Letters for June 7, 2012

Stand, Forrest, stand

Re “Days of Our Lies” (Feature story, May 17):

I am the “Reno resident” who filed against Mark Amodei citing the National Defense Authorization Act. Amodei cites the following in the Act as upholding Constitutional protections for U.S. citizens: “The requirement to detain a person under military custody does not extend to citizens of the United States.”

OK, the requirement does not extend to citizens of the United States but the government is still allowed to detain U.S. citizens under the statute.

The president admits this in his signing statement, as he signed the bill: “Moreover, I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”

(So all he has to do to get around that statement is detain American citizens without trial with the Secret Service, right?)

President Obama now has a huge opportunity to right this wrong inflicted on the American nation and the Constitution. Federal judge Katherine Forrest ruled recently that the indefinite detention provision of the National Defense Authorization Act likely violates the First and Fifth Amendments of U.S. citizens. All President Obama has to do to regain the high ground on this issue is instruct his attorney general, Eric Holder, not to appeal Katherine Forrest’s ruling.

We are a swing county in a swing state in this election. I sincerely believe that we can make a difference if we speak up! Please contact the White House. Just Google “contact White House” and the website comes up with myriad ways to contact President Obama.

Please take the five minutes and defend our civil liberties!

Yes, I was on the ballot for District 2 for 10 days. I withdrew because I realized I lacked the resources to really run, and I like Xiomara Rodriguez, who shares my concern on this issue.

Erik Holland
Reno

Water power

Re “Dry spell” (Green, May 31):

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority has an awesome drought plan with the ability to provide regular service for years of low precipitation and is ready to deal with much worse than the worst drought on record through limiting service. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has a similar plan.

I would be willing to bet that the Nevada Drought Response Committee is less about drought preparedness and more about finding excuses to declare an emergency to get federal dollars.

Finally, please stop regurgitating fallacies about shorter showers saving water. All indoor use returns to the watershed. Only outdoor conservation matters to water. Sure, wasted water is wasted power, but the TMWA actually generates more power than it uses—renewably!

Scott Reimers
Reno

Paper tigers

I learned from my work with Greenpeace that KFC is using paper from Indonesia’s rain forest through “Yum!” brand to package their tortured animal products and other fast food items. I am not happy about this, as an aware person, and I would love to see a story in the paper putting the pressure on the Reno demographic of KFC and its affiliates. Please help me and the Sumatran Tigers, as well as other endangered wildlife, to stop this unsustainable packaging through political pressure.

Christopher Henderson
Reno

Rewind, be kind

I would like to ask the people to look at the world for a moment and think of all the different cultures/races that exist. Can anyone tell me which of these has never been persecuted? Then look at all the religions of the world and which one of those has never been persecuted? Every race and religion has been persecuted. With this being said, is there any one race or religion that is any greater than the others? No! So what is the problem, people? Everyone has the same blood, organs and bones. Because of their culture or up-bringing, they most likely will understand things differently and see things differently, so why is this a bad thing? Why can’t we learn from this and share our views and opinions and learn from each other rather than criticize? I have traveled to many third world countries, and it is so much fun to learn other cultures and gain an understanding from another view point. People get over your righteousness because if you were in charge you would be in charge from above. When it comes to religion, we all believe there is a higher good and how we reach that higher good varies with each religion, so again, what is the fuss all about? There is no religion that is superior to the others, so get over your religious greed. I am so tired of people using the racial/discrimination card. Hopefully this will be aired so some people who need a little historical insight can stop being naive and speaking from the hip.

Nicole Leanne
Reno

Never a dull letter

Re “You do the math” (Editorial, May 24):

My healthcare horror story is long, but here’s a synopsis: I changed employers about a year ago, and the new employer’s healthcare insurance would cost me $50 more a month, so I “COBRAed” for over a year. My COBRA expired May 20, 2012, so I changed to my new employer’s plan May 20. The problem: I had a hernia repair surgery in April of this year, so about half of the $2,000 deductible was paid. The new plan is also a $2,000 deductible, but the problem is that the new deductible expires in July as that is the “new year” for my employer’s insurance. It wouldn’t matter much, but I may need surgery on my foot now, and I will have to delay that until July. So $2,000 deductible from Jan 1 to May 20, another $2,000 deductible from May 20 to July, and then a third deductible from July to July 2013.

Another funny thing is that I had my other foot operated on last year and the doctor gave me crutches. The insurance paid only $12 for the crutches, and they cost $100. I called them, and they informed me that the crutches were “out of network”. I asked how something tangible could be “out of network,” and the CSR apologized, but said that is why they only paid $12.

I think Reno News & Review should have a Letters of American Healthcare Horror Stories so that every week we can share the sad state of our healthcare in our nation. Just sayin’.

Kelley Shewmaker
Reno

Knock three times

Re “Muy Caliente” (Ask a Mexican, May 24):

After reading “Ask a Mexican” in this week’s RN&R, I felt compelled to reply. Gustavo Arellano’s reply to the guy who is now having ED issues due to something that was said to him was very disturbing. To suggest that bringing a child into this world would “teach her a lesson” is a despicable representation of machismo, to say the least. Just think of the pain that child would endure throughout his/her life knowing that he/she was conceived as an act of revenge for a comment that didn’t sit right with the father during conception. This comment typifies the attitudes so prevalent in some “small-headed” men. No wonder there are so many man-haters out there!

Lou Laverty
Truckee, Calif.