Today's News

Dear Editor,

I was saddened and disappointed to hear Obama speak so disparagingly about physicians at his news conference on July 22, 2009.  He stated that if a child had a bad sore throat or repeated sore throats, a pediatrician might look at the reimbursement system and see that he or she could make more money by taking the tonsils out.  

Rick Estrin didn’t have a whole lot of interests as a child. School bored him, too. Music, however, snared his attention. “There was just something about it that spoke to me inside,” Estrin said.

Even though he didn’t know exactly what he was doing when he first started out as a musician and did a lot of guessing, Estrin said his music has evolved throughout the years.

Plus, Estrin said his distinctive personality has carried him through the years. “(I’m) sort of a peculiar person,” he said.

In one of my all-time favorite books, “A Patchwork Planet,” by Anne Tyler, the main character reminisces about his days as a juvenile delinquent. Barnaby describes the times when he and his friends would break into people’s houses and steal things.

But what was unusual, Barnaby says, was while his friends went straight to the liquor cabinet or snatched up valuable possessions, he picked up the unique knick-knacks, pored over photos and read through the mail.

He may have thought that was odd but I did not. I pretty much love to do the same thing.

The anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki serve as a reminder of the danger posed by nuclear weapons and the need for this country to work in good faith toward their elimination.  The bombings killed more than 200,000 people and set in motion an arms race that has resulted in several near brushes with nuclear war.  

There are more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in existence today. The vast majority of these weapons are held by the United States and Russia, with 9,400 and 13,000 respectively.