Letters to the Editor - 6/18/2009

Tax no solution

Editor: Len Kato Sr., in his June 10 letter says the government should double the taxes on smokeless tobacco and cigars to help pay for health care.

If Mr. Kato is so fond of the government taxing people so much, what will he do when they start taxing soda, french fries, hamburgers and other things that aren't good for you, to pay for health care?

We (Americans) have lost our sight, are losing our freedoms and are letting the government have more and more control of our lives. We have begun to attack one another by thinking some are better because we don't use tobacco, eat junk food, or gamble at casinos or engage in any other vices.

The real enemy here isn't people with vices exercising their the freedom to choose. It is the government, which has a tax for everything. Government imposing taxes is not the answer. Government involvement in our freedoms only puts us in slavery.

The more taxes we pay, the less we working Americans have to spend. Donate to the government if you wish. It's your right. I work hard for my money and I don't want some bureaucratic government telling me what I can and cannot do by piling on taxes. It is my right to smoke or not, and to choose what I eat or drink.

ROBERT BLACK

Dickson City

Rationing to come

Editor: In his radio address, President Obama said he would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare benefits to help pay for his universal health care plan. A reduction of benefits means one thing - rationing.

He proposes to extend health benefits to everyone at the expense of Medicare recipients. His plan would mimic the European and Canadian health systems, which are mediocre at best.

Under nationalized health care, people needing knee replacements, hip replacements, open heart surgery, etc. would be placed on a waiting list. It would not be your doctor but a government bureaucrat who decides when and if a patient receives a medical procedure or life-saving medication. Age will be a determining factor.

Unlike members of Congress, the average person does not have access to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where medical treatment is dispensed on demand. Obama's plan would reduce the American people to sheep - we pay high taxes and get little or nothing in return. He would have the elitist hierarchy dominate our lives from cradle to grave.

Is this the "change" people voted for? We are losing our freedoms daily with Obama's power grab - government motors, government banks, government health care. What is next on the commander of deceit's agenda?

ROSE CREAVEY

Dickson City

Bright idea

Editor: In response to your June 4 article, "Wal-Mart supercenter work to begin by fall," I believe a reply is warranted.

Wal-Mart is reducing the square footage of its planned Taylor store from 200,000 to 150,000 square feet to allow for more "green space." How noble of them to be so environmentally aware of their actions.

My concern is for the amount of light pollution that will be generated by the vast amount of light standards in the parking lot. Take note of the illumination already existing from the Price Chopper complex on Main Avenue. Perhaps the "Wal-Martians" on distant planets will celebrate another grand opening, seeing the light from space. Scranton residents should enjoy a sunset while they still can.

JAMES JOYCE

SCRANTON

Lone offender

Editor: I have never seen a more unprofessional and irresponsible opinion than your June 13 editorial, "Grow up, boys." I am deeply offended by it.

Thomas Yerke's harassing behavior appears to be political retaliation due to the fact that I won't "rubber stamp" his and the Covington Township board of supervisors' majority decisions on township issues, and am attempting to bring their improper, unethical and possibly illegal actions to the light.

Filing a complaint was the absolute last resort in my efforts to stop Mr. Yerke's behavior. After at least a year and a half of trying everything possible, I had no other choice.

Your opinion gives the idea that both parties are conducting this behavior; they are not. I have not and do not make obscene gestures to Mr. Yerke and he knows that. The magistrate's warning was only to Mr. Yerke.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Yerke sat there with a stack of what he considers some kind of "evidence" known only to Mr. Yerke, which the magistrate told him was irrelevant. He went on a rant about a Web site, which the magistrate told him was irrelevant and he then asked a personal question of the magistrate, one more time being told it is irrelevant.

The only thing that went to an absurd new low here was the inaccurate and irresponsible writings of the person who formulated your opinion.

WILLIAM J. WILLSON

Covington TWp. Supervisor

Gouldsboro

Back Iran's patriots

Editor: I don't understand why people still racially stereotype and generalize.

The civilian unrest in Iran over the course of the past few days reveals a remarkable portrait of the Iranian people.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranian supporters of defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi demonstrated in Tehran alleging that the recent election was stolen by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With his prominent image well-established in the world, the powerful clerics in the country would ultimately prefer to not have a shift in governmental ideas. Change does not come easy to a "democracy" like Iran. No matter the result, a country that appears "spooky" like Iran, has demonstrated that it has a mass of democratic patriots willing to break with the reckless Ahmadinejad regime.

In our country, people have never shown so much rioting after a stolen political election. The Iranian people wisely understand the importance of government and the problems that come with it. Their passionate demonstrations reveal the beautiful possibilities of democracy. In their world, the public has very little political influence, unless risen together in mass numbers.

What would it take for hundreds of thousands of people to rally in America against the war, abortion and torture or to march as numerously for K-12 education reform, better health care policies and decreased governmental intervention in everyday life.

We live in a country where our Constitution could give us the government that would make the world run smoother, not by "Democratic" or "Republican" talking points, but by solid issues of substance.

If we want change, we can get change. The beauty of American democracy is that we can reach a collective understanding and move our societies forward on the local, national and international levels.

There must be a call to action to support a truthful result to the people of Iran. Anything other would be a striking blow to all of our democratic brothers and sisters in the world who are striving to better their homelands for the common good for the future.

RICHARD MAOPOLSKI

Old Forge