It amazes me that union-haters believe corporate unions are all right. Take the American Legislative Exchange Council, the organization of large corporations like AT&T. It writes laws and hands them to congressmen with an envelope full of money and tells them, “This is what we want.” They’re against immigration reform because it would stop them from getting cheap labor from undocumented immigrants. If you think that’s just people doing jobs we don’t want to do, visit any construction project. You’ll find few union laborers. We have good things so you figure, “Why should we pay union dues?” But unions brought up our standard of living. If you don’t believe that, look at what it was like in the 1800s.
I would like to see the picture of Jean Hudson Boyd, the judge that gave Ethan Couch, the “affluenza” teen, 10 years of probation for intoxication manslaughter that killed four people. Does anyone think that if this was the judge’s family affected, that there would have been probation? Money talks. It always has, always will.
Jerry, Mount Greenwood
I like the new name one columnist has for our president of the Cook County Board, Toni Taxwinkle.
Oak Forest
Everybody’s laughing and making jokes about Republican candidate Donald Trump running for president of the United States. There’s no bigger joke than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
John, Hegewisch
Lincolnshire, this village with the right-to-work zone making unions optional, looks like a good idea to Bob from Oak Forest. But what happens when a person gets injured on the job and the company says, “the county hospital’s over there” or “See you later?” They’ll probably hire mostly undocumented workers because they’ll be paying a lot less. These people will find out what unions really do. I’ve seen someone injured on a job. The company tried to terminate the person. The union put a stop to it. These things happen all the time. They’re going to happen in all these right-to-work places.
There’s a great Chicago radio station for anyone over 25 — MeTV/FM at 87.7 on the dial, playing songs we don’t normally hear anymore but were very popular. If nothing else, I wish they could find and play Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” a real classic.
Oak Forest
It’s a terrible situation, people protesting police shootings at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home. This isn’t right, infringing on his personal life. The problem in the city is being worked on. These people keep protesting because they get media coverage. If TV stations and newspapers wouldn’t cover it so much, protesters would lose their fire. We need to move on. The problem in the areas have been around for a long time, and not only with the police. They shoot each other, so it’s got to be a long-term solution. To harass the mayor and take our time showing us the same stories isn’t right. TV and newspapers need to drop this and let us get on with our lives.
Karen, Chicago
Dear Patti in Blue Island, regarding the secretary of state no longer sending postcard notices on when a license plate sticker is due: Buy a calendar. Check the little sticker on the rear license plate of your vehicle. The abbreviation of a month appears there. Write on your calendar on the first day of that month, “Renew license plate sticker.” This will save you, and we taxpayers, money.
A senior in Palos Hills
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