Published: October 04, 2009 05:58 pm      

Letters - Monday, Oct. 5, 2009

Columnist, ACORN

have no credibility

I don’t know what is more disappointing: That great columnist Stephen Dick actually defended the criminal organization known as ACORN or that the Kokomo Tribune continues to print his columns despite a complete lack of objectivity.

Mr. Dick claims that ACORN was taken down because it helps the poor and minority communities and that conservatives only care about the rich, who can take care of themselves. What Mr. Dick fails to mention is that on the tapes against ACORN are their employees attempting to help the people posing as a pimp and prostitute smuggle several 13-year-old Salvadoran girls into the U.S. to set up an underage prostitution ring.

Not only is prostitution against the law, but they were helping people do this to children. So it must be that conservatives are the only ones who care about stopping human trafficking and tax fraud.

For once the Democrats and Republicans have agreed on something: to rebuke this organization and its repugnant recent actions. Mr. Dick completely overlooks the actual facts and tries to say that ACORN has been unfairly targeted by conservatives.

So would it be fair to say that liberals don’t care about children who are forced into a life of prostitution? Or is it that Mr. Dick supports child prostitution and tax fraud, as long as the perpetrators are signing people up to vote for liberal candidates?

He goes on to attack the father of the girl in the video, completely ignoring the fact that ACORN broke several state and federal laws. Unfortunately, too many politicians buy into his brand of legal relativity, overlooking this type of activity as long as the means justify the ends.

Both the U.S. House and Senate have voted to cut off funding from ACORN. Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly came together on this issue. It wasn’t partisan and both parties should be commended for it.

So how long would Mr. Dick explain the fact that Congress is controlled by Democrats, yet they voted to cut off funding for ACORN? The reason that not a single Democrat is defending ACORN is because no politician is stupid enough to attempt to rationalize funding a group that promotes tax fraud and prostitution. It would be quite clear that he is out of touch with reality.

Eric Grzegorski

Kokomo

Politicians are coming

for your piggy bank

We must stop electing politicians who buy our votes. Yes, it is tempting to support those who promise us some type of government entitlement, but keep this vital reality in mind: Not one of those politicians is going to bust open his/her piggy bank to keep their promises. They will, however, bust open your piggy banks plus those of your parents, children and neighbors.

In fact, our elected officials are busting open our piggy banks big time right now. Based upon America’s accumulated debt; obligations to Social Security, Medicare and pension payments; and Federal Reserve liabilities, each American household is indirectly responsible for more than a million dollars in debt burden. If every American family saved 5 percent of their earnings and put every penny into a debt repayment pot, it would take 429 years to pay off today’s national debts and obligations, according to Weiss Market Research. And that’s if the U.S. government stopped incurring more debt right now.

The truth is that there is no plan in place to slow spending, much less stop overspending. Even though the exact amounts are open for debate, there is wide consensus that cap and trade will increase our energy costs and government health care will increase our taxes and health insurance costs. Both will increase our government debt and, in turn, increase our household debt burden. This is just the national level, friends. Consider the impact at the state and local levels as these governments cope with higher costs and lower revenues caused by the federal spending policies.

Without some serious reality checks, we are not headed for “happy days are here again.” It may already be too late. So if you believe that you deserve entitlements from our federal government, why don’t you just skip the bureaucracy and ask your parents, children and neighbors to contribute to your cause? Those are the piggy banks our politicians are coming after.

Charles A. Layne

Bunker Hill