Letters for January 1, 2009

Romance lives on
Re “Chemical romance” (Breast cancer guide, Sept. 25):

While surfing the web last night, I stumbled upon the following article which is extremely disturbing to me and reminded me of your WOW article, “Chemical Romance,” which appeared earlier this year in RN&R. I thought that you may want to share the link with RN&R readers, see: www.safecosmetics.org/docUploads/ALittlePrettier.pdf. This information should be of concern for both male and female readers, as there is a great need for awareness of our everyday exposure to chemicals used in most top-selling personal care, toiletries and fragrance products. These chemicals, phthalates, not only cause cancer but have been linked to numerous health issues such as allergies, early puberty, damage to the female reproduction system, Hypospadias, and super-scary DNA alteration; male sex hormones and feminization of the male reproductive tract-decrease in anogenital distance in males. These chemicals can be detected in our bodies and have also been detected in the urine of newborn babies. We should all help to spread the word and make this a major priority issue for government regulation in 2009!

Joni Carpentier
Sparks

More do-it-yourselfers
Re “DIY” (Feature story, Dec. 11):

How does one manage to write a multi-page issue headlining article on DIY without so much as mentioning the technological DIY community?

DIY is not limited to sewing and composting, valuable as those may be.

MAKE magazine ring any bells? Sparkfun? Instructables.com?

Everyday people are out there making their own pilotless drone aircraft, Xmas trees out of hard drive platters, video and other art installations, room filling modular synthesizers, laser harps, game platforms, tiny robots, trebuchets, beer, steam engines, aerial photography rigs, POV and other LED toys.

Or were you saving all of that for its own article?

Jason Hollis
via email

Fix the lights
Re “Name of the game” (News, Dec. 18):

Didn’t RTC supposedly time a bunch of traffic lights around town? I don’t think I believe that any of that actually happened. If you need proof, then drive around the West side of McCarran. (It’s the only side I drive.) I assume that the rest of McCarran is the same. I just can’t stand the thought of paying someone my tax dollars to claim they did something that doesn’t work. Somebody please get with the program and hold somebody responsible. This constant stop-and-go crap can and should be remedied.

Joseph Stephenson
Reno

Fight pot laws
Re “Government Kickbacks” (Letters to the editor, Dec. 18):Michael J. Dee is correct in questioning cannabis (marijuana) prohibition and persecution; it amounts to government subsidized discrimination. The persecution and discrimination of the relatively safe, socially acceptable, God-given plant and its users must end. A sane argument to continue caging responsible adults for using or possessing cannabis doesn’t exist. Dee, is also correct in questioning why media, including the RN&R, isn’t doing more to end the injustices.

Stan White Dillon,
CO

Still trickled on
With all this trickle down economics that came crashing down on us, its time for us to come together as a nation and hold big business and those who were paid to look the other way accountable so this never happens again!

We need a level playing field. Our rights have been taken away. Our cost of living has gone up. There is no more middle class. We’re slipping into becoming the new working poor.

Please start weeding out the enormous burden of corruption that has been able to flourish in every facet of business and government. If we don’t, we will join Rome in the pages of history as a nation that has failed! We can’t allow that to happen! We need to rise up and take our country back! President elect help us!

Kenneth V. Larsson
Sun Valley

The rich get richer
Re “It’s a bleak Christmas season for Nevada” (Know You’re Right, Dec. 18):

When Bill Clinton left the presidency, our economy was very healthy, and the U.S. Treasury had a surplus. But now, after eight years of George W. Bush and his gang of thieves in charge, our government is more deeply in debt than ever before in history, and the U.S. economy is in the toilet. I don’t need to go into details because we can see how bad things are all the way around. Unless, of course, you are among the rich and the super rich. Those people are making money like never before. Have you noticed? With special help from the Bush administration, the bankers, the oil companies and the war profiteers are raking in billions of dollars in profits. Hey, they didn’t put their puppet in the White House for nothing. Wake up, people. The Republicans are the party for the wealthy.

Brad MacKenzie
Reno

Correction
Re “Ski Resort Directory” (Winter Guide, Dec. 18)

In the Tahoe Donner section of the ski resort directory, we incorrectly listed the phone number and adult lift ticket price. The correct information is (530) 587-9484 and $23. We apologize for any confusion our error caused.