| Show Standard-Examin- Opinion er Letters & Columns Sunday December 3 2000 11 A To our Readers MAIL Standard-Examine- Coming up in the: r PO Box 12790 Ogden UT 84412-279- Please keep letters to 300 words or less and include your name address and daytime phone for verification Letters must be signed and may be edited and condensed FAX (801)625-450- Opinion pages 0 8 k MONDAY: Leisa admits Utah is odd but says other places are too Hallett-Hancoc- Lettersstandardnet We must address global warming now for storms are gathering open Unless lawmakers eyes nature will their wreak revenge Despite impressions left by news media and cable babblers Florida was not the center of the universe this November A better case can be made for The Hague Netherlands where representatives of 1 70 nations gathered in hopes of working out (or avoiding) the devilish details of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change A decade from now we’ll look back on the Election 2000 fiasco as just an instructive blip in the plodding history of But we’ll still American have the ever more threatening tide of global warming ahead of us The gravity of this threat is underscored by new conclusions from the world's most authoritative scientific oice on the issue the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Reviewing research since 1995 IPCC concludes that the world is wanning 50 percent to 75 percent faster than previously supposed And the evidence says more clearly than ever that humans are indeed contnbuting to the trend chiefly by burning fossil fuels and stripping forests Polls show that the message is getting corthrough to the public High-profil- e porations too are abandoning the climate skeptics’ rant against reality They see that it's more efficient and profitable lo head off emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) than to cope with their once airborne At the moment it’s our political leaders who don't seem to catch on The Hague conference fell apart largely because the Clinton administration failed to exert the kind of leadership needed from the world's last surviving superpower Having agreed at Kyoto to a 7 per ts cent reduction in GHG emissions below our 1990 level we now insisted on getting credit for carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by forests and farms that existed long before the base year This was widely and accurately seen as an effort to protect American gas guzzlers and coal burners The European Union for its part seemed more intent on forcing arrogant Americans to cut back their profligate consumption of fossil fuels than on applying more flexible proven strategies for effectively reducing GHG emissions worldwide The Third World having seen industrial nations get rich by treating Earth’s atmosphere as a free sewer demanded either the same freedom or fair compensation for restraining themselves It didn’t help that foreign governments were reluctant to negotiate without knowing who would lead the next American administration nor that the more likely heir to the presidency George W Bush appeared clueless on this issue Ultimately any treaty would have to be ratified by the US Senate That august body whether bamboozled by fossil-fuel industry lobbyists or immobilized by the animosity of its many has terminally frustrated Clinton-hater- s already declared its intent to keep its it The details are elusive but the best of the Nov hottest-eve- collective head in the sand rather than buy any deal that doesn’t bully Third World countries Our Day soap opera has merely solidified the partisan paraly--si- s of Congress with both parties and their candidates enthusiastically abandoning the high ground of national interscuffie est for a disgraceful school-yar- d What’s at stake here is the kind of will inher world our post-Electi- 19 letter “It’s time to schools solution to our educa-no- n as promote private woes” says he was offended by the threat of a leachers' strike dren are forced to get by with the lowest level of educational spending per student of any state in the union We should be offended that our kids are packed into classrooms with 30 to 40 students Was he offended when the Legislature promised long-terfunding plan for education and then did nothmg for months? While the committee for teacher accountability met about 30 times and came up with many serious proposals the committee for long-tereducational funding postponed or canceled most of its meetings as soon as the teachers decided not to walk out They met less than five times We should be offended that our students use (or share) tektbooks that are way out of date We should be offended that our students suffer in 90 degree-plu- s temperatures every spring and fall because most classrooms are not air conditioned to come up with a m m All parents should be offended that Utah’s chil We should not be olTended when teachers ask the Legislature to do something about these deplorable circumstances Karl Powell Farr West Majority of Utahns Gore missed opportunity to be ‘presidential’ There are pivotal moments in every life crystalline points in nme when a decision made a course chosen propels one and events toward a certain consequence Vice President Gore had such a moment on an early Wednesday morning weeks ago The moment might just as well have turned to Gov Bush but it fell to Mr Gore It appears that Mr Gore made a bad call Perhaps we should cut him some slack campaign-wear- y nearly sleepless for days a lifelong dream fading away his mind and judgment may not have been clear Yet when he called Mr Bush again to undo his concession we are where we are now I think we’re far too lenient if we do not hold him accountable for this miserable morass Where would we be had he instead left his first call alone a congratulatory word to the president-elect? But the vacillating Florida vote count went close late and another call just had to be made one to postpone his own humble runner-u- p speech and of greater import to halt Mr Bush’s victory celebration Mr Gore alone possessed that precious early opportunity to deliberate and set history’s course by placing the country’s welfare ahead of personal ambition There’s precedent of the later reward for those who put aside personal gain recent memory rePresident minds us of then-Vic- e Richard Nixon who lost narrowly to John Kennedy The nation needs a new president one clearly elected and uncontested not legions of lawyers courts and judges hosted by rabid partisans and protesters A1 Gore should have cast the last vote one for George Bush Roles reversed I hope Mr Bush would have done the same guess the vice president never heard of or does not understand one of life's chief maxims: Close enough! Paul Morris I Clearfield Parents have lost right to punish children Something has bugged me for quite some time When I was growing up if we misbehaved in school we got punished for it We hoped our parents did not find out about it for fear we would get another round of punishment The law didn't step in and tell the parent or the school to stop punishing us Now two generations later if a kid gets paddled he or she tells the law and it is child abuse What about parent abuse? The law dam near always takes the child's side (and the kids know it) There are gangs out there and if the law would give rights back to the parents this just might change I am a grandfather I was with my grandkids in a mall and they were acting up so I spoke to them gruffly You should have seen all the eyes on me You would have thought I committed an unpardonable sin but they didn’t approve of my grandkids’ actions A friend of mine got into an argument with his child over school work and he ended up having to go to an class Parents get in contact with your congressmen and lawmakers Get them to give parents back their rights otherwise you will be between a rock and a hard place Wendell B mgton nt Clinton Mercy needed in tragedy of lost child My heart goes out to Paul Wayment and his family at the loss of Gage The love for this small boy was apparent in the eyes of each of his family members especially those of his father Paul i I It is very easy for us to cry out for justice when we witness the mistakes of others but plead for mercy when we make mistakes I believe this is a time for mercy Kcsin Cunningham Jtyy t just don’t get it The official English initiative passed by such an overwhelming majority why didn’t we try it sooner? Just think of how much we can improve our lives by simply putting things to a vote For example: Abolish handicapped parking spaces Such a law would free up parking for us the majority women should be Pregnant forced to sit at the back of the bus The majority of us aren't pregnant women so why should we care? Seize the property of anyone who is over six feet tall That will mean less taxes for the rest of us to pay If anyone tries to sue just say ”Hey this is America! Majority rules!" Democracy is only ethical when people consider more than Unfortutheir own self-intere- st nately the majority of Utahns don't seem to “get” it Kyra Richards Orem of Constitution one document Rights Bill I think we should try to agree on some ideas about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights First they aren’t two separate documents but are one This document was written by the people to control the federal government The idea was that we would set the government's legal limits and except for a few enumerated areas it was to have no control over the states or the people The rights listed therein are not granted by the government and cannot be rescinded by it They are automatically yours and mine by virtue of our birth The only legitimate role of the federal government is to do those things the Constitution says it may and no more And please don’t give me that “living document" garbage The Constitution is a contract I wouldn’t sign for a loan if the bank could change the contract at will would you? Just read what it sas It’s plain English Study it and let's st e if we can't agree Michael L Tomany Bngham City I 1 sea-lev- computer models are converging toward agreement about the general shape of a wetter warmer future With more energy loose in the atmosphere weather will be more inclined to go to extremes This year’s record-col- d Utah November following the country’s Teachers threaten strike because of deplorable circumstances The vvnter ed Salt water will invade fresh water wastewater supplies and foul treatment plants Storm waters will wash g areas of cities repeatedly over like Boston New York and Miami -even Washington DC While Northern farmers rejoice Southern agriculture will suffer r el low-lyin- There will thus be both winners and losers In our society the losers look to government for relief but winners are rarely inclined to share their good fortune It falls to taxpayers to provide for the victims Currently the federal budget contains only S23 billion annually for disaster relief supplemented with nearly automatic emergency appropriations as needed 10 months won't seem odd anymore Hundred-year storms are likely to begin showing up every few years mingled with severe droughts Sea levels will rise not just by inches as in the past century but by feet Winters will bring less snow more rain faster runoff While the Intermountain West will be spared the worst w e can look for progressively shorter ski seasons more frequent explosions of disease-bearin- g rodent populations drier summers with higher wildfire potential deteriorating air quality and (once again) perhaps a rising Great Salt Lake The silver lining? With a longer growing season surviving Utah farms should thrive - unless pests diseases and weeds llourish as well But elsewhere in America Southern and Eastern shorelines will be inundat That amount will seem like small change next to the cost of cleaning up after constant hurricanes tornados winter storms and floods monitoring and preventing or fighting infectious disease epidemics and shoring up coastal cities perhaps even relocating population and infrastructure inland The bills will siphon off a significant portion of the nation’s wealth Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and reforming our land-us- e practices will buy time now for a less disruptive transition later But despite being the woild’s largest GHG emitter we cannot fight global warming alone A constructive international agreement is essential Here’s hoping leaders will catch up with their constituents before talks resume in May Ogden resident Robert B Smith Ph D a ihemist essayist and former unhersity at prosost He accepts rhsmilliQa prodiyynet He writes this colis umn monthly jor the Standard-Examine- r ANOTHER VOICE ‘Respect’ part of English 101 Immigrant has worked overtime to learn language of his adopted country CHI-T- By CHEN Although the language culture food environment and people are different I still love this country I’ve been here for almost 10 years now and I've never changed my intentions since the first day I arrived here in 1991 really like staying here and starting a new life 1 Originally I came from Taiwan and got my chemistry degree at Weber Slate University With a little luck I got a job in American Fork as a chemist I like Utah so much because of the sunshine fresh air and healthy traffic system Utah is helping me reach my personal goal: I can learn the real American English Obviously I couldn’t learn more English if I stayed in California or New York because a variety of ethnic groups live there and sometimes English is not the main language Weird! Most of the Chinese people would rather stay in California or New York where the majority of the Chinese people are living There are plenty of ’’Chinatowns" and we probably don’t even feel that we're living in America Every body speaks Chinese eats Chinese food shares Chinese culture Most of all there aren’t many Caucasians That’s the main reason that most Chinese people like to live there Well they probably could have a smooth life if nothing ever happened Unfortunately every once in a while they have to deal with a totally American society: occasionally a hospital school court police department or the Internal Revenue-Serv- ice When they get pulled over by a police officer on the road misunderstandings can show up immediately Luckily some police officers know how to deal with people who don’t speak English and they treat them nicely and patiently If they did nothing wrong but the officer thought differently they could end up in jail They'd go to jail riot because they broke the law but because they don’t know the language of the place they live I have a perfect example My friends a couple from China who were staying here illegally asked some help from me as a translator because their English was unbelievably terrible I've helped them several times and gradually I've realized that I might help them for the rest of their lives They don’t even know how to speak basic Eng- lish Miraculously they have a restaurant They could live because that restaurant is making money not very much but it's enough for them Another miracle the wife gave birth not too long ago I was the one to take care of just about everything because they onlv know how to sav “hello” was tired and exhausted and I felt mad as well I didn't mind helping them but I seemed to I In my 10 years in Utah I wait to school wvikcd two played tamis exercised in thegm and still had time to learn more English Ire done all pail-timejo- bs these things even with my tight schedule” be helping them almost everyday After I did a little investigation and realized that the husband had been m Utah for almost seven years I thought “come on he could learn a lot of English in that time" He stayed in a Chinese restaurant as a scrub chef He told me he didn’t have the time to learn but from my point of view we can squeeze times in if we really want to learn As a result I didn't buy this excuse from him I think my poor friend's problem is not the time shortage he needs motivation which is generated from one simple concept: Respect this country! In my 10 years m Utah I went to school worked two part-tim- e jobs played tennis exercised in the gym and still had time to learn more English I checked every new vocabulary word in my daily life I read newspapers and magazines when 1 finished my homework I forced myself to watch the TV news even though I didn't understand it 100 percent I've done all these things even with my tight schedule I didn't spend eight hours a day learning English I could have given up and found an excuse like my friend used "I don't have time for that!" Now I thank God that I didn't let excuses spoil my early life here Maybe I am too picky about my own people Yet compared to all of the countries in the world America has a belter political system healthier civilian benefits sufficient freedoms and most of all stronger economic prospective We have such great chances to inhabit this beautiful country and we have plenty ot advantages How come we don't want to learn the language share the culture get involved in the society and respect the American living style’ 1 have and I did In fact I'll never feel regret about immigrating to this beautiful country and Em enjoying every minute Em here! Clu-T- o Chen 38 years old iv onginally from Tainan and armed in Ogden in 1991 He graduated from Weber State L'nuemty in June 199'' and non Marks as an organic dh mot He presents Ines in Ogden nith Ins Mite and two dogs His hobbit are anting singing hem h pressing and hang gliding The Standard-Examine- r nelcomes lontnbutions lo this column m ha h (canoes commentaries ot about 61 Mords on am issue I ohae us consider sour column please send it along m uh a photograph to fnorher Voue Editorial Page PO Box 951 Ogdin CT ore-ma- d 84402 fax 8 letters a standard net v 625-450- |
