Saturday, June 25, 2005
Jeb Bush goes too far by meddling in Schiavo case
EDITOR:
Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida should stick with what he knows best, politics. His current investigation into the death of Terri Schiavo is ludicrous.
Terri actually died as a result of her own undoing. She had an eating disorder know as bulimia. Persons so afflicted have a fat phobia and continually view themselves as being over weight, when on the contrary they are usually emaciated due to self induced starvation. They tend to self induce vomiting following meals which causes them to lose potassium, a vital body mineral that is essential for normal heart functioning. Persons with eating disorders (including anorexia nervosa) also abuse strong diuretics to further lower their body weight. Diuretics also lower one's serum potassium. Finally, these persons will take laxatives on a regular basis, often resulting in diarrhea and that too will cause the loss of vital serum potassium. When one's serum potassium falls to a dangerously low level a fatal cardiac arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation) may develop. Within 3 to 5 minutes of having that fatal arrhythmia, because there is no cardiac output and thus no cerebral circulation, the brain becomes so hypoxic that recovery is seldom achieved. That is exactly the scenario that put Terri Schiavo into a permanent vegetative state from which she never recovered.
When she died recently, she had not been "starved to death" since she had in essence accomplished that many years ago on her own volition. When one is deprived of nutrition and hydration, the brain releases a substance (endorphin) that causes sedation and the demise is quite peaceful and painless. Removing Terri's feeding tube was actually an act of mercy.
Gov. Bush, along with the press, has sensationalized that poor girl's case for far too long. It is time to let her rest in the arms of God and move on. This case should be a learning experience for those unfortunate persons who suffer from Terri's eating disorder. It was the same illness that ended the life of vocalist Karen Carpenter. Persons so afflicted should seek help and stay in therapy until their potentially fatal problem has been overcome.
CHARLES H. McGOWEN, MD
Howland
A sign of the times
EDITOR:
So Sen. Dick Durbin was forced to apologize for comparing American troops who tortured prisoners to Nazis.
Rush Limbaugh went on a rampage on his show and denounced the use of the word Nazi -- a word he frequently uses himself in the term feminazi. Apparently it is OK to call half the population in the USA Nazis when they are standing up for their rights, but it is not OK to call the military Nazis when they are torturing people.
But then what can we expect from a Nazi like Limbaugh, in these very Nazi-like times we are living in?
ROGER LAFONTAINE
Youngstown
Clinton had minorities in his cabinet; count them
EDITOR:
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's propaganda minister during the Third Reich, reworked Adolf Hitler's "Big Lie" theory into a rather simple premise: & quot;If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. & quot;
And so it is with a letter in last Sunday's Vindicator that repeated the claim that President Clinton did not have one person of color in a high-level position in his cabinet. I've heard this claim over and over on talk radio, on television call-in programs, and in letters in various newspapers.
The fact is that Clinton had a more diverse cabinet than any president up to that point in time, and I'm sure that the claim to the contrary would come as a big surprise to Mike Espy, Ron Brown (were he still alive), Alexis Herman, Henry Cisneros, Federico Pena, Rodney Slater, Bill Richardson, Jesse Brown and Togo D. West, all of whom were either African-Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and all of whom were Cabinet secretaries in the Clinton administration.
During their first terms, 47 percent of those appointed to cabinet positions by both Clinton and Bush were women or people of color. Clinton's figure rose to 52 percent by the end of his second term, and Bush's is currently at 50 percent, but is bound to rise by the end of his term.
GEOFFREY JONES
Boardman
Library not neglected;board is being prudent
EDITOR:
Because we believe it is in the public's interest, the library would like to respond to the letter that appeared in the June 19 Vindicator regarding the upkeep of the Poland library.
What the writer does not know is that the library has plans to put the Poland building and grounds back into proper condition. However, the library is prudently avoiding duplicating this expense by waiting until we can complete a project to alleviate the Yellow Creek flooding situation that affects the Poland branch and its grounds. Experts advise us that the best time to begin work on the flooding problem is later in the summer, when the creek is typically lower. The project to address flooding will create dust that will cause the building's siding, doors and windows to get dirty. Power washing will, in-turn, result in the need for other maintenance, such as touch-up painting and ground work.
The library routinely performs tasks such as cleaning windows, touching up paint and work on lawns and landscaping at all 16 of our locations throughout the county. Year-round maintenance on these buildings also includes responsibilities such as carpet cleaning, window and door repairs, and electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems.
The library attempts to keep all of its facilities in a condition that would make the community proud. However, with so many buildings dating back to the mid- to early-1900s, it's a constant challenge, made even more difficult since 2001, when the state of Ohio cut funding to Mahoning County libraries by nearly $1 million a year.
One way the library manages under budget cuts such as these is to schedule repairs in ways that avoid duplicating expenses. We expect that most people would view this as a prudent use of funds.
To set the record straight on one other point mentioned in the previous letter, the library does not have plans to "ask taxpayers for millions of dollars to build a palatial library in Canfield."
JANET S. LOEW
Communications and public relations director
The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County