Cartoon was just a cheap shot
4/19/2010The April 13 cartoon by Drew Sheneman was a cheap shot at the Tea Party.
We are called "teabaggers," which most people didn't know is slang for a sex act until liberals began using it as a derisive taunt.
The cartoonist apparently feels that Tea Party members are "irrationally angry." Irrationally? How about the fact that the national debt is now $12.8 trillion, 89 percent of gross domestic product, and unfunded liabilities for entitlement programs are a whopping $108 trillion? Source: usdebtclock.org.
Yet politicians of both parties continue their reckless spending.
The cartoon also tries to convince us that Tea Party members are "making death threats to Congress," again labeling the movement as something it is not. I'm surprised Mr. Sheneman didn't also play the race card, another favorite tactic of the liberal opposition.
Brian Lee
Sylvania
Never, in more than 40 years of subscribing to The Blade, have I seen so offensive a cartoon as the one by Drew Sheneman.
Your staff can't be so stupid as not to know that the term has a negative sexual connotation. You are supposed to be in the information business and cannot hide behind ignorance.
By belittling people who support the Tea Party, you are impugning the very integrity of middle-class America.
Paul Hamil
Sylvania
I am a 67-year-old grandmother who is a part of the Tea Party movement because I am concerned about the future of my children and grandchildren.
How dare you use a vulgar cartoon such as the one published on April 13 to degrade our cause just because you don't agree with it.
Donna Wagner
115th Street
The problem with the high salaries and benefits of our local government employees will never be solved as long as their salaries and benefits are set through bargaining with elected Democratic officials who are kept in power by the unions whose wage and benefit packages these same elected officials approve.
If any of the local politicians at any level - congress member, county commissioners, mayor, or city councilmen - dared to countermand the union bosses' marching orders, that would be the end of their political careers.
Anyone remember Pete Gerken, the county commissioner who was told by his union bosses to return the car he bought because they didn't approve of the brand? He did it ("Gerken gives luxury auto with foreign brand back," Jan. 6).
How would you like having him across the bargaining table, setting your union pay level or approving it if you were in the union? I sure would.
J. Fernandez
Maumee
Once again, you present half-truths to further manipulate the public opinion about Toledo safety forces. Your reports about pension contributions imply they are some sort of outrageous perk the city is saddled with giving to police officers and firefighters ("City workers' pay exceeds are average," April 11).
If you're going to tell the story, tell the whole story.
The pension pick-up you criticize was bargained for in past contracts in lieu of pay raises. In essence, the 10 percent pension payment made by the city is merely 10 percent of the safety forces' earned wages, but with a different label.
While the private sector was getting raises to keep up with inflation, the police and fire unions were accepting pension pick-ups in place of raises.
Jerry Heer
Maumee
The people suffering most in this country are the middle class, the poor, and the seniors.
Why isn't one politician expected to give up anything, but police, firefighters, teachers are? Politicians make the best money, and have the best retirement and health-care plans.
It's time the people take back the country.
Janice Starkey
Maumee
I respect the police department for what the officers do. I think they deserve every penny they make. What I object to is their not having to pay for their own retirement and hospitalization insurance.
Last year, I took a pay cut of 15 to 18 percent, and I pay into my own retirement and hospitalization insurance.
Sometimes I can barely afford the co-pays for my prescriptions because there are other bills that have to be taken care of first.
The police should be willing to start paying their portion of these benefits.
James Crossen
Ward Street
A $15-a-month trash fee along with a water bill every three months comes to $45 on top of water usage ("$15 trash fee, forced union givebacks OK'd," March 31).
Reducing the tax credit for people working outside the city limits, when jobs are hard to find in Toledo, is ludicrous.
I'm tired of mismanagement and pay hikes for people who have high wages to begin with. I'm tired of threats about laying off police officers just to get a budget passed.
Our streets are in shambles, there are more gangs on the street, drugs are out of control, and homes are being broken into. This is not the Toledo I grew up in, and it is getting worse.
Don Collins
Greenwood Avenue
Rep. Marcy Kaptur or Gov. Ted Strickland ought to take a real close look at the money being thrown at solar energy.
The article about Xunlight receiving a $1.5 million grant to light the Veterans' Glass City Skyway bridge was really interesting ("Skyway going solar on $1.5M U.S. grant," April 14). What it failed to mention was that Xunlight reportedly just laid off some workers.
We've been told all this government spending will create jobs, and that green energy will create jobs here in Toledo. I see the opposite.
Where is all the money going? If companies aren't keeping the workers they had when they received the money, shouldn't they give it back?
Jim Johnson
Northwood
Sylvania Superintendent Brad Rieger and the Sylvania school board chose well when they decided to relocate Central Elementary School to Wolfinger Road in the southwest corner of Sylvania Township.
Since 85 percent of current students live south of Central Avenue, student safety clearly was a priority in their choice.
Ross Deye
Wolfinger Road
Those who have a business or buy for a business can help restore jobs in the United States.
As a used-car dealer, I buy many tires. My friends at the tire store know they should quote me prices only for tires made in America. By supporting my neighbors in Toledo and around the United States, I can help them help me revive the economy.
I'll buy American as long as I can. Together we can make a difference.
Norm Maran
Oak Grove Place