Letters - Wednesday

HEALTH CARE

‘Right’ to care requires someone to provide it

In Sunday’s Letters section, Phil Stahl stated that health care should be a right (“Government needed to prevent abuse of system”). Health care is nothing more or less then the services and goods produced by hard-working people. I am certain Stahl did not mean to imply that these people give away their labor without compensation.

If that compensation does not come from the person receiving the goods or service, then it must come from someone else. And that can only happen through voluntary or involuntary means. If it happens through involuntary means, then the threat of force and violence must be used. Rights that we all believe in and cherish such as speech and privacy do not involve taking anything away from someone else. If something you think of as a right can only be obtained by forcibly taking it from others, then it is probably not a right.

Steve Reinschmidt

Colorado Springs

Canada’s system fails to provide proper care

Phil Stahl talks of how good the Canadian health system is in his letter. I suggest he visit www.freemarketcure.com/brainsurgery.php and view the 2006 video of an Ontario male with brain cancer.

For people who do not have Internet access, I’ll provide a summary: the patient was going to have a four-month wait just to get a validating MRI and upward of an eight-month wait for the surgery under the Canadian health system.

Medical authorities said he would not survive the wait, so he went to Buffalo, N.Y., got the MRI and had surgery done in less than five weeks.

Due to the medical emergency, he asked for reimbursement of the $28K surgery cost from the Canadian government and was turned down.

John R. Tucker

Colorado Springs

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Woodland Park officials overstep their boundaries

I recently received a copy of the “reorganized” draft of sign ordinances for Woodland Park. What a great job they did on simplifying the original 18-page draft. This one, too, is an agonizing 18 pages, with the first four pages covering the definitions of a sign. By the time I was halfway through the book, I realized I was having a glimpse of what it is like to live under a repressive government. The Woodland Park government officials are out of control.

We, the business owners, have not been fooled by this rewritten version. The city and the Chamber of Commerce want us to believe they are on our team. Did they think we wouldn’t notice they basically moved things around and reworded sentences? Apparently, they are not on our team, and we are not ignorant enough to fall for this attempt at trickery.

A city this size does not need 18 pages of regulations regarding signs that inhibit our ability to advertise. Aren’t the Woodland Park big-thinkers going a little overboard? Prior to September, business owners were fairly successful at regulating themselves. Never did I drive through the town thinking how offensive and unsightly the storefronts looked. Why must we suddenly be required to exist in a police state?

We have enough trouble trying to run our own businesses and lives without city officials trying to do it for us.

I suggest city officials run this latest draft through the paper shredder and put the whole deal on the back burner until after this election year has passed. At that time, they should begin anew, keeping in mind that the success of the businesses here is essential for the future of Woodland Park and advertising is the key to a successful business.

By the way, the Chicken Man is not a sign.

Lisa JK Branden

Wild Wings ’n Things

Woodland Park

WILD BLUE YONDER

Retired commercial pilots would disrupt system

On Dec. 13, 2007, the mandatory retirement age for U.S. commercial pilots was raised from 60 to 65. Now pilots who reached 60 and were retired before that date are seeking to return to their old jobs in the senior positions they left. An article in the Feb. 11 Gazette concerning these pilot retirements was horribly slanted in an effort to create sympathy for them. It also ignored the effects on the airline industry if they got their way.

The article stated, “the new law essentially prevents them from doing what they did before.” Before the law was signed they were retired airline pilots. What the law prevents is the demotion of the pilots who have already filled those positions and lots of additional training costs for the airlines involved. The article also pointed out that they are upset at the pilot union that helped craft the language in the bill. The union has an obligation to protect the careers of its members. As retired pilots, they are no longer a part of the union.

After 9/11 many pilots were furloughed and advancement since then has been extremely slow. With the higher retirement age, that stagnation will continue for some time. If retired pilots were allowed back in their old positions it would only make the problem worse. A line had to be drawn somewhere, and, unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of the line. They can still work as pilots but they will have to seek employment elsewhere.

Karen Gotski

American Airlines Pilot

Colorado Springs

MCCAIN MANIA

Right must realize it’s out of step

So James Dobson says he won’t vote for John McCain (“Dobson won’t vote for McCain,” The Gazette, Feb. 6). If Dobson thinks it will help resurrect Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee, he needs to read the tea leaves. The majority of Republicans in the country who have spoken and who have been polled want McCain, very likely because he will not kowtow to the religious right. Because of his more moderate stance, he actually might have a chance to get something done as a president.

The far right must wake up to the fact that the vast majority in this country do not share their highly conservative values. Does that make them heathens or anti-religious? I think not. It makes them smart enough to realize, especially if dealing with a Democratic Congress, that a president needs to be able to compromise, while still standing fast to his or her beliefs. That’s what John McCain has demonstrated for years.

I will take the honor, integrity and willingness to get along that this man brings to the table any day over the stubborn, steadfast and minority view of the religious right.

Dana Duthie

Colorado Springs

FINAL DISRESPECT

City should step up and care for cemeteries

A couple of weekends ago I stopped by Evergreen Cemetery to visit my son’s grave. I was extremely disappointed to see that vandals had once again hit the cemetery and many vases were broken, including my son’s.

A few days later I arranged to have my son’s vase replaced for about $90. Many cannot afford to replace the vases for their loved ones and have instead used the ducttape solution. Then there are others that will remain broken permanently as no one ever visits the grave site.

According to a person I spoke to at the cemetery, vandalism occurs a lot and is reported to police only when it is something major such as headstones being overturned. When I asked about completing the fence around the perimeter to deter vandals, I was told the cemetery is not taxpayer funded and it has to save money for every repair and improvement. Next on their list is a sprinkler system for Fairview, then possibly a fence for Evergreen.

I find it really discouraging to know that a city-owned cemetery that is a final resting place is a vandals’ playground.

Cheryl Henderson

Colorado Springs