LETTERS: Amodei obfuscates on House bills

To the editor:

It was interesting to read Rep. Mark Amodei’s response to Lana Noland’s letter. Rep. Amodei seems to mimic Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor and Obamacare architect (“Amodei: Bills position GOP to fight amnesty,” Wednesday Review-Journal).

American voters are not stupid. They understand how Congress works. Rep. Amodei’s civics lesson was irrelevant to Ms. Noland’s issue. She got it right. The issue was, and is, standing up for principles and accepting the consequences. While we have a bicameral Congress, each house can say no. Voting no on appropriations has an effect; voting yes on H.R. 5759 is all show.

Rep. Amodei’s real problem, which he failed to acknowledge or address, is that he favored keeping the government open ahead of good government principles and voted accordingly. That’s the wrong priority. Republicans are so afraid of being blamed for a shutdown that Rep. Amodei’s misguided priority is prevalent.

Yes, Republicans will be blamed by the liberal media, and history is not kind, but these issues can be offset. Newt Gingrich would have won had he stuck to his principles. That mistake has become the norm: the Republicans want to do what is right; the Democrats push back and threaten a shutdown; the Republicans fold.

Ms. Noland pointed out that Rep. Amodei’s priorities are wrong. His failure to grasp Ms. Noland’s concern is his fault, not hers. Civics lesson obfuscations are an insult to Ms. Noland. Claims that she doesn’t understand aren’t substantiated by any evidence. Rep. Amodei’s “Gruber” tactics don’t sell.

PAT SHARP

LAS VEGAS

‘The Interview’

To the editor:

Let’s face it: There will never be a Hollywood movie, satire or not, about the assassination of a sitting U.S. president or European political leader. Yet, “exceptional Americans” defend Sony Pictures’ “The Interview,” about the assassination of Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, as a free-speech issue and just a movie. Had a Western leader been the subject, there would have been denouncements, picketing and possible criminal charges leveled against the film’s maker.

Then again, that is the sanctimonious American way: demonize leaders of countries in U.S. disfavor and link them to hyped faux terror threats. North Korea’s alleged hacking of Sony’s computers was even called an act of war by several elected officials who apparently believe it is OK for the National Security Agency to illegally spy on U.S. citizens.

And speaking of double-speak, while gruesome beheadings are criticized for their brutality, no such indignation has been voiced about media-sanitized U.S. drone strikes that have incinerated thousands of innocent women and children.

LEON PITT

LAS VEGAS

UNLV should punt football

To the editor:

I completely agree with Robert J. McKee’s letter stating that UNLV should drop its failed football program and use the money to help improve the school’s academic performance (“UNLV football program not worth cost,” Dec. 19 Review-Journal). I graduated from Boston University, which has about 25,000 students and also had a failing football program, which it dropped more than 30 years ago.

The school instead concentrated its sports efforts on hockey and basketball. Its hockey team has performed extremely well over the years and was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation. More important, the school used the money saved from the canceled football program to improve its academic performance. Boston University is now rated 42nd in U.S. News and World Report’s national rankings.

Some of the schools and programs within the university have achieved even higher rankings. Those rankings are worth far more to a school and its graduates than even a great football team, let alone a mediocre losing program.

UNLV should concentrate its sports efforts on basketball.

JIM BESSO

HENDERSON