About this blog

Greetings! You have arrived at Blog for the new book, Letters to the Editor, that were never published--and some other stuff . It is a compilation of the many letters o the editor that I have written in the past several years. I am continuing to write letters to the editor to various publications, like The New York Times,The record (of Bergen County, NJ) Psychiatric News, Newsweek, etc. They will be posted on this blog for your perusal and, hopefully, comments.

As an introduction to my book," Letters to the Editor that were never published," here is my introduction , synopsis, and index of chapters into which I have organized my letters.



INTRODUCTION


The New York Times is a journal like no other. National and international potentates of all sorts eye its contents warily, ---and hopefully, for educated reports and opinions about their doings.

It is an on-going enclyclopedia encompassing local, national and international events, along with the business world, all the arts, visual and performance: music, theater, dance, and all the rest of interesting show-biz, movies, and TV. Then there’s sports, food, society, many varieties of science, religion, history, military activities, research in many areas, medicine. In other words, endless interesting items and subjects that are changing all the time, as it keeps up with contemporary knowledge and devlopments throughout the world. It is an incredible educational resource encompassing a wide scope of human achievement, knowledge and interest. It is a convenient resource for one to acquire for themselves an impressive post-graduate education.

Perhaps the most interesting is the editorial section, with its in-house editorials, usually about something special going on at the time. The whole Op-Ed page is dedicated to major articles by outstanding authorities, important contributors in their field. The “Letters to the Editor” section is set aside for interested readers to contribute expressions of opinion about some article in a recent issue. Unfortunatley the chances of beiing published is quite slim--like one in a thousand--because that’s the number of letters the letter editor receives each day!

I have been addicted to writing letters for possible appearance on that page, and fortunately, and happily, over the years I have seen a handful of my letters in print. But I have written well over a hundred in the last decade. I decided to get them into print one way or an other. Amazon.com has a new program in which they will publish an author gratis to appear in their e-book program--which is more than a golden opportunity --to which I expect to be admitted .

The prevalence of new and interesting publishers referred to as ”on-order publishers” makes it much easier to get a book published nowadays. I have fortunately selected Trafford Publishing to do mine.

So, along with “Letters to the Editor of The New York Times’, and other publications, like The Record ( BergenCounty, N.J.), Newsweek, Business Week, the New York Post and Psychiatric News, a scientific publication aimed at psychiatrists, I have included a bunch of essays on topics of interest to me--as well as dissertations on a number of topics of broad interest, which, hopefully, will be of interest to my readers

Inasmuch as many of these letters have reference to the same or similar subjects, there is some repetition from one article to another, which I have tried to minimize without losing the gist.


PREFACE

Organizing my collection of some 150 or so of such letters and brief essays, this book is a compilation of my offerings in the subjects of most interest to myself and of most general interest, representing major issues of the day that are controversial and looking for solutions.

The letters to the editor, letters to prominent influential people, my own essays on a variety of subjects, and some other odd notes here and there are organized in chapters for continuity.

Each chapter is opened with a general description of the subject, its history, a general description of its scope, developments, and characteristics. There follows individal letters expressing my own opinion about specific Times articles on various aspects of the subject involved.

The chapter of Essays includes more lengthy dissertations on subjects of interest in our culture about which I have especially strong feelings, either for or against.

Again, I want to mention that there is some repetition from one item to another, inasmch as they are on similar topics and to eliminate all repetitious sentences would interfere with the flow of the particular content of the letter.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Chapter 1 Psychiatry

Chapter 2 Psychoanalysis

Chapter 3 Depression

Chapter 4 Religion

Chapter 5 Bishops and Priests

Chapter 6 Homosexuality

Chapter 7 Violence

Chapter 8 Miscellaneous

Chapter 9 Essays

Sunday, January 6, 2013



Doctor' Alexander's New Reality

Having just read the article  " My Proof of Heaven", (Newsweek,  
October 15, Page 30) in which Dr. Eban Alexander describes his  life-
changing ecstatic experience during seven days in a comatose state due  
to meningitis, I am again amazed that an  intelligent, informed,  
scientifically educated professional can be so in need of reassurance  
that there will be an after-life that he could deny the "real  
reality"  and believe that his experience was a " new reality".  
Whether one wants to describe his experience as a dream-like state or  
hallucinatory experience is irrelevant. Sorry to say, doctor, you  
weren't in heaven that is overseen by the loving god that is supposed  
to have created this earth.  That  same loving  god who required that  
his only son be tortured and executed so that he might forgive sinners  
for the rest of eternity, or the god that also created the ebola virus  
and millions of other deadly micro-organisms, ( including the one of  
the doctor's meningitis), or to give a variety of malignancies to  
little kids, and to watch as the human race  that he created  
systematically massacres itself  in larger and larger numbers. Sorry,  
doctor--- when the body dies, there is no brain left to generate  
ideas, visions,or  emotions ---or any other sensations that you may  
have  experienced during that week. There is only one reality.
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Having just read the article  " My Proof of Heaven", (Newsweek,  
October 15, Page 30) in which Dr. Eban Alexander describes his  life-
changing ecstatic experience during seven days in a comatose state due  
to meningitis, I am again amazed that an  intelligent, informed,  
scientifically educated professional can be so in need of reassurance  
that there will be an after-life that he could deny the "real  
reality"  and believe that his experience was a " new reality".  
Whether one wants to describe his experience as a dream-like state or  
hallucinatory experience is irrelevant. Sorry to say, doctor, you  
weren't in heaven that is overseen by the loving god that is supposed  
to have created this earth.  That  same loving  god who required that  
his only son be tortured and executed so that he might forgive sinners  
for the rest of eternity, or the god that also created the ebola virus  
and millions of other deadly micro-organisms, ( including the one of  
the doctor's meningitis), or to give a variety of malignancies to  
little kids, and to watch as the human race  that he created  
systematically massacres itself  in larger and larger numbers. Sorry,  
doctor--- when the body dies, there is no brain left to generate  
ideas, visions,or  emotions ---or any other sensations that you may  
have  experienced during that week. There is only one reality.
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Billy Graham's Latest Piece of Bad Judgment

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's obviously very expensive  
" Paid Advertisement" in the Times ( Sunday, October 28, Page A13)  
depicts Mr. Graham using grossly bad, anti-constitutional, judgment in  
expressing is political preferences , an obvious and flagrant  
violation of one of the basic tenets of the United States  
Constitution.--namely, the separation of church and state. Certainly  
if Mr Graham were presently a pastor of a church congregation, it  
would lose its tax-exempt status---and he must  know it. Mr. Graham  
has made other almost bizarre pubic statements in the not too distant  
past. He stated that the  puzzling death of Sara Hathaway in Aruba and  
the finding of three boys dead in an automobile trunk in Camden, N.J  
was " a sign that  the end is near ".   He also stated for the press  
that he had " seen heaven, that it was beautiful---like a family  
reunion." In my opinion, Billy Graham should be very high on the list  
of those people  with zero credibility. As for the paid advertisement--
is this the usual expenditure of an  evangelistic and allegedly  
philanthropic organization? Mitt Romney visited Mr Graham recently and  
had him remove the Mormon Church from his list of religious cults. Was  
this advertisement possibly underwritten by the Romney campaign?

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Donald Trump's Latest Nonsense

The media has been showing  Donald Trump on TV screaming his  latest  
nonsense-- offering to pay $5,000,000. for President Obama's Harvard  
University records and  a copy of his  passport. ( Congratulations to  
The Times for not reporting this outrageous foolishness and  helping  
him in his attempt to lure votes away from the President  in the  
coming election.)  Is this purely politics, or is it one  more example  
of what is an obvious psychological phenomena in many macho white  
American males---namely the refusal to accept the fact that a black  
man can surpass a white  man in any place other than the basketball  
court or football field?  The Times did report that  " in John  
Sununu's world of racial reductionism , Colin  Powell's endorsement  
had a more base explanation," ( other than the product of purposeful  
deliberation.) "it was a black thing." He also referred to President  
Obama as "lazy and disengaged" during the first debate"  Even the  
quasi-glamorous,  hostility-ridden Ann Coulter referred to  President  
Obama as a " retard" in her latest book. Racism is more obvious among  
the more conservative in this country,  even if it is more subtly  
expressed. They refuse to accept the fact that we have a black  
president---it's too much of an ego-deflater.
Alex Caemmerer Jr.M.D,
163 Engle Street,
Englewood, N.J 07631
(201)568-9034

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The Hypocricy of the Pro-life Movement

 The on-going politically virulent warfare between the Pro-life and Pro-Choice groups in re abortion continues to appear on the front pages of The Times  (Abortion Fight: Helping Hands Gain Influence",  Saturday, January 5, Front Page) and other publications. The main point of contention appears to be the premise that an embryo is a full living person, and therefore abortion is tantamount to murder. This view is held by conservative  religious institutions, especially the Roman Catholic Church,  However, nowhere in this article or anywhere else, for that matter, have I ever read that embryos  should be baptized  like all other people and have  Christian burials. Twenty percent of normal pregnancies result in miscarriages, i.e spontaneous abortions  ( God's abortions?) The results are routinely  thrown in the medical waste. I recall as an intern assisting at a legal abortion  before Roe-vs Wade that the nurse, knowing the mother was Roman Catholic, baptized the embryo in the operating room. Why aren't these self-righteous  religious groups practicing  their Christian beliefs in the case of embryo people? Do  embryos have souls and  go to heaven, for instance?
Alex Caemmerer Jr. M.D.
163 Engle Street,
Englewood, N.J. 07631
(201)568-9034
(201)784-3581
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012


 Mitt Romney and His Savior, Jesus Christ---(Sort of.)

 On todays TV news , Mitt Romney was shown telling of a near-fatal automobile accident he sustained In France while there as a Mormon missionary. He stated that at that time he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. I wonder if Mr Romney has ever read what Jesus said in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 19, verse 23, " Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.  24. And again I say unto you , It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Rick Santorum, the staunch religion-espousing, anti-just-about-everything, ultra-conservative Roman Catholic  former presidential candidate, has said that he " never read the Bible---perhaps I should have."  Perhaps Mitt Romney should have, also.
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The Republican Ignorance of the Human Condition

 In Gail Collins article  " Only the Good Get Rich", (The Times, Sunday, September 2, Page A23) the Republicans announce that they are a party with a "positive optimistic view where any American who works hard, dreams big, and follows the rules can achieve anything he or she wants." On the one hand this shows a complete lack of understanding of the wide variation in human assets and capabilities as well as an arrogant assertion that their own success , and this attitude is usually proclaimed by very successful people, is due to their own personal and admirable decision to achieve. This attitude seems to assume that anyone can rise to the level of acceptance to Harvard University if they only decided to do so. Such nonsense!  Human intelligence varies from the mentally retarded to the genius--- which is genetically determined. Then comes the early family experience, (which can be a one-parent, two parent, bad parent, or no parents ) which is also crucial in human development  and future capabilities. And don't forget about  just plain luck. They are saying,  in effect, that anyone can be the CEO of a giant corporation, a billionaire hedge fund manager, a successful politician--such as a state governor, Supreme Court justice, ---up to and including  the presidency of the United States. What they are also saying is, that being rich and successful is the greatest  virtue---where it is often pure greed and  self-aggrandizement. Not only are the current republican candidates out of touch with the middle class,--- for which they are criticized,--- they are of touch with everyone but the rich and  "successful" elite.
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