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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Speak Out for Nov. 13, 2011

Sue Bartecki (left) Tony Pecho examine progress horse has made just few short days since they received it Illinois Horse

Sue Bartecki (left) and Tony Pecho examine the progress a horse has made in just a few short days since they received it at Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: December 14, 2011 8:21AM



Thank goodness for places like Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County and people like Tony Pecho. Horses are majestic animals that deserve all the love and care they can get.

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The recent passing of Andy Rooney, of TV show “60 Minutes,” has left a hole in our hearts. Loving what you do and doing what you love is not work but a joy, as Andy put it. He made our seniors proud with his unique sense of humor and contributing to life until the age of 92. He was one of a kind.

Bernie from Palos Heights

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U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wrote an amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to restrict the amount of money banks can charge businesses for each transaction. Bank of America transferred that fee to customers, and its customers complained in droves. Bank of America backed down. The little guys win. What have Republicans done for the little guy lately? I’m just askin’.

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A lady in Top Nails in Markham touched my heart. I didn’t have enough money to pay for my pedicure. She told the attendant that she would pick up the tab. This has never happened to me in my life. I became very emotional. Thank you.

BJ from Hazel Crest

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One of the greatest lies I’ve ever heard over the years is: “I work for the government and I’m here to help you.” Beware of that quote.

Don from Orland Park

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The Tinley Park Mental Health Center took care of nearly 2,000 patients last year. Their services are needed. Other hospitals say they do not have the staff to fill in. Money that is earmarked in the state’s budget to buy land for the phantom Peotone airport should be reallocated to human services.

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So the evil ComEd got a rate hike. I guess I will just have to turn a few lights off. Oil companies get tax breaks and permits to drill on federal lands. Gas prices are through the roof, and the politicians sit on their hands. Taxes continue to move onward and upward with the same idle threats of cutting the most necessary of services. Banks were bailed out with our tax dollars and reward us with near-negative interest rates. I guess I am just going to go and get a $2 bottle of designer water and drown my sorrows.

JK

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Nobody deserves to get any kind of illness from tainted water they were unaware they were drinking. Robert Stranczek was elected Crestwood mayor before we found out about what the previous and current administrations allegedly were aware of with regards to the tainted water. During the recent election, Crestwood voted in two new board members. Hopefully during the next mayoral election we will see the end of the Stranczek regime.

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It looks like Lindsay Lohan spent a good, long five hours in jail. Wow! I hope the jail time didn’t harden her too much. I hope she can put her life back together after so much time away from society. At least she found a job with Playboy that paid nearly $1 million for one day of work. She can’t be doing too bad adjusting to the outside world.

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If it is true that some of the women who were allegedly harassed by Herman Cain took a monetary settlement to keep quiet, will the women be required to return the payoff money? If the women vowed not to talk and then did talk, can we trust their words now?

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In the past several weeks, I’ve driven past union picket sites of striking workers. Along with the picketers was a huge inflatable rat. How appropriate is it that unions, which contribute to the high cost of living and the exporting of jobs, adopt a rat as their mascot?

Alsip

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Everybody in their 30s and 40s should take a hint from what is happening to seniors now and not rely on Social Security in the future. Either that or remember all of the complaints the seniors are making now and repeat them 30 years from now. Social Security can never and will never be able to replace a paycheck when you’re retired. It’s there to supplement your savings. I feel bad for the seniors who have to rely solely on Social Security.

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Now is the time when governments publish the levies they are going to pass in the newspaper. I noticed that one town’s levy is going to increase by nearly 38 percent. How are those people supposed to pay that tax increase? This is the time for you to speak out about these issues to your government. Pay attention to these public announcements of levies.

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The summer hike on gasoline is gone yet we still have rising gas prices. So I guess I should be thankful the prices are not $4? At this point, I don’t care about some trees or fuzzy little squirrels. Pump the oil here in the United States and get my gas prices around $3 or below.

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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle got elected by promising to get rid of that 1 percent Todd Stroger tax. Now she is proposing taxing everything that is not nailed down, including the nail you use to nail things down with. The problem is her new taxes will add up to much more than 1 percent.

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If Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was being totally honest, he would admit that the idea of speed cameras in school zones and parks is strictly a moneymaking operation. He keeps saying that it’s for the safety of the children. If it was for safety, it would be going through the court systems. But this is going to go directly into the coffers.

Eagle Ridge





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