Quest for physical perfection can ignore our humanity
Last Tuesday's Morning File about the trend of "cuddle parties" (gatherings where people sit around and hug) was entertaining, as Peter Leo typically is. I take exception, however, to a passage in one of the cited articles. Time Out New York reporter Noah Tarnow wrote of his visit to a cuddle party last year: "I was relieved to find 17 blessedly normal people. ... no one was physically deformed or hygienically challenged."
I realize that our culture is becoming more and more obsessed with physical perfection. But outside of Hollywood, people don't always look cookie-cutter cute. People are born without limbs, without eyes, with cleft palates. People lose limbs to abandoned landmines, in car accidents, in freak accidents. Work-related accidents sometimes end in the loss of a body part. Twenty-five percent of workers at meatpacking plants -- one of the nation's most dangerous jobs -- are injured or become ill on the job. Those meatpackers could really use a hug, but people like Tarnow are apparently more likely to recoil in horror.
Because of Bush's unnecessary war in Iraq, approximately 7,000 American soldiers have come home injured -- about eight a day. Many of these injured veterans are now physically deformed and might not mind a hug-fest, but it seems that some might advocate a separate cuddle club for those who are physically unsymmetrical.
To imply as Tarnow did that those whose bodies are different are "untouchables" whom we'd rather not even have to see when we're trying to have a good time is to deny humanity to hundreds of millions of people.
KATHERINE WILKINS
North Point Breeze
Stockholders count
It's too bad that famous Pennsylvania oilmen such as Mellon, Benedum and Pew could not read your July 29 editorial "The Energy Bill," which clearly states that ordinary Americans will not benefit from this energy bill, which "helps the companies and their owners." The owners of oil company stocks -- universities, trusts, mutual funds and some little old ladies -- must be surprised at how evil they are. The editorial makes clear that the real "bad guys" are friends of the Bush administration and big business. In the "class warfare" political game, oil men have always been perfect targets.
Further back in your paper, Section E, a brief Business item states that Carnegie Mellon University has just spun out its 15th new company since 2001. Too bad, some of these small businessmen or -women are going to get rich, create jobs and may become Republicans. Think about it -- will you welcome them to Pennsylvania?
WALTER E. HOPKINS JR.
Pleasant Hills
China is a threat
When I read the news recently that a high-ranking general in the Chinese military suggested that China would use nuclear weapons against the United States should we use our military to protect Taiwan, I was speechless ("China Warns U.S. It'd Use Nukes in Taiwan Fight," July 15, 2005).
No longer. I have and will continue to speak to everyone I encounter, both personally and professionally, about the threat China poses to us.
Think of Russia and the Cold War. In the 1950s and '60s, Americans would no sooner purchase anything stamped "Made in USSR" than they would jump off the Empire State Building. But here we are in 2005. The Chinese government is a communist one. Why did we spend billions of dollars in an arms race against the Soviets only to now spend billions more in support of the Chinese military build-up? What happened to communist regimes over the past years that now have made them our friends? Did we go to Vietnam to fight the spread of communism? Did those young men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice die so that 40 some years later we Americans could create a communist power greater than our own?
We need not help China bring its economy and military into the 21st century. If we do, we are asking for trouble. In fact we are setting ourselves up for it.
For my part, I have made a commitment to purchase nothing from Wal-Mart or its affiliates. The successful retail giant began as a great company promoting products made in the United States. They have abandoned that policy and so I am abandoning them. I have also committed to thoroughly inspecting items I intend to purchase for where they were made. Those made in China I will not buy. If the product I desire is only made in China, I will do without.
We have more power as consumers of products and services than we have as a voter in the world's most successful democracy. Come on, my fellow Americans -- the time to act is now, before it is too late.
JON PEALER
Collier
Keeping it clean
Regarding the critical situation of hospital-acquired infections: I think hospitals could learn from their own best practices.
In intensive care units, visitors are routinely required to wash their hands upon entry. I think this should be required of all visitors coming in the various doors of hospitals, including the front. While complete compliance may not be possible, a monitor could request, according to some procedural sequence, that visitors either wash or use alcohol gel. The monitor could tally compliance, which could be used for studies of rates of infection.
One could dismiss such an attempt as undermining trust and freedom of visitors, but I think it would amount to enlisting and involving the community in a greater role in the function of the hospital, which is, after all, there to serve the community. This intersection between the public and staff should be managed through collaboration of hospital staff and community partners, which is in keeping with newer trends in involvement of non-professionals in medical practice and patients in their own treatment. Furthermore, "training" of visitors could have important side effects in at-home practices of disinfection, as well as lessening the newly emergent rise in reintroduction of what were once infections acquired only within hospitals.
The July 17 Post-Gazette editorial "The Infectious Scandal" makes an important philosophical point when it refers to making "the sunshine of public disclosure one of the disinfectants." The practice of disclosure of infection rates is seen as just as crucial as the material used to disinfect. Indeed, it is probably more important.
TOM BLANCATO
Uptown
About Martha Bell
Recent articles in area newspapers have reported that Martha F. Bell was given an award by the national office of the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago last May, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the association ("Nursing Home's Fraud Trial Is to Start," July 18). At that event, Jerome Stone received an award for his leadership in establishing the association. Apparently Ms. Bell had been included in the invitation list because of her role many years ago in organizing what would eventually become the association. Mr. Stone generously chose to share his award with Ms. Bell and several other attendees from that era.
It was reported that Ms. Bell received an award, but in reality the actual award was presented only to Mr. Stone. The Greater Pennsylvania Chapter had no knowledge of the invitation to Ms. Bell or the subsequent sharing of the award. There has been no connection between Ms. Bell and the chapter for more than 12 years. (Martha F. Bell, former administrator and founder of the now-defunct Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, is on trial for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid and for falsifying records to hide that fraud and a lack of adequate care for patients.)
The news articles have created the erroneous impression that the chapter was involved in honoring Ms. Bell. The purpose of this letter is to assure the families we support and the public that there was no participation whatsoever by the chapter in these events.
We remain dedicated to providing direct and valuable services to individuals with Alzheimer's and related dementias, and to providing support and essential resources to those who care for them. We invite anyone impacted by the devastations of Alzheimer's disease to join us in our mission.
DIANE M. BALCOM
President/CEO
JON C. STUCKEY
Board Chair
Alzheimer's Association
Greater Pittsburgh Chapter
South Side
There she goes again: Jane Fonda's unpatriotic bus tour
After 30 years, "Hanoi Jane" has gone through a transformation. She now takes on the moniker of "Baghdad Jane." Ms. Fonda has announced plans for a bus tour of the country to protest the war in Iraq (Reality Check, July 26 Magazine).
Those of us who remember her actions during the Vietnam War found them reprehensible and smacking of treason. After her bus tour, what are her plans?
Does she plan to visit Baghdad while our soldiers are fighting and dying and make an anti-American broadcast as she did in Hanoi in August 1972? Perhaps she's planning to visit Baghdad and do a "photo shoot" with the enemy. There are some great pictures of her sitting on North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns. Will she refer to Iraqi War Veterans as "hypocrites and liars" as she did in 1973 when POWs were returning from Vietnam with their descriptions of inhumane treatment and torture? Will she condone the terrorist acts of militant Muslims, as she did with the communist regime?
At a time when our country needs to pull together and support our brave soldiers who are sacrificing their lives to fight terrorism, Ms. Fonda has selected an unpatriotic direction intended to fragment national opinion. It doesn't sit well with me and I'm sure it doesn't sit well with families of our troops.
Enjoy the bus tour, Jane. It smells like treason ... again.
D.C. ADAMONIS
Plumn
First Published: August 2, 2005, 4:00 a.m.
