Another Rockie start …
Re: “Dorothy loves baseball but Rockies are testing her love,” March 31 sports commentary
The dismal start to the Rockies season is proof (yet again) that the Rockies are far from being a competitive Major League team. Owner Dick Monfort’s recent comment is laughable: “I do feel like we are on the right track.”
I don’t think allowing 23 runs by the D-Backs in the first two games of the season is “on the right track.” Monfort needs to invest in the club and put his money where his mouth is. Fans need to boycott the Rockies until Monfort shows a real commitment to rebuilding.
There are so many places I can put my hard-earned entertainment dollars. Going to a Rockies game is not one of them. All Rockies fans should unite, boycott this mediocre team, and send Monfort a clear message.
Mike Jezier, Aurora
Despite positive economic reports, the struggle is real
A prudent mantra about speeches and the media is to listen for what’s not being said, not just to what’s said. The noise of mass communication can sometimes be a diversion from important information that’s left out.
In all the talk about the rosy state of the economy and the upbeat descriptions of stock market performance, one statistic receives sparse attention: the cost of living. Very little about the plight of the common people around us and their increasing struggle to make ends meet makes news headlines or political pontification.
Lawmakers, politicians, most of the business world, and those who disseminate information about our society appear to have no clue about the lives of ordinary people in our country. The financial status and prospects of the elite are secure, and the approval of their peers and the electorate consumes their attention. But the plight of ordinary people is very real.
They are strangled by gentrification, windstorms created by the collective shoulder shrugs of the indifferent, and expanding economic barriers to financial survival.
This is not about redistribution of wealth. It’s about removing obstacles to the financial stability of those who are trying to hold on by their fingernails to the results of their hard work.
Make this a major issue of current political campaigns.
Daniel T. Shumaker, Fort Collins
Medical Aid in Dying legislation deserves deliberative actions
Re: “Bill in legislature would shorten waiting period,” Jan. 27 news story
On Tuesday, the House Health and Human Services Committee advanced Senate Bill 68 regarding Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) to the full House for a Second Reading. The bill allows nurse practitioners to prescribe lethal overdoses and shortens the waiting period to as little as 48 hours. The committee ignored concerns that assisted suicide was ableist at its core and that safeguards needed to be enacted before it was further expanded in Colorado.
Three commonsense amendments to the bill were proposed – safe storage for the lethal medications, applying a “reasonable medical judgment” standard rather than the weaker “good faith” standard for MAID determinations, and utilizing objective, validated screening tools for depression and mental capacity in the MAID determination. All were defeated along party lines. This tribal, rather than deliberative, voting pattern afflicts our political system. It doesn’t serve constituents well and adds to the dysfunction in government.
Coloradans still have time to let their state representatives know that the current bill provides little of the accountability or safeguards that were envisioned when they voted for the End-of-Life Options ballot initiative in 2016. Before expanding access, the bill needs to be amended to better reflect the intent of the voters and provide needed protections, particularly for vulnerable individuals.
Thomas J. Perille, Englewood
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