The Public Utilities Committee wants to blanket Santa Fe with WiFi/cell tower antennas. Two proposed ordinances will take away our right and ability to avoid these antennas. Their locations would officially be kept secret from the public and the antennas hidden in chimneys and disguised as other objects. France has already banned cell phones and towers in public schools. Independent medical studies show a significant risk of cancer, DNA mutation, damage to male fertility, loss of bone density, sleeplessness, lack of concentration, anxiety, and other symptoms caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields from wireless technology.

Please attend the public hearing today (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall. This will be the only public hearing on these ordinances. Once OK'd by the committee, the ordinances may be approved without further discussion by the City Council.


Single-payer option

Most Americans voted for President Barack Obama because he promised health care reform for everyone. This can only be accomplished by a single-payer plan, which is currently off the table. Public options being presented will not create real competition or reduce costs for individuals, businesses or government. Instead, health care insurance costs will continue to skyrocket. And the public option will only be available for 2 percent of Americans by 2019.

We cannot afford to keep making these horrific concessions to the Senate Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats when the majority of the people in this country want single payer.

On July 17, the House passed the Kucinich Amendment that would grant a waiver of the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to a state single-payer plan. Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a huge mistake by removing it from the bill on Oct. 29. We must insist that each state have a single-payer plan option.


'Any' bill won't do

The current health care bill is in conflict with The Bill of Rights. The 8th Amendment is meant to be applied as a limitation to Congress and to protect individual rights from the government. It is "cruel and unusual punishment" to fine people who can't afford to purchase health insurance, without providing some just remedy for said persons. A fine that may be minor to a wealthy person can be an excessive fine, degrading and life-altering, resulting in inability to purchase necessities of life, to a person of lesser means.

Money taken by the government under this pretext is akin to taking private property without just compensation. This health care bill is a ruthless ruse; the winners are the big private insurance companies and a Democrat Party hell-bent on passing any bill just to pass one. This is not for the people, it is to their detriment.


Health care travel

The number of Canadians crossing the border for medical care has been touted as evidence that the Canadian health care system doesn't work. Three in-depth studies have belied this proposition. One study found that during a 12-month period, 0.5 percent of Canadians received medical care in the United States. Only 0.1 percent of them came here for the express purpose of seeking health care.

The second study reported the number of Canadians traveling to the U.S. for health care to be "barely detectable relative to the use of care by Canadians at home." The third announced that an estimated 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for health care in 2007, while 400,000 foreigners traveled to the United States for treatment. According to the logic of Canadian health-care detractors, the United States' health care system doesn't work because more Americans than Canadians travel to other countries for health care.


Sneak preview

If you are enjoying the way our government is handling the H1N1 vaccine — long lines and shortages — you are going to love the public option! I do believe that President Barack Obama stated it correctly a few months ago when he compared the public option to the postal service. I have to give him credit when he is right.