McLean Opinion

Letter: A Misreading of History

That a few local schools are named for Confederate generals bothers Kiran Hampton [“Alarmed by School Names,” Connection, April 11-17, 2013]. The US Army and Navy have named forts and ships after Confederate heroes. The Veterans Administration provides headstones for Confederate graves. That wouldn’t have happened if they were traitors. No Confederates were convicted of treason. Hampton’s shame that Virginia fought with the Confederacy suggests a misreading of US history.

Letter: Thinking of History In Real Time

Letter writer Kiran Hampton asks if she is "the only one alarmed by the presence of high schools named after Confederate leaders?" ["Alarmed By School Names, Connection, April10-16, 2013]. In response, I would say, "Why yes, I believe she is."

Letter: It Wasn’t ‘Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys’

In a letter regarding local schools named after Confederate generals [“Alarmed by School Names,” Connection, April 10-16, 2013] the author displays an extraordinary lack of understanding of the complexities of the issues leading to the War Between the States as well as a contempt for the courage and sacrifice of those who, often reluctantly, believed that their primary duty was to a sovereign Virginia rather than to what they believed had been conceived as a voluntary union of independent states.

Editorial: Voting Again

Every year is election year in Virginia, and it’s a bit much.

The most hotly contested race for statewide office in Virginia, the Republican contest for lieutenant governor, will be decided at a statewide convention on May 18. That’s about a month from now.

Letter: A Photo ID: Victory for Voters

To the Editor:

Editorial: More Obstacles to Transparency

General Assembly puts more information out of public reach, but other factors also limit access.

The first paragraph of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, passed by the General Assembly in 1968, states that all public records "shall be presumed open." It doesn’t add, “except when we don’t want to,” although that provision does seem to be available in many cases. Individual government entities have a variety of ways of making it hard for the public to access public information.

Column: 14.8 Percent

That is the percentage of diagnosed lung cancer patients who survive beyond five years, according to The National Cancer Institute’s SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009, in a graph published in the Feb. 26, 2013 Washington Post’s weekly Health & Science section. As a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survivor beginning his fifth year post-diagnosis, charting my prospects in such a cold and impersonal manner is both chilling and arguable. “Chilling” in that facts speak for themselves and are hardly made up of whole cloth, to invoke one of the late Jack Kent Cooke’s more famous quotes. And “arguable” in that charts, statistics, etc., may very well measure the mean, but it sure doesn’t measure the man (this man, anyway). Meaning, from my perspective: sure, the chart is scary as hell, but I’m not sure I’m on it, if you know what I mean? (I know you know what I hope.)

Letter: Confusing Response To Lyme Disease

Letter: Metro: Not Ours

Letter: Transportation Bill: Possibly Unconstitutional

The Connection on February 27, 2013 reported that former State Delegate Margaret Vanderhye said she was “outraged” that some Northern Virginia legislators had voted ‘no’ on the $6.1 billion comprehensive transportation funding plan (HB 2313) because of an alleged no-tax-increase pledge. However, bipartisan opposition to the bill by Northern Virginia legislators was prompted by fundamental flaws in the bill. Vanderhye’s earlier letter to The Connection on January 22, 2013 (“Getting Back to Business”), shows she too was against the bill before she was for it, for some of the very same reasons.

Editorial: Say Yes to Health Coverage

Governor, state panel must accept coverage for 400,000 Virginians without health insurance.

More than 140,000 residents of Fairfax County have no health insurance. That’s more than 13 percent of the slightly more than 1 million people who live in the wealthiest county in the nation. Arlington and Alexandria have similar percentages of uninsured.

Column: Just Wondering

Having never attended medical school (and not really having had the grades or commitment to do so), and having only completed 10th grade biology and freshman year astronomy, and rarely even driven by a medical school growing up, my understanding and/or instincts regarding how a medical professional plans and/or prepares for his day is as foreign to me as sugar-free chocolate (if I’m going down, I’m going down swinging; in truth however, considering the anti-cancer, alkaline diet I’m following, I do need to swing a little less frequently).

McLean Connection