Letters for November 13, 2008

Thanks for the support
Re “Vote Green for the House” (Endorsements, Oct. 30):

Thank you RN&R, for your thoughtful and daring political endorsement.

You apparently did this, not mindful of my style or resources, but because of the solutions offered.

Perhaps you had the prescience to see that solutions beat political positions.

While some suggest my candidacy lacked legitimacy, we got the Green Party of Nevada ballot access in 2010. Woohoo!

The second success was being able to speak about the dark dilemma of a nation arterially dependent on imported liquid fuels. With a slim seven-day food supply in our supermarkets, this should give pause to meditate on our vulnerability before we drive off the edge of that cliff just beyond Peak Oil.

As for legitimacy, what is legitimate? I ran my own campaign and on my own dime. And at end, the expenses totaled up to (oddly) $666. It all worked out to about 12 cents per vote.

Thank you again, and now, please, write City Hall and tell them to fix our stoplights. Start planning your next year’s victory garden, invest in solar heaters, not stock markets—one has a real payback, and the other sells wicked dreams and unearned profit.

Start your NNEMA group, compost, plant a fruit tree, talk about hemp biodiesel, build a solar rice cooker. Turn off that TV which is living life for you, and start designing spider-rail future transportation, and how to salvage suburbia. Start a local experimental college. Hook up, link up and speak up.

Now we get to say ‘Love it or leave it.’ But with humor instead of rage, with a spirit of cooperation instead of separation, with meaning instead of meanness.

Obama will make a wonderful president. He is a very smart man, and we need smart men, not clever men, to guide us.

I am honored to have been on the same ballot and to have had your endorsement.

Craig Bergland
Reno

Vote your conscience
Re “Vote Green for the House” (Endorsements, Oct. 30):

I would love to see more people with as much passion and dedication as Craig Bergland make it into office. There is nothing more American than a grassroots effort like his. He may not have won, but if he got through to just a few people leading up to the election, he was successful. Thank you for supporting Craig. [As a local Green party member, I believe] the two parties have served us OK so far, but there are a lot of people, both right and left, who want more options. I encourage everyone to get involved.

Dennis Sauer
Reno

Gap in coverage
Re “Gaps in coverage” (Feature story, Oct. 23):

I was just wondering why Ms. Witherell never mentioned that the School of the Americas was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, WHINSEC, in 2001, when it became part of the U.S. Dept of Defense. Our taxes are now in part used to train assassins.

I wonder if President-elect Obama plans on actually doing something about this charming situation, instead of letting Congress just kill it in committee—if a bill is even introduced to put a stop to this crap.

Also, most of the courses are taught in Spanish, and the student body mostly comprised of Latin American military youth.

Rich Haber
Reno

Recognize prostitution
Re “Ladies of the net” (Feature story, Oct. 2):

The world’s oldest profession: prostitution. The newest means: Craigslist.com.

Keeping up on the newest technology, prostitutes have turned to Craigslist as an alternative means to sell their goods. The question is: Is Craigslist prostitution preferable to streetwalking Fourth Street?

Prostitution is inevitable. All cultures have had some form of it. Since it has been around for time immeasurable, the odds are that it will continue.

There are perks to working in a legal setting. There’s less chance of abuse and violence, less drug abuse and—the greatest perk—no chance of arrests and fines. Legal prostitution seems like a good choice compared to turning a blind eye in the case of San Francisco and spending a massive amount of government money on arresting prostitutes.

Reno sees all sides of prostitution. Nearby bothels, Fourth Street streetwalkers, and Craigslist prostitutes. Not much seems to be done about Craigslist prostitution, and while prostitutes are still arrested occasionally for walking the streets, the focus has turned more to those soliciting prostitutes. Look up the Reno Police Department blotter to confirm this for yourself.

Sir Thomas More once wrote that society first makes thieves and then punishes them. Unless prostitution is accepted as an inevitable part of our society and made into a solid profession with legalities and regulations or eradicated from societal norms, it will continue to adapt with the times and drain local resources with arrests and sting operations. So will Reno continue to make prostitutes or will it be educated and put a stop to it? Craigslist prostitution is not a joking matter. It’s a serious issue. It’s real, and illegal. Will Reno police ever crack down on it?

Robin Bigda
Reno