Different standards for GOP candidates

To the editor:

In last Wednesday’s Review-Journal, it was reported that Rep. Joe Heck was asked by reporters whether Mitt Romney, with his wealth and background, can connect with working-class people.

Any chance that reporters asked the same question to JFK or John Kerry?

Henry Schmid

Las Vegas

Not fair

To the editor:

Next time President Obama tells the rich he wants them to pay their fair share, I want him to tell the students who get A’s and B’s to give half their grades to students who get D’s and F’s so those students can have a fair shot. I want him to tell the athletes who get scholarships to give half their aid to students who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

We are not created equal. Everybody has different skills and aptitudes. Life is not fair. It starts with where we are born, who our parents are, the people we meet and the decisions we make.

We have too many people in this country who want to blame others for their bad choices. Then they want other people to bail them out.

Mr. Obama should be teaching those people how to make better choices. Instead, he wants to take away from people who made good choices.

Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime. Give a man a fish today and he will starve tomorrow.

Gary Stange

Las Vegas

Bear hunt

To the editor:

Because members of the new state Wildlife Commission last week approved the 20-bear quota with no sow limit for the upcoming hunt, they now take ownership of the bear hunt started by the prior “rogue” commission.

The recommended quota was based on an average 16 percent increase in population per year, an 80 percent increase in four years. But the department’s biologists couldn’t explain why our bear population is doing so well when California’s revised bear population is stable.

Bears are still being killed at a high rate, an average of 33 over the past five years due to car accidents, public safety, depredation and other causes. Our state has no significant bear awareness program. The bear habitat in Nevada is not as suitable as in California.

An independent biologist corresponded with the developer of the population modeling used by the state Department of Wildlife and was told the analysis does not provide reliable results for populations subject to the levels of internal and external migration that appear typical for Nevada’s bears, especially during famines. Yet commissioners – without even a single question – sided with the department over those who developed the program. If the department’s calculations are correct, our wildlife officials should lecture across the country about boosting populations with only moderate habitat and no bear awareness program.

This demonstrates how far the department and commission will go to support hunters over science.

Catherine Smith

Reno