To boil down Bob Scroggins’ May 8th treatise on metabolic syndrome (“The Metabolic Diet: It’s All the Rage”) and his sarcastic way in which to acquire it, you pretty much get this residue: You eat too much. You get fat. You get sick. You take pills to stop from getting sicker. But – ah ha! – it is really the pills that will kill you in the end. What’s the answer? Who knows? Again, Bob has provoked the hoi polloi to panic without giving us an escape hatch. What a downer. Should I go to McDonald’s and stick my head into one of its grease-laden ovens and die?

For the record, no prescriber would initially write for Lipitor and Lopid simultaneously. There are rare cases when this may be justified and, yes, the risks of taking these two drugs together are greater than either one alone. In any event, neither Lipitor nor Lopid will do anything to bring down your weight or lessen your blood pressure. They are used strictly as cholesterol-lowering agents.

Doctors are not stooges or dabbling dilettantes. The rational practitioner would put the patient on either Lipitor or Lopid and observe the results of monotherapy. You see, Bob, it is called the scientific method, whereby a problem is identified (high cholesterol), data are collected (the amount of cholesterol), and a means to solve the problem is introduced (the selection of a first-line therapy for a lipid disorder, which is a statin, like Lipitor). Then, after a reasonable time, the physician would gather more data (Was there a change in the amount of cholesterol? Were there any intolerable side effects?), and either keep the dose the same, raise the dose, switch to another drug, or as a last resort, add a second drug such as the aforementioned Lopid, which, by the way, is barely used today.

Sounds like someone found an old Physician’s Desk Reference in the trash and thumbed through it while sitting on the john. Voila! Another column is born. Sorry Bob, but you have already proven that your understanding of medicine is both convenient and disturbing, and according to Sam Lewis’ May 8th analysis of your April 17th lecture on the American military, your grasp of history is slipping. Why not write about something you know, like, say…give me a minute…I will think of something...um…

Sincerely,

Dr. Ron Gasbarro

New Milford, PA

Well Sam, for one who “put the Transcript’s de facto ‘weekly columnist’ on my ignore list a long time ago,” you don’t seem to be doing a very good job at turning the other way. You referred to something I wrote April 10th, then something else “several weeks back,” and finally reaching back “for years.”

First, many thanks, Sam, for being a seasoned, albeit reluctant, reader for many years.

Now to begin, in last week’s letter you fired a fusillade of invectives: “cherry-picking his facts,” “generous massaging of the facts,” “quirky political and social agenda,” and “spewing recycled political and social theories.”

Not much to respond to here, Sam. Since you failed to elaborate upon these aspersions you are the only one who knows exactly what you are writing about.

But you did manage to give one example of my “gross” inaccuracies that I have “been shoveling” out. You referred to a letter of mine in the April 17th edition of the Transcript.

Pursuant to that missive you wrote, “I was aghast when [Bob] stated that 1968—-[instead of 1965 as you wrote]—-was the year President Lyndon Johnson began the American buildup in Southeast Asia.”

Citing 1968 instead of 1965 flabbergasted you! Is that the best example of a gross inaccuracy that you can come up with? Isn’t that a little bizarre, Sam?

Bizarre, indeed, especially so since you misquoted me. I did not write “that 1968 was the year . . .[that] began the American buildup in Southeast Asia”—-you wrote that, Sam, not I.

I wrote that “It was in [1968 that] Johnson ordered troops into southeast Asia.” And that is what he did. In early 1968, Johnson committed an additional 64,000 troops setting a record high of 550,000 American soldiers in Vietnam.

Perhaps if you quoted me correctly, you would not have been aghast.

However, if you’re looking for perfection in either people or publications, you’ll not find it. Even the newspaper of record, the New York Times, has an errata section where errors are cited and corrected. For example, in the May 8th edition there were nine corrections, two of which were on the front page.

And, occasionally, there are some major bloopers published in time-honored magazines such as the National Geographic.

Some time ago Nat Geo ran a feature story about a major fossil discovery. The article was replete with a photograph of a supposedly feathered dinosaur, Archaeoraptor, and an artist’s depiction of what it may have looked like. But the fossil was a fraud and the article was retracted.

Nevertheless, readers still peruse the Times and Nat Geo has lost none of its readership. So perhaps regardless of errors—-real or trumped-up—-you will continue to be a regular, though closeted, reader of the writer you try to ignore.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Do we people judge others? I think most of us do, unless we live in a hermit-like environment. So what is one of the topics that people like to pass judgment on? An example is that group of dissenters who would like to have same-sex couples have all of the benefits of a married (man and woman) couple. Now what these dissenters may not realize is that in the Old Testament of the Bible, God created Adam and Eve, a man and a woman to have children and multiply. God revealed to Moses and all of us down through time and this time forever- the 10 commandments. Number 4 of the 10 Commandment is “Honor Thy Father And Mother”. These 2 examples definitely rule out same sex couples.

The New Testament of the Bible has Jesus the Son of God, who describes magnificently how we are to let people live and not to pass judgment on our neighbor and to forgive our brother and others if they have sinned against us; of course if they have sinned they must be sorry and change their life to God’s laws. Jesus (at about 30 yrs. of his human life) began His public ministry by performing His first miracle-the “Miracle of the Wedding Feast of Cana”. That wedding was between a man and a woman. Again, not a same-sex couple.

We need to obey God and His Laws. Satan will give us all of the bad temptations that are constantly confronting us and it certainly does not make life easily. With prayer and good friends and religious togetherness-we can prevail.

Sincerely,

Bruce Moorehead

Susquehanna, Pa.

Why do we take voting so lightly? Especially with the Primary Election, which is fast approaching on the 21st? People have fought and died so that we may have this right—a right that many all over the world would give anything to have and we take for granted.

Imagine, if you will, going to your municipality’s polling place—only to find the door locked and a sign that there will be no voting at this location today. This could happen at any location if no one is willing to work on the Election Board. Some municipalities’ ballots are lacking candidates for local positions. There are no Mayoral, Council, School Board, Tax Collector, etc. candidates! This is disgraceful! If no one steps up, everybody loses, as you have no representation. I might mention that this also encompasses both political parties. Is this what we want? I think not! I know we all get disheartened and discouraged about what goes on around us, but, if you want changes to happen, you must let your voice be heard! Vote!

I implore you to get involved with your local Committee. We are in need of Committee People in many locations. We lack help getting sample ballots distributed as well. Please consider running for an office—if you can’t, perhaps you know someone who would be perfect for a position. Even though time is short, you could still run for an office on a “Write-in”. But above all else, go to the polls on May 21st and cast your ballot—the future of this Country, State, County and your Municipality depends on you and me!

I would like to leave you with a quote by District Attorney, Jason Legg; “We need to only fight with our voices, our pens and our votes to defend our heritage”.

Sincerely,

Nancy Narma,

Oakland Township