Don’t let Oprah make your voting decisions
To the editor:
It is my opinion that the voting public ought not be influenced by the Oprahs, the unions and the TV ads. Instead, voters need to focus on the high cost of food, gasoline, health care, the mortgage problem, immigration, the national debt and the war in Iraq, just a few of the important issues that should be of concern for every American.
Voters need to make their own, good honest choice on who best can run our country based on what is affecting their lives and the lives of their families.
This may be one of the most important presidential elections in the history of our country. So voters, please wake up and start to make your own decisions rather than letting unions, organizations, star power and TV ads do it for you.
JUDITH ANN RUF
LAS VEGAS
High achievers
To the editor:
In response to Heidi Frederiksen's Monday letter to the editor, she is absolutely correct in her lament of the failure of schools to encourage high-achieving students. The school systems have been saddled with the No Child Left Behind Act to thank for the failure. The act is a total waste of resources for the schools, as well as for teachers, administrators and students. It is but a method the federal government uses to dole out or, more aptly, withhold funds to under-achieving schools.
The problem with the program is there are many problems. First, there are no standardized tests given from the federal level. Each state is responsible for the design and administration of testing criteria that can easily lead to slanted and biased materials.
Second, Ms. Frederiksen's assertion that the students hurt are the high-achievers is true. Schools are given five years to bring their scores "up to par" before a student can request a transfer to a more desirable school. Schools are held back by a withholding of indemnification for producing low test scores, so the more they need funding to "fix" the problem, the less they receive. I have seen many high-achieving students mired in academically starved classrooms.
The first remedy to look at is to scrap the act and propagate funds on a needs basis rather than a school-based, artificially honed testing system.
Bruce Schowers
LAS VEGAS
Obnoxious Brits
To the editor:
The tourists from the United Kingdom are usually some of the most polite people we get in Las Vegas.
At the Saturday night boxing match between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr., Americans stood up when they played "God Save the Queen" and put their hands over their hearts like they would when they play our national anthem. But when the American anthem was played, the majority of the people from the U.K. sat down and booed.
Words can not describe my anger. I fought for our country and our flag. I am glad Mr. Mayweather gave Mr. Hatton a boxing lesson that he will never forget.
I was a Ricky Hatton fan, but if this is what he represents, I will take a showboating Mayweather any day of the week.
Go home, Mr. Hatton, and take your discourteous, loud-mouthed and unsophisticated fans with you.
Ben Merliss
LAS VEGAS
Iran intelligence
To the editor:
Although it's nice to see Sen. John Ensign passionate about something besides abandoned pets in New Orleans, I'm confused about his anger at the latest NIE report on Iran (Saturday Review-Journal). Is he upset because we can't justify bombing or invading Iran? Where was Sen. Ensign's anger at the "faulty intelligence" the president used to launch the Iraq war?
Is he the least bit angry about the economic/physical/emotional cost of that intelligence? Or does Sen. Ensign still believe Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction?
Terry Cox
HENDERSON
Mormon candidate
To the editor:
Much has been made about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's membership in the Mormon Church and his ability to separate his political life from his spiritual life.
Who better to answer that question than current LDS prophet and President Gordon B. Hinckley:
"Now may I say a word concerning loyalty to the (LDS) church. We see much indifference. There are those who say, 'The church won't dictate to me how to think about this, that, or the other, or how to live my life.' No, I reply, the church will not dictate to any man how he should think or what he should do. The church will point out the way and invite every member to live the gospel and enjoy the blessings that come of such living. The church will not dictate to any man, but it will counsel, it will persuade, it will urge, and it will expect loyalty from those who profess membership therein" (Ensign magazine, May 2003).
If, therefore, Mr. Romney is a loyal member of the LDS church, then he will follow their counsel. If he is not a loyal member of the LDS church, then why does he belong to an organization he doesn't fully support?
Marsha Norton
HENDERSON
