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A Way To Help The Poor

Letters To The Editor

To The Reader’s Forum: If you can, and only if you don’t need the New York state 2023 “inflation” refund check of $150 to $400 distributed by New York state this year to taxpayers, consider donating it to local food pantries, or other worthwhile food distributing organizations. We encourage you to do so willingly and regardless of the status of the federal government shutdown and/or “recission” of federal funding already appropriated for food aid programs (SNAP, USAID, etc.). For example, Linda and I received $400 from New York state recently and we will donate it ...

Push To Move Forward Without Losing Our Values

Letters To The Editor

To the Readers’ Forum: These days we read about and listen to heated debates regarding immigration and people who are on public assistance. Some people think immigrants, legal or illegal, and the beneficiaries of Medicaid or SNAP are the cause of many problems with today’s economy. They believe they are being cheated by these “takers.” On the other hand, one could argue that large corporations and the ultra-wealthy are cheating all of us when they get away with paying little or no taxes. Many of these same entities barely pay a living wage to their employees, while their ...

Charlie Kirk, A Martyr, But Whose?

Letters To The Editor

To The Reader’s Forum: In a recent Post-Journal article by Rev. Mel McGinnis, Charlie Kirk was described as “a martyr too,” like John the Baptist, “a happy warrior for Jesus.” Protestant minister McGinnis notes that Kirk was “a change agent”, that his message was that “this nation needs a Savior. Jesus is the only way…” But there’s another part to this story. It is revealed by the millions of dollars poured into Kirk’s Turning Point organization by ultra-rich Americans to mute criticism of Israel. It has become obvious that the largest block of supporters ...

Paying Tribute To Those Who Selflessly Served

In Our Opinion

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day or the eleventh month 106 years ago, the hostilities of World War I came (for the most part) to an end. But though it was billed as the war to end all wars, American troops have continued to put their lives on the line for the rest of us and the world during another century’s worth of fighting. And so, since 1954, we have paused on Veterans Day to honor those men and women who have served us, in the U.S. Armed Forces. Those who chose — and those who had no choice — to serve sacrificed everything. Some did not come home. Others bear the ...

Organizing All That Wonderful ‘Stuff’

Local Commentaries

I foolishly planned a yard sale. I even hornswoggled Dear Richard into the idea. I’m an idiot. For the past three or four years, we’ve been donating our worthy goods to worthy charities. Simple. Easy. Sensible. Then one day I found a bunch of little things I don’t use and put them in a box for donation. Thereafter, every time I was in a closet, a kitchen drawer, or the garage and found something useless, I’d add it to the box. Hmm. But planning a sale was overwhelming. A truly organized sale would require tackling our jam-packed garage, which was armpit deep in ...

Politics: It Can Be A Noble Vocation

Local Commentaries

To some the words politics or politician are pejoratives. A person the voters have elected to represent them and their community may be dismissed as “just a politician.” In our representative democracy, what should a politician be and how should politics be viewed? The famous American theologian and ethicist, Reinhold Niebuhr astutely observed: “The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.” Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and President from 1953-1961 said the practice of politics is a “serious, complicated and, in ...