LETTERS: Robin Hood politics not the answer
January 23, 2015 - 12:01 am
To the editor:
Here we go again. The president wants to tax the rich to feed the poor. Does anyone realize that without the rich, we don’t have large businesses, which provide jobs so that we can feed ourselves, and buy our smartphones and large-screen TVs, so that rock stars and movie stars can guide our lives? Does anyone realize how many large businesses have taken their companies out of the country because American tax policy is far worse than that offered in other countries?
Raising taxes for the rich also affects small business, which employs about 80 percent of the American population. It doesn’t take much of an increase to put a small business out of business, when you consider the fees, insurance, taxes and unemployment insurance they already pay.
Does anyone realize how many businesses can’t give full-time hours to their employees now because the companies can’t afford to offer health insurance at the present cost? Wake up. Taxing the rich is not an easy out. It is just another attempt to introduce socialism and eliminate a great democracy by turning the American people into dependent puppets.
CAROL MCCLENDON
HENDERSON
Interrogating terrorists
To the editor:
I wholeheartedly agree with Larry Hanneman’s letter (“Enhanced interrogation,” Jan. 17 Review-Journal). It’s time for Sen. Dianne Feinstein and all the do-gooders who agree with her kid-glove thinking in the handling of terrorists to wake up and smell the coffee.
Geneva Conventions rules of war should not apply to fanatical groups such as ISIS that carry out acts of terrorism — decapitation, rape and murder of innocent hostages, and using women and children to carry bombs into hospitals and schools to kill and mutilate (all under the name of Allah). More appropriate would be the old adage, “An eye for an eye.”
Our nation feels it must deal with this threat under the rules of decency. And I ask, why? Perhaps we should arm our military with sling shots and water balloons and march them up against an enemy equipped with unlimited weaponry. Let’s see who comes out on top.
The U.S. and the rest of the free world need to wake up. We are at war with terrorism. It’s time to take off the kid gloves and go to work to stop this disease.
BILL GOLAS
LAS VEGAS
Public school solutions
To the editor:
The Clark County School District’s academic standing is a disgrace. Of the 78 underperforming state schools, 49 campuses are in Clark County. This has been going on for decades. More taxes, as Gov. Brian Sandoval announced in his State of the State address, are not the solution.
Gov. Sandoval, State Superintendent Dale Erquiaga and CCSD Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky wrongly believe that raising the taxes on the people and taking more of our hard-earned money will help overcome administrative incompetence. These three bureaucrats are the main reason Nevada schools are failing and at the bottom of the list nationwide.
For decades, Nevada’s high school graduation rate has been among the lowest in the country. Yet one of Gov. Sandoval’s myopic proposals is to appoint his friend, former CCSD Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez, as superintendent of a new achievement school district to help solve our horrendous problems. This is the same Mr. Martinez who last year was forced out as Washoe County superintendent by the School Board.
I appeal to all the anti-tax organizations and Nevada’s “none of the above” voters to vote “no” on any tax increase to fund the failed Nevada school system. Only from the collapse of the state and CCSD officialdoms will there be the beginning of real solutions to the dismal Nevada public school system. In short, out of chaos will come order — quantum physics that says change in the conditions of a system can have dramatic, positive effects on that system over time.
CLYDE DINKINS
LAS VEGAS
Miss Universe photo flap
To the editor:
I read the article on the Miss Universe pageant wherein Ms. Lebanon distanced herself from a photo that included Ms. Israel (“This photo’s not big enough for the two of them,” Monday Review-Journal). How very sad that she would have such a negative reaction to a fellow contestant that presumably she did not know.
Is this what it takes to win accolades for her in her native land? Is the hatred in her heart so strong that a photo could affect her so profoundly? Is this an example of such deeply rooted anti-Semitism that could fester into the events we lately saw in Paris?
There are activities that are supposed to bring people together. Surely this is part of what a beauty contest should be about. Beauty should not be just skin deep, and certainly not in a universal beauty contest. It should reflect both outer and inner beauty, which would seem to disqualify Ms. Lebanon. Too bad whoever coached her for this pageant failed to send her with a feeling of good will toward all and peace on earth.
MERLE ROTH
LAS VEGAS