Letters

When the music’s over

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I can get some weird shit going in my head sometimes. Last night, I was wondering whether it’s better to live by one’s nature or to die.

Two things sent my mind in this direction. First, a friend called me on my Alzheimer’s suicide threat from that 23andme story we published the other week. He’s got it, and he says the meds will keep him going for a long time.

The other thing is that two of our cats came up missing. We suspect the worst: Coyotes. We live on the rim of a canyon.

First, I’m quite willing to say I’d manage Alzheimer’s for as long as I could with medications. Still, I have no moral compunctions against suicide, but I do have moral compunctions against being a burden to my family. To me, the idea that the state could consider it a crime to end one’s own life is proof of how free we human beings really are. But I have this idea that death is not as certain for us as it was 50 years ago. We live in an age of wonders, and it won’t be long until we’re replacing organs with organs grown from our own stem cells or downloading our psyches into hard-drives with hands. I have every intention of living to be 300 and then making a decision.

So, if I was a cat, would I rather have lived one year coming and going as a free creature or never have enjoyed a blue sky? I knew those cats a year ago before they gained the freedom of a cat door, and I can tell you they were much happier climbing trees and laying on the deck rail than they ever were pissing in a basement. In my life, it’s the danger that has always added spice, and I know someday, it’s the physical universe that’s going to transmute my energy. But if I was a cat, would I forsake the outdoor life I’ve lived for incarceration and a longer life?

I don’t think so. I’m with Socrates on this one. If there’s nothing coming after, then life is not even a dream. But if there is something to come, what cowards are we to hide from it? —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

A mockery and a sham

“U.S. Treasury Department Grants Recognition to Same-sex Couples.” Put this all down to the wisdom that says, “If you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.” Did single people get any benefits? Why should homosexuals without kids get same benefits as married folks? Homosexual marriage is tax fraud, and what’s to now stop all single folks from entering into marriage with next door neighbors or roommates, the gas station guy, the girl at the checkout line? [They would] only have to get together once a year. [They’d] make about $10,000 more apiece, more if “partner” has kids, which you don’t have to pay child support. Enjoy, as we single folk here are fixing a huge lawsuit for equal protection, as any two people can get together for a business marriage of tax fraud. Homosexuals have turned marriage into a mockery and a farce. We single folks have rights, too, and we’ll be asking that all marriages be thrown out, as these unions discriminate against us for being single. Only fair way is everybody is single to the IRS. Sorry, married folks, should’ve have done the right thing. [There are] lots more single folks than homosexuals, and we demand equal rights. Allan Engleman Fallon Editor’s note: OK, I’ll bite. So, what’s to prevent men and women from getting married for tax purposes? Are heterosexual couples without children also tax evaders?

Think on it

Re “British invasion” (Film, Aug. 29):

Bob Grimm offered another of his customarily thoughtful, often humorous reviews. While I very much enjoyed this movie, it somehow missed the mark for me compared to Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and that alien movie ( the name escapes me). Why, you may ask? Uh-oh, now I’ve gotta actually think, a task many of us avoid at all costs. While suspension of disbelief is fundamental to the movie-going experience, I felt Simon Pegg’s character, Gary King, unlike those he portrayed in films mentioned above, was just too hard to believe. No one drives like that for very long! And for a person with no visible means of support, his teeth were too nice (that excellent British health care system?). Also, consumption of the proverbial “mass quantities” left all imbibing characters surprisingly capable (constant infusions of adrenalin, perhaps?). Since the protagonist Gary King is presumed to be a functional alcoholic, I could perhaps be persuaded of his endurance, but the others? Not so much. I could go on, but all this actual thinking is making my head hurt. Would I nonetheless recommend this movie (as they say in previews these days, “for appropriate audiences”)? Absolutely. The best of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s efforts to date? As you observed, Shaun was better, and from my seat in the theater, they have done better. And before I forget, the experience of watching with a crowd of enthusiastic fans is hard to beat. Let’s get out to the theaters, people! I always go to Grimm’s work in RN&R first. Best wishes. Steve Waclo Carson City

Editor’s note: Bob says the name of the alien movie with Seth Rogen is Paul.

Schadenfreudes R us

Re “Entrenched Debt” (Feature story, Aug. 29):

I have to admit that I doubt very few people were more adamant against this project than myself. There are very few examples of such a large amount of money being flushed down the toilet without the slightest benefit to the people (Washoe taxpayers) anywhere else in the country. While Union Pacific must be eternally grateful to the Reno government, the taxpayers should lynch all those responsible for such a fiscal blunder. Finances aside, let’s look at we got for that $265 million (and growing): 1. A project that costs $265-plus million for a project that earns no revenue for its financial backers. 2. The world’s largest venue for bums, panhandlers, vagrants, and other neer-to-dos ... Tourists just love it! 3. My favorite: An absolute zero improvement in traffic flow on Virginia Street and its parallel roads! While I cannot blame City Council for this, the blame falls squarely on its equally inept and taxpayer-funded RTC whose traffic light timing and operations are the bane of this county.

Lastly, there is no mention in this article of what has a very good chance of happening because of the trench fiasco. That’s right, Reno may well likely become a member of a very elite club, members include Stockton, Calif., San Bernardino, Calif., and of course Detroit, Mich. You will read about it in chapter 9. ... It will be a sad tale indeed.

R. Brennan Reno

Pay citizens for nuclear waste

Re “Nevada should accept nuclear waste” (The Liberty Belle, Aug. 29):

I agree [that we should restart the Yucca Project], but let’s take it a step past the “someone should do something” statement to trying this on for size: There was a huge debate in Alaska before they built the pipeline (hazardous waste, benefits primarily private interests, yada, yada). Solution: They made the “users” pay a fee for every gallon pumped. That fee went into the Alaska Permanent Dividend Fund. Bottom Line: Those fees are essentially untouchable. The annual dividends are distributed for two specific purposes: 1) each Alaska citizen—man, woman, child—gets a dividend check every year. 2)Before anything else, they funded one of the finest education systems in the nation. Copy that wheel here in Nevada with a huge fee for every pound of waste.

Rick Woods Sparks

Money matters

Re “Call off the dogs” (Editorial, Aug. 29):

Fight fires, not wars! If President Obama actually cares about “national security,” he will instantly deploy our armed forces to extinguish the Rim Fire in Yosemite, which is destroying the health, welfare and life-quality of all of us in Western Nevada. This is more important to citizens than killing more people halfway around the Earth in Syria.

Valerie Cohen Reno

Physical education

Re “Back to School” (Feature story, July 25):

My first three yeas of high school were in Maine—in a school I would characterize as mean and cold, but then my family moved to Rhode Island. I attended East Providence High School my senior year, and I loved it. That school was warm and friendly, and it had a big, big beautiful swimming pool. Because I was taking gym, I got to go swimming every week—first period, Friday morning. I had perfect attendence, and I made the honor society.

“Warm and friendly” works better than “mean and cold. Brad MacKenzie Reno

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