Power over pain
To The Editor:
We now know how to treat even the worst cancer pain as well as any other kind of pain. In other words, we now know how to make cancer painless.
However to, truly, understand pain control, one must be trained and educated in this area of medical care. Sadly, far too many doctors are not.
The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is trying to change this (iaetf.org). Two books by Wesley Smith deal with this issue: “Power Over Pain” and “Forced Exit.”
Also, there is free information on pain control from the Agency for HealthCare Policy and Research (1−800−358−9295), and the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Services (1−800−422−6237).
All hospitals need doctors and nurses trained in pain management. We may not be able to do much about the cancer should it reach a certain point, but we can stop the needless pain. All we need is the money and the will to do it, so why don’t we?
David Raisman
Bay Ridge
Support for small biz
To The Editor:
Re: Bill Intro No. 847A, Small Business Survival Act.
The New York City Council can now put this bill we have waited over twenty years to enact over the top to finally help our existing mom and pop small businesses.
We all know about Main Street and that we, as small business, are the back bone of the economy and its recovery. But now, it’s time to help those that are in business, who are now in a crisis and getting pushed out by rent gouging and key money under the table with greedy landlords still not playing fair.
This proposed bill will, at least, bring the parties to the table to bargain in good faith. This is not commercial rent control, although many have forgotten that New York City did have that for 18 years. Most small businesses don’t need more debt with loans, relocation and other programs being advertised (mostly, for new businesses) after investing in their current locations for many years. We have lost over one million jobs in the last 20 years from small businesses being forced out by evictions, or other predatory means.
This bill will not force the parties to a specific rent, but bring them to the table and take a first step toward stabilizing our local shopping streets, our local economy depends on. While Wall Street and big banks have let us all down, we can no longer turn our backs on main street. This is the time to stand up and say, enough.
We will pass this Small Business Survival Act. Please sign on and make this veto proof. In fact, the whole council should join on this one.
As ex−vice president and spokesperson for the Small Business Congress, and our approximately one million employees in the City of New York, we thank you and look forward for your support at this critical time.
Steven Barrison, Esq.
President
Bay Improvement Group (BIG);
Executive Vice President & Spokesperson
Small Business Congress NYC
Back off Sotomayor
To The Editor:
Shavana Abruzzo, you implicitly take Sotomajor to task for being insufficiently right wing enough, but when she hands down a conservative opinion in the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, you whack her for being on the wrong side of the Court [“The jury is still out of Judge Sotomayor,” A Britisher’s View, 7−23 issue]. What gives? You can’t have it both ways.
Also, when you criticize her for the firefighters ruling, you neglect to say that she was merely following the legal directives as they were put forth by the Court. Is it her fault if the Court can’t be consistent? Right wingers, such as yourself, love to throw around the term “flipflopper” when it can be used as a rhetorical tool against liberals, but they turn a blind eye against it when they are guilty of themselves.
Another point to ponder: why can’t people change their minds when they get new information? Okay, I get it, conservatives don’t do nuance! Nuance would imply critical thought and rational discourse, something that they and you are incapable of.
The subtext of your remarks is not unlike those of Senators Sessions and Hatch, who would have us believe that Sotomajor is a “judicial activist.” They and you should get off your high horses. All law of any significance is political simply for the reason that it, like politics, inhabits culture. As culture changes, so too does the law. Conservatives make it sound as if law is carved in stone. It would appear that the Court’s aforementioned lack of consistency disproves this.
Conservatives are just as much political activists as anyone else, so just get over it. You are about to lose this one fair and square. Quit whining. Your fake outrage is getting very tedious.
PS: Your views on the Mideast are odious in the extreme, but that’s another discussion.
Nick Smith
Brooklyn
Change for good
The Editor:
