Editorials

Dear Savvy Senior

I learned recently of a very useful Web site maintained by Peggy Martin RD, MS through Iowa State Extension titled Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

It seems clear that federal authorities missed key signs that Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan was deeply troubled.

“The mood of America is glum. Two-thirds of the public is dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country” and voters’ anti-incumbent mood is approaching 1994 and 2006 levels, when control of Congress changed hands.

In a major blow to the campaign against the presumed threat of global warming, world leaders acknowledge that a legally binding global treaty won’t be approved at next month’s 192-nation climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

On Monday, the Newton City Council approved some fee hikes for the Newton parks system, including a $2 increase for the cost to play 18 holes of golf at the city-owned Westwood Golf Course and higher fees for renting park shelters.

DEAR DR. GOTT: Will you please describe what happens to a person when he or she suffers from hypothermia? Then describe what happens to people when they eat hot peppers. I wonder why they don’t use hot peppers to rewarm a hypothermic person quickly.

Hurry, hurry. There’s no time for thinking; it’s time to act. Washington’s permanent war lobby has worked itself into a veritable lather. The proper Pentagon press leaks have been made, op-eds written, talk show commandoes deployed.

DEAR ABBY: Is there anything wrong with having a lover solely for the purpose of sex? He is grieving for his late wife (my best friend), and I am separated from my husband. We’re both lonely and have supported each other through our pain. A few weeks ago we decided to become lovers.

What were they thinking? A panel of scientists has issued guidelines for breast-cancer screening that could undo years of education and advocacy that have saved tens of thousands of lives. In a report that smacks of health-care rationing, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that instead of annual mammograms after the age of 40, women should wait until age 50 to receive regular screening, and then only every other year instead of annually.

In “Capture or Kill? Lawyers eye options for terrorists” (National Public Radio, Oct. 11), exceptionally alert investigative reporter Ari Shapiro said: “Many national security experts interviewed for this story agree that it has become so hard for the U.S. to detain people that in many instances, the U.S. government is killing them instead.”

DEAR ABBY: Please don’t think I’m stupid for asking this, but I need some help. The practice of letter-writing appears to be a dying form because of e-mail and texting — which I’m good at. But when I receive a nice gift, I know the proper way to acknowledge it is to write a thank-you letter.

While the military still is reeling and recovering from the massacre at Fort Hood, my wife, Gena, and I decided to boost the morale of military personnel by visiting the cadets at West Point and the wounded warriors at Brooke Army Medical Center, at Fort Sam Houston. Little did I know that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the shooter at Fort Hood, was hospitalized there.

With two local plants tied to the generation of electricity by wind power, an article in the Greater Des Moines Jewish Press about an experiment in Israel caught my attention.

Drinking the first cup of coffee in the morning is, for me, no more important than is reading that day’s New York Times. It’s a daily ritual, alternately enjoyable, informative and infuriating.

“Two years ago we had the office party at a fancy nightclub. Last year it was downsized to the executive conference room. This year it’s going to be separate checks at the Olive Garden. What’s next? The bus station?”

Dear Savvy Senior,

DEAR ABBY: My wife of 25 years, in an effort to get me to stop smoking, refuses to have sex until I quit. It’s been more than a year since we made love.

U.S. Highway 34 that cuts through the southern part of Iowa is nondescript to some people, unexceptional to others, and downright dull to still others. Portions of it are now four lanes, which make it a handy bypass around such towns as Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant, freeing travelers of the downtown, stop-and-go traffic, but perhaps even adding to the highway’s featurelessness and colorlessness.

The federal government has put taxpayers on the hook this year for hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy and pump up the banking sector and auto industry. The out-of-control spending has mortgaged the future with historic debt and diminished present-day opportunities for economic recovery. In addition, there’s widespread frustration and anger about Washington’s policies being directed at Wall Street and hand-picked companies, with little or no relief going to Main Street or the average person.