Opinion Letters
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Published: October 25, 2009
Stunned and outraged
I am stunned and outraged to learn that our Sen. Richard Burr would protect private defense corporations from any felony charges brought against them to the courts by their employees.
Sen. Burr and 29 other Republican senators voted against an amendment to the 2010 defense-appropriations bill that will withhold defense contracts from any such companies if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual-assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.
According to several sources, the inspiration for this bill comes from a number of cases against Halliburton/KBR. The most visible case in point involved a female American employee in Baghdad, Jamie Leigh Jones, who was allegedly brutally gang-raped, thrown into a shipping container by fellow employees and held against her will for over 24 hours without food, water or a bed. She also was threatened with the loss of her job if she sought medical treatment for her rape injuries.
Halliburton/KBR has hidden behind a clause in its employees' contract that says any sexual-assault allegations brought against the company are limited to "private arbitration."
Regardless of whether the allegations are true, 30 senators voted to allow these atrocities to continue and prevent victims from their rightful redress of serious crimes. All this so as not to offend the senators' contributors and who knows what else. Sen. Burr should be more than ashamed, and we should vote him out of office.
PAUL LUNDRIGAN
Lexington
Focusing on priorities
I have enjoyed reading the coverage of the Winston-Salem City Council races this fall. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition between the positions of Ted Shipley and Council Member Dan Besse in the Southwest Ward race ("Focus is on money," Oct. 18).
Laura Graff's article states that Besse's focus in a third term would be on making the city "green" and improving public transportation. On the other hand, Shipley said that the current economy calls for someone to be a more responsible steward of taxpayer dollars and that he would fight to reduce regulations and taxes in this tough economic climate.
Our local unemployment rate is over 11 percent. The state does not have enough money, so it raised taxes during the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression. This year's federal deficit of $1.4 trillion exceeds the entire national debt from the first 200 years of this Republic.
One of the candidates in the Southwest Ward race is focusing on economic issues. The other is focusing on public transportation. These candidates put their priorities before the voting public. The voters must act accordingly.
ASHLEY CLARK
Winston-Salem
Throwing off the bonds
I have read many letters defending the "socialist" agenda of the current administration against the "failed capitalist greed" of Wall Street.
The common theme seems to be that, as the writer in, "Is that a bad thing?" (Oct. 20), says, roads, schools, etc., administered by the government are good things and the more socialistic European countries have better health care, longer lives, less work and more money.
The writer seems to feel that we don't have free choice because the "upper 5 percent in our oh-so-great system" make our decisions for us.
OK, so here is where I get confused: Are we supposed to be throwing off the bonds and shackles of Wall Street and putting on the bonds and shackles of the government? What exactly does that gain me?
KEN HOGLUND
Clemmons
No incentive
Perhaps I missed the Winston-Salem Journal article about Ken Lewis, the chief executive of Bank of America, forgoing salary and bonus as he heads off to retirement. I wish your business section would focus on the legal tax scams available to "highly compensated people".
Using Ken as an example, in 2007 and 2008 he "earned" almost $30 million, except these are not the same dollars the rest of us are paid. He was paid $125,000 as a monthly salary presumably for household bills, and millions in cash bonuses and "other compensation." But the scam is inside the $21,670,140 in stock and options.
The rest of us pay up to 50 percent in federal, state and local taxes, but "stock and options" are neither salary nor wages -- they are capital gains and therefore taxed as little as 0 percent and maxed at 15 percent.
This is important not because the highly compensated should pay for the rest of us, but because they have no incentive to help curb federal spending, currently fueled exclusively by we the little people. If the Kens were required to carry the same tax load as the rest of us, they would have a genuine motivation to join our struggle for a fiscally responsible government.
JIM WHEELER
Winston-Salem
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