Plenty of blame in North Las Vegas mess

To the editor:

There was on glaring omission in John Restrepo’s June 24 commentary on North Las Vegas and its financial condition: accountability. No city goes bankrupt all by itself without mismanagement. No other Nevada city is in this position, so how can anyone say North Las Vegas’ elected officials and city government should not be held accountable?

No one held a gun to their heads to sign every labor agreement, build a new $150 million City Hall or a new $250 million sewage treatment plant. There was plenty of discussion that both were ill-advised, and the sewer treatment plant is now the subject of a lawsuit with Clark County.

Beautiful isn’t it? Blame the economy, blame the employees, but no accountability on the part of government.

Hmmm, who is responsible to the citizens of North Las Vegas? Can you blame everyone but yourselves and truly call yourselves responsible?

DAVE RADCLIFFE

Las Vegas

No penalty

To the editor:

Friday’s editorial on the ObamaCare ruling (“Taxing authority”) gives rise to a question of common sense.

The editorial states that “Chief Justice John Roberts provided the swing vote, siding with the court’s liberals to uphold the individual mandate as a legitimate exercise of Congress’ taxing authority.”

But the next paragraph points out that Chief Justice Roberts wrote the federal government “does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance,” but the penalty “can reasonably read as a tax.”

Well, if the government does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance, then common sense tells us there can be no penalty for not doing so – no matter what it is called, a tax, a fine or whatever.

E. McCormick

Las Vegas

Lack of energy

To the editor:

Last week’s letters from David Henry and Rick Clawson focused attention on the devastating impact of renewable energy mania on our lives. Our state Legislature is forcing us to pay three to four times higher costs for renewable energy in the midst of the worst economic crisis in our lives. Supporters of this policy claim this sacrifice is going to “save the planet from destruction,” but that remains an unproven hypothesis.

Higher energy costs are lowering our standard of living and green energy subsidies are increasing our national debt. There are many senior citizens in Las Vegas setting their thermostats at 81 degrees, trying to survive on a fixed income.

Renewable energy will never compete with the efficiencies and costs of fossil fuel energy unless the latter is taxed to death. The Obama administration has made renewable energy one of the pillars of its political platform and has taken every chance to drive up fossil fuel prices. Mr. Obama’s secretary of energy publicly stated that he wanted the price of gasoline in the United States to be similar to the prices in Europe.

This country needs jobs and low energy costs to make our products more competitive in the global markets. North America has more fossil fuel reserves than any continent on this planet, and we should be exporting energy, not importing it. Our economic crisis could be solved with more fossil fuel production and less government control in our lives. Government is the problem.

Conrad Ryan

Las Vegas

Parental responsibility

To the editor:

I thought Don Lucente was right on target with his letter to the editor published in the June 28 Review-Journal. Parents ought to be more responsible when it comes to the education of their children. Teachers have a difficult job and need parental cooperation if children are to succeed.

But in today’s world – in which parents aren’t even responsible for feeding their children because the government has taken over for them – how can we expect them to be a positive influence on their child’s education?

Bill Dirkse

Las Vegas

Like bees

To the editor:

The illegal Mexican immigrants in Las Vegas or anywhere in America are like bees in search of flowers so they can produce enough honey – or money – to enrich their livelihood.

In this case, the flowers are the American companies that take advantage of the illegals’ willingness, desperation and status so they can save on taxes and retain more profits.

The illegal immigrants would not be in Las Vegas if American companies did not offer them the possibility of job opportunities.

Mariana Alvarado Garcia

Las Vegas

Federal funding

To the editor:

After suffering through the past 10 years of having Harry Reid as my senator, I finally discovered something positive.

OK, follow this: ObamaCare is declared constitutional (more or less), but a state can refuse to participate in the Medicaid expansion, and the federal government is forbidden from reducing that state’s Medicaid allotment. The club that the government still wields, however, is an ability to reduce all other federal government subsidies to that state.

Here’s why Sen. Reid is our hero. Although he has been Senate majority leader for many years and had great power in Washington, D.C., he allowed his home state of Nevada to wallow in 49th place in tax dollars returned in federal projects and subsidies. Thus, by doing precious little as our senator to bring our tax dollars back to our state, Sen. Reid has succeeded in taking away the biggest hammer left in the federal arsenal.

The Obama administration can’t take anything away from us because we’re already 49th. Hooray, Sen. Reid.

Ronnie Garner

Henderson