To the editor,
Peace! Please!
Each time I see and hear war veterans speak of their experiences I get numb.
Most of us could probably never imagine in our worst nightmares the ravages of war for these survivors — and for those still serving on the battlefield — who have experienced untold carnage on a daily basis. It is incomprehensible to me.
The bonds that are forged amongst the men and women who train and serve together are as strong, if not stronger, than the bonds between family members. To be in a place where you experience injury and death — day in, day out, for weeks, for months, for years — is incomprehensible.
It is no wonder that so many of these veterans come home and continue to suffer daily. Trauma envelopes their inner life and the war never ceases for them. Suicide among veterans is a horrible plague, as is their inability to function in healthy ways around their families, their jobs, and in society.
The phrase one often hears is that we have to honor these veterans, the ones who protect our freedoms. The thing is, did the wars during my lifetime protect my freedoms, or simply keep the cost of gasoline down?
I’m confused, and sad. No more war!
Barry Brothers
Homecrest
Striking back at Sandy
To the editor,
The disaster that was Hurricane Sandy calls for drastic thinking (“Sandy burns Brooklyn,” Nov. 1).
With thousands of people suddenly homeless, and winter fast approaching, this calls for FEMA and the city to create a basic modular home assembly line.
Floyd Bennett Field is a perfect site in which to set up a modular building site, and to create a temporary community to house our homeless families.
This solves two problems — it creates safe, warm homes for the homeless and also brings jobs to the city. There is also the use of the steel shipping containers that are stacked by the thousands at our docks.
They can be quickly turned into temporary homes.
The technology is there for the taking. All it takes is for us to think outside the box.M. Taeler
Marine Park
• • •
To the editor,
Every time there is a disaster in another country, the U.S. responds quickly by saying that we will be sending aid.
It has been over a week since Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast. Unless I missed it, there has yet to be any response from any country offering aid to us.
We should not offer them assistance, if they are not going to reciprocate in our time of need.
Ronald Cohen
Gravesend
• • •
To the editor,
Another Hurricane Sandy disaster!
I went to the post office at Flatbush and Fillmore Avenues last week and parked my car in the next door parking lot at McDonald’s.
There was a young guy there selling gasoline from the trunk of his car. He had about 12, 15-gallon of gas, all stacked in one-gallon milk containers, in his car trunk. The fumes from the gas permeated the air! Dangerous. He was selling each gallon for $10 — black market price.
I was afraid some driver would throw a cig butt on the floor — boom!
I went into McDonald’s and yelled out loud for the manager to come outside. I explained what was happening, but he ignored me.
I then went across the street to a fire house and alerted a fireman to the dangerous situation. He called the cop, but I was not there to see what happened next.
Meanwhile, in the parking lot, there was a guy filling his gas tank with the black market gasoline, using a small plastic funnel, and some of gas did spill on the ground. Risky!
I warned nearby people, and left in a hurry.
Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Bibi bias
To the editor,
I felt that your article had a negative tilt towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (“Bibi blows Pomegranate workers away with $1,800 take out order,” online Oct. 10).
You neglected to mention that the $1,800 food tab was not only for him, but for the entire entourage and staff members that came along with him. Instead you made him look like a selfish pig who ordered $1,800 worth of food.
In addition to that, you write later on, “The obdurate prime minister, who has angered many Americans for what they perceive to be attempts to meddle in American politics…”
What does that have to do with making a food order?
Besides, that statement is untrue — he has the right to do whatever he sees necessary to protect the State of Israel from dangerous countries like Iran, which are seeking to build a nuclear bomb, and by drawing certain red lines before it’s too late.
What does that have to do with meddling in the U.S. presidential elections?
Then you continue your negative article by saying “his trip to the U.S. was a failure, he didn’t get the U.S. to commit to his red line.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu didn’t come here for that purpose alone, but rather to answer back the anti-Semitic Iranian leader who spoke a day earlier at the U.N. assembly against the Jewish state, and wiping it off the map.
The prime minister made a very strong argument why the world needs these red lines before it may be too late. Proof of his success? Nearly every respectful newspaper had a photo of him standing at the U.N. displayed on their front pages.
I think you need to choose better writers who can write balanced articles. There’s a large Jewish community that reads your newspaper and doesn’t appreciate these inaccurate statements.
All in all it was poorly written and very biased.
Sol Kugel
Brooklyn
Bomb the myth
To the editor,
For the wives, sons, and daughters of our valiant World war II servicemen, President Truman’s decision to drop the bombs and end the war was celebrated around the world (“Learning to fear the bomb,” Oct. 25).
Modern revisionist history tells us we must have feelings for the poor Japanese, and what they went thorough. balderdash!
In reality, the Japanese were blind followers at the time of the emperor, sworn to kill all Americans and prevent invasion of the Japanese homeland. Millions of American and allied lives were on the line if these devices were not employed.
A similar problem exists today, with the Iranians and other Muslim states working hard on obtaining and using nuclear weapons against American “infidels” and any other state that stands in their way.
The Muslims will not hold feel-good panel discussions, or have everyone hold hands, sing “Kumbayya,” and have a hug fest. They have proven to be ruthless and will follow their leaders to the grave, be it under a mushroom cloud.
America and its leaders must wake up, take the bull by the horns, and show the world that we, who have given freedom to many areas of the world, will stand up to the enemy and — when necessary — bomb them back to the stone age where they belong!Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Dems the breaks
To the editor,
Gunther Ostermann slammed Bill Gates’ charitable giving, which is all he really does these days, then absurdly claimed that philanthropy is an obsolete and poor substitute for a fair and just society (“Super cost,” Letters to the Editor, Nov. 1).
Mr. Ostermann doesn’t seem to appreciate all the good that is done by people like Bill Gates, or how bad things would be if those people were not giving their wealth to charitable causes. A “fair and just society” only guarantees equal opportunity, not equal results. A fair and just society is one where everybody, except the aged and disabled, produces something of value to society and nobody freeloads.
Mr. Ostermann should realize that his Utopian society is an idea, not a reality, and never will be. There will always be wealthy and there will always be poor, and everything in between. That’s the reality of human nature. Deal with it.
Should a Kenyan goat herder be as wealthy as a New York lawyer? Should a school teacher be as wealthy as a doctor? Should a grocery clerk be as wealthy as a sanitation man? I’m reading Ostermann’s lines, but I’m hearing Obama’s words — redistribution of the wealth mantra, and Marx’s, “From everyone according to his abilities to everyone according to his needs” communist ideology.
Not here. Not now. Not ever.
David F. Podesta
Marine Park
Reach reporter Shavana Abruzzo at sabruzzo@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2529.
