Letters

John Pawlak’s column in the Jan. 18 Los Alamos Monitor was right on. The United States is apparently the world’s disciplinarian, and it is breaking us.
Joseph Stiglitz highlighted the problem in his book “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” about Iraq.
That war alone could run $3 trillion or more, when all the future costs of replacing destroyed equipment, medical care, PTSD, interest on borrowed money, etc., are added to the direct operating costs.
So the total for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan, could easily approach $7 trillion if carried on long enough. Do those numbers sound somewhat like the national debt? Just a coincidence.

Dick Foster
Los Alamos 

 My name is Kate Thomas, and I resigned in 2010 from Los Alamos Public Schools as Assistant Superintendent. Since then I have worked closely in different situations related to the schools. I have been involved in education for 42 years, either as a teacher or an administrator. I am writing this letter to strongly urge Los Alamos voters to vote “Yes” to continue the funding of school renovation in our school district.
Learning is a complex activity, which supremely tests students’ motivation and physical condition. Teaching resources, skills, and curriculum all play a vital role in a child’s education. But what about the physical condition and design of the actual school facility itself? How do they shape a child’s learning experience?
During the school day, teachers and students struggle with such things as noise, glare, mildew, lack of fresh air, hot or cold temperatures, limits on their technology, and allergens. Parents don’t usually have the opportunity to observe these situations as they are working and not in our schools during the day.

In the hope of contributing something constructive to the argument about the benefits of having armed civilians in the public square and schools, I would like to try a sort of risk-benefit analysis.
To measure “benefit” we need to determine the likelihood that you can successfully intervene, using a gun, if you or someone near you becomes a victim of a violent crime in a situation that would validate the defense of justifiable homicide under New Mexico law.
The FBI reports that the rate of violent crime in New Mexico in 2010 was 589 crimes per 100,000 population; the national rate was 404.
The 2008 National Crime Victimization Survey (latest available) says that there were 4,856,510 victims of violent crimes that year, a rate of 1,595 per 100,000 population.
A valid rough guess might be that the probability of becoming a victim is around 1,000 per 100,000 per year.
Because you may defend another as well as yourself, you have to add in the probability of being near another victim.
To try to account for that let’s just add another 1,000. So the probability of an opportunity to realize a benefit of carrying a gun is about 2,000 per 100,000 per year, or 2 percent per year.
At that rate most of the people who carry firearms can expect to have one benefit occur in their lifetime.

President Lincoln, when he proclaimed April 30, 1863 a National Day of Prayer and Fasting, deepened a custom that our first President initiated. President Lincoln’s purpose was to petition God to heal our divided and suffering country.
Thomas Jefferson similarly requested his fellow Virginians to participate in a Day of Prayer and Fasting in solidarity for the citizens of Boston at the time of the Tea Party, “to give us one heart and one Mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American Rights.”
Our country today is in desperate need to become one in heart and mind to oppose the deep injuries of Sandy Hook, Aurora, Colo. and the many other victim communities of individual gun violence.
These shooters are certainly mentally ill as individuals. However, they are a product of our society and are not unique, as demonstrated by the frequency of such events.
Could these actions be related to the nation’s acceptance and encouragement of violence as entertainment and a solution to problems?
Perhaps it is time for a new day of prayer and fasting: Peace Plus. This day can be a fast from violence of any kind: violent electronic games, violent language, violent movies or books, violent sports, personal infighting, on and on.