LETTERS: More gas taxes a sign of the times

Most motorists in the Las Vegas Valley must have noticed the large yellow signs put up on roadways by Clark County, along with other less imposing signs on roadways. All the signs include the message, “Indexing Fuels Our Future.” It took me a while to figure out what that meant, but I was motivated to decipher the meaning, figuring it must be important since Clark County has put up a lot of these signs.

What the county is trying to tell us is that it’s putting our tax money to good use, because indexing refers to a gasoline tax we have been paying since January 2014. So why is the county belatedly spending so much on these signs? Because in December, the gas tax will expire. All the expensive signs must be part of a propaganda campaign to condition us for more gas taxes.

I wish the county had just spent the sign money on some road repairs.

Richard Fulton

Henderson

Iran sanctions

So, Iran again thumbs its nose at the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement by recently conducting two deal-violating ballistic missile tests. Remember how President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, dressed in their very stately power suits, stared directly into the TV cameras and repeatedly promised us that the we had nothing to fear because we could immediately snap back the economic sanctions if Iran violated the agreement?

Well, to no one’s surprise, except apparently President Obama and Secretary Kerry, it looks as if Russia — a member of the United Nations Security Council and currently in negotiations to sell Iran more than $8 billion in weapons — has no intention whatsoever of going along with any attempt to “snap back” those sanctions. That negates any U.S. proposal to the UN.

Hillary Clinton claims in her presidential campaign speeches that she was a key negotiator in laying the groundwork for the Iran deal. Watch that talking point disappear.

And the Washington power elites wonder why they’re not trusted?

J.J. Schrader

Henderson

America great for Clintons

When Hillary Clinton says, “We don’t have to make America great again, it’s already great,” she doesn’t mean for all of us working people, or people on fixed incomes or who receive government assistance. Mrs. Clinton means America is great for the Clintons. Bill and Hillary Clinton have amassed millions of dollars in speaking fees.

Mrs. Clinton received $225,000 for a one-hour speech at UNLV. That’s $3,750 for every minute.

I’m not a big fan of Donald Trump, but at least I know he’s not in it for the money.

Al Jaynes Sr.

Henderson

College admissions

At the end of this month, high school seniors with strong academic achievement will learn whether they have been accepted by Harvard, Yale, Stanford or other highly selective colleges. Almost all of these students have superior scores on their college entrance exams and were involved in a bevy of extra-curricular activities, yet the vast majority of them will not be accepted.

For example, at Harvard, there are approximately 37,000 applicants for about 1,600 slots. Legacy students — those whose parents or close relatives are Harvard graduates — account for about 11 percent of the entering class. Schools such as Harvard also have many athletic teams, and student-athletes make up about 10 percent of each class, under admission standards that can be significantly lower.

The end result is that no more than 3 to 4 percent of top high school students will be accepted to such selective schools. The deck is stacked against the other 96 percent of high academic.

I believe all quotas, legacies and athletic preferences should be eliminated. Rank all applicants based on their high school academic record, standardized test scores and extra-curricular activities, and admit the top 1,600 students. The time has come for these colleges to treat all students fairly.

Irwin Kaufman

Las Vegas