Athletes should speak better
1/2/2011I don't want anyone to think Buckeye fans aren't supportive of the Ohio State University football players' apologies (“Buckeyes speak out,” Dec. 29). But as an OSU alumna, I'm embarrassed by their poor grammar.
It's appalling that most of them will be seniors next year and have not learned the basics of the English language.
How did this happen?
Joan Rigal
Waterville
In response to the Dec. 29 Readers' Forum letter “OSU must control its teams”: Football players are told when they enter a program what they can and cannot do.
No coach can watch every player day and night.
Besides, what the Ohio State players did does not even rise to the level of scandal.
OSU coach Jim Tressel is known nationwide as a clean operator. College athletics and the NCAA have created a huge cesspool at the big-school level.
Contrary to the letter “Many students work in college,” athletic scholarships prohibit athletes from working.
Larry Reed
Maumee
A United Press International poll reports that about 70 percent of Americans think Iran has a nuclear weapons program or is building a weapon.
Instead, what has been discovered is that Iran is processing uranium at levels consistent with nuclear power plants and medical isotopes.
So why is the public misled about Iran's intentions?
Since the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, many Americans have learned their lessons about the propaganda coming from our military-industrial complex and its paid-for politicians and news outlets.
Only 24 percent of those polled agreed that we should do something about Iran's nuclear program.
In 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower warned about the rise and undue influence of the military-industrial complex upon U.S. policy making.
Would you agree that his words were prophetic?
Tony Geis
Brott Road
Government is on the verge of another catastrophic financial meltdown because of reckless spending, unsustainable entitlements, failed stimulus bills and the billion-dollar bailouts of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Wall Street, and corporate giants such as General Motors and Chrysler.
Such spending magnified existing problems and did nothing to stimulate economic growth, reduce unemployment, or halt the rise of poverty.
For long-term economic growth, the Bush tax cuts must be extended permanently.
Intrusive government regulations must be lifted on business to encourage investment, expansion, and job creation.
Government must also reform and manage better programs such as welfare, Medicare, and Social Security.
Conservatism is in the ascendancy.
Newly elected House members, dominated by fiscally conservative Republicans, have a mandate to address spending, create jobs, repeal Obamacare, reduce our debt, and eliminate waste, fraud, and corruption in government.
Gary Stechschulte
Perrysburg
I rarely agree with Blade op-ed columnist Marilou Johanek. However, her Dec. 23 column, “Longer war in Afghanistan is a personal affront,” is on point.
As a nation, we are wasting our best young men and women and our treasury on a war that is not worth a bucket of spit.
These young people are needed at home to help build this country, at a time of increasing competition for the world's natural resources and the best talent.
Think what $100 billion a year would do to rebuild America's infrastructure.
What if we just walked out of Afghanistan?
That country's neighbors — Pakistan, Iran, China, and Russia — would have their hands full trying to cope.
Meanwhile, we could concentrate our efforts on our country.
If we had a draft where the sons and daughters of the well-to-do were sent to this forlorn country, the hue and cry would be intense and this President and Congress would respond differently.
Donald L. Solomon
Ottawa Hills
Kudos to Blade “Ask the Vet” columnist Gary Thompson for his response to a reader who asked about the health problems of a dog he had purchased from a breeder (“Breeder says sawdust could cause pup's cough,” Dec. 26).
Dr. Thompson said that when a breeder offers a health guarantee, the buyer should ask what becomes of the animal if it's returned.
Sometimes it is sold to another unsuspecting buyer, or worse, left untreated by the breeder.
To avoid problems that animals purchased from a breeder sometimes have, he urged the reader to adopt from a local humane society, pound, or rescue group.
Shelter animals are examined and treated by veterinarians before they are offered for adoption.
If everyone followed Dr. Thompson's advice, it would make a difference in the number of homeless pets in shelters.
Many breeders are ethical and care about their animals.
But every dog purchased from a breeder eliminates a potential home for a shelter dog.
With the variety of breeds in shelters, including purebred dogs, as well as specific-breed rescue groups, there is no excuse for adding to overpopulation by purchasing a pet from a breeder.
Make adoption your first option.
Betty Weilant
Perrysburg
See the thanks the American people get for sending their sons and daughters to Iraq and Afghanistan to protect the oil fields and wells there.
We are gouged at the pump.
The oil companies control the price of crude oil, too.
You would have thought they would show some gratitude and wait until after Christmas to raise prices.
Ken Konoff
Temperance
Industry experts give different reasons why they expect the price of a gallon of gasoline to increase to $5.
But why is no one talking about replenishing oil from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
The oil firms wanted to wait long enough for the American people to forget about the oil spill before they began to raise the price of gasoline.
Somebody has to pay for the oil spill, and it sure won't be the oil companies.
Karen Pilatowski
Petersburg, Mich.
After I read Dave Hackenberg's Dec. 25 column “For 3 little boys still missing, a message of hope and comfort,” about the missing boys from Morenci, I thought someone should put it on tape and play it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the jail cell of the boys' father.
Maybe then he could understand what everyone is going through.
The boys' great-grandparents worked for us for years. May God be with them.
Lorraine V. Hodges
Blissfield, Mich.