Once again, state shortchanges teachers
To the editor:
Yippy-skippy, a 2.375 percent raise for teachers (Review-Journal, Thursday). What a slap in the face of the Clark County teachers. Another year with a less-than-inflation "raise." Another year that teachers will actually have less buying power than the year before.
The 2.375 percent is a spit in the ocean for a teacher who has $50,000 to $80,000 in school loans. The whole $85 per-month-before-taxes "raise" won't cover the interest on my school loans, because President Bush raised the interest rate last summer. Let's see, Nevada Power says another $25 per household rate increase is coming. Gasoline prices are at all-time highs.
Just how many jobs are teachers supposed to have in order to practice the craft that they have been trained for, that they love? I have two jobs now, but given that I'll get another "raise" that is less than inflation, I guess I need another part-time job.
Thank you, Nevada, for your support in the education of your children. Thank you once more for slapping the face of all professional teachers in Nevada. I am sure your children will get all of our attention -- that is as much as we can give on the four or five hours of sleep we get after our second and third jobs.
MICHAEL HARRISON
LAS VEGAS
Defending God
To the editor:
Your recent front-page article on books by atheists helped reveal the weakness of the arguments of anti-theists.
Christopher Hitchens declared: "Religion kills." He must have forgotten that Stalin had more than 20 million adults, children and babies murdered in the name of atheism. Pol Pot ordered the death of 1 million people in the name of atheism, and devout atheist Chairman Mao of China committed mass atrocities of 20 million to 50 million people murdered to advance communistic atheism. The entire Inquisition killed fewer people than Mao killed on an average day in the name of atheism.
The supreme rational problem for atheism is it must use the laws of logic in making its argument. But atheism cannot provide the necessary preconditions for the laws of logic because their ground of knowledge is human intellect and is limited to time and space. God alone is the basis for the laws of logic. The laws of logic are necessary, invariant, transcendent, timeless and non-spatial and only God who is necessary, invariant, transcendent, timeless and non-spatial could provide the mandatory preconditions for logic.
No one has enough faith to believe that: order came from disorder; uniformity came from the accidental; intelligence came from non-intelligence; design came from chaos; and personality came from non-personality.
Mike Robinson
NORTH LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS A PASTOR OF CHRIST COVENANT CHURCH IN LAS VEGAS.
Corrupt politicians
To the editor:
In his recent letter to the editor, Jack L. Kane makes a valid and logical argument that if our local politicians simply remembered who they were elected to represent, many disputes would cease to exist. But his assertion that the governor and mayor "are our employees, not independent royals who answer only to themselves," is woefully naive.
Not only do the governor and mayor have their own agendas, they have the power to carry them out. Dina Titus, after losing her bid for governor, said that with Jim Gibbons in office, everything would be for sale. The current federal investigation into revelations of his past dealings as a congressman lend credence to that assumption. Mayor Oscar Goodman means well and is not corrupt, but he is captive to his ego, along with a "might is right" attitude. Fortunately, there are counterbalances to some of his shoot-from-the-hip policies, such as allegations that his attempt to make feeding the homeless a crime was unconstitutional.
Unfortunately, many of our other elected officials -- former Clark County Commissioners Dario Herrera, Erin Kenny, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Lance Malone, to cite examples of recently convicted and sleazebag-turned-snitch "lawmakers" -- are quite aware of whose interests they represent: their own, and those of lobbyists and special interests who provide sub rosa remuneration.
Further prosecution of other local politicos-for-sale would not be a shock.
Buzz Daly
HENDERSON
Appointing judges
To the editor:
As the movement to have our judges appointed rather than elected continues, remember that Sen. Harry Reid -- supposedly one of the most astute politicians in the nation, much less the state -- is the one who tried to anoint that paragon of virtue, Dario Herrera, to represent Nevada in the U.S. House. Do you really think he's that much smarter than you?
Think about it, Nevadans.
Bill Wilson
HENDERSON
Minority member
To the editor:
I was pleased to find out that MGM Mirage officials announced last week that 56 percent of their employees are "minorities." What makes me extremely happy is the fact that I am now a "minority" because I am among the 44 percent. I fully expect to enjoy the perks coming to me. When do you think this will begin? Numbers don't lie.
P. Del Vecchio
LAS VEGAS
