Right to call N. Korea an evil regime

1/3/2003

President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have correctly defined the North Korean dictatorship of Kim Jong Il as an evil regime. President Reagan helped bring down the Soviet Union by correctly defining it as “the Evil Empire.” We would still have a Soviet state if we had coddled and caved to the communists like many of the liberals suggested then.

Those who oppose the military option against Iraq and North Korea would do well to study the disaster of Neville Chamberlain applauding his success in communicating peace with Adolf Hitler.

Kim and Saddam Hussein have repeatedly demonstrated that their word cannot be kept. My father, a decorated Korean veteran and hero, served along with many Americans to protect the democracy of South Korea. It is unfortunate that the South and other democracies have a short memory that their freedom depends on the United States.

We owe those who fought and died, along with the 37,000 Americans who are currently stationed at the 38th parallel, our total support.

The secretary of Defense declared that “we will be able to decisively fight on both fronts (Iraq and North Korea) if need be.” The ineffectiveness of the United Nations in 1950 and today prove that the only way to deal with an enemy is to define him as an enemy and defeat him.

To believe that we can negotiate peace with an evil regime is foolishness. The leadership of North Korea has chosen to let its people starve while it continues to frantically build offensive weapons.

In a recent interview it was encouraging to see both Sens. Richard Lugar and Joe Biden agree that we cannot back down and look the other way at the blatant disregard for human life of the North Korean dictatorship.

TIM MOHLER

Perrysburg

I have always been proud of the education and the degree that I received from the University of Toledo. I have also been very proud of our university's athletic programs. We may not be an Ohio State or Michigan but we have always been competitive and our football program during the Chuck Ealey years still has one of the longest winning streaks in the country.

Unfortunately at this year's Motor City Bowl, which I attended, a few of our athletes and coaches decided to showcase our football program in the worst possible manner. Replays show one of our players head butting a Boston College player who had lost his helmet. One of our linemen was shown throwing uppercuts in a pile up in our end zone, while in the third quarter one of our linebackers hit B.C. quarterback Brian St. Pierre when he was clearly out of bounds. The UT players were both ejected from the game.

Boston College was truly the better football team. But just because we were getting beaten so badly, this should not be a sign that our players can now become thugs. Boston College showed a lot of class in not mixing it up with the Toledo players. It's too bad that our coaching staff allowed our players to show a dark side of Toledo football which truly has no place in the game.

BRENT R. KAHLER

Swan Creek Drive

After a little friendly office banter with some colleagues, I was anxious to get home and see my hometown Rockets play on national television. I also looked forward to either a little bragging or a little ribbing from co-workers the morning after. Neither will happen, however. Instead, I'm as ashamed and embarrassed as I've ever been of my city and I'll spend those few moments apologizing rather than smiling.

Every football team experiences its share of humiliating losses over time, but it's up to the players - and even more so the coaches - to take a beating with dignity intact. The University of Toledo failed miserably at this.

I sank deeper in my chair with each UT cheap shot than I did with any number of Boston College touchdowns. What's worse is that nothing changed in the second half. Could the coaching staff have been oblivious to their players' behavior before the break? It is unconscionable that nothing was done in the locker room or on the sideline to get the team back in line.

When the game ended, I hoped that I had been too sensitive to the indiscretions of frustrated players. But watching the “lowlights” on ESPN only confirmed what I knew: It was ugly. I then hoped to read in The Blade that coaches, players, and local sports reporters were summarily mortified by the UT display. Apparently they're not.

I think it's going to require some humbling action to restore the image of both the university and the city of Toledo.

JON VENNER

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Where in the world does Eileen Foley get off equating the tempest in a teapot over the Augusta National Golf Club with the despicable treatment of women in other countries that she so vividly outlined? It's an affront to those suffering women to even suggest it, a libelous insult to American men in general, and it tarnishes legitimate feminism.

She actually said that the golf club's policies were a “stinking miasma of anger and hate ... where members have concluded that women aren't fit to hang out with,” and were only a “tad” fainter than the misogyny embodied in the torture, beatings, and killings of women around the world! What putrid fog of deluded persecution and “man-hatred” is she living in?

She displays the typical double standard of many feminists today. “We're entitled to everything men have, but we still get our women-only privileges.” Does anybody else remember the brouhaha over that young man who tried to enroll at an all-women university a few years ago? The female student body had a fit.

Oh, it's different for women. When they discriminate against men it's because they need their exclusivity to compete against the big bad ruffians. You don't see men running around trying to get into sewing circles, women's business networking clubs, or baby showers.

Most women enjoy, at times, the exclusive camaraderie of other women, just as men do with other men; it's neither wrong nor against the law. Get over it!

The saddest part of the whole thing is that her eloquence regarding the horrible repression of women she illustrates is completely overshadowed by her egregious assault on decent American men.

JOHN CHADWICK

Penn Road

Kudos to the employees of the Neighborhood Health Association for continuing to provide the community with excellent, affordable health care. We also need the services of an orthodontist and ophthalmologist.

Why are these services denied to low-income or indigent patients? You don't need a pretty smile if you're poor? The disparities in health care among the indigent need to be addressed in this community.

Our challenge is for these other service providers to join us in our mission to provide the community with all of its health needs.

PATSY RIOS

Woodstock Avenue