Now’s not the time for higher property taxes

To the editor:

County Commissioner Tom Collins wants to increase our property taxes (Tuesday Review-Journal). This is exactly why progressive Nevadans, also known as the teachers union, went to their favorite liberal judge to kill Sharron Angle’s Prop 13-property tax ballot measure, even though it had the approval of the secretary of state.

How many more families do they want to force out of their homes in the name of the children? I wonder how many of the students who are coerced by their teachers to protest realize their family might be the next one evicted.

This state, in its current economic climate, cannot stand any tax increases of any kind. The public sector must make the same sacrifices the private sector has made for the past few years now. If we do not balance the scales, our entire system will collapse and everyone loses.

HANS BOHN

LAS VEGAS

Foul language

To the editor:

It was with much dismay and even greater disgust that I read The Associated Press article you printed (May 17) about the “adult best-seller” picture book titled “Go the (bleep) to Sleep,” written by — can you believe? — a Rutgers University professor.

I find it incredible that a 32-page book filled with the F-bomb (although written as a parody in kid-friendly rhyme by the author/dad, as though that should make it OK) has hit No. 1 on Amazon.com and has sold more than 100,000 copies in pre-orders. And even more incredible, that film rights have already been sold. Am I the only person wondering where common decency has gone?

The article states matter-of-factly that the F-bomb plea has been on the mind of every parent at one point or another, yet my husband and I never once said it or even thought about saying it to our child at bedtime. What kind of trashy world has this become where such a piece of junk is considered good reading? Personally, I wouldn’t want novelist/poet Adam Mansbach teaching my child anything, considering his coarse sense of humor.

I myself am a published author (“Embers Of Love: The Christmas Log”) and take great pride in my work, writing only what I hope is wholesome, worthwhile fiction suitable for everyone.

But, alas, my book is not a best-seller, nor have film rights been sold for it, despite my readers’ lavish praise.

If I sound like I’m blowing my own horn, yes I am. And no, I’m not a prude. It’s just that, simply put, I see no value in senseless vulgarity.

Well, I guess one thing is now clear to all of us dedicated writers: If we want to crank out a best-seller, we should probably write only profanity-laced rubbish from now on. How very sad that this is apparently what the reading public wants.

CAROL M. LOMENZO

LAS VEGAS

Health care lawsuit

To the editor:

I find it difficult to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused the state of Virginia attorney general’s request to bypass the federal District Court and bring the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare directly to the high court justices.

I understand the U.S. Supreme Court has, in the past, accepted such critical cases directly. So I find it incomprehensible the Supreme Court could turn down this request. After all, is not this issue one of the most monumental and significant to the direction our nation is moving socially? Going through the lower court will delay the Supreme Court’s final decision perhaps two years. In the meantime, billions of dollars are being squandered by states, companies and individuals preparing, maybe unnecessarily, for the health care plan to take full effect in 2014.

Maybe if the other 20-some state attorneys general jointly took this issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, they may bring the court to its senses and the justices will accept this issue as soon as possible.

CLARENCE LANZRATH

LAS VEGAS