We get more than 1,400 letters a month and have room to print fewer than 280. Sometimes we move letters to run, and they get overrun by other things. Here are a dozen letters on topics ranging from health care to salt.
Health care does not fit the free market model. Health care is, in economic terms, inelastic. Our health or sickness does not change as a result of the rise or fall of health care prices. If a doctor lowers the price of an office visit, we don't suddenly become ill more often so that we can take advantage of a lower price. If the price of a doctor’s office visit goes up, we do not suddenly get sick less in order to avoid higher priced medical services.
By comparison, the electronics market is elastic. If the price of a TV goes up, fewer people will buy it. If the price goes down, more people will want it.
Again, the price of basic and essential medical services has absolutely no effect on the demand nor need for such services. If we’re sick, we need medical services regardless of the cost. So to all of those who think the unrestrained free market is a god to be blindly worshiped, the free market model simply doesn’t fit the health care market.
Brian Baer
Apex
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Kudos to the writer of the Feb. 13 letter “Right call.” We should all wholeheartedly agree with the writer and stop the abuse and high cost of health insurance by limiting coverage for health issues that we do not elect to have and denying coverage for health issues that are within our control.
Health insurance should be similar to (but not limited to) other warranties where the coverage is valid only if the damage is beyond one’s control; when it comes to elective abortion the situation is or was preventable. If one chooses to get pregnant, she should take the responsibility for her action. Most taxpayers will be happy to pay for therapeutic abortion that may be necessary as it is necessary to pay for health conditions that we do not elect to get.
Our society should smarten up and make people accountable for their actions and focus on what is important in life versus what our whims direct us to do.
Ranjana Banerjee
Cary
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In Ruth Sheehan’s Feb. 17 column, the question was asked, “What was the DA thinking?” Of course, I have no way of knowing exactly why the district attorney objected to the creation of a study commission to review cases that show signs of problems. I suspect that a lot of DAs around the country do not want anyone looking over their shoulders while they are trying their cases or after the cases are over. After all, almost any study after the fact will show weaknesses of procedure and agency personnel faults.
In Greg Taylor’s case, it was the process used by the SBI in reporting test results as well as the general investigation procedures used by the police. Heads of these agencies do not want these faults to come to light. This same attitude also will not let them admit mistakes that were made during the process. Jobs and retirement are at risk.
That is why it is so important for citizens to be involved in government. The people who run these government agencies make decisions every day that affect the lives of ordinary citizens; they should be questioned and called to task. People do not always act responsibly and deal honestly with other people.
William R. Burchette
Sharpsburg
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Reading the headlines it seems as if we continue to lose jobs in North Carolina at the same rate that politicians in Washington roll out new plans to save them. Half the time, our problems start in our nation’s capital.
A prime example is how home medical equipment businesses like mine are getting hammered with new Medicare rules. Officials are saying that even though we’ve been running a successful, reputable business, we are now going to have to step aside and hand over our patients to out-of-state vendors for their oxygen systems, walkers, wheelchairs and hospital beds simply because we can’t compete with their ridiculously low-ball bids.
Several of our congressmen such as Brad Miller and Bob Etheridge support new bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3790, that gets rid of this devastating, unfair bidding program, saves taxpayers’ money, allows reputable businesses to continue to serve our customers and protects patient access to quality care.
I urge all our congressional representatives who have not yet signed on to this legislation to do so before I and 500 of my fellow North Carolina home medical equipment service providers are forced to close our doors.
Ed Dressen
Owner, Dressen Medical Supply
Holly Springs
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I enjoyed the Feb. 21 article on ChurchRater.com. This type of service has been around at least since 1998, though, when Ship of Fools, a British magazine of religious satire, began sending what it calls Mystery Worshippers into churches worldwide.
According to the magazine’s Web site (www.shipoffools.com), Mystery Worshippers ask those questions that go to the heart of church life: How long was the sermon? How hard the pew? How cold was the coffee? How warm the welcome?
Editor Simon Jenkins says on the site, “Our aim is to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity, as we believe honesty can only strengthen faith.” By the way, Jenkins has a master’s degree in theology from King’s College London.
There is a template used that tends to weed out truly foul comments in order to arrive at a sincere evaluation. Rather than the sight of their whipping out laptops during church, the site notes, the only clue they have been there at all is the Mystery Worshipper calling card, dropped discreetly into the collection plate.
Anthony Hatcher
Durham
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Regarding your Feb. 14 front-page article “The trains riders want: More, better, faster”: It was wonderful to hear about how $545 million will benefit some people by reducing their train ride by an hour.
Since it is the taxpayers’ money, I would rather have been told about the business model (if there is one) – the reason the $545 million will be spent. I would like to know how many riders are currently using Amtrak in North Carolina. What are the current operating expenses, revenues and liabilities/debt? What is the projected increase in riders after this money is spent, including the operating costs and revenue? What is the timeframe for payback?
This is just a hunch, but I would guess the answer to my question about payback is never. The Associated Press reported, on Oct. 27, that Amtrak loses about $32 per passenger, or just shy of $1 billion per year (I verified at www.amtrak.com). Which means the government (replace government with you, the taxpayer) will continue to throw good money after bad. We need to take responsibility to pay for our own transportation without depending on the government to provide for us.
Ken Kalloway
Raleigh
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Two Feb. 16 articles illustrated two very different ways of dealing with wildlife. The Governors Club Property Owners Association resorted to the cruel violence of bowhunting to kill deer that were eating their flowers. It is sad when people who chose to live in a wooded area start complaining about and seek to destroy the wildlife that lived there.
Columnist Ruth Sheehan, on the other hand, reported using non-lethal means to rid her chimney of raccoons and also corrected the problems that caused them access to her home in the first place, such as capping her chimney. The Humane Society of the United States publishes an excellent guidebook on non-lethal ways to deal with all kinds of wildlife problems titled “Wild Neighbors – The Humane Approach to Living with Wildlife.”
Terry Korab
Apex
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It sounds so good and so simple: We can just cut the salt in our diet and we'll all have much lower blood pressure, fewer heart attacks and strokes.
Not so fast. Responses to low-salt diets vary. It would be madness to put the entire population on a low-salt diet without doing very serious studies to show what the full results might be.
As with the low-fat initiative, which didn't distinguish between good and bad fats, no distinction has been made between table salt – an industrial product full of sand and other chemical additives that don't appear on the label – and unrefined sea salt, which has not only iodine but other minerals including the potassium and magnesium required to absorb the iodine.
When Elizabeth Puckett says in her Feb. 14 Point of View piece that salt has been labeled by “many” as “ ‘white poison’,, a sneaky killer,” the implication is that conscientious readers should ban all salt from their kitchens and dining tables.
Instead, they might want to fill their salt containers with unrefined sea salt and start eating a little dark chocolate every day. There are good studies showing that’s beneficial for lowering blood pressure and general heart health.
Fran McCullough
Author of “Good Fat”
Hillsborough
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So now Durham is getting the high profile bookings. I can’t say I’m surprised. Downtown Durham isn’t set up to support outdoor events with high-power PA systems that creep into its performing arts center, interfering with the audience’s ability to hear and enjoy what they paid to attend.
The Durham Performing Arts Center won’t have an outdoor amphitheatre near it. It’s not likely that outdoor celebrations/festivals would take place near there. Durham has other locations much more suited to that kind of activity.
I don’t understand why there seems to be no communication in Raleigh between planners for outdoor events and events booked for the Progress Energy Center. Has no one ever complained about the interference? And now there will be an outdoor amphitheatre! Something more to intrude on performances indoors. Wow!
On the other hand, maybe now more local arts organizations (that have been shut out from booking the Progress Energy Center for performances) will have a fighting chance to use this facility and become more visible to the general public. If they’re lucky in their timing, they won’t have an outdoor festival/celebration/performance interfering with what they are presenting on stage.
Julianne G. Sauvageot
Garner
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Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, is way off the mark when he says the Lightner Public Safety Center must proceed now (Feb. 27 letter, “Build now, save money”). Perhaps he hasn’t noticed, but the current recession is very different from those that have dissipated after only 24 months. The commercial real estate sector and the commercial construction industry are flat on their backs and will take years to recover. Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicates that interest rates will remain low for a long time. There’s no reason to rush.
The truth is that pro-downtown interests see the sheep coming off the hill on the Lightner Center, so they want to rush it before support deteriorates further and especially before it becomes a campaign issue in 2011.
As designed, the Lightner Center is obviously ill-conceived. Let’s rethink the solution to a clear need, before we throw good money after bad.
Chuck Till
Raleigh
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Regarding the Feb. 12 article “Muslims told to avoid body scans”:
Since 9/11 Muslim-Americans have complained about prejudice and hostility toward them. Unfortunately, at times they seem to go out of their way to encourage the distrust many feel toward them. Now, some Muslim groups are balking at the idea of Muslims submitting to airport body scans.
The option of being patted down in lieu of a scan will also likely offend some individuals. Then what? If a pat-down is to be effective, it must be thorough. Immediately after the Christmas bombing attempt, my wife and I flew within Europe and back to the United States. Twice we were patted down in a very cursory manner that would have missed contraband objects.
There is an oft-heard comment that if Muslims don’t like our rules, they should go back to where they came from. This is not a solution. If Muslim-Americans want to no longer seen as potential threats to American society, they need to accept the occasional inconvenience just like the rest of us.
Submitting to a body scan is a minor inconvenience designed to ensure airline and passenger security. National and personal security should trump the potential to offend someone.
Robert A. Schiffman
Raleigh
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What a picture! Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby makes a final plea to the judges to send Greg Taylor back to prison. The judges unanimously rule to set him free. Willoughby shakes Taylor’s hand and says he’s sorry and says later that “the case was handled like every other case.” In other words, business as usual.
This arrogant display by Willoughby makes me cringe at the thought of the day that will surely come when someone is exonerated from the grave. Business as usual, Mr. Willoughby?
Melvin Stalls
Roper
