Obama needs to try on new shoes
To the editor:
"If the shoe fits, wear it," the saying goes. Without being named by President Bush when he basically said that dealing with a known enemy is nothing more than appeasement, Sen. Barack Obama obviously thought the shoe fit him, and he wore it -- as did many of the other so-called leaders of the Democratic Party, none of whom was mentioned by name.
Sen. Obama, who has promised to meet face to face with thugs, terrorists and madmen, would do himself well if he at least studied the "Art of War," as described by Sun Tzu. A very fundamental lesson holds that you always deal from a position of strength if you wish to get your adversary's attention. This is not accomplished by elevating him, in the eyes of the world, to a level occupied by the commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation in the free world, the United States.
Could it be that Sen. Obama is suffering from the delusion that because our fiercest enemies desire to see him elected president, that he has a leg up when dealing with them? How naive. Their endorsement of his candidacy means just the opposite -- they feel they have a leg up on him.
They will eat his lunch.
Louis Frederick
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Stale environment
To the editor:
In reference to Kyle Otto's Saturday letter, "Shakedown": his last paragraph, which asks, "Where is my old Vegas?" expresses my thoughts exactly. Mr. Otto suggested that there might be more than the economy hurting the casinos, and mentioned $38 buffets and nightclub employees strong-arming patrons.
I would like to add another reason. The worst thing the casinos did was to replace slot machine coins with the silent, ticket-in, ticket-out technology. It took away much of the excitement of the casino environment. There was something exciting about the sound of coins clattering in the slot machine trays, and seeing the hustle and bustle of employees dressed in colorful uniforms, filling machines with coins and paying jackpots. There was something exciting about employees delivering bags of coins to replenish the booths and carousels.
The casino environment now is boring. Much of the live music has disappeared. Many of the employees are dressed in drab-colored uniforms. In addition, the slot machines have tightened up. All of this, coupled with exorbitant prices in the buffets and restaurants, is driving away business.
Eventually, the bean counters will conclude that there is more to running a business than cutting costs.
When people from around the world come to Las Vegas, they are looking for excitement. If they do not find it here, they will stop coming.
Roger Witcher
LAS VEGAS
Hosed
To the editor:
Various eminent hydrologists have predicted that Las Vegas will be without sufficient water within five to 10 years. Common sense would dictate that a strict moratorium should be placed on new water hookups in the valley to protect our future water supply. Yet the Southern Nevada Water Authority, paid to represent us, illogically favors developers and won't promote or even mention a hookup moratorium.
The Review-Journal's Friday article, "Water authority revenue growth slows," finally exposed the blatant conflict of interest of the water authority. A big chunk of their funds come from the 22,000 to 51,000 developer hookups per year. No hookups, no more high salaries and bonuses, particularly for the authority's construction staff.
This is the water authority's motivation to see Las Vegas run out of water, to increase our water bills, to enable the theft of water from Northern Nevada and engage in pipeline empire-building that fattens the salaries and bonuses of the rest of the authority.
We knew we were getting hosed. Now we know how and why we are getting hosed.
G.P. Dix
LAS VEGAS
Promises, promises
To the editor:
Way back in 2006, the Democrats were very busy blaming President Bush and the greedy oil companies for the stratospheric prices of gasoline -- $2.20 a gallon. I remember Nancy Pelosi loudly proclaiming that when and if her party was elected to a majority in the House and Senate, we peasants would soon see gasoline prices returned to normal, which was below $2 per gallon, if I read her correctly.
Just the other day I paid nearly $3.70 for a gallon of gasoline. According to the math major who lives next door, that's a 68 percent increase in the price of gasoline in less than 18 months. As greedy as the Republicans might have been, even they didn't raise prices that much.
We did what Speaker Pelosi asked us to do. We voted Democrats into office. And this is the thanks we get?
Richard Janes
LAS VEGAS
