Opinion

Joe Jensen’s Wednesday letter, headlined “Stop the lunacy,” used these words in the second sentence: “I wish to set the record straight.” Mr. Jensen then proceeded to call President Obama a communist whose goal is the destruction of our nation, and continued to offer his personal opinions on Mr. Obama and Sen. Harry Reid without giving a single supportive fact. I thought we had gotten past the McCarthy era more than 50 years ago.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Constitution’s guarantee of a public trial means judges may not close their courtrooms without cause during jury selection.

Nevada is hurting, no question about it. Unemployment rose last month to a near-record 13 percent. While housing prices have stabilized, no one expects them to rise again for years. Tourism is steady, but visitors aren’t spending much of their money. Businesses are scrambling to survive. The state and local governments are planning hundreds of millions of dollars worth of budget cuts in response to sagging revenues.

Democrats, dazed and confused, sat around at week’s end arguing about how to proceed, or not, on the fading signature of health care. Three schools of thought predominated.

In my Jan. 3 column, I projected that Barack Obama would probably not wake up one morning this year, slap his forehead and exclaim that allowing welfare recipients to vote is a blatant conflict of interest which is quickly turning this nation into a collectivist slave state.

Health care reform could have been about lifting up the health of Americans. Instead, the process became the equivalent of a wolf pack stalking, attacking and killing its prey. Special interests consumed all that could have been good or possible, leaving us with a carcass stripped clean.

We’re now way beyond the cliche of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

It was either the end of democracy as we know it, or the restoration of it.

Bad news for organized labor last week — and ominous news for taxpayers.

In response to Benjamin Spillman’s Friday article, “Ruling expected to bring more political ads to state for 2010 races”: I am honestly at a loss as to why Republicans are in favor of the ruling allowing unions and corporations to finance campaign efforts, and Democrats are opposed.