Of course you know a state budget still has not been passed after almost 11 months. There is talk of raising the existing tax rate about 1 percent. However, Illinois is one of the few states that does not tax Social Security, pensions and IRA withdrawals. The lure of taxing retirement income is like low hanging fruit to our politicians in Springfield. It may not happen this year but, as I said, it is low-hanging fruit to Rauner and Madigan and their minions and may soon be picked. Think about this: You have retirement income of $30,000 a year, a portion of that will be taken from you via a new state tax and given to a state or city retiree whose retirement income is $100,000 a year. That is how things work in a socialist society — the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Call it the reverse Robin Hood approach.
Bob, Homewood
To Tom from Oak Lawn: Kids are getting smarter by going to a community college? Wait till they try to transfer those credits to a real college. They will be lucky to transfer half of them. The community college will tell you till they are blue in the face that all of these credits transfer. They don’t.
Palos Heights
After having read about one more new, money-draining suggestion for a government program (your taxes) to help our youth, I came up with my own. It’s called Stay and Stop. Stay in school. Stop disrespecting your teachers. Stay out of gangs, Stop having kids out of wedlock. Stay on the right side of the law, Stop doing drugs. This program can be expanded as needed, and needs no more tax money, money that really just goes to some community organizer and their friends to set up a shill program. It’s also proven 98 percent effective when tried in the past.
Orland Park
Can someone please explain to me why former District 210 Superintendent Wiley is not being prosecuted for the things he and the School Board did during his tenure? According to published reports, he misappropriated funds, used schools funds for personal purchases and was party to creating a $300,000 annuity for his own benefit without public or board knowledge. He is now selling his home and moving so he won’t even have to pay the excessive property taxes he created for district residents forever. Public officials have been sent to jail for similar indiscretions. I think, at the very least, the annuity should be recovered.
Kay, Mokena
All this stuff about religion. This is my take. Religion is personal. You can believe in something. You can believe in nothing. That is your right. You do not screw with a person’s religion, nor his or her place of worship. But, you or anybody do not have a right to force me to convert or impose their religious beliefs on me.
Oak Forest
I cannot fathom why, as stated by Chief Neubauer, Tinley Park would turn down the voluntary help of detectives outside of this village to solve the Lane Bryant murders. The police chief should have to look each of the family members of this still-unsolved crime and explain to them why this Police Department does not think their loved ones were important enough to accept all the help it could get to solve this now cold case.
Tinley Park
To Joe from Oak Lawn: Your response to my comments about Donald Trump is typical of those who believe in Trump “logic.” You accuse me of blaming the women involved in Bill Clinton’s old extramarital affairs from “back in the day,” decades ago. Wrong. I simply stated that these women understood and consented to the illicit affairs. They chose to sleep with Clinton, so they weren’t “victimized,” as Trump would have people believe. Donald Trump likes using the bullying tactics of spreading conspiracies, innuendoes, half-truths, distorting history and name-calling to destroy opponents. Labeling Bill Clinton a “woman abuser” just for having extramarital affairs, and blaming Hillary Clinton for her husband’s infidelity, are just more examples of Donald Trump’s misogynistic bullying.
People are really getting more and more out of touch with what’s important these days. Self absorption is rampant. I strongly suggest watching the video “The Human Experience.” Hopefully it will help change the “it’s all about me” attitude that’s so prevalent in our society. You can obtain it free through your local library.
Burbank
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