Pay cuts would amount to income tax
To the editor:
Gov. Jim Gibbons has suggested that state employees take a pay cut to aid the state's budget deficit (Tuesday Review-Journal). This is the same governor who campaigned on a no-tax-increase platform. He's the same governor who said he would not support any tax increases except those supported by citizens or the affected industry.
But a pay cut is no different than an income tax. What is the difference between a 3 percent pay cut, for example, and a 3 percent income tax? To the employee, there is no difference at all. Either way, it results in 3 percent less money in the employee's pocket. To say that this proposal is anything other than an income tax on state employees ignores reality.
Why should state employees, any more than ironworkers, casino workers or employees in any other line of work, shoulder a higher burden in these tough times? They should not. If any other type of employee were asked to take a pay cut and give that money to the state government, it would be called an income tax. So let's call the governor's proposal what it is -- an income tax on state employees -- and then decide if that's fair.
Matthew Watson
LAS VEGAS
Minstrel of hate
To the editor:
After years of being in a happier place without her, I accidentally read ideological minstrel Ann Coulter's syndicated hate rant in the Nov. 7 edition of the Review-Journal. What a horrible, miserable existence she must live, and I am again confounded as to whether she's an idiot or crazy.
Still spewing forth racial rhetoric that failed to fool anyone but herself about Sen. Barack Obama, Ms. Coulter somehow clings to the belief that Sen. John McCain as an individual was the reason 65 million Americans voted Republicans out of power in Tuesday's sweeping tsunami of change. Oh, dear Ms. Coulter, it was a rejection of failed policies, not of an individual, by 65 million of us.
She then extols Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the future of the party. Oh, Ms. Coulter, doggarnit and golly gee, Gov. Palin as the future of the GOP was precisely the reason 60 percent of the 65 million did not vote for Sen. McCain.
And in one last flailing exhibit of idiocy (or lunacy, I still haven't figured out which it is), Ms. Coulter announces that global warming is a myth, and then encourages all of us to give President-elect Obama as hard a time as we gave President Bush. Ms. Coulter, 78 percent of the country knows President Bush is an idiot. It's you we're still trying to figure out.
I can only assume the Review-Journal gets Ms. Coulter's column for free. I can't imagine anyone paying for this. Unless, of course, they're as crazy as she is.
Paul Speirs
LAS VEGAS
Obama cheerleaders
To the editor:
While America slept, the media elected a new president of the United States. The media sired and nourished such a hatred for the Bush administration that America would have elected Fidel Castro as president if given the opportunity.
The "unbaised" news broadcasters were nauseatingly giddy about the outcome of the election returns. These are the same "unbaised" broadcasters who were throwing pencils across the news set four and eight years ago. So let's quit pretending that the media are "fair and balanced" and take them for what they are, a public relations machine for the Democratic Party.
Well, America, you got exactly what you deserved, and you got exactly what you voted for. At least the next four years will be entertaining as I observe the spin the "unbaised" talking heads will spew, trying desperately to make their anointed one look good. It has already started.
Darrell Harmon
LAS VEGAS
Time out for Harry
To the editor:
When Nevada Democrat Harry Reid became Senate majority leader, he promised a bipartisan Senate that would work together for the sake of the country. Instead, he has been, in fact, one of the most vindictive and petty congressional leaders ever.
He now plans to punish former Democrat Joe Lieberman because the Connecticut independent spoke on behalf of Sen. John McCain's presidential bid. Now that's what I call a friendly, bipartisan attitude.
Sen. Reid is one of the main reasons we have had the most dysfunctional Congress in history. If President-elect Obama needs the help of Republicans, Democrats and independents to fix our country, he needs to get rid of Sen. Reid and get someone in leadership who is grown-up enough to work with people from all sides.
Our country sank for lack of congressional action, while Sen. Reid continued to throw tantrums just like a spoiled child. It's time to give Sen. Reid a permanent time out.
James Linhart
LAS VEGAS
