Russian interference, healthy living, election campaigns

Troubling signs

Regarding “Pompeo, Dems trade intimidation claims” (Nation/World, Oct. 2): Secretary Mike Pompeo’s response to prevent testimony of State Department officials is another example from the Russia investigation play-book of the Trump administration’s stonewalling and delaying rhetorical strategy.

Meanwhile, obfuscation and deflection are the order of the day.

We now wait to see what the Democrats can and will do in response — and what effect it will have. Are we back to the long process of going to the courts?

The Democrats may have little power. While they can pursue legal action, the White House might not abide by a court order.

There’s avery good chance that Trump will simply decide he doesn’t accept the authority of any institution to have oversight over him, and there’s nothing anybody can do about that.

That’s the problem with Congress’s oversight authority: it rests on this giant good faith agreement between all the stakeholders, and once major stakeholders stop believing in the authority it instantly vanishes.

In fact, our democratic and constitutional form of government also rest on this good faith agreement —one that perhaps for the first time in our history it doesn’t exist. That should trouble all —regardless of political ideology or party preference.

Richard Cherwitz, Austin

Lifestyle

Regarding “Why the cancer ‘moon shot’ has been so disappointing” (Outlook, Sept. 29): The ‘war on cancer’ and the more recent cancer ‘moon shot’ both emphasize treatment rather than prevention, which is how so many of us think of health care.

Eat what you want, don’t exercise or maintain a healthy weight, and then take a pill or get a shot and everything will be fine.

We know right now that we can prevent most cancers as well as many chronic conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes by following a healthy lifestyle.

Of course, convincing most people to do this would require an all-out campaign like the one we used to vastly reduce the number of smokers. Just giving lip service to a healthy lifestyle as is presently being done is mostly a waste of time.

We’ve already spent billions on ‘wars’ and ‘moon shots,’ and the ‘moon shot’ article says that this has “yielded less than what one might expect.” Isn’t it now time to persuade people to seriously try something that we know can work and that doesn’t require either a ‘war’ or a ‘moon shot’?

Joe Vogt, Houston

Imagery

Regarding “Trump amps up threats against accuser” (Front page, Oct. 1): The use of the phrase “scorched-earth campaign” in the opening sentence is totally inflammatory and inappropriate.

The president has every right to find out who is spreading unsubstantiated and inaccurate accusations.

Jon Plautz, Katy

Political hardball

In American politics, we expect any candidate running for office to do opposition research on his opponent.

However, it now appears that if a candidate is seeking re-election, his opposition research becomes an unconstitutional abuse of power since he currently holds an elected office.

Peter H. Wilson, Houston