Letters: More outrage over COLA freeze; Hillary is champion for Planned Parenthood

Inflation on food prices

justifies COLA for seniors

The seniors of this

country deserve better from their elected officials and government workers who say there is no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for recipients of Social Security in 2016 since there is zero inflation because of low gas prices. That’s ludicrous.

First, seniors like me do not use gas as does the general working public – not even half as much. Some do not even drive at all. But we still all eat. Hamburger at $5 a pound, eggs close to $3 a dozen, paper products up, all the necessities. Prescription drugs and doctors’ co-pays are going up. These are our costs of living. Interest is at all-time lows for years. Who does that hurt, seniors if they have any savings left. Every penny counts.

The average Social Security recipient gets approximately $15,000 a year, elderly women much less. That is half of the $30,000 the government classifies as the U.S. poverty level.

Social Security was never

intended to provide full retirement income, and it certainly does not, but it needs to keep up with our real cost of living.

A miserly increase of 2.5 percent for an average of $37.50 a month would be at least something and be appreciated. As one letter writer rightly said no increase this year perhaps a

reduction next is just a precursor of things to come. Where is the American Association for Retired People on this? Our elected officials need to hear from us now.

Tom Page, Boardman

Cuts in SS benefits due to

state pension anger woman

I share the outrage of

the two letter writers in the Oct. 25 edition of The Vindicator about the lack of a COLA increase, but my anger and despair goes one step deeper. My Social Security widow’s pension is confiscated by all Washington politicians who voted it so.

I retired with a small state pension after going to work to get and keep my family off welfare 30 years ago.

I must now return to welfare because of this same pension. Only $90 of my calculated $1,000 a month of earned Social Security benefits is paid to me monthly. After a lifetime of my husband and myself working, I live at the poverty level. I have come full circle.

This confiscating of citizens’ benefits is called the Offset Law. Had we been born and worked in Pennsylvania, this would not be happening to any of us.

I feel as though my American citizenship has been taken from me. I, too, despair of ever giving to a charity again. It has almost been a birthright or rite of passage into the working world to sign up for Social Security. The fact that it is mandatory, paid for, worked for and promised to all of us makes it a more grievous sin to have it taken away. This is a benefit, not a handout.

The vote for a repeal of this offset law is again on the docket of the U.S. Congress. Are we still disposable old people or will they act to give us our fair and equal treatment under the law?

Norma McBride, Youngstown

Planned Parenthood has

true champion in Hillary

One of the hottest

topics of this election thus far has been that of women’s rights. With a serious Republican presidential candidate who has been known to openly bash women (Trump), recent controversy of Planned Parenthood and a serious candidate who is female, issues concerning women’s rights are in the news almost daily.

Republicans call to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, after an anti-abortion group released a series of undercover videos. The videos, which allegedly showed Planned Parenthood medical officers discussing the sale of fetal tissue to researchers, sparked widespread outrage, although the group said it did nothing illegal and that the videos were misleading.

Planned Parenthood has been one of the boldest dividing lines between Democrats and

Republicans. Is Planned Parenthood as bad as the Republicans make it out to be? Is Planned Parenthood doing more harm than good? Does Planned Parenthood deserve to be cut off from federal funding?

The answer to each is no.

According to its annual

report, 42 percent of the 327,653 abortions Planned Parenthood clinics perform each year make up just 3 percent of the total services the group provides.

It is so clear that Planned Parenthood is doing far more good than harm. It is clear that the agency is not as bad as Republicans would like their narrow-sighted followers to believe. It is clear Planned Parenthood needs a champion. That champion is Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

“I’m proud to stand with Planned Parenthood. I’ll never stop fighting to protect the ability and right of every woman in this country to make her own health decisions,” said Clinton. “If this feels like a full-on assault on women’s health – that’s because it is. ”

Scott Williams, Austintown

Oust crybabies & clowns

Now that crybaby

John Boehner has

resigned, maybe now he can answer his own question that he kept asking over and over again. Where’s the jobs? Don’t you remember, John? You are one of the ones that helped send our jobs to China, Mexico and other God forsaken places.

As John Boy leaves the House of Representatives, he won’t be without a job for very long. You can take it to the bank that he will be working for some big corporate giant or lobbying for the oil companies.

Donald Trump is slowly moving from the No. 1 seat in the clown car to the back seat. Do you think that the Republicans that were listening to his garbage finally woke up to what he actually is: “a certifiable nut.”

Take your pick at who’s left after Trump. Ben Carson is moving up and I can hear all of the racist tea partiers saying things like Ben should be happy picking cotton. President Obama endured racist comments, and he handled all of them with dignity and class. So, get ready, Ben, because it will be your own party spewing racist garbage about you.

Vote Democrat.

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage, Pa.