Letters to the editor for Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013

Republicans compromised; Democrats turned them down

On Sept. 20, the House passed a continuing resolution that would fully fund the government (including things that Republicans don’t like) while at the same time defund Obamacare. The House Republicans compromised. On Sept. 27, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats refused to compromise to avoid a government shutdown. On Sept. 28, the House again compromised by agreeing to fund Obamacare, so long as the delays granted to special interests, big business, labor unions and Congress and their staffs were also granted to everyone. On Sept. 30, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats voted to shut down the government rather than to treat all Americans fairly.

As the editor of an American newspaper, I simply ask you to report the truth: that Harry Reid and the Democrats would rather shut down the U.S. government than give all Americans the same relief from Obamacare that they gave to themselves, donors and other special interests.

John W. Vettel

Carson City

Reid won’t take comments on site; he clearly doesn’t care

I had a curious thing happen today, I tried to contact Harry Reid to voice my concern over a government shutdown, but found I was unable to. All his phones are not being answered, and his government website reported they could not receive comments because of the shutdown. I thought, ‘Well, that makes sense. If they aren’t getting paid, why go to work?’ Then I tried to contact Dean Heller, just for the fun of it, to see if the shutdown affected him the same way. To my amazement, I was able to leave a comment on his website, and someone answered the phone. I guess it just goes to show you who is really listening to Nevadans. It definitely isn’t Harry; he doesn’t even care about us enough to tell the truth.

Wayne Miller

Carson City

Lack of commenting on Reid’s site shows he is out of touch

I just attempted to contact Sen. Harry Reid using his website and got the following message: “We are unable to receive messages at this time due to the government shutdown.” I then went to Sen. Dean Heller’s website and was able to contact him and send my thoughts to him.

They both seem to be on the same system of senate.gov. I can only assume that Mr. Reid does not want to hear from his constituents in Nevada during this time of government crisis. How can he get away with this?

Barney Rabold

Carson City

Al-Qaida couldn’t stop our government; Tea Party did

Isn’t it interesting that for well over a decade Al-Qaida has been trying (unsuccessfully) to shut down the U.S. government, but where they have failed, the Tea Party has succeeded, thanks to their ideological opposition to providing affordable health care to all Americans. Or is it just their blind opposition to anything supported by the president or a particular law of the land that they don’t like? Whatever the reason, it is a sorry state of affairs for this great nation.

Chas Macquarie

Carson City

Don’t let fringe groups decide when government can work

With Congress egos exceeding any chance of adult reasoning and ethics, I would request that they don’t allow the fringe interest groups to decide what part of government to keep open and what part to shut down. Allow the U.S. government to continue as is until the year end.

In the meantime, those representatives who would like to represent the lesser voices in America and the loud vocal fringe groups representatives can come together with several leading psychiatrist who can perhaps donate their time for a better America and mediate for reason and ethics. I understand the fringe loud FEAR group may be unreachable: FEAR being an acronym for “False Expectations Appearing Real.”

Yet these types of sessions may help those representatives who just need to regain their courage to represent the rest of America that are not influenced by TV and radio talking heads.

Linda Adams

Dayton

Obamacare will increase the number of insurance workers

First, since the House of Representatives has connected the funding of Obamacare with the annual budget, which I think is wrong, I think the first federal employees to be put on furlough should be those in the House who voted to combine the two. If they are representing their constituents, they need to be willing to set the example.

Second, I have been reading several news accounts about how many jobs will be lost because of Obamacare. Have you all forgotten that requiring insurance increases the number of employees those insurance companies will need to process claims from providers? Have you forgotten about the new jobs that will be related to providers of medical services? A major function of the healthcare system is to provide exams and information which will help people stay healthy, not just to help them get well after they get sick. Think about it!

Joyce Peirce

Carson City