EDITORIAL: Pope's travels, aid to first responders, Colin Powell

Cheers among jeers for pope

Regarding "Protests greet penitent pope" [News, Sept. 19]: As the story briefly mentions, there was more to the pope's visit than protests. He was received warmly by thousands of British people both Catholic and Anglican.

There is no doubt the Catholic Church's hierarchy has mishandled the disciplining of priests accused of sexual abuse. It has also, especially in America, taken major strides to prevent this from happening again. It's time to move on from constantly tearing down the Catholic Church.

Gira Freiberg

Plainview

Aid U.S. heroes before all else

A letter writer is absolutely correct that the United States should be ashamed to be sending a single dollar of aid to any country before we take care of our own ["Insult to injury: pleading for 9/11 aid," Letters, Sept. 19].

The character of a nation can well be determined by how it pays homage to its heroes, and indeed how it takes care of them when their actions lead to debilitating illness, which has happened to some first responders to the 9/11 attacks.

We now see the character of the United States as evidenced by the officials we the people have elected. It's time to throw them all out of office.

George Lasher

Commack

Powell's immigration stance breaks law

I used to think former Secretary of State Colin Powell was an intelligent person, but I guess I was wrong. He is just another politician ["Powell: Illegal immigrants help fix my house," News, Sept. 20].

This is why the country is in this recession. People like him are hiring illegal immigrants to do jobs so that they can get a cheaper price. The workers live in cheap rooms, are paid in cash, do not get benefits and do not claim or pay taxes.

We were a country of laws, but now we do not enforce them. It's about time for our politicians and the public to stand up and demand the registration of all illegal immigrants to see just how many there are in this country, and to immediately deport any illegal immigrant who commits any crime.

Let's get law and order back into this country.

Donald Tuohy

West Islip

I believe former Secretary of State Colin Powell is out of touch with reality. Illegal immigrants work for non-livable wages and live in squalid conditions.

If Powell knowingly promotes these conditions to save a few dollars he should be ashamed of himself.

Robert Capraro

Bayside