LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Corn issue stalks country

9/17/2012

According to The Blade, the country has a corn problem ("Corn politics," editorial, Sept. 8). The fuel industry, a large political contributor, needs corn for ethanol production.

Large agriculture, another colossal political benefactor, needs corn to feed farm animals. This, coupled with the drought, has reduced the availability of corn.

The congressional conundrum is how to keep both sides happy and still pay farmers not to grow more corn.

It would not surprise me to see Congress pass a bill that would allow us to repurchase our own corn from China at twice the price, to keep political contributors happy.

William Poznanski

Melvin Drive

 

Point Place 'star' will be missed

Howard Pinkley, who died Sept. 1 at age 85, was a shining star in Point Place and did much for the people living there ("Point Place icon," editorial, Sept. 5).

He also was a prominent member of the Toledo-Lucas County Memorial Day Association. He annually procured about 45,000 American flags that we put on the graves of our military veterans in 35 cemeteries in Lucas County.

He will be sorely missed.

Gerard Jacobs

Secretary/Treasurer Toledo-Lucas County Memorial Day Association Fairhaven Drive

 

Rise up, laity, to defend nuns

Nothing is more transparent than Catholic Church bishops diverting attention from their own scandals and crimes against children, as with their recent focus on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious ("Bishop says dialogue still sought with nuns; Sisters' leader: See wants us to conform," July 26). Sadly, Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair heads the modern-day witch hunt.

Down through the ages, the church has changed with the times. Now an organization of religious women leaders is bullied by the male leaders of the church because nuns followed the spirit of Vatican II and served the poor, the outcasts, and the forgotten, just as Jesus did. These nuns are questioned by a pious group of men who wouldn't know how to talk with a homeless person.

It is up to the laity to support nuns who are the true spiritual leaders of the church, even though they have no voice.

Karen Wikoff

Tiffin

 

Military sex abuse must be stopped

I joined about 100 other people at the Maumee Indoor Theatre recently to see The Invisible War, a documentary about women in our Armed Forces who had been raped by fellow service members ("Film on sex abuse in military slated," July 31).

The impact the rapes had on their lives was bad enough, but the treatment the victims endured by virtually everyone up the chain of command was disgusting.

Some victims had charges filed against them, some simply stopped fighting the system and left the service, and others took their fight to the media, to Congress, and to the courts.

Only one person can order the changes necessary and hold military leaders accountable for making those changes.

President Obama, as commander in chief, should watch the documentary and order the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make changes. Our servicemen and women deserve nothing less.

Donald Phillips

Middleton Township