Letters to the editor for Sunday, April 23, 2017

Trump: Wise man or fool?

There is an old proverb which states, “A wise man changes his mind; a fool never will.” If one believes this to be true, one must conclude that we have elected to the presidency the wisest man in America.

Oscar W. Ford

Carson City

Sen. Heller failing to support ‘we the people’

Once again the GOP has demonstrated its total disdain for the American people. The Republican belief and behavior that “if you don’t wish to abide by the rules, CHANGE THEM” is an affront to law-abiding citizens. How ironic that for eight years, their platform was to “obstruct everything Obama.” And our Sen. Dean Heller supported that position almost 100 percent of the time with the party line position. He failed repeatedly to do his job as defined by the U.S. Constitution. He failed to insist that there be hearings and a vote on a nomination for the Supreme Court for no other reason than it was an Obama nomination and the party told him to vote a certain way.

Mitch McConnell’s stated reasons not to even have a hearing or any vote on President Obama’s nomination was solely based on it being his last year “in office.” A reason NOT supported by the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Heller, McConnell and all of the other Republicans did change the rules to confirm a nominee of a president who is currently under FBI investigation. Gorsuch’s voting record has consistently supported big business, big corporations and big money over the rights of any individual.

And our Nevada senator, Heller, voted to perpetuate that position into the Supreme Court. Heller does NOT support we the people.

M.J. Newman

Carson City

Free market is best entrusted with health care

Dr. Lyons, author of the April 16 Appeal column “Medicare for All,” holds up the imagined superiority of other countries’ socialized health care systems to convince us that taxpayer-funded government health care is more “efficient.” It makes you wonder why she and other like-minded collectivists haven’t already emigrated to one of those utopian nations they so fervently extol?

Lyons cites the VA as an efficient provider of government health care, seemingly unaware of its chronic mistreatment of veterans and rampant fraud. In just the latest scandal, two VA managers were suspended for forcing lower-ranking managers to accept job transfers and then stepping into the vacant positions themselves, keeping their senior-level pay and $403,000 in relocation expenses, while reducing their responsibilities.

We have eight years of Obamacare wreckage to prove that columnist Dr. Edward Gray, who has worked in the public and private sector as a pharmacist, dentist, and medical doctor, knows what he’s talking about.

The free market, not the corrupt hand of big government, is the best health care provider for Americans.

Lois Bock

Minden

Trump’s priorities inept through Korea crisis

Headline: “As North Korea brews, Trump again in Mar-a-Lago.”

I wonder, shouldn’t the captain of the ship be on the bridge at times of emergency instead of in his multi-million dollar playpen?

John O’Neill

Minden

Post Office in need of maintenance

Carson City, a new beautiful main street; well groomed Capitol grounds with large shady trees and the gem of the state reflecting our love for Nevada. And then, just three block to the east is a property that degrades all of this: the main Post Office facility on Roop Street.

In the past few years I have noticed that the grounds around the Post Office building and the public parking areas have been very poorly maintained. The grass goes without fertilizer/weed control and without regular mowing at times; the trees; shrubs go untrimmed; the edging is not carefully done and the sidewalks go unswept. During the winter the walkways and stairs are not fully cleared/shoveled and little or no ice preventer material or sand is distributed to prevent slipping. The parking lot has large potholes; the pavement is unravelling and the parking space lines are nearly worn off.

Why is this? Do not the city’s main street and the Capitol grounds set a good enough example?

With a new Post mistress and Reno postal facility being the regional sectional center, one would expect better care of this facility. After all, it is the state capital and should demand some respect.

If you agree with my observations, feel free to contact the main Post Office, Carson City, and register your displeasure at 775-884-2316.

Mike Zola

Carson City

Poor planning of town hall results in limited free speech

After waiting in line for more than a half an hour on Monday morning to attend a town hall in Reno, we were told the fire marshal would not let us in.

When I called Sen. Heller and Rep. Amodei’s offices they told me that there were 600 places available, and people came at 6 a.m. to line up to attend.

When I asked if there were any contingency plans to accommodate the hundreds of us overflow people, they suggested getting there earlier.

When I suggested they have a plan to accommodate the overflow in the future, by online sign-ups, or just having a bigger space within the convention center, it was not greeted positively.

“We will tell the member of Congress” was the reply before they hung up. You get the feeling that our representatives want to have the town hall just to say they had one, rather than to really do the listening/responding part of the job we pay them to do.

Perhaps if I was calling to donate large sums of money the responses would have been different.

Paul Corrado

Carson City