A sensational column spoiled
To the editor:
Leave it to Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison to illuminate Las Vegans to the horror of attending a Sarah Palin rally as a member of the liberal media elite (Oct. 23 column). Those nasty "white" Republicans with "a smattering of minorities" and "one Mexican-American Catholic" had the nerve to shout "move the cameras" to the media. Never mind that Ms. Morrison and her media peers arrived late and blocked the view of those Republicans who came early. How dare these Republicans expect to catch a glimpse of their vice presidential candidate!
Ms. Morrison and her friends were there to do their job -- bash Republicans. How can we expect Ms. Morrison and her peers to respect the rights of those with opposing viewpoints when there is an election to be won?
We forgive you, Ms. Morrison. Your disappointment at not hearing any "racial epithets" is palpable. That column would have written itself. How discouraging it must be to anticipate such lawlessness and bigotry for your big column, only to come away with nothing but reasonable people asking you to not rudely block their views.
Next time you wrongly fantasize about "getting the ever lovin' crap beat out of you" should you wear a Barack Obama button to the Republican rally, as you so pretentiously "contemplated," try to remember how wrong your presumptions about Republicans were this time. In one of those humorous ironies, the only presumptions you did manage to prove was that you and your media peers do not need Obama buttons to advertise your politics, and the aforementioned liberal media are indeed so elitist that they believe it appropriate to impede the views of others.
Jeffrey R. Smith
LAS VEGAS
Third-World paradise
To the editor:
So Review-Journal columnist Vin Suprynowicz wants to live in a place where there's no Medicare, no income tax, no speed limits and you can carry a machine gun around (Sunday, "We want regulation! It makes us safer!").
I have news for you, Mr. Suprynowicz: Places like that already exist. They are called The Third World.
Please do many of us a favor by packing your bags and leaving this "socialist" country you seem to detest so much and moving to an African country where there are no pesky medical regulations preventing you from calling for the voodoo doctor of your choice, and where even teenagers can roam the streets carrying machine guns. Is Africa too far away? Then try Haiti, Mr. Suprynowicz.
Vince Hamon
LAS VEGAS
McCain as Scrooge
To the editor:
Never taking his constituency for granted, Santa Claus appears at the mall every holiday season, campaigning for a Christmas that most Americans will celebrate anyway. Sen. John McCain, however, prescribes to a different philosophical view. He has essentially chosen to skip the traditionally red state of Nevada in his campaign, not stopping by to yuck it up about the 45 nuclear power plants that he intends to build so Nevadans can sleep peacefully next to the waste-hauling, straight-talk express.
I guess Sen. McCain doesn't understand that we Nevadans live typically in one home -- not nine, in this traditionally red state -- and that we know firsthand that the fundamentals of the economy are not strong, because unlike past holidays, save for those of us fortunate to land a job wearing a red suit, we do not plan to frequent the mall as much this forthcoming season. Rather, we have developed an early list that requires very little shopping.
This year, all we want for Christmas is our two front teeth, a job with medical relief and a picture of our next president, Barack Obama, gift-wrapped under the tree.
Vernard Williams
LAS VEGAS
Happy Halloween
To the editor:
The nation will celebrate Halloween today. As usual, children in their favorite "scary" costumes will be knocking on doors, trick-or-treating for sweets and other goodies.
It is a night of childish fun enhanced by consumerism and the onslaught of commercialism. Probably most have forgotten or don't even know the origin of Halloween: the vigil of All Saints Day, a memorial for the saints and the dead who have gone before us. Today, business and material interests have turned this annual feast into a masquerade for the young -- and a sales bonanza.
Witness the rows and rows of store shelves and aisles filled with ghoulish costumes, horror house props and plastic skulls -- most, if not all, of course, made in China.
I surmise the Chinese who make the stuff must wonder: "What in the world are those crazy Americans doing with all that crap?" Only in America!
JESS CARLOS
LAS VEGAS
