To the Editor:
    I’ve been watching in frustration as our politicians debate the issue of healthcare in this country.  What I hear is the usual 30 second soundbites of “Socialism”, “Rationing”, “Taxes” that passes for debate but instead is meant to scare the listener and shut down the real debate.  When I see the statistics that show our country falling so far behind other industrialized countries when it comes to providing healthcare for our citizens, I am reminded of the time many years ago when Blue Cross/Blue Shield was a non-profit company.  What happened?  How did they and all the other big insurance firms get to be major profit centers more concerned with limiting who gets care and how much they get?
    Then, I happened to watch on television last week the playing of some of the Nixon Tapes just now becoming available.  This was a real eye-opener.
    On February 17, 1971 John Erlichman was in the Oval Office discussing healthcare with President Nixon.  What follows is the actual transcript of that conversation.
    Erlichman:  “...one issue and that is whether we should include these health maintenance organizations like Edgar Kaiser’s Permanente thing.”

To the Editor:
    For 38 years I have written pieces for the Madisonian/Citizen.  Most were with a byline on the Op-Ed page, some were news features and more recently I have written several Letters to the Editor. Never, during all those years have I encountered a more troublesome situation than that which has arisen in letters to this paper from Misters Belton and Batten.
    The following piece I fear will be lengthy, but I ask the reader’s forbearance.
    If we as a community and a nation are to prosper and if we expect to leave our children an open, free and caring society it is imperative that our public discourse be based on reason buttressed by factual statements.
    This writer submits that Mr. Belton’s letter on Cap and Trade contained supporting “evidence” that was 10 years old which he called recent. I also exposed the source of the pseudo-science which he used and suggested that readers might go to the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine Web site and see for themselves. Belton did not sight the OISM as his source. If Mr. Belton had offered scientific reports that supported his point I would have had nothing to say.
    I never claimed that global warming as presently understood was true or untrue. I did not take a stand. I did however, come down hard on the bogus work of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine.
    The following week we were treated to a strange rant from Batten.

To the Editor:
    Each August the dedicated women of the Morgan Memorial Hospital Auxiliary work tirelessly to host the Festival of Friends to raise needed funds for the hospital, and this year is no exception. 
    The Ninth Annual Festival of Friends will begin at 6:00 p.m. on August 15 at the James Madison Conference Inn with a silent auction and cocktail party.  This event will be followed by nine spectacular dinners at separate venues at 8:00 p.m.
    Since its inception, the auxiliary has raised over a quarter of a million dollars to provide needed equipment for the hospital.  This year, we are looking forward to being able to fund a designated area in the new hospital that will better serve the healthcare needs of the citizens of Morgan County.
    If you have not yet made your dinner reservation, please call 706.752.1017 for further information.  This is always a fun-filled event in which every dollar raised goes to our hospital.  We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Nancy Vaughan,
President
Morgan Memorial
Hospital Auxiliary

An open letter to Jamie Miles (re: Morgan County Citizen, July 16 column)
To the Editor:
    I read with dismay that deer had ransacked your garden and left you a bit discouraged about gardening. Living next to Lake Oconee with a hungry deer population, I know firsthand how disappointing this can be to any gardener.
    My advice: Get over it. You are a gardener now, and have a tradition of toughness to live up to! We have at least several good gardening months to enjoy, it makes no sense to give up on your prepared and formerly productive garden now. So, clean up the carnage and replant. If the deer just ate the tops off, it may not be necessary to replant the whole garden. Some of the damaged plants may come back from the roots if you continue to feed and water them. All you need after that is a good deer deterrent plan. From high tech to low tech, here are some strategies to consider:
    1. A yard dog or cat. Call it country security for the garden. If your dog learns to prefer inside air conditioning at night, he may be unwilling to serve. He can still help. Collect dog hair when you groom and distribute it around the garden. If you don’t want to maintain a pet, offer to brush the neighbors. This is not fool-proof,  but it can’t hurt. The neighbors’ dog  will appreciate your interest. Cats? Some folks claim that deer don’t like to smell the cat urine in your garden. Personally, I just like to see a cat lounging in a garden. He is conserving energy to chase away squirrels.

Letter to the Editor:
    The Morgan County Citizen is downright infested with fireflies! Those little lightening bugs are flitting from page to page to page....we've almost lost count. If any of the Citizen's faithful readers don't know about the Firefly Festival this Friday and Saturday, maybe they're just not paying attention.
Madison Main Street Advisory Board
City of Madison

To the Editor: 
    A friend asked me the other night if I ever read fiction.
    “Occasionally,” I replied, “I will read a Bill Scholly Letter to the Editor.” 
    After chastising David Belton for not understanding the “very difficult and knotty problem” of global warming,
    Mr. Scholly writes: “Pssst and we should look into the statement that '96 percent of greenhouse [g]ases come naturally from the oceans,’ that just doesn’t sound quite right.”
    It sounds right to me. The gas in question is water vapor. The oceans cover roughly 80 percent of the Earth’s surface, and water evaporates from the surface of the oceans. The current level of carbon dioxide in the air which is causing all this ruckus is 385 parts per million by volume, or 582 parts per million by weight. On a mild, pleasant day (77 degrees F, 50 percent relative humidity), the concentration of water vapor in the air by weight is 10,000 parts per million.
    These numbers result in a calculated value of 94.5 percent. This is lower than Mr. Belton’s quoted figure of 96 percent, but in the same ballpark.
    Perhaps Mr. Belton performed his calculation using concentrations by volume, or by assuming a higher average temperature or relative humidity. Mr. Scholly’s letter is one fallacy after another, beginning with the classic argumentum ad hominem, complete with scare quotes.
    The scientists at OISM become “scientists,” their original research becomes “research,” the degreed scientists who signed the OISM petition become “scientists” with “degrees.” (Full disclosure: I am one of the Ph.D. scientists who signed that petition.)