Oh, no. The governor's race has begun in earnest. Already there are four candidates jockeying for the right to oppose Governor Wolf. Two of them are very well-funded. One of those is a trash man who's trying to live down to the low standard for personal demeanor set by the Orange One. And the other is a tin soldier improbably named Mango.

Based on his commercial, here's my impression of Mango: Utterly humorless, harsh, severe, rigid. Clearly he's never become a civilian, thus he would probably strive to make society as much like a military dictatorship as possible. Sounds ducky.

Let's compare him to another Mango-- the Chris Kattan character on Saturday Night Live in the 1990's. Some of you may remember him: He was an over-the-top, overanimated, snotty, self-centered volatile diva. This Mango-- as bad as he was-- would make a better governor than the other one.

The trash man wouldn't be any better. The other two candidates? They're virtually anonymous so far. Ain't it a drag not having excess money to waste. They better hope the Koch Brothers take a shine to them soon-- they have an extra $400 million burning a hole in their pockets and no desire to do anything useful with it.

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck, Rushville, PA

How ironic! February 9, 2018, is “National Pizza Day.” Consumers are being given discounts, coupons, specials, etc., for buying pizzas, while Agri-Mark dairy farmers recently received letters concerning suicide prevention, from their own co-op!

Most “pizza cheese” is manufactured using “Milk Protein Concentrate” (MPC), plus additives such as sodium gluconate, pea starch, cellulose, etc. Altering the process retains more moisture, resulting in a huge yield increase. About 18 pounds of so-called “cheese” is obtained instead of about 10 pounds of real cheese made from 100 pounds of real, natural farm milk!

The greedy quest for higher “cheese” yields with MPC use has made the US the biggest cheese producer in the world. But, at what cost?

Because of MPC use, the extra 8 pounds of “Moo Glue” cheese is creating a "mountain of surplus cheese" plus a huge displacement of real fluid milk at the farm that is causing such a devastating drop in dairy farmers' milk prices that many dairy farmers are losing their farms, homes, way of life, and tragically, some have taken their own lives.

Losing thousands of family dairy farms is a devastating socio-economic blow to local rural communities, threatening a safe, secure, and available national food supply.

As a dairy farmer (and a consumer also), I know how important it is for a cow to have a balanced diet. If our cows did not have the right balance of proteins, energy, fiber, minerals, vitamins, etc., we would have a low-producing cow, a sick cow, or a dead cow.

What effect is the relentless push for industrialized milk-derivative “dairy proteins,” in place of REAL milk, having on consumers' health?

With fewer than 38,000, licensed dairy farms left in the US, and thousands more disappearing, I will not celebrate any National Pizza Days! Hope you won't either.

Sincerely,

Donna Hall,Muncy, PA
Vice President, Farm Women United
www.farmwomenunited.org

Anderson, South Carolina, 02/07/2018 A young woman lay crumpled on her knees clawing at her face, screaming. On-lookers rushed to her aid. But approaching they reeled back in horror to see that she had ripped-out both of her eyeballs, which she held in her hands. It took three men to restrain her until she was medivaced to a hospital.

Self-destructive behavior is a side effect of a new class of medicines called psychotropics; drugs that are designed to affect mental activity, behavior, perception, or mood. Wikipedia lists 107 of these chemical chimeras. You got a problem; big pharma's got a pill.

Some 30 years ago depression, anxiety, difficulty falling asleep, were accepted as part of life.

Then big pharma discovered thar's gold in them thar illls. And did they ever hit the mother-load; an El Dorado producing $330 billion a year.

Psychotropics are the "perfect" medicine. Although they do nothing to treat the cause of the illness, they are effective in obscuring its symptoms. And they are addictive, which guarantees repeat business. Perfect.

Here's how it works.

Let's say you're troubled about bills, health, marital difficulties, and have difficulty falling asleep. You see a physician. He prescribes a sleeping aid, perhaps olanzapine, but neglects to inform you of its side effects; there are 54, some bizarre, some frightening, some life-changing, none beneficial. For example...

• Akathisia, a movement disorder characterized by a feeling of inner restlessness and a compelling need to be in constant motion. This goes on 24/7 with no letup, no rest. It is truly horrific.

• Hyperkinetic, involuntary moments of the body, especially the face causing tics, grimaces, jerky movements, or flicking the tongue in and out of the mouth. It has an opposite effect, called, hypokinetic resulting in a stone-like posture.

• Ophthalmoplegia, where the eye muscles are paralyzed causing an inability to move the eyes.

Your physician takes note of the fact that you have anxiety. He has a pill for that, too: hydroxyzine. A few of its 25 side effects include . . . .

• Bradycardia, tachycardia, or arrhythmia, respectively slow, fast, or irregular heartbeat. This coupled with another side effect, tightness in the chest is often a precursor to sudden cardiac arrest.

• Decreased awareness, confusion.

• And a grab bag of unwanted effects: seizures, hallucinations, and severe insomnia.

In 2013, the suicide rate per 100,000 for civilians was 14; for veterans, it was 30. Why the difference?

While the association of dispensed psychotropic meds to vets and those who take their own lives does not mean causation, it is disconcerting to see that the solution to the suicide epidemic is to dole out more drugs.

Moreover, the interactions of psychotropics---often five or more---are unknown and unknowable.

But the primary danger of psychotropics is not to one's self, but others.

For example, at least 36 school shootings and acts of violence have been committed by students taking or withdrawing from psychotropic meds, resulting in 80 killed and 172 wounded.

The most recent was May, 2017 when Kenedrex White, 21, a university student stabbed four people with a hunting knife, killing one and wounding three. He told police he had taken two "happy pills," the antidepressant Zoloft.

Some users eventually decide that the bite, the effect of mind-altering drugs, is worse than the bark, warnings in package inserts, and ditch the meds. That's a good idea gone bad. Cold turkey can kill you. Professional supervision is a necessity.

But while you may be through with the drugs, the drugs may not be through with you. The body's attempt to normalize itself after an extended period of ingested insults can be brutal. Psychotropic addictions are the most difficult to break, and some side effects are irreversible.

A peculiarity of mental disorders is that they are resistant to treatment. Unlike conventional diseases, there are no blood tests, urine markers, tissue analysis, microscopic observations, detection of chemical abnormalities, x-rays, or brain scans that can show the presence of a mental disorder. To this day no one knows what causes them.

Throughout the centuries many cures have been sought: torture, beating, skull drilling, bloodletting, confinement in a snake pit, exorcism, isolation, lobotomy, electroshock, psychiatry, and diet. All have failed.

The pharmaceutical cartels are betting its roots are biochemical. But despite prescription sales of $600 billion/year, and hundreds of billions more to find a chemical silver bullet, the origin of mental disorders, as well as its treatment, remain as mysterious and stubbornly elusive as ever.

If there is anything that offers hope to the mentally tormented, it is in another person's sympathetic ear and caring heart. That's good medicine, indeed, but in short supply.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins, New Milford, PA