President Bush 'terrorizes' United States on many fronts

President Bush 'terrorizes'United States on many fronts
EDITOR:
A letter writer from Poland espouses a "juvenile benchmark" to deliver a diatribe against Democrats, apparently to soothe the losses of November 2006. However, the current Bush-bashing is closely tied to his approval ratings of 28 percent and should be examined in another context: Dubya's successes in the war on terror.
In light of the anti-Democrat and Sept. 11 assertions in the letter, let's examine some of Dubya's successes:
He is terrorizing America's educational system with unfunded mandates and cuts in tuition;
He is terrorizing the middle class by sending American jobs overseas;
He is terrorizing the financial security of America with the threat of bankruptcy through huge budget and trade deficits to satisfy partisan obligations;
He is terrorizing the seniors of America by threatening to turn Social Security over to his fat-cat buddies on Wall Street;
He is terrorizing the people of New Orleans by permitting a political hack like Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff to be responsible for the repair of that city;
He is terrorizing American troops in Iraq by failing to provide adequate FRAG Kit 5 armor for upgrading Humvees;
He is terrorizing the inalienable rights of Americans granted by the U.S. Constitution and written by Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers.
And the list goes on...and on...and on.
The letter-writer is right in his placing of blame on voters, but it should be placed on voters like him who put George W. Bush and his people in office and are responsible for the shape America is in. Talk about catastrophic.
JOHN ZORDICH
Youngstown
Youngstown's mayor must be an advocate for the city
EDITOR:
The city of Youngstown is at the eye or center of what could be described as the perfect economic storm. We all witnessed the wrath of Hurricane Katrina to the cities along the Louisiana and Mississippi coast line, and watched in awe the destruction on the evening news. We witnessed the president, every ranking senator, the director of Homeland Security, the FEMA director and even a few hopeful presidential candidates kick off their campaign efforts by pledging help and funds to this region. We need to invite these same politicians to our city to witness first hand the destruction that can occur from an economic disaster.
Youngstown and the surrounding area has been in the eye of an economic depression for the last three and a half decades. In my opinion, we have to change our course of action and change direction now. We have in office what the country seems to be looking for: a bright, articulate, well educated, Afro-American mayor. The mayor's office has to take on a different mission statement. It can no longer micro-manage this diminishing, deteriorating city. His highly paid cabinet, seven useless councilmen and their administrative assistants need to step forward and take on some of the day-to-day tasks in order to free our mayor of the time consuming chores that plague the mayor's office.
We need our mayor in Washington and Columbus demanding help and not leaving the halls of Congress or the Statehouse until he gets some response and some action. In the 1970s, the International Union of Electrical Workers had 13,000 members at the Packard Electric complex. Today the number at Delphi has dwindled to 659. Last year alone, Local 717 had 3,800 hourly workers, before more than 3,100 employees accepted buyouts or retirement incentives.
We have to stop whining about the days past and the loss of our steel mills, and start protecting and increasing our automotive work force before that too slips away from this Valley.
JIM JOHNS
Poland