Reader disturbed by negative report
My concern is the April 7 TFP newspaper article by Diaa Hadid, “Risk of collapse at Jesus’ tomb unites rival Christians.”
This article looks very depressing to me and may be offensive to different Christians. Looks like the lady who wrote it doesn’t care about Jesus’ tomb; there is so much negativity in every passage.
But my question is, why do stories by people like her appear in our newspaper – why do we have to read this?
Mikhail Vassiliev
Century Cures Act dangerous for U.S.
U.S. House bill 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, has passed and is with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP).
It would eliminate the requirement for clinical trials for all drugs, including psychiatric drugs; would relax the mandate of clinical trials for medical devices, including the ECT machine; would relax the laws for off-marketing of drugs; would waive informed consent for testing medical devices on human subjects.
The drug companies would love such a weakening of protection for consumers, which would increase their massive profits. Robert Whitaker demonstrated how the drug companies have produced, by their drugs, the mental illness crisis today. His book “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America” proves how the drug companies have had little control by the FDA. This legislation would open the floodgate for unrestricted drugs. People in many other countries have little protection as compared to the United States, but this legislation will make our drugs less safe than theirs. Contact the chairman of the Senate HELP committee, Lamar Alexander (202-224-4944 or Alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact), to stop this bill.
Joe Wilser
McCormick called ‘poster boy’ for state dysfunction
State Rep. Gerald McCormick is the poster boy for legislative dysfunction. He needs a refresher course in civics. In a representative democracy, constituents can disagree with and take action to oppose their representative. The Chamber of Commerce and Chattanooga city government have every right to oppose McCormick’s “bathroom bill.”
When he threatens to make a list of those on “corporate welfare,” I suggest he start the list with the members of the American Legislative Exchange Council of which he is a member. Their membership includes giant multinational corporations like Exxon, Koch Industries, AT&T, Pfizer, etc. This group preys on state legislators who are not very bright and can be manipulated by their exaggerated sense of self-importance.
Even though the vast majority of Tennesseans support Gov. Haslam’s expansion of Medicaid, McCormick has played lackey for the A.L.E.C. pledge to block expansion of Obamacare. He doesn’t care that those 280,000 citizens have no access to health care as long as he can collect his perks from A.L.E.C.
Terry Stulce
Ooltewah