Copyright 2002 Denver Publishing Company Rocky
Mountain News (Denver, CO)
March 28, 2002 Thursday Final Edition
SECTION: COMMENTARY / EDITORIAL; Pg. 55A
LENGTH: 1683 words
HEADLINE:
LETTERS
BODY: It's business as usual
for gas-addict leaders
It's disappointing that Sens.
Wayne Allard and Ben Nighthorse-Campbell voted to remove the only guaranteed
oil-saving provision in the Senate energy bill when they voted for the
do-nothing Levin-Bond amendment ("Senate kills tougher gas mileage rules," March
14).
The Levin-Bond amendment eliminates oil savings by
punting responsibility for raising automobile miles-per-gallon standards to the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA's poor track
record and ties to the auto industry make significant action on fuel economy doubtful.
Automakers have
the technology to meet increased fuel economy standards
without sacrificing safety. With a national spotlight on the need to improve
American energy security, it is unacceptable for the Senate to reject fuel economy standards that would guarantee oil savings, save
consumers millions at the gas pump and reduce global warming pollution.
The Senate still has the opportunity to move us toward
clean and renewable energy. Requiring that 20 percent of our electricity come
from renewable sources by 2020, combined with energy efficiency measures, could
reduce global warming pollution from power plants by one-third and save
consumers $70 billion per year by 2020.
As debate
continues on the Senate energy bill, Colorado's senators should protect the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, national monuments, roadless areas in our
national forests and other wild places from oil and gas drilling and support
increased production of clean renewable energy.
Robin
Hubbard
CoPIRG field director
Denver
Aliens here illegally
What is so difficult about recognizing the first part of the term
"illegal aliens"?
It seems our immigration officials,
law enforcement and social services cannot seem to understand the definition of
"illegal." I hear about hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in this country
and have to wonder why. Part of it is because there is very little deterrent to
keep them out of the country.
I, for one, am tired of
having to support them with medical care, welfare and other social services. I
didn't work 50 years to retire and then have to pay taxes to support them. We
have enough of our own children whose fathers are not paying child support and
need social services' aid.
Why not do this: First, take
those intelligent people who have lost jobs because of the Sept. 11 attacks and
have some of them work with INS to track down illegals. Then, for each one you
find, "fine" the country they are from and return them. Reduce the aid or income
from imported products by a sum of $1,000 for each illegal returned. Then maybe
the host country would attempt to retain them instead of encouraging them to
come here.
Charles Avery
Byers
Tail wagging the dog
It is clear to me that the Israelis have kept Yasser Arafat alive so
editorials like the News' of March 12, "What does Arafat want?," can be written
and the truth clouded. Israel could have assassinated Arafat long ago, but it
serves Israeli policy to have him as the point man to blame for everything.
The American media have no understanding of, or commitment
to, what is good for America. Set aside the shame of American complicity in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and neither the U.S. Congress nor the
adminstration nor the media are devoted to what is best for America right
now.
We are becoming Israel. America has sold its soul
to a people in a foreign land who couldn't care less about American principles
of freedom, liberty and justice for all. Not only are we under attack at home as
a result, we are rotting away within from fear - fear that need not overshadow
our national life.
Ask American Jews and proponents of
Israel what years of U.S. support of Israel have done for America? Give me an
example of something positive we have garnered on the global stage from our
billions of dollars of support of that small, insignificant nation. We are the
dog being wagged by the tail!
The Rev. Larry Grimm
Lakewood
Arafat and his jihad
What Arafat wants, like any
two-bit con artist, is to keep things churned up, hoping that his potential mark
will get distracted and get suckered in ("What does Arafat want?" March 12). He
has proven that what he really wants is Israel destroyed and himself in control
of the whole area. He has not grasped the notion that Israel is not voluntarily
going away and that if there is a battle to the finish and the Israelis lose,
the Israelis will take down the Palestinians with them.
Arafat seems to buy into Milton's line that "It is better to rule in
hell, than to serve in heaven." He can't seem to curb his addiction to the
thrill of being a guerrilla leader long enough to assume the mundane role of
statesman. If the ordinary Palestinians want any hope for a future, they had
better figure out how to put a leash on Arafat's machismo and determine their
own priorities.
As the situation stands now there are
only two possible outcomes. First, Israel is left standing and the Palestinians
are destroyed. Second, both people are destroyed.
Bart
Torbert
Golden
PLO intent is
implicit
The News' March 12 editorial poses the
rhetorical question, "What does Arafat want?" Does he not want an Arab Palestine
state alongside the state of Israel?
Arafat himself has
answered that question with innumerable actions, but if it's words you're
seeking, perhaps the best place to look is in the charter of his own
organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization. The document that he
himself ratified and so stubbornly refused to renounce - even after having
promised to do so at Madrid and Oslo - consists of 33 articles. In all, 29 of
the articles call either explicitly or implicitly for the elimination of the
state of Israel. Article Nine, for example, states that the goal of eliminating
Israel is to be achieved by "armed struggle only."
Incidentally, the charter was ratified at the May-June 1964 conference
that launched the PLO, three years before the 1967 war and the occupation of the
territories. Just what territory was Arafat proposing to "liberate" by means of
the Palestine Liberation Organization?
History has
shown that we ignore at our own peril a man's own written word. Had the world
taken Mein Kampf seriously in the 1920s, perhaps the events of the 1940s would
have been entirely different.
Steven H. Cramer
Denver
Palestinian terror
To those non-Arab sympathizers of the Palestinian suicide
bombers, if objectivity is a sincere objective, two thoughts must be indulged:
1. What suicidal Palestinian, or Islamic terrorist or Islamic terrorist
organization, has ever conceded Israel's right to exist as a free, independent
nation, and, 2. Looked at dispassionately, what truly and inherently is the
difference between Sept. 11 for the United States and the daily terrorist acts
Palestinian terrorists perform against Israel?
David H.
Pearlman
Colorado Springs
Allard got caught
I see no difference between
former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay's claim of ignorance and Sen. Wayne Allard
trying to put the blame on a lowly staff worker for a foul-up in invitations to
a fund-raiser ("Sen. Allard cancels fund-raiser marred by improper invitations,"
March 15). Both got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and both tried to
cover their rear ends with weak excuses.
Richard L.
Stover
Grand Junction
Ungrateful Europe
If defense policy can be
thought of as a "family business," then the "family business" of our older
European uncle burned down twice: once in 1918 and again in 1945. In both
instances, the younger American nephew stepped in to help put out the fire and
to rebuild the house. In 1945 it was critical, because the older uncle was in
danger of winding up in a Russian prison camp.
But it's
been almost two generations since this happened, and vestiges of the fire have
pretty much disappeared, except in the uncle's psyche. The uncle, rather than
being grateful, is demanding that the nephew give him a directorship in the
family business.
The uncle feels older and wiser,
remembers when the nephew was "just a pup." He continually complains that the
nephew won't consult with him in all matters. The nephew explains patiently that
if the uncle wants a say, then he must invest in the family business, and
sacrifice the blood, time and treasure that is necessary for its success.
The uncle, for his part, still remembers the burns of 1918
and 1945, and cannot bring himself to commit any resources. He would much rather
spend his money on vacations and going on cruises than on the family business.
The uncle would rather speak quietly to all the rest of the family in hopes of
pressuring the nephew into giving him the directorship so he can sit back and
tell the nephew how to spend his money at no expense to himself.
Dave Petteys
Roxborough Park
Lethal weapon: skis
So far this year there
have been 13 fatal skiing accidents in 11 million skier days in Colorado. That's
one death for every 846,000 days.
There are 65 million
homes in America with at least one gun and an average of three residents. At 365
days a year there are more than 71 billion gun-exposure days. With about 700
annual fatal in-home gun accidents there is one death per 101 million
gun-exposure days.
To put that in perspective, if you
keep a gun all year and ski four days, you're more likely to die in a ski
accident than a gun accident. Skiing is 119 times more dangerous.
If there were 71 billion skier days a year in America,
there would be 84,000 fatal ski accidents.
So, which
are we trying to restrict, and which are we trying to promote more of?
Paul Kelly
Boulder
Flat tax argument
Enron shows the
need for a flat tax. There would have been no reason for the offshore
partnerships to save tax money and no reason for Arthur Andersen to recommend
such action. If our politicians are horrified by the results of Enron, maybe
they will be willing to give up the power of the tax code to control behavior
and induce political contributions.
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