Arkoosh’s undeserved promotion
Jan. 17 marked Valerie Arkoosh’s last day as chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Her next stop is Harrisburg after having recently been appointed Secretary of Human Services by Pennsylvania’s new governor, Josh Shapiro. To say the least, this is not good.
As the sole Republican Montgomery County commissioner, I had a front-row seat to Commissioner Arkoosh’s incompetence, arrogance and elitism.
Val Arkoosh never saw a money grab she didn’t like. During her seven years in office, she and her Democrat colleague voted to raise property taxes five times. Under her reign of fiscal insanity, residents saw their county tax bill increase by a whopping 46.8%.
In addition to growing the size of government on the backs of working families, Dr. Arkoosh will long be remembered for her totalitarian response to the coronavirus pandemic. She was one of the nation’s most ardent defenders of business lockdowns, school shutdowns and mask and vaccine mandates. And, regrettably, her prescribed “cures” were worse than the disease itself, as many of our children and grandchildren continue to suffer emotionally, socially and academically.
There was no better example of Val Arkoosh’s COVID lunacy than in May 2020 when she refused to release American flags to veterans’ organizations to display on the graves of military men and women for Memorial Day. Montgomery County had already purchased over 50,000 flags, but Commissioner Arkoosh held them hostage claiming that volunteers placing flags in the open air of cemeteries would lead to an outbreak of the virus. Outraged by such nonsense and disrespect, I worked with the VFW to raise private funds to buy flags and helped arrange them on the headstones of our heroes.
Too often, big-government bureaucrats don’t just get it wrong, they get promoted. And, sadly, Valerie Arkoosh is the latest politician to fail forward. Be prepared for more of the same as she joins Democrat Josh Shapiro’s administration in Harrisburg. God help us.
Joe Gale
Montgomery County Commissioner
Consumers can save America’s future
It is always good to receive ideas from supporters of the Buy American Made Campaign, who see firsthand what has happened in America for more than 35 years.
We all see that no one is going to come to save America’s industries, businesses, big and small, and make more quality and long-lasting jobs available for American workers. That can only happen if America’s consumers make the conscious decision to buy and support American-made goods and services with their hard-earned money. Focusing our dollars purchasing American made has already been helping to keep some businesses in the United States, and we have to ensure that continues.
As our fellow Americans report on what they were able to purchase, they tell us foreign-made items are more available, while American made is not easy to find. As our supporters ask for American-made items at stores where they shop, they are told what is on the shelf is all that we have available at this time. Responses like this remind us that no one is coming to restore manufacturing and jobs in the United States, so it’s up to America’s consumers to help focus on purchasing American made so we don’t lose any more businesses and jobs.
For a long time we have urged national elected leaders to sit down and negotiate with business owners and investors to expand making, circulating and selling products here in the United States. This has not been done for many years and it’s time for national elected leaders to find ways to reduce taxes and unnecessary regulations and ensure that American jobs and job skills grow, so working-age and able-bodied Americans are able to support themselves.
Thanks for spreading the word. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Email them to [email protected].
Michael Blichasz
American Workers Radio, 860 AM
Stop ignoring us, Lincoln admins
It has come to my attention recently that the alumni display case was removed from the lobby of the Abraham Lincoln High School building. Several staff and alumni members were very upset about the removal and were told that “our climate staff attempted to move it and broke it.” They have no idea what they did with it and were told, “The artifacts were boxed up and placed in storage.” All attempts to contact the administration of the school by the Alumni Association by email, asking for confirmation as to the whereabouts of the display case and the artifacts, have been ignored and have gone unanswered.
The Alumni Association performs numerous initiatives on behalf of the school throughout the years, not to mention the scholarships awarded annually at the graduation ceremonies. The actions of the administration concerning this issue have been both disgraceful and contemptible.
As a Lincoln alum and former Music Department chairman at the school, Lincoln’s proud reputation as a community high school and the importance of the historical artifacts of its proud history should never have been removed. This display case always served as a positive inspiration for students to see the success and accomplishments of those students who went before them. I trust the administration of the school will share that importance and return it to the lobby of our school.
Charles T. Graham
Class of 1970
Make America prosperous again
I am one of the few remaining World War II veterans. I expect to celebrate my 100th birthday at the end of March. I wish to share some insights that I have gained over the past century.
I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood. We were a mix of Ukrainian and Polish immigrants. We were led to believe that Hoover caused the Great Depression. Reaching voting age I registered Democrat and voted a straight ticket. Later I studied at Cornell University. While studying this issue, I came to the conclusion that this idea was based on a biased attitude.
Hoover had been elected because his opponent Al Smith was Catholic. The country was not yet ready to elect a Catholic. Consequently, Hoover won the presidency. As a result he inherited a hostile Congress. He could not get any of his proposals enacted.
Enter FDR and the New Deal and our recovery started. Many of Hoover’s ideas were implemented by FDR and Congress. After the war, prosperity came to the nation. That is until President Clinton signed NAFTA. This led to the destruction of our industries. Because of this I changed my registration and became independent in my voting practices. I have voted for Democrats such as Jimmy Carter and Republicans such as Donald Trump for president.
During Trump’s administration he signed the Keystone Pipeline. This made us energy independent for the first time. Our nation began to become prosperous again. Our borders were secure. President Putin was restrained from attacking Ukraine.
In less than a year under the current administration, we have become dependent upon foreign oil from less-than-friendly nations. Industry has fled again to other countries. Our borders are open and allow terrorists and drugs to enter freely. President Putin seeing the weakness of President Biden, did not hesitate to attack Ukraine.
Right now I am looking to the opposite party to try to bring prosperity to our country again. I believe that Gov. DeSantis is the best person to do this. I hear the criticism that he is too young. However, John F. Kennedy was also young. He was a great leader and president. Or if you still feel that he is too young, I propose having a Republican ticket of Donald Trump for president and Ron DeSantis for vice president. If successful they could help the nation for the next 12 years.
Walter Blowitski
Somerton
