It is disingenuous for Mayor Emanuel to raise taxes, impose a garbage pickup fee, among many other fee increases, to cover the past mishandling of pension deductions and not own up to who is responsible for this horrible state of affairs in Chicago. Refusing to name his predecessor time and again, he absolves the cause of this ruination. It appears that he will move on to loftier goals after this term and all will be well, except, of course, for the citizens of Chicago. There will be a citizen exodus from this city.
Mike Koskiewicz, Portage Park
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Respect for Sept. 11
“September Eleventh” is the only way to refer to that dreadful day in America’s history. That terrible moment merits only the greatest dignity and respect, nothing less. No diluted forms, such as the all too commonly heard “9-11” or “9-1-1” should ever be used. Those uses sound juvenile, even disrespectful.
Adolescents and other people who struggle or are uncomfortable with strong emotion attempt to weaken and distance themselves from powerful feelings. For example, when a divorce occurs, such people, trying to drain off some of its power, say something like, “My parents split,” rather than using the more emotion-provoking word “divorced.” Similar attempts to appear cool, nonchalant, and unfazed are not anything that any American should fall prey to when talking about September Eleventh.
September Eleventh was a pathetic moment in world history. Its significance requires that we value it in the words we use. Can any reasonable person imagine Americans referring to the Fourth of July as “seven-four”?
Leon J. Hoffman, Lake View
Government shutdown on horizon
Here we go again. Four issues apparently have the potential to shut down the federal government this fall: Planned Parenthood funding, spending sequestration, federal government funding and the usual Treasury debt-limit fight.
Millions of Americans depend on a host of federal government programs that would be affected by such shutdown nonsense. Of course, these Washington congressional politicians, with their Herculean salaries and benefits, are not affected by such dislocations. In that context, should this Congress shut down the government, income streams and benefits for these congressional members and their respective staff should be discontinued during the duration.
With such a suspension of their revenue streams, perhaps they would acquire the incentive to begin acting in a statesman-like fashion as elected representatives on behalf of the American people.
Earl Beal, Terre Haute, Indiana
