Could John Adams even be elected today?

To the editor:

Watching the triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi and Reid grow government and spend trillions of dollars, we might want to consider the following:

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. ... The course of history shows that as government grows, liberty decreases."

-- Thomas Jefferson.

And this: "There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt."

-- John Adams.

These wise leaders knew about money, power and governments. And they were smarter than anybody in Washington today.

Is there an Adams and a Jefferson in today's America that we could turn to? Could they get elected?

PAUL E. WEBB

BOULDER CITY

Side of good

To the editor:

Norman Yeager's Tuesday letter to the editor ("Cry-baby Democrats don't know real torture") was incorrectly headlined. Prominent Republicans such as Sen. John McCain, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- Gens. John Shalikashvili and John Vessey -- even Fox News anchor Shepard Smith have all spoken strongly against torture. Therefore, the headline should have read, "Crybaby Americans don't know real torture."

Except we do.

Mr. Yeager cites Daniel Pearl's beheading. Were he alive today he would no doubt be one of your hated "left-wing media" members. Does he know torture, Mr. Yeager? Do you really think that al-Qaida checks voter registration cards before torturing their victims? Did they let all of the Democrats out of the Twin Towers before causing the torturous deaths of thousands of Americans?

We all know that terrorists do not follow the Geneva Conventions, but do you really want to give countries such as China, Russia and North Korea your permission to torture American soldiers in any future conflicts? Mr. Yeager describes the cartoon depicting Dick Cheney as a "Master Torturer" as "vicious," but then laughs off "so-called 'torture' " that we commit as nothing more harmful than "hazing experienced at some fraternities."

Apparently he is unaware of the deaths that occur every year at college campuses due to what he callously deems nothing more than harmless pranks.

We are Americans -- and we don't torture! Not because of the Geneva Conventions, but because we are Americans.

I was raised to believe that Americans are on the side of justice, that we are on the side of good and that we are on the side of God. When we torture others, we are no longer on God's side -- and he is no longer on ours.

Robert H. Michela

LAS VEGAS

Torture policy

To the editor:

In his Sunday column, Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick asked if I would use sleep deprivation on a detainee today if I knew my child would be killed tomorrow in school by terrorists. The question is unrealistic.

First, I would not send my child to school tomorrow if I knew she would die there. Second, if I knew this would happen, how did I know it and how do I know this detainee knows anything helpful? Third, it takes weeks and months of sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, self-inflicted pain and other techniques to destroy a person's mind.

If there is only one day, we need to start cutting off fingers and poking out eyes.

Finally, the information you get is unreliable. The strong will say nothing and the weak will say anything just to stop the torture.

What is constant about victims of torture is that they never forget. If they were not terrorists before the torture, they are now. Also, the terrorist organizations are galvanized by our using it. Abu Ghraib came before the Iraqi terrorists lopped off heads.

It is unfortunate that this has become a political issue. In the real world, torture is counterproductive, and its use as a national policy means we have become the evil we abhor.

Jerry Bitts

LAS VEGAS

Don't blame Mexico

To the editor:

I wondered how long it would take someone to fault illegal immigration for the spread of swine flu in America (Wednesday letter). Never mind that there is a steady stream of legal traffic between the United States and Mexico every day.

I want to point out that when I became ill with swine flu in 1976, I was in Fort Collins, Colo., and had never been to Mexico. And Mexicans had nothing to do with the a disease that my future wife got from a vaccine at that time.

Let's at least be fair.

Frank Beaty

LAS VEGAS

Loony bin

To the editor:

After reading your Wednesday editorial, "The speech police at UNLV," then dropping down the page and reading "The Final Word" about the cancellation of the Walker Lake Loon Festival due to the shortage of loons, I have a suggestion: Why not hold the Loon Festival at UNLV -- they have lots of them there.

Tom Hayden

HENDERSON