Letters to the editor for Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015

Auctioning off puppy inappropriate

Mr. Messina should do some thinking. A $500 puppy package for shots doesn’t mean the puppy will get the shots, a loving home or quality care. And the Boys and Girls Clubs should do the thinking before exploiting an animal for profit. I commend every person that spoke out against the decision to auction a puppy.

Every day animal activists see the tragic results of activities like the one you and the “delighted attendees” support. All too often these animals wind up being “re-homed” or worse because caring for an animal goes far beyond a one-night event. Responsible pet ownership isn’t an act of outbidding others at an auction. Perhaps the Boys and Girls Clubs should have made a “mature decision” by looking to the welfare of the puppy first instead of irresponsibly promoting the overpopulation of pets.

If the Boys and Girls Clubs is so dependent on auctioning off puppies like sacks of potatoes and now in dire financial straits, it should reconsider its artificially low membership fee. Charging only $30 per year regardless of family income hardly makes sense while complaining of high operating costs. I suspect a great many members are well above the poverty line and spend more on their daily “low fat, extra foam latte” than membership fees. Your ridiculous claim of suffering at the hands of animal advocates by being unable to auction off a helpless puppy as part of a fundraising gala hardly serves your organization. Maybe next year you could auction off a horse’s ass; I’d be glad to help you find one.

Lisa Helget

Carson City

Statham’s concern in the wrong place

Mr. Statham is so upset with John Boehner for inviting Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to Congress concerning the nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States he thinks it may be illegal.

Mr. Statham leaves out the fact that President Obama submitted this nuclear agreement to the United Nations for approval before submitting it to Congress. He also fails to state that an agreement as profoundly dangerous as this should have been an issue for Congress to approve.

He is so worried about West Bank settlements but not about how much land Israel has given up and has gotten nothing in return, except rockets.

Patrick McIntyre

Stagecoach

The myth of Donald Trump

Donald Trump supporters have bought a myth of his being a fabulously successful businessman. In fact, Trump inherited a vast fortune from his father, Fred Trump, who built a real estate empire worth $400 million. His father set him up in business and Donald’s contribution was to incur huge debt and stick banks and bondholders with financial disasters. Trump hotels and casinos had four high profile business bankruptcies.

Trump has switched political party affiliations five times since 1987. He’s held wildly conflicting positions on important issues — abortion, health care, gun control, income taxes and immigration. The bold “tell it like it is” Trump, in reality, is an indecisive, shallow “flip-flopper.”

Trump has been a heavy Democratic Party donor, including to Hillary Clinton. He made significant contributions in the crucial contest that put Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in power in 2006. Trump contributed $10,400 to Reid, including to his 2010 Nevada Senate race. As recently as September 2013, Trump made contributions totaling $6,000 to very liberal Democrat California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a strong “sanctuary cities” supporter.

While Trump compares himself to Ronald Reagan, the former president’s son, Michael Reagan, says his father would be “appalled” at Trump’s antics of juvenile personal insults. He told Newsmax: “You can be a Reagan Republican or a Trump Republican, but you can’t be both.”

It’s time for Republican voters to get real — Donald Trump is full of bluster with no real substance and unqualified to be president.

Jim Hartman

Genoa

Not Trump’s responsibility to defend Obama

To quote Hillary Clinton, “I was appalled,” but for me, it is over the outrage expressed by Ms. Clinton, members of her party, and much of the media regarding Donald Trump’s failure to correct or challenge a member of the public who questioned President’ Obama’s birthplace and religion.

Is it the responsibility of a Republican presidential hopeful to staunchly defend a Democrat President? Isn’t that what Josh Earnest, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, not to mention CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. are there for? Are they so upset that the Donald isn’t doing their job that they feel obliged to attack him for giving a curt answer and moving on without getting into a possible shouting match with someone who expressed an opinion in his question, an opinion which might possibly be protected by the First Amendment?

Where were these stalwarts of integrity when Dan Rather was gleefully attacking George Bush’s record of military service without even checking the documents, a choice bit of character assassination? This shameful display is just another example of the blatant hypocrisy of the anti-Trump/anti-conservative crowd.

Gary M. Collier

Gardnerville

Please stop this from happening

This has to be stopped. Obama/Kerry say we will take in 10,000 refugees this year, 85,000 in 2016, and 100,000 in 2017. I feel sorry for these people, but how about the Arab countries standing tall and taking in their own first? These people are uneducated, have no trades, and will be on welfare roles and HUD housing with SNAP food cards. We can’t even afford to take care of our own veterans and our own poor, so how is this going to work?

We are now over $18,000,000,000,000 in debt, and when Obama leaves office it will be over $20,000,000,000,000. Look at all those zeros. There is no possible way to ever pay this back. The country as a whole will collapse under this weight. How can we pay and put all those refugees into our society?

We will soon become a Muslim country just as the swarm of refugees into Europe will do. Our Christian/Judea nation will be no more, unless the wrath of God cleans it out. If you get any assistance now, you can kiss that goodbye because these refugees will be first in line. All these new numbers of refugees headed our way and your way into your pocketbook. Where are the billions of dollars to relocate these refugees going to come from?

Ronald Feldstein

Carson City

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry

George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump; don’t know whether to laugh or cry!

John O’Neill

Minden