below is a letter i sent to the Times last week
another unprinted letter
two rejects in a row after a couple of prints
i'd have to re write it and not chastise
Subject: a looming time of doom
The editorial, "A looming time of doom" (10/12/2007), opines the "essentially only three ways to maintain the financial stability of the current Social Security program: raise the retirement age, cut benefits and/or raise taxes." Of the first, I am hoping to be a role model for healthful working well into my 70's and beyond, but I quit smoking cigarettes and dropped weight to a healthy level and maintain a positive outlook. My wife, however, is battling glaucoma. She did drop 40 pounds and is a regular exerciser, so she is hopeful as well to maintain her health at least until her late 60's. Beyond that, we are both hoping to continue working part time while collecting from Social Security. But we will also be competing for jobs with a much younger work force.
Raising taxes should not be an option for working and middle class people. The upper classes should have enough of a social conscience to want to contribute something into the general docket. This will have to be legislated, as the need for greed as a philosophical ideology permeates America to a fault.
There is another option that was not mentioned. The wasteful spending on unnecessary wars and an inflated military-industrial complex by the neo-con right wing Republicans not only takes a lot of taxpayers' money, diverting it away from other kinds of socially responsible investments. It also contributes to the concentrations of wealth that are continuing to plague the American economic structure. For instance, over 20 thousand Iraq War veterans have been summarily discharged from the Army without benefits as having psychological disorders after coming home from combat tours with PTSD, hearing loss, etc, discharged as dead weight and refused benefits, but Halliburton and Blackwater continue to reap enormous profits, as do the oil companies.
Mrs. Clinton (per the editorial) has not been willing to talk about increasing taxes on the common American because she knows that we are paying enough taxes already. We need a restructuring of the Federal budget, more responsible policy making, more effective leadership. And the St. Petersburg Times needs to get out of a conceptual box. We should be talking about a blooming boom of late bloomers.
J W
St. Petersburg, Florida/USA
© Copyright 2007 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved
reject to the Times
reject to the Times
[color=darkcyan]i'm on a survival mission
yo ho ho an a bottle of rum om[/color]
yo ho ho an a bottle of rum om[/color]
- Diana Moon Glampers
- Posts: 310
- Joined: February 2nd, 2006, 9:11 pm
- Location: stilltrucking's vanity
Looking at the date
and looking back at the optimistic news about the economy in 2007
I would have to say your letter was prescient.
Did you ever read constantine's poem get hip?
For some reason I can't think of right now it comes to mind.
get hip
and looking back at the optimistic news about the economy in 2007
I would have to say your letter was prescient.
Did you ever read constantine's poem get hip?
For some reason I can't think of right now it comes to mind.
get hip
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Free Rice
"a sixty-eight-year-old virgin who, by almost anybody's standards, was too dumb to live. Her name was Diana Moon Glampers."
Free Rice
"a sixty-eight-year-old virgin who, by almost anybody's standards, was too dumb to live. Her name was Diana Moon Glampers."
mercy i love that new youthful holy fireconstantine wrote:you think you know what's up
but you don't have a glimmer
did you believe you could vote them out,
or that they would simply go away?
you are harboring preposterous delusions,
and ignoring ten lifetimes of experience.
unplug the tv, it has emulsified
your power of reason, and
replaced it with credulity and blather.
there's nothing to be ashamed of,
it was never your fault,
no expense has been spared
in the creation of your ignorance
if anything, you should be commended
for your steadfast loyalty
to those who have sold you out,
it speaks highly of your christian values
and your protestant work ethic
th times don't print me no more
no how
no way
but there's always a way for
love
[color=darkcyan]i'm on a survival mission
yo ho ho an a bottle of rum om[/color]
yo ho ho an a bottle of rum om[/color]
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