Letters to the editor

Editor,

Looks like the Republican party along with the Birthers and Flat-earthers have shown their true colors — not red or blue, but brown as in the "Brown Shirts” of the Third Reich. Why stop at shouting down and intimidating people at town halls? Why not get out the torches for a torchlight parade through the city singing a newer version of the "Horst Wessel” anthem? People need a genuine history lesson about the the 1920s and the ’30s.

Mike Caggiano

San Mateo

Health care reform

Editor,

The health care insurance companies are poised to declare victory in their attempts to deceive the public with their barrage of misleading, downright false advertising and aggressive lobbying. These companies will likely reap even greater profits from millions of new ‘uninsured customers’ who will have their premiums paid for by the federal government. UnitedHealth, the largest medical insurance company, will see its profits soar with the planned expansion of Medicaid. It is already the largest contractor of the federal subsidized medical aid program.

Bogus numbers of uninsured are often given by talk show hosts and lawmakers quoting numbers from the Lewin Group which is owned UnitedHealth — hardly an unbiased source.

The Huffington Post exposed a secret deal between the White House and the pharmaceutical companies in which the Obama administration agreed to oppose the enormous negotiating power of the federal government in exchange for drug price concessions. Such is the power of special interest groups to subvert the will of the people. Health care reform must be modeled on the successful government subsidized "socialist” Medicare program. Perhaps a "wellness incentive” needs to be added to encourage people to stay healthy and discourage destructive life choices such as non-genetic obesity, smoking, alcohol and drug use. A "single payer” system would have the added advantage of allowing doctors to practice their trade without fear of frivolous law suits.

Tejinder Uberoi

Los Altos

Health care retreat

Editor,

"Money talks.” There has been no truer thing said than that old dictum in politics, ever; and big money talks even bigger.

Obama started out his health care reformation efforts with a fatal compromise to curry some cooperation from big money. He apparently agreed in advance to keep "single payer” health care off the table. Not simply Medicare for all. Instead, there would be the weaker, but better for big money interests, "public option.”

Now Obama has compromised on even that! Oh, there may be some sort of public money support for health insurance companies which will offer co-op sorts of deals. We will still have to pay premiums, co-pays and deductibles, of course, but with some help for the very poor. However, "big money” has won again, as usual, and the easily bamboozled general public has lost again, big time.

The saddest part of this whole thing for me as an educator is that our education system has failed to teach our general public how to simply see through the propaganda, ferret out the facts, and vote our own best interests. But maybe that was the plan all along. Big money wants cheap workers, after all, not critical thinkers.

Don Havis

San Mateo