Email letters, June 28, 2012

By Staff
Thursday, June 28, 2012

Reading Supreme Court decision is a form of cruel, unusual punishment

Considering what’s been happening to this once great country, the performance of our three branches of government can be judged nothing more than disgraceful.  Our Founding Fathers had great wisdom and judgment in the balance-of-power concept that they perceived would best serve our form of government.

Unfortunately, they failed to take into consideration the human frailties that have become so evident during the current administration. Executive orders have replaced proper legislation. Congressional inactivity has stifled growth and disabled the economy.

Judicial “injustice” has made a mockery of our court system. The intended balance of power with checks and balances has, instead, become government run wild.

Now, the Supreme Court has provided the most recent example of further disgrace in its decision to redefine cruel and unusual punishment. Why is it not surprising that the liberal influence on the court was instrumental in a decision that will undoubtedly free more than 2,000 juveniles who are justifiably serving life sentences, most for committing heinous crimes?

Consider the “illogic” of this one example. Why is it cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a 17-year-old juvenile to life imprisonment for bludgeoning to death with a baseball bat a 42-year-old mother and her 11-year-old daughter? Didn’t the victims suffer more from cruel and unusual punishment than the teenager who committed these vicious murders?

Well, thanks to the wisdom of our highest judiciary, murderers such as this young monster are likely to be rewarded with new trials that will undoubtedly set them free to join the law abiding citizens who keep society safe by civilized behavior and respect for the law.

In my generation the Three Stooges provided comic relief with their wild, but harmless behavior. Unfortunately, the “five stooges” who are responsible—Justices Kagan, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomeyer—are not providing relief in any form, but have simply devised another travesty of justice.

“Supreme” Court is a misnomer. Furthermore, reading the decision is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

RICHARD DORAN
Parachute

Inaccurate quote regarding grizzly bears, cheap chickens ruffles reader’s feathers

“Chickens coming to roost in Glenwood” was a recent Sentinel news article by Dennis Webb.  In the June 27 article Webb quoted Kevin Wright, district wildlife manager in the Aspen area, as saying, “They’re starting to kill grizzly bears over a 50-cent chicken.” 
Questions:  1. When have grizzly bears been reintroduced to Colorado? 2. When have chickens been devalued to 50 cents per chicken? 

Facts:  Black bears are the bear in Colorado, and a quick trip to a local market will verify chickens cost considerably more than 50 cents each. 

If you claim to be a newspaper, how can you allow these inaccuracies by Webb to be published in your paper as news/facts?

ROY LOCKHART
Grand Junction

Exchange between Spehar, Adamson highlights fear mongering

Tuesday’s commentary section was an absolute delight. Jim Spehar’s follow-up on the response to his earlier column regarding the Western Slope Conservative Alliance and the local county sheriffs was priceless.

I, too, must admit I was flummoxed that not one of the sheriffs offered to introduce the people from far right field at that meeting to kind professionals who can help them get over that paranoia thing. Spehar’s original column pretty much captured my incredulity upon reading the original story in the Sentinel.

The letter from Susie Adamson was helpful in explaining where the craziness was coming from. Absolutely nothing she said was true.

You can follow up on this yourself (I urge all your readers to go to the original source documents when someone tells them there is a conspiracy afoot) by going to Whitehouse.gov where they can find a searchable data base of all Executive Orders by President Obama (not one relates to domestic gun control) and UN.org where they can read the actual text of Agenda 21 (which has been around since ’92 and the UN hasn’t marched through Fruita and taken anyone’s guns yet).

Then George Will, whom I used to respect, comes out half-cocked over the Law of the Sea Treaty and continues with more paranoid lies. For the record (just Google it for the full text), the United States has veto power over the work of the International Seabed Authority (it is the only state with such power); the seabed authority is run by state parties to the treaty, not by the United Nations; and all former living Republican secretaries of state now support the treaty’s ratification by the Senate.

Having a legitimate policy concern based on actual facts is one thing, but this fear mongering causes me to wonder who gains when ordinary citizens are subjected to lies and distortion of truth that leads them to worry and badger sheriff candidates over imaginary plots by the UN or the president instead of the very real issues of drugs, violence and crime on the Western Slope.

It certainly isn’t the democratic process or our country or its citizens.

DIANE WOLFE
Hotchkiss

Conservation fund, Tipton deserve thanks for keeping parks open

Every time I visit the Colorado National Monument, or share this local treasure with a friend, I say thank you to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for fighting for Colorado’s share.

The LWCF is helping our national parks stay beautiful and open to the public. The Colorado National Monument and McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area both receive money from the LWCF.  Better yet, the program is funded by fees levied on companies engaged in offshore drilling, not from taxpayers.

I thank Rep. Scott Tipton for advocating our park heritage, and I encourage everyone to be grateful for our local landscape and to continue to ensure our representatives know how much we value our parks.

JESSICA SCHOLL
Grand Junction