Government will wind up paying one way or another
Re: “Lawmakers argue whether mammogram guidelines show what’s wrong,” Nov. 23
Before the government tells women not to get mammograms and pap smears to save money, let’s find out where the missing multi- billion dollars of the TARP bailout disappeared to. I had a dear friend who found a lump in her breast in her late 20s, but was denied a mammogram by a doctor in her HMO. She suffered horribly before she lost her life in her early 30s, and the HMO ended up paying more from this denial. I relate this story to the TARP money because my friend exhausted all her insurance money and ended up on Social Security disability, which paid for treating her as she advanced to the later stages of breast cancer. One way or the other, the lack of a mammogram cost the government, but not nearly as much as it did her husband and three sons.
Jack Donner
Alexandria
Where are Maryland’s voter-approved slot machines?
It’s now over one year since voters in Maryland expressed their desire to legalize slot machines. Those of us who voted “yes” wonder where all the new slot parlors are. Are opponents of legalized gambling continuing to block them, or is it the do-nothing politicians in Annapolis who continue to stall? Our cash-strapped state wastes money by ignoring a legitimate source of income that could be obtained from slot machines. Meanwhile, folks like me and my wife continue to travel to West Virginia, where they’ve had slots for years, and where the taxes are low and services greatly improved due to windfall revenues from places like Charles Town Races and Slots.
Al Eisner
Silver Spring
Poverty, crime result of fatherless families
Re: “Fatherless families create violent thug culture,” From Readers, Nov. 22
Sharon Kass is correct. Children do well when they are cared for in two-parent families with fathers who attend church regularly. They generally get a good education and avoid poverty and crime. Unfortunately, our legislators advance policies that are a disaster for families. As a result, almost 40 percent of all children (70 percent for blacks) are born into single-parent families without fathers to discipline and guide them. There are so many fatherless families because Planned Parenthood, using over $4.3 billion in government funds since 1987, taught two generations that premarital sex is the norm. But liberals still can’t stand to say the obvious: PP’s sexual policy is an abject failure that destroys families. We must stop spending money to harm children and start promoting stable two-parent families once again.
John Naughton
Silver Spring
