LETTERS: Shinseki’s resignation not a solution
To the editor:
Why should Nevadans have called for the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki (“Heller: Shinseki should resign,” Thursday Review-Journal)? Nevada legislators past and present, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Rep. Dina Titus, have been telling us for years, not months, that changes need to be made at VA hospitals. Nevada lawmakers who thought that Secretary Shinseki should resign had better think about resigning themselves.
This problem did not start a month ago, months ago, a year ago or just because Barack Obama became president. It was no different when George W. Bush was president. Veterans know I am right. If Nevada legislators cannot take the heat, get out of the kitchen, so that someone can properly legislate and provide the resources needed, allowing our veterans to receive the care they so deserve.
JUDITH ANN RUF
LAS VEGAS
Government health care
To the editor:
This letter is to all of you folks out there who believed President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi when they told you how wonderful the Affordable Care Act was going to be. If you want to know what the ACA will look like in a few years, look at the scandal currently unfolding within the VA medical system.
The ACA has already raised most people’s health care premiums, and shortly, we will all be waiting for appointments, just as the vets with the VA. A new secretary will not solve the problem because the VA is a vast, entrenched federal government bureaucracy in which the employees are protected by the Civil Service Act. These employees cannot be fired for malfeasance or incompetence, but only for overt criminal activity.
When a new boss comes in and issues new management plans and directives, the bureaucratic employees simply hunker down and say: “We were here before you came, and we’ll be here after you leave.” Nothing really changes, and more money will simply allow more bureaucrats to be hired, which won’t solve the problem either.
The VA scandal is an example of big government at its worst. Good luck to all of you who think that Obamacare is the salvation of the health care system in the U.S. It is exactly the opposite, as shown by the current VA incompetence.
WALTER F. WEGST
LAS VEGAS
Shinseki not the problem
To the editor:
I realize that politics is politics, and it has little if any bearing on reality. That said, as a retired teacher with 31 years in the field of education, getting rid of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki seems tantamount to firing the superintendent when you have ineffective teachers in various classrooms within the school district.
What is being done with the leaders/directors at the many VA facilities where the actual problems exist? Why aren’t we hearing about that?
DONNA CORNETT
LAS VEGAS
Scrap Sherm
To the editor:
Sunday is a day I take great pleasure in reading the paper from front to back. But there is one columnist who is so single-minded. He only attacks President Barack Obama.
Week after week after week, Sherman Frederick rails on and on, to the point it is now impossible to do anything but pity a bitter old man. Though his column only runs once a week, there is enough going on in the nation that he should be able to write a column that is not about the president.
The space his column occupies could be used by a talented columnist: Jane Ann Morrison, who has the ability to write about anything. Not to mention, she was the Review-Journal’s only female columnist. She is sorely missed. Her subjects were entertaining or informative — or both. Please consider having her replace Mr. Frederick on Sunday, so we can enjoy the day without the solid negativity.
STEPHANIE WILSON
LAS VEGAS
Adelson lawsuit
To the editor:
Congratulations to former Sands Macau official Steve Jacobs on the Nevada Supreme Court reversing the Clark County District Court’s dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson (“Adelson set back in high court’s ruling,” Saturday Review-Journal). In all the legal mumbo jumbo, the now reinstated lawsuit alleges that Mr. Adelson put demands upon Mr. Jacobs to do secret investigations of Macau government officials.
It is good to see that this high-power billionaire business owner doesn’t always get his way. Mr. Adelson’s habit of suing people or firms when things don’t go his way may have backfired in this case. Hopefully more cases will be judged against him and his billionaire attitude. Like the situation with Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, it shows that money can’t always buy everything and that billionaires cannot just whine and have it their way.
TODD WHEELAN
NORTH LAS VEGAS
