Konop can really use Facebook

4/28/2009

In response to the letter titled, Who needs a Facebook mayor? For those of you who don t understand what Facebook is and all of its benefits, here is a quick lesson.

Facebook is an online networking tool that brings people together to communicate in a very simple fashion. It has more than 200 million active users. More than 100 million users log on at least once each day, and more than two-thirds of its users are outside of college, and the fastest growing demographic is those 35 and older.

It is vital that Ben Konop takes advantage of this online tool. He is exactly what Toledo needs. He is up to speed with the latest technology and connects with the people of Toledo. I think it is great that he publicized his progress on acquiring so many supporters in such a short time, and it is promising that Toledo has a chance to turn around.

We need somebody with fresh ideas, and a track record to prove results.

Sara Blakely

Adams Street

Some thoughts for those who attended a Tea Tax Party:

You said what you are against. What are you for? The original Boston Tea Party demonstrated not that taxes were too high but that colonists through their representatives should tax themselves and spend the money. We now have a representative government, so what s the problem?

Representative government is based on you, as in We The People. Not the multinational corporations controlling our food supply, agriculture, and jobs. Not the top wealthiest 1 percent in the nation, who now hold a greater share of the wealth than anytime since the 1920s and still want a tax reduction. And certainly not the politicians who promoted free trade while disguising their real intent of free labor and let us pollute at will.

Yes, we have been negligent in allowing our leaders too much power and not challenging their policies. But slogans like no new taxes or socialism cannot bring us out of debt, but only divert attention from the real issues. Only educated, active citizens who understand their responsibilities and communicate intelligently with their government and others can resolve our current grave national dilemma.

Slogans, political rhetoric, and blind obedience to political dogma rather than solutions are the stuff of totalitarian regimes, not democracies.

Darrell Opfer

Oak Harbor

Editor s note: The writer is a former Ohio state representative.

I have never been accused of being a Carty supporter. However, I feel that he is the only person in our city government to step up to the plate to address the city budget problems.

With city income shrinking at an alarming rate due to high unemployment in our region, Carty s numerous proposals to City Council have only fallen on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, City Council has passed the buck over and over again and has yet to offer any substantial ideas. Council did, however, agree to spend millions of dollars we don t have on of all things garbage cans. Next they ll want another $14 million for new trucks to pick up those cans. Again, money we don t have.

The city s employee unions have been asked and even begged for concessions to no avail. Just where do they think the money is going to come from? Easter has passed and the bunny didn t leave a cent.

No one in this city wants to see any employee lose his or her job, but we all know that when times are good they tend to bloat the payroll. Well, now times are tough so we have to reduce payroll. And that, unfortunately, means police and fire personnel as well.

And then you have the suburban big shots trying to recall the mayor. How about recalling City Council instead?

Roger Puppos

Grandview Court

The recent editorial titled Tea partiers late on deficit has it all wrong.

From the second paragraph one can instantly dismiss the rest of the editorial because the author lets his or her understanding of American government be known by labeling our government system a democracy.

Never has America been a democracy, but a republic. I assume this was not taught in the writer s classroom, but with the Internet being a vast body of information, you would think one could figure this out.

Second, to say the modern day tea partiers do not have a focus could not be more incorrect. High taxes, the government bailout package, and a paranoid dislike of the Obama Administration, as the editorial stated, all fall under one roof. It s called big government. Big government is not what our founding fathers wanted and is not what the tea partiers want either.

Third, to suggest the tea party protesters should sit around and wait for socialism to come to America is ridiculous.

As Norman Thomas, six-time U.S. presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America said, The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Luckily, conservatives like the ones at the protests see individual fragments being adopted now and are bold enough to stand up and try to stop it from invading America.

The tea partiers are few but determined, and are not going away any time soon. Then again, what do they know? According to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, they are just a bunch of right-wing terror-threat extremists.

Paul Chambers

Maryann Place

In light of The Blade s demands that the UAW make more concessions, I am writing to set the record straight.

First of all, for more than 75 years the UAW has blazed the trail for working people in this country, helping millions of Americans achieve a decent standard of living.

In recent years, realizing the changes in the auto industry, UAW members negotiated contracts that will put labor costs in line with the foreign competition.

The agreements negotiated between the Big Three and the UAW in 2007 led to the UAW assuming a huge responsibility of the health-care costs for retired workers, saving GM alone more than $47 billion. In addition, cost-saving changes were made to health care for existing employees and wages for new hires.

By 2010, the total compensation for the average UAW worker would actually be less than total compensation for the average nonunionized worker at a foreign transplant factory.

Also bear in mind that labor costs account for less than 10 percent of the total cost of an automobile made by UAW members.

I would argue that workers who toil every day in manufacturing facilities should make a living wage, and that workers should have health insurance when they retire.

It s a shame the editors are so quick to side against the very people who pay so many of the bills in this town (including newspaper subscriptions) the auto workers.

Harley Laws IV

Yaryan Drive

Well, it took government entities 45 years to figure out how to get around the open-records law, but they finally did it. Use an attorney, not a private investigator.

What s next? The Sunshine Law?

GREGORY NIMIGEAN

Dellwood Drive