Published Letters to Editor

Published April 6, 2010
Modern warfare is Un-American
For most of us, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had little to no impact on our lives. Two wars ongoing with little price to pay for the vast majority of Americans. How is this possible? Easy. Avoid the draft by forcing National Guard men and women into five, six, seven tours of duty, essentially ruining their lives and minds. Then make up any deficit in numbers of "warm bodies" needed on the ground with for-profit civilians.
War fought by an small increasingly isolated and abused group of men and women in the military, backed by a for-profit industry whose employees earn five to 10 times as much while their bosses rake in billions in profit of taxpayer dollars. Oh how noble this modern warfare has become. If we're going to engage in war, it's got to hurt -- all of us. Anything short of that is corrupt and un-American.

Published November 26, 2009
What's the goal?
The health care "reform" bills shaping up in Congress seem to offer little in the way of true reform. Rather, they appear to be a boondoggle for the health insurance industry -- mandating another 31 million customers without addressing waste, greed and lack of focus on health.Whereas extending coverage to another 31 million people and reducing denials and caps of coverage is a good thing, current legislation appears to do little to address waste and skyrocketing cost. And where is the emphasis on preventative care? Isn't the point of health care to prolong healthy lives as much as possible? And to do that don't we need to make it efficient, affordable and focused in part on ways to keep people healthy before they get ill? Ultimately we're talking about human lives and suffering here. How did we get to a point where profit and greed play such a role in our health?

Published August 21, 2009
Public Option
As a clinician, I deal daily with a broken health care system. We've all dealt with a broken system for decades now.The heart of our present system is profit. The solution, while complex in detail, is almost embarrassingly simple. Get profit concerns out of health care coverage. Or at least provide a strong public option that forces the focus on health and not profit. Anything less is not true health care reform. Almost every major Western country in the world already knows this. No meaningful change will be enacted if there is no public option. Millions of Americans will continue to suffer.

Published Sept 25, 2008
Multi-tasking part of job

It's unclear to me why John McCain wanted to postpone the first presidential debate. Apparently he can't help "fix" the economy and debate an opponent at the same time. Does this mean he wouldn't be able to deal with a hurricane while waging unprovoked war?A president needs to be able to multi-task, and do it very effectively. Surely the man can take a few hours tonight and discuss his take on recent events with his opponent in the form of a debate and still have time to help with the economy.The American people deserve to hear more from both candidates during this crisis -- not less.

Published Friday, February 15, 2008 
Congress is on the ball
Roger Clemens is suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs while playing baseball and Congress leaps into action, holding public hearings.George W. Bush and Dick Cheney deliberately lead us into an unprovoked war for reasons as phony as Adolf Hitler's excuses for invading Poland, and no one bats an eye. Bill Clinton lies about an extramarital affair, and Congress leaps into action -- impeaching him.Bush and Cheney order the illegal wiretapping of thousands of U.S. citizens -- before 9/11, and Congress not only doesn't act, but it is about to grant retroactive immunity to the phone companies that abetted them in these crimes. Let's not even talk of illegal renditions, suspension of habeas corpus, the deliberate outing of a covert CIA agent in an act of political revenge, or the shady practice of granting unbidded contracts worth billions to companies the administration has ties to. No, let's not even bring these things up. After all, we've got baseball players to investigate.

CHARLIE PHILLIPS Southwest Portland

Published June 2007
Chose Milk

A gallon of gasoline is now more expensive than a gallon of milk.
A gallon of milk has enough calories to fuel your body for 2 days.
In that time you could – tell your family you love them. You could comfort someone in pain. You could meet your soul mate. Paint a masterpiece. Outline the world’s next greatest novel. Kiss your child goodnight – twice. Dream magical dreams. Save a life.With a gallon of gasoline you could – drive an average car less than 30 miles – adding pollution to contribute to global warming that may destroy your children’s future.Chose milk, use the energy to walk, and be there in a better world in your child’s future.