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Written by: Gloria Hovde

Published: 09 June 2009

Created: 09 June 2009

Last Updated: 09 June 2009

After decades of stigma, high death rates and neglect, people with or at risk for lung cancer have reason to hope.

The Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act (HR 2112) is the first-ever federal legislation that provides research funding for the most lethal and neglected of all cancers.

Lung Cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer above all others. It kills three times as many men as prostate cancer and twice as many women as breast cancer. It has been declared a national health epidemic.

Yet because of the smoking stigma, people are blamed for the disease, so research funding remains abysmally low and death rates high.

Sixty percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer have either never smoked or quit many years – or decades – earlier. I lost my spouse to this disease, who had not touched a cigarette in 23 years.

This bill begins to finally give lung cancer the attention and funding it deserves.

Lung Cancer Alliance is asking Congressman Mike Thompson to co-sponsor the bill. We ask that you call Thompson’s office (707-226-9898) and ask him to support the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act (HR 2112).

We at Lung Cancer Alliance believe that No One deserves lung cancer.

Gloria Hovde lives in Lower Lake.

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Written by: Lori Peters

Published: 08 June 2009

Created: 07 June 2009

Last Updated: 07 June 2009

 

 

 

On May 9 we worked the Clean up Clearlake day, which was started last year by Cathy Wilson from Small Business Development Center, who partnered with the City of Clearlake and the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce.

This year we had many volunteers who spent their day cleaning along Lakeshore Drive and Olympic Drive. After getting those areas complete volunteers moved onto areas of Old 53 and 40th Avenue.

I want to say thank you to all who volunteered and/or donated much needed items: Bay Berry Inc., Second Sunday Cinema, Upward Bound students at Lower Lake High School, Hot Spot Youth Center, Clearlake Waste Solutions, Foods Etc. Sunset Fishing Resort, Rutherford & Associates Realty, Griffin’s Furniture, Safeway, Rays Food Place, Walmart, Lakeshore Bait & Tackle, Jones & Lewis Funeral Mortuary, Shannon Ridge Winery & Vineyards and Wild About Books.

It is a pleasure working beside those who love the City of Clearlake and want it to look its best!

Lori Peters is executive director of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce.

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Written by: Nelson Strasser

Published: 07 June 2009

Created: 07 June 2009

Last Updated: 07 June 2009

Is anyone above the law? Does the common man go to jail for committing a crime, and the rich and powerful go free?

Remember the young woman holding one end of a leash while the other end was hooked to a prisoner at Abu Ghraib?

Her name is Private Lynndie Rana England and she served 521 days in prison. She followed orders. Orders that have been traced from the White House to Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib.

The Army policy is set forth in the Field Manual, 34-52, which prohibits inhumane treatment. You can find it on the Internet. It is clear and unequivocal. The manual was trumped by the orders of the “torture memorandum.”

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and others authored a new and illegal policy of torture. A handful of administration lawyers bent the law to fit the policy. The cabal remained in a narrow group to prevent any legal challenges.

It is not even necessary to prove Cheney’s guilt: He admits it!

However, Cheney defends himself by claiming it was effective. It would be wrong even if it was effective, but, I can find no evidence that this is true. On the contrary, Matthew Alexander, an interrogator in Iraq, has documented cases of successful intelligence coups using legal means of interrogation (See “How to Break A Terrorist”).

So, why did Private Lynndie Rana England serve 521 days while Dick Cheney leads a life of opulence and luxury? How can we bust the “grunts” while we let the big boys laugh at the law?

Nelson Strasser lives in Kelseyville.