LETTERS

The following recently arrived for club columnist Digital Tony:

Just writing a quick thanks.

I wrote you a few weeks ago and asked where the current Drai's scene could be found. You answered: the same place as the old Drais, Saturday night.

You were right. We hit Spearmint on Friday and stayed so long we didn't need to go anywhere else. Drai's on Saturday after-hours, then Reverb back at the Hard Rock. All on your suggestion. All amazing.

It was the perfect bachelor party—every choice exceeding expectations. Thank you for your advice—you are doing God's work.

A second opinion on the merits of club columnist Digital Tony:

Dude, you may be a bit behind the times. Moorea at Mandalay opened LAST year, and quickly became a haunt of many who enjoy lounge-style electronica, mojitos and leggy models.

Sadly, this year the mojitos are gone, the music is contaminated by cheesy hip-hop and the inevitable Vegas hooker hordes are clogging up the mating process. And something MUST be done about the DJ(s); absolutely the worst I have seen/heard outside of Carson City.

Still, I agree that the POTENTIAL vibe of Moorea is off the hook. It could easily become the coolest club in Sin City. It was last year.

The article by Roberto Lovato (Is God Voting for George Bush?, July 22-28) was excellent and I agree with everything he says, up to a point. However, I believe that the "left" has in fact begun to provide a compelling alternative to the religious right, albeit somewhat belatedly. He should look at the Rockridge Institute (www.rockridgeinstitute.org); the Council for Secular Humanism (www.secularhumanism.org); www.csicop.org (I've forgotten what that stands for); The Skeptical Inquirer magazine; The Center for Inquiry; www.godlessamericans.com. I'm sure these sites will lead to other similar sites. There is FAIR, of course, which scrutinizes media sources for balance and truthfulness, the ACLU, several environmental groups and various others.

Hardly anyone understands this yet, but the most fundamental problem is compulsory school attendance. Until these laws creating dysfunctional bureaucracies, anti-intellectual thinking and a lowest-common-denominator environment are struck down, fear and cynicism will predominate and awareness will be stuck at the pre-enlightenment level for a majority of citizens. Significant change will be impossible as long as children are treated as property and locked up for 12 years of mind-numbing, brainwashing programming.

Editor's note: Mr Elliot later sent a 24-point addendum to his letter, explaining the compulsory school point, but we've only got so much space and time.

Social Security is a giant Ponzi scheme in which early entrants benefit handsomely, because they are funded from the taxes paid by later entrants. Without the force of government to support them, such scams eventually fall apart once the growth in contributions from new entrants fails to match the increasing claims against the program.

In February, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the House Budget Committee and warned that changing demographics threaten to burst the Medicare and Social Security bubble: "In 2008—just four years from now—the first cohort of the baby-boom generation will reach 62, the earliest age at which Social Security retirement benefits may be claimed and the age at which about half of prospective beneficiaries choose to retire; in 2011, these individuals will reach 65 and will thus be eligible for Medicare. This dramatic demographic change is certain to place enormous demands on our nation's resources—demands we almost surely will be unable to meet unless action is taken."

The only genuine solution is to recognize that the program is fundamentally flawed and must be phased out in favor of private alternatives, as was done successfully in Chile during the 1970s. Can we trust our government to solve the problem?

This recently appeared in our in-box:

Please have anything you want to keep out of the refrigerator in the break room by 4 today. It smells real bad. Any items left will be thrown out.

Thank you,

Last week's Review Issue included a negative critique of political signs and a thumb's-up review of grafitti on political signs. What, this reader wants to know, is up with that?

What do you have against politicians? You even name your paper after Councilman Lawrence Weekly! Then you come down hard on those of us putting up campaign signs in order to win an office, often with little pay and lots of work.

Is Martin Stein
[actually, it was Stacy J. Willis. —editor] going into orbit by awarding four starts to those who perfect their artwork (graffiti) on campaign signs? Shame on him!
[her! —editor] Campaign signs are the only thing available to those on modest budgets, those who have not turned over their campaign management (and their souls) to special interests.

Someone has cut out my eyes and mouth from a $250 A-frame on Lamb just south of Charleston. Should I be grateful that my entire head was not removed, a la the terrorists? Is writer Stein
[Willis. —ed] going to make an award to my assailants?

The incumbents, and challengers with sponsorship by those who seek to control Carson City, can all have radio, television, weekly mailers; it is us, "the sign guys and gals," who walk door to door, put up signs, stand in front of supermarkets, seeking to bring politics directly to the people. This is part of any "people's campaign." Please don't bash our efforts by rewarding our tormentors. Please salute the Nevada men and women who come forward to offer their time and talent to serve you. "The noblest motive is the public good."

Editor's note: It's a little-known fact that we did, in fact, name this publication after Lawrence Weekly, but only after determining that "Boggs McDonald" wouldn't fit on the cover.

I read through your various reviews of Las Vegas Miscellany in the July 22-28 issue with a nod, a smile and a chuckle here and there. Then I did a double-take on the two items at the top of page 26 (Campaign Signs and Graffiti), both of which referenced I-95. I-95? Wait, are we still talking about Las Vegas, or is this a reference to Daytona ... or Washington D.C.? OK, I am a traffic geek ... but shouldn't any longtime local media outlet know that the 95 in our valley is part of the U.S. highway system, and not the interstate system? I-95 runs up the East Coast, from Florida to Maine, while the much-older U.S.95 is here in the West. Aside from the history and geography of the two different systems, they are distinctly different in the appearance of the shields you see on signs every day. Interstate signs are red, white and blue, while U.S. highway signs are black and white. The shapes are different, too.

Is this minor and picky? Sure. And like I said, the article as a whole was quite amusing. So I guess this is just an FYI: Ain't no I-95 in this neck of the woods.

Editor's note: You're correct, sir: We meant Daytona.