Letters

GOP help puts Nader's brilliant legacy at risk

The number of reliable sources is increasing that tell of how very involved Republicans have been in funding Ralph Nader's campaign across the country and in getting his name on the ballot in various states. To hear them tell it, they think it's the best investment that they've ever made! Nevada is included.

This makes me sad for several reasons, but mostly because here is a man who now chooses to leave a tainted legacy, instead of one that could have been more fitting. I'm one of those folks who, in the '70s, did what a lot of people did across the country. We applied JFK's directive to "ask what we could do for our country" to what Ralph Nader was showing us that we could do in the consumer movement. And across the country, we were effective. We were certainly effective working with Mike O'Callaghan as governor. And now this same man throws that all away and is determined to act as a spoiler. What a tragic way to be remembered in the history books.

Just remember, folks, when you work on your ballot all those Republicans who funded his campaign across the country, and who worked the system to get him on the ballot, did it for a reason. And believe me--he's not their choice for president and he's sure not going to get their vote! Please make your vote count.

--Patricia van Betten,

Blue Diamond

Vain search for Great Vegas Novel

Re: "In Search of the Great Vegas Novel," Aug. 12:

The Great Vegas Novel?

Hard to imagine.

Faulkner, Hemingway, Dos Passos, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Saroyan--I doubt that any of 'em set out to write "The Great American Novel." (Though Dos Passos came closest with USA.)

They wrote about what they knew. They wrote about the people of their place and time. Occasionally they wrote about great themes, but the themes were borne on the shoulders of characters whose souls the writers understood through and through: "Barn Burning" is a more insightful examination of sociopathic behavior than anything you might have read in Psychology Today.

Great novelists don't wake up one morning and say, "Gee, I think I'll go visit Vegas and write The Great Vegas Novel." It just doesn't happen like that.

For there ever to be a Great Vegas Novel, there first must be a Great Vegas Writer, even if only a seasonal visitor. And given the reality of our area--face it, Vegas is little more than upscale carny--it's hard to imagine that would motivate a great writer to spend much time here, as Hemingway spent time in Paris and Spain and the Keys and Ketchum and Africa and the Caribbean.

Nor do I see anything in what passes for local culture that would motivate a local youngster to shoulder the burden of becoming a serious novelist.

Like governments and advertising ("Most people get the government they deserve" and "Advertisers get the ad agencies they deserve"), perhaps Vegas has gotten the novel it deserves.

--Roy Hayes

We need an atheist in the White House

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America (separation of church and state) is, in every respect, a mile-high pile of horseshit. Every president that this country has ever had has been a religious man (not that it did us any good).

President George W. Bush makes his decisions based on what he perceives his god wants him to do (Time, 2003); and everything that he stands for is what the church stands for, too. Examples: He's against abortion (so is the church), he's against gay marriages (so is the church), he's against the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes (so is the church). So if you're voting to re-elect the president, you might as well nominate the pope in the next election.

Kerry, on the other hand, is a bit more realistic and full of surprises. Myself, I'm a disillusioned ex-Christian, and a disgruntled 55-year-old Vietnam veteran who's never voted for anyone or anything in this country, and never will until an atheist runs for office; that's my idea of separation of church and state.

--Bralio Mendez

Article on Libertarian candidate real journalism

A big thank you to Vince Keenan for his article on Michael Badnarik ["Remember Freedom?," Sept. 9]. Real journalism.

Wonderful to read after being presented with the superficial reporting of a recent bland-enough-to-make-one-gag article written by the Associated Press (and appearing in USA Today).

Kudos, Mr. Keenan, and thank you, too, Mercury.

--Andy Key

Vagrants ruin public places

Have you been to City Park [next to City Hall] lately? I walked through the other day and all I could hear was snoring, burping and beer-farts. I was only there for a few minutes on my way to the Downtown Transportation Center and was asked four times for cigarettes, loose change and some of my french fries. The people from the courthouse and the surrounding businesses used to go there for lunch when it first opened, but not anymore, since the riffraff took over. We working-class citizens have already lost the Las Vegas Library to the freeloaders, and now City Park. What's next?

--Pamela Tignor