Remarkable fomer mayor

A few recollections of Mayor Bob Isaac jogged by the “look back in history” picture of him last week:

He served ably and without pay (a tiny stipend at most). He would always begin his monthly news conferences by striding to the podium and, in that distinctive deep gravelly voice ask, “Any questions?” And if those of us in the fourth state weren’t ready with one he would not hesitate to promptly walk right back out.

When discussing annexations to the city, he would always remind his fellow council members “we can have sprawl or we can have infill.” Sprawl, he knew, came with the cost of extending city services. (We all know how that turned out.) He had a one of the brightest minds I’ve ever encountered and with it he served us all very well.

Andy Lyon

Colorado Springs

Disapointed with faculty

Regarding the UCCS censure article, as a retired UCCS member, I’m disappointed—not with the administration, but with the minority forty percent of faculty who voted to censure. Sixty percent did not vote to censure.

Rather than investigating funding issues and causes, and then finding solutions, some faculty blame others. It’s worth asking if self-interest and lack of engagement are contributing to declining student numbers. Are you fostering an environment that attracts students and donors?

Meanwhile, Pikes Peak State College grows as UCCS faces financial challenges. My kindergarten teacher taught me that if you are not trying to solve the problem, you are the problem.

William Cain

Colorado Springs

Funding for education?

Here we go again. The Progressive Democrats, in the central state government, want to divert our TABOR refunds to provide the teachers unions more funding. As usual, instead of reducing the bloated state government to free up funding, they want to use our TABOR refund money.

I understand why the Democrats want to do this, the more funding provided to teachers unions means more funding from the teacher unions for the Democrats when they run for office. How does replacing the current funding with TABOR funding improve the educational outcome for Colorado students? Also, what happens to current K-12 funding, will that be used for non-educational purposes? Is this to replace the current K-12 funding or to provide additional funding for education?

Patrick McCarter

Colorado Springs

The darkest side of a war

Are we, the people of this country, so easily brainwashed by those at the top of the political spectrum? Pete Hegseth, for example, does he really have cancer? And… is he really a Christian?

As the wife of a cancer survivor, who is also a God believer, I know the dynamics of both aspects of life, having sympathy for cancer survivors while rejoicing in my husband’s and my own faith in God.

However, when I see Hegseth’s body language and facial expressions and hear his elated tone of voice on TV as he proudly tells us, according to Google: “This was never meant to be a fair fight… We are punching them while they’re down.” This being Hegseth’s analogy for the war in Iran.

That’s when we experience cognitive dissonance wondering how a man asking us for prayers regarding his cancer, according to what the media tells us, can get so energized gloating about the casualties while reporting the darkest side of a war?

It goes without saying that there is plenty of blame to go around these days, toward politicians, the media, some church leaders who show nothing but complaisance about current events, etc. So what about the rest of us? Do we actually believe that the second we turn TV off problems will go away? Or, do we intellectualize our way around by voraciously reading books without finding practical applications for what we learn from them?

If I were still active as a substance abuse counselor, I would dare say I would be having a lucrative career by now suspecting that for those who choose to be in denial about the war in Iran, not to mention the internal problems we are experiencing, a quick fix is bound to be alcohol, drugs, overeating besides leading a sedentary life style. Perhaps the other side of the coin shows the mind set of those who support politicians such as the one if mention in this letter, rationalizing to themselves what they hear, as a defense mechanism?

Marcela Gaumer

Colorado Springs

The real aggressors

The opinion by Victor Hanson, in The Gazette’s Opinion section, is not designed to be a justified-war defense of President Trump’s “war” against Iran. See Hanson’s, “The logistics of Trump’s new way of waging war” (March 9). And the US Constitution does not provide a specific definition of a justified war.

So, consider what the Catholic Catechism teaches as grounds for a justified war. Paragraph # 2309: “The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain; all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; there must be serious prospects of success; the use of arms must not produce evil and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.”

Remember, Iran and its “Axis of Resistance” are the original aggressors, think 9/11 and Iran’s perennial “Death to America” chant. Iran and their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis) are determined to follow the Koran and its “teachings” of eventually killing all infidels, i.e., all non-Muslims. The Jewish nation and Christianity’s influence from the Western World are at the top of Iran and its proxies’ hit list.

If Iran and its proxies laid down their weapons, there would be peace. If Israel laid down its weapons, Iran and its proxies would exterminate the entire Jewish population of Israel. So, who is the real aggressor?

Daniel Pryor

Peyton