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June 19-25, 2008 editorial@boulderweekly.com
• See Jim Hightower
• See Uncensored
• See Perspectives
Re-create 68’s defense
(Re: “All eyes on Denver,” news, June 12.) I’m a little confused as to the media’s portrayal of Glenn Spagnuolo and the members of Re-create 68 as violent extremists. Though Mr. Spagnuolo is getting painted as Vlad the Impaler with a bag full of severed heads, I’ve yet to hear of him engaging in a single act of violent protest. Moreover, I’ve attended several Re-create 68 meetings — meetings which, it’s worth noting, are never without a media presence — and have yet to hear a single suggestion of violent protest from him or from anyone else attending. The controversy seems to stem from Re-create 68’s refusal to disallow the right to self-defense to its members. Re-create 68’s explanation of this refusal is clear. There will be people protesting with Re-create 68 arm-in-arm with their children and elders. In large part, these will be representatives of communities which have most suffered from the never-ending betrayal of the Democrats. To attempt to deny them the right to defend themselves is to deny a fundamental human right. The refusal to allow anyone, including the state, to abrogate one’s rights is not anti-Americanism; it’s bedrock American principle, which should be shared by all people of good conscience, no matter their political bent. Those who condemn Mr. Spagnuolo and Re-create 68 for standing behind their inalienable rights are doing so because they’re either historically illiterate, or pandering to push their own agenda. As no less a pacifist than Martin Luther King Jr. has pointed out, the principle of self-defense “has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.”
Benjamin Whitmer/via Internet
Editor’s note: The article did not portray Mr. Spagnuolo or the group Re-create 68 as violent, but rather expressed concerns voiced by some about the name of the group and its reference to a convention at which violence occurred. The question on many people’s minds seemed to be, “Why would anyone dedicated to peace set out to re-create a violent confrontation?” The article offered for the record Re-create 68’s statement of non-violence. The reporter attempted to reach members of Re-create 68 several days before writing the article, but did not get a response until after the paper had gone to press.
Move to wind and solar
(Re: “Strange wind rising,” Danish Plan, June 5.) Paul Danish is right about finding few places where the wind blows all the time. We know when the sun rises and sets, and we can and do predict that rather well.
One of the reasons that wind energy is so great is because it is really rather cheap and fast to put up, and it’s darned efficient. Photovoltaics cost a bundle and make for an energy costly conversion to the wall socket power everyone lives on.
There is a solar method that produces direct AC power, heat and cooling for your home, and provides so much that you can put the excess on the grid for others to use. This technology has been around since the late ’30s. Several were built in Boulder County in the mid ’80s and many are in use near the Gulf of Eilat for desalinization operations and electrical power generation. Other countries have paid Americans to build such power systems in their countries over the past 20 years. Wanna guess why not here?
Paul Tiger/Longmont
Come to Denver
Thanks for all the information on the Democratic National Convention in your last paper (“All eyes on Denver,” news, June 12). Graham Nash, who is coming to Denver next week for a CSN concert, gave us permission to rerecord his song “Chicago” that he wrote for the 1968 DNC to use as the rallying cry for the 2008 DNC in Denver. We changed the words from “Won’t you please come to Chicago?” to “Won’t you please come up to Denver?”
You can see the video and download a free MP3 of the song on our website (www.comeuptodenver.org), which also contains calendars and tons of logistical information that activists will need to know when they “Come Up to Denver.”
As in 1968, we need massive numbers of participants in the DNC Counter-Convention to help stop the war. Please help spread the word.
Laura Kriho/Come Up to Denver Coalition
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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