The views and opinions expressed in Political Place do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sun Day or its staff. The section is meant to offer readers a chance to express their thoughts on political issues.
Editor’s note: Due to the high volume of submissions we received for the Sept. 26 edition, especially those regarding the upcoming SCCAH board elections, we were not able to fit political place letters into the paper as we typically do. Therefore, we are publishing these on mysundaynews.com in an effort to “clear up” our backlog of letters. These letters will ONLY appear online and WILL NOT appear in the Oct. 10 edition of the paper. We will start over on a first-received, first-run basis for that edition. We will continue to post letters printed in the paper online for future editions.
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Last Wednesday evening, I attended a discussion at McHenry Community College on federal Common Core Education Standards. The State of Illinois plans to implement these standards starting in 2014, a decision that will cost Illinois taxpayers an estimated $700 million to $1 billion. This is one more impossible burden being put on the backs of homeowners in a state that is broke, has a true unemployment rate above 14 percent, and no plan to solve its $100 billion pension deficit problem. These standards were developed behind closed doors in 2010 by education administrators, NEA members, and high-tech education technology companies that have a major stake in creating what has been called “No Child Left Behind on steroids.” Instead of testing Common Core standards on a regional basis before rolling them out nationally, the U.S. Department of Education has cut deals with 38 states to implement the new program in 2014. These states were bribed with federal grants tied to President Obama’s “Race to the Top” program.
The majority of our citizens are not familiar with Common Core or know that it is about to be implemented in Illinois. Two years ago, there was a poorly publicized “public comment period” shortly before a vote to adopt Common Core standards for all K-12 schools in the state.
Rather than making affordable, commonsense fixes to Illinois’ current education standards, our State Board of Education and the teacher’s union have abdicated their responsibility and made a deal with the devil – one that may or may not improve the quality of education in our schools.
We have one last chance to prevent this boondoggle. The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 5 – the Student Success Act – a bill designed to stop the universal adoption of Common Core and prevent the U. S. Department of Education from using competitive federal funding initiatives to coerce states into adopting these expensive, one-size-fits-all standards.
Readers who are as concerned I am should contact senators Durbin and Kirk and ask them to vote for The Student Success Act. They should also contact local state representatives and encourage them to have Illinois, like a dozen other states, end their commitment to Common Core.
Richard Stack,
Sun City resident
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Making a DIFFerence: It is never too soon to start.
On Sept. 7, Democrats and Independents for the Fourteenth [DIFF], held its Grassroots Organizing Kickoff Event at the CosmanCenter in Huntley. The meeting was well attended for an early season get-together. Attendees were treated with snacks, music, and the presentations of several activists. DIFF Leader, Terry Kappel, spoke about the need for active efforts by interested people to contact voters by making calls, knocking on doors, and generally running an active campaign at the grassroots level throughout the District. Then Dennis Anderson announced the candidate for the 14th District Congressional seat, spoke in support of his candidacy, and said that there is a need to fill vacant local political positions with Democrats and to do grassroots campaigning and bring District organizations together.
“Getting Democrats into local, state, and federal office is doable,” he said.
Anderson then passed out some nomination petitions to be circulated on his behalf. The meeting was also addressed by three attendees on behalf of individual issues involving marriage equality move to amend on the Citizens United decision, and Nadia Blanc Daley who is putting together a free event in St. Charles to explain the Affordable Care Act, and air the Michael Moore film, “Sicko.” From here, DIFF moves on to implement a grassroots network in support of Democratic and Independent voters’ issues to win in November 2014. It is never too early to start.
David Williams
Democrats and Independents for the Fourteenth
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When right is wrong
What do all the following have in common?
Social Security
Medicare
Medicaid
Interstate highway system
1964 Civil Rights Act
Labor unions
Pensions, public and private
Man on the moon
Universal Health Insurance
ERA…Equal Rights Amendment
EPA…Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Postal Service
Answer: They all were opposed by Republicans in Congress.
In 1964, Ronald Reagan said Medicare would destroy the American economy and make America a Socialist society.
Results: millions of senior citizens were able to retire with dignity and prolong their lives by 20 years.
In l993, when Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy from 35 to 39 percent, the Republicans said the tax increase would destroy the American economy for a decade.
Results: deficits turned into a surplus, and we had the strongest economy in over 50 years! Under Eisenhower, it was 90 percent and under Kennedy it was 50 percent, which just underlines the silliness that a 39 percent tax rate is too high for the wealthy in our country or what Republicans try to sell to the American public!
In 2012, Republicans said Obamacare would destroy our freedom because the government would be in charge of our medical insurance.
Results: 30 million uninsured people will have medical insurance! No more worries about getting health insurance due to pre-existing conditions or a life-threatening illness. No need to worry about the insurance company charging exorbitant premiums or even putting a lifetime cap on pay-outs.
Locally, Congressman Randy Hultgren has stated at Town Hall meetings that he does NOT expect to get Medicare and Social Security in the future. Hultgren, Roskum, and their other Republican colleagues have all voted 41 times now to repeal the ACA, costing us $1.4 million per try, wasting $57 million of OUR hard earned taxpayer money to repeal a bill already approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court.
It’s the corporate insurance companies who refused coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and became the “death panels,” not the 15-members of the Independent Payment Advisory Board for the ACA! The corporate insurance industry is not interested in your health; on the contrary, they are only interested in huge profits and making their CEOs’ pockets bulge! Government run health care has never eliminated members of our society, rich or poor.
Remember, you always have the option to pay your hospital bills with your supplementary insurance and cash-on-hand and then reject any and all payments from Medicare … if you think the government is taking advantage of you.
Joni Lindgren
Edgewater resident
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Vietnamese children Born to Vietnamese women and American servicemen are children of U.S. citizens and are natural born U.S. citizens. With today’s DNA technology, their paternity is much easier substantiated than it used to be.
Should that be done, they can obtain U.S. passports and relocate to the U.S. if they so desire.
But whether they relocate or not, the fact that they are U.S. citizens means that they are subject to U.S. income tax on their worldwide income. Perhaps someone should put a bug in the ear of the IRS and demand that they take action to collect untold billions of dollars in evaded tax revenue from these U.S. citizens living in Vietnam. And just think of the failure-to-file, FBAR and FATCA penalties the IRS is failing to collect from these “tax-evading” American citizens living abroad.
The sons of deposed Egyptian President Morsi were born in the U.S. while he was here going to graduate school. The King of Thailand was born to his diplomat father while he served here. There are tens of millions of accidental Americans all over the world who are subject to U.S. tax law and even if they have no income must file informational returns with the IRS and pay the penalty for the years they failed to file.
Maybe we should put pressure on senators Schumer and Levin to call the IRS on the carpet for failing to do their job. U.S. tax law is crystal clear. Their income is taxable by the IRS. And because they have failed to file U.S. tax returns, they cannot claim either the FEIE or use foreign taxes paid as credit against their U.S. tax obligation.
See how ridiculous our tax laws are. The Marxist income tax may please our Marxist politicians, but anyone with an ounce of brains can see how stupid the Marxist income tax or any other citizen-based tax is.
In order to comply with the human rights rules of the United Nations, we must change to the FairTax, HR25 and S122. Factories sent overseas will come home as would $13 trillion kept overseas by American Corporations. Let’s make capitalism work again … Pass the FairTax now.
Wilton Jere Tidwell
Sun City resident
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Obamacare Exposed
If you want to know the facts and the truth about Obamacare for yourself without the spin visit:
truthaboutobamacare.com
or
visit cstevetucker.wordpress.com
Steve Tucker is an Illinois insurance expert on Obamacare, appearing on TV and radio. His expertise consistently covers the latest issues facing us with this law.
Catherine Portera
Sun City resident
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Progressive ideology would have us believe that America cannot be a “generous and nurturing culture” unless the government provides policies, programs, and funding for it. Progressives would also profess that Tea Party conservative positions would somehow threaten or even eliminate that culture, which has thrived in America throughout our history without the growing largess of government. Both Progressive suppositions would be dead wrong.
Conservative principles have historically worked for the benefit of the poor, the minorities, and the general population of America. The Republican party was formed as committed to ending slavery, then working for elimination of racial segregation in public schools, providing bills for successfully removing recipients off welfare rolls and into jobs but were twice rejected by President Clinton before signing into law in 1996. The current U.S. House of Representatives has passed 40 “jobs bills” (some with bi-partisan support) that have all been summarily ignored by our U.S. Senate.
Tea Party principles advocate for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free markets, while our government has expanded its overreach to the point where the Constitution of the United States of America is being ignored, abused, and distorted in ways that today’s government is failing in even its delegated responsibility to “provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
Ongoing and ever-growing national debt and deficit spending only lead to more generational theft for our children and theirs. Unsustainable government programs must one day fail to meet initial goals while costing American taxpayers more and more money. Our economy cannot be restored or revived without more jobs and better paying jobs. Both are being restrained by current policies, new programs, and the enormous growth of regulations coming from this administration. Doubt and fear have replaced hope and change, with only more dependence upon government, as it creates an even larger class of “most vulnerable among us.” All of which only reduce our liberty and freedom, taking us down a path toward tyranny. Our culture truly is at risk! Sound reasoning and common sense would lead us to the truth of its cause and the need for real change we can begin to believe in.
Jim Nelson
Huntley Area Tea Party
