Letters to the Editor: 01.14.16

A Friend and Neighbor

Amagansett

January 11, 2016

To the Editor, 

I have lost a friend and neighbor in the passing of Irving Hirschberg. He was an exceptional human being, a charitable and caring person, always concerned about the welfare of other people.

If there were more Irvings, what a better world this would be.

ROBERT BARRON

Thank You to All

East Hampton

January 11, 2016

Dear David,

Looks as if our year is off to a good start. The supervisor’s statement at the organizational meeting Jan. 5 was exemplary in its focus on the things that need to be done and on the plans to get them accomplished. Our supervisor got right down to business. I was particularly pleased to hear about new initiatives in social services. The plan to collaborate with Southampton Hospital to bring clinical health services back to town is so important to our community! So are the commitments to a needed new senior citizens center and especially to “tangible results” in affordable housing. Water quality, code enforcement, and erosion control are also on my list, and important to be accomplished for our town.

Thank you to all on the East Hampton Town Board and all the many members of our community who are helping them, on committees, the board of trustees, the planning and zoning boards, and an invaluable staff to think through and negotiate new programs. You are working for a strong East Hampton future. 

And thank you to all volunteers who are working to better water quality, code enforcement, and erosion control, and one more thank-you to all the volunteers who are trying to clean up our town and help to control and eradicate all the litter on our roads and beaches. And thank you to our highway superintendent, Steve Lynch, for all his help.

ARLINE GIDION

Treated to a Feast

Springs

January 10, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray:

On New Year’s Day, the guests of Maureen’s Haven at the East Hampton Methodist Church were treated to a feast of chicken parmigiana, spaghetti, salad, and garlic knots from Pepperoni Pizza in Springs. This was made possible by the generosity of Mr. Bahi Nabil, proprietor, who responded to my request for a discount with a final price I couldn’t turn down.

To say that Mr. Nabil displayed the true meaning of the season by his generosity is self-evident, but it goes without saying that his gift meant more than I can say to our homeless guests that night, who were made to feel very special by such a banquet.

East Hampton is a community that is blessed to have so many businesspeople who always remember to give what they can for the good of others. The guests of Maureen’s Haven toast Mr. Nabil.

BARBARA JORDAN

Coordinator

Helping Their Neighbors

East Hampton

January 11, 2016

Dear David, 

Christmas was not just another day for many of East Hampton’s homebound residents, thanks to the great folks at the American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett. Not only did they prepare and donate over 40 meals, but our volunteer drivers were also given jars of jam and packages of candy to deliver along with the meals. It is very gratifying to know that so many people were willing to spend a holiday morning helping their neighbors.

We at East Hampton Meals on Wheels would like to extend our thanks to them and to the other local groups and organizations that helped make the holidays special for our clients. Their efforts are particularly appreciated this year, as we have had to cut back services due to our increased costs.

To learn more, to donate, or volunteer, please call 329-1669 or visit ehmealsonwheels.org.

Sincerely, 

COLLEEN RANDO

A Serious Commitment

Springs

January 11, 2016 

Dear David,

In his professional opening statement at the town board’s organizational meeting, Supervisor Cantwell said it all. He thanked the town board for their hard work in focusing on the tough issues that confront our town and in fact, our nation. I feel good about democracy as I see the team wrestling with problems like coastal erosion, airport noise, and the need both to sustain our economy and enforce the town housing code that protects our quality of life. 

In Larry’s opener, I heard a serious commitment to face the realities in planning for the unique potential impact of climate change in Montauk, and the plan to provide training for real estate professionals and the public on the new rental registry process will make that important code enforcement initiative effective and user-friendly. The statement commits to a strong start to the majority’s second term in office, and inspires confidence in the follow-through. 

JOE LOMBARDI

Bright Young Perspective

Amagansett

January 5, 2016

Dear Star,

What delightful word images from your staff photographer, Morgan McGivern. Loved the “Cat” and the “Coffee Shops” notes and observations — great charm. He adds a bright, cheerful, young perspective on oft-seen scenes. I hope he will do more.

SUSAN WOOD RICHARDSON

This Christmas Eve

Wainscott

January 5, 2016

Dear David,

The Christmas Eve edition, with the beautiful Christmas tree on the first page, was a delight and brought a smile and the feeling of peace on earth and good will to men. So nice, I will save it.

One would think that Richard Higer could give his weekly diatribe a rest. He even saw fit to include a vulgar reference this Christmas Eve. Obviously a bitter, angry individual. I searched far and wide for the delusion juice that powers his views, contrary to what the evidence shows, from the lies of the Affordable Care Act to foreign policies, that seem to filter in somehow.

I guess he never heard that a certain adolescent behavior can cause blindness. At least that is what the nuns taught.

I am happy for him that he renewed his passport and his reference to wherever he goes. I hope he finds some peace in his heart and, of course, his thought process, and offer something, or forget to return.

ARTHUR J. FRENCH

Angry White Males

East Hampton

January 10, 2016

To the Editor:

In a PBS documentary on the Civil War it was noted that 75 percent of the nation’s wealth centered around cotton and the slave trade. The engine that drove the country was cotton and the fuel that ran the engine was slavery. From the end of the Civil War immigration took over the role of slaves, but the source that generated the wealth never changed.

The current conversation of angry white males with no more than a high-school education needs to be analyzed and vetted. The temptation to add stupid to the description does an enormous disservice to this group and discounts their anger as supercilious. Returning to political bullshit as derivation of this discontent does not dilute the substance of the anger nor does it explain why this group continuously votes against its best interests.

The situation for non-college white males is best described by auto workers in a nonunion plant in Tennessee. Before Reagan, workers might earn $60,000 a year and get another $15,000 in benefits plus a pension, and pay $700 in union dues. In our present world they get the equivalent of $50,000, pay for their own benefits and pensions, and pay no union dues. Their real income dropped from $74,300 plus a pension to $35,000 and no pension.

In real terms, the workers lost more than they actually earn today, a substantial reason to be pissed off. Of course, it’s not slavery, just abuse without indenture.

Yet this group votes for Republicans, because they make a brilliant case that big government, high corporate taxes, entitlement programs, immigration, Planned Parenthood, affirmative action, and unions are the cause of their misery. Ninety-eight percent bullshit, but those few grains of truth ring louder than the other 98 percent.

For the angry white males, there are some truths to absorb. The same group of nonwhite males has lost an even greater percentage of its wealth and is in deeper doo-doo than the whites. Right-to-work and nonunion states are designed to pay the lowest wages without benefits or protections, and are the tools of big business. The loss of income and wealth doesn’t pay for entitlement or welfare or immigration — it goes into the hands of U.S. corporations and their shareholders.

The list of brainwashing ideology is long and nasty, but serves as a basic misdirection from the real perpetrators of the crime. Immigration, terrorism, and voter fraud have nothing to do with the condition of American workers. During the Reagan era a decision was made that U.S. workers were no longer necessary to produce the goods that the country needed to live on. At the same time, their spending was necessary to keep the economy moving. So a program of massive credit and debt as glorious, instead of odious, was begun. Credit and debit cards, home equity lines, and home mortgages replaced wages with debt and allowed people to continue spending.

There is an essential need to know that there is only one issue: the transfer of wealth. All the others are distractions from the essential plan of how to marginalize American workers and redistribute wealth to groups who know how to spend it more productively. Historically, workers as the engine of the economy through their production and consumption, was a relatively short period. Returning to slave, indentured, or very low-paid labor in favor of return on capital was always the real American dream.

Unions, with their demands for collective bargaining, better wages, workplace security, etc., were the only advocates and protectors workers had. Reagan, an old union guy, energized the anti-union rhetoric, and as the unions lost favor the wealth started to slip away. With no one to protect their interests, marginalizing and then violating workers was a piece of cake.

Voting in a Democratic government won’t necessarily reverse the wealth-transfer process. Democrats didn’t advocate for the process, but their voices were muted while it happened. Democrats would at least halt the policies that keep it going.

Angry white male workers no longer have any choice in the matter. They can rave and rant about abortion, immigration reform, and the Affordable Care Act and remain bent over to the politicians who scam them, or they can throw off the ideological shackles that guarantee their economic disaster and confront the perpetrators of this remarkable violation.

Every time they enter the voting booth and pull the lever of conservative Republicans they are getting a little poorer, a little less hopeful, and a lot angrier. 

NEIL HAUSIG 

Just the Opposite

East Hampton

January 10, 2016

To the Editor:

Well, well, so Donald Trump and Chris Christie are hailing Vladimir Putin as a great, strong leader, and putting down Barack Obama as “feckless” and weak. Gee, I thought leaders were judged by the prosperity and success of their strategies and economic plans, notgrossly unhappy populace. 

The Russian economy is in a shambles. The ruble is down again relative to the dollar, which, by the way, is the world’s standard. The Central Bank of Russia has just raised the interest rate to 7.5 percent from 6.5 percent to strengthen the ruble, but it has not been successful. Inflation continues, free speech is iffy to none, opposition leaders are killed in the street, protest marches are nonexistent, and, in spite of the low price of oil, Putin’s political activity in Syria and Ukraine is hurting Russia, as are the European Union sanctions. Now he has indicated he will modify his positions.

Meanwhile in the United States, just the opposite is occurring. Our Federal Reserve believes the 2008 recession is over, we are adding jobs every month (292,000 in December), unemployment is down, the stock market is flourishing, and but for China’s troubles it would do better.

Housing starts are up, crime is down, illegal immigration is almost a figure of Republicans’ imagination, with almost zero entries from across the border from Mexico this year (I guess all the rapists stayed home) and most of it from overstayed visas.

Republicans’ contributions to welfare of the state: zero and counting. But they passed a revoke-Obamacare bill again, Number 50.

RICHARD P. HIGER