Letters - Friday
Palestinian side rarely told
Bill Durland and The Gazette are to be commended for having the courage, respectively, to write and publish Durland's letter critical of Israel's brutal suppression of the Palestinians ("Israel to blame in Mideast," May 22). Courage is required due to the predictable intimidation brought to bear by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Israeli lobby, especially those who maintain Gaza and the West Bank are free.
It is true that up to 70 percent of the American electorate agree with Durland's argument, however, these ideas rarely see the light of day in print. Even worse is the coercive power the Israeli lobby wields over our government, as evidenced by their blocking of the appointment of Charles Freeman as head of the National Intelligence Council.
There are plenty of conservative voices out there who oppose our doting policies toward Israel: Ron Paul, Andrew Basevich, Pat Buchanan and Sen. Jim Webb, to mention a few.
The only venue where this discussion occurs is on the Internet. There needs to be an open discussion of this most important issue within our government and in the national forum.
The solution to peace in the Middle East is quite simple: cut off military and financial aid to Israel until it is willing to treat its neighbors as human beings. Our nation is broke, and we cannot afford such a provocative and exclusionary theocracy as an ally. I doubt whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would then be quite so eager to flip off the most recent of the line of U.S. presidents who sought a genuine peace.
John Ulbinsky, Colorado Springs
Group not sponsor of action
I am the secretary of the board of directors of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. I'm writing to set the record straight regarding Rabbi Don Levy's letter in which he states that a small vigil taking place across the street from City Auditorium on May 17 during the "Honor Israel" day was sponsored by the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission ("Group is not about justice," Letters, May 24). That is not the case.
PPJPC never undertakes a public witness without the approval of the board and general membership. My husband and I were present at the vigil as private individuals and we were the only members of PPJPC who were there.
If any mention was made to Levy of PPJPC connection with the event, it was made in error and innocently. The vigil consisted of exactly six people, two from Coloradans for Peace and the other four of us simply concerned individuals. Our signs read: "Who would Jesus bomb," and "Love your enemies" and were directed at the primarily Christian audience there.
If any other organization was represented at the vigil it was Christian Peacemaker Teams, of which my husband and I are long-time members. CPT is an international nongovernment organization working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories documenting human rights abuses and working with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups to reduce violence and create reconciliation. It is through our CPT work that we have gained first hand experience of the realities of the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories.
Eugenia Durland, Colorado Springs
Too much time spent on crashes
Sunday's 3.5-hour delay on southbound Interstate 25 (that involved two vehicles) near the North Academy Boulevard exit, was the latest in a series of accidents that close down our interstate highway system for inordinate amounts of time.
Since police, emergency vehicles and tow trucks all seem to arrive at scenes within five to 10 minutes of an event, it is unclear to me why interstate traffic must be tied up for hours while emergency personnel discuss the episode, drink coffee and fill out reports.
The loss to drivers is enormous, putting aside the massive amount of wasted fuel and increased pollution resulting from the spurious highway shutdowns, the lost time of travelers should be considered. Missed plane departures, medical appointments, and other essential activities should be calculated.
Why can't a nation that put men on the moon come up with a system that will clear all but the worst of highway wrecks in a half hour or less?
Would it be good policy for our governor to appoint an interstate czar to look into this annoyance and come up with a comprehensive policy for all municipal and statewide agencies who deal with our highways to remedy this problem?
Ted Beckett, Colorado Springs
Get Congress back to work
Colorado's Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet have both contacted me affirming their support for S.909, the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would require a minimum of $10 million per year in new funding to administer, money Uncle Sam does not have.
Shephard was brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998, targeted because he was a homosexual. His killers are serving consecutive life terms, proving that the system worked without the special federal protection for victims, based on their sexual proclivity, that S.909 seeks to provide. There are more than enough laws at the federal and state level which punish homicide. We don't need any more. We need better enforcement of existing laws.
The real hate which is killing America is the fact that our Congress hates to do anything constructive, and prefers to waste its time and our money on superfluous and redundant legislation such as S.909. This is the second incarnation of this legislation, the first having failed to pass both houses in 2007.
Please contact Udall and Bennett and urge them to withdraw their support for this bill and move on to more important work. There's plenty of it and it's gathering dust.
Chris Messner, Colorado Springs
