Surprise: Communist spies were real
To the editor:
Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel's' Nov. 24 story, "Legal anachronism targeted," on the proposed repeal of a law that allows employers to reject communist job applicants, got my attention, especially the statement: "During the Cold War in the 1950s, (Sen. Joseph) McCarthy often made unsubstantiated claims that a large number of communists and Soviet Union spies worked for the government. Hollywood screenwriters and actors were blocked from working if they were suspected of being communists, or did not reveal the identity of communists they knew."
Unsubstantiated claims? With all due respect, is Mr. Vogel familiar with the Venona project? A patriotic American, M. Stanton Evans, wrote a 700-page treatise, "Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy's Fight Against America's Enemies," exposing the false claims of communists and the liberal media and demonstrating that Sen. McCarthy was 100 percent correct in his accusations.
Fast forward 65 years. The greatest document ever designed by man, the United States Constitution, has for all intents and purposes been nullified; the Ten Commandments have been ripped from courthouses and public buildings; our economy has been plundered with horrendous debt; and the overeducated but far-from-knowledgeable spoiled know-it-alls have given their occupier of our White House another stay of execution. Need I say more?
VIRGIL G. BOGDAN
PAHRUMP
It's a done deal
To the editor:
I just heard one of the best descriptions of this soap opera the media have labeled the "fiscal cliff." In reality, what we have is J.R. Ewing negotiating with Gilligan. The characters of this soap opera are President Obama and Harry "My Way or the Highway" Reid as J.R. Ewing and John Boehner and Eric Cantor as the inept Gilligan. In the last episode, J.R. Ewing will trump Gilligan, and the country will lose.
J.R. Ewing knows tax increases on the rich will not swell Treasury coffers, and the dirty little secret is they don't care - it's all about political power.
Entitlement reform won't come about, nor will government spending decrease. Oh, there will be some tidbits thrown out so the House can get some credit, but they won't amount to much. It's all about income distribution and getting even with the rich in this country.
After each side gloats over its supposed success, the result will be increased taxes on everybody (not just the rich). The real inflation rate, which is closer to 8 to 10 percent if one includes food, gasoline and the goods one must purchase to survive, will continue to rise, as will the real unemployment rate (14.7 percent nationally). Middle-class entitlements, of which ObamaCare is the showpiece, will make working even less advantageous.
Our current economic condition is as good as it gets, folks. It's all downhill from here.
When dumb people vote, Obama happens.
WARREN WILLIS SR.
LAS VEGAS
Setting us straight
To the editor:
Annette Raveneau's Nov. 25 letter calling for the expansion of Medicaid identified her as "Communications director for Know Your Care/Protect Your Care, an outfit dedicated to 'helping shape Nevadans' opinion on the Affordable Care Act.' " It sounds like she is part of an expanding governmental bureaucracy. Her mission is to shape opinion, and she could well be working for an administration run by a community organizer guided by the teachings of Saul Alinsky.
Do you think it possible that her job - and a similar job for someone in "all fifty-seven states" - is part of the monstrous bureaucracy created by the Affordable Care Act?
OWEN NELSON
LAS VEGAS
To the editor:
First we had columnist Steve Sebelius making the case for expanding Medicaid, and now we have Annette Raveneau making the same plea in the Nov. 25 letters to the editor. You have to wonder if Mr. Sebelius and Ms. Raveneau have any clue as to human nature or state finances.
First, the two make the assumption that because of the passage of ObamaCare, 71,000 Nevadans will magically become responsible, sign up for the program and begin a stroll down the lane of preventive care. That assumption is laughable. All you will see is a ballooning of the Medicaid rolls and thousands more visits to emergency rooms by these people who now feel unrestrained in their use of free medical care.
Second, if the Medicaid expansion is so wonderful, why is the federal government only paying for all of it for a few years? Why does the 100 percent share shrink to 90 percent over a period of time? Is there any guarantee the reimbursement rate to the state will never drop still further?
This bill was designed to implement ObamaCare like the corner heroin dealer staking out a new territory. Give out some free product and get your clients hooked. These ivory-tower liberals like Mr. Sebelius and Ms. Raveneau are espousing our addiction to a policy drug that will destroy our state economy.
JOSEPH SCHILLMOELLER
LAS VEGAS
Moving to the left
To the editor:
The main reason I discontinued my subscription to the Review-Journal is its attempt to be impartial by bowing to the left. Columns by Steve Sebelius and rewrites from the far-left columns of The New York Times and Washington Post are nauseating to this former refugee from a communist hell. You see, I read all that highfalutin Marxist garbage many years before.
Another reason: I will not be fed the Las Vegas Sun nonsense that I did not ask for.
MARC JERIC
LAS VEGAS
Racist duck
To the editor:
Mallard Fillmore should not be in the comics section of your newspaper. I have no clue what genius decided that's where it should be. He is insulting, rude and definitely an anti-Obama racist. I am sick of it. I will do wherever it takes to remove Mallard Fillmore from your newspaper.
ROBERT BRUMMER
HENDERSON
Smart meters
To the editor:
I have tried most of this day to suppress writing another letter of protest against the so-called smart meters being foisted on the prisoners, oops, I mean customers of NV Energy and its subsidiary, the Public Utilities Commission. But I guess I am possessed by a Don Quixote complex.
The PUC continues operating in stealth mode. We only learned of the initial request and approval when some of us were notified that NV Energy was about to cut power for a short period in order to install the new meter.
After some online research, I felt this was not something I wanted. I called NV Energy to request out and was told that was not an option. Eventually I was put in contact with a person who agreed there was indeed a temporary opt-out list.
I only became aware of a hearing taking place on Nov. 27 by a short mention of it on a Channel 3 newscast the day before. While I would have been able to attend, I did not. I had previously found out from the PUC's website that in order to be heard you needed to deliver a written request to their office. I believe it had to be delivered two or three months prior - or maybe it was two or three years.
NV Energy evidently wants to charge me $98.75 to install a non-smart meter to replace my existing, functioning non-smart meter in order that a person may physically read my meter. The last time I saw my meter being read the person used a hand-held device. Additionally, they want to charge a $9 monthly fee for this drive-by reading and maintenance on a meter that, to the best of my knowledge, has never had anything performed on it in the 13 years I have lived here.
It was interesting to see that the Bureau of Consumer Protection is considering filing a petition to delay these charges. "Considering" is a key word here.
Just another done deal without the public interest being protected. We should vote them all out. Oh, wait, we don't get to choose who protects us.
JEROME ANDREOLI JR.
LAS VEGAS
