Letters to the editor July 11

Far right's logic is twisted

This is regarding Bill Pyatt's illogical political ramble on July 9. Harry Reid is "as much left as Sharron (Angle) is right" - say what?

Try this: We have heard Sharron Angle's position on abortion - none, nohow, nowhere, not for any reason.

Harry Reid's position? The logical extension, if Reid were actually as left as Angle is right, would be promotion of free, government-funded walk-in abortion clinics on every corner.

The truth is that Harry Reid is personally pro-life, but acknowledges both the wishes of his constituents and the right to abortion as settled law, which has not been overturned for four decades. In many ways, on many issues, Reid is a moderate, and to brand him liberal is really reaching.

In one case, however, the extreme mirror-image fits: Sharron Angle wants to welcome nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain - public opinion, danger to groundwater and earthquake faults be damned - while Harry Reid has acquired for Nevada the world's largest-ever solar power project. It will be located at the Yucca Mountain facility, creating green jobs and safe power, making the country more secure. Give me more of that liberal agenda.

Pyatt starts by being disgusted with trash politics and ends by trashing Reid, Obama and especially Rory Reid - a little exercise in hypocrisy which is outstandingly trashy. The far right doesn't get irony, and has a hard time spotting the hypocrisy in their own twisted logic.

Leigh McGuire

Stagecoach

Feral cats don't fit into predator-prey ecosystem

By re-abandoning feral cats on the streets, Animal Services is condemning many of them to fates far worse than a painless death ("Feral felines spared euthanasia," 7/9/10).

Cats, socialized or not, depend on humans for survival. On their own, homeless cats routinely starve, suffer and die of untreated broken bones, infections, parasite infestations, and contagious diseases such as rabies, are poisoned, shot and drowned by people who don't want them in their yards, hit by cars, attacked by dogs and worse.

Trap-neuter-return programs prevent future generations of cats from being born, but they do nothing to protect existing cats from the hardships that they endure daily. Sterilization doesn't remove a cat's instinct to hunt, either. Roaming cats who are not native wildlife and do not fit into the predator-prey ecosystem terrorize, maim and kill countless native birds and other small animals who aren't equipped to deal with such predators.

Shelters are an animal's last resort. Their mission should be to give every animal a safe haven, even if the best they can offer some of them is a painless death. Abandoning cats to suffer slow, torturous deaths on the streets isn't a humane or acceptable option. Focusing on spaying and neutering Carson City residents' cats and dogs is a better and more humane way to reduce the number of homeless animals in the community. To learn more, visit www.HelpingAnimals.com.

Teresa Chagrin

Animal Care & Control Specialist

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)