You may call the Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or e-mail comments to readerscolumn@stny.rr.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message.
Big Round Hay Bales with weeds, FREE, you haul away! Call 642-9912 after 8 p.m., if no answer, please keep trying.
~
I was struck last weekend by the televised reports on the devastation in South Carolina and in Oregon. The destroyed buildings and cars littering streets teeming with the waters of over 20 inches of rain had, at the time, claimed nine lives in the storm’s path. It only took one NRA-enabled fool 15 minutes to do the same in Oregon. One thing that could stop these “bad guys with guns” would be the application of common sense. Try it congressman Reed, thinking doesn’t hurt. Your knee-jerk acceptance of NRA talking points doesn’t help.
~
Interesting, as soon as there is a nut-job pulling a trigger, as in Oregon, the Liberals immediately rev up the “Repeal the 2nd Amendment” chorus line. The answer is simple. How many shootings happen at the gun range? If nut-job shooters knew schools are not gun free zones, would they persist? If they KNEW they themselves would be shot dead as soon as they made their intentions clear, I’m betting they would re-think their screwball agenda!
~
I’ve seen some C-130s around (prop planes) but no C-17s (jets). Maybe it’s because Lockheed Martin in Owego has a contract to do some upgrades on the C-130s. I haven’t seen any formations of black helicopters. I don’t see enough trains to comment on their cargos. Paranoia can be treated. Try it.
~
Why did Representative Richard Hanna plan to attend a rally on Oct. 5 in support of the Fitzgerald Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego, N.Y.?
~
Janet Thomas is running for Board Member of the Town of Owego on Nov. 3. Janet will work hard for the Town of Owego and has the experience the Town of Owego needs.
~
Does anyone know why the latest minutes available to the public from the Town of Owego’s Board Meetings is for Nov. 18, 2014? That’s a long time ago!
~
A survey done recently polled voters who voted for the walking disaster currently in the Oval Office in the 2012 election, his second term. Eighty-percent stated if they were given the opportunity, they would change their vote. THAT’S his legacy! Total failure on all fronts! He’s desperate to change that and will flail around and try anything to wipe that out.
~
California just became the fifth state to pass an equal pay law. The California Fair Pay Act requires employers to prove that any wage difference between employees who perform “substantially similar work” is based on valid reasons such as skill level or seniority rather than gender. Workers are also protected from reprisal for inquiring about or sharing salary information. California women currently make 85 cents for every dollar a man earns, costing full-time female workers about $33.6 billion a year in lost income. Equal pay is not just a matter of fairness. The added income supports families and provides spending power to boost the state’s economy. New York State should move forward on its own equal pay law as soon as possible. Some of the same companies that defend paying discriminatory and lower wages use tax loopholes to avoid paying U.S. taxes on their profits. The 500 largest American companies are stashing more than $2.1 trillion in overseas tax havens. Our economy is being deprived of about $560 billion in revenue as a result, yet little is being done to force these companies to pay their fair share. Meanwhile, many working women are being underpaid, many privately employed low-wage workers have to rely on government assistance to survive, and seniors on Social Security keep falling further behind financially because the U.S. Congress chooses to cater to wealthy corporations.
~
You know what scares the devil out of this old conservative republican? The fact that of all the candidates for President, democrat and republican, the one making the most sense is Bernie Sanders, a socialist!
~
Do not shoot the friendly grey fox at the LaPlante Farm on Allyn Road in Tioga Center.
~
Equal pay for equal work. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, twice last year the Senate rejected the Paycheck Fairness Act. The purpose of the act was to close the wage gap between men and women. Nationally, full-time workingwomen make 77 cents for every dollar made by men. Gender wage discrimination has been a controversial issue in the U.S. for over 100 years, and the wage gap has not improved in over a decade. If current trends continue, women will not see equal pay with men for another 50 years. Women advocates rejoiced when the current president signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. The law restored the right of women to sue their employers for wage discrimination. However, it was a hollow victory because the law did not give women new tools to fight the wage gap itself. Without higher wages many mothers are forced to stay home, because the costs of childcare are too great to justify working full-time. One study found that working women are perceived as demanding when they request a raise and often are turned down, whereas men don’t suffer the same bias. Equal pay is a fairness issue, not a political football to be kicked around for another 50 years. It is disgraceful that the playing field is not equal for women. Gender discrimination in America is no myth. To the contrary, it is a cultural vestige of a chauvinistic society that once believed men were superior to women. Nothing could be further from the truth.
~
ATTENTION! To any former Friday Night Women’s Bowling League members, we are having a reunion / get together on Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Grand Central Restaurant. Anyone that would like to join us, we will be happy to reunite and reminisce with you! For any questions you can call Jackie at 748-0909, Leitha at 687-1130 or Louise 687-1624. Hope to see you there.
~
Our do nothing Republican Congress remains obsessed with defunding Planned Parenthood despite the acknowledged health service that wonderful agency provides. Federal money cannot be used for abortions but if Planned Parenthood is defunded, back room abortions will undoubtedly increase. The anti-abortion folks will find more abortions than ever before. Now why can’t they realize that? The buffoons!
~
I was wondering when the town is going to paint the line on Halsey Valley road. It’s an accident waiting to happen. When it’s foggy you can hardly see and when cars are coming at you, you’re trying to judge where the edge of the road is so you’re going to hit something. It’s a shame they can’t get it done before the snow flies.
~
It’s time to take the stupid out of the Owego sewer-billing task. The village has taken excessive amounts of money from paying customers for over a year now. Time to start cutting jobs. Everyone wants to be a big businessman, but let’s get up out of that chair and put meters on the sewer lines. It’s time to stop stealing.
~
If you know where I might find some butternuts, hickory nuts or English walnuts, please call 687-5271.
~
Follow the news. The clown car and buffoonery never ends. Kevin McCarthy, Republican Congressman, trying to take over the leadership in the House of Representatives let the cat out of the bag today. He says that all Republican committee hearings have one objective and that is to undermine the chances for Hillary Clinton to become President of the United States. What a waste of taxpayer money. What an ass. Ask Congressman Reed how he can go along with this continuing nonsense. My goodness!
~
I don’t understand spending millions to have separate medical places for veterans. Why can’t they go to the same medical clinics and hospitals that normal people go to around here? It seems like that would be a help to the hospitals that already exist and bring in more doctors and more patients and they would get a better deal than what they are getting now. It would save building new buildings and staffing them with equipment and people.
~
I’m looking for someone who makes round sturdy scrubbies to be used on dishes and pots and pans. Call 659-3879.
~
Farm animals should be treated humanely and killed humanely. Animals are not sentient, they are not self aware like humans. Live animals should be harvested for human consumption also. There’s no old homage for wild animals and they eventually starve or are eaten by other animals. These are the facts of life and not some anthropomorphic fantasy.
~
Does anyone know of some place that takes sheets or comforters or rugs that aren’t good anymore?
~
I saw the photos of the house on Main Street in Owego being elevated. I never want to see another flood again as long as I live!
~
The Tioga Center School District taxpayers need to notify the State Comptroller’s office and request an audit. They are raising salaries far beyond job descriptions, which I believe is called “beyond lawful legislature.” They are degrading the district by hiring employees that are far less than qualified for the position because of friends, cousins, etc.
~
Support our troops, what does that mean? We should support our troops during and after a war. I wonder what Abe Lincoln would think of how we treat our veterans. After all the bad press the V.A. has gotten, it’s still a circus. This inefficient, bloated bureaucracy is typical of any government agency. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The vet’s wait way too long for treatment, the V.A. is overwhelmed with veterans needing care. The V.A. hospitals are hundreds of miles away. Anyone who is not blind can see the V.A. is designed to discourage the average person from using his or her so called services. Throw another vet into the tank; 22 vets kill themselves every day. I wonder how many have just left the V.A. disgusted, discouraged and depressed. The veterans should be able to go to the local hospital and alleviate the overcrowding in the V.A.
~
I get so disturbed by all the things that are going on today such as the shootings in Oregon. I wish I could go back to a simpler and gentler time.
~
I’m looking for a truck cab for a Chevrolet pick up truck; the width is 57x 28 x 80 long. If anyone has one they would like to get rid of, please call 414-1021.
~
The all terrain vehicle doesn’t belong to the school. It is being used at the games at no cost to the taxpayers.
~
Have you asked your Republican Congressman lately, that’s the one with the bad performance record, the do nothing congress – does he plan to do anything personally to lower the outrageous drug price increases that are now rampant across the industry. Why do middle class and poorer Americans have to become the suckers once again for the overriding greed of the pharmaceutical companies? Why can’t congress help those who send them to Washington for their fat paychecks?
~
The Wounded Warrior Project within the town of Candor is looking for a needy vet who needs a companion to fill up his days. We have a 1-year-old hound / lab mix, friendly and not a barker. He just needs a forever home and TLC. Call 659-3871.
~
Browns Lane in Owego has a 25-foot right away from the center of the road on both sides; therefore nothing can be put permanently in the ground by a homeowner.
