Letters to the editor for Sunday, March 9, 2014

Government arming itself against citizens

When campaigning for the presidency, Sen. Barack Obama said, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

The experience of military policing of civilians after the Civil War led to the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act forbidding the armed forces from civilian policing with the exception of the Coast Guard that operates under the Department of Homeland Security which may be used in limited circumstances. The primary duty of the armed forces is to destroy property and kill people in direct contradiction of the duty of police which is to protect property and save lives.

His statement of creating a civilian national security force suggests that this is designed to defeat the principle of Posse Comitatus by creating a police force as a military unit operating under military rules of engagement and now as president, he appears to be well on his way to creating such a police force.

Government agencies are stockpiling enormous amounts of ammunition which include flesh shredding hollow point bullets, forbidden in warfare under the Geneva Convention, but permissible against citizens deemed to be anti-government terrorists as defined by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the Southern Poverty Law Center who are the leading authorities recognized by the media and the Department of Justice and regularly consulted on such matters. Remember Waco and Ruby Ridge.

Alan C. Edwards

Carson City

Doctors should check children for allergies

In the Reno Gazette Journal on Feb. 26, an eighth grade boy’s story was told about his food allergy scare, getting sick and about how EpiPens can save lives. Thank you so much for requiring schools to have EpiPens for school nurses to use.

I, too, have severe food allergies. I am in my forties. I have been carrying generic Benadryl in my purse for many years. In the 1990s I had gotten sick several times at church potlucks. When I was a baby, I was allergic to a lot of things. After some time the doctor put me on plain whole milk. Then I was fine.

In 2001, my mother, brother, a niece and I went to a restaurant in Carson City. After lunch my sweet niece (3 years old) took the waitress’ offer and got four cookies for each of us. Nuts! I got sick. But it is rare nowadays. Strawberries are easy to see, but tree nuts can hide in whatever dish. Funny thing, I love peanuts (it’s a legume.) My close friends know my food allergies. I thank the Lord Jesus for each of them.

I encourage all pediatric doctors to check children for food allergies.

Julie Mason

Carson City

Killers deserve to be punished accordingly

I sincerely hope I am not the only one completely disgusted with the Cardoza murder trial. Why does our society immediately look for ways of lessening the severity of terrible crimes? If someone (even accidentally) destroys my car, they are responsible for the full value of the car. Yet, when a citizen takes another’s life, society looks for mitigating circumstances and rarely, if ever, punishes the murderer accordingly.

As a moral, enlightened society we call it “justice” (a very, very thinly veiled word for revenge). But all our justice system shows us is that our society is completely lacking any moral fortitude.

Kevin Crow

Gardnerville

Lawmakers’ journey to Taiwan carries a price

Our elected officials are at it again. Legislators have taken a page from the book of the governor’s travel tips (our governor has taken five out-of-country trips). Nine legislators have taken a trip to Taiwan. Taiwan paid their expenses, but if they traveled in their official capacity as Nevada legislators, Taiwan expects something in return. I hope they don’t want to export more of their goods to Nevada. When I go shopping I want to see more “made in America” labels to help our people get back to work and improve our economy.

This extraordinary travel was picked up by the Associated Press and our Nevada Appeal reprinted the article on Feb. 15.

I am going to list the legislators names again so that everyone can see if their representative is involved in (boondoggle) vacations: Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, as well as Sens. Aaron Ford, David Parks and Ben Kieckhefer, and Assembly members David Bobzien, Heidi Swank, Paul Anderson and Randy Kirner.

I am appalled that nine of our legislators thought that they had found a “free ride” to Taiwan. These are the people that we trust to formulate the laws for the State of Nevada. I should think that by this time they had learned that there is no such thing as a free lunch. They should know that there is no such thing as a free trip to Taiwan.

Mary Bunch

Carson City

Lowering standards won’t help students

On Friday, Feb. 28, the Appeal ran an article regarding lowering the bar on the math-proficiency test. It reported that Clark County School District students struggled with the existing passing threshold. Sixty-eight percent of the students failed the current standard. Several questions arise: Will lowering the standard really help the students achieve proficiency? Has anyone addressed the core of the problem, i.e. why aren’t these students meeting current standards? How will this affect Nevada’s already low educational ratings?

We are continually dumbing down education standards. Why is it so many universities need to offer remedial math and English courses to incoming freshman? Things that should have been learned in high school or even grade school.

Bob Hilderbrand

Carson City