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July 21: Defensive driving, Iraq flip-flopping, day care cuts

July 21, 2008

Iraq flip-flop not OK with everyone

In a recent column, James Klurfeld says, "We all know what happened to Iraq, and it hasn't been very good from the perspective of the United States' vital interests," ["Bush's Iran flip better late than never," Opinion, July 17]. But Klurfeld helped what happened in Iraq.

In a column from October 2003, he wrote: "It's not only bad politics but bad policy not to be willing to do whatever it takes to make the Iraq invasion a success" ["The Dovish Democrats have a death wish," Opinion, Oct. 16, 2003]. He hailed Joe Lieberman as the only then-candidate with "backbone." He found Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John Kerry "appalling" for voting for the war, but saying they would vote against reconstruction aid without caveats.

This was all when the most loved professors in the colleges were teaching restraint and the dangers of imperialism. Now he says it's OK with him if Obama "flip-flops" along with Bush. But what's OK with Klurfeld may not be OK with the rest of us.

David W. Staub

Bellmore

Day care cuts hurt kids, too

Regarding day care cuts to the children of the working poor, it benefits neither society nor the family for an able-bodied adult to be collecting welfare or staying in a dead-end job because he or she can't afford adequate day care for their young children ["Cuts hit day care," News, July 14]. But it comes as a shock to me that those who ought to know better are not paying attention to the needs of the children.

So let me advocate for them: Children whose parents must work need to be in safe, licensed day care programs where they can develop not only cognitive skills that will serve them later on when they enter public school, but also socialization and emotional skills as well. Children who are placed in unlicensed day care situations, as the article suggests, or even those raised in the home of well-intentioned relatives or friends, will not have the same access to care that a regulated day care center can provide.

Social services are designed to be just that, "services for society." But let's not forget that children are part of society, too.

Cheryl Lynn Blum

Huntington Station

Drivers must be prepared to react

I am writing to comment on Newsday's coverage of the tragic motor vehicle accident involving the death of 6-year-old Tyra Dhaiti, and other similar accidents ["Crash takes little girl's life," News, July 17].

In this case the car, driven by Tyra's mother, had its flashing lights operating, yet was rear-ended by another vehicle.

When I learned to drive, I was taught that you must always be in control of and responsible for your vehicle. You should always be able to stop to avoid anything in front of you. If you can't stop safely, you are driving recklessly. There is no excuse - ice, rain, poor visibility etc. - for rear-ending another vehicle.

Thomas David

Blue Point

I think people have to be prepared to see any kind of traffic on the parkways and expressways of Long Island. You can't just get on a highway and drive the speed limit. Often, there are slow moving cars, breakdowns, and bad drivers, some of whom may be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Of course, the vehicle with the flat tire should have called for a tow truck so that the situation would not have occurred in the first place, knowing that cars drive at a high rate of speed on the Northern State Parkway. An innocent child had to lose her life needlessly. It all could have been prevented.

Arlene B. Jermakian-Heed

N. Valley Stream

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