Letters for September 29, 2005

Sophist proposition
Re “Think you’re not a homophobe? Think again.,” (Letters, Sept. 8):

In her letter of Sept. 8, Maria Bustamante castigates a previous writer for disliking homosexuality but claiming not to be a homophobe. She takes it for granted that homophobia is bad. That’s what’s known in logic as begging the question—assuming the truth of the proposition to be proved and then basing your argument on the assumption that it’s already proved.

On the contrary, I believe that the homophiles should be required to prove that homophilia should be considered acceptable. For openers, I challenge her or any other homophile to answer this question: If there were no other reason to oppose homophilia, why isn’t the mere fact that the push for it is coming from the same moronic liberals who made the 20th century the bloodiest century in recorded history sufficient by itself?

Bill Hamma
Reno

Insensitive news story
Re “Desert death,” (News, Sept. 15):

The RN&R apparently doesn’t like Burning Man. In writing a story about Sam Rich, who died on the playa this year, you tried to twist his death into something terrible. Sam’s death was not terrible. He was very happy that night, hanging with most of Controlled Burn and having dinner at the annual Scampi Feed. He left camp upbeat and stayed that way until collapsing onto the playa a few hours later. He wasn’t on drugs or being stupid. He simply died of a major heart attack. His arteries were blocked and couldn’t function. He was fit, not obese, and he exercised. Some people are just genetically predisposed for certain ailments. Many people are offended by your attempt to twist Sam’s untimely death into something it isn’t. You also attempted to twist the entire Burning Man event into something negative by saying, “Final figures on arrests and public funds expended have not yet been made available.” Well, you shouldn’t open your mouth before you know the answers. Arrests were minimal as were the use of public funds. Burning Man pays its way, unlike other Reno events. Sam was just a guy with a lot of friends who loved him very much. He served his country honorably for four years. His memorial was attended by almost 500 people from every walk of life. There is nothing negative here, and the insinuation is uncalled for, offensive and rude. Shame on you.

Carlyn Perona
Reno

Pressure’s rising
Re “Change in the weather,” (Right Hook, Sept. 15):

Michael Lafferty’s column defending G. W. Bush is, in fact, hardly worth commenting on, considering the shallowness of the thought that went into its content and ideas. Much like Rush Limbaugh, Mike uses half-truths, untruths, and spin in an attempt to defend the indefensible. Frankly, I don’t believe he believes what he’s written himself. He just likes to see his name in print in the RN&R, the only local paper that generally tries to print and publish news and reviews that have some semblance of depth and truth.

I can’t go on, for I feel my blood pressure rising.

John H. Rose
Reno

No casinos down south
As a citizen of the south valleys, I must take exception to casinos being built in the area. People have spent a lot of money to live here, and we chose the area because of its scenic beauty, as well as the quiet and the safety. The traffic problem has always been lousy here, and with the casinos added to the new shopping center, we’d have to leave about 2 o’clock to get to North McCarran Boulevard by 5 p.m. Getting into the new post office is already dangerous; new traffic lights are needed. And what of the other casinos that helped build Reno? Should they be punished by the greed of the city? I don’t know if the casino can be stopped, but it should be, and failing that, no one should patronize the new monster. If we can’t prevent them from building, we can force them out of business.

Rusty Rubin
Steamboat

Wasted food
I’m sure many share my horror at our nation’s rebuff to British aid. The 400,000 emergency rations from England which have been quarantined by the FDA and USDA will soon be burned as being “unfit for human consumption.” This is because many of those rations contain beef. Yet while British soldiers fighting with us in Iraq daily eat these same NATO rations, our government considers them unfit.

Hundreds of tons of food from Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel and other countries are sitting in FDA warehouses waiting to be incinerated. This enormous relief effort, which has cost the Brits millions of dollars, has been snubbed by Federal red tape.

It appears we won’t even be able to feed it to the thousands of abandoned pets—even if those at FEMA were smart enough to figure that one out.

This blatant snub of international help only shows what disdain our elected officials have for the rest of the world, and why so many hate us.

We are not a nation of haughty arrogant simpletons, maybe next election we can make it better.

Craig Bergland
Reno