Stop beating around the bush on free care
To the editor:
Let’s stop the nonsense. Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is now the law, why not make it available to each and every person in the United States? Under this act we now have the opportunity to do away with all other plans, which offer nothing but duplication – Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs health care and who knows how many other organizations throughout this government pertaining to health care.
Make it one plan, care for everyone, as an individual is entitled to free health care. Why should a veteran have to go to a VA hospital? Why not go to any hospital?
Hardly anyone would pass an injured animal in the street. Why don’t we do this for humans? The animal is never asked for a medical card or what insurance they have. We should do the same for any human being. Raise taxes if you must, but make sure each and every human being is cared for.
TOM PACILEO
HENDERSON
Buy the water
To the editor:
As your Monday editorial indicated, providing $2.5 million to improve Mexico’s water supply system in exchange for 23,700 acre-feet of Colorado River water (approximately $105 per acre-foot) hints at the solution to the West’s water shortages.
Apparently, more than half the Colorado’s flow is used to irrigate alfalfa. I doubt there are many ranchers who wouldn’t sell their water for the right price (California’s Imperial Valley alfalfa growers are already selling their Colorado River water to Los Angeles for around $100 an acre-foot). Even at twice that price, Southern Nevada could purchase one-third of its entire consumption for only $20 million a year.
It will cost $10 billion to $15 billion for a pipeline from rural Nevada that would provide about the same amount of water.
There is no way to justify spending billions of dollars. The Southern Nevada Water Authority needs to forget about the pipeline and start preparing to buy the water.
TOM KELLER
HENDERSON
Political guidance
To the editor:
I heard a story last week from the parent of a 7-year-old student at a Henderson-area public elementary school that really got my attention.
On Election Day, the teacher of this child’s class held a mock election. A great idea, right? National Election Day, an obvious teachable moment, even for second-graders. The 7-year-old asked the teacher, “Who should I vote for?” The obvious answer (even to an uneducated construction worker such as myself) would have been something like: “Well, Johnny (not his real name), that really is the question, and to find the answer we need to learn about the candidates and what they stand for. This is at the very heart of our country’s political system. Then we vote for the candidate who we believe will do the best job on our behalf,” or something like that.
The teacher took this teachable moment and told the 7-year-old: “Vote for Obama. He did a good job,” impressing his own political imprimatur onto the second-graders.
I don’t care which side of the aisle you support, flushing this teachable moment down the sewer was inexcusable and should earn the teacher an opportunity to renew his teaching certificate and reapply for his position – or just be terminated.
A member of the School Board to whom I related this story wondered just how many times something like that happened in our public schools during this election season.
Me too.
ALLEN GETTELFINGER
LAS VEGAS
Bicycling the streets
To the editor:
In response to Ed Vogel’s Nov. 23 article, “Cyclists seeing red over lights”: As an avid valley cyclist, I believe most cyclists want to obey the law – if only because we know Gayda’s Golden Rule of Cycling: Whoever has the gold (i.e., horsepower) makes the rule.
Sometimes, however, in the name of keeping traffic moving safely, we must break the law. We knowingly do this at our own risk. Also, we can only do this if traffic allows. One example is the case cited, in which a left-turning bicyclist must run a red light to complete the maneuver. To quote Rodney Dangerfield, we two-wheelers (motorcyclists and bicyclists) get no respect – at least from traffic signals.
The second example is exemplified by the intersection of Buffalo Drive and Cheyenne Avenue, in which the cyclist riding northbound is forced into the middle lane of traffic as one crosses the intersection. The only safe option is for the northbound cyclist to start in the mandatory right-turn lane and continue straight across the intersection. This puts the cyclist in the right-most traffic lane, which is both safe and desirable.
To obey the law and start one’s turn in the same lane as cars going straight puts the cyclist’s life in jeopardy. The cyclist must choose between obeying the law and safety.
These examples illustrate how one must temper the law with common sense. I heartily agree with the proposal that cyclists and motorcyclists shouldn’t be ticketed for turning left against a red light as long as it is safe to do so.
GAYDA J. COLLINS
LAS VEGAS
Common sense
To the editor:
Regarding your Nov. 23 article, “Cyclists seeing red over lights”: The simplest way to resolve this problem is to have a blinking red light that allows drivers to turn left after a complete stop. You can apply this to both cars and motorcycles. This method is a lot safer than what Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle is proposing. You don’t need any magic detector to do it. The lights would be timed similarly to the yellow blinking lights we currently have. You can find this type of traffic light in some other states.
Common sense must prevail to keep everyone safe.
NAZ MANSILLA
LAS VEGAS
Abomination
To the editor:
Steve Sebelius, in his Nov. 4 column “Thus saith the Lord,” was absolutely right when he stressed the emphasis of the Bible concerning care for the poor. However, the idea that by comparison the Bible touches “lightly” on “gayness” is totally misleading. The references to homosexual practice must be weighed by their content, not by their number.
In the Old Testament, homosexual activity is an abomination (Leviticus 18:22) which brought the death penalty (Deuteronomy 20:13).
The New Testament makes it clear that practicing homosexuals (among others!) are excluded from the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The next verse make it clear that forgiveness and a changed life are possible through faith in Jesus Christ.
It is a mystery to me how anyone who has read these and other verses can think of them as touching the subject “lightly.”
JOHN PRETLOVE
HENDERSON
The writer is pastor of the First Baptist Church of The Lakes, Las Vegas
