Letters for June 12, 2014

The next war

My suggestion would be “Time to Celebrate.” As we plan on leaving Afghanistan at the end of this year, instead of demonstrating, I feel it’s time to stage performances in stadiums across the country, providing leadership more time to figure out more hatred and fear so we can pay for another unnecessary war! Besides, after being granted a son after 19 years of feeble attempts, my son is coming home from his fifth deployment in Afghanistan the end of this year.

Jeannie Jackson

Reno

Intergenerational thoughts

While listening to some pop music from the ’60s and ’70s, tears came to my eyes when I thought about where we are today socially and economically. The lyrics were about freedom and loss of identity. I thought of my 15-year-old daughter and how the newer generations don’t really know what freedom is. Today everything from birth to death is “gamed” for the profit of big power structures. It’s a covert form of indentured slavery (unwritten contracts).

My daughter thinks I rant a lot and that I get overly excited and upset over social/political issues. I just feel like I’m doing my American duty in trying to keep our lives free from extortion and our individual identities intact. This is something my father risked his life for in WWII and Korea, yet today’s generation seems to just give this freedom away and accept the future as an ever escalating glott of extortions and corruptions—business as usual. I come from possibly the last generation willing to voice their opinions in a blunt and, some would say, revolutionary manner. To do so today too loudly can put the mark of extremist or domestic terrorist on your forehead. I guess that would include the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of our long forgotten Constitution.

I say firstly and foremost vote, not blindly nor just along a party line but rather with some depth of thought and conscience. I feel sorry for my daughter and her generation as they have never experienced the freedoms we older Americans have, nor understand their costs. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”—Thomas Jefferson. I told her I could explain the differences to her intellectually but that’s different than feeling it in your soul. It was a grand experiment. Too bad the tree’s been eaten away by parasites.

John Bogle

Reno

Still towering

Re “Towering wealth” (Letter to the editor, May 29):

How about this example? You cash your paycheck on Friday. Imagine having the teller count out 2,000 hundred dollar bills, a stack about 12 inches high of slightly used bills. Last you until next Friday? Could you fit that money in your purse? That’s the weekly pay of the McDonald’s CEO.

C.G. Green

Reno

A pat for Grimm

Re “Marks the spot,” (Film, May 29):

Hey—great review on the new X-Men! Gotta’ have more Quicksilver.

Robert Jones

Birmingham, Ala.

Forward to the past

Interesting that Harry Reid is trying to strip freedom of speech out of the First Amendment. He calls it restoring democracy to the American people, which, to him, means preventing the Koch brothers from using their own money to support their political preferences. “Shady money” Harry calls it. I’ll resist the temptation to comment on the delicious irony here.

If Harry Reid really wants to clean up politics, he could start by introducing an amendment to repeal the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our founders originally wrote the Constitution so that U.S. senators were appointed by their state legislatures. That made them ambassadors from their state to the federal government. Pretty ingenious—no question about who they represented and where their loyalties lie.

The 17th amendment, ratified in 1913, changed senator selection from appointments to popular votes. Over time that opened the door to external influences that affect Senate loyalties. No better example exists than our very own Harry Reid. Isn’t it time to accept that the founders had it right the first time? Harry, let’s repeal the 17th amendment.

Robert R. Kessler

Las Vegas

Ready for his breaks

Re “Ready for my tax breaks, Mr. Nevada” (feature story, June 5):

Dennis Myers’s informative but biased article on the film industry in Nevada included the line “Someone didn’t do his homework before committing pen to paper.” Although Mr. Myers can be forgiven for not telling the whole story, the whole story indeed is missing. The issue of tax incentives is a wide one. But since we do have tax incentives for film in place, we should not forget the immensely positive impact these incentives will have in Northern Nevada. Chief among these is the development of Northern Nevada Film Studios and its collaboration with Sierra Nevada Guitar, myself as classical guitarist and composer, and innovative electric guitarist and composer Julian Forest. Northern Nevada Film Studios is currently in production on a new film called Sign of the Sun. In addition to an amazing script and top notch regional music and acting talent, this film will revolutionize the entire film industry with a proprietary new technology that will change the film-going experience. Sign of the Sun will set the stage for a greater renaissance of arts and economic development throughout northern Nevada. If incentives help this grown-in-Nevada initiative it will only be a good thing.

Larry Aynesmith

Incline Village

Another precinct heard from

Re “Ready for my tax breaks, Mr. Nevada” (feature story, June 5):

Thanks to Dennis Myers for his article “Ready For My Tax Breaks.” The film industry is one example of a major problem that the politicians have dropped on the citizens of Nevada. Other examples include redevelopment districts, STAR bonds, and the depreciation rule. One group receives maximum financial benefits while the majority pay the full rate. We should not only correct these injustices, but we must act to prevent them from happening in the future. We need the public and the journalists to expose these blatant acts of malfeasance before they become law. Unfortunately, deals such as the Apple giveaway are performed behind closed doors without public scrutiny and those who are involved in the giveaways are long gone from office before the ramifications are felt down the road.

Mark Glenn

Reno

Health vote

Re “Historic vote cast” (Upfront, June 5):

[On the U.S. House voting to cut off funding for enforcement of federal medical marijuana ban on dispensaries where medical marijuana is legal:] The money will always be spent if it is there, no matter what the cause or effect. At least half of Congress knows how the American bureaucracy works. Its nice that our House members were not the dummies.

Shaun Gilbert

Reno

Arp this

Wake up, middle America! Amnesty? Obama is aware that he will not be able to continue to do the in-your-face stuff like prisoner trades, putting a cap on student loan payment which middle America will have to pay for in order to gain the ignorant vote, and cater to the blind eye. They already have California, if they get Texas, which is the goal here, conservatism in America will be just a footnote in the history books. This is an attempt to get the votes his party will need to stay in power after our silent majority (middle America) wakes up. If we don’t do something now, America as we know it will cease to exist! What I want to know is, just exactly what does he have to do to get his anointed status removed? What a slap in the face to all the Latinos who came here legally! The enemy doesn’t need another September 11, which would wake a sleeping giant. All they have to do is lay low and let us self-destruct. We’ll sleep right through it.

Mike Arp

Reno