Focus on justice for St. Clare’s retirees
As Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature lay out their agenda for the coming year, it looks like more of the same nonsense from this incompetent group of bureaucrats.
As usual, there are no plans for any real ethics reform despite the fact that so many members of our state government have been involved or convicted of abusing their oath of office.
There is also sadly no plan to help the retirees from St. Clare’s Hospital, who had their pensions stolen from them over five years ago by the combined forces of corrupt lawyers and the Albany Diocese of the Catholic Church.
These people have patiently waited for the state and the governor to look into the matter and investigate the role of the lawyers and the Church in the matter and hopefully have their pensions restored.
Attorney General Letitia James supposedly began an investigation last year, but it now seems that her interest was only for show.
That’s still more than Gov. Hochul has done. Despite many requests from the group for a meeting with her, our busy governor couldn’t even give them 15 minutes of her time, preferring to send one of her aides to meet with them, which achieved nothing.
In conclusion, I think that both the governor and the Legislature should scrap their plans that are unattainable and concentrate on things they can achieve.
Justice for the St. Clare’s employees should be at the top of the list. They’ve waited far too long.
John Angilletta
Scotia
Eliminate wage cap on Social Security
I addressed the following to our New York congressmen earlier today. Feel free to do the same if you are like minded.
If I were to gross $168,600 (wage cap for 2024) in wages this year, I would pay $10,453.20, or 6.2%, in Social Security taxes as per statute.
On the other hand, if someone grossed $1 million in wages, he would pay the same $10,453.20, or 1.05% of his gross.
Clearly, the percentage of gross wages taken for Social Security taxes is lowered as the gross wages increase beyond the cap. If all men are created equal, it seems to me they should be treated equitably.
Given all the concern shown recently regarding the Social Security Trust Fund, it would be a giant step in the right direction to correcting the problem if the wage cap ($168,600) were eliminated for the individual taxpayer. Let the cap stand for employers.
I strongly encourage you to remedy this problem with appropriate legislation. I would not benefit if the wage cap were eliminated but several of my children, my grandchildren and millions of others would benefit.
Marc Duquette
Glenville
Hamas started war, must pursue peace
Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, I have often heard the following claims: (1) Israel’s response in Gaza is “indiscriminate” and (2) Israel is conducting a “genocide” on the Palestinian people.
Neither claim is valid.
Regarding Israel’s response, I note that on Oct. 7, Hamas declared war on Israel. Regrettably, in war there are civilian casualties.
Israel attempts to limit these casualties, however Hamas purposely places military sites within populated areas to maximize civilian deaths. Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas politburo, told Beirut television in an interview aired Oct. 24, “We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
If Hamas did not indiscriminately use Palestinian citizens as weapons of war, there would be much fewer civilian casualties occurring in Gaza now.
The accusation of “genocide” in Gaza is false. Israel has no “plan” to destroy the Palestinian population.
However, Hamas does have a “plan” to destroy the Israeli population. This plan is called the Hamas Covenant. Hamas openly states in the Covenant that its goal is to eliminate the Jews in Israel -- this is essentially a statement of intended genocide.
Yes, the war is causing displacement and misery within the population of Gaza. However, this would not be occurring had not Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Hamas started this war, and the Palestinians are now paying the price while many of the leaders of Hamas are living comfortably in Qatar. Hamas could end Palestinian suffering by pursuing peace with Israel.
Don Steiner
Schenectady
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