Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 03.02.15
My small raise eaten up by state taxes
Even though we had the maximum withheld from our paychecks, plus a little more, we still owe N.C. state taxes over and above what was withheld.
This is the first time I can remember having to pay more than what Raleigh withheld.
Yes, I recall the loss of the Earned Income Tax Credit and other personal deductions enacted by our GOP-led General Assembly, but the actual ramifications just hit home.
I’m a public school teacher and though I got a paltry pay increase this year that minuscule amount just went up in flames.
It feels like I’m paying for my own raise.
Joseph Hasty
Morganton
In response to “City officials should say no to transgender bathroom plan” (Feb. 24 Forum):
Gender identity issue is real; city’s proposed ordinance helps address it
It is extremely hard for a person with gender identity issues to find their place in our society. It is not a game they play. It is serious.
As a society, can we not open our minds, take them out of the bathroom, and see the world as it is?
In Europe you can expect to find women and men entering the same bathroom. Everyone uses a stall.
How, in a stall, can anyone tell if he or she is a he or a she?
Judith Carrigan McLean
Mooresville
In response to “Defying GOP, Obama vetoes Keystone bill” (Feb. 25):
Obama veto on Keystone pipelineis nothing but a political ploy
President Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL pipeline is not about protecting the environment.
It is about politics and paying back one of the Democratic Party’s richest and most powerful campaign supporters: the environmental lobby.
Obama deceitfully insists that he still has an open mind on the issue, but says that he wants to give the State Department review process more time.
The review process is now in its sixth year! It is time to approve the Keystone pipeline now!
Hartley Simpson
Harrisburg
In response to “CMS: No makeups for next 4 snow days” (Feb. 25):
If goal is better educated students, CMS should make up all snow days
We hear over and over how the children in our schools are not getting as good an education as they should.
If that is the case why would the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board, administration and teachers not demand that the kids make up the days missed by bad weather?
I guess on those extra days they would not learn anything.
Dick Meyer
Charlotte
In response to “President deserves our support, just as Bush did” (Feb. 24 Forum):
While I respect the post, I don’t like the way Obama is doing the job
Forum writer Michael A. Clark opines that we should support President Obama’s domestic agenda and foreign policy.
Fact of the matter is that Obama has no cohesive foreign policy. His globe-trotting, kowtowing, and ridiculous concessions only increase dangers to our country.
His domestic Santa Claus policies, coupled with his ongoing violations of constitutional law, have given us more poverty and unprecedented national debt.
The presidential office deserves respect and support, but Obama does not.
Ed Ramberger
Charlotte
In response to “Carolinas HealthCare sues, despite new laws” (Feb. 22):
CHS needs to be reminded ‘You can’t get chocolate out of a billy goat’
Carolinas HealthCare System continuing to sue and place liens against patients despite laws to curtail this practice is disconcerting.
As a former medical social worker, CHS practices bring to mind an Austrian adage shared with me by an Austrian private practice surgeon who didn’t charge his indigent patient: “You can’t get chocolate out of a billy goat.”
If Novant Health, UNC Health Care, and Wake Forest Baptist Health have adhered to the intent of the law, then why hasn’t CHS? Perhaps their nonprofit status needs to be revoked.
Robert A. Tomlinson
Lincolnton
This story was originally published March 1, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 03.02.15."