Letters to the Editor: December 2008

A Profile in Hope
Your inspiring article about brain surgeon and cancer researcher Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa [“Brain Cancer,” November] really touched me.

As a Hispanic American, I am edified by the timeless virtues of courage, intelligence and perseverance represented by his life. And as a survivor of a (noncancerous) brain tumor at the age of 13 in the 1960s, I identify with his skill and research.

Dr. Quiñones represents two ways of expressing hope: for youths in pursuing opportunities despite hardships, and for brain cancer patients on behalf of whom he works to find a cure. —Robert Rodriguez, Naples, Fla.

Dangerous Germ
Thank you, thank you for bringing “A Hospital Germ on the Warpath” [Opinion] to millions of readers. My mother entered the hospital with a treatable infection, yet within six weeks she became very ill and died—of Clostridium difficile, known as C. diff.

I had never heard of this bacteria. Not until my mother’s last day was I informed by a nurse not to use antibacterial hand sanitizer, but rather soap and water to kill the germ.

It was an unnecessary death. —Marjo Anderson, Lansing, Kan.

Free Movies
Your Save a Buck item on movie rentals, “Pass the Popcorn,” missed the most obvious way to save money on movies: Borrow them from your local library.

I’ve watched more than a hundred DVDs in the past year, without spending a penny, by checking them out from my local county library system. —Dick Wunder, Salt Lake City

Misguided Politicians
“From Wall Street to My Street” [Editor’s Letter] was excellent, but incomplete. The headline should have read, “From Washington to Wall Street to My Street.”

You failed to mention why those risky housing mortgages were created in the first place—that is, under pressure from the politicians in Washington. No sensible lending institution would want to hold onto that stuff. It’s no mystery why they would want to peddle them elsewhere.

Wall Street just took advantage of a situation created by misguided politicians. —Norm Thrasher, Bluffton, S.C.