Property taxes not reflecting actual values

To the editor:

I recently received my property tax bill which reflects an 11 percent reduction from the previous year.

The value of my home has decreased by 34 percent over the previous year.

These inflated taxes will primarily be used to fund one of the worst education systems in the country. They will also fund items listed as "miscellaneous." But not to worry, Sen. Harry Reid has decreed that " all taxes are voluntary" so I may just decide to "voluntarily" keep my money.

Just over 100 days until I can vote for Sharon Angle.

Mike Garrison

Henderson

Liberal Democrat

To the editor:

Regarding Mr. Bob Gore's view of the political temperament of Jesus ("Jesus questions." July 21):

It's clear that Mr. Gore feels it is not "moral" to "take one man's labor ... in order to give it to another" -- which is the familiar mantra of the right, as such action constitutes "socialism." How then, do Mr. Gore, Sharron Angle, and the Tea Party faithful explain or justify the words of disciples Paul and Luke, who, respectively, wrote the following?:

-- "As a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their (the poor) needs ... that there may be equality." (Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15).

-- "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." (Luke 3:10-18).

Judging from the disciples' New Testament directives, it sounds as though Jesus might possibly have thought along the lines of a liberal Democrat.

John Esperian

Las Vegas

Obama unmasked

To the editor:

Eighteen months into a presidential administration and Richard Cohen, columnist for The Washington Post, writes an article headlined, "Barack Obama, introduce yourself" (Review-Journal, Wednesday). Was it not "journalists" like Mr. Cohen who were responsible to give voters information so they could make an informed decision in the voting booth? It wasn't only him -- I believe the entire mainstream media wanted Mr. Obama in the White House so badly they refused to report things that could have jeopardized that goal.

Tom Brokaw, 22 years as the anchor on NBC news said on Charlie Roses program on Nov. 1, 2008, the "We know nothing about Obama." Imagine that, someone who for more than 20 years came into American households to deliver the "news" admitted (although in a roundabout way) the press didn't do its job. Makes me wonder what other news they chose not to inform us of all those years.

Well, some of us knew who Mr. Obama was -- and, thankfully, the rest of America is catching on. A recent poll shows 55 percent of Americans believe he is a socialist. I believe that number will continue to rise as we see him push us closer and closer to a European-style democracy. His main focus for the first 18 months of his administration has been national health care. While the American people worried about jobs and spending he talked (without even taking a breath) about health care.

And if we take him at his word he did it because he believes the major focus of government should be the redistribution of wealth.

He told Joe the Plumber in no uncertain terms, "I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everyone." Want more evidence? Look who he just put in charge (with a recess appointment no less) of Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. D. Berwick who admits national health care is primarily wealth redistribution.

I know the average voter works and doesn't have the time to spend hours researching candidates. But as we have seen, we cannot trust the mainstream media. We must do our own research -- the stakes are just too high.

Robert Gardner

Henderson

Right way?

To the editor:

On Nov. 8, 2005, following Democratic victories in the elections the previous day that gave the party control of both houses of Congress, the chairman of the Democratic Party proclaimed, "We will move America in a new direction."

On Jan. 4, 2006, the Democrat Party assumed control of Congress. At that time the records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the unemployment rate for Nevada was 4.2 percent.

On July 20, 2010, the unemployment rate for Nevada stood at 14.2 percent.

We have been moving in this new direction for 54 months now and unemployment in Nevada has more than tripled. As someone said in the Review-Journal recently, this has been a "long time in the making." What an understatement!.'

Does anyone else think we are heading in the wrong direction?

David Durling

Las Vegas

Good government

To the editor:

Thank God for letter writers Joe Marroso and Milton Rosen (July 21 letters). Government, especially Big Government, is the key to everything.

Only a government bureaucracy knows how to spend your money. Mr. Marroso's letter stating that World War II ending the Great Depression proves that massive economic stimuli can and does work. He is on the mark.

There's nothing like a great war to stimulate the economy. I'm sure the government got involved in telling the great war machine how much carbon can be released, where they could mine the necessary minerals, how much employers and employees could make, and what heath care employers must provide and employees must have.

According to Joe Marroso, what we need is a great war. Afghanistan or Iraq anyone? Of course, government would dictate rules of engagement.

Meanwhile, Milton Rosen's dire predictions of disasters hit the mark. Heck, I'd stand in line waiting for a business that would kill me.

What both of these writers don't understand is that we're not against government, but Big Government -- government that intrudes into everything a person does in life, from how much water your toilet flushes to what type of signal your TV receives.

Forrest A. Henry

North las vegas