Letters to the Editor

With love from Britain

As a sometimes reader of the Internet edition of The Washington Times, the editorial, “Bush’s British support” (Sunday), was of particular interest. It did, however, contain one error of fact, as more than 400,000 people marched to save hunting, four times the number of protesters that could be rustled up to protest the president’s visit.

From the British perspective, it also missed an opportunity to remind the AmericanpeoplethatPrime Minister Tony Blair, despite his fine speech proclaiming that it was worth fighting for the right to be “free to be you so long as being you does not impair the freedom of others,” intends to allow his left-wing backbenchers to curtail the freedom of hundreds of thousands of British citizens to go hunting.

NICK ONSLOW

Canterbury, United Kingdom

Yeas and nays for the Medicare bill

It’s difficult to understand how some people (including some Democratic senators) can be so gullible. The Medicare bill that just passed (“Senate approves ‘historic’ reform of Medicare,” Page 1, Wednesday) is a fiasco; the only beneficiaries will be the insurance and health care industries and the huge multinational pharmaceutical companies that have paid lobbyists vast amounts in support of it. The Republicans worked on this bill for two months, in secret, and then allowed the Democrats 48 hours to read its 681 pages. It should have been obvious that all was not honest and aboveboard.

The drug program has a monthly premium of $35, rising to $58, and an annual deductible of $250, rising to $445. And it leaves a gap of $2,850 to be paid by retirees, later rising to between $4,000 and $9,066. It allows employers to discontinue any health benefits they had agreed to give retirees. The bill also is the first step in privatizing Medicare, thereby eventually dismantling it — part of the Republicans’ and President Bush’s wish list. And, the $395 billion cost is paid for by yours truly, the taxpayers. It’s another scam pushed through by the Bush administration under the pretext of helping the people.

CHARLES PRENDERGAST

Los Angeles

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