Caring for wounded veterans
3/6/2007The recent firing of Walter Reed Medical Commander General George Weightman reveals once again just how far George Bush will go to blame others for his mistakes and hide the true financial cost of the Iraq war.
The failure of Walter Reed Medical Center to properly care for returning soldiers cannot be left on the shoulders of one individual. The simple truth is that the Republicans have cut Veterans Administration funding so much that the fine people
at Walter Reed could no longer keep things going.
The sad part is that the Republicans have spun this incident to make it appear it was a onetime incident. It wasn t. As a disabled veteran, I can personally state that veterans have always faced difficulties getting care.
This matter has been made even worse by Republican budget cuts targeted at the VA.
If you want to help, ask your elected representatives to get us out of Iraq and divert the $4 billion a week war cost to the VA.
I can think of no better way to thank veterans than to remove them from a no-win war and to give the cost savings to those
who have served with honor.
JOSEPH P. SCHUCH
Boydson Drive
I feel that it s perfectly ridiculous to hold parents responsible for the crimes and misdemeanors of their teenagers. The law won t allow either the parents or the schools to discipline these little monsters! Just try spanking your little darling. They go to school, tell the teacher, and you end up in jail!
I m certainly glad I m not raising children now! If I were, I d probably be spending a lot of time in jail. My children got their little behinds paddled when they needed it, and not one of them has spent any time in jail.
SHIRLEY J. BEUTLER
Lambertville
The Senate defeat of Rep. John Murtha s nonbinding resolution on Iraq has served to focus on the new direction of the Democrats. The Democratic leadership will not have an up or down vote on the cutting of funds for one simple reason.
They realize that people would look back and connect the 3 million dots on the dominoes (lives lost) of Southeast Asia after they stopped funding the government of South Vietnam in 1975.
Now, President Bush is lying about Iranian actions in supporting the Iraqi insurgency and the purpose of its nuclear program.
If Iran has peaceful intentions, why did the U.N. Security Council vote unanimously last December to impose sanctions?
Why trust a government that professes it hates Israel and us?
The Iranian government closes newspapers and arrests those who are critical of its leadership.
The naive have more faith in a government that handpicks its parliament than in our own system of laws and elections.
On the eve of the 1940 election President Roosevelt told the nation, Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
Yet he wanted to send B-17s and their crews to China. He also ordered the FBI wiretaps (illegally) on Nazi elements inside this country. Roosevelt also ordered our ships and planes to provide U-boat protection to the British merchant fleet.
In September of 1941, this policy caused German Admiral Raeder to tell Hitler that there was no difference between American and British ships.
Roosevelt artfully maneuvered this country into war by deceit and deception. Back then, people put aside their differences at the shoreline. Now we damn our leadership from any little corner of the world.
JOHN F. MILZ
Perrsyburg
When it comes to fi lling a vacancy, it looks like the Lucas County Democrats would rather go for a person who is electable than bring in some young blood.
The good old boys of the past are still around. The only way a young Democrat can get a start is to run for offi ce and get elected.
Appointments are for old-timers who have run the course, played the musical chairs game, lost out due to term limits, but still have the name recognition. I am sure that there are more than a few qualifi ed persons taking political science classes at Owens or the University of Toledo who would jump at the chance to be Lucas County recorder.
JIM RAY
Boydson Drive
Yuval Zaliouk must be the only person on this planet who does not acknowledge the name Palestine. Certainly the early Greeks and Romans did more than 2,000 years ago, as they gave the name Palaestina (Palestine) to the entire region inhabited by the Jews, although the name for the actual kingdom of the Jews was Judaea.
Following the Jewish rebellion of 132-135, Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name to Syria-Palaestina, or just Palestine.
Under 4th century Emperor Diocletian, Palestine was just one province in the Oriens diocese (territory).
According to The origin of the Palestine-Israeli confl ict, published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East, Ben Gurion s aim was to evacuate as much of the Arab population as possible by the destruction of whole villages and the eviction of their inhabitants.
By mid-1949, the majority of the 350 depopulated Arab villages were either completely or partly in ruins and uninhabitable.
LEONARD HARGRAVE
North University
G. Michael Pratt made an error in determining the Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought fi ve miles upriver from Fort Miamis.
The battle was fought two miles from the fort near the present location of Union School and St. Joseph s Church in Maumee.
The biography, The Life and Times of Little Turtle, by Harvey Carter, and the biography, Blue Jacket, by John Sugden, are well
documented and make it clear the battle was fought approximately two miles from the fort by maps drawn to scale and other references.
The Northwest Ohio Quarterly, published by the Historical Society of Northwestern Ohio, reprinted a previously published
article for the Toledo Metropolitan Park Board in April, 1944, titled, Fort Miami. The article included a map, drawn to scale, which placed the Indian battle line approximately two miles from the fort. According to the article, the map, which was from the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, was sent by Lord Dorchester to Henry Dundas. Lord Dorchester was the British governor-general of Canada and was instrumental in the establishment of Fort Miamis. Henry Dundas was the British secretary of war.
A History of Jonathan Alder, edited by Larry Nelson, the former director of Fort Meigs, and The Foot of the Rapids, a biography of Maumee by Marilyn Wendler, also lend strong support to that location.
There are logical reasons as to the artifacts found by Professor Pratt. The shot, in particular, was residual from the many years of hunting in the area by both the Indians and settlers.
The directors of the Metroparks will have to determine if development will continue at the present incorrect location and if so what will they tell us taxpayers and other contributors of financial support.
RON TALLOAK EVERETT
Maumee
I used to live in Point Place and would go past Jamie Farr Pool every day. Usually the pool was packed with children and their parents. Is this another of Carty s harebrained ideas to save money by closing the four pools in lower-income neighborhoods?
What does he need, another shower in his office?
Most of the people who use these pools cannot afford pools in their own yards for their children to cool off and have fun.
Don t ask the people, just do what you want, like many other projects.
Glad I moved out of Toledo.
DON KERSTETTER
Perrysburg
A March 2 Forum writer has determined that smoking is more dangerous than drunken driving. What I'd like to know is what has he been smoking?
George Hartman
Wauseon