Today’s firefighters on too high a pedestal
To the editor:
In keeping with Gary Foster's July 11 letter to the editor, let's not put all the blame on the "poor" overpaid firefighter for not wanting to take a small pay cut. Let's put a lot of the blame on the media.
After 9/11 the media put the firefighters up on such a high pedestal the firefighters think they are above God himself.
I had an uncle who was a fireman all his life in West Virginia, retiring as an assistant chief. He lost his own brother in a fire. He worked tirelessly over the years for the union to improve wages and working conditions for the men. But he would be ashamed today how firefighters think of themselves.
Richard Halstead
LAS VEGAS
Fixing health care
To the editor:
The root cause of the health care crisis in America is not the lack of health insurance. It is the continuation of smoking and the eating excessive calories, which results in Type II diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke and heart attack.
Should it be unlawful to use tobacco? America is the land of the free. But we do not have the freedom to use cocaine, heroin and other harmful substances. Death from tobacco is slower, but is a horrible, frightful experience. As a nurse for 17 years, I've seen the suffering.
Also, our hospital patients are getting bigger every year. Recently, one fell and when we were not strong enough, we had to call the Henderson Fire Department to come in to pick her up off the floor. They come to us blind from diabetes, terrible burning pain in their feet (diabetic neuropathy) and legs that have to be amputated. Because they are so heavy some members of the staff do not want to work with them -- they'd be risking back injury -- resulting in poor care for the obese.
In addition to addressing the insurance problem, the governments -- state and federal -- should look for ways to prevent these problems.
First, raise the legal age for smoking from 18 to 21 and raise the penalty for those who buy or provide tobacco to those underage.Our children need this protection.
Second, enact full disclosure laws, requiring restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus and advertisements. We have the right to know what we are putting in our bodies.
We can turn this thing around if we all work together.
Jay Rhine
HENDERSON
High costs
To the editor:
Once again NV Energy is asking for a rate hike. The increases sought usually affect the elderly and low-income families. Assistance in paying the bill is available only if a person, couple or family is near poverty level.
Also previous organizations and charities that used to assist the public with their utility bills are now closing their doors.
And isn't it ironic that NV Energy would hold a public meeting and ask for consumer input on one of the hottest days of the year? As close as we are to a "heat alert" warning, I just can't imagine that too many seniors or low-income families with small children would venture out to this meeting. And the odds of attendees getting to voice opinions and/or rebuttals are very slim.
It just amazes me that a monopoly company can dictate the rules despite objections.
Jacqueline R. Baker
LAS VEGAS
Slush fund
To the editor:
With unemployment continuing to rise and consumer spending not happening, what's going on with the stimulus?
What's going on with the stimulus is that only 10 percent of it has been spent and the bulk of the rest is deferred to 2010. The purpose of this, as I see it, is that this administration seized the moment of "crisis" and "catastrophe" to create a "hedge fund" for the Democrats to use for the 2010 election.
Forget about unemployment and the people, the economy will recover on its own, so they wished.
The so-called stimulus money will be used by the Democrats to bribe and buy congressional districts during the 2010 election campaign. To ensure that this "slush fund" stays intact, Joe Biden has been going around trying to explain that the stimulus needs more time. In the meantime he's beating the drum for a second stimulus. He says the nation is bankrupt but we should keep spending.
The next thing he'll tell us is that the best cure for insomnia is to get plenty of sleep. Every time he opens his mouth, I believe I'm hearing Yogi Berra.
The only thing "shovel ready" about this stimulus is that its going to be used to dig the Democrats out of the hole they'll be in for the 2010 election.
Jack Louro
LAS VEGAS
Nanny State
To the editor:
Finally, direct proof. After reading Terry Alsup's Wednesday letter regarding smoking at a local bar and his statement, "I hate smoke, smoking, and smokers," we see the truth. Nanny-staters are haters.
Kevin L. Stockton
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Idea man
To the editor:
I was just outside and noticed it was really warm. Since summer contributes to global warming, I suggest the Democrats ban summer.
Solar flares on the sun also cause global warming, so I suggest they also ban solar flares.
My suggestions are equally as effective as the cap-and-trade legislation, and will save this nation hundreds of billion dollars.
I have not copyrighted my ideas, so the Democrats are free to use them.
Fred Stalians
LAS VEGAS
Real torture
To the editor:
The popular uprising in Iran following their June 12 presidential election is over.
By June 28, international news organization journalists were barred from reporting on the street demonstrations.
Iranian authorities said that 21,032 people have been "detained," and most of them have been released. They claimed seven people were arrested for having "links to Iranian exiles" and for "provoking unrest." They admitted that 20 people were killed.
We have no way of knowing exactly how many Iranians are being held in prison, or how they are being "interrogated." But it's a sure bet that, by comparison, these Iranian detainees would consider Guantanamo Bay a great vacation spot.
Our congressmen and women want a definition of torture? Too bad they can't know what kind of enhanced interrogating is going on in Tehran prisons now.
Jane Ham
LAS VEGAS
Founding deists
To the editor:
In response to letter writer Robert Cochrane, who took President Obama to task for saying that the United States is not a Christian nation:
Well, the president is right. Although the majority of our population is Christian, the country is not.
Many of our Founding Fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Monroe and others) practiced a faith called deism. Deism is a philosophical belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems. Deists believe in a supreme being who created the universe and operates solely by natural laws and after creation is absent from the world.
Therefore, Mr. Cochrane, this is not a Christian nation and the Muslim world needs to know that.
Martin Logan
LAS VEGAS
