Country needs government to work together
To thrive our country needs opposing political parties that seek to find common ground through compromise; no one has all of the answers. To hear one of our senators say, "One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration,” and offering no cooperation, should be a wakeup call.
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment Act that was just passed is going to benefit everyone, every state and the country. For Nevada, more than $4 billion has been designated to create good-paying jobs rebuilding crumbling transportation and water infrastructure, improving drought resilience and forest fire prevention, expanding the state’s electric vehicle charging network, investing in broadband to bring high-speed internet access to underserved areas, and more.
But some House members from the opposing party who voted for it are facing backlash from colleagues for supporting something they think is best for their state and constituents. No Republican supported the American Rescue Plan, but many took credit when their districts benefited.
On his website, Rep. Mark Amodei states that he believes "transportation infrastructure is one of the most important elements in creating a thriving, job-creating economy." Yet he voted against the Infrastructure Investment Act.
We still face a lot of challenges and need to work on legislation that promises a secure and hopeful future for everyone. We’re not going to agree on everything, or get everything we want, but our representatives need to work together in good faith to create legislation that best serves the country regardless of their party affiliation.
Elizabeth Valdes
Minden
Veterans Day performance was wonderful
A few weeks ago, a young lady in our neighborhood invited me to the Veterans Day concert at Carson Middle School, and I attended. It was a simply wonderful performance, starting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, followed by a half dozen patriotic songs.
Veterans were asked to stand when the choir performed their service's song in the Service Medley which was heartwarming, and each service got a round of applause.
One of the most impressive items about the concert was the work by the eighth grade history classes, who put placards of their families' Veterans in the front yard of the school — there are about 100 posted in the schoolyard through the weekend.
Carson Middle School has done it right. Thanks to the students and faculty, and special thanks to Miss Ryleigh for the invitation.
Jay Smith
Carson City
Farmer wrong on climate
Guy Farmer's latest diatribe on climate change is another example of political tribalism trying to convince the populace that black is white and up is down. Farmer appears to base his opinions not on facts but rather the elitism of Wall Street Journal editorials.
One wonders about his motives. Journalistic laziness? Political tribalism? Personal enjoyment of being contrary to the real world? A definition of elitism is giving special treatment and advantages to wealthy and powerful people. Clearly that applies to the editorial board of the wealthy and powerful Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ does have some principled journalists, but Farmer chooses to ignore them in favor of the clearly elitist (wealthy and powerful) WSJ editorial staff. Farmer says "I believe that climate change is real” but, wink, wink “I don't think anyone knows for sure what the human contribution to this is.” “Anyone?” Really?
Why does Farmer choose to discard overwhelming hard data and facts? Because those have been developed by objective science rather than right-wing politicians and the petroleum “elites”? If Farmer thinks climate change is “real,” what does he think should be done to counteract it? There is no greater "climate change hypocrisy" than to say the economic and social devastation of climate change is "real" and then mock any attempt to effectively deal with it.
Shame on Farmer for lowering his commentaries to the level of a Fox political hack. He was much better than that in the past.
Jon Nowlin
Carson City
