Time to break up government unions?
To the editor:
Your Friday editorial debunking the Pew "study" once again showed how easily the public can be misled by left-leaning media. For me, your key sentence was: "It's our free-spending elected officials, who in the summer of 2008 saw fit to preserve 4 percent raises for all state employees at a time when private-sector workers were suffering job losses and income reductions."
The power of public-sector employee unions to manipulate our elected officials is out of control. We're dealing with monopolies as demagogic and corrupting as the "Robber Barons" of yesteryear. We curtailed their power with anti-monopoly laws such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. Why aren't today's monopoly unions held to the same anti-competitive standards of our labor laws?
We broke up Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller's empire and introduced competition into the marketplace. We need to do the same thing to the teacher unions, the Service Employees International Union and others.
don fisk
HENDERSON
Faculty nonsense
To the editor:
How ironic that "some" of the University of Nevada, Reno's faculty and students would look to block the speaking engagement of Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, because he's an anti-illegal immigration activist (Friday Review-Journal). Yet they'll willingly sit enraptured listening to Miguel Acosta, who will be speaking about immigrant rights. (Notice the lack of the word "illegal" in the description of Mr. Acosta's topic).
How do these students and faculty claim to be giving the listeners a fair and balanced hearing of both sides if only one side is presented and welcomed? Since this is where our universities and colleges are at -- having seen the reception given other speakers -- I opine that parents are better off saving their money than having their kids brainwashed by a one-sided faculty and student body.
If "some" of the students and faculty at UNR aren't confident enough in the energy of their convictions to allow an opposing view to be aired regarding illegal immigration, then they don't deserve the hard-earned money of their students' parents. Either present both sides or cancel both engagements.
Rhonda Powell
HENDERSON
Big money
To the editor:
I wonder if Nevadans truly grasp the looming disaster that is "cap and trade" and is being pushed by our esteemed Sen. Harry Reid. How many Nevadans understand the effect this measure will have upon our state?
When asked about this legislation, President Obama noted, "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." Some estimates are that electricity would more than double. The price of gasoline would also.
Energy price escalation will affect all product costs immediately to the same effect. Costs will rise immediately for groceries, clothing, durable goods, etc. Simply put, if the cost of energy doubles, your standard of living will be halved. It is as close to a direct relationship as you can get.
Now, if that is not bad enough for our residents, what additional effect will this have on Las Vegas? Tourists, struggling with a higher cost of living, would have to pay double to arrive at a town where the casinos may have to go dark. The best we could hope for is one-half the number of tourists. Can you say "ghost town"?
How the casinos could have endorsed and supported a man like Harry Reid is beyond me. This country, and especially Nevada, cannot afford leadership like this.
Richard Vertrees
LAS VEGAS
Good story
To the editor:
I read with interest that the Navajo code talkers fear their legacy will die with them (Monday Review-Journal).
I was quite puzzled that nothing was mentioned about the successful book "The Navajo Code Talkers," written by Doris A. Paul and published in 1973 by Dorrance Publishing. Movie rights were sold and the major motion picture "Windtalkers," starring Nicolas Cage, was based on Ms. Paul's book.
One of the code talkers, Samuel Tom Holiday, is incorrect when he says, "After we're all gone, there will be no one to tell the story." It has been told extremely well.
Linda Schrick
BOULDER CITY
Ultimate penalty
To the editor:
Most of us wish the death penalty wasn't necessary, but in today's society it is. If used the way it was meant to be used -- that is, without regard to race or money -- it works very well.
In the cases of Timothy McVeigh and John Allen Muhammad, their appeals were exhausted within seven years. Nobody should sit on death row 10, 15 or 20 years.
We should let the process run its course for those we know without a doubt are guilty. There are exceptions, but those normally have to do with race or money, causing discrepancies to exist.
Administer it the way the law meant for it to be done.
K.R. Lewis
LAS VEGAS
Risky business
To the editor:
In response to T.W. Lindenberg's Thursday letter about day laborers:
I periodically patronize Star Nursery, and see the day laborers and the new fences. Even before the fences were up, I wouldn't hire those laborers -- mostly because my valued clients deserve safety in their homes and on their property.
My hired help is usually family or friends, because I want to know and trust who's on my team. Sure, the day laborers provide a wide smile and trusting come-on to become employed by whomever will take the bait. But what if one or a few of them are criminals, waiting for their chance to show their real talent? Maybe a homeowner can throw a few workers in the back of his truck and pay them cash to work. But is it really worth the chance?
Not all laborers are criminals, just like not all drivers on the road are drunk. It's your choice to hire them, just like it is to drive the roads. But the choices we make in good faith can be deadly at times.
There are plenty of licensed businesses that can do the work, with a fully accountable staff, a guarantee and a solid reputation.
Matt Dorman
NORTH LAS VEGAS
