Letters to the Editor

Retaliation hits orphan children

The article "Putin enacts U.S. adoption ban" (Saturday) hit home. My wife and I have adopted three children from overseas, one from Russia. But now the Russian congress and President Vladimir Putin have passed a law banning American citizens from adopting Russian children. This was in retaliation after our Congress and President Obama passed the Magnitsky Act, a piece of feel-good legislation that specifically authorizes the State Department to deny visas to and freeze the assets of any Russian officials involved in the detention and death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was investigating fraud and financial abuse in the Russian government.

Fraud and financial abuse in government! Why are we targeting just Russia on this? The Russians acted swiftly. Within weeks, they closed their adoption system to Americans. I think our president and our Congress have things to worry about other than this feel-good legislation. The real losers are the thousands of orphans who will continue to sit in their state-run orphanages - no home, no hope, no family. I hope the two presidents and congresses feel good about themselves.

Donald Lucy, Bordentown

Union violence is upsetting

A few years back, the carpenters' union was picketing the tiny MilkBoy coffee house because it didn't use only union labor. The same thing happened this year at the Goldtex factory renovation. Now union bullies may have tried to burn down a Quaker meetinghouse under construction in Chestnut Hill. That's really low. ("Police say fire a 'union issue'," Saturday). I realize these incidents involve a minority of union members, but every time I hear of this kind of incident, my disillusionment with the Democrats' unmitigated support for unions grows.

It seems obvious that Ed Sweeney of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers and his union have a good idea of who the perpetrators are. The proper thing would be for them to turn them over to the police, or face charges for harboring a felon. If nothing else, it would be good for the union's reputation to distance itself from this kind of behavior, unless it condones it.

Mike Space, Coopersburg, mike@spacefamily.net

Firefighters eat when stressed

Obesity in firefighters, and to some extent police officers, has an insidious cause that Bruce Daggy's article ("Obesity poses risk to security," Wednesday) could have mentioned: cortisol overexposure, or chronically elevated stress hormones. Excess cortisol, over time, increases appetite; enhances fat storage; elevates cholesterol and triglycerides; causes depression and anxiety; creates insulin resistance; reduces testosterone; suppresses immune-cell activity; and more.

As a former firefighter, now retired 15 years, and still dealing with some of the aforementioned health issues, I can tell your readers with absolute certainty that new firefighters put on excess pounds, and we can't blame that entirely on good fire-station cooking. My point is that any weight-loss program for emergency responders that doesn't include a serious effort to reduce job-induced stress levels will likely prove ineffective in the long run.

Rob Burnside, Swoyersville, rbbsville@gmail.com