Letters for November 21, 2013

Lost in space

Re “Space is the place” (Film, Oct. 10):

I would hardly consider Gravity a landmark film. While Miss Bullock won the Oscar for Blindside (rightfully earned) that doesn’t automatically qualify her for every dramatic role. Gravity had incredible special effects, but her acting was horrible. Please, just explain why a physician is up in space tinkering with the Hubble?

She should stick to her cheesy comedy movies at best. This movie gave a bad impression of the space program. In fact, it just made it a joke. Maybe all of this hype about it is coming from men just enjoying her floating around in her underwear.

Lesley Bordas

Reno

Resort to violence if angered

Re “More on violence” (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 14):

If the kid snapped because he was getting picked on by some punks, the incident could have been even worse. His having a gun wasn’t the issue, more than that what these other kids more than likely did to him to piss him off. The sad thing here is that America is bent on bickering over having guns and not paying attention about what happens in our schools. We have people who believe that you need to let the kids do whatever they want, instead of disciplining them, and that fighting is wrong. American society has gone too soft, and sadly since self-defense is bad as well, then kids snap and go postal, not just on their bullies, but anyone who crossed them.

Joseph Eguizabal

Reno

Our bad choices

Re “The big 2-0” (Editor’s Note, Nov. 14):

Amidst all the war and sanctions talk, we should never forget this speech from a Supreme Allied Commander who knew war and the blow-back to our young folks who have to do the dirty work. I hope we are really winding down these horrific actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I always felt 9/11 was a criminal act—not an act of war. Hunt ’em down and kill ’em with Special Ops (and don’t tell anyone). We finally got Bin Laden that way, didn’t we?

How many damaged lives, suicides and destroyed dreams would we have saved had we not followed the agendas of greed and profiteering? (Shell Oil just announced a new refinery in southern Iraq.)

Here’s what Dwight Eisenhower had to say about it after WWII: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of it’s laborers, the genius of it’s scientists, and the hopes of it’s children.”

Congratulations on 20 great and meaningful years.

Jody Everett Peterson

Carson City

You’re to blame

Re “Not careful enough” (Upfront, Nov. 14):

Oh good grief. Really? Let’s dump all the problems of our culture because American women have forgotten their proper place and condition: at home and pregnant. Things are a helluva lot more complicated than that. It just gets tiresome when one of these commentaries are professed without any kind of research, data or science to back up their pronouncements. Maybe he wants to go back to those “glorious” mythological days of where men were men and women were just property, brood mares and punching bags. He needs to find a cave and do some serious meditating.

Karen L. Ingraham

Sutcliffe

Buy the numbers

Re “The real problem is prohibition” (Let Freedom Ring, Nov. 7):

Thank you for this column. It is nice to read something that is factually based and not propagating fear and ignorance. Keep on doing real journalism and spreading educated truth. There are far too many prohibitionist articles from northern Nevada, especially when considering how libertarian this state’s laws are in relation to gambling, prostitution and alcohol. The hypocrisy here is very frustrating.

Shawn Tamborini

Reno

Prevent flu sick days

Re “Modify your sick-day policy” (Editor’s Note, Oct. 31):

Thank you for highlighting the difficult choice many employees face during flu and cold season—go to work sick or risk losing their job. If businesses invested in their employees’ preventive health by providing the simple benefit of free flu shots, they would actually make money! Factoring in direct cost savings (both absenteeism and medical costs), the American Public Health Association estimates an annual flu vaccine can save up to $95 per vaccinated employee. For a company with 150 employees, this could be over $14,000. Instead, businesses lose approximately 111 million work days and spend approximately $10.4 billion on flu-related illnesses, hospitalizations and outpatient visits. If your employer or school provides free flu vaccinations, take advantage of it and prevent the spread of illness to co-workers, classmates and our community. The flu vaccine is recommended for people 6 months and older and is the best protection against the flu this season. You can also visit a free community flu clinic at Hug High School on Nov. 21, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Find additional information about the flu at InfluenceNevada.org.

Heidi S. Parker

Immunize Nevada

Reno

Karma deposit

Re “8 things you didn’t know about being homeless in Reno” (Feature story, Jan. 3):

The homelessness of Reno is just like any other town in America. There are those that have and those that have not. Those that have better give because as we know all go broke in one way or another someday.

Chris Ruona

Reno

Hail to the leaders

Re “Trainor’s got it going on” (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 7):

I’m pleased to read the words of someone else who’s starting to get a real sense of what’s really going on politically. Hopefully, there’s a few more open minds like Cynthia Kennedy’s out there. I tend to agree with all she wrote and would offer some further thoughts on the matter. The reason we’re still mired in Afghanistan and Iraq isn’t just that we grabbed hold of a political and military tar-baby, though that’s certainly a factor. The simple truth is that our country was overthrown by a political coup in November 1963, and we never truly recovered. It doesn’t matter who is elected president, because both candidates are chosen beforehand. Let me restate that another way: Every single holder of that office from LBJ to Obama has been at least an asset of the CIA, and several have been operatives outright. Because of this and because of AIPAC’s heavy influence in this pre-choosing process, we now find ourselves at the brink of an abyss.

Either we attack Iran—a nation which hasn’t invaded another country for centuries—and it triggers a world ending thermonuclear exchange, or we stay out. If we don’t attack, the collapse of the U.S. petro-dollar is assured and with it our government. Believe it or not, the second choice is the better of the two because it at least allows us a chance of survival. These are the fruits of playing as children within the false left/right paradigm set up for us by the usurpers. We voted for the puppets and paid no mind to the puppet master operating them. Maybe cockroaches deserve a shot at becoming the dominant species of the planet. They’ve certainly shown more common sense.

Robert Orlin Franklin Johnson

Sun Valley