Mrs. Thomas should leave well enough alone

To the editor:

Virginia Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, has the gall after 19 years to telephone Anita Hill to demand that she apologize for the nasty Supreme Court confirmation hearing Mr. Thomas underwent before the Senate.

As a matter of fact, according to reports at the time, it was not Ms. Hill who reported the harassment. Someone leaked it to the press.

I watched those hearings live on TV during which Ms. Hill was victimized twice -- once by Mr. Thomas, and also by the "Good Old Boys" conducting the hearing, including our current vice president.

Now, Ms. Hill is again being victimized by the wife of the victimizer who, for whatever motives she may have, is reviving a mortifying time in Ms. Hill's life. Although Ms. Thomas claims to be "extending an olive branch," in as much as there has been no war ongoing between Mr. Thomas and Ms. Hill, I ask to what end?

Could there be some connection between this "olive branch" and the fact that, according to The Associated Press, Mrs. Thomas is an activist with ties to the Tea Party? Hmmm.

HELEN RICHMAN

LAS VEGAS

Jet service

To the editor:

It's still fresh in my mind when President Barack Obama complained about the executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler flying to Washington from Detroit in their company jets. Now he takes Air Force One all over the country with his entourage, spending taxpayer dollars to campaign.

MARTY BILLICH

LAS VEGAS

To the chase

To the editor:

In Carrie Stanley's recent letter attacking Sharron Angle, she exhibits how substitute teachers are looked down upon by the regular faculty. They are in fact treated as "subhuman" -- but that's another story.

What Ms. Stanley fails to note is that Sharron Angle had the intelligence to become a Nye County School Board member from her substitute teacher experience, thereby displaying the fact that she knew how to "cut to the chase" without wasting time.

Now that's what we need in Washington.

LIDIA LIPARI

LAS VEGAS

Job creation

To the editor:

I am continually amazed at the ignorance of Americans about economics. During FDR's administration, I learned that the government cannot create many jobs. I agree with Thomas Sowell (Oct. 28 column). FDR prolonged the Great Depression many years, and Mr. Obama is retarding our recovery from this recession.

Most jobs are created by the owners of small businesses who are encouraged to invest in the future, not deterred by government meddling. Government can only introduce impediments to job creation through regulations and taxes.

The boom of the 1990s was caused by the increase in productivity associated with computerization. The severe recession of 1921 is never mentioned because the administrations of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge killed it by reducing taxes and balancing the budget, leading to the economic boom of the mid 1920s.

If the media were to tell about that period it would help educate us all.

P. W. Allen

Las Vegas

Green costs

To the editor:

I hope that all of us in Nevada will carefully scrutinize the information being provided on the new proposed electrical rate increase as reported in the Oct. 21 Review-Journal story, "NV Energy proposes rate hike."

This is touted by NV Energy as a slightly less than 5 percent rate increase in Southern Nevada "to recoup expenses and revenue lost to power conservation." So by using less power, we get higher rates? What are these people trying to sell us now?

The customer relations front man explains, "Through demand-side management (efficiency programs), ratepayers benefit from the avoided cost of more-expensive generation and purchased power." By paying more?

It appears that the liberal-speak dictionary of deceptive terms was just expanded again. Apparently, "rationing" is now just "demand-side management." If you coerce one to use less of something by cost or other mandate, you are rationing its use. But then, rationing is such an unpopular term.

Our Harry Reid proclaimed the policy of the gagging green Democrat Party controllers when he spoke of the need for absurdly inefficient solar energy. Discussing cost competitiveness, he stated, "Coal makes us sick; oil makes us sick." He said we must "stop using fossil fuel."

The Democratic Party will not temper its radical attack on our energy use even with the exposure of the fraudulent basis for the pseudoscience of man-made "global warming."

The dominating Democrats are seeking to shut down our use of efficient energy -- from clean coal, oil, gas or nuclear -- and drive us into much less energy use at a much greater "green" expense. This rate increase is just the beginning of the Reid policy implementation.

JIM TOBIN

LAS VEGAS

Make up your mind

To the editor:

To all "undecided" voters:

It seems that by being undecided you have already begun the process of looking beyond your party affiliation and, in some cases, even beyond your conservative or liberal leanings. This could be considered evidence of an open mind, which is good.

I invite you to come down off the fence and take your stand. Whether you lean left or right, it is imperative that you see beyond (and through) all the campaign hype, the fliers and the TV commercials, the lies and severely twisted "truths." Since these will be your representatives, you must look at each candidate and decide which one will cast their vote in line with your wishes (or at least more often than not). Whichever candidate fits that description is the one you need to vote for Election Day.

This can be applied to partisan office and judgeships. Everything else is just static white noise.

Todd Gibson

Las Vegas