Let’s tax the impediments to learning kids face today
To the editor:
Our schools need new revenue sources, and most parents want their kids to succeed in school. So I suggest that we add a new category of taxes in the spirit of sin taxes. These would focus on the many impediments to learning that kids face today.
We could start by taxing text messages.
Parents buying cell phones and unlimited text plans for their children would pay a one-time fee that would go straight to an education fund.
We could follow up with mechanical pencils. The lead breaks about every 10 seconds, and the kids constantly run out of lead. Many students throw the empty pencils on the classroom floor, often after breaking them to pieces. They do not seem to mind having their parents pay for more of them, so why not gather some tax revenue from their stupidity?
Video game systems, game rentals, comic books, iPods, and social networking sites would be more controversial targets.
If the children and their parents respond, the revenue would dry up fast -- but the measures would have a beneficial effect on learning.
WILLIAM R. FOUTS
LAS VEGAS
A little gas
To the editor:
I recently took an informal poll regarding how much of the Earth's atmosphere is made up of CO2. None of the handful of people I asked knew the answer, and several guessed more than 50 percent.
The truth is that less than 0.04 percent of the atmosphere is made up of CO2. Do you really think we should risk bankrupting our economy over a gas that not only makes up a miniscule portion of our atmosphere, but is vitally important to plant life and our environment?
Neither do I.
Chris Miller
LAS VEGAS
With alarm
To the editor:
In response to your Sept. 26 editorial, what if man is responsible for global warming and the alarmists are right that we will soon render the planet uninhabitable? By their own accounts, we must drastically reduce our greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide).
But what if the culprit isn't carbon dioxide? What if methane or some other trace gas in the atmosphere causes global warming? What if water molecules in the atmosphere (clouds) cause climate change? After all, there is no scientific evidence supporting any of these theories, only guesses and computer models.
So the alarmists tell us we must pass legislation that most economists believe will likely weaken our economy, even though they can't possibly know if the legislation will work. The House Democrats recently passed a cap-and-trade bill that they say will somewhat reduce man-made carbon dioxide. They are willing to raise utility and other costs in order to implement a process that alarmists believe won't reduce greenhouse gasses nearly enough. (The Democrats believe the conversion to alternative clean energy will be the answer, but there is no way that the worldwide economy can be converted soon enough to achieve the goals of the alarmists.)
No wonder they can't explain themselves. And these same Democrats want us to believe they have the knowledge to run our health care system. Scary, isn't it?
Bob Anderson
LAS VEGAS
Real remorse
To the editor:
Rob a bank of $50,000 and get 20 years in prison. Steal $97 million from 134 people and get 10 years in a prison of your choice -- you'll probably serve less than five years ("Southwest Exchange kingpin gets 10-year prison sentence," Sept. 16). Who wouldn't give up five years for $97 million?
Donald McGhan of Southwest Exchange Co. said "My pain may never go away." Boy, that sounds like real remorse. Think of the 134 people who have lost their retirement, life savings, homes, marriages and possibly worse. Their pain will never go away.
Oh, I forgot to mention that McGhan was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $97 million in restitution. I bet the check is in the mail.
McGhan's lawyer stated that his client is kind and caring. I would hate to think what he would have done had he been mean and thoughtless. His lawyer also stated that McGhan did not violate the trust of Southwest Exchange clients, only that of Southwest Exchange. Give me a break; he knew exactly who he was hurting.
McGhan says he prays for forgiveness every day. I bet for the more than two years he was stealing and enjoying the high life with other people's money he was praying he would not be caught. It is a shame, but white-collar crime does pay.
If this sounds cynical, it is meant to be.
JERRY BENDORF
LAS VEGAS
Dominate our lives
To the editor:
My thanks and appreciation to Thomas Alton for his letter ("Real grass roots," Sept. 26), and for his very astute observations in determining the difference between disenchanted citizens exercising their constitutional rights and paid political organizers with a much different agenda. It is indeed shameful that many in our Congress, especially the leadership, do not have the insight of Mr. Alton.
A quote from a patriot of many years ago might be appropriate here. "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people. It is an instrument for the people to restrain the government lest it come to dominate our lives and our interests." That was Patrick Henry, 1736-1799.
AL CIRCILLO
LAS VEGAS
Mad as hell
To the editor:
What's with the Democrats in Congress? We threw Tea Parties like crazy and they turned a deaf ear. Even laughed at us. And now, every poll for the past month shows a majority of Americans do not want Obamacare.
If Harry Reid and his cohorts invoke the so-called "nuclear option" and ram the Baucus bill through the Senate, then they are no longer Democrats, but despots, and they sow the seeds of revolution.
King George turned a deaf ear also. Watch out, 2010. Here come the voters, and they're mad as hell.
GLEN B. DUNNING
LAS VEGAS
But Barack ...
To the editor:
In response to a recent letter to the editor, I think the reason most new-age liberals and gullible youngsters did not respect President George W. Bush (and Vice President Dick Cheney) was because he wasn't an agnostic socialist with Marxist-Leninist leanings and messianic delusions.
Now, as for President Barack Obama ...
KENT RISCHLING
LAS VEGAS
Out of town fan
To the editor:
Regarding Thomas Mitchell's Sept. 27 column, in which he discussed a subscriber who had written in, complaining that reading the Review-Journal is like "watching Fox News":
As someone who lived in Las Vegas for 13 years, and recently relocated to D.C., I can without hesitation explain to that reader that the Review-Journal is a breath of fresh air when compared to The Washington Post. The Post examines every political issue under a microscope, with a liberal bent, until one is almost numbingly incoherent.
We really miss the down-to-earth articles in the Review-Journal. That reader should be happy that he's not on the East or West Coast.
Roger Curnutt
MCLEAN, VA.
