Religion bad
Re: “Evolving Beyond Religion” [RN&R Guest Comment, Mar. 14]:
I could not agree more with David Payne. Humans have had thousands of years to make religion work and have failed miserably. Since its beginnings, religion has brought us ignorance, caste systems, slavery, prejudice, hatred, bigotry, persecution, torture, murder, child molestation, war, terrorism and all manner of evils that most religions preach against but instead end up often being the cause of. Fairy tales are fine for teaching stories of morality to children, but it’s about time adults pulled their heads out of the sand. John Lennon was on to something. You want peace? Well, “imagine no religion too.”
M. Tucker
via e-mail
Let’s vote on trench
Mike Tracy and other dedicated people are working hard to put an important question on the September ballot. Canvassing neighborhoods is a legitimate and useful method of circulating a petition. The ReTRAC project will affect every person in Reno, regardless of where they live or their economic level. Under our system of government, we are all politically equal. Grassroots organizations and citizen empowerment groups cannot afford to lose sight of this.
Nevada’s dismal standings in “quality of life” statistics have become known throughout the country. Reno is certainly not an oasis in this statistical desert. The local government often has acted contrary to public interests, even going so far as, in the no-new-billboard initiative, to subvert the will of the voters. Participatory democracy is a principle best categorized as “Use it or lose it!”
John D. Daniels
Reno
Soldier’s friend writes
Re “Honoring American heroes” [RN&R Film, Mar. 7]:
Nice review of We Were Soldiers. I’ve been holding my breath, because yours is the only movie review column I typically read and the actual Galen Bungum, the little guy in the cut-off platoon who carries the grenade launcher and smells the enemy approaching for their first night attack, is a friend of mine. I think I’ll send it to him. Too bad you completely overlooked the subtle yet moving performance of the lad who played him. That kid’s got star power.
I, too, thought the night attack scene was wicked. Bungum had told me many a tale about that day and night, so it’s not like I was unprepared. (We were forklift drivers together, so tale-telling was common, work less so). They brought that situation to life perfectly.
In regards to film preferences, I think we’re looking for a perspective that’s at least a touch kooky. Good-natured subversiveness is healthy for any town, and RN&R really is a nice piece of alternative journalism. In that same vein, you and Bruce Van Dyke are a hoot on the radio together. Dry wit’s a dying art in mass media.
Pete Monaghan
via e-mail
Puzzled by Nunes
Re “Cahill’s Ethics” [RN&R Letters, Mar. 7]:
After carefully reading Susan Nunes’ letter regarding Tierney Cahill’s anticpated run for Nevada’s Second Congressional seat now occupied by Jim Gibbons, I find myself puzzled. Just exactly what part of Cahill’s campaign does Nunes consider to be a “joke” and “a sham partisan campaign?” Does Cahill, a loving, dedicated school teacher and a divorced mother of three, not represent American family values? Does Nunes really believe Cahill’s reason for running had naught to do with teaching students about the political process, but rather that she used education as a guise for her unbridled political ambitions? Maybe it’s the fact that a non-politico with nearly no name recognition, unfettered by a multitude of strings attached to campaign contributions she didn’t receive and receiving only begrudging support from the state and local parties still garnered 30 percent of the votes against a highly popular incumbent who was bankrolled to the hilt?I suggest Ms. Nunes reread the Constitution, which designates the House of Representatives as the “people’s house.” If a professional politician with ties to Big Money represents Nevada voters more than Cahill, who took a grand risk to educate our next generation, then Nunes, a self-avowed longtime Democrat, must be ecstatically infatuated with the Bush administration and the deep-pocketed cronies who put them in the White House.
Mary Anne Souza
via e-mail