Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir26/on70.zip/ON9408A.ON

Text File | 1994-08-12 | 81KB | 1,308 lines

          [The following issue may be freq'd as ON9408A.* from
          Lincoln Legacy (1:109/909),(703-777-5987), HandiNet
          BBS (1:275/429), and other BBSs carrying ABLENEWS
          files. Please allow a few days for processing.]

                        OF NOTE...
                        News to Use

Vol. III, Issue 66                                August 1, 1994
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor                         CURE, Ltd.

                         Addictions

"College does not always offer the life of the mind we all want for
our children. Some students prefer to drown their thinking in alcohol.
Binge drinking is reaching astronomical proportions on college
campuses, which leads inevitably to increasing violence, rape, and
academic failure, according to a new report from Columbia University's
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Men still drink more than
women, but women are gaining on them. The number of college women who
drink to get drunk has tripled in the last three decades. We're not
talking about tippling, but sloshing. 'Women are accepting the worst
aspects of the macho world,' says Joseph A. Califano, the former
health secretary who is the president of the center. Women, who not so
long ago were the moral arbiters of social life, are becoming the wild
ones they once (usually) tamed." (An Equal Right to Dangerous
Recklessness, Suzanne Fields, op-ed, Washington Times, 6/9/44)

"What's the best way to cut the demand for drugs and take a bite out
of crime? Simple: Get heavy users to stop using drugs so they don't
have to commit crimes to feed their habits. That common-sense
conclusion was confirmed this week by a federally funded study by the
Rand Corporation. It found treatment is seven times more cost
effective in cutting cocaine demand than local law enforcement, 11
times more effective than border interdiction, and 22 times more
effective than trying to control foreign production...Indeed,
enforcement without treatment has created a revolving prison door.
Each year, 200,000 drug-addicted convicts are released from prison
without treatment. 80% of them return to prison within a few years."
(Focus on Drug Treatment, ed, USA Today, 6/16/94)

"The Rand study that proposes to solve the nation's drug problem by
spending more money for treatment and by gutting drug interdiction and
law enforcement is like asking President Clinton to lose weight while
sitting in a McDonald's. Neither will work...Studies show that for
every $1 invested in interdiction, $20 worth of drugs is kept off our
streets...In 1990, only 10 kilos of drugs per day were disrupted; by
1993, the total was almost 500 kilos of drugs per day...Cuts in drug
interdiction and law enforcement...increase the availability of drugs,
reduce street prices, and create more first-time users...Many believe
that if offered treatment, drug abusers will accept and turn their
lives around. Not true. Statistics show that only one in four
hard-core users can be successfully treated, and there is currently no
proven method for treating cocaine addicts. Unfortunately, getting
addicts into treatment is not the same as getting addicts off drugs."
--Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL). (Don't Abandon Drug War, Shaw, op-ed, USA
Today, 6/16/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: Rep. Shaw, a member of the
Congressional Narcotics Abuse and Control Caucus, serves as co-chair
of the House Republican task force on drugs.

"It is painful to watch the Clinton administration try to move this
country towards totalitarianism. You remember the technique: Hitler
and Stalin would demonize their enemies, try to make them look so
dreadful that only their annihilation would do...The Clintons' use of
a similar technique is clear. Remember the campaigns Bill and Hillary
mounted last year to paint insurance companies as the enemies of good
health care and pharmaceutical companies as the enemies of good and
affordable medicine? Only the fact that both groups of companies were
able to buy advertising to tell their side of the story prevented the
demonization from being 100% successful. The target of the moment is
the cigarette industry...It is characteristic of these demonization
campaigns that the media join in to inflate the hysteria, emphasize
everything negative, and almost close off any other opinion except for
industry-paid ads...If smoking is prohibited, the other candidates are
standing in line. Alcohol will be the next thing that helps make life
bearable which will come under attack. So will coffee. So will
french-fired potatoes and their heavy load of cholesterol. And,
finally, there's that mass killer among mass killers. the
automobile...Relax, America. Don't let the politically correct
fearmongers...scare you out of your wits. If they do, remember, skiing
and bungee jumping will disappear--along with air travel." (Stop the
Scaremongering of Cigarettes, Harry Schwartz, op-ed, USAT, 6/23/94)
Stay 'Tooned: Cowboy is hanging from a rope from a tree. The city
slicker asks the cowpoke, "Horse thief?" He replies, "Marlboro man!"
Brookins, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1994)

"Harry Schwartz's contention, 'the psychological gains from smoking
were worth the costs,' for some of us is pure arrogance...It is also a
selfish and uninformed viewpoint, despite his credentials a medical
writer. For many of us, it took repeated gut-wrenching attempts to
finally quit. Many of my friends could never stop--they were
permanently hooked. My best friend recently died from the effects of
smoking on his heart and lung for all his adult life. He was 58. It
has been incredible to me how the cigarette companies could get away
with addicting prople to this filthy habit all these years--with no
sanctions. Just goes to show you what money can buy." --Allan Ferger,
Chadds Ford, PA. (Many Are Permanently Hooked on Cigarettes, Ferger,
letter-editor, USA Today, 6/24/94)

"As a non-smoker, I feel that nicotine levels in cigarettes should be
regulated. The public has been deceived, and some smokers have become
unknowingly addicted. Therefore, there need to be more government
regulations to protect the public." --Ernie Johnston, 55, public
relations specialist, Sayreville, NJ. "Being an ex-smoker, I know how
addictive cigarettes are and how hard it is to quit, but I don't think
government should be involved in trying to regulate nicotine levels in
cigarettes. Life is about taking responsibility for yourself; the
government can't be responsible for all of us." (Voice: Should the
Government Regulate Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes? USA Today, 6/24/94)

"Richard Joshua Reynolds III, a grandson, namesake, and heir to the
founder of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, died of emphysema and
congestive heart failure June 28 at his home in Pinehurst, NC. His
half- brother, Patrick Reynolds, an anti-smoking activist, said Mr.
Reynold's illnesses were caused by smoking. He said he had not
announced the death earlier because he wanted to avoid publicity
surrounding the funeral services and because family members were
opposed to publicizing the fact that smoking was the underlying cause
of death...Mr. Reynolds quit  in 1986...Their father, also named RJ
Reynolds, died from emphysema at the age of 58." (Tobacco Heir RJ
Reynolds III Dies of Emphysema at Age 60, Washington Post, 7/13/94)

                         ADAmantly

"City administrator John DeFries is learning that the Americans with
Disabilities Act has its stumbling blocks when it comes to making
Ranson more accessible. After attending last month's meeting of West
Virginia city managers in Braxton County, DeFries realized that some
efforts to help the disabled are a hindrance. DeFries estimates that
there are 10 disabled residents in Ranson, based on the number of
houses that look handicapped accessible. [ABLEnews Editor's Note: So
that's how TABs (temporarily able bodied) assess our presence in the
community.]... Curb cuts that aid people in a wheelchair, for
instance, are a problem for the blind. The curb warns them that
they're about to enter the street...Grooves in the cement may be one
way to aid blind people using the sidewalk...The attorney general's
office is adjusting the dilemma by backing off on enforcement of curb
cuts, DeFries said. [ABLEnews Editor's Note: Is this legal? Is this
just?] DeFries said wheelchair ramps that extend onto sidewalks, or
public right-of-way, are also becoming a nuisance to those who aren't
disabled. "You can never please everyone, someone will always complain,"
he said. [ABLEnews Editor's Note: Translation: If you exercise your
legal rights, you're a whiner.] (Making Ranson Accessible to Disabled
Has Unforeseen Consequences, Julie Kaster, Martinsburg Journal,
6/17/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of this eye-opening
report, see ADA40617.* wherever ABLETEXT files are found.

                         AIDS Addenda

"The core issue is whether there should be mandatory testing and
identification of all newborns so that those infected with the AIDS
virus can be treated--or simply mandatory counseling of all mothers to
try to persuade them to allow testing of themselves and their babies.
Both sides in this clash claim there approach will be best for the
children. But from the evidence available, the likelihood that
counseling alone will do the job seems slight. The only sure way to
identify these infants is through testing. The state already tests all
newborns, anonymously, to track the epidemic; it could use or enhance
that program to identify the infected infants who need medical
monitoring and treatment." (AIDS Babies Deserve Testing, editorial,
New York Times, 6/27/94)

                         Cancer Chronicles

Researchers at Seattle's University of Washington Medical Center
report the risk of esophageal cancer can be predicted accurately by
testing persons with Barrett's esophagus, a condition caused by
chronic heartburn, for abnormal amounts of DNA. One in 20 of the 2
million Americans with Barrett's esophagus will develop esophageal
cancer within 5 years. The nation's most rapidly increasing cancer,
esophageal cancer, kills one in 10 who contract it, or 8,500 Americans
each year.  (Genetic Test Found for Esophageal Cancer, WP, 6/15/94)

Government and industry were urged by science to resolve the
controversy over whether or not alcohol-laden mouthwashes increase the
risk of oral cancer. In 1991, the National Cancer Institute reported
that long-term users of mouth washes containing in excess of 25%
alcohol may be slightly more likely to get oral cancer. Americans
spend $720 million dollars annually on mouthwash. Only original
Listerine (26%) exceeds the 25% alcohol threshhold. But a panel of
experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration lament the fact
that no new research data has been amassed since 1991. (Reopening
Mouthwash, Washington Post, 6/30/94)

                         COMPUTations

"Andy Archembault wooed the woman of his dreams by e-mail, sending her
computer messages saying,'Good morning, beautiful' and invitations to
rendezvous in the Bahamas. Now Archembault has been charged with
breaking Michigan's anti-stalking law for continuing to send computer
messages after the woman and police told him to stop. Civil liberties
lawyers are considering defending him, saying there appeared to be no
real threat to the woman. But some computer experts say there is no
difference between stalking someone physically and electronically."
(ACLU Weighs Electronic Stalking Case, Julie Prodis, WPB, 6/6/94)

"An electronic bulletin board established Sunday on America Online for
public commentary about the death of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
quickly became a forum for vitriol as followers of the ultra-Orthodox
Jewish leader clashed with less conservative Jews...For 800,000
American Online subscribers in North America, all of whom have access
to the debate, the controversy provides a fascinating glimpse of the
divisions among religious Jews, rarely reported in the mainstream
media. It also exemplifies both the promise and pitfalls of electronic
bulletin boards, new and democratic ways of communicating in which
anyone who subscribes to an on-line service can comment on any issue
for a potential reading audience in the hundreds of thousands. While
this guarantees an open discussion among people whose voices are
rarely heard in the media, it also means those with opinions that the
majority of participants find offensive cannot be silenced. One or two
hotheads or unwelcome but persistent contributors can sabotage a forum
with inciteful rhetoric." (On-Line Gets Out of Line Over Rabbi's
Death, Rod Dehrer, Washington Times, 6/15/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note:
While we'd be the last to claim our echo is flameproof, on the whole,
we find the commentaries of our fellow ABLEnewsers more insightful
than inciteful, and continue to believe that one can disagree without
being disagreeable. We extend our condolences to Rabbi Schneerson's
family and friends.

"The House of Representatives, unable to admit that it cannot get its
mind around the vast complexity of the cybersphere, is about to give
up and wave through the biggest restructuring of the communications
field in 60 years--without floor debate or amendments. The
consequences for the nation's economy and future technological
dominance are at least as consequential as the issues of health care.
But given the way House leaders are handling what will probably become
known as the Telecommunications Act of 1994, most of the consequences
may be of the unintended kind...The model embodied in the two
pasted-together bills (HR 3626 and HR 3636) is mostly the pro-monopoly
regulatory regime of the early telephone days...Real competition--the
kind that looks to the successful model of the American computer
industry--is merely paid lip service...If a complex regulatory
approach is the worse way to build the information superhighway, it is
also one of the worst ways to shore up damaged public support for
Congress. As we enter the new information age, there are more and more
people like Ross Perot calling for the public at home to make
electronic insta-vote decisions on complicated national issues. The
sound rebuttal is that we have a Congress because we need to ensure
deliberation. That's the reason for a representative democracy. But
what is the reason when the Congress does *not* deliberate?" --Bruce
Chapman, president, Discovery Institute. (Fast Track to a Fiasco,
Chapman, op-ed, Washington Post, 6/27/94)

                         Child's Play

In-line roller-skating--America's fastest growing recreational
pastime-- caused over 30,000 injuries in a single year, according to a
report in the June 15 Journal of the American Medical Association. The
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which conducted the
study, estimates 9.4 million people use roller-blading equipment.
Richard Schieber, of the Atlanta-based Center, found, "the wrist area,
including the wrist and lower arm, was the most common site of
injury." (Roller- Blading Risk, Washington Post, 6/15/94)

"No doubt you, too, have noticed the symbolism in that well-known
literary foray into the human subconscious Dr. Seuss's 'Green Eggs and
Ham.' It's the dour top-hatted creature's opening remark--"I do not
like that Sam-I-Am!' That stands for parental rejection of an anarchic
and inventive child figure. Sam-I-Am's subsequent and repeated
offerings of the delectable verdant breakfast treat? A child's attempt
to win a parent's affection, and to ease adult gloom with the gift of
childlike imagination. So analyzes Tim Wolf, an assistant professor of
English at Middle State University in Murfreesboro, in a paper to be
published in the journal Children's Literature. The innocent parent
may be taken aback. Isn't it just a cute story with witty word plays.
Not by the hair on your chinny-chin-chin. To scholars in the growing
field of children's literature, the best children's books can be as
rife with hidden meanings a Shakespeare...'It's an absolutely
beautiful field for scholars, especially with Marxist and feminist
theories that look into the way people are indoctrinated,' Wolf says.
'There's no place that happens as much as in children's literature.'"
(Behind the Lines, Barbara Brotman, Washington Times, 7/8/94) ABLEnews
Editor's Note: And what did Dr. Seuss have in mind? Says Wolf, "In
modern criticism, we tend not to worry about what the author intended."
Sort of like modern interpretations of the Constitution, I reckon.

                         Courting Disaster

"When a dinosaur munched on lawyer lunch in 'Jurassic Park,' lawyers
flinched. When Miller Lite delighted millions in it's 'Lawyer Roundup'
ad, in which cowboys bag a couple of attorneys. lawyers across the
country protested...Now comes the International Association of Defense
Counsel, approaching this bashing business as would a bunch of folks
who secure their morning paper in two-foot briefcases equipped with
double combination locks. They did a study. Spent $15,000 on it.
Worked up an impressive 121 end notes. 'Law and Society Following the
Demise of the Legal Profession'...imagines a Saturday Night Massacre
of truly impressive proportions--the overnight elimination of all
800,000 lawyers in the United States. The conclusion, shockingly, is
that America without lawyers would be a terrible place indeed...'I was
a little upset by the lawyer-bashing in commercials and movies,' says
Michael Pope, president of the Chicago-based group. 'So we thought
let's analyze what would happen if the Shakespeare Challenge came
true.' Shakespeare needed but a single line to capture public wrath
against the legal profession. 'The first thing we do,' he wrote in
'Henry VI,' 'let's kill all the lawyers.' History records no organized
protest by Elizabethan barristers." (Life Without Lawyers? Marc
Fisher, Washington Post, 7/8/94)

Andre Robertson, a paralyzed construction worker, who had blocked a
$4.1 million dollar land sale by the District of Columbia has agreed
to let the transaction proceed in exchange for the city's pledge to
put $1.5 million of the proceeds aside to pay a judgment it owes him.
Robertson plummeted four floors at the Arthur Capper housing complex,
which had been gutted for renovation, when he tumbled backward through
a hole the size of a door with no guardrail to keep persons from
falling through it. According to his attorney, Luiz Simmons, Robertson
has little use of his hands, can't move his legs, and requires
continual care. He has waited nearly three years to collect a dime of
the $3 million judgment he won as a result of his 1987 accident. (Man
Lifts Lien Blocking DC Land Sale, Saundra Torry, WP, 7/12/94)

                         Dateline World

"Most patients in Germany's health care system...are devoid of the
anxieties that plague millions of Americans...There is no danger that
they will lose their insurance coverage. Access to German medical
care, among the world's best, is guaranteed...President Clinton
repeatedly has cited a German influence on his own thinking about
health care, although the reform proposals winding through Congress
may wind up with more differences than similarities...Germany led the
way among industrialized nations more than a century ago in adopting a
comprehensive national health system; now the Germans are trying to
figure out whether they can still afford such national largesse. Faced
with the spiraling price of modern medicine and a rapidly aging
population that will increase demands on the health care system, the
Bonn government has imposed controversial price controls and other
palliative measures. But that is only the beginning. 'The real reforms
have to come now,' said Hans-Juergen Thomas, chairman of the country's
leading physicians' association. 'The problem that Germany and the
rest of the world face, at least the highly developed world, is
demographic. More older people with more illnesses and fewer younger
people working to pay for the system.'" (Germany's Health Care System
Such a Success It Needs Reform, Rick Atkinson, WP, 6/22/94)

"As the last of several deadlines draws near for women to join the
class-action suit and receive a modest award, women's health advocacy
groups and class-action tort lawyers are urging the approximately
150,000 Canadian women with breast implants to stay out of the
American settlement. 'It's asking Canadians to give up the right to
sue before they know what they're going to get,' said Bob McRoberts, a
lawyer who said 2,000 women are part of his US suit. The risky promise
of such suits is that they will cut the women a better deal than they
will get in the US settlement. US claimants may look forward to
judgments ranging from $200,000 to $2 million. Charlene Craig, a
Manitoba women who had implants for 15 years, said 'we've been told
that our share might be anywhere from $300 to a maximum of $1,500.'"
(Canadian Women Urged to Reject Breast-Implant Settlement, Sue
Separately, Charles Trueheart, Washington Post, 6/26/94)

"Bright packages cram shelves of Asian shops with claims to cure what
ails you: fever or achy joints, malaise, even impotence. But the
ingredients inside could trigger a clash between Asian-American
culture and US and international endangered species laws...The
problem, says the World Wildlife Fund: Many of the medicines are made
from bones, horns, and other parts of endangered animals and plants.
Continuing to produce the products will further deplete troubled
species...The [WWF} report says 'the uncontrolled and growing' $10
billion industry is speeding extinction of species like tigers,
rhinos, bears, musk deer, and wild ginseng." (Asian Cures Have
Ingredients of a Culture Clash, Linda Kanamine, USA Today, 6/28/94)

                         Family Affair

USA Today offers these opinions on President Clinton's welfare reform
proposals: "What we are witnessing is a well-honed Clinton tactic:
when the polls go south, reach for welfare reform." --William Kristol,
chairman, Project for the Republican Future. "Mr. Clinton should
deliver a stark message to teen-age parents that welfare will no
longer substitute for work." --editorial, New York Times. The
proposition that "the best thing we could do for the poor is:
nothing...is an interesting argument, driven (I believe) less by
mean-spiritedness than by a cold recognition that much of what we have
done in the name of compassion has failed--and frequently worse than
failed." --William Raspberry, syndicated columnist. "President
Clinton's bold campaign promise to 'end welfare as we know it' is
finally being introduced as a whimper." --editorial, Orange County
(CA) Register. "All welfare reform will take place in the context of
an economy that runs a steady 6% to 7% unemployment rate." --Molly
Ivins, syndicated columnist. "If every time, the Democrats adopt what
might be called a conservative position, the Republicans move further
to the right, then the Democrats have the Republicans where they want
them: isolated on the edges of the debate." --editorial, Dayton (OH)
Daily News. "The issue that played such an important part in putting
Bill Clinton in the White House could be extremely valuable to him in
trying to stay there in 1996." --Jack Germond and Jules Witcover,
syndicated columnists. (Welfare Plan Keeps People on the Rolls, USA
Today, 6/16/94) Stay 'Tooned: Panel One: Old Welfare Plan: Fat swine
at rest. Panel Two: Clinton's New Welfare Plan: Same porker wearing a
small hair ribbon on head.

"Republicans associated with the group Empower America, including
former education secretary William Bennett and former housing
secretary Jack Kemp, have been running radio ads going after President
Clinton's welfare reform proposal because it fails to cut off public
assistance entirely to unmarried mothers under the age of 21. Odd that
the Republican administrations of which Mr. Kemp and Mr. Bennett were
a part--stoutly conservative administrations as far as we can
tell--never conceived of such a radical approach...These Republicans
wrote Mr. Clinton...'Our challenge in reforming the system is ti find
constructive ways to link welfare and personal responsibility and a
solid work ethic, while at the same time protecting its primary
beneficiaries--the children.' Thinking about children first is exactly
right, and ought to raise qualms about proposals to slah benefits
first and ask about the kids later." (Two GOP Approaches to Welfare,
editorial, Washington Post, 6/27/94)

In what Ann Brown, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission,
calls a "potential lifesaving change," 21 garment manufacturers have
announced they will remove drawstrings from the hoods and necks of
children's wear. Since 1985 drawstrings have been implicated in the
deaths of at least a dozen children between the ages of 15 months and
11 years. The children have strangled to death when their drawstrings
caught on playground toys, escalators, fences, and other items. The 21
companies, that manufacture more than 20 million pieces of children's
apparel each year, will begin replacing drawstrings with buttons,
zippers, snaps, and other fasteners by the fall of 1995. They include
such giants as Nike (OR), Oshkosh B'Gosh (WI), and Levi Strauss (CA).
England banned strings on hoods in 1976 after three children died.
(Drawstrings to Be Dropped from Children's Clothes, Washington Times,
7/8/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: Miss Brown urges parents to pull the
drawstrings out of their children's clothing, to cut them, or sew them
on the garment so they cannot be pulled.

"Fetuses that had needles inserted into their abdomens to draw blood
showed biochemical reactions that indicated they found the event
stressful, a new medical study says. The study, conducted by British
researchers...encourages doctors to consider using painkillers when
performing invasive procedures on unborn babies. There also may be
implications for abortions, said Nicholas M. Fisk, a professor at the
Center for Fetal Care in London, and his colleagues. Their study
appears in this week's edition of the Lancet, a medical journal. The
recommended use of painkillers 'applies not just to diagnostic and
therapeutic procedures on the fetus, but possibly also to termination
of pregnancy, especially by surgical techniques involving
dismemberment,' the researchers said." (Fetuses' Response to Needles
Show Signs of Stress, Cheryl Wetzstein, Washington Times, 7/8/94)

                         Food for Thought

"Though they don't wear black boots and brown shirts...the 'food
fascists' are running amok. If they aren't stopped soon, our days of
eating bacon cheeseburgers, sausage and pepperoni pizzas, and double
chocolate fudge ice cream may be numbered. Let by Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) Commissioner David Kessler, a Bush administration
holdover, the goal of the food fascists seems pretty clear: Take all
the pleasure out of eating...Since we'll choose Hagen Daas macadamia
brittle over plain nonfat yogurt every time, Mr. Kessler decided the
government needs to protect us from ourselves. Dubbed 'Lord of the
Label' by The Washington Post, Mr. Kessler...and company even have
come up with the bureaucrats' definition of what's healthy and what's
not. Of course, it takes a PhD economist with a law degree to
understand the fine print. Or, as The Washington Post put it:
"Webster's New World Dictionary defines 'healthy' in fewer than 20
words. The government definition will fill a page in the Federal
Register,' the official guide to Washington's rules and regulations."
--Edwin Feulner, president, The Heritage Foundation. (Attack of the
'Food Fascists,' Feulner, op-ed, Washington Times, 7/5/94) Stay'
Tooned: The New Labels. Kessler, seated at desk, holding papers
inscribed regulation. The back of his suit bears a label that reads:
Nutrition Facts, % Daily Value, Hot Air 100%, Zealotry 100%, Protein
3%. (Payne, United Features Syndicate, 1994)

First, biotechnology gave us the genetically engineered tomato, now a
California company wants to bring us a better banana. The genetically
engineered banana to be produced by the Oakland-based DNA Plant
Technology Corporation and Zeneca Plant Science, a subsidiary of
Britain's Zeneca Group PLG, will be slower-ripening. Bananas, of
course, are grown in the tropics, where they are harvested while green
to allow shipping to distant markets. The biotech varieties will
produce less ethylene, which triggers ripening in bananas and several
other fruits. This will allow bananas to be left on the plant longer,
enhancing flavor and nutritional value, while lowering commercial
production costs. (Two Companies Plan Gene-Altered Bananas, WT, 7/8/94)

                         Foot Notes

"It's easier to go barefoot if you're rich. For one thing, you
probably have fewer discarded syringes outside your front door. Your
vacations feature clean beaches and clubs with long painted porches,
and swimming pools that do not require you to submerge your bare feet
in a germicidal dip that makes you feel poisoned and demeaned. You
take a walk on the beach after dinner. The sand on top is cool. Below,
it's warm, holding the day's heat. You can smell the dryness of it. In
the morning, the sand on top is warm, and below it's holding the
night's cold, and you smell the dampness." (Baring Our Soles, Henry
Allen, Washington Post, 7/8/94)

                         Forget the Vet?

"I am writing to express my grief at the tragic passing of Lew Puller
...Words cannot express the anguish I felt at the news of his death...
Lew Puller was a man who overcame a lot. I cannot imagine going
through what he went through and coming out of it unscathed. I don't
think that's possible. Wounds from war are hard and slow to heal, and
I really feel that by sharing his experiences, he gave so many of his
brother veterans courage and hope to go on with their lives." --Wendi
Moore, Arlington, VA. ('Souls Forever Touched,' Moore, let-ed,
Washington Post, 6/1/94)

"Because I was a nurse in Vietnam, Lew Puller and other veterans of
that war were at once my patients and my peers...Like many of our
cohort, I moved from within one year from college graduation to
licensure, to basic training, to a short stint of on-the-job training
at a stateside hospital, and then to Vietnam--in my case to an
intensive care unit/recovery room in Pleiku. I turned 22 that year and
still wonder why 18-year-old Americans were dying under my
hands...Most of us in the health professions, except the incredible
field medics, came back with bodies intact--but souls forever
touched...This will come as a surprise to my family (who rarely see me
in church), but I say my prayers every night...Every night I pray
especially for the ghosts of Vietnam and those they loved: B.T., Jude,
Ed, Jerry, Ellen...and now, Lew. After all these years I still care,
and you are always in my heart." --Sharon Stanley Alden, Harpers
Ferry, WV. ('Souls Forever Touched,' Alden, letter-editor, WP, 6/1/94)

                         Front Lines

"With the gunshots and screams of the Civil War raging around her,
Union nurse Clara Barton knelt to help a wounded soldier--until some
ammunition cut through the sleeve of her dress and killed her patient.
Barton, a legendary nurse who helped found the American Association of
the Red Cross, didn't save the soldier but her work led to the rescue
of countless future lives because she helped...health care workers
find a place on the battlefield. Although such medical teams operated
with only primitive understanding of the human body, they helped
develop medical services that have saved millions of civilians and
members of the armed forces. Now, after years of planning, a museum
devoted to these efforts is on its way to the historic town of
Frederick [MD}. The National Museum of Civil War Medicine...would
provide a space for the appreciation and study of what the war was
like for men and women who fought to save lives." (Those Other
Battlefield Heroes, Chastity Pratt, Washington Post, 6/30/94)

                    Health Care Plans and Pans

"It's time to rethink health care. As Congress fiddles, the prospects
for constructive change are dwindling. Any plan that passes will
probably be a murky mess and might do more harm than good. No program
can solve all our problems. There are too many contradictions between
the twin goals of expanding insurance coverage and controlling costs.
We need to focus on the most important problem, and that's runaway
spending--not 'universal' health insurance." ('Universal' Care: The
Wrong Goal, Robert Samuelson, op-ed, Washington Post, 6/1/94) CURE
Comment: We agree with the contradiction Samuelson cites but we
disagree with his priority.

"Can Republicans afford to go into the 1944 campaign with the 103rd
Congress having failed to pass a health care bill? 'Absolutely!' is
the quick answer from House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, and an
increasing number of Republican lawmakers agree. That is not bad news
for Democrat strategists who welcome another chance to indict the GOP
for gridlock. The response by William Kristol's Project for the
Republican Future...If Democratic 'obstinacy' (insisting on mandatory
insurance) prevents anything from passing, 'we should take this battle
to the country, make it a centerpiece of the fall campaigns, and
explain why no bill is better than a bad one.' So, Gingrich and
Kristol, who earlier disagreed over health strategy, now are reading
from the same page. So are such GOP stalwarts as Sens. Phil Gramm and
Trent Lott...But there are prominent Republicans who are terrified of
contesting the 1994 election over health care and are seeking a deal
on President Clinton's terms. Which strain of Republicanism wins out
will shape the politics of the '90s." (Health Bill Splits GOP as
Elections Near, Robert Novak, op-ed, Martinsburg Journal, 6/6/94)

"James T. Shaeffer. an orthopedic surgeon here [in Springfield, MO]
for 18 years figures that the patients he has sent to St. John's
Regional Health Center have paid millions of dollars of medical fees
to the 736- bed nonprofit hospital operated by the Catholic Sisters of
Mercy. So Shaeffer was surprised last fall when health officials
called him in and disclosed that St. John's would try to buy out his
practice and the practices of dozens of local physicians. Once St.
Johns had established a tightly controlled network of clinics and
doctors, it would sell its 'managed care' health plan to businesses,
organizations, and insurance companies. Doctors who did not go to work
for St. John's network would face an uncertain future. The decision
made without consultation with most of Springfield's independent
physicians left Shaeffer feeling 'about as valuable as the
housekeeping staff,' he said...Like it or not, Springfield's medical
community is being shoved aboard the fastest-moving wagon in American
health care. Known as 'managed care,' it replaces the traditional
health delivery system, in which insurance companies paid providers
for every procedure or diagnosis. In managed care, networks of
hospitals and doctors, who often are hospital employees, provide all
care to big groups of patients for a flat fee. Profits depend on
limiting procedures and costing costs as much as possible." (Shoved
Aboard the Bandwagong of 'Managed Care,' Dan Morgan, WP, 6/13/94)

"Health plans that give doctors financial incentives to limit care can
be 'harassing, intimidating, and deceptive' and may reduce the quality
of patients' treatment, the American Medical Association said
yesterday. In a strongly worded report on managed care plans, the AMA
said the plans unavoidably hurl doctors into ethical conflicts, so
that their medical judgment and financial incentives may pull in
opposite directions. 'Plans typically employ incentives for physicians
to limit their use of diagnostic tests, referrals to other physicians,
hospital care, or other ancillary  services,' said the report, which
was adopted by AMA members at their annual meeting in Chicago." (AMA
Hits Managed Care, Washington Post, 6/15/94) CURE Comment: In short,
managed care may lower the odds of your disease being diagnosed in a
timely and accurate manner and reduce the quality of medical treatment
you may receive in the event your illness is discovered.

"Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee told President Clinton
yesterday that they lack the votes to pass the key financing element
in his health care plan. Instead, they propose two alternatives that
do not ensure universal coverage, a provision Clinton has said any
bill must contain or he will veto it...Also, in a speech before the
League of Women Voters yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to
open the door on a compromise on whether to include abortion in a
government-designed benefits package, an issue that could add
complications to efforts to pass a bill. Asked 'Should we compromise
on reproductive health coverage?' Hillary Clinton responded: 'It's one
of those questions we cannot answer right now...It's very difficult to
tell exactly where we are going to have to make whatever compromises'
are needed to pass a bill. (Votes Lacking for Health Plan Financing,
Senators Tell Clinton, Dana Priest, Washington Post, 6/15/94)

"As small business owners, we know that health care reform is really
about cost, and cost is about jobs. Most of the ideas they say will
help small business really won't. In fact, they'll make matters worse.
That's why every American should pick up a copy of We, the People: An
American Solution to Health Care Reform. This book explodes the myths
of health care reform, laying out in plain English how most proposals
will help big business--at the expense of small employers. Better yet,
it offers ways you can pick up your tool belt and be a part of a
common sense solution to health care reform." (Before Congress Spends
Your Tax Dollars Let's Ask Them to Use a Little Sense, National
Association for the Self- Employed, advertisement, Washington Times,
6/16/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For a free copy call 1-800-414-CHOICE
or fax your request to 1-800- 551-4446.

"President Clinton appears to be willing to postpone guaranteed health
coverage, the point of his reform plan, to rescue the proposal from
congressional gridlock. Determined to win passage of reform this year,
Clinton is courting Democratic and Republican opponents, who'd rather
block legislation than vote to require employers to pay for their
workers' coverage...In his January 25 State of the Union address,
Clinton told Congress he would veto any health care bill that 'does
not guarantee every American private health insurance that can never
be taken away.' Clinton knows yielding on that pledge would give his
foes ruinous ammunition and has told aides any compromise must allow
him to proclaim his vow has been fulfilled...Last Wednesday, he met
privately with Sen. John Chafee (R-RI). 'I got the impression he was
very flexible,' said Chafee after a 40-minute session with the
president." (Clinton Beginning to Talk Compromise, Judy Keen and Judi
Hasson, USA Today, 6/16/94)

"The White House ought to be kicking and screaming over the prospect
that Congress will reject employer mandates, and thus any chance of
universal health care. Yet this week, it accepted the possibility with
barely a murmur. For many Americans, it's a puzzling retreat. Poll
after poll shows that most of us...think employers should help pay for
[comprehensive health reform]. In one recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup
Poll, 90% of those surveyed said employers should pay for all or part
of the cost of their employees' health insurance...Still, the mandate
is on the ropes. In Congress, many Republicans and moderate Democrats
arfe fighting it as if it were a tax. And they are winning. Sens.
Daniel Moynihan [D- NY] and Bob Packwood [R-OR] of the powerful Senate
Finance Committee visited the White House this week to tell Clinton
face to face that the mandate won't fly...Congress is fast approaching
legislative lockup over comprehensive health reforms, and the public
has failed to rally 'round...The White House should stay cool and
fight for its central principles--including health care with every job
and universal coverage for all." (Don't Give Up on Health Care for
Everyone, editorial, USA Today, 6/16/94) CURE Comment: When is
"universal coverage for all" not a redundancy? When it is describes
what President Clinton does NOT mean by universal coverage.

The Clinton health plan calls for a 75 cents-per-pack increase in the
federal cigarette to 99 cents. To win the votes of representatives
from tobacco states, however, the House Ways and Means will propose
slashing the tax raise by 30 cents. The lost revenues will be at the
expense of senior citizens as the revised proposal postpones any
long-term care coverage until the turn of the century. As Rep. Nancy
Johnson (R-CT) concludes, "Someone who votes against this is going to
vote against the seniors." Meanwhile, while the American Medical
Association--meeting in Chicago--voted down a resolution opposing the
administration plan "in its current form." But AMA trustee Jerald
Schenken, MD, a Nebraska pathologist, declares, "If you took a poll of
doctors, they're 95% opposed to the Clinton plan." (Lower Cigarette
Tax Proposal Jeopardizes Long-Term-Care Plan, Judi Hasson and Richard
Wolf, USA Today, 6/16/94)

"Denouncing what he called a negative and partisan mindset in
Washington, President Clinton delivered an impassioned call Tuesday
for action on health care reform this year, saying, 'I refuse to
declare defeat.' Clinton, trying to propel his plan through a deeply
divided Congress, told business leaders that he had already made some
changes in the plan and that more changes were likely in response to
valid concerns. But what is not acceptable, he said, is to do nothing.
'We may have to do more for small business,' Clinton said. 'I'm
willing to do that. We may have to do more--and we should--to make the
thing less regulatory...But let us not walk away.'" (Clinton: 'I
Refuse to Declare Defeat' on Health Care, Martinsburg Journal, 6/22/94)

The clearest signal to date that major health care reform may not pass
Congress this year came with yesterday's concession by Senate leaders
that congressional committees may not complete work on health reform
legislation before the July 4 holiday weekend. As Rhode Island Senator
John Chafee, a Republican sympathetic to the effort, confessed, "What
worries me most is the lack of time." While there is nothing new about
Congress failing to meet its own deadlines, the complex health care
package proposed by President Clinton would affect one-seventh of
America's economy and thousands of details remain to be ironed out
when and if a consensus is reached on the broad outlines. All of which
leads Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY)
to conclude, "If it's not done basically the week after next, it's
getting too late." (Committee Delays Could Doom Health Care Reform
This Year, Senators Say, Karen Hosler, Baltimore Sun, 6/22/94)

"If the president were to propose burning down the US Capitol, someone
in Congress would offer a compromise to phase in the fire over three
years. --Joke making the rounds on Capitol Hill. The president hasn't
proposed burning down the Capitol, but he has proposed to destroy
anywhere from 600.000 to 3.8 million jobs in the name of health care
reform, according to a recent compilation of more than 40 studies
assembled by the Joint Economic Committee's Republican staff. And
believe it or not, some members of Congress are suggesting we phase in
this act of 'jobicide' over three or four years." --Rep. Jim Saxton
(R-NJ), member, Joint Economic Committee. (Employer Mandates Will Cost
Many Americans Their Jobs, Saxton, op-ed, Washington Times, 6/22/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: For selected data from these studies, see
Killer Mandates in the upcoming July ABLEnews Review.

"When President Clinton says he can't 'walk away' from his health
reform plan, he means it altruistically and politically. Clinton's
proposal is the linchpin if what he described in a Tuesday speech to
business executives as 'a vision, a mission, a strategy' for an
economically secure future. But he also knows the fate of health
reform is also linked to history's judgment of the Clinton presidency
and his chances for re- election. So the White House is rejiggering
strategy, rhetoric, and expectations in a last-ditch bid to salvage
Clinton's bottom-line promise: guaranteed health coverage for
everyone...As a result, the most basic issue in the complex health
reform debate has become a question of semantics...'What does the
president mean when he says there's got to be universal coverage?'
asked Sen. John Chafee, R-RI." (Health Care Tactics Rejiggered, Judy
Keen and Richard Wolf, USA Today, 6/22/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note:
Shall we chip in and buy Clinton and Chafee dictionaries?

"Yes, he should abandon his goal of universal health coverage. I'm
very much against the Clinton health care reform plan and think there
will be health care rationing if it passes. Most doctors and health
professionals oppose his plan." --Donna Pillar, 60, nurse, Council
Bluffs, IA. "Absolutely not. I feel very strongly that we should not
abandon the goal of universal health coverage. We have the resources
to provide everyone in this country with health insurance, and it's
just a matter of concentrating those resources to reach our goals."
--Richard Karges, 45, social worker, Mentor, OH. (Voices: Should the
President Abandon His Goal of Universal Health Insurance? USAT, 6/22/94)

As the president and Congress reach a critical juncture, USA Today
asks five health care analysts if health care reform is dead. Not
dead, but critically ill, says Donna Miller, PhD, an expert on managed
care. "Many of the Clinton proposals were doomed from the start.
Employer mandates, large bureaucratic programs, and government
intrusion into many aspects of the delivery system are more than an
already leery public is ready to accept. Some last-minute maneuvering
could result in a bill supporting a phased-in approach with targeted
dates for adding other options. But there's little chance for passing
a comprehensive bill." No, but..., says Robert Blendon, chairman,
Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of
Public Health. 'People still want health care reform, but they are
looking for a more acceptable alternative to the Clinton plan...What
worries Americans is their perception, shaped by views of the Clinton
plan critics, that the plan could cost them a lot more, create too
much bureaucracy, limit their choice of doctors, and lead to job
loss." A definite maybe, says Pedro Jose Greer Jr., M.D., director,
Camillus Health Concern, a Miami clinic for the homeless. "Health
reform is not dead but, then again, it was never really alive. What we
have been seeing really are issues dealing with economics. True reform
has never been addressed. Unfortunately, what has emerged is the
mutant giant we now refer to as managed care--an organism that grows
and grows but does not make people healthier." Yes, but..., says
Marcia Angell, MD, editor, New England Journal of Medicine. "Real
health care reform must be systematic. Unfortunately, we've lost the
opportunity for that kind of reform this year. Instead, we'll get
fiddling at the margins. Although Congress will probably pass a bill
in time for the members to go home and campaign on it this fall, the
bill won't be nearly as good as they pretend it is." Yes--and be
cautious about what little we do, concludes George Ross Fisher, MD,
delegate, American Medical Association. "Once the Congress got a taste
of the complexity of health care, it was clear that absolutely any
1,300-page proposal would cause a train wreck. Even a political
slam-dunk wasn't probable...So now it's high time for the reformers to
stop blocking cautious adjustments just to exaggerate the appearance
of crisis...Let's go on with technical health care adjustments year
after year. But never doing anything so sweeping that we can't reverse
it if it isn't working out. Take an aphorism from Hippocrates: "At the
very least, do no harm." (Is Health Care Reform Dead? USAT, 6/23/94)

"On alternate days for the next few weeks--sometimes the same
day--you're going to read that health care reform is hopelessly bogged
down or finally making some progress; that the Democrats--or was it
the Republicans?--are newly united/in disarray; that the president or
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, or Bob Dole, or someone, is
getting either good or bad marks, most likely for exercising or
failing to exercise the proper leadership; and that the elderly are
(a) off the reservation, (b) back on, or (c) split right down the
middle because of the latest change in a drug benefit that will or
won't be phased in by the year 2010. It will all be true, if not on
the day you read it then likely as not within a day or two thereafter;
just wait. It's not the fault of the journalism but of the nature of
the process, now reaching a particularly complicated stage, that the
journalism seeks to cover." (Health Form and Reform, editorial,
Washington Post, 6/24/94)

"The issue that nags most Americans, when they pause to consider
health care reform, is the question of quality. Despite all the talk
of crisis, and despite a widespread feeling that important
improvements in the health care system are possible, surveys show that
most of the 85% of Americans who now have health insurance are
reasonably satisfied with the health care they themselves now receive.
Will a Clintonite health plan-- or a 'Clinton Lite' approach such as
those drawn up by Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat, Sen. John
Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican, or Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
the New York Democrat--be able to maintain the quality that now
exists, let alone improve it? Is it possible to extend health care
insurance to the 15% to 17% who don't have it at any given time,
reduce overall health care spending, and improve quality at the same
time?" A Question of Quality, editorial, Orange County (CA) Register,
in Herald-Mail, 6/25/94) CURE Comment: What do you think?

"Even though the battle over health care has moved into a critical
time of striking deals and compromises, President Clinton and his
Administration have deliberately avoided detailed negotiations with
Congress, preferring to give only 'technical assistance' while
affirming the general goal of universal coverage. This is partly by
design and partly by default. For the President, it is clearly a
tactical choice. Mr. Clinton loves to discuss the intricacies of
health policy, but his statements over the last two weeks have ben
disciplined, sticking to broad themes and goals. Hillary Rodham
Clinton has taken much the same approach. But below that level, some
of the disengagement is less calculated. With a few exceptions, the
Administration's health experts do not have the political expertise or
authority to negotiate with Congress. The senior officials who do have
the political experience and acumen know little about the details of
health policy, by their own account. Mr. Clinton's legislative
strategy puzzles some members of Congress who say the White House
should negotiate over the substance of legislation... California
Democrat, Rep. Lynn Schenk, who has a crucial swing vote on the Energy
and Commerce Committee, said: 'I haven't heard from a soul in the
Administration in months. Maybe they lost my phone number.'" (Key
`Voice Is Missing on Health, Robert Pear, New York Times, 6/27/94)

"Hours after being named White House chief of staff Monday, Leon
Panetta was on Capitol Hill lobbying for President Clinton's health
reform plan. Panetta's job description is broad, but his mandate is to
resurrect the foundering reform plan--cornerstone of Clinton's
presidency...'No one in Washington has a better understanding of both
ends of Pennsylvania Avenue than Leon Panetta, and no one has earned
greater respect on both ends,' Clinton said...But foes of Clinton's
health reforms warn that he shouldn't count on a big win on this
issue. 'You've got the same peopl on the top, and their problem is
that they're trying to promote an agenda that is not America's
agenda,' says Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. 'No personnel change can
change that.'" (Panetta's Mandate: Health Care, Judy Keen and Richard
Wolf, USA Today, 6/28/94)

"Senate Republicans, long divided over health care reform, united
yesterday behind a limited plan that would not change the way most
Americans get their health care but would use market incentives to
make insurance more accessible to the uninsured and small businesses.
Influential business groups quickly expressed support for the
legislation, which was proposed by Senate Minority Leader Robert J.
Dole (R-KS) as an alternative to the many Democratic plans under
consideration in both the House and the Senate. It was immediately
embraced by 39 of the Senate's 44 Republicans." (Dole Health Plan
United Senate GOP, Dana Priest, Washington Post, 6/30/94)

"The two great goals of health care reform are to achieve or
approximate universal coverage while containing costs. Each comes at a
price. The coverage has to be financed; the cost containment by
definition requires that patients and providers get by with
less...Health care isn't a rivers and harbors bill. The real world
costs as well as the political costs of making a mistake could be
huge...The Dole proposal supports reform in name, while largely
avoiding it in fact. It may well be that Congress will choose to enact
reform in stages by first testing what modest steps will yield. That's
not unreasonable." (Faceoff in Finance, ed, Washington Post, 6/30/94)

"The Republican Party stands on the verge of an historic victory over
Big Government...From the outset, President Clinton made it clear that
universal health care, provided and run by Big Brother but paid for by
the American taxpayer, would be the central zircon in the diadem of
his administration...The president's wife presided over the secret
deliberations of 500 gnomes, and eventually came up with a proposal.
Somewhere in Washington there ought to be a museum to house a
parchment copy of that 1,342-page monstrosity, so future generations
can study Big Government at its worst. Under it, the American people
would be dragooned into medical chain-gangs supervised by the
inevitable layers of incompetent, insatiable bureaucrats. The whole
mess would be paid for by a massive tax on small businesses, disguised
as 'mandatory' payments of 80% of the cost of insuring employees.
Health costs would be 'capped'-- e.g., subjected to price controls--so
health care would have to be rationed. Any doctor or patient who tried
to finesse the system would face a $10,000 fine or prison...Enter Bob
Dole. He knows very well that the American people want various
improvements in our health care system-- notably 'portability' (the
assurance that one's health coverage won't be lost in going from one
job to another) and coverage of previously existing conditions. He is
also willing to subsidize health insurance for the genuinely needy who
can't afford it...If the November congressional election can be turned
into a referendum on 'the Dole reforms' vs. 'the Clinton giveaway,'
the Republicans will mop the floor with every Democrat not attached to
his seat with Krazy Glue." (GOP on the Brink of a Victory? William
Rusher, op-ed, Washington Times, 7/8/94) Stay 'Tooned: Husband,
opening front door, to wife, in easy chair reading newspaper, who
looks startled at his announcement: It's those health reform people,
Bill, Hillary, Harry, and Louise! (Mearth, Amarillo Globe-News, 1994)

"In the push for health care reform, doctors, hospitals, insurance
companies, and drug manufacturers--the ravenous Big Four, all well
served by lobbyists, fixers, and trade associations--have no trouble
being heard or heeded in advancing their own profits and interests.
They have mastered the insider's game of cultivating access to
congressional staffs who do much of the brainwork in health care
legislation...Health care reform is about health care dollars, the
$800 billion annual tab. With the private interests passionate about
keeping or expanding their cut, the least heard or honored voice is
one with the strongest claim to be heard: patients who have been
injured or killed by doctor negligence... Based on three reputable
studies of hospital patients, Public Citizen... estimates that between
150,000 and 300,000 people suffer injuries or death annually at the
hands of a relatively few doctors...At the same time that medical
incompetence causes what Public Citizen estimates to be 80,00 deaths a
year--more than triple the number of homicides and double the number
of highway fatalities--patients are at risk in another way: proposed
bills that seek to limit or eliminate the legal right of doctors'
victims. Of the seven major pieces of legislation proposed in
Congress, only one--the American Health Security Act offered by Sen.
Paul D. Wellstone (D-MN) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)--sides with
patients by offering no medical malpractice restrictions." (The
Medical Blight Health Reform Ignores, Colman McCarthy, op-ed,
Washington Post, 7/12/94) CURE Comment: We oppose "tort reform" that
is inimical to patients' welfare.

                         Heart Stoppers

"First, Robert Ballard would visit the police station to get a light
for his cigarette. Then he would tiptoe along a wood-framed flower bed
in front of the Main Street Cafe, over to the Diary Deal for a Pepsi
and an ice cream cone, and on to Joe Haley's Texaco station. He was
always talking, always smiling. And if he didn't have time to stop, he
would wave. 'He'd come up and say things out of the blue like, 'I
can't swim,'' Haley said.' And we'd say, 'Well, you can't swim, then.
That's all right.' It was like talking to a 5-year-old. He was kind of
like family, really.' But Ballard was not 5 years old--he was 33, and
had been mentally retarded since birth. And his daily constitutionals
are forever ended. Last month, Robert Ballard was brutally murdered:
two local youths--ages 14 and 17--were charged. For Salina, a town of
1,500 60 miles northeast of Tulsa, it was a death in the family."
(Small Oklahoma Town Livid Over Beating Death of Retarded Man,
Martinsburg Journal, 6/13/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of
this tragic tale of man's inhumanity to man, see MR40613.* wherever
ABLETEXT files are found.

                         HOSPITALity

"'Serious deficiencies' at DC General's emergency room have prompted
federal regulators to order a review of the entire hospital, which
treats more gunshot victims and more of the city's poor than any area
institution. An official of the Health Care Financing Administration,
which ordered this week's review, warned in a letter that failure to
correct any problems identified 'will result in termination of the
hospital's participation in the Medicare program.' Millions of dollars
are at stake. Most of the DC General patients that can pay their bills
do so through Medicare and Medicaid...The review was prompted by a
federal survey in April that criticized the emergency room for waits
of up to 10 hours or more, during which 'the facility failed to
provide evidence of reassessment' of patients within the required two
to four hours. The report also says that 15 out of 30 treatment
records show patients being improperly triaged, or assessed for
treatment...Decertification of the hospital...could lead to a loss of
accreditation...The physician teaching programs at Howard and
Georgetown universities are tied to the accreditation of DC General
because residents and interns from both schools train at the
city-owned hospital." (DC General Facing Loss of Medicare, Cindy
Loose, Washington Post, 6/8/94)

                         Mal-Practice

"The biggest issue among women these days is medical care. Anyone
doubting that should have been in the Cannon Caucus Room last week
when hundreds of women form all over the country jammed a town meeting
with female members of Congress to tell good, bad, and ugly stories
about the health care system. Women in Congress know how enraged women
were when the General Accounting Office reported four years ago that
women...are second-class citizens when it comes to health care
research and health care delivery. It launched a revolution...that has
resulted in a permanent office for women's health at the National
Institutes of Health and an increase in funding for breast cancer and
heart disease research. The prospect of health care reform has
generated even more militancy... fueled by a growing understanding of
how women have been used and abused by the medical system, from
unnecessary hysterectomies and Caesarean sections to sordid episodes
of defective products for women....The US Senate is once again going
to provide us with a live demonstration of how big business, with its
money and political clout, can steer Congress into shielding
corporations from the consequences of irresponsible acts, many of
which have ruined the health of millions of women. During the next few
days, the Senate is scheduled to take up the Product Liability
Fairness Act. It sounds like something designed to protect consumers.
In fact, it is designed to make it far more difficult for consumers to
recover punitive damages from companies that manufacture defective
products approved by the US Food and Drug Administration."
(Underestimating the Rage of Women, Judy Mann, op-ed, Washington Post,
6/24/94) CURE Comment: As patient advocates, we oppose legislative
attempts to gut the legal remedies afforded victims of malpractice--in
or outside of hospitals.

"Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary said yesterday that her agency had
identified dozens of previously unacknowledged human radiation
experiments sponsored by the federal government--most apparently
without their knowledge. Like human radiation experiments acknowledged
earlier, the list of tests released by Mrs. O'Leary includes many that
used 'vulnerable' populations such as pregnant women, fetuses,
still-born babies, live infants, the elderly, and the mentally
disabled. Energy Department officials added that they have found no
evidence yet of informed consent by the people used in most of the
experiments...At a news conference, Mrs. O'Leary...added that she was
'troubled' by some aspects of the experiments. 'Almost all of us
reading the descriptions of these experiments would find something to
be disturbed about,' she said. Mrs. O'Leary said she was particularly
bothered by the 'language' used to describe experiments that involved
the use of aborted fetuses." (Data on Radiation Experiments on Humans
Released by O'Leary, Karen MacPherson, Washington Times, 6/28/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: For further details on this ongoing story, se
EXP40628.* wherever ABLETEXT files are found. See also, Fetuses,
Stillborn Were Part of Radiation Tests, USAT, 6/28/94.

                         Mental Health Memo

"Never mind that a few weeks ago I happily flew a short hop across the
ocean in a 19-seater plane that plopped down on a band-aid-sized
landing strip on a tiny island in the French West Indies. And never
mind that during the following week I rode in the back of a pickup
truck where I sat on a broken lawn chair tied with a bungee cord, and
screamed with delight as I and my friends played roller coaster on the
narrow roads and hairpin curves connecting small, volcanic mountains.
Because today, I'm back in Washington and I'm still phobic about
driving on the Beltway... Like most folks who have a phobia, I hide it
(until now) as best I can for fear others will think I am neurotic,
crazy, weak, or inept. Just a few days ago I told a colleague about my
phobia and he laughed and asked, 'Are you nuts?' I should have told
him that Freud was phobic about riding trains and Emily Dickinson was
agoraphobic, but I let it go. Later, I dared to tell another friend
and, gratefully, she didn't miss a beat: 'Isn't everyone phobic about
the Beltway?' Actually, there are an estimated 23 million Americans
who suffer from some sort of anxiety disorder that includes phobias
and panic attacks...One can have panic attacks without being phonic,
but typically panic attacks can become a phobia as the person avoids
whatever induces the symptoms. Only 17 million of those who suffer
from panic disorders receive therapy and the other 6 million are
probably walking around still checking with medical doctors because
they think they have a medical problem. Little wonder. The symptoms
and degree of a panic attack vary, but usually it feels like the onset
of a heart attack or a stroke or whatever you most fear will kill
you." (High Anxiety, Barbara Mathias, Washington Post, 6/30/94)

"Independent Counsel Robert Fascia's thorough report on the suicide of
Vincent Foster contains a significant and disturbing paragraph that
has gone largely unnoticed. It reads as follows: 'Lisa Foster recalls
that during the same week, Foster told her his heart had been
'pounding.'...On the same day, Foster called his sister, Sheila, and
told her he was battling depression for the first time in his life and
did not know what to do about it. Sheila Anthony described Foster's
voice as tight and strained. She asked him to let her call a
psychiatrist and set up an appointment for him. Foster told her he was
hesitant to see a psychiatrist because it could jeopardize his White
House security clearance...' Foster never saw the psychiatrist. Four
days later he took his own life. Tragically, Foster's hesitancy was
justified. Since returning to the White House Counsel's office, I have
learned that for positions requiring security clearance, government
questionnaires still ask whether a prospective employee has consulted
a psychiatrist. If the answer is yes, the FBI and other security
checkers insist on the subject's consent to see the psychiatrist and
obtain full disclosure of his or her conclusions." (Psychotherapy: No
Sign of Security Risk, Lloyd Cutler, op-ed, Washington Post, 7/12/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: Mr. Cutler is White House counsel.

                         No Place Like Home

"Random thoughts on the passing scene: The homeless seem to be the
only segment of society who never commit crimes. Many hideous crimes,
including the murder of Polly Klaas, are committed by 'drifters' or
'transients' but the media never calls them homeless at times like
these." --Thomas Sowell, economist, senior fellow, the Hoover
Institution. (Random Thoughts Against the Tide, Sowell, op-ed,
Washington Times, 6/14/94) Stay 'Tooned: Panel One: Back When We Were
Barbarians, We Used to Attach Stigmas to Certain Types of Behavior!
Three seedy and scruffy-looking men are sitting around a campfire, one
is downing a whisky bottle, while another hiccups as he puffs away on
a cigarette. A little boys asks his mother, "Who are those people,
Mommy?" She replies, "They're no-good bums, honey!" Panel Two: In
Today's "Enlightened" Times, We Try Not to Make Value Judgments! Same
scene a few years later. The little boy asks the same question: "Who
are those people, Mommy?" This time, however, she responds, "Honey,
they are people just like you and me, only they are down on their
luck." At the bottom of the second panel two additional scenes are
depicted in miniature. In the first, one street person passing a
bottle to another opines, "These...hic!...are the BEST of times..."
"...For drug counselors," thinks a father, as he looks through an open
school door at a teacher who is holding a pupil who is evidently
inebriated and commiserates, "I'm afraid Harold is having a bad day."
Asay, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, 1994.

                         Old Story

"President Clinton has rejected requests from the Catholic archbishop
of Washington to disavow Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders' comments
about sexuality, signaling that she must be treated with kid gloves no
matter how embarrassing her statements. Senior Clinton officials have
to follow suit, finessing opinions Dr. Elders is apt to offer whenever
she testifies before Congress. When she recently said the reason more
federal funds should be spent on AIDS than on cancer is that its
victims are younger, her superiors rolled their eyes but could not
reprimand her... Elders appeared before a Senate committee May 11 to
be asked why the government plans to spend more against the No. 9
killer (AIDS) than No. 1 (cancer) and No. 2 (heart disease). Her
answer was stunning: 'We know that AIDS is a ravaging disease in our
country that is destroying our bright, young people...Most of the
people who die with heart disease and cancer are our elderly
population. you know, and we all will probably die with something
sooner or later.'" (Dr. Elders Is Safe, Robert Novak, op- ed,
Washington Post, 6/23/94) CURE Comment: We deplore Elders' lack of
regard for her elders: her blatant ageist bigotry. "We're all going to
day sooner or later." What a reassuring creed for a surgeon general.
Elders should be demoted to private...as in *private* citizen.

                         Public Health

Recent studies reveal that radon gas may prove more hazardous than
previously thought, the National Research Council concludes in a
report released June 7. An odorless gas derived from the natural decay
of radium in the soil, radon seeps into homes and water systems,
causing 7,000 to 30,000 lung cancer deaths a year. The Environmental
Protection Agency recommends owners of dwellings with more than 4
picocuries per liter of air take corrective action to lower the radon
level. One in 15 US homes exceed that rate--some with concentrations
hundreds of times higher, (Reassess Radon Risk, Panel Urges, Gary Lee,
Washington Post, 6/8/94)

                         Research Review

According to a major study published in the June 16 New England
Journal of Medicine, fears that breast implants cause diseases such as
lupus and rheumatoid arthritis could be unjustified. "It's the best
information to date on this issue," says its author, Dr. Shrine
Gabriel, of the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, MN. Journal editor, Dr.
Marcia Angell says the study counters "the accumulated weight of
anecdotes" and "poignant stories in the media," but critics contend
the study does not cover a long enough period. "Our experience is that
the problems seem to be related to the age of the implant," observes
Jane Sprague Jones, a San Francisco medical sociologist, who chairs
the National Women's Health Network. In an event, manufacturers have
agreed to pay $4.2 billion to patients with problems. (Implant Fear
May Be Unjustified, Kim Painter, USA Today, 6/16/94) ABLEnews Editor's
Note: See also, Study: Risk From Silicone Breast Implants Is Slight,
Martinsburg Journal, 6/16/94.

"In his farewell address in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
almost warned against the growing influence of a 'military-industrial-
*scientific* complex.' His science adviser, James Killian, a former
president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, feared that
the wording might hurt research universities and persuaded Eisenhower
to drop 'scientific.'...Now the Clinton administration is poised to
unveil the first comprehensive plan for Federal support of science for
the post- cold-war era...The abrupt end of the cold war created a
leadership vacuum in science policy. In recent years, the agenda has
been set not by the White House but by a second-term Senator from
Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. As head of a key appropriations
subcommittee, Ms. Mikulski controls the purse strings...Last fall Ms.
Mikulski's panel called on the National Science Foundation to shift
its emphasis, and its grants, away from 'curiosity-driven research'
and towards science addressing specific economic goals--'strategic
research.' If the foundation failed to act with 'entrepreneurial vigor
and enthusiasm,' its budget would be reallocated to other agencies,
the report said."--Robert Park, professor of physics, University of
Maryland, College Park.  (Congress Versus Science, Park, op-ed, New
York Times, 6/27/94) CURE Comment: Let's hope the research for a cure
for your disease--or your loved one's--promises to be a profitable
investment, as "Senator Milkulski's committee has pressured the
National Science Foundation to transfer the results of academic
research to private companies."

                         School Daze

"About 40% of Americans are really couch potatoes," Health and Human
Services Secretary Donna Shalala estimates, "and those physically
inactive people are almost twice as likely to develop coronary heart
disease." Unfit adults were often unfit children, Judy Young,
executive director, National Association for Sport and Physical
Education, advises, noting the following youth fitness problems: "The
proportion of fat to lean body weight is high. Children don't have
well-developed muscles. They have low upper-body strength. Many have
low aerobic capacity." Schools have the ability to change that, she
says. (Schools Trying to Make Physical Fitness a Lifetime Habit,
Martinsburg Journal, 6/16/94)

"Although the New York City Board of Education spends nearly
one-quarter of its budget on special education programs, it has no way
of measuring whether disabled students are getting an education or
developing skills, according to a report released yesterday by City
Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi. Auditors from the Comptroller's office
sought to determine whether the 130,000 city students who have been
labeled as having disabilities and placed in special education classes
are making academic progress. But they concluded, 'The board has no
comprehensive policy or methodology for measuring the success of the
special education program.'...The Comptroller's report was the latest
of several studies that have cast a critical light on the city's vast
and costly special education system. The board itself reported earlier
this month that its 63 special education schools are becoming more
turbulent: the city's 14 most violent schools during the fall term
were all devoted to special education....One of the 50 students picked
at random in the audit had virtually disappeared, the study said. 'One
student in our sample was absent for the 1993 school year...School
officials have not been able to locate him.'" (Comptroller Report
Faults Special Education Policy, Sam Dillon, New York Times, 6/27/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of the story, see ED40627.*
wherever ABLETEXT files are found.

"To the students in the magnet programs at Falls Church [VA} High
School, Metro is more than just a way to get around town. It is their
lifeline to fun and friends, their source of independence, and an
integral part of their school curriculum. The 34 students in the
school's magnet program for the physically disabled may be the only
youngsters in the country for whom a transit system is part of their
schoolwork. Regardless of whether it's unique or not, this program
teaches them independent living skills, career skills, and enables
them to be involved in the world around them." (Disabled Teens Learn
Ticket to Ride, Janet Naylor, Washington Times, 6/27/94) ABLEnews
Editor's Note: For the remainder of the story, see ACC40727.* wherever
ABLETEXT files are found.

                         Telling Headlines

Abortions in USA Fall to 13-Year Low, USA Today, 6/16
Asthma Sufferers Get to 'Catch Up' with Friends, MJ, 6/16
As Visiting Vets Leave, French Say Adieu to Bad Pronunciation, WT, 6/8
Birth-Welfare Link Is Disputed, USA Today, 6/24
CIA Denies It Helped Protect Accused Nazi War Criminal, MJ, 6/8
Coaxing GEnie Out of the Bottle, Washington Post, 6/15
Defying Allen, Housing Panel Votes Loans to Unrelated Couples, WP, 6/22
Demonstrators Decry Cuts in Drug Programs, Washington Times, 6/15
51% of Rape Victims Are Girls Under 18, Study Says, Baltimore Sun, 6/23
Forced Abortion in China, op-ed, Washington Post, 5/23
French Were Wonderful to Local Vet and His Wife, let-ed, MJ, 6/16
Gibbons Takes Over Panel, Presses Health Bill, Washington Post, 6/1
Green Tea May Help Prevent Cancer of Esophagus, Washington Post, 6/1
Hay Fever Gene? Washington Post, 6/1
High School Researchers Aid in Genome Project, Martinsburg Journal, 6/1
Local Man to Meet with Hillary on Health Care, Martinsburg Journal, 6/30
Many Female CIA Officers Allege Bias, Washington Post, 7/20
Muslims Offended by World Cup Bags, Washington Times, 6/8
New Test Can Warn of Bone Loss, USA Today, 6/16
Paige, Marockie Disagree on Medicaid Tax for Boards of Ecucation, MJ, 6/8
Poison in Fillings Caused Health Problems for Pritt, MJ, 6/8
Poor Black Areas Get Worst of Pollution, Washington Times, 6/15
Problems Grow Worse for DC's Public Housing, Washington Post, 5/23
Pro-Life Groups Protest Peacefully Against Law on Clinic Access, WT, 7/8
Republicans Divided Over Right to Life, Martinsburg Journal, 6/16
Senators Say They Expect a Scaled-Back Health Bill, MH, 6/28
Slowly but Surely, Fat Is Disappearing From School Lunches, WT, 6/8
Surviving the Breast Implant Siege, Washington Post, 6/24
Study: One-Fourth of Welfare Mothers Abuse Drugs, Booze, WT, 6/28
Taking On an Insurance Goliath, op-ed, Washington Post, 6/13
Transplant Drug May Be Useful in Treating Colitis, Washington Post, 6/3
Unpaid Bills May Cost State Medicaid Services, Martinsburg Journal, 6/30
Vatican 'Out of Step' on Birth Control, Group Finds, WP, 7/20
Vatican Says West Is Pushing Abortion, Washington Times, 7/8
Violence Hits 1 in 13 Youths in 1992, Washington Times, 7/18
Welcome to the Wide-Open World of the Internet, WPB, 6/6
When Feminists Devour Their Own, op-ed, Washington Times, 7/18
Women and Alcohol, Washington Post, 6/30
Women's Shelter Refuses Jone's Gift, Washington Times, 7/8

                    Wish We'd Said That...

     In the Old Testament it says, "Let nothing come between you and
     your physician." Is it not amazing that thousands of years ago
     someone knew about the possibilities of HMOs?
                                        (Pedro Jose Greer, Jr., MD)

                    ...Glad We Didn't

     It will be like having two Ford dealers: You will go to the one
     with the best deal. (Gordon Kinney, Med-Pay Inc., on managed
     care monopolization of health care)

          Of Note is published biweekly by ABLEnews, a Fidonet-
          backbone echo featuring disability/medical news and
          information. ABLEnews is carried by more than 325
          BBSs in the US, Canada, Australia, Great Britain,
          Greece, New  Zealand, and Sweden. The echo, available
          from Fidonet and Planet Connect, and gated to the
          ADANet, FamilyNet, and World Message Exchange
          networks, is a public service of CURE.

  ABLEnews text files--including our digests: Of Note and Mednotes
  (suitable for bulletin and file use) are disseminated via the
  ABLEfile Distribution Network, which is available from the filebone
  and Planet Connect.

...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433).