Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact number for verification

Real must-see TV

We all can agree there is too much violence in the U.S. Each of us is damaged by the constant violence we witness, which includes steady exposure to violence on television. How can we get the writers, directors and actors to focus on more uplifting fare in place of the steady diet of murders while still protecting our freedom of speech?

If only there were a TV network not driven by profits, a network with the goal to make us more knowledgeable and more responsible citizens.

A network that chooses to present scientifically based programs, shows that inspire, educate and entertain. A network that delivers the news with honesty and integrity.

If only there were such a network.

There is. It is OETA. OETA presents programming that improves the human condition. It is public educational television and, like public schools, should be supported with our tax dollars.

—Susan K. Schmidt Oklahoma City

Embryonic

Recent research has clarified how emergency contraceptives, or ECs, work.

Seldom suppressing egg release, ECs are often “embryocidal,” as European medical authorities stated in 2009, destroying life before implantation.

Game-changing recent studies precisely revealed how the most popular ECs work. Chilean researchers attempted to definitively show Plan B chiefly suppresses ovulation without embryocidal effects and thus cannot threaten the already-conceived embryo.

But they demonstrated unhindered ovulation up to 86 percent of the time, admitting this suggests “other mechanisms” make it 100-percent effective when taken during the fertile period.

We already knew emergency contraceptives couldn’t block sperm from uniting with eggs, so if eggs can reach sperm, conceived embryos are at risk. This study was a disaster for researchers focused on exonerating ECs as embryocide. Even worse, their own data provided a most unwelcome explanation, considering their quest to prove Plan B non-embryocidal. Plan B interferes with the luteinizing hormone “surge” affecting not ovulation, but functions needed for embryo survival.

Despite discovering effectiveness came through interfering with embryo survival, the researchers manipulatively reported that since Plan B does not work when given after ovulation, it cannot have post-ovulation effects. But a chain of causally linked events occurs here, much like sabotaging an airplane’s landing mechanism that, even though done before taking off, nonetheless operates when landing.

We now know how Plan B prevents pregnancy. Let the reader not be deceived. Given before ovulation, it largely does not prevent union of sperm and egg but rather inhibits pre-implantation embryo survival.

Why has this knowledge eluded some of my colleagues? Do they not have before them the same studies I have? Within certain specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology, are physicians even permitted to disagree with the party line? Is dissent from “contraceptive progress” even tolerated? Are we witnessing a new, irrational ideology pushing “progress” at all costs and punishing the dissenters?

If a paper concludes falsely that the danger everyone worried about is disproved once and for all, yet a proper reading of that same paper leads to the opposite conclusion, must these specialists suspend their critical faculties and remain in slavish conformity, like a corrupt and dishonest party platform?

And we call this freedom?

—Dr. Dominic M. Pedulla Oklahoma City

McClendon’s genius

As you’ve heard, Aubrey McClendon is stepping down as CEO of Chesapeake Energy. Aubrey and his former partner, Tom Ward (who now heads SandRidge Energy), own KSBI Channel 52.

I’ve had the good fortune to know both men, who, by any measure, are two of the most visionary entrepreneurs responsible for much of Oklahoma City’s renaissance.

Chesapeake is America’s second-largest natural gas producer. Early on, McClendon and Ward realized the promise of unlocking huge deposits of natural gas by fracking.

In replacing McClendon, Chesapeake said it will look for a different kind of leader. It will have to because McClendon’s one-of-akind corporate and entrepreneurial genius can’t be duplicated.

As with many who enjoy great success, Aubrey came under fire for how he managed Chesapeake and his personal fortune. All too many were quick to criticize him and his company, forgetting how much both have done for OKC.

Now, as he leaves, he’s being praised for creating the best portfolio of energy assets and spearheading the effort to make America energy-independent.

McClendon is only 53. We can only hope his entrepreneurial drive and ambition will resurface.

Don’t be surprised if Aubrey has a great second act that results in another American energy industry success story.

—Vince Orza Oklahoma City

Orza is president and CEO of KSBI Channel 52.

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management. 

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