Beware of lies in health care debate

Rule by the Democrats, representing the people, or by the Republicans, representing superrich: that is the real question.

Totally beaten in the last election, the rich and powerful (and a vast array of extremists) are terrified as the "chickens come home to roost", with exposure of criminal, quasi-criminal and unethical activities committed in office, even including violations of international law and terms of the Geneva Convention. The Bush tax cut abomination, bought-and-paid-for to benefit the superrich, proves who really controls legislation - hardly the "common good" referred to in our constitution, while at the same time spewing lies about how social security needs to be cut.

Bush lied so much that we began to accept doublespeak as ordinary, so that even in major business affairs, the use of lies, threats, and character assassination seemed normal. An old proverb says, "Fish begin to stink from the head."

Billions are now being spent on ads focusing on stopping reforms to health care insurance. These ads are replete with blatant lies, misstatements of facts, and character assassination. They attempt to direct focus toward stopping health care reform and away from health insurance reform, which is being considered.

But the lowest-of-the-low (so far at least) are their recent scare tactics targeting women suffering from breast cancer, maliciously inferring they would lose their health care coverage,

Leonard Tafel

Mount Prospect