HEALTH CARE
Response to “GOP debate shifts on health care law,” Metro, Aug. 18
There continues to be a lot of noise concerning national health care, also known as “Obamacare.”
This “Political Insider” column put a unique perspective on it — with comments by Republican Clint Murphy about his cancer, and its negative effect on his access to health care coverage as a self-employed Realtor. This was enlightening.
Our current health care delivery system favors those lucky enough to have employment, good health and a “Cadillac” health care plan, or a lot of money. Even with health care coverage, many are still left with potential medical bills that could bankrupt them.
We have to ask ourselves if a for-profit business is an effective vehicle for delivering health care coverage.
MAX EPLING, CANTON
GOVERNMENT SECRETS
Ex-soldier never told anyone what he knew
Regarding “Officers responsible for security breach” (Readers write, Opinion, Aug. 20), when I met one of my husband’s relatives, I was shocked to hear her say, “Al, you never did anything important during the war.” This was 1948. His answer was, “Aunt Agnes, if I told you what I did during the war, I would be tried for treason.”
My husband was assigned to the Signal Corps. He left for Hawaii in 1942 and remained in the Pacific, serving in the Philippines from 1944 through the end of the war. He was then assigned to Korea until November, 1945. He had a G2 clearance, and was a coder and decoder of messages.
Fifty years later, he wrote his memoirs. Not one of us — including me, his wife — knows who, what or when; what names he could have dropped, or anything besides the above. His memoirs are mostly about the comradeship and the people he served with. A commanding officer was not needed to look over his shoulder. He knew his obligation to his country.
I always will regret not putting on his tombstone “I, printer” or “cryptographer” to honor this man of integrity.
MADELINE G. KORFF, CANTON
ANIMAL ABUSE
Brutal killings a sign of deeper problems
The case of the man charged with decapitating two puppies he was entrusted to watch raises very disturbing issues (“Ga. man accused of beheading puppies arrested,” ajc.com, Aug. 12).
As a human services professional specializing in the link between animal abuse and interpersonal violence, I can attest that an act of unprovoked violence toward such helpless victims often indicates a severe behavioral or mental health problem that needs to be addressed. A combination of a lack of empathy and lack of impulse control might well manifest itself in other ways.
A program called AniCare offers clinical assessment and treatment of animal abusers, and might well be useful in determining how this act came about, to prevent it from ever happening again.
MAYA GUPTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AHIMSA HOUSE INC.
LITERATURE
Remembering novelist who wrote in longhand
Famed crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard, who wrote more than 40 novels, died recently. Among other things, he was famous for beginning his works in longhand. Many of us will miss him.
FRANK W. GADBOIS, WARNER ROBINS
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