Letter to the Editor

Winter, 2010 Editorial
Author: Bill Chisholm

Expanding the discussion. December 20, 2009 Bill Chisholm 19073E Hwy 30 Buhl, Idaho 83316 543-4418 chisholm3@mindspring.com Editor, How can we talk health care reform if there is no discussion about taking care of our health? No matter who or how we try to pay for it; there is now way we can afford the medical costs associated with a society that fosters so much dis-ease with its poor diet and lack of exercise. Add the incredible government subsidies for growing the corn that becomes high fructose corn syrup and the other nasty ingredients which make up what we pass off as food, which while cheaper in the store than real food in the store, ends up costing us in medical bills. Polluting industries with their big campaign contributions and high priced lobbyists fight the kind of regulations that would force them to spend the money to clean up their act and thus the environment and lower the rate of environmentally caused dis-eases, are only too glad to have the taxpayers pick up the medical bills they should be paying. They even have a name for it “externalities”, which means the costs you can pass on to others. Top that off with our greed based economic system that is predicated on “stress”; stressed out consumers that are never good enough or happy enough. and stressed out workers that have to work more to buy all the things they supposedly need to make them and their children happy. Medical science says that most of our dis-eases are stress related. Health care reform? Good luck I say unless there is a grassroots revolution that starts with eating better, exercising more, buying less junk, reducing stress and thus going to the doctor less. Bill Chisholm In (Very Reluctant) "Defense" of the Insurance Mandate I have no interest in defending the mandate that individuals buy an insurance policy. I think it's self-evident that coercing people to shell out their hard-earned cash to Big Insurance is a distinctly sucky thing. So I won't. I do, however, want people to take a deep breath, and at least have a serious discussion of the policy without all the hand-wringing and hyperbole that have been flying around of late. I used to labor under the naive delusion that liberals tended to be rationalists -- sometimes too nerdy in their reliance on factual arguments Click here to read more on our site Most Popular Content Goofing Up Health Care Reform Iran: The Uninvited Wildcard in Mideast Talks Rangel's Revealing Portrait US Military Tells "24": Cut Out Torture Scenes ... or Else! Are Pentagon Contracts Funding the Taliban?

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