Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, Jan. 3, 2009: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

GOODRICH SLIGHTED: In "Area's top sports stories of 2008," I can't believe The Flint Journal put "Beecher, Powers Catholic make state basketball finals" as No. 5 [Sports, Dec. 28]. How about that fact that Goodrich High School had two state championships this year? The Goodrich wrestling team and the Goodrich boys soccer team won state championships in 2008. Shouldn't that qualify for a top 10 standing? I think so.

-- Goodrich

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, December 28, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Dave Raczkowski | Journal News ServiceA snow plow clears a road in Grand Rapids in 2000. A Talk Back writer says local government could do a better job plowing rural roads.

PLOWING PLEA: Do you think that when you plow Cook Road or any other rural road that you include the shoulder of the road? It seems to me that the shoulder is still part of the road, and since you're out there anyway, do it right. Not only is it a safety concern for those who may need to change a tire or use it for running or walking, it's part of the road. Please remember to do it for the rest of the winter.

-- Grand Blanc Township

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for December 21, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Here's the now famous footage of an Iraqi journalist throwing a shoe at President Bush Dec. 14. A Talk Back writer says Bush's response is much different than Saddam Hussein's would have been.

TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK: With stealth-n-style, President George W. Bush dodged shoes thrown by an irate Iraqi reporter. Just think how the reporter as a dissenter would have been silenced under Saddam. Since liberty has marched through the land of Babylon, this reporter, under Yankee-blood-bought freedom of the press, is free to exhibit, for the world to see, this ungrateful/hateful display of disrespect.

-- Grand Blanc Township

Carlos Osorio | The Associated PressUAW-represented workers leave the Warren Truck Assembly Plant during a shift change earlier this year. Republican opposition to a federal bailout of the Detroit Three automakers is drawing jeers and cheers from Talk Back contributors.

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

BAILING ON THE GOP: I sell cars in a GM dealership. This past year, I have seen much in my business. What really irks me is how the Republicans can chastise GM for situations that simply occurred around them and make them almost beg for money that was simply given to the banks to give them some help. The banks are swimming in free money (not a loan like we are asking). There is REALLY something going wrong here. I was always a Republican (until Obama). I will never vote for a Republican again. They got me good this time.

-- Oakland County

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, December 7, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

APGeneral Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner

REVERSE OUTSOURCING: If General Motors would bring its factories back to the United States, citizens here would have jobs so they could afford to buy GM cars. The UAW must cooperate, also, by not demanding impossibly high salaries. And the top executives should receive reasonable salaries, not millions of dollars.

-- Flushing Township

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, November 30, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Associated Press file photoMichigan State running back Javon Ringer scores during MSU's win over the University of Michigan on Oct. 25. A Talk Back writer says The Flint Journal should have been more positive when MSU ended the regular season with a loss.

DON'T DISRESPECT MSU: The comments "MSU pounded by Penn State" on the Nov. 23 front page about Michigan State University football were uncalled for. State had an awesome season and deserves some credit. As for the additional comment, "(But at least we still have the Lions)," give me a break. State could beat the Lions. In fact, Michigan could probably give them a run for their money. Wise up.

-- Millington

Flint Journal filesAn assembly line for tank parts takes shape even as the final prewar Buick passenger cars are loaded into boxcards for delibery. A Talk Back writer said American-owned factories are needed in case of war.

NEED MANUFACTURING: Will Toyota and Honda build our tanks like Buick and the other automakers did during World War II?

--Forest Township

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, November 16, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Flint Journal file photoThis is the restored gym inside the Haskell Community Center in Flint, pictured in 2006 prior to its official re-opening. A Talk Back writer lamented the center's closing.

WRONG PRIORITIES: The Haskell Community Center closing is troublesome. Perhaps if we didn't get those regular slick mailings that seem to promote the mayor as much as the senior programs, then it could have remained open. It's just another example of the mayor's misguided sense of where to spend money.

-- Flint

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday Nov. 9, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Stuart Bauer | The Flint JournalFirefighters keep an eye on nearby homes as a house is consumed by fire on Chevrolet Avenue north of Dayton Street around 10:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30 - Devil's NIght. A reader blames the fires, in part, to the media's excessive coverage.

MEDIA'S FAULT: As long as Devil's Night is glorified by the media, it will continue to be a serious problem. The excessive coverage serves to perpetuate this behavior by drawing attention to it; thereby reminding that it is not just an annual problem, but an expectation. When all of the community preventive efforts are so highly publicized, the challenge is issued. Then they are rewarded with front-page coverage of the expected destruction.

-- Fenton

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday Oct. 26, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Don Williamson

KEEP MAYOR: And just who does this "Can't even get along with each other" City Council think will be the next Flint mayor, Eric Mays? People need to wake up like Mayor Don Willamson is waking up downtown Flint, making it a place I would send my kids to with nice sights and events.

Come on, how long has this been since you would even go downtown?

Stop the recall.

-- Flushing

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday Oct. 19, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Cheryl Senter | The Associated PressTodd Palin, husband of Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, signs an autograph for 10-year-old Jim Doherty (left) of Arlington, Mass., in Fremont, N.H., on Oct. 11. A Talk Back writer raises issue with Todd Palin's former membership with the Alaskan Independence Party.

TOO LIGHT: I've seen it all now from the illustrious Fluff Journal, such as the Oct. 15 headline, in bold print: "Former Alaskan touts Palin." It's kind of cute that the young man still has a school-boy crush, but it's hardly front page news, except for one important fact he overlooked: Sarah Palin's husband's previous membership in a political party that advocates giving Alaskans a vote on whether to secede from the union.

-- Flint

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday Oct. 5, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

John McCain

INEXCUSABLE: In response to the Talk Back writer who said Republican presidential candidate John McCain's trouble using computers stems from Vietnam War injuries ["Good reason," Sept. 28], I didn't have to reach over my head to type this e-mail. One candidate has no desire to learn anything new.

-- Otisville

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

LOSER LIONS: That's three losses. Are 13 more on the way? The biggest losers are those at the top of the organization and people dumb enough to pay to attend the shameless games.

-- Linden

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Wednesday, September 22, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Richard Drew | The Associated PressTraders crowd the post that handles Morgan Stanley on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange near the close of trading Wednesday. A Talk Back writer says government bailouts aren't good.

-- Mt. Morris

NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE: It is frightening to think of a liberal Democrat taking the Oval Office, especially when you consider that Michigan's liberal Democratic governor has managed to wreck this state. He will do to America what Gov. Jennifer Granholm has done to Michigan.

-- Swartz Creek

Here's The Flint Journal Talk Back items for Sunday Sept. 14, 2008: (Give us your view on these opinions in the comments area below.)

Jae C. Hong | The Associated Press filesCindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., (left) is lead onstage by first lady Laura Bush during the Sept. 1 session of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. A Flint Journal reader says the jewelry McCain wore shows she's out of touch with the American people.

OUT OF TOUCH: Cindy McCain wore clothing and jewelry reportedly valued at $300,000 the night she spoke at the Republican National Convention. That in itself is way out of touch with most American people. That is as much out of touch as the seven homes Republican presidential candidate John McCain own that he can't remember.

-- Grand Blanc Township

RACING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION: Once again, in the case of the drag strip, Mayor Don Williamson has confused his election to office with the idea that he was crowned emperor and free to do as he pleases -- without concern to cost, liability, noise, citizen concerns -- or any type of City Council consideration or approval. He does need to be recalled.

-- Flint