Were colonoscopies worth anything?
To the editor:
How strange it is that extensive coverage has been given to dangerous practices by some local “colonoscopy mills” while little has been said about the quality of the colonoscopies that were performed. It would seem to me that colonoscopies performed in apparent efforts to achieve fame for speed and profit would be suspect for completeness.
To assume that anyone who would go to such lengths in order to cheat Medicare would give a hoot about the quality of their work seems unbelievably naive. If I had been examined by one of the local mills (I went out of state), I would certainly want to seek a reliable re-examination.
John Isaacs
LAS VEGAS
A tired warning
To the editor:
Like a modern-day Paul Revere with buyer’s remorse, Review-Journal Editor Thomas Mitchell comes riding into town warning: “The socialists are coming, the socialists are coming!” In regard to Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race, Mr. Mitchell drew two conclusions in his Sunday column (“Soaring speech, shopworn theme”): that Sen. Obama is not a racist and that he is a socialist. Mr. Mitchell seeks to warn us against the very candidate that his newspaper endorsed prior to the Nevada caucus.
Sen. Obama’s speech did not blame capitalism for the problems of racial relations, he simply pointed out that sometimes greed can do harm to the country and its citizens. Would anyone disagree that greed is to blame for the health care crisis at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada? How about lead paint in imported children’s toys? How about tainted water that our military was forced to wash with in Iraq?
Rather than discuss the true merits of the speech, Mr. Mitchell mounts his high horse to rally us with the fear that someone wants what we have earned, our wealth. Did Sen. Obama lie in his speech about the perils of greed gone unchecked? Or did he open a dialogue that an out-of-state company in Nevada, which happens to be a newspaper, finds to be threatening?
No, Mr. Mitchell, the socialists are not coming; the only thing that is coming is a discussion about how we as a country got ourselves into an economic mess. By painting someone with the scarlet letter of socialism, you relegate the conversation to your own self-interests and disregard a discussion that is long overdue in this great country.
Bill DiBenedetto
HENDERSON
On taxpayers’ dime
To the editor:
I was reading the Sunday story about Krystal Rios and her 5-month-old daughter needing 24-hour care (“Medicaid patients left without care”).
What strikes me as odd is that buried in the story is the fact that she has four other children and is only 21 years old. No mention is made of a father of these children. Isn’t this a classic example of what is wrong with our society?
Mike Grant
LAS VEGAS
Birds of a feather
To the editor:
In response to Lester J. Pulst’s Saturday letter to the editor on religion in politics:
It may be true that an atheist does not necessarily have the same chance of attaining election to a public office as a person of religious faith might. Mr. Pulst bemoans the fact that those with his beliefs take a back seat to “those who subscribe to the absurd beliefs of ancient mythologies.”
If those of Mr. Pulst’s ilk were in the position of power and someone of “religious affiliation” (yes, I am a Christian, for the record) sought a public office, would they support that person, knowing he was against their particular beliefs?
I, personally, would think Mr. Pulst would have nothing to do with that candidate and would probably do whatever was within his legal power to stop him or her.
And what would you have to say “about this country” then, Mr. Pulst?
Neil Dickinson Sr.
HENDERSON
Party priorities
To the editor:
I seem to recall that Nevada is having a budget crisis. I seem to recall that university system Chancellor Jim Rogers said proposed budget cuts would be especially hard on UNLV. I seem to recall that education is a priority of the Democratic Party.
So how does UNLV waive a $60,000 fee for the use of the Thomas & Mack Center so that the Democratic Party can hold its convention there (“Democrats invoke law to get arena for do-over,” Friday Review-Journal)? I guess the Democratic Party doesn’t see the benefit $60,000 would have at UNLV. I guess the Democratic Party believes its meeting is more important than educating the children.
David R. Durling
LAS VEGAS
