Letters for November 16, 2006

Ya win some
Gibbons, Heller, Ensign and others have added a new line to Lincoln’s quote: “You can fool most Nevadans most of the time.”

Or perhaps they were just proving a quote attributed to their great red leader: “You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.”

Mark Weaver
Carson City

The other side of the blog
Re “Up All Night” (Feature story, Nov. 9):

Great job on the cover story “Up All Night.” I wish the author, Peter Thompson, had contacted me to get my side of the story before allowing Ryan Jerz to deride me in print. Jerz is, of course, entitled to his opinion, but it would have been nice for you to at least include a link to my blog (www.cobbgobbler.net), so people could see my side of the story and make up their own minds. I disagree that Jerz tolerates other local bloggers who have opinions contrary to his own.

Jerz shows his hypocritical nature when he criticizes Michael Kinsley for saying, “Blogs are lame, and nobody cares about them,” then promptly makes a similar comment about my blog. The number of visitors to my blog continues to grow despite Jerz calling my blog “totally irrelevant.” Jerz has sent a series of “hate e-mails” to me that reveal much about his intolerance of others. I am willing to share these e-mails with anyone who is tolerant of Jerz’ severe profanity.

Cobb Gobbler
via e-mail

Not that hard
It’s hard to believe that a city election can be bought in this day and age. But sadly, it’s true! Sparks City Council candidate Mike Carrigan said in a post-electon interview that “he was afraid he was going to lose so he turned to the Peppermill for help.” It just shows what money can buy! Take the phony Mayor Geno Martini who brags about the $70,000 he had to buy votes compared to Gene Newhall using his own $2,000! Compare the two: Martini got about 15,000 votes, which works out to about $4.65 per vote to Newhall’s 5,000 votes, which works out to about $2.50 per vote. With Martini’s and Carrigan’s campaign manager being part of RedHawk/Lazy 8 and the Peppermill, is it any surprise that they had plenty of money? It’s a shame we can’t have a fair election. But if Martini/Carrigan had to rely on their own money and standings, the results would have been different.

Beth McBride
Sparks

The GOP shall rise again
Now that the election is over, perhaps the Republicans might appreciate a little advice.

If you intend to regain power, consider getting back to basics. Lower taxes, more freedom and less government are what rank and file members really care about. Immigration and the Iraq mess are important, too.

Instead of paying attention, the leadership allowed members to engage in self-dealing beyond comprehension, allowed spending on a massive scale and looked the other way as the system was abused.

Also, consider fielding candidates who care more about the people than lining their pockets with ill-gotten gains. It’s amazing what a few honest folks can accomplish.

And finally, visit your GOP Web site and read the section on what a Republican is, follow the basics and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be back in power one day.

Bruce Feher
Las Vegas

Plan B is abortion
Re “The battle for birth control” (Feature story, Nov. 2):

Regarding Kat Kerlin’s statement that: “Plan B is not, as some have claimed, an abortion pill.”

Wrong!

Fact: Due to copulation, an egg in the female either is or is not fertilized by one of countless sperm released by the male. Unless an egg has been fertilized by one of the innumerable sperm it encounters in the womb, it remains an egg and is evacuated during the woman’s menstrual cycle.

Eggs do not attach to the uterine wall if they have not been penetrated by sperm. Only fertilized eggs will cling to the wall of the uterus as opposed to being evacuated during the menstrual cycle. This means a new life existed before it encountered the uterine wall!

If this were not true, there would be no need of Plan B or any other means to preclude the attachment of the fertilized egg to the wall. That is an abortion.

The fact that Planned Parenthood et al managed to get some disingenuous doctors to state that pregnancy begins when the egg attaches to the uterine wall, not only speaks poorly of their moral compass, but it vividly exposes their lack of linguistics and their failure to conceptually understand what they had been taught in school.

Mary Santomauro
Stagecoach