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Booster question doesn’t change benefits of vaccine

To boost, or not to boost, that is the question being weighed by health experts and advisors in the FDA. There are differences of opinion in the federal government regarding giving booster shots of of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. President Joe Biden and his top health advisors are pushing booster campaign, but others within the FDA are cautious about saying if this would be safe and effective. To those who are dubious about the COVID-19 vaccine in the first place, this is another sign that the federal government doesn’t know what it is doing, and therefore the vaccine is to be ...

Reason for Capitol Police to be concerned

The U.S. Capitol Police, who were overwhelmed Jan. 6 when a mob of Donald Trump supporters smashed their way into the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from verifying the election of President Joe Biden, are bracing again for possible violence this Saturday. More right-wing groups are planning a rally to protest the arrest and prosecution of people who participated in the violence. Organizers are calling the arrested rioters “political prisoners.” What they plan to do on Saturday isn’t exactly clear, but Capitol police are taking no chances on more violence, either from the ...

Manchin’s ‘modest’ spending limit

Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate Democrat from West Virginia, stands like a lone bulwark of sanity amidst a sea of Democratic spending excess in Washington, D.C. As President Joe Biden stumps in the western states to push his $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” spending package, Manchin is holding out for a far more modest spending bill. Manchin said Monday he would support $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion in the spending bill, but not the $3.5 trillion in the current bill. Only in Washington could $1 trillion be considered “modest.” But there it is. And Manchin has the clout to ...

Polio battle has lesson for current vaccination controversy

You will have to turn to the Baby Boomers to find people who remember what it was like when polio was the disease that scared people as much as COVID-19 does today. A contagious viral disease, polio carries dire symptoms. It starts with flu-like symptoms fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting, but also neck or back pain and stiffness, muscle weakness. It can advance to paralysis, wasting away of muscles, trouble breathing and death. It was a disease that terrified parents and led to cancellation of school and public gatherings. Parents wouldn’t let their kids go and play with their ...

9-11, 20 years later

It has been 20 years since a double handful of terrorists, 19 in all, carried out the most vicious and cruel attack on America that we have ever seen. They hijacked four jetliners and turned them into weapons, caring nothing for the lives of those on board. Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. One crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth, heading back to Washington, was crashed into a Pennsylvania farm field when the passengers on board heroically rose up to take back the plane. That prevented it from destroying its intended target. Whether it was ...

Work is out there, if people want it

The U.S. Labor Department reported on Wednesday the puzzling news that while employers are posting a record number of job openings, millions of unemployed Americans are reluctant to take the jobs they are offering. Employers are boosting pay levels and offering signing bonuses to get more employees, but lots of jobs remain unfilled. People are afraid of the coronavirus. Child care is an issue for some, especially with uncertainty in whether schools are going to stay open or have to go back to distance learning. While some employers blamed the generous federal unemployment benefits ...