Utilities demand we pay more for less
To the editor:
I see those of us who chose to stay and continue supporting our town while many others bailed out of Las Vegas when the going got tough are being rewarded with ever-increasing rate and fee hikes by our utility monopolies. What a slap in the face!
The water authority cautions residents to conserve water, yet new water parks are coming to town. I guess profits trump conservation. Meanwhile, businesses get choked with fees and residents pay more in rate hikes.
NV Energy, that great revenue-generating monolith, wants to reward customers' conservation efforts by raising our rates.
Let me get this straight: We're bombarded with suggestions to conserve electricity; we comply (sometimes at the cost of our own comfort in extreme temperatures.) And for this, NV Energy decides our somewhat reduced bills are not providing them with enough profit so they want to charge more? I find it incredible that more folks are not outraged by this hostage situation.
Where are our city leaders and why aren't they protecting us? Based upon some great fact-finding reports by the Review-Journal, I can guess why.
Perhaps we need to invite a few new utility providers rather than another water park, and begin asking more questions of elected officials.
ANNOULA WYLDERICH
LAS VEGAS
Insatiable
To the editor:
Why is anyone surprised that the government is trying to take away our home mortgage deduction?
They have to find some way to increase revenue. Obama has increased the money supply from $10 trillion to $16 trillion in four years. That is a 60 percent increase or "inflation" of the money supply. It's not that gas and food cost more, it's that the money is worth less. They have to find some way to make up for the shortfall.
The liberals have created a welfare monster that will soon consume the entire budget. In order to do that they have had to borrow trillions. Unfortunately, there will be nothing left for entitlements because it will take every dime of taxes just to pay the interest on the debt. So they will print more money. It's called monetizing the debt.
Sooner or later, the house of cards will come crashing down. All those people who sold their votes to Obama for entitlements are going to be left twisting in the wind.
What do you think will happen when the 52 percent of our population on the dole tries to use their "food stamp" card and it registers "zero"? They will riot.
Maybe now you'll understand why the liberals are so desperate to disarm honest citizens. It has nothing to do with crime!
MICHAEL A. PACER
PASO ROBLES, CALIF.
Politics of jealousy
To the editor:
Regarding the Dec. 28 letter "A pittance": I am appalled at the continuing whining from folks who are so covetous of their neighbors' wealth and material good fortune.
Their daily moaning of jealousy and spite is disheartening.
Mind your business and I will mind mine. In other words, what I have earned and/or accumulated through my own efforts is absolutely none of your business and I personally owe you none of it.
SUSAN POLYAK
NORTH LAS VEGAS
The whole bill
To the editor:
In his Dec. 28 letter, Mr. Samuel Johnson goes to a great deal of trouble in an attempt to justify President Obama's "Tax the rich" policy. Mr. Johnson states that a party earning $390,000 a year would have a monthly take-home income of $32,030 after taxes with the President's policy.
But Mr. Johnson is only allowing for the added 4 percent tax on the extra $143,000. What about the basic tax on the entire $390,000, Mr. Johnson? Well over $11,000 a month. Check your math, sir.
DONALD E. BANNON
LAS VEGAS
Secure your weapon
To the editor:
Now that the last victims of Adam Lanza have been buried, I want my turn.
Mrs. Lanza was a gun collector. Fine. Mrs. Lanza had a mentally disturbed son who she was very worried about. Commendable. Mrs. Lanza keeps her weapons in a cabinet in the basement. Mrs. Lanza's son spends most of his time in the basement. Can Mrs. Lanza put the dots together? Apparently not.
Responsible gun collectors keep their weapons in a gun safe, not a cabinet. Responsible gun owners use locked trigger guards. Had Mrs. Lanza followed proper precautions, both she and all of the school victims might still be alive. Of course, this sick 20-year-old could have stabbed his mother in her bed just as well, but the easy availability of weapons facilitated the rampage.
Arming teachers may stop some blood-letting, but it will not discourage the deranged. It may make the teacher the first victim.
Do you want a new law? Make it a serious crime not to take proper weapons safety precautions. Insure that mandatory safety precautions are taught at every training program before any licensing or sale of weapons. Then prosecute every person whose weapons are stolen by burglars, whose children end up killing others by inadvertance, or whose weapons are used in a rampage.
MORTON FRIEDLANDER
LAS VEGAS
God-given right
To the editor:
We all mourn for the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.; it was a terribly sad event. But sadder is the fact that unarmed adults at the school cowered in corners and waited for death to visit. Does anyone truly believe that this maniac, being denied the use of a gun, would not have found another implement to complete his sick plan?
Perhaps armed teachers might have lessened the carnage. Police are reactive, not proactive. This leads to the immediate need of self-protection for the individual. Unfortunately, the media never reports on the savings in lives due to intended victims being armed and in a position to defend themselves.
Most of the anti-gun zealots are wealthy or political individuals surrounded by armed bodyguards. The President has the Secret Service and the Mayor of New York has the NYPD to protect them. Who does John Q. Public have? Himself, of course.
Criminals can always find a source of available firearms to fit their purpose. If you take away the right of the law abiding to defend themselves, you are taking away the only chance they have to continue living.
Let's be smart and continue to put away those who illegally prey on the innocent and let us, who have lived honorable lives, use our God given right to defend ourselves.
FRANK J. SANTUCCI
HENDERSON
