Letters for June 8, 2017

Grace and dignity

Re “Eddie Scott 1929-2017” (Upfront, June 1):

I was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Ed Scott this week. Ed was both a friend and a neighbor. As a neighborhood activist on all manner of invasions into our peaceful little subdivision, Ed knew he could stop by my house and get the latest news, which he did quite often.

We both went to our local precinct caucus in 2016 and I urged my fellow Dems to select Ed as our representative, which they did. When I went to check on Ed during a recent flooding event, he thanked me in earnest, then added, with a twinkle in his eye, that he never thought his County Commissioner would be personally checking on his welfare. You see, Ed never really acknowledged that I lost my bid in that 2014 race. Not knowing about his secret, I now know why he sometimes asked me to print up a boarding pass for him. He was full of grace and dignity and, obviously, had a great sense of humor. Our neighborhood will miss him, and so will I.

Terri Thomas

Reno

Alternative views

Re “A Christian view” (guest comment, May 25):

Ah, the Bible Belief Buffet. Here are a few choice nuggets. Numbers 5 describes the test for a wife suspected of adultery. The priest gives her a potion that will induce a miscarriage (abortion). If “her thigh rots,” that is, she miscarries, she will be subjected to Biblical Law: stoned to death. In Hosea 9, God punishes the Israelites for being naughty. In verse 14, he punishes women by giving “them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry.” In Genesis 6, God is “grieved in the heart” for having created mankind. So He floods the entire Earth, killing everyone not on the ark. Most likely, some pregnant women were killed by the flood too. Read the Bible. It seems the Almighty is not that concerned with innocent fetuses. The “Jesus will forgive you” concept is one of the scariest aspects of Christianity. A license to kill. Do anything you want and then ask to be forgiven. Wow. So, why not, have the abortion and then ask for forgiveness? Or maybe the number of abortions could be cut with free contraceptives, education and family planning.

Douglas Hein

Reno

Re “A Christian view” (guest comment, May 25):

When I was younger I also believed in the Bible, in Santa Claus, in God, in the Tooth Fairy, in Jesus Christ, in the Easter Bunny, and in many more things that I was taught I should believe in. In growing up and investigating these alleged truths, I found many, especially the above, to be merely creations of people who were trying to benefit from these creations of human imaginations. I no longer believe the things I learned that are not supported by tested evidence. I hope one day Katriel will come to think for herself and learn the truth.

Ed Jucevic

Reno

Taxing taxes

So 47 percent think they are tax-free.

They, like all of us consumers, are paying well over $0.28 per dollar in hidden, embedded regressive sale tax. Higher business taxes drive up prices and end up being paid as a hidden, embedded, regressive sales tax. The other regressive tax is the payroll taxes, FICA, with one rate based on wages. The FAIRtax bill in House Resolution 25 ends payroll taxes and $0.22 per dollar in embedded regressive taxes plus the income tax, capital gains tax, estate tax, ATM and self employment tax. Medicare and Social Security are not changed and their funding is moved to a larger, more stable tax base. To replace the same tax total the FAIRTax adds a progressive national sales/consumption tax system with only one tax break, call Prebate that helps the most impoverished. The FAIRTax is a pay as you spend tax system so as you spend more you pay more tax and at a higher tax rate.

Paul Livingston

Jacksonville, Fl.