This is in response to Ron Gasbarro's letter "To the Editor" Brokeback Mountain in The Transcript. The Founding Fathers(who surely were supported by females) came together to write and proclaim The Declaration Of Independence. This was done to be free of England and the Church Of England. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. believed in the Creator, or God.

The Bill Of Rights in our Constitution's First Amendment-Freedom Of Religion, states that we are free to practice religion and should not establish one religion. The ACLU, along with Nat Hintoff has made a shambles of separating church and state. Public schools cannot openly pray a prayer!

The people that were elected in the ten states that passed same-sex unions must surely have had their hand on some book like the Bible, to affirm a higher authority.

I address same-sex couples as a man with a man and a woman with a woman. I do not like using the once wonderful word Gay to describe same-sex couples. In the early 1970's same-sex men went to the American Psychiatric Association to protest psychiatrists treating homosexual behavior as a treatable disorder. They disrupted the APA conventions until the Association removed the same-sex action treatment.

The same-sex movement is out to destroy marriage (as only between a man and a woman) and will not stop unless we counteract their agenda. They cannot win disproving Natures Law, only opposite sexes can procreate and continue a species. The Act-Up or their equivalent group made a terrible mockery of Jesus and the Catholic reverence of The Holy Eucharist, by spitting out the Hosts in N.Y. City's St. Patrick's Cathedral in front of Cardinal John ÓConnor, a retired Military Chaplain. The same-sex group will never change the law that marriage is between a man and a woman, husband and wife. Pope Francis and Jesus teachings re-affirm this! The Gates Of Hell Will Not Destroy Jesus and His Church!

They (same sex) threatened to disrupt Disneyland Amusement Parks if they refused to let them have a same-sex day. This is the ‘money' that I believe Mr.Gasparro is referencing. I believe, along with many others, that their goal is to destroy and break down the innocence of children and adults. An example is how 'Planned Parenthood' has destroyed the morals of our culture with baby killing abortion and with the approval of main stream media and Mr. Obama's administration.

My past letters printed in The County Transcript have always praised God in the design of His Universe, revealed by the great telescopes that show us great beauty.

In all of history there has been a belief that people praised and sometimes worshiped a higher authority whether it was the Sun, Moon, Animals or a human leader. Into that time, in the Old Testament came God who instructed the Israelites to listen to Moses and the Ten Commandments which followed the 613 Laws of the Torah. #59 is Honor Thy Father And Mother. #63 is be Fruitful And Multiply or a husband is to have a wife and their intimate union will bear a baby. #103 is a Male Is Not To Have Sodomy (meaning oral or anal) With Another Male. In The New Testament of the Bible look up Paul's Letter To The Romans-Romans 1 Verses 26-27.

I personally will follow the Bible. I will not follow Mr. Gasbarro's thinking and actions, or his writings in any way.

Sincerely,

Bruce Moorhead

Susquehanna,Pa.

In seeking an appropriate response to Mr. Scroggins’ ignorant “misdiagnosis” of feminism as a disease, rather than seeing it for what it is: a thoroughly justified demand for basic human rights regardless of gender, I can only repeat a quote used by Abraham Lincoln when answering a “Scroggins” of his time, “Better to keep silent and have others think you a fool, than speak, and remove all doubt.”

Sincerely,

Chris Chacona

Susquehanna, PA

Our Declaration and Constitution are documents representing the moral laws of our sovereign creator. The creator will not fail us if we obey them. After all the moral law, the Ten Commandments represents our identity: Man is created male and female in the image and likeness of the Creator the most Holy Trinity – father, son and holy ghost at the moment of copulations and consummated with conception. There for what God has joined together let no man put asunder, for better or for worse whether in riches or in poverty, etc.

Let us remember the U.S. Supreme Court removed this reality from the halls of justice in our nation in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decisions sanctioning abortion on demand. Since then ‘We the people’ have been persecuted with this demonic error, a most serious defimation of our character and integrity. With our tolerance comes a growing immorality, a destruction of the image and likeness of the Creator, his attributes, virtues of the Holy Spirit, ‘the giver of life’ in the context of marriage, one man and one woman. Jesus said: When ‘the son of man’ comes again will he (Jesus) find faith on earth?

‘The founding fathers confessed’: We hold these truths to be self evident all men/women created equal. But of equality in God is not something to be grasped at. It is given to us out of love and obedience to the truth, ultimately learning to love one another as he has loved us and gave himself up as ransome for our sins. Jesus, the son of god, a man like us in all things but sin. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. This dogma bares the knowledge, integrity and defense of the creator. Jesus said: “Wisdom is known by her children”.

God told the prophet Isaiah: “My people die for lack of knowledge”. The Holy Roman Catholic Church in America is failing to discipline its members who politically advocate abortion, for which the faithfull must suffer persecution of this abortion on demand that is enslaving the world. God will not grant the world peace until it obeys his most holy mother, Mary. She told the church: ‘God wills to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart’. Why? Because by virtue of baptism she is the second Eve, our mother in the order of grace.

Mary said among other things; ‘It will be late but in the end the Holy Father (Vicar of Christ) will consecrate Russia to my immaculate heart and nations will be converted and a period of peace will be granted the world’.

Our responsibility is to obey and pray at least 3 Hail Mary’s and the our Father every day.

May God so bless America.

Sincerely,

John Mann

Lanesboro, PA

It was shocking news. Angelina Jolie, a woman famous for her beauty, had both her breasts surgically removed. But was it a courageous decision or a tragic mistake?

Jolie's decision was based on the best medical advice. Oncologists informed her that she had a mutated gene that predisposed her to breast cancer. This was confirmed by a genetic counselor. Based on this expert medical guidance, she agreed to have her completely healthy, non-cancerous breasts removed.

“My chance of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent,” said Jolie. “I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”

Is this, then, a bold new initiative in cancer prevention?

Prophylactic removal of organs is not a new procedure. For decades physicians have routinely taken out such “useless” and potentially troublesome organs as tonsils, adenoids, and appendixes.

Should prophylactic surgery be extended to include testicles, ovaries, uterus, and the colon, all of which could develop cancer? And what about the thyroid, central lymph nodes, and prostate?

This is a highway to absurdities. The fork in the road appeared with that “87 percent” chance.

There is no exact prognostic percentage of any individual developing a specific disease. Once more, that's out-of-date science. Even if one is dealt a bad hand of genes, that does not determine whether one is helplessly fated to suffer the consequences.

There is hope. We are not at the mercy of our genes or a foreboding percentage---like that 87 percent. That hope is the emerging science of epigenetics.

Epigenetics is based on the discovery that attached to every gene is a switch that literally turns the expression of that gene on or off like a light switch. Flicked one way or the other the switch can either activate a gene to be either disease causing or health boosting.

This nascent science shatters the central dogma of biology that believes genes are destiny. They are not. Rather it is the switch on each gene that is in charge.

So who's at the switch? Some new drug, hi-tech surgery, or advent-guard medical technique? It is none of these. We are in charge.

Cancer, heart disease, and many other diseases can be switched off by us. But how?

It is by our way of life: diet, negative attitudes, stress, sleep pattern, and amount of bodily movement that control how genes are expressed either positively or negatively.

Foods like broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, garlic, onions, and foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids contain powerful nutrients that cause positive gene expression. Vitamins are also extraordinarily influential.

For example, consider the effects of just one vitamin, vitamin D. This vitamin obtained freely by exposure to the summer's sun or orally during the winter and fall was found to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by 50 percent and the overall chance of developing any cancer was slashed by 77 percent.

Hypertension, heart attacks, and congestive heart failure were also significantly decreased by vitamin D.

On the other hand, William Grant, Ph.D., found that 200,000 cancer deaths could be prevented each year with adequate serum levels of vitamin D.

The list of minerals that switch off inimical gene manifestations include selenium, iodine, zinc, magnesium, chromium, manganese, and other minerals.

These powerful cancer fighters are not to be found in a doctor's armamentarium or at a prescription counter. For the most part, they are found in the fruits and vegetables section in your local supermarket.

Did Jolie's medical team inform her about epigenetics? It does not appear so. “I hope it [my operation] helps you to know you have options,” wrote Jolie to women with similar concerns. But do her options include how cancer might be prevented? If so, she makes no mention of it.

But don't have false hopes. Following the best cancer preventive measures will not bulletproof one from contracting cancer or any other disease. It will, however, load the dice heavily in your favor.

To conclude, What are we to make of Jolie's choice to have a double mastectomy? Was it a courageous decision or a tragic mistake? It was both.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA