U.S. has misplaced priorities in many areas
I think Mr. Edward Barlow is right on the money regarding the misallocation of our national resources (Letters, March 16). According to research by David Vine, there are 1,000 foreign bases (865 by Department of Defense count, which excludes more than 100 bases in Iraq and 80-plus bases in Afghanistan).
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stated that 200-300 bases could be closed for savings of at least $12 billion. The partial cost of the Ramstein base in Landstuhl, Germany, exceeds $3 million annually. Ramstein is one of 268 bases in Germany, including a ski resort in the Bavarian Alps. DOD maintains 124 bases in Japan and 87 bases in South Korea, as well as 234 golf courses worldwide.
It is true that closing bases costs money, but BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is being implemented domestically, where it is more difficult politically. Why isn't BRAC doing more internationally? While we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars acting as the world's policeman, China is not only growing its economy, it is lending us money.
It is hard to know that the U.S. now ranks 49th in life expectancy (Columbia University study), because the media have not reported the rank, only the years (78). In 1999, the USA ranked 24th in life expectancy. According to the Economist Newspaper, Japan has the highest overall life expectancy with 83.7 years (87.2 years for Japanese women). Our neighbor to the north ranks No. 12 in life expectancy. The USA, however, is No. 1 in public debt, as well as in health care expenses (about 16 percent of GDP in 2007). Probably, we are also No. 1 in nuclear weapons.
Are we rotting our bodies and minds with oversized portions of junk food and poisoned drinks? It would appear so, since U.S. students rank 49th internationally in ability to perform advanced math (The Atlantic, 12/2010).
Does anybody read the FDA-mandated warning on their fluoridated toothpaste? (In case of ingestion, call poison control.) Apparently it is not OK to swallow fluoride in toothpaste, but it is OK to put it in the water, including bottled water. This insanity has persisted for over 60 years because a bunch of special interests have their egos and reputations invested in this criminal policy i.e., medicating without consent in violation of the Nuremberg Code, which the USA helped write. FYI: most countries in the world do not put rat poison in their water.
For the history buffs, lead in the wine was a factor in the fall of the Roman Empire. It seems to me that toxic garbage masquerading as food and poisons in the water are contributing to the deterioration in the health of U.S. residents.
Jane E. Bardon
Sackets Harbor
