Good health care options seen in other countries
Thank you, Dr. Cleaveland, for a thorough description of Germany's health care system (Thursday's TFP). Like him, I have heard from several Germans who are pleased with the quality and coverage available to them.
If Donald Trump really wants to make America great again, putting together a similar system for Americans would be quite an achievement. But, alas, a system like Germany's would not bode well for the powerful insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers that currently dictate the health (and sickness) of our citizens.
Our legislators will spend months and years of their time quibbling over health care, with no decent plan to offer us. It is clear that powerful interests will be served, not millions of Americans. Shameful ... and sickening.
I hope I live long enough to see a turn away from the greed that rules this land and makes life difficult for most!
Anne Grindle, Sewanee, Tenn.
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No proof Forrest in Ku Klux Klan
Both TFP Friday editorials dealing with the request by the NAACP to move the statue of Gen. A.P. Stewart were well-reasoned and balanced.
I have one serious issue to raise with each of the editorials. One of the writers stated Nathan Bedford Forrest was the grand wizard of the KKK while the other writer identified Forrest as an early member of that group. I challenge both the writers to state the source on which they base those assertions.
Forrest is often linked to the KKK, but no historian, from 1866 to the present day, has produced evidence which meets the required standard of historical proof to show any link existed.
The latest scholarly book on the subject, "Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction," written by Dr. Ellaine Frantz Parsons of Duquesne University and published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2015, says "There is no compelling contemporary evidence to establish that Forrest ever exercised any leadership function" (p. 50).
Let us, indeed, engage in a discussion of our Civil War past, but let us do so on the basis of historical fact and scholarship, not emotion, legend and folklore.
Michael Bradley, Tullahoma, Tenn.
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Support the EPA with 'yes' votes
The House of Representatives passed two bills that threaten independent science and the process by which the EPA forms policy to protect the environment and human health.
The so-called HONEST Act (H.R. 1430) would bar the EPA from considering any peer-reviewed scientific work not publicly available. On the surface, this seems to increase transparency. In reality, supporters of this bill seek to delay and challenge science that might confirm undesirable, evidence-based outcomes. If passed by the Senate, this dishonest bill will cripple the EPA's ability to develop effective environmental policy and public health safeguards.
The EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act (H.R. 1431) would bar non-industry scientists with current EPA funding (the scientific experts) from membership on the EPA Science Advisory Board. It would also give parties against effective environmental policy unlimited time to present arguments to the advisory board. This would allow conflict of interests during the review of scientific data.
I urge Sens. Corker and Alexander to vote "no" on these bills. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann voted "yes" on both of these bills. Rep. Fleischmann's "yes" vote confirms his priorities are with industry and not public health safeguards for Tennesseans.
Dr. Loren Hayes