Don’t blame Hillary for Wal-Mart

To the editor:

In response to your Dec. 10 news article on Sen. Hillary Clinton and Wal-Mart, in which I was quoted:

While it is true that Hillary Clinton served on Wal-Mart’s board of directors many years ago, it is absurd for anyone to hold her responsible for Wal-Mart’s shameful record. In fact, to the extent that she gained knowledge of the company’s inner workings, or developed relationships with her fellow board members, that fact would only strengthen my belief that she is the candidate most qualified to effect change there.

For example, her proposal for universal health care would call on Wal-Mart to provide real, affordable coverage to its employees, instead of passing those costs onto the backs of taxpayers. Currently, Wal-Mart makes billions in profits while taxpayers pay billions for Wal-Mart employees’ medical care.

Sen. Clinton also is a committed champion of workers’ rights to organize a union and collectively bargain.

If companies such as Wal-Mart are ever to become responsible employers, and to allow their employees the freedom to choose to have a union without fear or intimidation, we need a president who will hold them accountable to their legal and financial obligations. The health of our economy and the future of the American middle class may very well depend on it.

I believe Sen. Clinton will do just that.

MICHAEL GITTINGS

LAS VEGAS

THE WRITER IS SECRETARY-TREASURER OF THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS, LOCAL 711.

Reid numbers

To the editor:

I found the comments from Sen. Harry Reid spokesman Jon Summers in the recent story “Reid’s ratings mixed in poll” very, very telling. If the senator and his staff want to truly understand why his popularity has plummeted, they need to look no further than the out-of-touch comments made in the article.

Mr. Summers suggests that the poll numbers fail to reflect the millions of dollars Sen. Reid has secured for Nevada projects and for holding a line against nuclear waste being buried in Nevada. What planet does Mr. Summers come from? Planet Washington, D.C.?

Nevadans long ago figured out that Yucca Mountain is nothing more than a political football that Nevada leaders kick around to distract voters from the fact that our elected officials are doing little or nothing to address the real issues that concern real people. And we have long witnessed the deceptive attempts by Democrats to use the issue, come election time, against Republicans.

Only recently have Democrats been exposed to this fraud, as all of the Democratic presidential candidates try to beat each other up by pointing out examples of how the other candidates historically supported Yucca Mountain before their recent need to pander for Nevada caucus votes.

The truth is Nevadans don’t care how much pork Sen. Reid brings home for his political supporters, and Yucca has always ranked at the bottom of any legitimate poll of the issues Nevadans care most about. If Sen. Reid has any hope of overcoming his abysmal poll numbers, he must focus on governing by developing bipartisan public policy that addresses the health care, education, infrastructure, energy and national security needs of Americans.

Sen. Reid’s poll numbers reflect his failure to address the real needs and concerns of typical Nevadans instead of the policy demands of left-wing extremists in his party. Ditto for Republican leaders and their misguided focus on the Christian right.

Davy Valentin

LAS VEGAS

Oil issues

To the editor:

I became excited when I read the first paragraph of Andres Oppenheimer’s recent commentary “Brazil’s oil breeds worries of petro-populism” and learned of the discovery of “massive oil reserves” which could turn Brazil into “a big player in world affairs.” For a fleeting instant, I thought something substantial had happened which could have a profound effect on the world economy and change world politics.

Then, however, I read the third paragraph, which said they had found “up to 8 billion barrels of light crude” and my hopes were dashed. Eight billion barrels is about enough to run the U.S. economy for one year.

There are apparently about 15 billion barrels in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, but maybe we shouldn’t get too excited about that.

As an aside, this apparently makes Brazil a bigger player than Venezuela, which shows how small Venezuela and its wacko dictator really are.

When will the Energy Department level with the American people and tell them that unless something changes, the Middle East, with its 800 billion barrels (or so) of oil reserves will eventually be calling all the shots? The percentage of world oil reserves held in the Middle East will continue to increase as it has in the past (now about 80 percent) unless some new major find is discovered or the United States stops buying from everywhere but the Middle East to achieve its phantom goal of “energy independence.”

LEWIS H. SHUPE JR.

LAS VEGAS