From the local fish-wrapper, otherwise known as the Columbus Dispatch, this guy has some pretty fine sentiments...hope there are a few more like him in our "battleground" state, it might give Unka Karl the fits and shits he so richly deserves...
Ohio’s elected representatives have lost touch with their suffering constituents
Saturday, August 30, 2003
I received a letter from U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-St. Clairsville, on the day my wife of 49 years passed away. The letter pointed out his deserved recognition as a better-than-average representative of the people of his district and requested a donation for his re-election campaign.
There’s little I would like more than to be able to send a contribution to him, as I once did, and to consistently support charities and less-fortunate individuals.
Unfortunately, I cannot, thanks in part to the fact that those who are supposed to represent Ohioans in federal government have lost touch with reality.
Example 1: The $250 Ohio survivingspouse legal benefit was discontinued Jan. 1. Also, Social Security says there will be no death benefit for my wife’s survivors, as she supposedly didn’t earn enough, and her $167 monthly checks will end. Her family is being penalized because she chose to work with handicapped children, a low-paying job.
Example 2: The much-hyped federal "tax cut" is in reality a tax transfer from the wealthy and the corporations to the states and those less likely to donate to politicians — the old, the sick and the too-busy-trying-to-live-on-minimumwage-jobs.
One of the benefiting corporations closed me out four years short of retirement, at 31 percent of my earned retirement. Then it cut another $700 a year, or 18 percent, in 2002.
These kinds of legal theft and quiet cuts are more common than most people suspect. Think Enron.
I must have missed the news when our "gravely concerned" politicians insisted upon their pay being cut. Don’t hold your breath.
I am among the fortunate who are able to work, but there are seniors unable to work, and other working poor who now must pay the additional 1 percent Ohio sales tax out of their already-limited incomes. I’m sure they won’t mind adding more water to get five or six quarts out of a gallon of milk so the country can send billions more to try to buy foreign "friends."
My wife and I taught our children by word and deed to have a strong work ethic, obey the law and always vote. What a disservice we did them. I’m almost afraid to vote, not knowing which insurance or pharmaceutical company I’m voting for.
We should have taught them to be good liars; at least then they may have done as well as the average politician.
The only gold to be found in the golden years is the gold extracted from us.
