All wet
Albert Einstein once said that politics is more complicated than physics. What a true statement.
We send our children to school and many parents are afraid that we are sending them into a war zone. We drive on interstate roads that are so crowded that they are almost useless in emergencies.
We are at the mercy of extraordinary and extortionate life-saving prescription drug prices set by lobbyists.
More children in schools have been killed this year than all the men and women serving in our armed forces. How about that statistic?
Our health care costs create the most middle class bankruptcies despite all the taxes over the years that most have dutifully paid. Thanks for nothing.
We drive over bridges and roads that need immediate repair. What happened to our infrastructure money from the gas tax and gambling that was supposed to go for education, roads, and bridges?
The lobbyists reign and we all get wet, especially the middle class with kids.
Congress and Tallahassee are you listening to the independents? Neither party seems to get it done.
In short, the middle class is doing all the heavy lifting and getting screwed in the process.
What do you think?
Richard A. Ferreira, Bonita Springs
History lesson
I find the discussion about removing the bust of Gen. Lee amusing. What next, change the name of Lee County?
What about Washington and Jefferson, they both owned slaves. Some folks want to rewrite history and erase events as if they never happened. Borrowing a quote from George Santayana "those who forget history and condemned to repeat it."
Don Plitnick, Punta Gorda
Vacation plans
In recent fallacy-ridden ads, Gov. Scott is running as two things he is not – a successful businessman and a political outsider.
In the first instance, the company he founded and oversaw as CEO, Columbia/HCA, was found guilty of the largest Medicare fraud in history and settled federal charges by paying $1.7 billion in fines. In related civil cases, Scott took the Fifth Amendment no fewer than 75 times and denied any knowledge of his company’s egregious acts.
In the ad, Scott claims we need to turn the government over to successful business people. If getting rich by bilking taxpayers is your business model for success, Scott is your candidate. But personal enrichment does not equal success in a public trust. Neither does it infer competency.
Either Scott did not know about the fraud, in which case he was incompetent, or he knew about it and was thus complicit, in which case he was culpable. Take your pick; there is no other choice.
Faced with this dilemma, electing not to stand and fight the allegations, Scott did something he has become good at: he ran, which brings us to a second fallacy. Despite his claims to the contrary, the governor is no longer a political outsider. He is seeking political office for the third time without a break. Termed out as governor, he has merely switched races so that he can retain political power. He has become a career politician, the very thing he claims to be running against. It is time to send Gov. Scott home to a much-needed vacation.
Robert John Beeson, North Fort Myers
Win-win
Sunday’s guest column blames the minimum wage for hurting teen employment despite the fact that teen unemployment is at its lowest level in 20 years.
The authors are from a conservative think tank and, in evidence, cite a report from another conservative think tank which says a rising minimum wage “could have priced some teenagers out of the labor market.”
Of course that leaves open the possibility that it could not have done so and some other unnamed factors could have done so instead.
Take, for example, another factoid in which the authors suggest teens are being replaced in fast food jobs by older, more skilled workers due to higher minimum wages. Someone else might look at the same data and conclude more senior citizens are being forced to delay retirement and fast food employers prefer them because seniors are willing to work year round, not just during summer vacations.
Here’s a different take on the data. Teen unemployment is at a 20 year low and, thanks to higher minimum wages, they are also earning higher incomes. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Bob Schmidt, Sanibel
Stark reminders
Judging from the volume of diverse Mailbag opinions regarding the removal of the Robert E. Lee portrait and other Confederate memorials, it is clear there is substantial interest in this issue.
Let’s take a second look at “traditions, values and history. Between 1882 and 1968, 4,743 people were lynched in the South (Wikipedia: Lynching). Legally, blacks were not as free as whites regarding education, public accommodations, etc., until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lynching and discrimination is not exactly what “God-fearing, good Christians do.
And what are they doing in the 2018 U.S. Congress to their low income and poor constituents of all races?
“Frankly Scarlet, I don’t give a damn” (Rex Butler – Clark Gable to Scarlet O’Hara – Vivian Leigh in “Gone With the Wind.” Our president would say “I like generals that win wars not lose them.”
Keep the portrait and other Confederate memorabilia where it is to remind future generations of man’s inhumanity toward others.
Martin Harris, Cape Coral
Socialists everywhere
American Democrats moved farther left under the Clinton and Obama years but on the night Donald Trump unexpectedly won more than 3,000 U.S. counties to Hillary's 57, they were absolutely astounded to the point of crying hysterically on air.
That was just the beginning of their breakdown. Next day, the "resist movement" began and now we have local Democrat organizations popping up as "socialist" Democrats. Their leaders have become socialist Bernie Sanders and Native American wannabe Elizabeth Warren. Three socialists won a spot on the ticket in Pennsylvania's primary the day before I wrote this letter. They are motivated solely by hate that grows more unhinged with every Trump accomplishment.
They have overtaken and corrupted our media (90 percent), academia (no conservatives allowed), appeals courts and most of our federal agencies (now fearing the Inspector General's report).
The rest of us still have our religious institutions, the American worker, respect for our military and the American family that's still whole (that's red-blooded America).
The Socialist Democrats are assaulting all of those just mentioned on a daily basis and our country is in danger of losing much of the freedoms we sacrificed so much to protect.
John McCuen, Cape Coral
Charge dad
Regarding the latest mass murder of students in Texas, I read that the shooter used two guns legally owned by his father.
But if the murderer had access to those "legal" guns, or had access to the key that opened the storage unit or knew where they were hidden, then in my opinion the father of this deranged child is as guilty of murder as the shooter, and should be charged with murder, as he is the truly responsible person for these deaths.
Michael Golding, south Fort Myers
Media darling
USA Today declared that media icon and darling, Oprah Winfrey, stole the show at the "Big Wedding" in London this past Saturday, She did, but only because the Weight Watcher investor could have been mistaken for the newest Goodyear blimp.
If queried as to ..."Who are you wearing?" Her honest response should have been ... "Omar, the Tent Maker." Now that would have been honest reporting.
If her last name was Trump, she would be appearing in a Marlette cartoon .This is today's Liberal press mindset.
Gerald Ponder, Cape Coral
Tread lightly
Adam Putnam is quoted in his latest diatribe in his statewide campaign saying, quote, “liberal elitists look down on people who work with their hands, pressuring too many kids into student loan debt , leaving them with degrees they can’t use and bills they can’t pay” concluding “College is not the only path to success, and it’s OK to say it.” In the TV ad he walks through a steel company with sparks flying behind him.
Really? Mr. Putnam, be advised that trade unions, always seemingly opposed by Republicans like yourself, have been job training and educating men and women for over a century and more. Unions that are always favored by Democrats.
You don’t have to invest in new “anti-elitist” programs. Invest instead by educating yourself and others. Help these people by being supportive of trade unions. Encourage union growth and you will be “investing” workers with fair wages and occupations they will enjoy with their families for their lifetimes.
And, by the way, many trade unions offer scholarships to children of members, helping those who choose the “liberal elitist” way.
And be very careful walking through those factories. You may bump into a union worker and get some dirt on that “elitist” suit you’re wearing. Assuming you did attend college, didn’t you?
Gerald Razowsky, Cape Coral
Junk science
I commend your guest columnist Madison Cilk for her op-ed piece on Sunday, May 20, The News-Press, alerting us to the threat of rising sea levels. It’s wonderful to have young people engaged in issues that affect the world they will inherit.
It would be even better, though, if those young people would arm themselves with actual facts and not rely on discredited sources shoved down their throats by extreme left academics that populate American colleges today. Madison’s source for her assertion that “sea levels are expected to rise five inches in Southwest Florida by 2030” was none other than the Union of Concerned Scientists, that discredited bunch of overeducated elitists, most of whom are neither scientists nor concerned about truth.
IPCC’s record of sea level rise from 1992 to 2012 was only about 60 millimeters, a quarter of an inch, according to the University of Colorado’s global mean sea level time study. IPCC issued a “correction” factor of 2.3 centimeters in 2003 to make the measured data conform to their computer models, but proclamations can’t turn junk into science. So let’s use our resources to adapt to gradual change as it comes, but let us not empower government to fix problems that don’t exist.
Gary Peppers, Cape Coral
Royal Wedding
I believe that the Royal Wedding did more for the world's race relations than all of the protests in the past 60 years. As the attending bishop said , it was done with love. Blessings to the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Gary Olson, North Fort Myers