President’s law degree means he knows best

After reading Charles Krauthammer’s commentary (“Confidence in laws questionable,” Sunday Review-Journal), it reminded me of “The final word” from the July 31 Review-Journal. That quote arose from President Barack Obama’s interview with The New York Times.

When President Obama was asked about the concerns of Congress, regarding whether he has the legal and constitutional authority to unilaterally delay the employer mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, he said, “Ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinions — very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.”

The president will continue to circumvent Congress, picking and choosing which laws to enforce and which ones to unilaterally change to achieve his goal of “fundamentally transforming America.” After all, he is not concerned about anyone else’s opinion, because he is a constitutional lawyer.

SHERYL RIGHELLIS

LAS VEGAS

Vehicle mileage tax

To the editor:

In response to the article on fuel taxes (“Official urges fuel tax increase,” Monday Review-Journal), I have a suggestion for a low-cost, nonintrusive vehicle mileage tax. It is not precise to the mile, but sometimes having something now that’s good enough is better than perfection, for which we’re still waiting.

Currently, each time a vehicle gets a smog inspection, the vehicle identification number and mileage are sent electronically to the Department of Motor Vehicles. So, simply take the current mileage, subtract the mileage from the previous inspection (stored in the DMV database) and calculate the appropriate fee. Then print that fee on the smog test results page.

This will inform the vehicle owner that in order to renew the registration, he or she will have to pay both the amount printed on the renewal notice and the amount printed on the smog test results. In fact, this would even permit different rates based on weight, as heavier vehicles cause more wear on the roads. No tracking. No “tremendous amount of technology, at tremendous cost, with the potential for privacy violations.” The DMV might even be able to implement this administratively without bothering our overworked legislators.

Is this perfect? No. Do we pay for miles driven out of state? Yes, but if this system is adopted in each state, then I pay my state for the use of roads in another state, and their drivers pay their state for use of roads here. It should work out pretty evenly.

STANLEY LINKEN

HENDERSON

Las Vegas Sun should set

To the editor:

I wholeheartedly support the proposal to separate the Las Vegas Sun from the Review-Journal (Wednesday Review-Journal). The Sun has been printed and distributed with the Review-Journal under federal rules relating to the need to have competition in the printed news business. However, I’ve always been under impression that we as individuals had free choice — the choice to participate or not, to agree or not, etc.

Here, the Sun’s liberal- leaning viewpoint is distributed within the more conservative and successful Review-Journal, and that’s wrong. If you can’t survive on your own, then that in itself is a message that says, “Go away.”

The current agreement forces people who buy the Review-Journal to also financially support a viewpoint they disagree with. Sounds Marxist to me, so good riddance Sun. I’m tired of financially supporting your drivel anyway.

WARREN PAWLIUK

PAHRUMP

Titus for Clinton

To the editor:

Regarding Rep. Dina Titus supporting Hillary Clinton’s likely 2016 presidential bid, I would like Rep. Titus to apprise me of Mrs. Clinton’s accomplishments. Here are a few of her nonaccomplishments, and there are a lot more:

Whitewater, Travelgate, HillaryCare, missing Rose Law firm billing records, missing FBI files, cattle futures (turning $1,000 into $100,000), Benghazi, Russian reset, and of course the Arab Spring, in which she backed an anti-American dictator over a pro-American dictator, testifying before Congress that she could not remember anything.

I’ll be waiting for Rep. Titus’ list of accomplishments.

JOHN DOOLEY

HENDERSON

Where is the outrage?

To the editor:

The tragic shooting in Oklahoma defies understanding. A college student from Australia, out on a jog, is gunned down by young thugs for no reason. Sadly, the irresponsible attitude of the alleged killers has been a critical element of the story, which has become headline news across the nation.

That probably is the reason why Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have decided to speak out so sharply. Oh wait. They haven’t. But surely they will, eventually.

And I’m sure the Review-Journal’s burying of this story in the sports section also was an oversight. Surely the story will move to the Review-Journal’s A section, eventually.

ROBERT KESSLER

LAS VEGAS