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Akron judge Linda Kersker dies
DiLullo's closes doors after 63 years
Portage man beaten at home, robbed of coins
Akron police arrest murder suspect within an hour
Call center to cut 250 jobs in Akron
Rib, White and Blue is festival of tastes
Man fit for trial in rape of girl, 2
Powerful sedative found in Michael Jackson's home
Blogs:
Pets:
Summit teams up with Rescue Waggin' to save dogs
The Heldenfiles:
I Hate "More To Love"
Patrick McManamon:
Ron Artest goes to the Lakers
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Northern Illinois
Browns Bulletin:
Single-game ticket sales begin July 11
Tribe Matters:
Tribe needs to slow down opponents
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Updated: Free Agency: Another Gone - Apparently
All Da King's Men:
IPCC Already Wrong About Global Warming
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Wow….Sarah Palin Resigns Governorship
Akron Law Café:
Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth of July
Varsity Letters:
Highland senior receives honor
See Jane Style:
Picnic Wear
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Hate Crime in Fort Worth Texas: "That F***t had it Coming"
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Linda asks-where is the Ohio Chautauqua?
Sound Check:
Rundgren fans rejoice!: Second night of AWATS at The Civic added
HRLite House:
Sport Psychology and Performance Consulting
Akron Gamer:
Hot link: Best of Nintendo at E3
Published on Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
Health care in crisis
Heath insurance companies' CEOs had an average income of $8.7 million in 2006, while 8.7 million children went without health care. This Labor Day, 1,138,000 in Ohio will be celebrating without health care, worrying that something will happen to them or their loved ones.
Even those who are lucky enough to have insurance must face rising premiums and co-pays and the very real possibility that they will lose their coverage altogether.
There is no reason why, in the richest country on the planet, so many people should live without health care. Millions more are losing it every year, while insurance companies rake in record profits.
However, too many of our elected officials have pursued policies that have worsened, rather than alleviated, the pain for working people. It is time to develop a health-care policy that works for all.
We need a health-care system that reins in out-of-control costs that are devastating working families and delivering untold riches to CEOs. We need to protect the benefits people have won, and ensure that everyone in this great country has access to care for themselves and their families.
We need to elect leaders in November who will stand by America's working people and will help fix our nation's broken health-care system. We can, and we must, turn around America.
John D. Wagner
Executive secretary treasurer
Tri County Regional Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Akron
The mayor's sewer plan
just another scheme
I just can't take it anymore. The mayor of Akron has come up with a scheme to get rid of our unionized sewer department, which just won an award, to allegedly help our poor students.
He touts a program in Kalamazoo, Mich., as an example. That program is being done with private money, not taxpayers'.
The mayor can, if he wants to, come up with a similar program by asking for money from his wealthy friends who made millions off the backs of the taxpayers of the city of Akron. What kind of deal has he made with the super-rich who want to take over our public utilities?
Where are our City Council people hiding? These rubber-stampers will walk in lockstep behind this person who claims to want the best for the citizens of Akron. I say, show me the money trail and we will see nothing but a well-organized plot to skin the property owners of the city.
David P. Reymann
Akron
A vote for McCain,
a vote for more Bush
People all over America have lost their homes, lost their jobs, and gasoline is so costly you can't afford to go to work or look for a job. Groceries have doubled or tripled in price. School buses can't afford take your kids to school. Your kids can't afford to go to college.
You ask yourselves why this is happening to us? Two words: George Bush. A war-monger, sit-back-and-do-absolutely-nothing, so-called president for eight years.
According to some polls, your next president will be John McCain. What in the world are you thinking? Oh, you think he will lower your taxes, make gas 10 cents a gallon, give you a home, fill your bank account, keep killing our boys in Iraq, and everything will be just great?
Sure, John McCain was a prisoner in Vietnam for years, but so were a lot of soldiers. And a lot of them died there. Yes, McCain has been a senator for years, but did he do all that much that made your life easier?
And he's almost 72 years old. Can he remember what he had for breakfast yesterday? And the biggest thing of all is he agrees with almost everything George Bush stands for.
McCain states he will do things to make your life better — with what? This country is nine trillion dollars in the red.
You can't run your household with no money. Of course John McCain will raise taxes and anything else he can think of. If you think you are poor now, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet.
So if you want this kind of life for another four years, go ahead and vote for John McCain.
Jean Neel
Stow
Feed Cooey until
he bursts — literally
Richard Cooey too fat to be executed? Doesn't anyone see the prison system's agenda?
Frustrated by the amount of time Cooey has spent on death row, prison officials have decided to overfeed him until he bursts. Hey, warden — two words — Weight Watchers.
Bill Piurkowsky
Tallmadge
Doctor-owned hospital
follows the money
The recent column on doctor- owned hospital facilities (''Beware of doctor-owned hospital,'' Aug. 15) hit the mark. But there is more to the story than health-care costs.
New buildings, either planned or in the process of being built, are springing up in every area where a pool of workers with good health insurance resides. Three facilities are in development in Twinsburg, and several more are planned along state Route 8. That's five new facilities within a few miles of Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, which, we've been told, will eventually close due to the lack of a supporting population of patients.
Perhaps a better explanation is the lack of a population of patients with good health insurance. These new facilities do nothing but bring wealth to the few over the long term (physicians and developers), while providing temporary benefits to others (construction workers). All the while, they extract wealth from the many in the form of exorbitant fees.
Spending tax dollars on roads and sewers to subsidize these facilities borders on the absurd. Once again, public money is given to those who need it least. The businesses that bring wealth to the many in the community are left with nothing. The end result is the closing of other facilities, empty buildings and the deterioration of existing roads and services.
Once again, we are left to hear how there are no tax dollars available for deserving projects and services. The ''for rent'' signs go up on older buildings while we occupy another patch of greenspace. The community must find a better way.
Greg Gantzer
Cuyahoga Falls
Health care in crisis
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