, too.
The pervasive tone of Bennet’s ad is dark and alarmist, with a message that is fundamentally unfair. If Bennet intends to have a fair and vigorous discussion on the issues that matter to Coloradans, he’s off to a poor start.
Editorial:
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Aurora Sentinel, Sept. 10, on danger of Colorado’s forests brought on by beetle infestations:
It’s been an especially cruel coincidence that just days ago, the U.S. Forest Service went out of its way to warn Colorado residents about the dangers of beetle-killed pine trees here in the state.
The dangers became all too real and obvious last week when wildfire broke out in Fourmile Canyon west of Boulder, destroying dozens of homes and blackening hundreds of acres of forestland.
Forest Service officials say beetle infestations have destroyed more than 3.5 million acres of US forest land in Colorado and southern Wyoming. The beetles burrow under the bark of the pine trees and kill them, creating not only a huge fire hazard, but also a danger to campers and others because they can easily topple over.
The beetle-kill forests are so extensive that they now present a very real danger to hundreds of thousands of Colorado residents. While residents have been able to prune out some dead trees to protect a relative smattering of buildings, there is no so much beetle-killed forest across the state, vast regions are awaiting the same fate as Fourmile Canyon. Many of these at-risk areas are far more populated than the area currently burning. There are several mountain towns at enormous risk should fire break out in other beetle-kill areas.
State and federal officials need to step up ways to prevent beetle-kill from spreading, and just as importantly, to manage beetle-kill areas to prevent a calamity that’s in the making.
Editorial:
