Letters to the Editor
AncientAssyrian
Published Letters: 753 Editor's Choice: 54
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Garrison, the Cold is Getting to You
[Read the article: Live and let live]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]She's the Panderer in Chief when it comes to the war. She's been towing the Israel lobby's line like a tugboat, and she has been in favor of the war until just a little while ago, when it dawned on her that, kaching, this might just be a problem for her in terms of fundraising and getting elected by actual Democrats, ya know, the ones who have opposed this war from the start.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell us that your teeth are chattering, and you're just too frozen up there in the tundra of Minnesota, and that the ice crystals forming on your computer keyboard made ya say it!!!!
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Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..........
[Read the article: Eric Schaeffer wants to marry you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]....that's all. Just ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....
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Many antidepressants are prescribed by the GP...
[Read the article: My mother stopped her Paxil and appears to have gone crazy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cary,
I'm not quibbling with the gist of your advice, but it's important to note that the majority of people who are receiving antidepressants are doing so from their general practitioner, internist, family practice doc, etc.
And sadly, it's very likely that the doctor who prescribed the medication may not have much expertise or knowledge about mental health issues, or know what, if anything, to do about a patient acting as this LW's mother is acting.
These days, you go in and say you're blue, down in the dumps, sleeping a lot, can't deal with winter, lonely, gaining weight, losing weight, sleeping too little, and so on, and they whip out the scrip pad, and you're walking out with Prozac, or Paxil or Xanax or Klonopin -- oh, and some Ambien to help you sleep of course.
Many people who have more serious mental health problems than mild depression or mild anxiety -- problems like borderline personality, bipolar disease, major depression, schizophrenia -- are being rushed out with a garden-variety antidepressant or antianxiety scrip...
Just so the LW knows what might be in store...
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Sharon P
[Read the article: Texas governor orders mandatory HPV vaccination]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You aren't getting my point.
There are thousands of things that could be mandated that we do, or do to our underage children, to help prevent painful conditions, avoid medical conditions, and even prevent death. I'm not against doing things to prevent disease, misery and death.
What I'm pointing out is that there are ulterior motivations to the choice to make THIS vaccine mandatory, and they are not about public health. They are about MONEY.
Otherwise, why wouldn't it be FAR more important to institute mandatory pneumonia vaccines -- that would save 8 times as many people from the misery and pain of dying from pneumonia at FAR less cost -- or the meningitis vaccine -- another miserable and awful disease, with agonizing spinal taps to diagnose, and so on.
The fact is, Merck stands to make BILLIONS of dollars on this vaccine, and therefore, has mustered its marketing and lobbying efforts full-force, to convince legislators to make this a mandatory vaccine.
But what you -- and the legislators -- are overlooking is that they're talking about mandatory, costly, widespread vaccination of an entire population of girls -- using a vaccine whose long-term safety is unknown -- to prevent only a very small number of the vaccinated group from developing HPV, and an even smaller number of them from developing cervical cancer.
I'm willing to take the small risks associated with the vaccines for things like measles, rubella, etc., because they are virulent, highly contagious conditions.
But that is not the case with this vaccine.
The decision to make it mandatory is a financial one -- not a public health one.
I don't have a problem with the vaccine being developed.
I don't have a problem with people making an educated decision to use it, realizing that while it has its benefits, the long-term effects are not known, and the fact that there may be increased autoimmune implications is still not entirely understood.
But don't mistake me with others -- I wasn't out applauding the vaccine back then any more than I am applauding it right now.
I do have a problem with making it mandatory.
I have a problem with using an entire population of girls as unwitting guinea pigs.
When you have children, you can get them vaccinated with Gardasil.
But I'm selfish. My little girl is 9. She's in the mandatory age group. If I get her vaccinated, then I'm essentially enrolling her, against her will, and against mine, in an uncontrolled long-term study of the effects of this vaccine.
When you become a mother, and you have to come face to face with the reality that a shot you are okaying for your precious daughter today may come back to haunt her -- and you -- later, you may think differently.
When it comes to my daughter, we'll take our risks with HPV and cervical cancer, in lieu of fattening Merck's pockets, and making her an unpaid test subject for the drug company.
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TAKE...IT...DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Read the article: Anna Nicole Smith dead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Show an iota of class.
This is tackier and more low-rent than ANYTHING Anna Nicole ever did in her short, sad life.
I expect a LOT more from Salon than this.
Take it down.
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Hooray -- Finally, the Person Who Could Shut Dickerson Up!!!
[Read the article: Dickerson on Colbert]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Colbert proves why he's a hero to anyone who doesn't like hypocrisy...including the kind spouted by Dickerson...