Letters to the editor

Region's GOP is clueless

2/8/2012

Thomas Walton's Jan. 30 op-ed column, "Ohio needs a better way to redraw its political map," hits the mark.

Before this decade is over, northwest Ohio Republicans will be asking themselves: What were we thinking? The Port of Toledo is too important to the rest of northwest Ohio to think a Cleveland-area congressman will be an asset.

My congressman, Republican Rep. Bob Latta of Bowling Green, is not capable of handling the complex issues involved in the port and auto industry in northwest Ohio. I hope The Blade would not endorse him.

John Turkal

Middleton Township

Workers should get tax break

Citizens who make more than $1 million a year should volunteer to pay more in taxes. They may have to give up second or third luxury homes, have fewer high-end cars, boats, trips, and extravagant parties, and learn to live more like the rest of us.

As a retired state employee and a Republican, I want citizens to know that not all Republicans are rich and uncaring. Neither the far right nor the far left represents me or the majority of us.

The American worker who makes less than $250,000 should be given tax breaks, not the rich or the entitled.

Jon Herdman

Fleet Road

Combat would change his mind

I strongly disagree with the writer of the Jan. 28 Readers' Forum letter "Marines' action indefensible." He said that he has no combat experience, so he has no idea of the physical and mental stress these young men go through.

Being shot at and trying to avoid improvised explosive devices is not a walk in the park. Let the writer be shot at daily and face the threat of being blown to bits, and he may change his mind.

Kenneth Weber

Swanton Township

Defense act spoils climate of trust

Congress' approval rating is at a record low. President Obama's approval rating is about 50 percent. So what do these officials do to improve the climate of trust?

They pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the government to arrest and detain indefinitely American citizens who may have ties to terrorists. One may disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again.

No warrant, no jury, no habeas corpus. And no Constitution.

Ron Heringhauser

Brownstone Boulevard