January 28, 2008 02:52 pm
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No Americans deserve rebate
Randy Webb’s Jan. 27 letter argued that the proposed tax rebate that is part of the stimulus package being shepherded through Congress should not be extended to those in our society that do not pay taxes. The premise was that, since these people did not pay taxes in the first place, they were somehow less deserving than those of us who pay taxes.
There is a basic truth about the benefits that we receive from our government. The government cannot give you something that it has not previously taken from you, or — with the advent of unchecked deficit spending — will take from your children in the future.
When our government builds highways, funds schools, conducts wars, and provides foreign aid, it does so with money that comes from our pockets. We should demand fiscal responsibility from every one of our elected officials — at all levels of government. No program should ever be established that is not funded — either through additional taxes or an equivalent cut in another expenditure.
Our county is carrying over $9 trillion in debt. When divided by the population, it works out to just over $30,000 for every man, woman and child in America. With a family of four, this means that my piece of that debt is a little over $120,000.
Until we erase our national debt, no one in this country “deserves” a rebate. Rather than complaining that a non-taxpayer is receiving a rebate, while accepting one of my own, I should rather have them apply that money to the national debt. A gift to a taxpayer is no better than a gift to someone that does not pay taxes — it is still a handout.
Bill Hornbuckle, Formerly of Ashland, Palatine, Ill.
Hike tobacco tax 75 cents a pack
Your recent editorial about Kentucky’s failing grades in the American Lung Association’s latest national tobacco control report was right. We have made progress in seeing tobacco as a major public health issue and not just an agricultural concern. Yet, we still have a long way to go to cure the huge health and economic woes we suffer because of tobacco use.
Fortunately, we have a proven way to cut our high smoking rates and drive down health care costs: A 75-cent increase in our tobacco tax. It would also generate up to $307 million a year in new revenue.
Unfortunately, it seems many of our elected leaders see a 75-cent increase as too big a pill to swallow. They shouldn’t.
Given that the average state tobacco tax nationwide is now $1.11 a pack, and that a recent poll of Kentucky voters showed 60 percent would support a 75-cent tax increase, this should be a no-brainer.
When the cost of cigarettes goes up, smoking rates go down, especially among youth. For every 10 percent the cost of a pack of cigarettes goes up, youth smoking drops 7 percent and adult smoking drops 4 percent.
If a low-cost low-risk miracle pill became available tomorrow that would do the good this tax increase would do for us, our leaders would jump at it. We say why wait for some imaginary magical cure when we already have a proven way to fix what ails us now.
Menisa Marshall, Communications Director, American Lung Association of Kentucky, Louisville
Sanctity of life goes beyond abortion
January is National Sanctity of Life month. Most people believe that means opposition to abortion, and it does. But it also means so much more.
Abortion has killed 40 million babies in the 35 years since the Roe v. Wade decision. This is much worse than World War II. More than six million Jewish people and five million others died in that awful war.
Alternatives to unwanted pregnancies need to be explored. Two Hearts Pregnancy Center can help young women in crisis.
The Sanctity of Life should continue to all phases of our biological patterns. Dr. Kervorkian earned $50,000 to speak at the University of Florida to tell students he did nothing wrong by helping people kill themselves. The AP reports he has claimed to end 130 lives. His legacy does not end there. There is a legal right to assisted suicide in Oregon and this spring Washington state will have a similar bill on the ballot.
As a society, we decided to kill unwanted children at the beginning of life and are well on our way to deciding to kill people who are sick. What is next? Who decides whose life is valuable and whose is not? Who decides who is sick enough to die or live?
God says, “Thou shall not kill.” Period. We need to get back to protecting life. Life has been taken from the young and the sick. You and I might be next.
Cindy Brown, Catlettsburg
Interview of inmate served no purpose
I’m writing about the interview of inmate Robert Drown at the Carter County Detention Center by a reporter of WSAZ News. I’ve complained to WSAZ.
What purpose could the interview serve? Why would the jail, prosecution, defense and courts allow this? If I were a citizen of Carter County, I’d be asking my local officials this question? Could it possibly jeopardize the case?
Should an inmate have a right to do such interviews? Why would WSAZ do the interview?
The victims are not here to tell their side. They have been brutally murdered. I can’t imagine how it must have felt for the families of the victims that may have been watching the news and have that report come into their living rooms.
I’m a staunch proponent of the death penalty. I believe government is ordained of God and government has the power and responsibility to carry out the death sentence in the most violent and appropriate cases.
I see no problem with a change of venue in some cases and appeals if convicted. What I don’t see is why it takes almost two years to try a defendant even with a change of venue, and why it takes almost 12 years to carry out the death penalty. We should carry out the penalty within a reasonable time.
I would go one step further. It should be carried out in a mobile facility parked outside the county courthouse without the carnival atmosphere, but done in a way to bring attention to the case as a deterrent and to bring closure to the community.
If the death penalty has no deterrence, as some claim, then it is only because the sentence is carried out so far removed in time and location from the date and county of the crime.
Doug Spillman, Flatwoods
Training needed on phone manners
I called a state office in Catlettsburg to find out if there was a commissioner or ombudsman that deals with the banking industry. The woman who answered the phone said she didn’t know.
I suggested she ask someone else. She came back on the line a minute later and said, “No one knows anything.”
I’m sure her educated boss would have been happy to know that. I think she could benefit from training on telephone etiquette. She might have said, “If you will leave your telephone number, I’ll check further and call you back.”
Jack A. Smith, Ashland
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