Develop domestic sources to reduce dependence

To the editor:

William Mathis' July 20 letter shows how false propaganda from politicians, bureaucrats and "greens'" has affected America's ignorant and/or gullible.

Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi's "cap-and-tax" and political give-aways to subsidize profits by their cronies from uneconomic renewable energy schemes will certainly reduce our imported oil by wrecking our economy so we can afford less of everything and driving down the value of our dollar through giveaways to favored constituencies and wild deficit spending.

These schemes to lavish taxpayer money on politically connected wind and solar fat cats will have little direct impact on oil imports. While economical (sans taxpayer subsidies) renewable energy and conservation are desirable in themselves, they primarily affect electric energy production. Oil is consumed primarily in transportation, agriculture (think fertilizers), and industrial products (think plastics).

Want to reduce our reliance on imported oil for purely security reasons? Allow private enterprise to develop proven oil and natural gas reserves on our public lands, offshore areas, and that miniscule fraction of the frozen wastes of Alaska.

DAVE FAIR

LAS VEGAS

Spaced out

To the editor:

July 20 marked the 40th anniversary of man's first lunar landing and much has been written over the past few weeks about the current state of our national space program. Having intimate knowledge of the workings at NASA, I have to question why this agency continues to be funded through our tax dollars.

The shuttle program is limping toward retirement with only seven more launches scheduled and the next generation flight hardware -- Constellation -- is far from ready to replace it. Contract overruns and schedule delays are common and design data deliverables are a constant source of bickering between all NASA resources both internal and external.

Due to the nature of doing business inside and with a government agency like NASA the same actions that would be commonplace in private industry as economically prudent are not allowed. Some civil servant might get his feelings hurt if he was told how to do his job and which tools he had to do them with. In addition, since budget allocations are a measure of power within the organization, there is little incentive for managers to save money from year to year. It is common knowledge that if you don't spend your budget this year it won't be allocated next year.

Aside from the mismanagement that I believe is culturally encouraged within our government agencies, the simple question remains: What value do we as a society get from our investment in space exploration? I hope it is more than Velcro or Tang, but I highly doubt it.

The simple fact is that we have not yet learned to live on this planet in a peaceful and benevolent manner even though we have a natural ability to exist here. How could we possibly believe that colonizing the moon or Mars via man-made environments would ever result in any outcome other than tragedy?

If my name were Obama and my job was to make the tough decisions with regard to our collective future, I would have to think long and hard about shutting down the space program and letting the private sector continue the funding for this 3,000-pound gorilla.

Bob Leonard

HENDERSON

Mormon attack

To the editor:

I read with great interest Margo Pesek's Sunday "Trip of the Week" regarding The Mountain Meadows Massacre. I have studied this sad event quite extensively and must differ with Ms. Pesek on some points.

In all that I have read, there is nothing to indicate that John Lee "was hiding out", as stated by Ms. Pesek. In fact he was in Arizona where he had established and operated "Lee's Ferry" on the Colorado (near present day Page) until he was taken into custody in late 1874. It is argued in the book "Mountain Meadows Massacre" by Juanita Brooks that Lee was singled out because he was the Mormon Indian agent for the Territory of Utah at the time and was not present to defend himself at either of the meetings held by the church to investigate what happened.

All who took part swore an oath of silence. So 20 years after the attack, Lee was executed by a firing squad while seated on the edge of his own coffin at Mt. Meadows and thus entered history as the scapegoat for a large group of men who took part in this tragic event.

It is further argued that the fact the United States became embroiled in the Civil War is why there was a long period of time between the event, the investigation and subsequent execution. Were Indians involved? Yes, but there was a large number of Mormon militia men dressed as Indians involved also.

After a three-day siege, the emigrants were convinced that if they lay down their arms and walked away they would be able to depart in safety. They were escorted by a column of militia men on horseback with each assigned a settler. At a given signal the Mormon militia men opened fire on their assigned target and murdered them. The women were killed as it was decided they could possibly identify the Mormons. It is true that 17 children under the age five were saved as it was decided they would have no recollection of the event. The Indians are said to have been involved with the siege but not the killing of the column as it is believed that they were looting the wagons at the time.

There was also a recent movie entitled "September Dawn" with Jon Voight that covered the massacre. I am sure this must be regrettable event in LDS history.

Louise Thompson

LAS VEGAS