Blame Bush, not Congress, for fiscal problems

To the editor:

I take umbrage with your Wednesday editorial concerning fiscal discipline and the Bush administration as opposed to that of the Democratic Congress. Your sarcastic final statement was that if the Democrats win the White House and also hold Congress "no bank account will be safe." Earlier in the editorial you quoted the president as saying that Congress is acting like "a teenager with a new credit card."

But consider these facts: At the time when President Bush first took office we had the largest surplus in the history of the United States. Six years later, we had the largest deficit in the history of the United States. During this period both houses of Congress had a substantial Republican majority in addition to controlling the White House. Contributing to this turnabout were the creation of two ill-conceived wars, both lasting longer than World War II, and still no end in sight; tax reductions that weren't paid for; and huge unnecessary monetary earmark spending including a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska, etc.

During his first six years in office, President Bush did not issue a single veto. It was not until the Democrats won control of both houses in 2006 that Mr. Bush became budget conscious and issued seven vetoes, with more to come in the last year of his administration.

I and millions of loyal taxpaying citizens can hardly wait for national Election Day 2008.

Walter Morykwas

LAS VEGAS

For the children?

To the editor:

I read the Nov. 9 letter by James J. Begley ("Child haters"). I thought at first Mr. Begley was being facetious, but as I read on it appears he was serious. Does he actually believe the Republican Party hates children?

The Democrats have for the past 35 years defended the abortion industry, tooth and nail. The Democratic Party sees nothing wrong with the procedure known as "partial-birth abortion." They see no problem with taking a minor child across state lines to be given an abortion, without the parents' knowledge or consent.

Take a good hard look at the actions of the Democrats regarding protecting the lives of children. Let's not listen to their empty rhetoric.

robert slaby

LAS VEGAS

Witch hunt

To the editor:

You might as well replace the word "liberal" with "witches" in Ann Coulter's amazing rant in the Nov. 15 Review-Journal. She is even defending the witch hunt of the century by putting a spin on McCarthyism. It's all the fault of the "liberals."

To be "liberal" apparently means you are godless, evil and in every way conspiring to muck up the world. Who are these people? They couldn't be your neighbors, could they?

In reality, everyone is a combination of liberal and conservative opinions and ideas. There are social liberals who are fiscally conservative and social conservatives who spend their household into penury. There are atheists who feed the homeless and there are avowed Christians who send death threats to their opponents.

If you enjoy Ann Coulter's rant against "liberals," you may be one of those people who would have loved the witch hunts and would have loved seeing others burn as long as you were safe. I think there is a term for that: "self-righteous."

Elizabeth Powell

BOULDER CITY

Spending cuts

To the editor:

Regarding George Puccini's Nov. 15 letter criticizing Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid:

While I agree with the criticism, I cannot agree with Mr. Puccini's "solution" of "let's go where the money is" and tax the gaming industry. That sounds way too much like the Democratic Party's solution to everything: "Let's tax the rich to pay for all of our programs."

Just once, wouldn't it be refreshing to see some elected officials work hard to cut spending? Aren't most of us forced to do that with our own personal budgets?

LINDA DAHLQUIST

HENDERSON

Air bags

To the editor:

In reading your Nov. 11 In Depth section, I ran across a story about air bag failures causing more deaths -- and that the problem was not able to be explained. That is not entirely true. Having been in the collision industry for more than 20 years, I have seen this many times. But the bad thing is that people get concerned or keep statistics only when there is a fatality. This is more common than most people realize.

I have written many letters to the different manufacturers explaining to them what I am finding, and the truth is ... nobody has even responded.

The electrical wires to the various air bag components are being severed in a serious collision, rendering the air bag system with no power and therefore inoperable. There are several ways to correct this, but what I have come to believe is that it would cost money -- and reveal design flaws, opening the manufacturers to civil liability for previous injuries and fatalities.

This is the first time that I have seen this issue addressed in an open publication, and I am very glad.

ROBERT LOWTHER

HENDERSON