Sounding off: 'Equity,' documents, 'wokies,' taxes and roadside trash among week's topics

WCCC’s ‘equity’ isn’t ‘equality’

Isn’t this special.

Westmoreland County Community College has created a “Center for Equity, Inclusion and Belonging,” according to a glowing newspaper report (“Westmoreland County Community College opens Center for Equity, Inclusion, Belonging,” Jan. 27, TribLIVE).

Lots to unpack here, but let’s pick one nit. Equity.

“Equity” is not “equality.”

Equality is the state of being equal. Everyone has freedom.

Equity is altogether different, particularly under its current corrupt application. Forget equal access to opportunity and protection before the law. “Equity” in practice has become the equalization of stature and wealth in accordance with subjective assessments.

That means those in power can take what you have and give it so someone who hasn’t earned it. Sort of like the college loan debt forgiveness proposal that slithered on to the political stage just before the last election. Not buying that one either.

Summing up: Equality provides a foundation for those motivated to succeed. Equity, as currently used, potentially condemns everyone to mediocrity. Some would prefer to call it equal outcomes. WCCC is on the wrong path in promoting “equity” as a solution for perceived grievances in society.

Ultimately the county commissioners are responsible for the operation of the school. They choose a board to run it and can change the makeup of that board at will.

George Beidler

Hempfield

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Should we believe Cinton, Bush on documents?

According to news reports, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush say they have no classified documents. Really? Does anyone believe them, given their history of veracity? I.e., Monica Lewinsky and Iraq WMDs.

Gerald Schiller

Penn Hills

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Battle of the wokies

The new Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission’s guidelines that have resulted in the cancellation of reenacted battles at Bushy Run Battlefield is a classic example of unelected “woke” appointees mandating their insecurities upon us without any public input (“Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment canceled amid new state guidelines,” Jan. 28, TribLIVE). This is yet another attempt to sanitize and erase our real American history. The commission members must be challenged and removed from their protected public positions. Who are they, anyhow, to mandate our local history?

This is how creeping socialism works. A little more control here and a little more there, and next thing you know, we become a different country with the wokies in control. That’s when the hammers will fall.

Where are our state representatives and senators? It’s well past time that they review and regulate the explosive growth of these quasi governmental agencies. Stop the endless fundraising, and start reining in the beast that they created.

Why must I ask these questions?

Dr. Bill Choby

Latrobe

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Republicans holding abuse victims hostage

There seems to be no depth that Republicans in Harrisburg will not sink to to get their way. An amendment to the state Constitution would have opened a new time window for reporting sexual abuse of minors. No one in their right mind could openly oppose it. The GOP chose to use it instead to hold those victims hostage. Rather than vote on a “clean” bill, they attached further amendments regarding the Legislature’s ability to overturn regulations, and voter ID. They knew full well that this would not pass in time. They need to be held accountable for this deliberate sabotage of the rights of victims.

If they will not allow passage of a clean bill on abuse, they can only be accountable at the ballot box. We can only hope that voters’ memories are long enough. The sacrifice of children for power cannot be allowed to succeed.

Howard Schmitt

Greentree

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Comparing Trump, Biden administrations

Both politically conservative and politically left-wing letter writers call each other names and traffic in disinformation. And since the biased mainstream media is full of omissions and lies, how can we voters determine the real facts?

Perhaps comparing presidential job achievements the past six years might make the picture clearer. The Trump administration built walls and reduced crime and fentanyl trafficking across the Mexican border, held price inflation down to about 2%, supported our police, military and border patrol, accelerated covid-19 vaccine production with the “Warp Speed” program, negotiated the Abraham Middle East peace accords, supported American energy producers to keep fossil fuel prices down, and kept us free of any global conflicts.

The Biden administration achievements, while disappointing in general by comparison, need to be recognized for their success at uniting NATO to militarily support the sovereign country of Ukraine, and rebuke Putin for his bloody invasion of Ukraine. And remember that inflation, which is now running 6% to 7%, is the “cruelest tax” on the working class and the poor, and that left-wing socialism has never worked in any of the countries it has been tried.

Ron Raymond

Buffalo Township

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High earners get tax breaks

The letter “What’s ‘fair share’ when it comes to taxes?” (Jan. 24, TribLIVE) repeated the tired old saw that “Roughly 50% of wage earners pay no federal income tax at all.” This is simply not true.

6.2% of each employee’s wages is deducted as a dedicated tax, matched by an equal amount by the employer. Self-employed individuals must pay the entire 12.4% tax themselves. In addition, each employee must pay a Medicare tax of 1.45%, also matched by the employer, for a total of 2.9%. Self-employed people pay the full 2.9%. Taxable earnings are capped at $147,000.

Realize that a $15-per-hour self-employed worker earning $31,200 annually would pay 15.3% of her earnings ($4,773.60) in those federal taxes. If a self-employed person earned the maximum taxable amount of $147,000 they would pay $22,491.

No surprise! Very high earners get a break. Those earning over $147,000 pay no more than $22,491 in tax, even if their income soars into the millions. One earning $1 million pays the same Social Security and Medicare tax as one earning $147,000. These are the flat taxes that various wealthy people have promoted, except that they are exempted for incomes over $147,000.

Charles Henry

Greensburg

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Why doesn’t PennDOT keep roads clean?

Which PennDOT division is responsible for keeping our highways free of litter, trash and animal carcases? Whoever they are, they’ve either retired, been fired, quit, moved or died. Route 28 north of Pittsburgh looks like a dump, both north and southbound lanes. It’s embarrassing!

I guess all of the PennDOT folks working on that stretch of highway aren’t responsible, since they drive by every day and the trash is still there. I’m sure they use the “not my job” phrase as their reason. But that attitude needs to be changed.

And finally, hey PennDOT, the fine for littering isn’t working!

Diane Powell

New Kensington