Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 283 Editor's Choice: 20
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Reninds Me Of the Good Old Days . . . .
[Read the article: O'Really?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]. . . . when patients would come to me in the office asking for help to quit smoking. The patients wanted Zyban, a medication which was identical to the antidepressant Wellbutrin.
No insurance would pay for smoking cessation counseling or medication. Smoking, to the insurance companies, was a "habit," not a medical problem.
However, depression is a medical problem. So I would just write in my note, "The patient is depressed because she can't quit smoking." Then, I would list the diagnosis as depression, prescribe the Wellbutrin, and be done with it.
In the same way, if the insurance companies want to be ornery about birth control, you can usually find a medical problem to finesse it. Acne works pretty well. So do hot flashes and mood swings. If all else fails, there is always "dysmenorrhea" or painful monthly periods. Have cramps? You qualify, girl.
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First Steps
[Read the article: Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the reasons the president is getting away with this is that the public is not asking the questions. God knows the press won't ask.
The first step for people who are appalled at this problem is to demand that politicians at every level make a public statement about surveillance. Make them say on the record that they support the government snooping on its citizens. Ask not just senators and congressmen, but all officials, all the way down to dogcatcher.
Send letters, send emails. Corner them on the campaign trail. Force them to render a specific opinion, on the record. If they refuse to answer, put them down as pro-snooping. Then document it all in one place, on the internet, where anyone can find it and use it against them.
One of the politician's oldest tricks is to finesse an issue by never publicly commenting on it. We have to draw a bright line and force these knuckleheads to pick a side. The NRA has done that beautifully, causing gun control advocates to crumble. The same approach can work for surveillance.
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Who is "Irresponsible" and "Ignorant' Here?
[Read the article: "The View" from here? Bleak]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Trumpet the joys of abortions if you want, but don't misrepresent Christian beliefs on the subject. It is incorrect to label Sherri Shepherd's beliefs "irreponsible" and "ignorant" if you don't have the decency to understand them.
Christians believe in the resurrection. They believe that every person who dies comes back again, not as the elderly person who died, or as the fetus, or as the child or teenager, but as a redeemed, perfect being that resembled the person on earth but is also something entirely different. This resurrected being is a perfected form of the human. The deaf can hear, the lame can walk, and so on. A person who dies a quadriplegic is not resurrected a quadriplegic.
In the same way, a killed fetus comes back as a living, and yes, talking being. So what Shepherd is saying is consistent with Christian doctrine. The point of Christian doctrine is that all living humans have a soul, and that soul is perceived by God as "mature," even if the person is physically immature.
If you find Christian doctrine absurd, that's another issue entirely. But given her belief system, Shepherd's assertion is not at all absurd. The point is, if you are going to write about Christian belief, get a book out and learn the first thing about it. C S Lewis discusses this topic repeatedly in his works, most notably in either The Problem of Pain and the Abolition of Man.
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HAH!
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's a difference between the Caped Crusader and George W -- Batman actually comes when he is needed.
I lived in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. Nuff said.
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I'm Getting Depressed.
[Read the article: Karl Rove's media birds chirp about Obama's "arrogance"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I work in the health care industry, and I can tell you that the problems facing modern medicine are very. very complex. And I can tell you that our health care system is in serious trouble, and I mean Ford Motors trouble.
But instead, we get to hear the press yap on and on about "arrogance" and other crap. All day, all night, crap, crap, crap.
Why? Because it is easier to yammer about John Edwards's haircut than it is to discuss the influence of Stark laws on the behavior of medical institutions.
I'm not very optimistic about our future. The public is getting what it wants from the media, not what it needs.
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It's Pretty Simple
[Read the article: Someone needs to brush up on her Jane Austen]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't read Dowd. I used to, and scratched my head and stretched my reasoning faculties to understand how she got the job she has. She is a gossip columnist. Snarky, cheap-shooting, and about as deep as a birdbath.
The only difference between Dowd and a columnist for the Star is that Dowd substitutes politicians for celebrities. I can't remember the last time I read a column by her that did not intend to put someone down (though, to be honest, I haven't read her lately).
I don't know why we tolerate such people in the media. With all the serious problems in the world to write about, she can't find time for anything but smearing politicians.
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Gotta Be Great to Be Jimmy Carter Right Now
[Read the article: Jimmy Carter -- the peak oil president]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What joy to live long enough to be vindicated by history!
The best punching bag Republicans have ever had suddenly has arms to punch back.
Congratulations, Jimmy. You've earned this last laugh.
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An Ad Hominem Attack
[Read the article: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hate to be snarky, but:
Wall-EE: thumbs down
The Dark Knight: thumbs down
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2: thumbs up.
As John McEnroe once said, "You cannot be serious!" Wall-EE topped by the second Traveling Pant movie? Not the first one, the SEQUEL.
You are seriously testing my suspension of disbelief.