Edison’s bulb was great, but it’s time to move on
To the editor:
Regarding the Thursday letter from Robert S. Tobias, he charges that “any fool knows that fluorescent lights need full electric charge to function.” Yet he also admits that he bought one that won’t work in most of his fixtures!
He notes that the bulb he purchased will not work in his fixtures because they require dimmable bulbs. He blames the Democrats for forcing the change from incandescent bulbs. But this is the quickest and easiest way to do something about global warming and our dependence on foreign oil.
If your readers are really interested in changing their light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) They should check the Internet before going to the local hardware store. There are many sources for CFL bulbs in every shape and size — also, they even come in dimmable form.
Many people complain about the high cost of CFLs, but if you shop carefully, there are many sources that are quite reasonable.
The world owes a debt of gratitude to Thomas Edison for giving us all light. But we should also remember a famous quote that hung in his laboratory, “There’s a better way. Find it!”
Charles Long
HENDERSON
No burden
To the editor:
I am very pleased that more states are looking into passing voter ID laws. The politicians and others who use excuses that such laws hurt older people, people with no driver’s licenses or low income individuals make me laugh.
It’s a “take it to the bank” fact that if any of these individuals wish to vote, they will produce the necessary photo identification with no trouble at all. They don’t have much trouble producing these documents when applying for social services, loans, Social Security disability, food stamps or Medicare.
In my opinion, the most valued privilege this country has to offer is voting. Anyone wishing to vote who is legally able to vote can get the proper documentation.
Jo Anne Smith
MESQUITE
Not so dumb
To the editor:
While visiting family in Las Vegas, I read your Thursday editorial, “Gross stupidity.” I’d like to suggest that in Oregon, the so-called Patriot Act, not social service workers, is responsible for more memorable and pointless musters of law enforcement overkill.
The poster child of this trend is Brandon Mayfield, a Portland attorney falsely linked to the Madrid bombing. The chaos that followed his attack of gross stupidity destroyed his practice and his reputation. Your example just made people mad at “big brother.” Mr. Mayfield went on the sue the Nanny/Police instigator, the federal government, and two provisions of the Patriot Act were found unconstitutional.
I, for one, would rather err on the side of overprotecting children and risk the occasional faux pas than systematically numb ourselves to the gross erosion of our civil rights and civil liberties to the point of justifying (and often not reporting) warrantless searches, seizures, detainments and internments.
At least those folks in Colorado followed state law.
Jeanene Louden
CORVALLIS, ORE.
Loves taxes
To the editor:
Your comment on state spending supposedly having tripled in the past 15 years goes a bit far (Thursday editorial). Since 1993, Nevada’s population has nearly doubled and most of that doubling has occurred right here in Clark County. So for the state’s spending to triple is certainly not a surprise.
Maybe you should take another look and see if that tripling was spent in Clark County, where it is most needed and most of the state taxes surely are generated. Perhaps your constant fear concerning a new look at our tax structure is based mostly on the Review-Journal’s own self-interest, as you pay minimal taxes to this state although all your revenue is generated in this state and sent to out-of-state ownership, as so eloquently explained recently by Jim Rogers, owner of Channel 3.
We need a “gross receipts” tax on entities such as the Review-Journal and most of our communications facilities. We also need a law which states — as it does in New Mexico — that such gross receipts taxes cannot be passed on to the consumer.
I’ll be happy to be included on Mayor Oscar Goodman’s citizen panel to study the state’s tax structure. I sure like the idea of a pole tax for strip clubs and a gross receipts tax for all businesses whose gross receipts are more than $300,000 per year.
Denise Kelley
LAS VEGAS
Nickels and dimes
To the editor:
What kind of change?
After listening to all of the talk about change from the presidential hopefuls, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only change all of us will ever see is the change left in our pockets after they tax and take away all of our dollars.
GARY AFTOORA
BOULDER CITY
Death row
To the editor:
Your Tuesday editorial, “Death penalty procrastination,” ends with the phrase “let the sentences be promptly carried out by any reasonably humane method currently at hand.”
It’s oh so simple. No drugs needed, no vein to be found for injection, no concern about pain. Just place the individual in an airtight room. Let him have a last meal and a few drinks, watch TV or listen to music. Then, at the designated time, start a gasoline engine in an adjacent area and pump in carbon monoxide gas.
The result will be a much more “humane ending to a subject who offered no humanity to his or her victims.” Multiple executions would save gas.
ray lawrenson
LAS VEGAS
Scenic route
To the editor:
Las Vegas should be ashamed.
For the past four years, we have been driving to Montana from Arizona twice a year. I am appalled at the litter you see starting about 20 miles north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 all the way through the city. Looks like plastic bag heaven.
We traveled through 25 states this past summer and never saw litter like Las Vegas has. Please don’t tell me the wind blows — we have wind in Arizona, but our litter is always being picked up, and I am proud to say it is picked up weekly.
It seems to me that a rich city such as Las Vegas could and should do a better job of picking up litter.
MARY FURAUS
GOODYEAR, ARIZ.
Immigrant influx
To the editor:
The Culinary union finally decided this week which Democratic candidate to support — it eventually chose Barack Obama — when any Democrat, if elected, will bring members what they want. They want the large numbers of illegal aliens here in Las Vegas made citizens — and their relatives, which could number in the hundreds of thousands, to also get their free pass to citizenship.
Union members should not be told for whom to vote. But if Nevada helps a Democrat win this national election, your local governments should immediately expand their police departments and make plans for more schools, hospitals, prisons and low-cost housing.
BRUCE ADDIS
ST. GEORGE, UTAH
