Article published October 07, 2008
Good news stays secret to media
On Sept. 28, in little Toledo, between 4,000 and 5,000 people gathered to watch 1,200 rowers compete in the 23rd Frogtown Races Regatta, hosted by the Toledo Rowing Club and Owens Corning.
It was a wonderful day, and we enjoyed watching our granddaughter and hundreds of high school kids compete for Notre Dame Academy. Our beautiful river and downtown skyline showcased the event. A woman from Chicago told us she enjoyed the event so much and looked forward to returning.
Now the bad news. I called WTVG-TV, Channel 13, and asked why it was not there. The channel said its budget did not allow it, and they only had one cameraman.
I am sick and tired of watching gore, killing of parents, rape, robbery, and gay men making babies. I want - and expect - more of the good news like the above events.
Go back out with reporters like in the past and stop asking us to do your job and send in pictures.
Theodore GeorgoffWindamar Road
'Heroic' Great Lakes initiative is all wet
It sounds like Congress has made a "heroic" effort to protect the Great Lakes from exploitation. But did it? No. While there would be a ban on bulk exportation of bulk shipments - containers over 7 1/2 gallons - suppliers can ship containers of 7.4 gallons or less by the truckload, defeating any effort at protection. How did we survive without prepackaged water containers? Our household fills a water bottle using our own filtering of tap water.
This sounds like the usual political ploy for members of Congress to pat themselves on the back with no substantial, real limits on export. It's like keeping the glass half full while allowing an unlimited number of glasses. Marcy Kaptur has it right.
Don J. Mooney
Erie, Mich.
Laws protecting life say a lot about nation
The alternative approach to opposing abortion proposed by Richard Gaillardetz in the Sept. 27 edition of The Blade should be an additional approach, not a shift in position.
He cites the dim prospects of a court reversal, problems with enforcement, and the fact that abortions would continue as reasons for questioning the strategy. Speeding laws don't stop all speeding; theft laws don't stop all thefts; murder laws don't stop all murders. Yet these laws are on the books.
These laws speak to what we believe as a nation. They suggest what we value as a culture and as a civilized people. He states that the 1.3 million abortions a year is a national moral scandal. I agree.
But the greater scandal is that the law of the land allows this taking of helpless, innocent life growing in the womb.
If our ancestors believed that "settled law" meant the end of the discussion, we would still have slavery and only white men would be able to vote. There would be no African-American or female voters, let alone candidates, in this year's election.
As long as Roe vs. Wade is the law, our nation cannot realize the greatness that our forefathers had in mind when this country was founded.
Furthermore, the social policies that he cites in describing his candidate would certainly be valid reasons to support that candidate. They are pro-motherhood; they provide health-care assistance to poor families, and they require paternal responsibility and support.
However, to overlook other policies in that candidate's record and to describe that candidate as "pro-life" strike me as infringements of the commandment against bearing false witness.
Andrew Babula
Sylvania
Brand new cents make little sense
"Pennies from Heaven" is a wonderful song from years ago. Presently our government has invested millions to mint new pennies.
How ridiculous it is in these economic times for the feds to mint a coin that should have been retired years ago. I wonder which senseless part of government made the decision to redesign the cent and continue its usage?
No wonder the country is going broke. Perhaps our leaders think pennies come from Heaven. I'm certain they also believe that money grows on trees.
The reality, however, is that taxpayers will foot the multimillions needed to produce these unneeded coins.
Tell me these new cents make any sense.
Donald N. Thurber
LaSalle, Mich.
Great Depression offers us solutions
The Great Depression of the 1930s would have caused many people to lose their homes, including my parents.
The FDR administration came up with the Home Owners Loan Corporation. As I was very young at the time, I have no idea how it worked but somehow, instead of giving money to bankers, it was loaned to homeowners, who gave it to the bank, so they were able to keep their homes.
Certainly our Congress could have found a better solution than that proposed by our Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson.
Can someone look into history and learn, or is there no thought for the common people?
My home has no mortgage.
Harry R. Older
Grosse Pointe Parkway
Our own actions got us into this mess
Two years ago I wrote to The Blade asking, "What happened to our great country?"
Well, I now know. When one of our companies outsourced jobs, I didn't boycott them. When oil became our "crack," I bought a truck. When China made a better television at a cheaper price, I did not think of who lost a job.
I did, however, complain to anyone who would listen about how bad things are. I have been selfish, not really caring about what I was doing to the planet or the economy. So please stop blaming the politicians.
I'm the one who forgot the values and morals this country was founded on.
Time for change.
Joseph St. John
Arden Place
Late author's book to become movie
Your editorial on Sept. 25 remembering writer David Foster Wallace was a thoughtful tribute to a humble genius. I offer one minor correction. You assert that "none of Mr. Wallace's books will ever be adapted by Hollywood."
In fact, this year we'll see the release of John Krasinski's film adaptation of Wallace's short story collection, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Literary critic David Lipsky said after Wallace's suicide that "no writer saw the era as clearly."
We live on in Wallace's moment, even as he does not.
Ben Krompak
West Central Avenue
Keep roads clean; use G-rated billboards
Shouldn't our nation's highways be rated "G"? This is not the case on U.S. 23 south of Sterns Road (near the Michigan-Ohio line).
Harley Davidson on Central Avenue chooses to force us to look at, in my opinion, an X-rated billboard. The owner's product must be doing very poorly if he stoops to using a woman's body parts to sell his inventory of motorcycles. The billboard is certainly in bad taste and very unprofessional.
The owner, who approved the billboard, claims that when he looks at it, he thinks of motorcycles.
Baloney. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. Blatant, provocative billboards are not what we need. We need our highways rated G.
Marcia Crots
Ottawa Lake, Mich.If Uncle Sam is in a bailout mood …
In these days when people refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, I have only one question: How do I apply for a government bailout?
Gary Sahadi
Lambertville
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