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Mental illness facts

To the editor -- Mental Illness Awareness Week is Oct. 5-11. That same week, our presidential candidates will hold a "town hall debate" in which up to a quarter of the audience are likely to have experienced a mental illness.

That's because one in four adults lives with depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses every year. That's almost 60 million Americans.

Mental illness does not discriminate between Republicans and Democrats. It can strike anyone at any time.

Mental health is part of health care and it is essential that it be included in the nation's health care reform debate.

Mental illness affects children. It affects people of color. Unfortunately, according to information from the National Alliance on Mental Health, two-thirds of people who live with mental illnesses do not receive treatment.

But treatment works. Recovery is possible. Between now and Election Day, every candidate needs to talk about these facts.

For more information, call the NAMI Yakima office at 453-0753 or visit www.namiyakima.org.

LORI GENDRON

Executive Director

NAMI Yakima

False religion of capitalism

To the editor -- Pointing out everything wrong in the Oct. 1 letter, "Informed voters," would take longer than it did to read the letter. Just one key observation:

Socialism is not a political philosophy, but an economic one. Since capitalism has been turned into a religion by some Americans, with its ruling deity the almighty dollar, it is no wonder why those same Americans have demonized any competing economic philosophy. It is time they realized that capitalism is a false religion. If there was ever any doubt, the recent events on Wall Street and in D.C. should provide clear proof that unbridled capitalism will only lead us to ruin and not to salvation.

Then again, the truth is that we have never practiced pure capitalism. In fact, progress keeps on moving us more and more in the direction of socialism, as the government monitors various agencies, sets up funds like Social Security as a safety net for its citizens, and establishes laws that restrain capitalism from consuming all in its path. If those who have sold their souls to this religion would open their eyes and recognize its falsehood, they would be as grateful for its weakening and impending demise as the rest of us.

ALAN YOST

Yakima

Obama tells it straight

To the editor -- I support Barack Obama for president. He has good ideas, sound judgment and integrity.

The same day John McCain urged people not to play the blame game regarding the financial crisis, he ran an ad blaming Obama. And the Republican National Committee ran an ad blaming Obama and the Dems for the Wall Street meltdown and the bailout itself. The RNC was ready to blame Obama whether it passed or not. That's not straight talk.

Earlier, McCain pronounced the economy fundamentally sound and then backtracked. That's a man out of touch.

Later, he "suspended" his campaign for the "good of the country." It isn't the first time McCain has played the martyr. In 1999, he postponed the "official announcement" of his candidacy for president so the nation could focus on Kosovo, saying he'd rather lose an election than lose a war. Sound familiar?

McCain does not have the composure or judgment necessary to be an effective president or to manage a crisis.

Obama is the real straight talker.

JIM FLINT

Zillah

Consider our own guilt

To the editor -- Separated by a sheet of newsprint, the Oct. 1 Yakima Herald-Republic published two articles about food safety. The first was headlined "Citing costs, USDA drops pesticide testing." It begins, "The Bush administration has abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and field corps, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive." There was no editorial comment.

And then, just 0.1 mm away on the other side of the same page, there was an editorial with a very bold headline, "China must address, fix food safety issues." This editorial ends, "But if China can't prove that it cares for its own people, its own babies, then it's time for the world to say no thanks to those goods."

It is easy for us ordinary folks to criticize the other guy, while ignoring our own guilt, especially if he is a long way away. But we should be able to expect more of a professional journalistic enterprise.

HAMILTON LICHT

Yakima

Doctrine of deserving

To the editor -- There are those in America who want to convince us that we "deserve" more than we have. According to them, we "deserve" a high paying job, we "deserve" a college education, we "deserve" free health care, we "deserve" to own a home, we "deserve" low cost energy, and the list goes on and on. Generally, these folks think it's our government's responsibility to make sure we are given what we "deserve."

Ask them how we are going to pay for all these great things that people "deserve," and they'll tell you "we need to increase taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans," or that "we need to close corporate loopholes."

Let me speak the truth and set the record straight. The only thing anyone deserves is what they have worked to earn. Anything else is either a privilege or a right. If you are not clear as to what your rights are, you need only read the Constitution. Once we begin taking from the rich and redistributing it to those who haven't earned it, we'll have adopted an economic system Karl Marx would be proud of, and we will have gotten what we really do having coming to us.

STEVEN LAWS

Zillah