LETTERS: Little League coverage a home run
To the editor:
Kudos to the Review-Journal for bringing to readers Ed Graney’s daily commentaries about the Mountain Ridge Little League baseball team and its success at the Little League World Series. What a great source of interest and pride the accomplishments of this team have been for Las Vegas residents.
I am a daily reader of the Review-Journal, but do no more than discard the Sports section unless Phil Mickelson is playing in a golf tournament or Rafael Nadal is masterfully swinging a tennis racket. But last week, the first section I turned to was Sports to get the details of how our Little League team was doing. Thanks for Mr. Graney’s reporting.
JOYCE BRINK
LAS VEGAS
Laxalt leak
To the editor:
It was so refreshing to read Laura Myers’ article on state attorney general candidate Adam Laxalt, which helped to repair damage to Mr. Laxalt’s character inflicted by journalist Jon Ralston (“Laxalt touts high praise as JAG,” Saturday Review-Journal). Mr. Ralston did a disservice to Mr. Laxalt and to journalism in general by intentionally leaking notes from his current law firm that painted Mr. Laxalt in a negative light, despite the fact that the firm, Lewis Roca, rewarded his good work by promoting him to “of counsel” and welcoming him to return to his job after his campaign for attorney general.
UNR professor Eric Herzik said it best in the article: “That was a selected leak of one-sided, unofficial notes.” The effort by Mr. Ralston to discredit Mr. Laxalt is at best politically discriminatory and at worst a blatant disregard for the ethics of objective reporting by an otherwise respected journalist, and he should know better. Inference by a person with power of the pen without checking his or her facts is just plain wrong.
I still remember the time years ago when my father, Jim Joyce, took Mr. Ralston to task for implying in a newspaper column that my dad’s wife and stepson were only qualified for their UMC administrative positions because of my dad’s connections. This despite the fact that his wife was a skilled and highly respected professional within the medical community for many years, and his stepson had a master’s degree and a wealth of previous experience in the department for which he was hired.
To his credit, Mr. Ralston publicly apologized to my father. He should do the same to Mr. Laxalt.
ROBIN JOYCE
LAS VEGAS
UMC and immigrants
To the editor:
Saturday’s Review-Journal editorial (“UMC layoffs”) conveniently ignores the $116 million shortfall created primarily by undocumented immigrants, who by law must receive medical care but often pay nothing. The government’s solution is to eliminate 300 positions, when the common-sense solution should be to eliminate the vast majority of illegal immigrants using UMC.
Eliminating personnel and departments only serves to shift the flood of unpaid hospital visits from UMC, a public hospital, to the multitude of private hospitals in the Las Vegas area. Either way, we the taxpayers end up paying the bill. Our esteemed Sen. Harry Reid, in his delusional world, thinks that additional funds from the government (we the taxpayers) are the solution.
On the other hand, any citizen with a modicum of brain cells should know that the solution is securing our borders, enforcing E-verify and ending all benefits, thereby creating an atmosphere of self-deportation. Problem solved.
JOHN J. ERLANGER
LAS VEGAS
Obama recusal
To the editor:
Liberals are calling for the removal of St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch from the investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown. By that same logic, President Barack Obama should be removed from the fight against Islamic terrorists.
Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed has stated that since Mr. McCulloch’s father, a police officer, was killed by a black man while in the line of duty, there is no possible way Mr. McCulloch can handle the investigation of a white police officer who has been accused of killing Mr. Brown, a black man. Since President Obama’s grandfather and stepfather are Muslim, can he be trusted to wage war against Islamic terrorists? Should he recuse himself, as has been suggested of Mr. McCulloch?
A realistic look at the mess in the Middle East suggests this might be the best course for the president to take, since he is always looking for someone to blame for the problems he creates or cannot fix. Vice President Joe Biden then could become the war czar. I’m sure crazy ol’ Joe would be more than happy to step into those boots. What a perfect solution for the president: hop in the golf cart and wave goodbye. No blame, no shame, that’s not my game.
DOUG FARMER
LAS VEGAS
