Please don’t throw those pictures in my face

To the editor:

My phone was in hand Wednesday morning and I was ready to dial the Review-Journal to cancel my subscription yet again. This time, the impetus was the front-page images of a once beautiful woman in two stages of gross disfigurement.

Please don't get me wrong, the story of Connie Culp's tragic transformation is one that deserves sympathy and compassion. But I do not want to start my day, excuse the pun, faced with images of violence and fear. Hence, the reason I stopped watching news programs and reading reports that continually glorify the degradation of humanity.

While I wish to expose my 6-year-old grandson to worldly events, I am now reduced to shielding him from images in my local paper that would frighten the innocence out of him.

Before anyone gets on his soapbox arguing that unpleasant news stories are a reality and I shouldn't shy away from a story that highlights the devastation wrought by domestic violence, I will concede the story deserves to be told. But have some tact. I will not soon be able to get the image of that poor woman's "faces" out of my mind, and I believe I should have the right to choose to look at something that will affect me on such a deep level.

Again, before anyone criticizes me for putting my head in the sand, I counter the argument by saying that I am quite aware of its devastating consequences of domestic violence, as I've lived with the legacy of this social disease for 50 years after the murder/suicide deaths of my own parents.

But to heal and grow and live well we must all believe in the goodness of mankind (as Anne Frank is famously quoted as saying), and not be continually bombarded with the negative and the barbaric actions of humans.

Give us a break and highlight the good in mankind. The "looky-loo" in all of us is quite capable of finding the fodder that feeds our morbid curiosity.

Lisa Gioia-Acres

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Federal dole

To the editor:

In John L. Smith's May 5 column on ACORN he admitted he had a strange sense of humor. In calling ACORN "The Gang That Couldn't Cheat Straight" he humorously dismissed their impact on the election. He missed the serious nature of their transgressions.

There's a small problem with ACORN. The Democrat-controlled 110th Congress made sure that ACORN was adequately funded to carry out the party's mission -- elect Democrats. We taxpayers were the one's who underwrote their efforts, which in itself is a crime. The 111th Congress has made sure that ACORN will not go unfunded for their future efforts.

It is a travesty to fund a partisan organization with taxpayer dollars regardless of your party affiliation or beliefs. It is a practice that should be stopped immediately.

Bill Thompson

LAS VEGAS

Fair tax

To the editor:

Rather than crack down on tax havens, as the Obama administration announced May 4 it would do, we could do better if we, ourselves, were to become the world's tax haven. And there is a bill in Congress to do just that: the Fair Tax Act of 2009.

The Obama administration proposes a series of measures to eliminate deductions for companies that take jobs overseas, combined with reforming the tax credit system.

But with 70,000 pages of tax statutes, regulations and revenue rulings, the closing of one loophole necessarily results in the opening of another. The administration is overly sanguine that adding 800 revenue agents will be enough do the policing job that its proposal would require.

The FairTax, on the other hand, while being fairer to low-income people than today's tax code, eliminates all taxes on business and investment and repatriates dollars voluntarily. The FairTax replaces payroll taxes, estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes, and corporate and personal income taxes with a national retail sales tax on consumption of all new property and services -- except education -- once and only once. A rebate to all households with valid Social Security numbers for tax on consumption for essentials assures the tax is fair to low-income families. Millions of dollars of research say the tax will fully fund the federal government at current real spending levels.

The FairTax would bring trillions of dollars of offshore capital back to the United States in months -- without hiring any more revenue agents. The repatriation would be free of federal compulsion.

The Obama administration needs to rethink its approach.

Louis Phillipine

LAS VEGAS

Do what's right

To the editor:

It's been a rough couple of years for most people.

Homeowners have stood by helplessly as their homes plummeted in value. The cash cow that was their constantly-increasing home equity was gone in a flash. This world-wide tsunami of financial loss in most people's largest asset was unprecedented in its speed and scope. Even in the Great Depression, the world-wide impact was slower and more muted.

So now many homeowners are in the depressing situation of owing more than their house is worth.

Some homeowners are trying to renegotiate their loans. Others are trying to do short sales, deed in lieu of foreclosures and many people simply have no choice but to lose the home to foreclosure.

It is stressful situations like these in which a person's true character is revealed. I have great sympathy for the heart-wrenching experience this is for many people.

I do not, however, have any sympathy or respect for those who trash their house or steal the fixtures, appliances, air conditioner and granite before their house is foreclosed. And then there are the people who can still make a house payment but see this as an opportunity to walk away and let someone else foot the bill.

In other words, some homeowners are electing to buy another house, and then walk away from their original home which they deem is no longer a "good investment." The reasoning: Banks have a lot of money; let it be their problem, who cares?

The bottom line is this is wrong and we all know it. It lacks honesty and integrity. The bank did not buy the house. You did. It is your responsibility.

Walking away teaches your children that you can abrogate your responsibility when it suits you. It also tells your friends and associates that you are someone they cannot trust in business or personal dealings.

Having integrity is an individual decision. But, families, businesses and communities are all made up of individuals.

How can we remain a great country if individuals simply do what is expedient rather than what is right?

JEREMY A. KISNER

LAS VEGAS

Fine man

To the editor:

With a heavy heart, I am saddened by the news that one of my former students, police officer Jamie Manor, was killed by someone suspected of driving under the influence (Review-Journal, Friday). It has only been 14 years since my son and I survived a collision with a drunk driver.

As a former coach and teacher of Mr. Manor, I can attest to the fact that Metro and Clark High School lost an outstanding young man. More responsible laws need to be passed to stop these senseless fatal accidents.

Nothing can bring Mr. Manor back, but the family should know that he will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Roger Schumann

LAS VEGAS