Different photos
I know that sports photographers, and most other news photographers, always try to bring out the emotion of the moment in their photographs. And there is nothing wrong with that.
But, why do so many sports photos all have their subjects with their mouths open down to their rib cage? When Tiger Woods won his many tournaments, all the photos of him putting the winning hole are all the same: his mouth so wide open that only a dentist could love it.
The photo at the top of the first sports page on April 5 has 12 basketball players in a group. Out of the 12, at least seven have wide-open, cavernous mouths all gaping, as if to prove they either have or do not have their tonsils. Who cares?
Most sports photos of this type are all a cliche.
Surely one of the photographers can do, as John Cleese said, “And now for something completely different.”
Nick Wineriter, Ocala
Oil and common sense
You can talk about government subsidies and large profits, but the oil companies are no worse than any other big business. Amazon’s profits were up 54% while the average net profit margin for oil and gas production was 31.3% in Q4 2021 (Digital Commerce 360). Oil company profits fluctuate depending on the price of oil. Supply and demand govern the price of crude. When production is slowed or stopped, as the president did on his first day in office, gas prices go up steadily. As far as subsidies go, the government should stop all subsidies. Boeing, General Motors, Intel, ALCOA and Ford Motors are the top five receivers (about 100 billion). Exxon comes in at No. 54 with Amazon and Apple coming in at Np. 11 and No. 35, respectively. Even my old employer, IBM, is on the subsidy bandwagon.
If people want to complain, complain about all of the money we waste and the people we have elected to represent us. We could have affordable health care, cheaper gas, free college and more. We need common sense when we elect our representatives, not emotions. We need to stop squandering our wealth. Vote out all who have served more than two terms and elect people who are pro-America and not pro-groups. What’s good for America is always good for most of us. Remember, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
Stan Buliszyn, Ocala
Donate your guns
Here’s how we can all help Ukraine. There are roughly 400 million guns in America, 98% of them in civilian ownership. At the last count, each gun-owning individual on average owned five firearms. So, why not give up half of those and send them to those men trying to defend their country against Putin’s thugs? That way they could be put to better use than using them to shoot somebody because they cut across your lane on the highway or took your parking space. Just suggesting — don’t shoot the messenger, please!
Richard Bambridge, Ocala
