The writers of Blade editorials don't list their names on the Pages of Opinion, yet they see no issue with violating the privacy and safety of Ohioans with concealed-carry permits ("Don't conceal gun data," editorial, Oct. 10).
If concealed-carry permit holders are listed in gun violence police reports, I'm sure all you intellectuals would have no problem getting those statistics from local law enforcement agencies, although I doubt there would be many, if any.
Criminals don't bother to follow the law when they carry weapons. They just carry despite the laws.
John Glaza
Springfield Township
Landlord's intent went wrong
Many years ago, there was a power outage during the coldest time of the winter. I borrowed a generator from my good friend to keep my family warm until the power came back.
I can't imagine that my friend would have gone to prison if something fatal had happened to my family ("Landlord sentenced for deaths; Toledoan gets community control for misguided act," Oct. 1).
The loss of the family killed by the gas generator lent by the landlord was a tragedy. But criminals who intentionally commit a crime are many times given a slap on the wrist, or plea-bargain for some ridiculous sentence that is not punitive, and then are out on the streets in several months to commit another crime.
Sadly, the landlord's's error in judgment did cause deaths, but how is his sentence going to change anything? The judge ordered that most of his community service should be spent in homeless shelters, assisting disadvantaged people.
Wasn't that what he was trying to do by helping the family keep warm? Talk about no good deed going unpunished.
Sandra Heyneman
Havenwood Drive
Obama wrongly blamed for mess
Some people seem to have forgotten the mess President Obama inherited when he took office. The economy was in bad shape and the bailouts were in play, but a lot of people blame him ("GOP rips Obama's millionaire tax plan," Sept. 19).
The President cares for the middle class and not just the wealthy. Why shouldn't the rich have to pay the same tax as the common laborer? President Obama would have to pay more because he is wealthy, but he knows it is fair. Yet he is cut down every step of the way.
President Obama is a smart man. If lawmakers would not fight him on everything, maybe our nation would improve.
Linda Perrine
Fostoria
Mr. President, time to move on
President Obama's money and job policies have not worked these past three years ("Obama's jobs plan blocked by Senate," Oct. 12).
The only respectable thing I can see him doing is the gentlemanly thing done in the game of chess when a player is sadly out of assets: Resign and move on to the next game.
Charles Dersher
Sylvania
Rich get richer; job creators needed
American household's net worth dropped 0.3 percentage points in April through June of this year from the preceding quarter, according to a Federal Reserve report.
The same report says corporations held a record $2 trillion in cash at the end of June, an increase of 4.5 percent from the previous quarter.
The wealthy are getting wealthier and the middle class is worse off. Where were the job creators during President George W. Bush's administration?
Unless we develop independent, informed judgments based on respect for learning, we have no hopes of electing talented and knowledgeable persons to lead the nation.
Vadaken Krishnan
Bowling Green
Voter in search of a Robin Hood
Is this really the land of democracy? According to New York University economics professor Edward Wolff, 80 percent of the wealth is held by 20 percent of the people. That's more like monarchy, with a king, queen, and royal elite, and the bulk of the population consisting of peasants.
The more power the Republican Party has, the greater the monarchy grows. Republicans feed the rich and take from the middle class and poor.
I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat. But I do vote in each election in search of Robin Hood.
William Herter
Delta, Ohio
Gains to help homeless feted
The Toledo Area Alliance to End Homelessness held its second annual Recognition Day Oct. 9 as part of World Homeless Day.
Those who participated celebrated the families and individuals who have completed sheltering programs and are living in independent housing, taking steps never to become homeless again. The pride in the faces of our former participants was awesome.
The alliance, with its 28 agencies and thousands of people served through collective programs each year, works to end homelessness in our community.
Kyle Grefe
Chairman Toledo Area Alliance to End Homelessness Ashland Avenue
Homeless sadly not supported
In Athens, Ohio, there is only one homeless shelter for a nine-county area and it holds 15 people. According to WUOB, the public television station at Ohio University, zoning authorities there turned down a request to expand the shelter.
That there is a need for homeless shelters is sad enough. That people would refuse to allow others to help the homeless is even sadder.
Dick Laumann
Sylvania Township
Postal service needs no bailout
Contrary to some politicians' beliefs, the U.S. Postal Service is not asking for a government bailout ("U.S. Postal Service facing default; Low on cash, agency has $5.5B payment due for retirees' health care," Sept. 6). We need Congress to correct the problem that it created.
In 2006, a new law required the Postal Service to pre-fund future retirees' health-care premiums for 75 years. This pre-funding was to be paid over 10 years. This is $5.5 billion a year. No other private business or government agency is required to sustain this burden.
Two independent studies found that the Postal Service's civil service retirement fund and federal employee retirement system have been overfunded by $50 billion and $6 billion, respectively.
Congress could correct this problem by repaying the Postal Service for the overpayments, or ending the pre-funding mandate. Either solution would correct the service's financial woes for years to come.
A bill in the U.S. House would prevent the financial collapse of the Postal Service. It would allow the service to apply billions of dollars in pension overpayments to the congressional mandate that required it to pre-fund the health care benefits of future retirees.
Without the burdensome mandate, the Postal Service would have shown a surplus of $611 million over the past four fiscal years.
The Postal Service must be relieved of this unfair burden to remain a trusted American institution.
Arnie Cowell
President Local 170 American Postal Workers Union Monroe Street
Raise junk mail rates; save trees
A way to help the Postal Service is to increase the postage rate on all the junk mail we get ("Proposed cuts to service protested; 100 in city join postal rally," Sept. 28). Why do those who send junk mail pay so little? Besides, it would save the trees.
Thelma Wexler
Fairfield Drive
First Published October 15, 2011, 4:00 a.m.
