Letters

It’s money that matters

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I learned a lot about Bitcoin while doing the cover story this week, so I decided to buy some. This is low-cost risk, nowhere near what I had stolen by the banksters with the whole engineered collapse of the economy a few years ago. You know how a pyramid scheme works, right? The people at the top of the pyramid get rich, but the people at the bottom lose their money. When I first started looking at Bitcoin, I was thinking this was like that—limited supply with demand generated by media hysteria increasing value for the early adopters. But in this one, there is no minimum investment; it’s all based on percentages. So if I lose half my $11 buy-in, I still have the exact same percentage of a bitcoin. Unless the whole thing goes away—which it might—I will always have the potential to get all my money back.

And even though the numbers of participants seems huge, it’s nothing compared to the potential if Bitcoin should go the way it could go. And increased participation increases stability but doesn’t necessarily drive up the price. This is just the sort of thing that totally sends me down geeky rabbit holes.

One of my sources in the story made another point about Bitcoin: While greed and speculation fueled the hysteria that drove the price up a few months ago, that enthusiasm also prevents people from pulling out when there’s an “adjustment.” That creates the stability that will allow people with unstable governments to keep the wealth they’ve earned without losing it to local forces like inflation.

Sure, people have used the currency to buy bad stuff. It would be a pretty useless currency if it couldn’t be used to buy drugs, guns—whatever the person wants to buy. In fact, expect to hear of a lot of takedowns like Monday’s of Charlie Shrem. It’s a simple formula: The powers that run the financial sector also influence our government, so you can expect them to try to undermine the competition and to prosecute crimes that they don’t prosecute in the traditional financial industry. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Outsourced

Re “Out damned pot” (Upfront, Jan. 16):

Too bad pot can’t be mined or fracked, for the Legislature would be behind it 100 percent. But we would have to hire Texans or other foreigners to run the business. Roberta Moose Reno

Bob’s a spicy tomato

Re “The Bobbit: the desolation of film 2013” (Feature story, Jan. 9):

Got to your site after reading movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Grimm is my favorite. Love the sense of humor and totally agree with his assessment of best and worst films of the year. Not sure what some of the more well-known film critics were thinking. Probably got sizable payoff from the film companies, considering how utterly wrong and transparently pandering and sycophantic they often are. Or maybe they sleep through the films and just copy what other people say. Or are they just watching the trailers and sucking up the marketing propaganda? Grimm doesn’t run with this brain-dead crowd, but nails the reviews. Even if he is alone in his assessment. Love it. Carry on! Dave Slater Pacific Grove, Calif.

Water watch

Re “How dry” (News, Jan. 23):

This article presents a great opportunity for those interested in sustainable water management techniques. Urban Roots is offering a two-day workshop in February to discuss these points in our high desert community, open to farmers and the public. Visit www.urgc.org for details and to register. Cheryl Skibicki Reno

Leave the parties

Re “Essay describes Paul activism” (Upfront, Jan. 16):

Edwin Lyngar’s frustration with Republican libertarians and embrace of liberalism is like being frustrated with America and moving to Iran. However, I thank him, because it made me rethink my own party affiliation. The only reason I register as a Republican is to be able to vote in primaries and vote for the most libertarian candidate. However, this is like joining the Nazi Party just so you can vote for the least fascist candidate. It is time for Americans to support and register with third parties. I would guess the majority of Americans are like me. They only vote Republican or Democrat, because they feel voting for a third party candidate is throwing away a vote whereas they can vote for the least worst Republican or Democrat candidate. I don’t have much faith in polls, and I truly believe most Americans are now ready to vote for an independent third party.

The main reason I’m leaving the GOP is the realization that they will never nominate a libertarian as a presidential candidate. Never, never, never, never, never. Republican libertarians need to face reality as I have. We’ve been screwed, and it’s time for us to get mad and ditch the GOP. Libertarian Republicans, I implore you, leave the GOP, leave the GOP now, in droves, in big, large, massive droves. The way they treated us in the 2012 primaries was deplorable and with all the reports of vote tampering and fraud, I have lost faith that the libertarian vote within the GOP will ever count, ever.

America, the Republicans and Democrats do not represent you, and they never will. They are the political wing of big banks and big business. They have increasingly screwed us over especially in the last decade. Your income is shrinking. Forget the fake government inflation numbers; we are all becoming poorer while the richest are becoming richer. The jig us up. Those in power would have Democrats blame Republicans and Republicans blame Democrats, dividing and conquering us. Both corrupt parties are to blame for this mess. Quite frankly, if an independent liberal third party candidate looked like he or she could take the presidency, I’d vote for him or her over either Republican or Democrat. To me, independence is more important than left or right, and I think the majority of Americans would agree. Big banks and big business are running this country. How are they doing? Are you worse or better off than 10 years ago? You want to throw them out? Then throw out the Republicans and Democrats. Ed Park Reno

False hope

Re “Gone to pot” (Feature story, Jan. 23): After a relapse of leukemia, I had a bone marrow transplant and applied for a Nevada medical marijuana card. The State Medical Marijuana website asked for a request letter along with a $50 application fee, which I sent along with a letter from my practitioner. The packet I received completely overwhelmed me. In order to proceed I needed to get fingerprinted, get a Nevada doctor to complete a form, complete a waiver and have it notarized, and submit another $150. If approved, I would receive a temporary letter until the background check was complete, and then I would have to go to the DMV to get my card. The card needs to be renewed each year. None of this is mentioned on the website, which I found misleading. NRS 453 is linked to the website, but it’s not very user friendly nor is it mentioned in the instruction letter. My intent here is not to bash the law or the website, but to give others a heads up before sending in the initial (non-refundable) $50 only to find out it’s complicated and expensive, especially when going through serious medical treatment that could be helped by using medical marijuana. Jane Wirth Reno

The whole world is watching

I’ve just finished reading Radley Balko’s outstanding book, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces, and I think I have a solution to ending our drug war and SWAT raids. Require that all SWAT raids be videotaped before, during and after, with sound. And these tapes must be available to the news media immediately after the raids.

I believe that if all of the raids that involved the wrong address or the killing of any people or pets or in front of children, the public will be outraged and demand an end to them.

For those who have not read Balko’s outstanding book, I suggest they read the introduction and then skip to Chapter 8. If you can set the book down after reading Chapter 8, then you are either a psychopath or sociopath and further reading won’t help you. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz.

Did we win?

The war between Good and Bad is over. The evil ones are the winners. The reason that we good people lost is because we played fair while the evil ones used every illegal and immoral trick. We prayed, but it did no good. We wished and we hoped, but to no avail. We called upon ever supernatural power for help, but we got nothing. Maybe something would happen, but it didn’t. Some of us tried to love our enemies, but laughter was all we got. I gave money to places I thought would help, but all they did was get fat off us suckers.

So where does that leave us little people? We are big in numbers, but they have all the power. Maybe we can unite. But we tried that, and it didn’t work. Then we tried it again with the same result.

I have given up trying to make this a better country. Now I’m looking for a wife. She will have all of my love and when I die, all of my money. That’s the best I can do.

Brad MacKenzie Reno

Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages people to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Staff writer Sage Leehey Contributors Amy Alkon, Todd South, Brendan Trainor, Laura Davis, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Design Vivian Liu, Serene Lusano, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Advertising Consultants Meg Brown, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Office Manager/Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker Distribution Manager Valerie Mets Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Ron Large, Joe Medeiros, Andy Odegard, Jesse Pike, Martin Troye, Warren Tucker, Matthew Veach, Gary White, Joseph White, Sam White General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Ronsenquist Business Nicole Jackson, Tami Sandoval Systems Manager Jonathan Schultz Systems Support Specialist Joe Kakacek Web Developer/Support Specialist John Bisignano 708 North Center Street Reno, NV 89501 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds & Talking Personals to N&R Classifieds, Reno Edition, 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or email classifieds@ newsreview.com Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available. Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form.

This ModeRn WoRld by tom tomorrow

Don’t be a dick, Senator Brower Have you ever made a bad investment?

The Nevada Legislature’s response to the mandate in 2000 by Nevada voters to create a system by which sick Nevadans could get access to medicine was childish and a dirty trick on the most vulnerable people in the state.

Like when Mom said, “Quit touching your sister,” and you responded by holding your finger two inches from her ear, “I’m not touching her,” the Legislature followed the words of the law, but let the spirit of the voter-approved law and the intention of voters dissipate like vapor.

Those lawmakers came up with a draconian system, essentially re-victimizing those people who, through no fault of their own, were suffering from things like anxiety, nausea and lack of appetite caused by cancer treatment, Alzheimer’s, side effects of AIDS/ HIV treatment, post-traumatic stress disorder, cholera, insomnia—more diseases than can be easily listed.

And not only were those victims given false hope of humanity from their lawmakers, but they were given huge obstacles to overcome—large costs to those already overcome by medical debt, scrutiny by government agencies unrelated to medical practices, expectations that they would manufacture their own medicine. Even those who were told by the law that they could assist the sick—medical practitioners— came under fire from licensing boards.

Those lawmakers said to those sick people, “Yes, you can seek medical help, but we’ll punish you for trying.” It was nothing short of monstrous.

And now that the law has been reformed, we are seeing before our very eyes the continuation of that wrongheaded, ignorant, self-righteous government intrusion into the lives of sick people by individuals who think they know better what’s good for sick people than doctors.

This week, Associated Press reported, “Nevada state Sen. Greg Brower said Monday he has reservations about a state law setting up a distribution process for medical marijuana and suggested it could be repealed,” and went on to say that he urged city and county governments to tell the Legislature that the law isn’t working, even though it has not even gone into effect yet.

C’mon, Greg, don’t be a dick. You don’t have to beat up on the infirm to make yourself feel powerful. Anyone can beat on a child with leukemia. Anyone can beat up a senior citizen with cancer. Denying treatment to veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome is beneath anyone. You can show compassion.

Legislators are not crazy about ballot measures initiated by voters. We’re not wild about them, either. But this one is law and should be respected by—ahem—lawmakers.

The original initiative was passed by a majority of voters not once, but twice. Lawmakers don’t need to open their minds; they don’t need to judge the people who seek out treatment; they don’t even have to agree. What they do need to do is remember they are responsible to do what the people require of them without acting like spoiled children. Ω

Asked at Michael’s Deli, 628 S. Virginia St.

Danny Pieren

Caretaker No. Never made an investment. I have nothing to invest. It’s not something I worry about.

Deidre Manley

Case manager Yes, on a house. I should have sold it when the economy was really good, and I didn’t. I held on to it. I should have gone with my gut feeling.

Rita Parra

Apartments manager Yes, in marriage, a few times. I really can’t tell you about that.

Gary Colvin

Technician Definitely. Which one? I bought a house for $300,000, and it went down to $120,000 in a month or two.

Ty Sceirime

Retiree Yes, marriage. Oh, God, what didn’t go wrong? There’s been four of them. Maybe it’s me.