Letters 9/22/05

Sept. 21, 2005

Ditch the drones
Solar powered “spy drones” may help us “more plainly observe the environmental devastation caused by humans,” according to Harley Sachs (Express, 9/1 p. 18). Sachs writes “the (UAV -Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) will be the latest evolution of the unmanned drones first developed by the Israelis in their continuous struggle against Palestinian terrorism.”
Actually they were first flown in World War II. The ‘continuous development’ includes a variety of U.S. weapons industries selling them worldwide. See, for example, Boeing subsidiary Insitu, www.insitugroup.com which make drones for communications purposes “with proven combat capability.”
Science Daily, August 23, 2005, writes: “The Air Force’s Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and other military drones have been key to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But those drones, which take surveillance images and sometimes also fire missiles, are designed to soar high above the ground.” NATO forces UAV’s used in Balkan wars interfered with commercial, military aircraft because they were not adequately “high above the ground.”
Sending UAV’s on death-at-a-distance missions as Israel and U.S. does in quest of terrorists often kills innocent victims. On November 3, 2002, a CIA Predator 9 (UAV) launched form Djiboutie fired Hellfire missiles at a car in Yemen with six suspect al-Queada members. All six died, including a U.S. citizen. How often do we put the power of life and death in assaults on supposed terrorists under the control of robots?
UAV’s are just Lego blocks the U. S. 93 billion dollar Space Command skyscraper. The U.S. government aims to totally control space for military and economic purposes by the year 2020. The Spaced Based Laser program has been on the drawing boards of Lockeed Martin, TRW, and Boeing since the late 1990s. These space-based launch pads will be able to destroy other satellites and direct nuclear attack weapons.
Clearly Star Wars is not just a defensive program intend to knock out missiles from so-called rogue states.
Our militarization of space violates our Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the l967 U.N. Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Recently Bruce Gagnon from the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space addressed audiences in as many places in northwest lower Michigan about U.S. space weapons. This Global Network sponsors “Keep Space for Peace Week,” October 1 to 8. See for more information.

Tom Shea •TC


Eviction notice
Arent you sick of it? I am! George W. Bush wants to send millions of dollars to the people of Africa, yet wants to take away our Social Security. And, he will sign a bill in which the good old U.S.A. will send $2.2 billion to help pay for the removal of the Jews from the Gaza Strip, but will continue to try to take away our Social Security.
Don‘t you Americans who voted for George W. Bush know how to add and subtract? Don‘t you care about our own homeless, those who have lost their jobs and had bank foreclosures in the hundreds of thousands of families?
Don‘t you know or care that Ford Motor Company just closed a plant in Wixom, Michigan?
I would say it is past time to evict George W. from the White House on grounds that he is a most undesirable tenant. I have never disliked any of our presidents wsince I was of an age to vote, but George W. Bush is contemptible. But then, I‘m a Democrat!

Jean A. Wilson • TC



Another Watergate?
To prevent future totally incompetent disaster relief fiascos, please use your influence to call for an independant commission to investigate the government’s (city, state, & federal) handling of the Katrina tragedy!
Please, please don’t permit the President to “investigate” this matter! It would be akin to having let Richard Nixon investigate the Watergate break-in! That should be a no-brainer!

Charles Reyner, Harbor Springs, MI


Back to 911
Katrina is a national scandal, an international embarassment and a failure in leadership on local, state and federal levels. Clearly we are less safe from large scale disasters and less organized in our emergency relief efforts now, than we were four years ago (9/11)! The Bush administration, FEMA and our disaster relief “planning” all need an overhaul.
Republican leaders are setting up an investigation. This is wrong! It should be an independent commission--just like the 9/11 Commission--with its own investigators, budget and subpoena authority. It is vital that we learn from our mistakes, before another major disaster strikes.

Dave Rink, Gaylord, MI


Not a Roberts Fan
When will President Bush get the message and the Silent Majority ofAmericans wake up to the fact that we do not need any more unqualified scumbags in Washington? What is with this guy Roberts not wanting to answerqualifying questions from Congress? What does he have to hide? His nocomment stance personifies Bush’s inability to appoint people of integrityand honesty and look to another yes man. America deserves better than whatwe are getting from Bush and all of his crew.

Jim Willoiams, Kalkaska MI


Cruise, more than a pretty face
(Sept 1 issue of Northern Express)
In his letter “Bad News Cruise,” Northern Lakes Community Mental Health CEO Greg Paffhouse blasts Tom Cruise for questioning the legitimacy ofpsychiatry and the widespread use of psychiatric drugs.

Calling Cruise “irresponsible,” Paffhouse says, “Although we respect theright of individuals to express their own views, they are not entitled totheir own facts.”

Paffhouse himself is rather short on facts when he claims that mentaldisorders like ADHD are “real” diseases caused by a “chemical imbalance”treatable with “safe and effective” medications.

There is no blood sample, brain scan, or any other laboratory test which can confirm the validity of any psychiatric diagnosis. This is a fact.

The only chemical imbalance scientists have ever found in anyone’s brain areimbalances caused by the long-term use of psychiatric drugs. This is a fact.

Studies have shown that antidepressants are only marginally more effectivethan placebo sugar pills in relieving depressive symptoms, but unlike sugar pills, these drugs are toxic substances known to cause serious harm in many individuals. This is a fact.

Unwanted behavior and unbearable emotions may be labeled disease, but the fact remains: life problems cannot be solved, and our emotional and spiritual needs cannot be met, by popping a pill.

Some drugs may suppress certain psychiatric symptoms, but because they cure nothing, they’re often prescribed for a lifetime.

Supporters of modern psychiatric treatment need to be reminded that a shuffling gait, trembling hands, twitching or drooling are NOT symptoms of mental illness, but are observable side-effects of psychiatric drugs.

As a member of the Mich. Dept. of Community Health‚s Recipient Rights Advisory Committee, and co-founder of MindFreedom Michigan (www.mindfreedom.org), I salute Tom Cruise for bringing this issue to the forefront of public debate.

Ben Hansen, Traverse City MI




lkaska, Mi.




Tom Shea •TC


Eviction notice
Arent you sick of it? I am! George W. Bush wants to send millions of dollars to the people of Africa, yet wants to take away our Social Security. And, he will sign a bill in which the good old U.S.A. will send $2.2 billion to help pay for the removal of the Jews from the Gaza Strip, but will continue to try to take away our Social Security.
Don‘t you Americans who voted for George W. Bush know how to add and subtract? Don‘t you care about our own homeless, those who have lost their jobs and had bank foreclosures in the hundreds of thousands of families?
Don‘t you know or care that Ford Motor Company just closed a plant in Wixom, Michigan?
I would say it is past time to evict George W. from the White House on grounds that he is a most undesirable tenant. I have never disliked any of our presidents wsince I was of an age to vote, but George W. Bush is contemptible. But then, I‘m a Democrat!

Jean A. Wilson • TC



Another Watergate?
To prevent future totally incompetent disaster relief fiascos, please use your influence to call for an independant commission to investigate the government’s (city, state, & federal) handling of the Katrina tragedy!
Please, please don’t permit the President to “investigate” this matter! It would be akin to having let Richard Nixon investigate the Watergate break-in! That should be a no-brainer!

Charles Reyner, Harbor Springs, MI


Back to 911
Katrina is a national scandal, an international embarassment and a failure in leadership on local, state and federal levels. Clearly we are less safe from large scale disasters and less organized in our emergency relief efforts now, than we were four years ago (9/11)! The Bush administration, FEMA and our disaster relief “planning” all need an overhaul.
Republican leaders are setting up an investigation. This is wrong! It should be an independent commission--just like the 9/11 Commission--with its own investigators, budget and subpoena authority. It is vital that we learn from our mistakes, before another major disaster strikes.

Dave Rink, Gaylord, MI


Not a Roberts Fan
When will President Bush get the message and the Silent Majority ofAmericans wake up to the fact that we do not need any more unqualified scumbags in Washington? What is with this guy Roberts not wanting to answerqualifying questions from Congress? What does he have to hide? His nocomment stance personifies Bush’s inability to appoint people of integrityand honesty and look to another yes man. America deserves better than whatwe are getting from Bush and all of his crew.

Jim Willoiams, Kalkaska Mi


Cruise, more than a pretty face
(Sept 1 issue of Northern Express)
In his letter “Bad News Cruise,” Northern Lakes Community Mental Health CEO Greg Paffhouse blasts Tom Cruise for questioning the legitimacy ofpsychiatry and the widespread use of psychiatric drugs.

Calling Cruise “irresponsible,” Paffhouse says, “Although we respect theright of individuals to express their own views, they are not entitled totheir own facts.”

Paffhouse himself is rather short on facts when he claims that mentaldisorders like ADHD are “real” diseases caused by a “chemical imbalance”treatable with “safe and effective” medications.

There is no blood sample, brain scan, or any other laboratory test which can confirm the validity of any psychiatric diagnosis. This is a fact.

The only chemical imbalance scientists have ever found in anyone’s brain areimbalances caused by the long-term use of psychiatric drugs. This is a fact.

Studies have shown that antidepressants are only marginally more effectivethan placebo sugar pills in relieving depressive symptoms, but unlike sugar pills, these drugs are toxic substances known to cause serious harm in many individuals. This is a fact.

Unwanted behavior and unbearable emotions may be labeled disease, but the fact remains: life problems cannot be solved, and our emotional and spiritual needs cannot be met, by popping a pill.

Some drugs may suppress certain psychiatric symptoms, but because they cure nothing, they’re often prescribed for a lifetime.

Supporters of modern psychiatric treatment need to be reminded that a shuffling gait, trembling hands, twitching or drooling are NOT symptoms of mental illness, but are observable side-effects of psychiatric drugs.

As a member of the Mich. Dept. of Community Health‚s Recipient Rights Advisory Committee, and co-founder of MindFreedom Michigan (www.mindfreedom.org), I salute Tom Cruise for bringing this issue to the forefront of public debate.

Ben Hansen, Traverse City MI

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