It's clear we can't get our act together

8/9/2003

In Louisiana a black Baptist minister is looking to diversify his church and wants to pay white people to attend his sermons.

In Detroit, a general manager of a football team is fined $200,000 for not interviewing a black coach despite the fact that several black prospects refused to interview for the job.

In Columbus, a college football player is suspended from the team because he was accused of lying to the police but the police never charged him with a crime.

In Ann Arbor, a college football player is not suspended despite being formally charged of felonious assault and aggravated assault.

In Washington our government is helping to export our manufacturing jobs overseas and giving tax breaks to the rich.

In Columbus, Governor Tax is taxing us to make up the shortfall in state revenues.

In Seattle, Boeing is looking for a new location to build its newest airliner. It is looking for a city with an available work force, an airport, access to a shipping port, and a place to build.

Can you think of a town that fits that description? In Columbus/Toledo/Lucas County, our elected officials sit on their thumbs.

Why does President Bush think we can tell the rest of the world how to live when we cannot get our own act together?

JERRY LOHMAN

Maumee

Your recent editorial on Guantanamo Bay said that GITMO offends Americans.

Who says? The Blade's editorial staff? How do you know that the base is no longer needed?

Your arguments are specious at best. Did you ever hear of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which President Kennedy agonized over? Fidel Castro is still there.

Now, how can holding prisoners of war from Afghanistan be a “domestic political act”? Are we not in an international war against terrorism? Isn't this war continuing?

Putting prisoners of war before a U.S. military tribunal is not an offense to American principles of justice, it is American justice. We did it at Nuremberg after World War II. Have you forgotten?

Last, we cannot put to trial military prisoners under the Universal Code of Military Justice because it doesn't exist!

By the way, it is the Uniform Code of Military Justice. How do I know? I taught it!

KENNETH A. FOSS, JR.

Holland

When American citizens give up their responsibility to question the government and demand that the government be the servant of the people by working for the general welfare, then we find ourselves with the consequences we are now facing.

We have a government that has created a fictitious threat to rally the citizens to attack another country. U.S. troops will be deployed indefinitely in Iraq while fighting a guerrilla war.

In the meantime, the White House has reported that the United States would end the year with a record $455 billion budget shortfall, up from previous estimates of $304 billion.

Americans will be paying for the Iraqi war for many years to come. Americans not only allowed themselves to be misled about war, but they allow themselves to be tracked and monitored in every conceivable way, violating basic principles of human decency and freedom.

All e-mails, faxes, phone calls, etc. are subject to being monitored at any time. Our cell phones have a tracking chip that works whether the phone is on or off. Cars are being chipped. Every item you buy will soon be chipped unless we can stop it. Every government camera around the country will have the information sent to one brain so that citizens can be better tracked and monitored.

Your medical records are not only open to the government but the information can be sold to private corporations.

We have set up a technological police state and who knows what is being done with the information or what will be done with the information in the future.

There is a better way, and that is for Americans to ask questions, stay informed, and demand representation. A government for the people and by the people will make for better consequences in the future. The choice is ours.

GRANT LAWRENCE

Waterville

The “take a tougher stand on selling city water to Lucas County” residents who talk about not selling outlying areas of Lucas County what they call “our water” should think again.

Where do they think a big share of that water comes from?

We have more than 100 acres with a stream running through it. There are hundreds of similar plots with streams, creeks, and even rivers passing through. Maybe the county or even residents thereof should consider a dam system. Then we could see whose water it was.

Be reasonable. Toledo could easily supply water to outlying areas. It certainly knows what it would cost and could figure out what a reasonable price would be.

After all, the county has worked together with Toledo in the past. Fifth Third Field was backed by “our county.”

ROBERT SCHETTER

Swanton

I couldn't help but be infuriated by the article on whether lethal injections are painful. What about Richard Cooey's two victims and their painful deaths?

Maybe if murderers were given the same deaths their victims had to endure, they'd think twice before committing them. I'm sick of the soft-hearted and misguided anti-execution people who put more value on a murderer's life than on those of the innocent victims.

No wonder our society is such a violent one.

The punishment should fit the crime - and yes, the Bible tells you so.

EDYIE ADDINGTON

Fostoria

George W. Bush stopped in Livonia, Mich., at Beaver Aerospace and Defense, Inc. to thank the employees for their efforts.

Later that same day he added $2 million to his campaign coffers from a fund-raiser in the Detroit area, which gives him more than $32 million for the 2004 presidential election campaign.

During the off-year elections, Mr. Bush made countless journeys throughout the United States appearing on behalf of numerous Republican candidates, raising millions of dollars in contributions for these individuals.

Everywhere Mr. Bush went, his security crew went, sometimes long before the event, to pre-plan all the security details to ensure his safety. His car(s) and support vehicles followed him everywhere as well.

Mr. Bush made these trips as a representative of the Republican Party - not the American people. He was representing the interests of one political party - not the American people.

If Mr. Bush wants to jet around to collect money for Republican Party candidates, himself included, his party should pay the tab - not the American taxpayers.

BOB FOTOPLES

Oregon

I want to extend my appreciation to the federal government for the $28 a month tax cut. I also want to thank local government for raising my property taxes and the governor of Ohio for the raise in the gas tax and sales tax. I'm now in the “hole.”

Needless to say, I won't be “adding to the economy” under the circumstances as I still have not figured out what else I can give up!

As one of the people without wealth, I have come to realize that I'm entitled, apparently, to only an existence and soon, not even that.

SANDY FLICK

Rose Acres Drive