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Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Extended
Published on Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
In his July 20 article comparing health care in Ohio and Ontario, Canada, David Knox largely ignored one critical factor: Ohio is too fat (''Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short'').
The Centers for Disease Control reported that 27 percent of Ohioans were obese in 2007. This made us the 18th fattest state in the country. According to the Canadian government's Web site, 15 percent of Ontarians were obese in 2005.
Obesity has a highly negative impact on a person's health. Of the six categories on the ''leading causes of death'' chart, three are directly related to obesity. The most frequent is diseases of the heart.
We decide what we eat and how much we exercise. Yes, some causes are difficult to control. As adults, however, we have the ability and responsibility to change that which harms us.
Doctors spend a great deal of their time trying to prevent these causes of death. They are armed with many different kinds of cholesterol, blood-pressure and diabetes medications. All are heavily prescribed.
A related article told the heartbreaking story of Christine Gurbis' battle with cancer. Through no fault of her own, she contracted this disease.
Her struggles with insurance companies while trying to pay her bills and get well at the same time should scare anyone with deteriorating health who depends on health insurance to cover his or her costs.
Insurance companies do not exist to take care of us. They are businesses whose purpose is to make money. Taking in more than they pay out is how they do that.
If 27 percent of Ohioans have diseases that are caused, at least in part, by personal choices and require a great deal of money to treat, insurance companies have to respond. Limiting payouts is one way.
The health-care situation in this country is very complex. We have world-class care available to us, largely on demand. If we choose not to take advantage of it, we have only ourselves to blame, and a single-payer system won't change that.
Also on the Canadian Web site were the facts that both Ontario's obesity rates and wait times for medical procedures were increasing significantly. One has to wonder what happens when their obesity rates reach Ohio's level.
One must also wonder about the outcomes of patients who have to wait longer and longer to be diagnosed and treated.
Frank Bertuzzi
Wadsworth
Competition isn't good
answer for our schools
I am getting a bit tired of the specious argument from those who want to dismantle our public school system that ''competition'' is the fix for all problems with the schools. Make no mistake, the dismantling of one of the primary institutions that made America the world leader, universal public education, is the agenda.
If Robert Lattimer (''Bring schools into future,'' Aug. 1) is right, then why don't we apply his theory more broadly? Surely my police and fire departments would benefit from some healthy competition. And why stop there? Alternative city councils, building departments, zoning boards, state legislatures, governors could all compete for my business. Everyone knows we don't have nearly enough government bodies in Ohio.
Let's elect both Barack Obama and John McCain. Every morning they can check the polls; whoever is ahead gets the Oval Office for the day. Imagine the pandering.
Our schools have problems, some of their own making, many not. We can come together and fix them. Beware of those who claim to want to help but really want to destroy. Remember the first rule of politics: Never tell anyone the real reason you want anything.
Christopher Walker
Fairlawn
Keep our oil at home
Before we start drilling more oil wells, we should be told if any of our Alaskan oil is still being exported to foreign countries. If so, how much? How does this affect how much oil we have to import?
I have been told by a former crew member on an oil tanker that they hauled a lot of oil from Alaska to Japan and other nations. If this is true, we should make the government stop any exporting of oil as long as we have high gas and other related prices.
James Conover
Marshallville
It's past time for the
world to work together
To the Founding Fathers, it was self-evident that the Crown had become predatory and dysfunctional in its relationship to the colonies. We, too, must wake up to the fact that our world economic system has become predatory and dysfunctional to every living system.
The only cure for the darkness that has descended like a horde of locusts on the planet is to share resources so that never again will people die for lack of food, shelter, clothing, education or medical care.
Our generation is being called upon to act in a moral manner to all creation. We say we are a Christian nation, yet our policies are anti-Christ. Those who choose salvation must open their hearts and start acting according to the way they claim they believe. Sharing is divine, and the first step into sharing is the first step into godliness.
Mary L. Tabatcher
Mogadore
Let's choose our words
a bit more carefully
It happened again. Someone has opted for clever when just well-written would do. Bob Dyer finds the person responsible for the First Merit e-mail filter to be prudish or short-sighted or maybe just plain ignorant. And to make his point, Dyer has dubbed that individual a ''Word Nazi'' (''Restroom solution is low-down,'' July 29).
Dyer, please. The word ''Nazi'' carries a very specific meaning: something so horrible, an evil of such magnitude, that it cost millions of innocent people their lives. Some words are like that. They take on mega-meaning because of the cost in human lives they represent.
Someone with whom we disagree is not, thereby, a ''Nazi.'' And when we return to work after vacation we are not buried under a ''tsunami'' of paperwork. And when the bridesmaids' dresses don't quite match, we don't have a ''disaster'' on our hands, despite some current word choices.
May I suggest that we — all of us — think before we write or speak? And maintain some perspective. And, if we find ourselves tempted to be colorful or clever or dramatic by casually using words that name real evil or genuine human suffering, may I further suggest that we open our thesaurus and think again?
Pat Schnee
Fairlawn
Misinformed about
global warming
Sometimes when I read letters in Voice of the People, I really am stunned at the misinformation people have been duped into accepting as fact.
One such instance is a letter from Randall Newsome on the evils of meat because its mass production produces carbon dioxide (''Meat production adds to global warming,'' July 28).
Newsome is typical of the misinformed when it comes to this fantasy called global warming. Carbon dioxide is not the most abundant greenhouse gas, as he states and as many people think.
The most abundant greenhouse gas is water vapor, look it up. Light the grill and throw me a T-bone, please.
A.P. George
Akron
Heydorn for District 3
is the best choice
Louise Heydorn has served on the Summit County Council for 16 years and has been in the political minority all of that time. Since Mike Callahan's seat was lost in 2006, she has been the only Republican on the council.
Despite this politically disadvantageous position, she has shown herself able to have positive influence on legislation. Her ability to be honest and direct has allowed her to positively affect the course of Summit County government and has caused the residents of District 3 — Democrat, Republican and independent — to vote for and trust in her.
Considering that Heydorn is the only Republican on the County Council and she has the benefit of being an incumbent, it seems reckless for the Republican Party, at this late date, to risk losing the seat by nominating a political unknown or someone whose only political experience is being connected to an elected official. It is particularly unwise when Heydorn is still willing to serve and the people of District 3 continue to like and trust Louise.
The elected Central Committee members from District 3 know their constituents and have been chosen to speak for them. The Executive Committee should have deferred to the Central Committee's recommendation of a replacement candidate. I believe the Central Committee members from the district are best able to select a candidate to win in District 3.
Daniel Dismuke
Stow
Get the full article here.
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