Fudging numbers
Norm Arendt's Sept. 9 letter spouts numbers that are either ignorantly or purposely incorrect. He jumps on the bandwagon demonizing public employees by trying to minimize the very dramatic impact Gov. Walker's budget and collective bargaining bill will have on them. First, he states that public workers might "be out $700 for insurance or other fees." If I was going to be out only $700, I'd gladly write a check right now. What Arendt conveniently fails to mention is that is an average of $700 each and every month.
Next, Arendt cites the Department of Workforce Development statistics, stating "less than 39% of the men and women in the state who are able to work actually work." And that "61% of Wisconsinites do nothing but rake in entitlements." Really? Wisconsin has a 61% unemployment rate? Arendt inflates the actual unemployment figure - 9.2% - by a whopping 665%!
Radical right-wing nuts will stop at nothing to push their agenda through, even if that means fudging numbers and outright lying.
Denise DeSerio
I take significant umbrage at this ignorant and small-minded letter writer who dares to whine that only "39% of able-bodied men and women work in Wisconsin while 61% rake in entitlements that the rest of us pay for."
A good share of Wisconsin residents may well be getting pensions that fund recipients out of smartly managed pension funds, which all workers contributed to during their working lives to earn their pension, as well as paying FICA taxes during all their working lives to earn Social Security.
We'll see how much boo-hooing Mr. Arendt does when it's time for him to retire and collect his "entitlements." It's nincompoops like him who help Walker triumph over all of us.
Kristen Zehner, Marshall, Wis.
Roadkill
Thanks to the positive blurb you wrote about the movie Drive (Now Playing, 9/16/11), I just wasted my Sunday evening and hard-earned cash. What a piece of garbage. I'm sure all the critics fawn over the movie because it has moody lighting and long pauses in the very limited dialogue. But the story is not clever or logical, and the "driving" isn't even good. Since most of your blurbs are negative, I thought the one positive one meant something. Now I know.
Andre Boeder
