Letters for November 24, 2011

No prescription

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments for and against the Health Care Reform Act. Many lower courts have found the law to conform to the U.S. Constitution, and few have found that it does not. What our opinions are of the HCRA no longer matters. The nine Justices will make the final decision. I would like to believe that the highest court in the land will review the merits based on the Constitution. Unfortunately, the politics have already started: Two Justices have been asked to recuse themselves. One will vote against. One will vote for. It seems that the other seven will have to make the decision; however, they are not without political baggage. It is clear that four of the Justices will see the HCRA as legal, and four will see it as illegal. I believe that the final vote will fall on Justice Kennedy. No one really knows how Justice Kennedy will vote: He may not know at the present time. I write this opinion to demonstrate how polarized we are in this country. Not even the highest constitutional authority is without political bias. The Founding Fathers believed they created a governmental structure which could stand the test of time and politics. Greed and self interest permeates every corner of our local and federal government. We, the citizens, are responsible.

Anthony A. Matulich
Reno

No moral high ground

Re “Calling Occupants” (Feature story, Nov. 10):

I’ve seen surprising progress from some of the chapters of the movement, but little to nothing from the Reno people. It’s almost as though after making a deal with the devil to have the city government waive the normal fee, they are embarrassed to show their faces or give their last names. Maybe because they took the city’s money so they didn’t have to pay for the site, they’ve realized they’re not morally superior or any better than the bought and paid for political hacks they want to throw out. I don’t blame them for not wanting to give their last names. It also seems as though they’re isolating themselves from what was already the perfect community of the 99 percent, the city itself. I wonder if this is a subconscious attempt to make themselves into a new “elite” class of people who ruling the Occupy X movement—those same few who can afford to hang out at the pool for weeks at a time without having to worry about financial or family responsibilities. The mayor is the de facto leader of this leaderless movement. Oakland is fighting a good fight, but unless the center of Reno power is in one of the lifeguard chairs, Occupy Reno is loitering in the wrong place.

Peter Thompson
Reno

No clue

Re “Bachmann on Yucca” (Upfront, Nov. 17):

There’s something really wrong with this woman. I’m surprised she didn’t blame President Obama for the hold up.

Wesley Bell
El Sobrante, Calif.

No shame

Re “Talk ain’t cheap” (Editorial, Nov. 17):

Anyone interested in how pharmaceuticals support and promote their profits from the high cost of their products, look up www.propublica .org: doctor and company names plus locations and type of activity. Are you listed?

Jack Kunce
Reno

No mention

Re “Adventures in Learning” (Family guide, Nov. 11):

The Reno-Carson area has an abundance of fine, kid-friendly museums. While your recent “Adventures in Learning” report did a good job of covering a few of them, I was disappointed to see that five equally great local museums didn’t even merit a sentence. The free Keck Museum on the UNR campus, with its dinosaur footprints and rocks, would delight most 8-year-olds. Nevada’s first museum, the Nevada Historical Society, lets kids dress in old-time clothes, play pioneer games, examine an authentically-made Paiute winter dwelling, and exclaim over the always-popular two-headed calf. The Wilbur D. May Museum is so eclectic that something is bound to appeal to any visitor, plus they bring in terrific kid-friendly special exhibits and are adjacent to the arboretum, so kids can run out their energy after viewing the show. The walk-through mine at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City is one of the best museum exhibits anywhere and helps kids understand an important part of Nevada history. The National Automobile Museum may appeal more to young teens dreaming about their first cars than to their younger siblings, but the displays are well-done, and kids will be interested in the way transportation has changed over the last century. Most of these have special events for kids during the year, gift shops with interesting items, and docents who will provide special group tours with advance notice.

Elizabeth Morse
via email

No free market

Re “Calling Occupants” (Feature story, Nov. 10):

It’s comical when I hear a socialistic liberal talk about the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Never in history has socialistic ideals increased quality of life for the average citizen. These ideals coming from a nation’s leadership only act as a thumb on top of our heads, pushing us further down the economic ladder. The parallels between American today and Germany of the ’30s and ’40s are pretty frightening. In order for tyrannical regimes to gain full power, they have to control the money and media in the country. Socialists in America have accomplished control over the media, now they are working on the money part, as displayed in their shared ownership in large financial institutions via the bailouts. In Germany, Hitler had to control the Jewish population because they controlled the money at the time in that country. The Volkswagen (the people’s car) a small simple automobile was Hitler’s idea to keep the masses in a 60-mile per hour 33 mpg vehicle. This goes along with government cheese and powdered milk ideals, keep things generic, break the will of free enterprise, make people dependent upon government, keep people all the same. They are easier controlled that way. The bailouts in the automobile industry again, an attempt to control yet another large portion of our economy, rather than letting those companies follow the free enterprise mode by filing bankruptcy and letting other companies absorb the market. All I can say to the liberals, “Now that you have forced me to lower my standards, up yours!”

Mike Arp
Reno

No time to wait

Re “Calling Occupants” (Feature story, Nov. 10):

I support a person’s right to remain anonymous if he or she wishes to do so, for whatever reason. I myself do not “fear retribution from conservative employers.” My concern is that singling out Occupiers by name or personal story runs counter to the solidarity we are in the process of building.

Those who criticize the movement for not having a “coherent message” do so at the same time they focus on the disparate messages they’re reading and hearing in the media. This movement is slowly gaining momentum as those individual voices join together, and the message becomes more singular and defined.

If we—any and all of us—are waiting for a clear, coherent message before we act, we will never begin, much less prevail. We are moving together toward an as-yet unspecified goal—and the values informing that movement may be characterized however one wishes. Whatever words are used to define, ridicule, or dismiss us, it remains a fact that most Americans today are struggling—and struggling to understand how all this happened and who is to blame.

Robert “Tuna” Townsend
Reno