Letters to the Editor Policy

Refuse To Stop Fighting

It is hard to understand many things about the proposed Health Care Bills. Only one thing makes me refuse to stop fighting against the many bills they have put forth so far. In committee, Democrats first voted to make abortions available under the "public option" health plan. Later they decided to disallow abortion and still later changed their mind again at the last minute and voted to allow abortion in the health care plan. When Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan and Rep. Joe Pitts, R-PA, offered joint proposals to specifically ban abortion on public funded abortions, Democrats defeated their proposal.

It is clear that public pressure is causing this dance of death and that those of us who believe that the child in the womb is an American citizen with equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must not grow weary and withdraw the pressure. Please, if you agree with me, contact your representatives and tell them that abortion must be excluded from any proposed bill. Advise them that you strongly oppose any bill that includes public funding for the destruction of children in the womb and that any representative who votes for a bill which does not include this exclusion will lose your vote.

Many of the representatives tell us about the times the exclusion was in the bill, but fail to advise us or themselves when the exclusion is eliminated. Tell them they must read any bill before approving it, that ignorance of what is in the bill does not excuse them and that you will be watching their votes. Rep. Chris Carney - 866-846-8124, 202-225-3731; Sen. Arlen Specter 570-346-2006, 202-224-4254; Sen. Bob Casey 717-231-7540, 202-224-6324; or write: U.S. Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510 or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.

Sincerely,

Annette Corrigan

Jackson, PA

It's In Your Head

Our homes are storehouses of toxic chemicals. Each room is stockpiled with a Gomorrah of pernicious products. The garage is a repository of lubricants, oils, paints, solvents, pesticides. The storage area under the kitchen sink is a hazardous hodgepodge of polishing agents, drain cleaners, degreasers, oven cleaners. The medicine cabinet and laundry room have their own collections of noxious substances.

But the most harmful concentration of poisons is not in any of these places. It is in your head, specifically, the amalgam fillings in your mouth.

Amalgam fillings are a mixture of metals: 15 percent tin, 35 percent silver, and the major component, 50 percent mercury. Silver fillings are more accurately called mercury fillings. The average adult has eight fillings. A large one may contain as much mercury as a now illegal mercury thermometer. Excepting radioactive materials, mercury is the most toxic element known. Are, then, mercury fillings safe?

The American Dental Association assures us that “silver” fillings are an inexpensive, durable, and safe restorative material. The association further claims that the combination of metals in amalgams are permanently locked in making the filling safe. Inexpensive and durable though they are, there is evidence that they are anything but safe.

Mercury fillings are not “locked in” but escape continuously as a vapor. The International Academy of Oral Medical and Toxicology has produced a fascinating video showing the visible release of vaporous mercury from a filling. View it at iaomt.org.

This vapor travels from the oral cavity to the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream and accumulates in every organ in the body.

Sheep and monkeys were given radioactively tagged mercury fillings. The animals were then subjected to whole-body scans. Mercury from the fillings was visible in the brains, pituitaries, adrenals, kidneys, and livers of the test animals. Elemental mercury in fillings is converted by the body to the more potent methyl mercury. Dental amalgams are the largest source of methyl mercury poisoning. The World Health Organization stated that dental fillings contribute more mercury in a person's body than all other sources of mercury combined.

According to a report by The National Academy of Sciences, “methyl mercury exposure is a widespread and persistent problem in the environment.” The report continued, “more than 60,000 children are at risk of neurological development problems to mercury exposure in the womb.”

Problems associated with exposure to mercury vapor from mercury fillings are grouped in eight categories: psychological disturbances, oral cavity disorders, gastrointestinal effects, systemic effects, respiratory difficulties, immunological deficiencies, endocrine unbalances, and neurological dysfunctions.

Neurological dysfunctions are the most prominent. Laboratory rats exposed to mercury exhibit neurofibrillic entanglements in their brains. According to the University of Calgary, these entanglements are indistinguishable from those found in the autopsied brains of Alzheimer cadavers.

The safety practices that dentists are taught to observe underscore the toxicity of this element. Mercury should never come in contact with skin. Office and chair sites should be properly ventilated. Additionally, the EPA encourages dentists to use Best Management Practices (BMP) to help reduce the effects of amalgam waste on the environment. (One wonders if more concern is shown for the environment than for the patient?)

PBM specifies that scrap mercury should be stored in clearly-labeled, air-tight, and tightly-sealed containers. The regulations also state that “all waste that has been in contact with the patient be treated as potentially infectious.” Yet, this same material is said to be completely safe when in one's month.

If you decide to forego mercury fillings, there are alternatives. For counseling and an information packet go to dams@usfamily.net.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Freedom Lost, Part V

In 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” We are living in a profound state of ignorance aided and abetted by our own complacency and the efforts of mainstream media. How many of you are aware that one of President Obama’s czar appointees “resigned” on September 4? Van Jones, who is an admitted Communist, a signer of a petition to investigate “our government’s role” in the 9-11-2001 attack and has repeatedly attacked our current Constitutional form of government, has drawn so much flack that the President was forced to oust him from his job. Ask yourself this question: Where does such a person fit in the administration which claims that they are for “change you can believe in?” Unfortunately, in my opinion the change which we are seeing is not very good for most of us. The hot issue currently is health care. We have seen town hall meetings throughout the country where ordinary people are up in arms over the proposals coming out of Congress, supported by the President. We see the leaders of Congress attack the protestors as “un-American,” a “mob,” swastika carrying radicals (the swastika in question had a red line through it) in an effort to discredit legitimate objection to a vast makeover of a system which is currently supported by a large majority of Americans. We Americans are not in favor of trashing our current healthcare system to be remade into a vast bureaucratic government takeover, and when we say no, we are castigated and ridiculed by our elected representatives. Obama came to us from a background of community organizer. He represented ACORN as a legal council before running for public office. ACORN, of which I assume you are familiar, is under investigation in fourteen states for perpetrating voter fraud. And I hope that you all now know that ACORN has been unveiled by the amateur videographers who filmed ACORN employees advising them how to avoid taxes and how to operate their underage brothel. To top it all off, Obama replies to queries by George Stephanopoulos on his September 20 talk show that he is vaguely aware of ACORN when, in fact, he has been deeply involved with ACORN for over twenty years. This isn’t some little knee-jerk operation. It is well organized and heavily supported by the far left. During the campaign, our President held up a blank slate and invited each of us to list what we wanted a new administration to achieve. He then nodded agreement. He held a separate blank slate up to each and every one of us and proclaimed that he was for “change you can believe in.” Somehow we closed our eyes to very important signals that were out there, such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers (founder of the Weather Underground), his connection to ACORN, his response to Joe the Plumber that redistribution of wealth was a goal and the list goes on. We closed our eyes to what we should have been seeing because we wanted to believe. Now we have it and what do we do now. Our president, five days before the election stated, “We are five days from transforming America.” He means to transform America the same way that he wants to transform our healthcare, into a vast bureaucratic monstrosity with himself at the head. He is backing and filling as he retreats under fire. But don’t kid yourself. He is definitely not a man to take lightly. The collapse of the Republican Party aided and abetted his ascent to power and they are still mostly emasculated by their own knife.

To our great harm, we now have as president a man who is disingenuous at best and an accomplished liar at worst. Either way, we accept his statements and promises at our peril. We have, in my opinion, only one chance to stop this stampede to Socialism (or worse) and financial ruin. That is the election of 2010. A major change in the House of Representatives can put the brakes on the Change we cannot abide. The House controls the purse strings. It has the power to stop the funding of any and all Czars and other ExoGovernments which are accruing power to the Administrative Branch of our government (Note: some European governments did the same thing in the 1930’s). Already millions upon millions of dollars are flowing to organizations like ACORN who wish to fundamentally change our form of government through intimidation (how many of you are already afraid to speak up?) and voter fraud. As stated in the beginning of this letter, we do not have the luxury of being both ignorant and free. It is really now up to you. Nobody can hold your hand.

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

Wake Up Catholics

It is sad to see that so many people have fallen away from practicing the faith and churches closing. But have you stopped to think seriously of all the great missionary work accomplished over the past 100 plus years over seas and at home? It’s awesome.

But now look at what we are allowing to be done with our money. Catholic politicians are sending it over seas to those same countries we evangelized in the name of Christ and helped to develop. We must stop this grave evil, pray our Rosaries every day and go to first Saturday mass.

Sincerely,

John Mann,

Susquehanna, PA

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