Rocket science simpler than energy solution
To the editor:
How many times have you heard something like, "If we could put a man on the moon, then we should be able to solve our energy shortage," or "our air pollution problem," or this or that? I ran across it again in Erven T. Nelson's May 15 letter to the editor, "New refineries." Let me add something to this faulty analogy.
Putting a man on the moon is a technical problem. Given trained scientists, engineers, astronauts and money, you can put a man on the moon. But technology plays a minor role in solving, for example, our energy problem. It is a social and political problem. It takes the participation of the public and legislators at the local, state and federal levels.
We have to decide whether we want to drive smaller cars to conserve gasoline. Do we want to buy such cars if we have a choice to carpool, to use a bus or train instead of car, to do more walking when feasible, to buy electric or biofuel cars, substitute bicycles when feasible, drive under 55 miles per hour?
That's only a fraction of the individual choices involved, and having only to do with gasoline. Then there are the choices of legislators reflecting the will of the people: build more nuclear plants, more public transportation, fewer roads, require smaller cars to be manufactured, tax excessive users of gasoline, etc. Now, that's only oil.
The same or similar individual and collective choices apply to the use of energy for our houses, office buildings, factories, mines and even airplanes, where oil, natural gas, coal, hydrogen, lithium and atomic power are used.
It takes a national village to solve such problems, not a small group of talented and gifted scientists, engineers and astronauts.
Herman Gordon
LAS VEGAS
Insult to injury
To the editor:
Recent letters regarding locals' gambling experiences struck a chord with me.
In addition to the tightening of slot payouts, the local casinos charge $4 for the use of their automated teller machines. This is way above the average fee of other ATMs around town.
The irony is that the casino's ATM is usually used to obtain cash for gambling. The casinos have added insult to injury. The injury is the tightened payouts, and the insult is the excessive ATM fee.
Ask me how I would vote if a tax-the-casinos initiative were floated.
David L. Sullivan
LAS VEGAS
Teacher exodus
To the editor:
Several years ago, teachers gave up a 9 percent increase in salary in order to secure health care benefits and retirement health care. The climate at that time was not as hostile to the teaching profession as it is now.
As has been reported, retiring teachers will no longer have the option of opting into the state health care retirement program after the fall of this year; and the Teachers Health Trust, run by the Clark County Education Association, has already booted retirees out of that system.
Now a proposed change to our contract will, supposedly, "fix" this problem. The solution? Current teachers will pay $30 per month to support the retirement health benefits of retired teachers, and this will bring the cost down.
I've just checked the proposed contract language: For the majority of teachers, the monthly cost of health insurance at retirement will be between $643 and $817 per month. Quite a difference from the $70 per month they can currently pay in the state system.
Get ready, Las Vegas, there will be a huge exodus from your teaching force this year. Our "powerful" teachers' "union" (association) has really proved its worth.
Liz Goodman
LAS VEGAS
Leap in logic
To the editor:
In his Sunday column, "In November: McCain and the Democrats," John Brummett correctly points out that Republican attempts to link Democratic candidates in recent special congressional elections to Barack Obama-Nancy Pelosi leftism failed to resonate with voters in socially conservative districts. He then offers these results as proof that such a strategy cannot work in November against the likely Obama presidential candidacy.
This is a leap too far, however, because the victorious Democrats in question specifically ran as social conservatives, most notably Travis Childers in Mississippi. Nor was this a new Democratic strategy in congressional races; witness the victories of Blue Dog Democrats in 2006 that proved key to delivering the House to a much more liberal Democratic leadership.
The point is that while local, socially conservative Democratic candidates cannot be plausibly linked to Sen. Obama and his far-left associations and policy positions, it should be much more believable when, in the general election, the Republicans link Sen. Obama with ... himself.
Tom Mangieri
MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J.
