To the editor: Jeff Prince’s latest article (“Cross about the Crossing,” June 17, 2009) shows us that those in power who work their silver tongues aren’t always going to get their way, especially when the opposition is vocal. City official Russell Wiles is trying to pimp his propaganda about the need for a “quiet zone,” but the Riverside neighborhood is showing esprit de corps and getting traction in their effort to not let the city mess with their community.
The maneuvering by the city and others to assuage Riverside folks’ fears and create a quiet zone against their wishes should raise a few eyebrows in other neighborhoods, where there are virtual carpetbaggers waiting to pounce if they see lucrative financial gain as a possibility – always, of course, at the expense of those who already live in an area considered ripe for takeover, usually older, established neighborhoods.
Brenda Flores
Fort Worth
Reform Healthcare
To the editor: Great commentary from Dan McGraw in his column “Not So Healthy” (June 24, 2009). I too am one of the 50 million without a healthcare option. Where you are lucky is that you at least have an option: $400 a month is steep for a private plan, but try to get a personal plan when you have diabetes. With a pre-existing condition like that, I’m left with no option besides a state-sponsored plan. After the basic coverage, meds alone cost me $400 a month. We need reform, and we need to make sure healthy individuals understand that things out of my control shouldn’t mean I can be denied medication.
Brad Koettel
Flower Mound
To the editor: Thank you for printing Dan McGraw’s article “Not So Healthy” regarding the healthcare crisis in America. He made valid points. In a re-play of their response during the early years of the Clinton administration, Republicans in Congress are again stonewalling attempts at meaningful change to our healthcare system. No matter how they rationalize their stand, recent reports expose the simple truth: Private healthcare insurers are some of their biggest campaign contributors. In the meantime the United States ranks 34th in the health of its citizens among the world’s nations while spending more per capita on it than anyone else!
The Republican approach to fighting healthcare reform is the same as with other causes: Capitalize on ignorance by denying facts and using fear to spread doubt via repeated innuendo and misinformation. Conservatives are again playing to some of our deepest fears with recent ads warning patients that “some government bureaucrat will make decisions regarding your healthcare and prevent you from seeing your doctor.” President Obama has repeatedly denounced these charges, yet the lies persist. It seems that the healthcare insurance industry is just too lucrative for them to give up easily, which is why Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina this year committed $300 million to fighting national healthcare, while this supposedly nonprofit company reported a reserve of $1.4 billion and paid its top four executives more than $1 million each.
McGraw makes the point that Republicans argue against a government-option healthcare program as being socialist as well as “inefficient, wasteful, and bad policy” while simultaneously arguing that a well-run government program would “put many private insurers out of business.” As everybody now knows, Republicans are against socialism only when they are not the direct beneficiaries. For example, corporate socialism is good!
For all our sakes, we simply can’t let the liars win this time. Demand a public option in healthcare reform!
Robert Moore
Fort Worth
