Impressive Obama takes on the Republicans
To the editor:
It’s a shame that President Obama’s working session with the Republicans on Friday was not carried on as many stations as his State of the Union address was on Wednesday. While the address showed the country that the president was up to date, knowledgeable and confident in his agenda, the Friday session substantially compared his leadership and ideas to the whining and hollowness of the Republicans’ “plans.”
The president showed that he has a comprehensive understanding of the many challenges facing him and the country currently, while the participating members of the opposition party lived up to that title and displayed that the only idea they have is obstruction.
It’s a shame that many Americans are so closed-minded that they will instead base their opinion on this extremely competent man from tirades made by right-wing news television, talk radio, and newspaper editors with hatred for any and all things Democratic.
If only voters could see the actual instead of the tinted.
Randall Buie
HENDERSON
Free money?
To the editor:
Patrick Buchanan’s Sunday column was spot on. There are so many people working for the government at all levels that the numbers are mind-boggling. Most of them are Democrats and would never vote for anyone who would cut the size of government because it would affect them.
So, in effect, they have figured out a way to vote themselves public money from the treasury.
A modern-day candidate could never run on the platform that Ronald Reagan had because there are fewer votes now. College students are under a grand illusion that there is an unlimited pot of money waiting for them if they just vote for the Democrat running for office.
We need radical change, in the direction of smaller government with fewer services. But we also need to deal with relentless Democrats and their willing accomplices in the media who stoke the fires of resentment among the American people and divide us by race, how much money we make, our sexual preference, gender, or any other area where there exists differences among us.
We do not need a leader who can accomplish this — we need a group of leaders who can explain this in detail to the voters so they understand fully what has to be done.
We can’t even eliminate useless programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, a seemingly small program with a budget of $350 million. Small? $350 million? Did I just write that?
All those Democrats with Ivy League diplomas forgot to take math classes, but they sure know how to count votes.
Mike Bryant
LAS VEGAS
Fascism peek
To the editor:
In the “Say what?” feature of Sunday’s Viewpoints section, the Review-Journal takes a trip down fantasy lane by implying that because Osama bin Laden has said that American industry has contributed to global warming and Al Gore has said the same, this proves Mr. Gore is an extremist. Wow. That is a very huge leap in logic, especially since many conservatives believe that American industry has contributed to climate change.
By the way, both men breathe air, eat food and live on the same planet. Coincidence?
Hey, Review-Journal, pull down your skirt — your fascism is showing.
Mark Azevedo
LAS VEGAS
No worries
To the editor:
UNLV environmental health professor Shawn Gerstenberger and his team are wrong to conclude that trace mercury levels in canned tuna warrant a warning label (“Study: Mercury in canned tuna high,” Friday Review-Journal). The last thing consumers need is a public health scare over something that has never caused harm to Americans.
The entire medical literature doesn’t contain a single documented case of mercury poisoning caused by commercially sold fish. Not one. And pregnant women should be made aware that there are no cases of fetal mercury toxicity on record in the United States.
The only cases of neurological problems ever linked to mercury in commercial fish were in Japan more than 40 years ago in a case involving a massive industrial chemical spill. Today’s Japanese eat more than eight times as much fish as Americans, and their population suffers no ill effects.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aptly noted in a report last month, “Finding a measurable amount of mercury in blood or urine does not mean that levels of mercury cause an adverse health effect.”
The well-documented health benefits of consuming fish far outweigh any hypothetical health risks.
It’s time to toss mercury hype overboard and recognize fish for the “brain food” that it is.
David Martosko
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH WITH THE CENTER FOR CONSUMER FREEDOM.
