LETTERS: Immigrant issues, Yaphank preservation, campaign reform
Immigration issues draw much heat
These are angry times. In recent weeks, we've seen an anti-gay attack in Hicksville, jars filled with nails smashed in front of a Huntington mosque and now anti-Semitic stickers posted on Bellmore streets. No one should be surprised that advocates on Long Island fear attacks on Muslims and immigrants, as Newsday recently reported .
But it's not enough to be appalled - it's everyone's responsibility to work toward communities that welcome newcomers and live up to Long Island's best ideals.
With this in mind, Long Island Wins began the Welcoming Long Island campaign earlier this year, to promote respect and understanding between foreign-born and native-born Long Islanders and build strong communities that are more accepting overall. It's good for immigrants; it's good for all Long Islanders.
We've already established several "welcoming committees" in Nassau and Suffolk, composed of residents of goodwill who believe in the importance of hate-free communities. We all find hate crime appalling - now let's do something about it.
Maryann Sinclair Slutsky
Editor's note: The writer is the director of Long Island Wins, a group promoting practical solutions to immigration issues.
In response to "Seeing immigrants as economic power" [News, Nov. 17]: This has been the fact for legal immigrants since this country was born. The problem some people currently have is that they lump legal immigrants with illegal. I firmly believe that if we had stopped the illegal immigration in this country, we would not have the unemployment problem we are currently having.
Employers and the rich hire them because they are cheap labor. Politicians won't oppose this, for fear of losing donations from big business and losing votes. If it were not for the illegal immigrants, the businesses would have to pay a living wage. If the illegal immigrants lived by the rules and came into this country legally, they would be fully accepted and, I am sure, would be a credit to this country.
Donald Tuohy
I read with mixed emotions the article "Adopting a new country" [News, Nov. 19]. I am an adoptive parent of a child born in Colombia. My son, a naturalized citizen, is not eligible to ever run for president or vice president, or to become speaker of the House.
I think it is time to re-evaluate the antiquated notion that being born in the United States makes one more "American" than being born abroad. My son goes to school with many children who, while born here, have parents who were not and are not American citizens themselves. Yet those children are eligible to hold an office that my son is not.
How do I explain to my 11-year-old that even though he has lived in this country since he was 3 months old, has been raised by American citizen parents, and can serve and die for this country, that he can never be president?
Andrea Quatrale
Editor's note: The writer is the past president of the Latin America Parents Association, an adoptive parent support group.
Yaphank building should cease for good
Your editorial agreeing with Brookhaven's long overdue moratorium protecting the Carmans River watershed - which by the way should be permanent - was merely lip service, as you had the chance to condemn any and all future projects threatening the lovely historic river you called "a treasure" ["Let's keep the Carmans clean," Editorial, Nov. 15].
The small hamlet of Yaphank already has the Brookhaven Town dump, Caithness electric plant, myriad town and county office buildings and a maintenance and fueling facility for county vehicles. All are just a stone's throw from the Carmans River and Southaven County Park.
This is a scenic and recreational waterway and it should remain so for future generations. Please don't pave paradise.
Bill Rabatin
Brookhaven Hamlet
Campaign finance reform is urgent
What a quick return on investment for corporate America. "U.S. backing away from Afghanistan deadlines" [News, Nov. 10] reveals that we are heading deeper into the Afghanistan war now that the majority of the House of Representatives has been taken by the Republicans, who say they are more than willing to fund the war unabated into the future. Can it be that the corporations in the military-industrial complex are pushing for the same old agenda of military and industrial domination through their control of Congress? You bet they are!
Let us mobilize for true campaign finance reform, where candidates are funded from public sources, resulting in a Congress that represents the average American citizen. The proposed Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would negate the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court and reclaim government for the people.
Chuck Perretti
While there will continue to be debate over what the midterm elections mean for the direction of this country, there will be no debate that money (and lots of it) determines who gets seen and heard the most. Is it time for public financing of campaigns, as an option for candidates, to be put in place so as to provide an opportunity for the little guy or gal to run and compete on a more equal playing field? I believe so.
Currently, there is such a bill pending: the Fair Election Now Act for congressional campaigns. It is supported by more than 150 co-sponsors in the House; such an approved bill would free candidates from constant fundraising.
Peter Wolynec Jr.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 15: LI's top basketball players On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra and Matt Lindsay take a look top boys and girls basketball players on Long Island.
