McCain has policy design for disaster

5/5/2008

In the light of recent articles about questionable mortgages and foreclosures, I want to thank The Blade for running economist Paul Krugman's column on Sen. John McCain's economic policies. He says that Mr. McCain is promising massive givebacks to seduce harried taxpayers. These range from the old (making permanent President Bush's tax cuts for the rich) to the new (corporate tax cuts, gas tax holidays, abolition of alternate minimum tax). The total loss in federal revenue: $5 trillion in 10 years.

Meanwhile, Mr. McCain is going to fight the 100-year war and provide care for retiring boomers. The result is inevitable: a bankrupt federal government. This is a formula for economic disaster on an unprecedented scale.

Talk about shaky mortgages. Consider well your 2008 vote. These false "tax cuts" will come back to haunt us, as the flimsy mortgages did.

Mike Watkins

Bowling Green

Israel isn't innocent in conflict with Arabs

In response to the April 23 letter to the editor headlined, "Arabs choose war in coinflict with Israel": There's no doubt that Palestinians have wreaked havoc on Israel but Israel has not been an innocent bystander. About 60 percent of people living in Israel want negotiations with democratically elected Hamas. Finally, Jimmy Carter met with Hamas and, apparently, peace may be reached and Hamas will recognize Israel if Israel agrees to withdraw to its 1967 borders. In fact, the Hamas solution is consistent with UN resolution 242.

Why would this be a fair agreement for both the Palestinians and Israel? Because Israel pre-empted the 1967 war with the Arabs. President Lyndon Johnson had full knowledge of Israel's intentions and told Israel the United States did not condone the action. Israel attacked Egypt anyway and the Six Day War was on.

Since Hamas was elected, nearly a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza are trapped behind electric fences and watchtowers manned by Israeli soldiers. They can't enter Israel to work. They do not fish off the coast because Israeli gunboats open fire on them. The unemployment rate is 70 percent and 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza live on $2 a day.

It is time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ended. And it's time the U.S. government stopped giving Israel $3 billion yearly in aid at U.S. taxpayer expense.

Carol Timm

Brooklyn, Mich

Stamp out Hunger collection Saturday

Because of the slowing economy, inventories of food at food banks have been shrinking at a time when the need for food is growing. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it.

On Saturday, Stamp out Hunger, the largest one-day food drive in the nation, will be held. Just leave nonperishable food items in a grocery bag by your mailbox (before the mail normally comes) and your letter carrier will pick them up and make sure the food gets to those who need it.

Last year, letter carriers collected 70.7 million pounds of food. With your help, we can do even better than that this year. And unlike government programs, where the bureaucracy swallows up most of your donation, with Stamp Out Hunger you are assured that everything you give will make its way to the needy.

This annual event is a partnership between the National Association of Letter Carriers, the U.S. Postal Service, United Way of Greater Toledo, Campbell's, AFL-CIO, and America's Second Harvest.

Michael O'Brien

Bradner, Ohio

Sierra Leone gaining great pair of doctors

From an early age, those of us from a certain generation were always told to "count our blessings." As I've aged, I find I have many such blessings to be thankful for. One such blessing is that for some 13 years, my wife, Barb, and I had the pleasure of calling Karen and Tom Asher our family doctors. In an age where "family medicine" and assembly line are frequently regarded as synonymous, the Ashers bucked the trend and provided timely, careful, and caring service to their patients. First names were always remembered and there was always time for pleasant, off-the-subject conversation.

You never were made to feel that you were on a time limit. No run 'em in and run 'em out, to put it simply. I remember the genuine sadness I felt when I found out that Drs. Tom and Karen would no longer be our doctors but when I found out the reason, I was not surprised in the least. As The Blade's April 21 story stated, they are pulling up stakes to do full-time medical mission work in Kamakwie, Sierra Leone. Doctor Tom had, on occasion, mentioned this goal to me but apparently it came to fruition earlier than had originally been thought possible.

I'm saddened to lose them as my doctors but the people of Kamakwie, whose needs I assume are many, are receiving one of the best and rarest exports this country possesses - two incredible and caring physicians and, maybe more importantly, two truly good and decent people. Be well my friends.

Scott and barb Sanford

Sylvania

Strickland is playing politics with troopers

Every resident of Ohio should be outraged by the blatant disregard of the rights of the Ohio state troopers being fired by Gov. Ted Strickland. These troopers were subject to the Ohio Highway Patrol's hearing process, were honest and truthful, admitted they were wrong, and took their medicine. How many bites at the apple does Mr. Strickland want to destroy the lives of these men and their families? He is playing politics with their lives and has bent to pressure from the NAACP.

These men will surely get their jobs back through arbitration, which will cost taxpayers huge sums.

All in the name of politics.

The NAACP held a celebration April 22 at the United Auto Workers hall in Sandusky celebrating the firing of two fellow union members. Can you imagine that? The UAW has a long history of fighting for the rights of their members and others. These troopers are no different, they should receive a fair shake.

Brian J. Murray

Norwalk, Ohio

Dog editorial shows an anti-police bias

I could not believe my eyes when I read The Blade's blatantly anti-police editorial on April 25 regarding an officer who shot a dog.

Just because a dog is friendly to a person's family does not mean that it is friendly to others. Just because the family said the dog was friendly does not make it so. Is anyone who actually witnessed the interaction claiming the dog was just wagging his tail and walking around and the police officer ran up and killed it for no reason? Since The Blade did not mention that, I am guessing that the answer is no. The Blade's choice of the word "whitewash" shows its complete lack of objectiveness in this incident.

The editorial also states that the police officer should have allowed an animal control officer to handle this dog running loose and acting aggressively. What would the editorial have said if the dog had bitten someone, especially a child, while the police officer was waiting?

Lastly, politically created citizen-review panels are never the right thing to do. They are filled with activists with a political agenda who work toward validating that agenda. As a police officer involved in the largest police union in the country, I can tell you that many police officers are investigated and punished for their actions, and in most cases, rightfully so. Citizen-review panels already exist, they're called the grand jury, and re-inventing that is uncalled for.

The Blade should know better than to write biased and unprofessional editorials that demean the officer mentioned and the Toledo Police Department as a whole without any evidence at all. My hometown newspaper should be ashamed.

Jay McDonald

Secretary,

Ohio Fraternal Order of Police

Marion, Ohio

President Bush said that if he had a magic wand to decrease the cost of gasoline to the American consumer, he would surely wave it. Let me suggest that the 1.1 billion gallons of fuel used in Iraq in 2007 just might be the magic wand he is wishing for.

End the war - now.

Bruce J. Kiacz

Whitehouse