Sunday, December 27, 2009
Since when did elected leaders become the ruling class?
EDITOR:
I’m mad as hell (and don’t know what to do about it).
I read an article,“Congress Travels More, Public Pays” in the Wall Street Journal regarding the elected members of the House. It seems 12 members (and nine of the wives and five legislative aides) attended a five-day conference in Scotland at a cost of $575,000 not including airfare, which is provided by the United States military.
This amount of money would represent the income taxes paid by 100 families making about $70,000 per year. Adding more insult to injury, 11 of the 12 left the conference two days early. Then to show further contempt for the public, the hotel set up a conference room — the presidential suite and two adjoining rooms — stocked with liquor, beer and snacks that cost $1,500 per night for five nights, even though the 11 members had left early.
The article provided more details of equal extravagance, which includes a military escort to carry their luggage and help them through customs, escorts on sightseeing trips and escorts to the chauffeured vehicles.
When did the public decide to promote our elected representatives to a ruling class? And how do these elected people live with their conscience knowing that the national debt is out of control?
Don’t they realize every $100,000 adds to the debt, even though the amount is negligible in proportion to their increase of the debt ceiling by $3,000,000,000,000.
I suppose their rationale is the same as teen-agers: “Well, everyone is doing it.”
GORDON C. WILLIAMS
Canfield
Where have you gone, Johnny Appleseed?
EDITOR:
Is global warming a natural occurrence? When I was in high school (1939), I had a science teacher who said, “In time, as the earth rotates on its axis, where places are warm, it will become cold, and places that are cold will become warm”.
In the name of progress, we have built interstate highways, industrial parks, shopping malls, plazas, houses, apartment buildings, factories and more.
In the process, we have destroyed the one thing that protected our earth and filtered the air that we breathe. I’m referring to trees. They not only shadow our earth; they help us breathe and help the atmosphere.
Maybe we should bring back Johnny Appleseed?
ALICE DYCE
Austintown
Women veterans deserve better treatment from peers
EDITOR:
In reference to the article headlined “Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance” in The Vindicator on Dec. 14, where is the American Legion? Where is the VFW?
These two veterans organizations should be out looking for these women and finding what these two national groups should do and be using their considerable clout to be at the forefront to aid these women veterans.
The Warren American Legion Clarance Hyde Post No. 278 has had a woman as commander, but even so, women members are few and far between.
It is time for both of these groups (American Legion and VFW) to begin to seek out these veterans as members and give them the support they need for any problems that they have, either as a result of their service, or post-military problems. They should not have to become members to have the support of these national groups and the liaison they have with the powers that be.
As a small aside, when the Kiwanis International changed the Kiwanis constitution to allow female members into the group, our local Kiwanis club lost two older male members because wives were against the move. The women members of our club have helped immensely in the club’s fund- raising endeavors and community volunteer services. To all veterans, are you men or mice?
Give our women veterans the assistance they need, and as a group with national presence, we can give more help to them than they can garner by starting a new American Women Veterans organization.
Let’s get with it.
LEONARD J. SAINATO
Warren
Show the door to greedy, irresponsible managers
EDITOR:
We have witnessed large and small companies file for bankruptcy, seek government bailouts and even fail.
People who have worked for many years have been asked to give multiple concessions in wages and benefits, only to find themselves unemployed.
Companies cite the expense of wages, health care, pensions, 9/11, utility costs, and the cost of doing business as the problems.
It is interesting that no one from upper management admits, “We made bad decisions, our outline for growth was flawed, or we became obsessed with overinflated wages and benefits and sacrificed good management.” “We” became more important than “the company”.
One of the most fascinating aspects of these disasters was that the very people who “misled” the companies into the problems were given and accepted million-dollar bonuses and performance packages. They were the “only” ones who could lead the companies back into successful positions. Yeah, right.
At the very least, these leaders should be required to turn all their bonuses back to the company, and they should be walked out the front door. That money could be used to stimulate the employment and productivity of the companies, and to locate responsible management to lead rather than take all they can get.
Management and employees working together for success is a better plan than bleeding the lifeblood and watching a company die.
PATRICIA A. TURK
Boardman
Campbell cops give 200%
EDITOR:
Hats off to Campbell police for excellent service to our community. Congratulations to Patrolman Gulu and his fine fellow officers for their recent burglary arrests and more.
You are underpaid and understaffed, and yet you all are giving service of 200 percent.
MILLIE VALENTINO
Campbell
AFL-CIO support for illegals fires up retired steelworker
EDITOR:
I just read a story about a gentleman who had a good-paying job with health benefits and then one day he was let go. Since he was let go, the company he worked for has hired illegal immigrants who can’t even speak English. And guess what? They work for extremely lower wages.
It’s ridiculous that hard-working Americans can’t even reap the benefits that they are supposed to have, but illegal immigrants get the jobs and also welfare. These low-life companies don’t care about a man who has to feed his family, pay the rent or house payment, just so their stockholders are happy with increased dividends.
The idea of giving amnesty to illegals is sickening to me, and creating guest- worker programs is just as bad. But what really disgusts me is when I read that the AFL-CIO announced that it will support legalizing illegal immigrants already in this country.
That’s like saying being a criminal is OK because they are criminals; they broke the law.
The AFL-CIO has always been against right-to-work states, but this is just like giving these criminals their own right-to-work state. I’m a retired steelworker and a loyal union man, but I’m getting a little fed up with some of the leaders in the AFL-CIO. I say to them: Ask the working men you represent about how they feel about illegals.
Someday maybe we will wake up in this country and do the right thing. Giving anmesty to illegals is not the right thing.
BUD McKELVEY
Hermitage, Pa.
Intrigue at CDC over autism
EDITOR:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new numbers that autism affects 1 in 110 children. Two years ago the CDC told us autism occurred at a rate of 1 in 150 children based on data from 2002.
Now, new data from 2006 tell us there has been a jaw-dropping increase of 57 percent in just four years. What will they tell us next? One in 50 kids have it? One in 10 kids? One in two kids? How bad does it have to get before the autism epidemic gets the attention it deserves?
The incompetents at the CDC don’t seem to know what the numbers really are and why the numbers seem to be growing — but the one thing they are certain about is that it’s not pediatric vaccines. They are finally starting to admit that increases like these have to mean an environmental cause(s) is at play, and there has definitely been a true increase — not just better diagnosis as they have been trying to credit. But, whatever those unknown and mysterious factors are, they are absolutely certain vaccines aren’t one of them.
In other CDC news, former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding (2002-2009) was just appointed by Merck to head up its $5 billion a year global-vaccine division. Officially, her new vaccine position doesn’t begin until Jan. 25, 2010, since a one-year wait is the minimum time allowable for former federal officials to take such a job with companies they used to regulate. How delightfully ironic that the person who headed up the CDC — who sat back and watched autism become an epidemic in this country and couldn’t tell us anything except “it’s not the vaccines” — will now be working for a major vaccine manufacturer. Heck, maybe they had her on the payroll all along? You can’t even make this stuff up.
ANDREA KELLER
Canfield
Ryan dishes out more pork
EDITOR:
I clipped out The Vindicator article of a smiling Congressman Tim Ryan announcing $3.1 million for local projects in next year’s federal budget. I thought the article would help me explain to my grandson some day why most of his paycheck was going to pay for the huge deficit spending that our generation strapped him with way back in 2009.
You see this $3.1 million is Congressman Ryan’s share of the nearly $4 billion in pork-barrel spending that some congressmen have attached to the spending bill to keep the people back home happy. Now Mr. Ryan knows the federal government doesn’t have that money in the bank. In fact the congressman will be forced soon to vote on legislation to increase the national debt ceiling. It is often said that an individual who spends more money than he has is considered irresponsible. That is exactly how I feel about congressmen that do the same with the taxpayers’ money.
I hope I get to clip out another article real soon about how the people finally got smart and voted the big spenders out of Washington. That’s the article I’d really like to show my grandson.
RICK NOEL
Columbiana