Choice for Man of the Year is clear
To the editor:
I would like to nominate MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren for Man of the Year.
Why?
Because he is a pioneer, a man of real vision and courage, and he radiates a confidence I have not seen in an American leader in a very long time. When he speaks, he speaks of the greatness of Las Vegas, not of Jim Murren. This should ring in everyone's ears -- that it is about the whole while preserving yours.
If more businesses would take this approach, America's confidence would skyrocket.
Sure, CityCenter has a way to go, but I think that the first ring of this bell goes to MGM Mirage and Mr. Murren's delivery.
I sincerely hope he will get some acknowledgment to encourage other great leaders in the valley to radiate the same message.
We, the people, are starving for the patriots and honest capitalists who will get us out of our current mess.
Thank God for Mr. Murren -- and long live Las Vegas.
Miguel Veras
LAS VEGAS
Lieberman rant
To the editor:
U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., has been given way too much leverage over the Democratic Party. He has proved to be a turncoat, and it's well-known he and his wife have unbelievable ties to the insurance companies who gorge greedily on the blood, sweat and tears of hard-working Americans.
This feeding frenzy must stop now or it will consume the United States entirely.
Americans have earned the right to a fair, legitimate health care program, and choice must be one of its provisions.
I am equally angered at the fact that the 55-to-64 age group that could have benefited from Medicare was taken out under the supervision of Sen. Lieberman, the hatchet man. It's seems that Joe Lieberman had no problem with the area that would have allowed the insurers to raise premiums at their leisure.
How dumb do these Washington legislators think we are? When do "we" get our voices heard and not have to listen to the likes of Joe Lieberman, Max Baucus and their ilk "dare" tell us what we are saying, needing or requiring for the future of our families?
Because of this country's generosity, Sen. Lieberman and his family are well cared for. But the greed for more in the Lieberman family would deny this nation's people their health.
When it comes to the well-being of America's families, a health care program as good or better than what the legislators enjoy should have passed by now.
And to those who say anything's better than nothing: No, it is not.
We are being treated like we're nothing more than food for the jackals. I dare say, to all legislators who would compromise this nation's sick and disabled, we and our loved ones are not expendable.
Who's running the Senate? Harry Reid or Joe Lieberman and his cronies? Joe Lieberman's Republican friends, who owe their souls to the company store called insurance, would leave Americans without the assurance that they and their loved ones are considered more than fodder.
This lack of efficient, reasonable health care has turned into a circus of horrors. This nightmare must end. If Sen. Reid and the Democrats, who are in the majority, cannot lead, then Sen. Reid will be out of a job this election, since he's already looking like a loser in his home state of Nevada.
Health care that works, not a system led by jerks, is not a privilege.
It's a God-given right if we are a Christian nation.
Barbara Williams
LAS VEGAS
Good candidate
To the editor:
Your Thursday editorial headlined "Political lesson" implied that Rep. Dina Titus made a decision to buck the Democrat Party's push to increase the debt limit because she faces a tough race in 2010.
My thoughts are that Democrat legislators, facing tough re-election battles next November, were given a dispensation by Pope Pelosi to vote against increasing the debt limit: House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, I am sure, informed Speaker Pelosi that 39 Democrats, in tight districts, could vote against the bill without jeopardizing passage.
As a constituent of Rep. Titus who continually receives her boilerplate non-reply replies to my inquires, I am well aware of her consistent support of nearly all Democrat bills that have come before her.
Perhaps the specter of probable GOP opponent Joe Heck running against her in November is sinking in. Dr. Heck -- former state senator, physician, current Army reserve colonel, Iraq War veteran and small business owner -- would be a formidable candidate.
John J. Erlanger
LAS VEGAS
Tax evasion
To the editor:
In a letter to the editor published Dec. 10, Review-Journal reader Beverly Daly Dix argues that Nevada smokers should cover our state's budget deficit.
But rather than have the state Legislature impose another tax on Nevada residents, the U.S. Congress can actually help our state recover lost revenues.
There is legislation currently pending in the U.S. Senate that will strengthen federal laws on illegal Internet sales of tobacco products. Currently, Internet cigarette and smokeless tobacco sellers violate the law by failing to pay appropriate state excise taxes. This practice is clear tax evasion that robs states -- including Nevada -- of desperately needed revenue.
This legislation is known as S.1147 -- the PACT Act, Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 -- and has wide support from various advocates.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation in May and the Senate version is still pending.
Rather than urging our state legislators to raise state taxes, Review-Journal readers should be urging Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign to immediately pass the PACT Act so our state can recover lost revenue.
Kassi Belz
LAS VEGAS
