Progressive ideas are bad
I used to wonder why many politicians in the Democratic Party continue to support progressive and socialist leaning policies; especially when looking at the current situations and past histories of other countries they have been proven to fail time and time again. I got my answers after taking a deep, analytic look at how these policies actually work and the effects they have.
The policies actually keep people from having any incentive to better themselves by penalizing them for trying to do so. I have had people tell me that if they tried to work more hours per week, they would lose certain government benefits. They keep people dependent on the government systems by giving them barely enough to live in and then threatening to take it away should they dare get the incentive to try to better themselves.
When someone on public assistance has another child, again they are given barely enough to care for that child so as long as they don’t try to increase their income by a certain amount. It perpetuates the cycle of poverty as the children of these people learn at a very young age that they could be penalized for trying to better themselves and therefore are not incentivized to do so.
This creates the need to expand government social programs, necessitates more funding for them and keeps those politicians who support those programs in power at the very expense of those they say they are trying to help. And sooner or later, there will not be enough money to fund these increasing needs. Raising taxes will only result in the closing of more businesses, the loss of more jobs and putting more people in poverty. Progressive and socialist leaning programs have never worked and by their very nature never will.
Peter DiGiuseppe
Rhawnhurst
Aid available for stuttering
For nearly 70 years, the Stuttering Foundation has offered free information about stuttering and its treatment. To mark this year’s awareness day, we’ve compiled information for all ages from speech-language pathologists around the world who specialize in the treatment of stuttering.
This invaluable info can be found at StutteringHelp.org.
We hope to reach everyone with accurate and informed information about stuttering.
Jane Fraser
President, The Stuttering Foundation
Bright future with solar energy
The rapid increase in solar energy infrastructure over the last several years suggests a bright future for the industry. In 2016, solar energy production in the U.S. is expected to grow another 116 percent, breaking the 2015 record for solar implementation of 7.3 gigawatts. This development provides many opportunities from which individual citizens and businesses can benefit.
Home and business owners looking to make financially and environmentally sound investments should consider the many options to get solar panels installed on their property.
The 30-percent federal investment tax credit for residential and commercial property helps reduce the cost of panel installation and many Pennsylvanians’ utility costs are reduced after they go solar. Investors seeking the next profitable purchase would be wise to look into a range of energy companies that are shifting their resources to solar energy.
Recent high school and college graduates searching for promising employment and increasingly valuable skills should know that solar energy jobs opportunities are rising as well. Pennsylvania is one of the nation’s largest solar jobs employers with 493 businesses employing 2,500 workers in the field. The expansion of solar energy provides numerous proven environmental and economic benefits and solutions and now is prime time for both businesses and individuals to seize these opportunities.
Patrick Houston
Frankford
Soda tax is bad for business
I find it appalling that our Mayor Kenney put a soda tax on our beverages for school. For what? For the kids?
How about putting an alcohol taxes on wine, beer, and other alcohol drinks? Alcohol is one of the biggest consumptions in the City of Philadelphia with sporting events, concerts, restaurants and bars.
Mayor Kenney, what you’re doing is going to push business and consumers out of the city and will get soda elsewhere.
We’re told that with the opening of the casinos, we will have lower property taxes but it didn’t. It went up, so what did they do with the money they have been getting from the casino revenues?
Why don’t the politicians and the city officials give up part of their paychecks? (Police commissioner, City Council members, etc.)
Robert F. Schaffer
Millbrook
Darragh wrong on cop policy
I am writing in response to Mr. Darragh’s letter in the Oct. 5 issue of the paper. He states that during a City Council hearing that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Ross wants to add 425 new officers to the department.
Of course this increase in manpower is needed to keep up with the numbers of officers, mostly “baby boomers,” who have reached retirement age, and taking into consideration of the numbers of officer who have enrolled in the DROP program, the hiring of those additional officer may be just a “break even” scenario.
Mr. Darragh, after citing some government studies, namely the Rand Corporation and Department of Justice, he believes that the department should loosen age restrictions, (they already have done that) and the department should not have a system of “excluding” candidates, rather the system should be more “inclusive” of candidates. What does this mean? Well it seems Mr. Darragh would like to see the standards for the acceptance of candidates into the police department lowered. What he doesn’t realize that through the 1980s and early 1990s the police department did just that. We saw prospective candidates, while in training, removed from the Police Academy because many had worse criminal records than were originally reported and a large number of those candidates were wanted on bench warrants.
Mr. Darragh in citing the U.S. Justice Department’s national guidelines for pollice departments needs to take a closer look at what the guidelines suggest:
1. Relax criminal background checks
2. Relax physical fitness standards
3. Rewrite admission tests to make them easier
Let me see now. If I’m a police chief facing unprecedented challenges of rising violent crime rates, large civil disturbances, police officers being attacked and/or killed, domestic or international terrorism, the way to improve my department to meet all of those challenges is to hire recruits who are dumb, weak and have a criminal past.
Frank DeMeo
Philadelphia Police Department, retired
Pat Toomey stands for safety
In the U.S. Senate race, Philadelphians should look for the candidate who will keep our communities safer.
Like most of his constituents in Philadelphia, Pat Toomey supports background checks on gun purchases. He wants to keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill, felons and terrorists. He has worked across the aisle to represent Philadelphians on these issues, all while defending the rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves.
This right is especially important in the neighborhoods where we have the highest crime levels and where residents have violent crime on their streets on a regular basis. For this, he has earned the endorsement of many independents and Democrats, including Gabby Giffords, a Democratic ex-Congresswoman who herself survived a mass shooting attack in 2011.
Toomey also supports our nation’s law enforcement in these times of unprecedented attacks. He’s fought for the death penalty for cop killers and to give police all the tools they need to support our communities that continue to be ravaged by crime and has pushed to end disastrous sanctuary city policies, like we have in Philadelphia, which deny local law enforcement the ability to notify immigration authorities of individuals who were arrested for arson, bribery and peddling child pornography.
For these reasons, Toomey has received the endorsement of the Philadelphia FOP Lodge 5 and every other law enforcement organization that makes endorsements in the state.
His opponent, Katie McGinty, has not received a single law enforcement endorsement. McGinty also wants to make it tougher for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves, and promises to be nothing more than a rubber-stamp for Democratic policies.
It’s clear who will protect our communities — Pat Toomey.
Joseph J. DeFelice
Chairman, Philadelphia Republican Party
Katie McGinty is not shady
It is most important for the heath and security of our country, if you believe in our abilities, that you elect Katie McGinty to the U.S. Senate.
It is her support for women’s rights, taming and control of Wall Street and the rights of the common man, not the privileged few.
Dean Schwartzman
Dresher
Pro-lifers need to vote now
While America may not be a church, please be reminded that, “Life is so gosh darn important.” I strongly feel, that, if we Republicans, lose the Senate to the Democrats, any chance to overturn Roe vs. Wade in this millennium will not happen.
My posture, as a Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia member, is simply this. Let’s modify said legislation to offer options for women that will be a win-win situation for everyone. I close with a vignette that may register with Planned Parenthood supporters.
When visiting a women’s center in Bucks County a few years ago, I learned that a Planned Parenthood facility was located across the street. Long story short: a woman, late in her second trimester, was in line to abort a child, living in her womb.
The Almighty had other ideas for mom. She walked across the street to the women’s center, where she had an ultrasound. She saw her child. She cried. The women’s center took her in, lodged her and fed her until she gave birth. She handed over he baby to adoptive parents the next day.
In closing, our pro-life facilities can do exactly what Planned Parenthood does. Vote no for any legislation that supports funding for Planned Parenthood.
John Fritz
Parkwood
Let’s see Trump’s taxes
According to Trump, he is audited every year by the IRS. Are they auditing him to harass him, or frustrate their auditors by not finding anything or is there some really unpaid taxes to collect?
That is what the American people need to know before the election.
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
Liberal media ignoring issues
Who would have thought that this 2016 presidential election would come down to be called “The battle of which man screwed (or cheated) the most women.” The whole election, as of now and thanks to the media, has focused on the sex lives of our candidates, instead of the real issues.
You can put aside Black Lives Matter. Now it’s about which white man, Trump or Bill Clinton, has undeniably cheated the most.
So with the help of the media, we are concerned with tallying those votes. Like a daytime soap opera, welcome to “The election of the sex lives of the rich and famous.” All we need now is to have Robin Leach to be the moderator.
I guess the current political arena has now shifted from the old-fashioned mudslinging, to an all-time new liberal approach to politics, the “sex-fest” politics.
And to continue the parody and mockery of this election, why not do a Saturday Night Live comedy skit and combine the two elements of “mudslinging” and “sex-fest” and call it “The Mud-Fest Debate.”
Here, we have the two candidates, Trump and Hillary, wrestle their differences in a mud wrestling contest. We have the two in the pit, as Hillary wears a pantsuit swimsuit, while Trump dons a shower cap to protect his hair. And the winner takes the nomination.
But seriously, putting the joking aside, it’s another distraction of the biased media and the liberal Democrats to distract the public away from the real issues facing America.
The real issues that concern me is what are we going to do about Obama’s and Clinton’s policies on open borders, because I don’t want to have my cities as their sanctuary cities overrun by criminals.
Secondly, my concerns of Hillary’s choices of liberal judges to the Supreme Court. If Hillary has her way, all matters of our lives will be scrutinized as long as it coincides with her beliefs and regulations.
So let’s get our priorities straight, America, and stop falling for the media circus and sideshows that are overshadowing the real issues.
Al Ulus
Somerton
