LETTERS: Ed Jones is wrong; We need jobs; and more [Gazette, The (CO)]

A tortured, flawed conclusion

Ed Jones uses ancient history to reach a tortured and deeply flawed conclusion.

Ever since President Ronald Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union, overall union membership has nose-dived. In Colorado, a right-to-work (for less) state, unions are toothless, yet Jones wants to blame unions. There is a three-legged stool of academic success: Students who are willing to work; parents who support that student; committed teachers who deliver curriculum. Blaming poor education on the unions is a cop out. Unions have nothing to do with designing curriculum, and all the teachers I know and work with are passionate, committed and industrious.

Local students already have choice - both D-11 and D-20 have open enrollment. Charter schools are not a panacea that endows children with knowledge. Research shows that there are plenty of under- performing charter schools. A Republican strategy, No Child Left Behind, has burdened education with onerous tests and narrowed much curriculum to a "drill-and-kill" series of worksheets and rote memorization.

Economists tell us that the wealth disparity in America has never been greater. This can be traced back to President Reagan's voodoo trickle-down economics and the undermining of unions. There is an inverse relationship to union membership and net wealth; as go unions, so goes the middle class.

Our political parties ebb and flow over time; civil rights progress was made by both sides of the aisle. Today the parties are polarized and calcified in their positions. Republican policies of deregulation and unfettered capitalism have decimated unions - be thankful you have a job - thereby eviscerating the middle class, knee-capping black Americans and obfuscating the real culprit - a race-baiting oligarchy. Jones illustrates that the party of "no" has one more no - no compassion.

Frank Case

Colorado Springs

Springs losing talented people

I will start out by saying I'm a single mother working on my masters degree, and haven't been able to find a decent job here in Colorado Springs to save my life.

I'm a certified substitute teacher and commute to Pueblo, because trying to sub in Colorado Springs is ridiculously difficult and impersonal.

Colorado Springs is headed down a path of destruction with too much reliance on military money and funding and ignoring an environment outside of the military realm. I, in the meantime, have an interview set up, not in Colorado Springs. I could commute and remain in Colorado Springs but, after closer consideration I don't want to pay taxes in a town that didn't get me a job!

Colorado Springs is losing some young, talented people because it lacks the ability to create jobs.

Alaina Rusovick

Colorado Springs

Bearing the austerity burden

Austerity measures here, there, and everywhere are all well and good, and politicians, supported by the privileged few, are patting one another on the back, but it's business as usual for the wealthy few.

Money, money, money. The effects of austerity measures are not a shared burden. The middle class and the poor, more now than ever, bear the burden of austerity measures. Let them eat cake.

Bill Wheeler

Colorado Springs

Red flags begin popping up

Re: "DA clears officials," Nov. 11: The issue of ''lack of trust in elected officials" has been one of the most discussed and press- reported issues the past four years.

Just the comment below, combined with the fact that the Republican DA spent one day "investigating" this matter is cause for red flags to begin popping up in all quadrants:

"Emails that County Attorney Bill Louis sent last week to county commissioners and obtained by The Gazette indicate the deal has been riddled with ethical and financial problems. In an email dated Nov. 4, Louis wrote: "Mr. Bryan's attorney told me on the phone Monday that Mr. Bryan has written campaign checks but he is not going to present them unless this deal closes."

With distrust being at record levels following the self-imposed term limit extension by these very same commissioners, it would seem in the public interest that this matter be investigated by an external organization with no ties to El Paso County.

Avoiding even the hint of impropriety should be a top priority with the commissioners.

Does a one day "investigation" by Dan May meet that level of thoroughness in resolving the "trust issue"?

Rick Wehner

Colorado Springs

The threats of tomorrow

Re: "Air Force civilian job losses hit bases as military braces for more cuts," Nov. 2:

Cuts to the Air Force's civilian workforce could be just the beginning. If Congress's ongoing debt ceiling negotiations grind to a halt, automatic cuts of $600 billion could spell "doomsday" for our national defense, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, by slashing military capabilities we can't afford to cut, like missile defense.

These automatic cuts won't discriminate between the fat and the muscle of our national defense.

Cutting the entire missile defense budget would reduce federal spending by a miniscule fraction of 1 percent. Yet it provides essential insurance against a debilitating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, or against the unthinkable: a nuclear ballistic missile attack on a U.S. population center.

Intelligence reports that rogue nations like Iran and North Korea could threaten the U.S. mainland with nuclear ballistic missiles within just a few years.

Thanks to a decade of engineering work, missile defenses shielding the U.S. - known as the Ground-Based Midcourse defense - protect us from today's threats. But they need consistent, modest investment to stay one step ahead of the threats of tomorrow: better tracking systems to defeat more sophisticated missiles and more interceptors to defend us against larger missile attacks.

Americans are counting on Congress to make the tough decisions to cut waste, not our national security.

Lt. Gen Garry R. Trexler USAF (Ret)

Franklin, TN