Senate, show some courage

As an ER doctor who frequently sees hardworking Americans delay seeking health care because they don’t have the means to pay without insurance, I applaud the House for passing this healthcare reform plan.

No one in our country should have to choose between food or healthcare for themselves or their children. As a patient who recently had surgery which was covered by insurance, I was astounded that the insurance company paid one-fourth of what I would have paid if I didn’t have insurance!

In other words, hard-working Americans who can’t afford insurance (perhaps because of a “pre-existing condition”) are paying more, so that Insurance companies can finagle deals to make higher profits.

It is time for America to rein in those who enrich themselves by preying on the misfortunes of others. I appeal to the Senate to show the same courage and enact health care reform legislation.

Erin Burnham, M.D.
Hood River

Thanks, CL Fire

It was a pleasure to see so many of our fire department volunteers out recruiting new members for our department.

I want to personally thank Chief Pricher, Capt. Jessica Bennett, Karen Salama, Bruce Biladeau, who also is head of the city public works department, Zach Pardue and Wayne Overcash.

Chief Pricher is a nationally recognized emergency services person who’s been called out to New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, and recently to American Samoa among other places.

The citizens of Cascade Locks can take pride in having someone of that stature serving our city. I want to particularly thank our volunteers, some who come to serve from the Dodson/Warrendale area, for giving their time on a cold, damp day. You are appreciated.

Thank You.

Rob Brostoff
Cascade Locks

Enlightened

Through diligent reading of letters, particularly from some frequent contributors, I have come to understand my role as an American. I am to ignore all information pertaining to humans adversely affecting the environment.

This includes driving the largest vehicle my questionable credit can afford. I should make no effort to consider fuel efficiency either, since we don’t know for sure if anything bad comes out of my exhaust.

I should now push for as many holes to be drilled as possible on any land under the control of our sovereign nation. This includes land which actually dwells underwater on the continental shelf. Nothing bad ever happens from the mining or transportation of oil products, and I will need it for my really large vehicles.

I should support the bombing and killing of anyone who doesn’t support my views or those of American way of life, or any other agendas I have now or in the future. As an American, I have earned these rights by careful manipulation (not me directly) of financial markets, global trade, world-wide policy and social agendas.

To fail to acknowledge our superiority and the unalienable rights I have laid out here is certainly UN-American and can only lead to disaster.

Remember, we have community members who feel strongly about these issues, so it must be true.

Steve Kaplan
Hood River

Need new thinking

Regarding my letter of Nov. 7 and Mr. Logue’s of Nov. 14:

You bet I have an agenda. My hope is that humanity will outgrow war and injustice. I think humanity is capable of widespread compassion, altruism, fairness and real ecologically sustainable living on Earth. The world is full of children, so I am compelled to think so.

The numbers I quote in my previous letter are only a peek into the bigger story. It gets far worse. We must go to humanitarian sources, not “official” corporate/ political sources with quite another agenda, in order to get a truer picture. We must know our sources and what their agendas are. Do they profit from war making? Do they send other people’s beloveds off to war to come back badly damaged for life? Or do they see and work for a far better world for everyone?

Following are a few revealing sources to help see new possibilities.

Books: “War is a Racket” by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler (at the time of his retirement in the early 1930s he was the most decorated officer in U.S. military history).

“War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning” by Chris Hedges (a 20-year veteran journalist of covering war up close).

“A Terrible Love of War” by James Hillman (a veteran of World War II and distinguished psychologist).

“War and the Soul” by Edward Tick, Ph.D.

Films: “Winter Soldier,” “Sir! No Sir!” “Viet Nam: The Year of the Pig,” “The Fog of War with Robert McNamara,” “Rethinking Iraq,” “The Corporation.”

According to Edward Tick, a longtime psychologist working with veterans from World War II through the present wars, there are roughly 150,000 homeless American Vietnam War veterans living on the streets of the U.S.A. every night. The VA is swamped with vets who need help. How is this for treating our vets? The official corporate/political story is quite different.

How do we appraise our own “War Between the States?” Some 620,000 souls died in our own soil war, more “American” veterans and citizens than in all other wars we’ve been in, combined. Did the South wind up talking “Yankee” English?

I think a far better world is possible, but we won’t get there by thinking the same way we have been.

Keith Harding
Mt. Hood

Protect the Gorge

Wow! The highly respected National Geographic Society has just ranked the Columbia River Gorge as the number two tourist destination in the United States, and tied for number 10 in the world!

This is big! Their ranking is based on their criteria for environmental quality, social and cultural integrity, historic buildings, archaeological sites and aesthetic appeal. And this is ahead of such notable treasurers as Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Africa‘s Serengeti. (Go to http//traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/destinations-rated/intro-text.)

This begs the question: as Gorge residents and caretakers, why would we want to trash this world-class treasure with a high-profile casino, upper-scaled private condominiums, and/or visually obstructive wind generators? The answer is we don’t want these in the Gorge; they each have merits in the right place, but not in the Gorge.

As caretakers for this international treasure we should protect the Gorge from degrading developments. Please do your part by writing your state and federal congressmen, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Larry EchoHawk, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, and Washington Governor Chris Gregoire: Urge them to protect the Gorge from inappropriate developments. Thank you.

Tom Rousseau
Odell