False info used to support claim
“Why has the disability rate increased more than 100 percent? I’ll tell you why. It’s a con. It’s easy to put in a bogus disability claim.”
— Bill O’Reilly, July 5, 2012, Fox News
I am an optimist who believes people will do the right thing given good information.
The flip side of that is that people won’t know the right thing if they’re given bad information, and alas, there is usually somebody willing to provide it.
Take the quote above.
No analysis about why the number has grown. How many are veterans from the longest war in our history? Have we a better understanding of what it is to be disabled? We get none of that.
He goes on to claim that this alleged con is contributing to our deficit. He explains that while the number of people drawing disability has doubled, the number of people paying for benefits through federal income tax has declined, which he blames on the do-gooder notion that we shouldn’t levy taxes on people living in poverty.
One crucial fact that any reporter worth a pinch of salt would know:
Federal income taxes do not pay for disability benefits. Social Security does, and a vast majority of us pay that, even people earning poverty wages. Furthermore, it’s a regressive tax, because it is only assessed on the first $110,000 of income. Imagine the extra dollars in the Social Security Trust fund today if we had levied the tax on all income from the beginning, including the tax shelters Wall Street has convinced Congress to build for exclusive club members.
The con, folks, is coming from Bill O’Reilly, who wants to turn you against your neighbor and can’t even get his facts straight while doing it. He wants you to be angry with your neighbor with a disability so maybe you won’t notice the real parasites are the people who pay him millions to peddle this propaganda.
It is not easy to get disability benefits, nor should it be. To claim it is a con — that it’s easy to file a bogus claim — well, that’s just a blatant lie. To justify the claim with inaccurate information is the definition of spin.
— Peter C. Ciancone
Executive Director The WILL Center
Terre Haute
CASA needs more advocates for kids
At CASA, we believe that each and every child deserves a safe and permanent home. To that end, we recruit and train community volunteers to be Court Appointed Special Advocates to do just that, advocate for abused and neglected homes.
We just completed a class of 15 new CASA volunteers. Even with those volunteers taking one or two cases, we still have a wait list of 30 children for that special person to be a voice for them in court. We are committed to providing a CASA volunteer to each and every child that is in need of one. Each child’s case is a little different, but the impact, as you know, one volunteer can have on a child is overwhelming when you stop to think and understand what you are doing for that child.
CASA will begin training a new group of volunteers on Aug. 6. The training curriculum is comprised of 30 hours pre-service training covering topics from the role of the CASA volunteer to laws, report writing to understanding children and families among other topics. In addition, there will be juvenile courtroom observation.
We know there are caring people out there who may not know about CASA volunteering and/or have been waiting to get involved … please do not wait. We need you; the children need you, now. Please reflect on how you as a part of this community can make a significant difference in the lives of children.
You could be the missing piece in a child’s life. Powerless children need powerful voices. You could be that person.
Anyone in the community who wants to get involved should contact the Vigo County CASA office at (812) 231-5658, email nikki.fuhrmeister@vigocounty.in.gov, or visit www.vigocountycasa.com.
— Nikki L. Fuhrmeister
Vigo County CASA Director
Terre Haute
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