Letters to the editor for Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015

The other side of ‘climate buffoons’

Lynn Muzzy would have us believe that the world’s climatologists (Muzzy calls them “climate buffoons”) once believed that greenhouse gases were causing global cooling. The kernel of truth behind that myth is that in 1975, a National Academy of Sciences report said that while we were technically overdue for a new ice age, the consensus was that not enough was yet known about the greenhouse effect to make reliable climate predictions.

Now, after another four decades of research, the consensus is that “climate forcing,” driven by trillions of tons of carbon added to the atmosphere by human activities, is warming the planet even faster than previously anticipated.

Muzzy taps into several other climate change myths. For one, Muzzy claims that Warren Buffett was opposed to the Keystone pipeline because it would compete with his company’s BNSF railroad. In reality Buffett supports the pipeline, and BNSF doesn’t transport oil from Alberta’s Athabasca tar sands, though they do serve North Dakota’s Bakken fields.

As to the hacked emails at the University of East Anglia, eight separate investigations found no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct. And as to Solyndra, it was one of only two loan defaults since President Bush started the Department of Energy’s innovative technology program in 2005. Those defaults occurred after the solar market was flooded with low-cost panels from government-subsidized Chinese vendors.

As Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

Rich Dunn

Carson City

Veterans should be using Reno VA

I am an Army veteran who uses the Reno VA facility and would encourage all veterans in our area to do the same. They treat me with kindness, caring and a understanding of the issues that I have — not only due to combat, but whatever life brings.

While no one enjoys going to a doctor, they provide a primary care pac team that includes the same doctor and nurse each time for my general needs, and they are able to schedule or set up all special services such as pharmacy, eye, dermatology, X-ray, etc., anything that is required, often on the same day.

Occasionally I will have a appointment canceled and re-dated, but not often, and only because a fellow vet has needs that are more serious than mine. I am OK with that knowing I am also helping someone. They always give me a new date.

When I go there they take the time to listen go through all my history and make recommendations based on my medical needs and of course are able to draw on a library of millions of fellow vets that are engaged in the system.

The cost is a minimal co-pay based on income for most vets.

Again, they are kind, they treat you with respect, and most importantly, they listen. I can go to any VA medical facility this country has in any state. They will have my records. They have my back, and they will have yours, too.

Gary Powell

Carson City

Don’t kill coyotes, bears

This letter is regarding the killing of coyotes and bears. I find this truly disgusting. I’m glad there were activists standing up for these poor defenseless animals. It should not stop just for Nevada, it should stop worldwide.

What really makes me mad is they did it just for the heck of it. Just for the heck of it? It’s true they do prey on smaller animals, but that’s just in their nature. It still doesn’t give them the right to kill them.

Here’s a thought, capture the coyotes and bears and move them where there’s food and they don’t endanger other animals. They were at one time doing that with bears. What happened with that?

And as for their abundance of bears and coyotes, they’re not the only ones. Are we going to kill everything that is overabundant? That’s a bad excuse. God gave you a brain, where is it?

My question to the article in the paper about bears is, when they weren’t harming anything, why did we let something so unnecessary happen? Were there permits? It sure wasn’t hunting season, and what good is it to shoot bears?

This should be illegal. I hope a group of people will come down and make a law to stop this! This should not be allowed. There’s no excuses for this ignorance. I will be the first to sign a protest against this or get a law against this.

Ruth Berg

Carson City

She keeps running the race

McCreary’s article errors in two places I know of — Jesus Christ is God the Father’s “only begotten son,” not his “one and only son.”

Your Bible is in error. Read Psalm 2:7, John 1:14, 3:16. The love you spoke of for your wife is not the love in the Bible that Jesus died to give us. God’s love saves us from wrath.

John 3:16; you, sir, have a poor understanding of the real love of God. God’s love is eternal to save us from hell and damnation because of our sins. God never promised us our best life now.

If we follow him, Joel Osteen, if you, we, truly take up our crosses and follow daily, the scriptures say you will be hated, misunderstood, lied about, persecuted, forsaken by family, friends, put out of the church house, suffer loss of home, jobs, loneliness, hunger, avoided by those who once called you friend, laughed at and a host of other things.

I know firsthand what it means to suffer for the gospel’s sake, for I’m suffering all these things right now. But like Paul said, none of these things move me (away from the gospel); they make me more determined than ever to run this race and finish it, no matter what the cost.

Remember, sir, many who call him Lord will be rejected on the judgement day, with the words, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” So join me in living the true gospel, I could use the company!

Rosalee Barnwell Hinton

Carson City