LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ending oil subsidies a good start
5/4/2011U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur's call to end federal subsidies to oil companies is a good start ("Kaptur calls for end to oil firms' tax breaks," May 2). However, she is mistaken to blame those companies for the high pump price of gasoline.
Gasoline is a direct example of supply and demand. Our nation lives on oil. Because government policy is to restrict domestic production, we must import oil.
The price we pay is denominated in U.S. dollars, which have lost value relative to other major world currencies. That has driven the cost of oil to more than $110 per barrel.
Miss Kaptur could do us all a great service by also calling for the elimination of the vast government subsidies to green energy companies. If green energy was any kind of profit- making opportunity, venture capitalists and investors would get in on the ground floor of such an industry.
It would appear that current government policy is to drive up the price of oil to force the public to purchase electric cars.
Gerald Briskin
Ledgestone Drive
Gas prices would rise even higher
Is Congressman Kaptur clueless? Her proposal to deny ExxonMobil and other oil companies tax breaks because oil prices are higher now shows a total ignorance of the way business operates.
Her proposal would most likely have the opposite effect on gasoline prices. These "tax breaks" are tax deductions taken by all businesses. Given that businesses don't generally pay any tax because the cost is passed on to consumers, this proposal would raise gas prices even more as oil companies tried to recoup the lost deduction.
Is it the business of government to decide which industries will be singled out for the application of tax deductions related to the cost of doing business? To pick and choose which industries are entitled to a deduction, based on nothing more than how much they make?
Whatever happened to the concept that we are free to pursue happiness in whatever form it might take -- profit, art, material goods? I guess when you think it is noble to spread the wealth around, those ideas go out the window.
Ed Feeny
Erawa Drive
We're collecting more from less?
Your April 22 front-page story proclaimed: "City sees rise in tax collection from '10."
The same day, on the business page, you reported: "Area personal income dips 1%."
How do we collect more on less?
Bud Myers
Pineway Drive
Pope John Paul II failed the children
Maureen Dowd's April 30 op-ed column about the beatification of Pope John Paul ("Sex scandal stains beatification of Pope John Paul II") is right on. The pope did a lot of good, but he looked the other way on the most important issue of protecting children.
Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legion of Christ, was abusing his own children and then parading them in front of the pope.
It's a kick in the face of victims of abuse to beatify this man.
Mary Jean McCarty
Sylvania
Pope knew about sexual abuse
Pope John Paul II knew about the scourge of sexual abuse both in his homeland in Poland when he was a bishop and in the universal church as pope. I cannot excuse him based on some notions about his cultural conditioning or predisposition.
He knew it and he dismissed it -- or failed to deal with it directly -- as many of his predecessors did. For that reason I opposed his beatification.
The canonization of a person is not a matter of core Christian belief. No one needs to venerate any person on the list of saints. I choose not to venerate this man.
Mike Drabik
Bronson Avenue
Obama besieged by nitpickers
President Obama's place of birth has been a question since he decided to run for president. Many Republicans can't bear that Mr. Obama is a Democrat and the first black president of the United States.
They are trying to nitpick him to death. Now he has shown his birth certificate from Hawaii, but some crazies still won't leave him alone ("Citizenship issue: Plea to shift Obama case heard by panel," May 3).
Donald Trump, who has too much time on his hands, now is picking on Mr. Obama's grades from Columbia and Harvard universities.
According to the recent census, the Hispanic population is growing. Let's say that years from now a Hispanic is elected U.S. president. I bet the crazies will question whether he or she is legal. Are the parents legal? Are the grandparents legal? Where will it end?
No one questioned where Sen. John McCain was born: the Panama Canal Zone.
But who cares? There are so many problems in this country that need to be solved. Let's help our elected officials instead of monkeying around with trivial matters.
Patrick Ng
Bowling Green
Carnegie concert is a great honor
To be selected to play at Carnegie Hall is a great honor, not just for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, but for all of Toledo ("Build on symphony success," May 1 op-ed column).
The Glacity Theatre Collective is appreciative of the symphony for inviting us to participate in this wonderful program. We thank the symphony's supporters in the region for making it possible for this production to go to New York.
We are eager to help represent to the world all that is good and exciting about the arts in Toledo.
Holly Monsos
Tennyson Place
Editor's Note: The writer is executive director of the Glacity Theatre Collective.
Taking care of corporate warriors
I'm relieved to read that Toledo-area CEOs' pay is on the rebound ("Area CEO pay on rebound," May 1). I was beginning to worry that our brave corporate warriors were woefully undercompensated for their labors.
It is too bad that working-class Americans never see pay increases of 28 percent like Owens Corning CEO Mike Thaman's, or quarterly profits such as ExxonMobil's $11 billion -- subsidized by our government and probably untaxed. I can't wait until all that money trickles down.
Ron Werdebaugh
Bowling Green
March for babies deserved some ink
I was proud to be one of the thousands of walkers who braved the rain to walk for March of Dimes on May 1 in downtown Toledo.
I'm not so proud of my hometown paper, which did not even mention it the next day. Too bad you could not get anyone out of bed to cover this great story.
The March of Dimes rocks because of everything it does for babies in need of help.
Pat Young
Sylvania Township
Tough standards can be good thing
The austerity measures foisted on the public by our wealthy politicians bring to mind the postwar period in England when I was a young girl. Along with my three siblings, I lived in the country, with no electricity until I was 18 years old.
Living on a small holding and growing plants and flowers, my parents had unique ways of making sure we completed the necessary work. Picking up a hammer and nails or rescuing plants blown down in a gale in the unpredictable Liverpool climate was a regular happening.
My first memory of America was hearing my mother say: "These Americans are so generous sending us canned Spam and chocolate." We loved it. Thank you.
As a senior, I realize that these early tough measures implemented by my parents have made my life much easier and productive. But now I worry about upcoming generations and the severe belt-tightening predicted for them in this global economy.
If parents and teachers don't demand long-overdue tougher standards and schedules, both at home and in the classroom, I'm afraid their senior years might turn out to be a very different story.
Pat Sager
Sylvania