Letters to the Editor: 02.11.16

Friday Night Takeout

Springs

February 4, 2016

Dear David,

Chuck and I are very much going to miss living in Springs. We still have several more months to enjoy our many special friends acquired through 46 years of living within the Springs community. Personally, one group of friends I will miss the most are the members of Springs Presbyterian Church. I’ve discovered within the membership a rare group of close and caring individuals who are indeed a family. I marvel at their commitment each and every week to gather, prepare, and put together containers of food for the 80-plus families who are recipients of the largess of the food pantry. The individuals may vary from week to week, but the task gets accomplished.

The Springs Church operates on that ever-present “shoestring” budget. It could not exist without the many hours of volunteer labor from its members and friends, and it would be a tough go without sharing pastoral services with the Rev. Steven E. Howarth from the Amagansett Presbyterian Church. I’m sure doing double duty is exhausting for Steve, but he is another rugged East End community member.

To help the Springs Church with its financial commitments, a number of our members, even with their own hectic lives, manage to prepare Friday night takeout dinners. Having broken bread with many of the families, I have to say Springs women (in this case) are excellent cooks. 

Tomorrow (Feb. 12) is their next scheduled takeout dinner event. The main course will be lasagna (both meat and vegetable varieties), served with hot and crusty Italian bread. Desserts also come with. (For those who get there early, I understand there will be Mandarin orange upside down cake.) Dinners are served in heat-proof containers, and the complete dinner package is $12 per person. Serving begins at 3:30 p.m. and continues until 6:30.

The Springs Church is located at the junction of Springs-Fireplace Road and Old Stone Highway, just across from Ashawagh Hall. This is a great way to take part in a traditional Springs event, as well as to help the church as it strives to continue to serve the East End community. I hope folks will set aside time to stop by. 

H.D. WILT

She Will Be Missed

East Hampton

February 6, 2016

Dear Editor,

Somehow I missed seeing the poster on the door of the post office, but this week after asking why I hadn’t seen Pat Young there for a while, I learned the sad news. A very kind woman who overheard me mention that I hadn’t seen an obituary in The Star came over and told me that there might not be one, but that someone wrote a letter to the editor about her. I read that letter in last week’s edition. It’s beautifully written, and I agree with everything it said about Pat. I want to add some more about her, and maybe others will write letters, which, added together, will serve as some kind of obituary.

Aside from her gracious way with customers, Pat had a love for animals, especially dogs. She told me how heartbroken she was when her dog, Sketcher, ran out of her house and was killed by a car on Town Lane. She said that she wanted to wait before getting another until after her retirement, which was coming soon, and that she was looking forward to it. 

It was not long after that that my rescue dog, who Pat was very fond of, died of natural causes. We gave each other support, and even exchanged pet condolence cards. After a year, I felt ready to get another rescue dog, and Pat helped me find her, and, of course, got attached to her when we came into the post office. 

In this small community, Pat did her part to make it a better place, and she will be deeply missed.

JON HOWARD 

Rest in Peace, Frannie

Islip

February 2, 2016

Hi, David,

Just a note in memory of my dear friend Francis McLaughlin, who passed in the latter half of January. 

Frannie, a member of one of Montauk’s deep-rooted families, set a shining example. In the 1970s Frannie owned a valuable piece of property just west of the Surfside Inn, worth today in the millions. When his marriage to Bonnie Nicholson ended, he sold his home, donated the proceeds to the church, and moved to the trailer park (Montauk Shores Condominiums).

He toiled for years in the homes of Montauk residents as a plumber, living a quiet life as his faith grew like a swell in a storm. A faithful communicant at St. Therese of Lisieux, in the winter of ’83 Frannie demonstrated to me that adults actually do get down on their knees at home and pray (in this case the Rosary), an act I emulate to this day. 

When he sold his trailer home, again donating the proceeds to the church, Frannie moved to the Ridge Rest Home in quiet devotion to Our Lord. Later developing dementia, he lived out his last years at the Medford Multicare Center, where I observed him relaxing in the midst of his fellow residents. It was sad when he told me he couldn’t remember how to say the Rosary, but I figured he had that covered!

Rest in peace, Frannie.

JACQUELINE MARY BEH CLARK

‘A Prince Among Frogs’

Springs

January 29, 2016

Dear David, 

The eulogy for Rusty Drumm by his wife, Kyle Paseka, “A Prince Among Frogs,” in the Jan. 28 Star, was among the most inspired and beautiful tributes I have ever read. I badly miss Rusty, as we all do. May I nominate him for a secular sainthood?

The force was with him.

BILL HENDERSON

Good Young Citizens

Wainscott

December 14, 2015

To the Editor, 

Chivalry is not dead. Every day that I come to work — my two half-days of attendance often morph into more — I am gratified by the caring that I see demonstrated by our young children at the Wainscott School. Although we are a kindergarten through third-grade school, the students here well understand the pecking order that age entitles them to, and, at the same time, reject the time-worn beliefs that that order entitles.

Yesterday, I observed a class of students in second and third grades. A multi-level class was being conducted, with one group working with the teacher, another independently at a table, and a third working on computers. No one group was less (or more) worthy than the others, and the three groups all worked diligently. There were children who were English language learners at various levels, “gifted” children, and “normal” children, yet no group was given less concern than others.

What am I getting at? Each group treated its own, and others, with the utmost respect and concern. Would you like a pencil? What colored pencil would you like? Yes, please. No, thank you. Thank you. 

Am I missing something? I don’t think so. Manners and politeness do not exist in isolation but rather as a universal. Manners modeled will be adopted by children. 

I worked with these children for a while, and they were extremely appreciative of my time and efforts. What does it take to have well-mannered  children? Modeling, consistency, above all, the belief that children are capable of learning far more than school subjects, and are willing to be good young citizens. 

I wish everyone the ability to experience such kindness. It was truly a holiday gift for me!

STUART RACHLIN

Superintendent of Schools

Wainscott

Wounded Warrior

Amagansett

February 5, 2016 

Dear David,

 I wanted to correct some errors in the statements attributed to a member of Jordan Haerter’s company in last week’s Chris Walsh article.

Two years ago there was an inadvertent capitalization error in how Jordan’s rank was listed. When I learned of this I told the Wounded Warrior Project we might have to reprint them. They had no problem with that. When our committee met we debated the importance of reprinting them, as we were late in getting them up. But when we were told it was important by Jordan’s mom, we told W.W.P., who had no problem reprinting them.

 W.W.P. had nothing to do with Rock the Farm. That was a separate event designed to give both the wounded warriors and this community a fun evening. Nick Kraus and I organized the event through our own corporation. W.W.P. did not pay for anything, including alcohol. We did. Everyone who worked on the event, including Nick and me, was a volunteer. We comped the wounded soldiers, the members of Jordan’s company, the Soldier Ride volunteers, and W.W.P. staff. We gave the soldiers a fun night and the community got to meet them and thank them. All W.W.P. seeks to do, year in and year out, is to honor the memory of Jordan Haerter, since we named the ride after him. No good deed goes unpunished. 

To suggest W.W.P. would not pay for a poster is not only untrue, it is ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that it has contributed $15,000 to In Jordan’s Honor, a nonprofit run by his mom. (Five thousand dollars just two months ago.) W.W.P. also hosts her every year at our Courage Awards event in New York City.

I used to be a newspaper reporter. An axiom of the trade was, “We don’t print the truth, we print what people tell us is the truth.” I asked your reporter why he didn’t bother to ask one of the several volunteers in this community if this soldier spoke the truth. He said he didn’t have the time, explaining, “I was on deadline.” Really? But he had time to write the falsehood. His story made the first page of The Star. But the truth is here.

Best,

PETER HONERKAMP

At Truck Beach

Amagansett

February 8, 2016

Dear David:

Safe Access for Everyone is dedicated to solving vehicle-pedestrian safety concerns on East Hampton’s beaches. A letter to the editor in your Feb. 4 issue by an S. Mitchell describing the situation at Truck Beach is full of inaccuracies. 

Ms. Mitchell states that Truck Beach has “remained the same,” and that SAFE’s accusations are “ridiculous,” while at the same time she corroborates SAFE’s exact complaints by writing that Truck Beach is “overcrowded,” that “some people disrespect the beach,”  that traffic is “heavy and scary,” and that she too, like us, must use “hand gestures” to get drivers to slow down. 

Ms. Mitchell suggests that she is willing to overlook it all, but in other parts of our town, where use has similarly turned into abuse for those mere 10 weekends a year — such as at Indian Wells Beach, downtown Montauk,  Cyril’s on the Napeague stretch, and the airport — the town has felt it important to crack down loudly and dramatically.

 Ms. Mitchell said she could “better understand the homeowners’ displeasure if Truck Beach had become a thing a few years ago.” But it did: The abuses at Truck Beach are not a new phenomenon. The homeowners filed suit in 2009, and things had gotten out of control several years before that. It’s only gotten worse since then. (To see what conditions are like today, please see our new video on the bottom of the safebeach.org home page.)

Ms. Mitchell’s view is that area homeowners want to keep the beach “all to themselves”; however, they have stated often in court documents and elsewhere that they welcome reasonable public pedestrian access. Where else in East Hampton does public beach access equal unrestricted S.U.V. access? At what other pedestrian beaches in East Hampton does Ms. Mitchell feel area residents are keeping the beach all to themselves? 

SAFE has never suggested that cars park on Montauk Highway. We agree that is a poor solution. There is parking both in the Napeague Lane lot and in Napeague State Park. We encourage surfers and fishers to park in the state park for access to our beach (one foot away). That will free up parking in the Napeague Lane lot (50 feet from our beach) for those who do not surf or fish.

But to actually drive her family onto the beach, Ms. Mitchell said that Truck Beach is her “only option.” I recommend that Ms Mitchell have a look at SAFE’s suggested alternative, to drive on the uninhabited beach a short distance away at South Flora, which the town spent $8.4 million to purchase and sits unused. Moving the S.U.V.s doesn’t solve our environmental concerns, but it removes the risk of a resident child stepping off a dune boardwalk to traverse a busy and scary highway of moving S.U.V.s to get to the shoreline. It also removes the risk of the resident children being hit by an S.U.V. as the child freely plays on the beach. And it allows families to drive onto the beach — a free solution to the conflict that costs taxpayers nothing. 

It’s worth noting that many sick and elderly people who enjoy walking on the beach find traversing S.U.V. ruts equally as difficult for them.

SAFE would like to point out that the Truck Beach debate isn’t limited to those who use the beach. The biggest matter facing every East Hampton resident is potential tax hikes over the matter. In January the town board trumpeted its record of debt reduction but then two weeks later took out a $320,000 bond to defend Truck Beach. It can’t have it both ways. 

This is our money, taxpayers. Almost $1 million  spent to date, with tens of millions more potentially in the pipeline. Is this really where we want it being spent, to encourage and defend boozy tailgating and hundreds of people urinating on the beach in Napeague? These should not be our town’s financial priorities. There are free solutions that satisfy all beach user groups on the SAFE website.

Sincerely,

CINDI CRAIN

 

Spending for a Few

Amagansett

February 7, 2016

Dear David:

During the runup to the town board elections I asked Larry Cantwell and Sylvia Overby why they were considering using public money to condemn the portion of the Napeague beach known as Truck Beach. Their response was that a politician in East Hampton cannot be against dogs or S.U.V.s on the beach.

Well, maybe not so fast, at least as to S.U.V.s. Certainly recent letters to the editor of The Star and the creation of the Safe Access for Everyone group demonstrate that many people recognize the folly of spending hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of dollars of public funds to make this fragile resource safe for the S.U.V. Nation. The videos on SAFE’s website show vividly the desecration that is being done to this area by these vehicles. It is truly appalling. How can this spending for a few possibly be justified when tens of thousands of us are fully capable of enjoying the beach without driving on it?

I suggest that part of the political problem is that Truck Beach is, ironically, largely invisible except to the local residents most affected by it. I’ve lived in Amagansett for 37 years and was totally unaware that it existed until I saw photographs in The Star. I’m reminded of the “oldest, established, permanent, floating, crap game in New York,” from “Guys and Dolls.” I’m imagining what the public reaction would be if, on a weekly basis, 100 or more S.U.V.s rotated around the various East Hampton beaches and periodically took over Atlantic Beach, Indian Wells, Main Beach, Montauk, or Sammy’s Beach? 

I’m betting Larry and Sylvia would be getting a whole different earful about where to spend our tax dollars.

JACK HASSID

Pathbreaking Initiatives

Amagansett

February 8, 2016

Dear David,

The annual honors to our town police and report of Sgt. Wayne Mata’s promotion at last Thursday’s town board meeting were followed by two unusual, momentous announcements. 

Maritza Guichay and Angela Quintero, two Latino citizens, came forward in the meeting’s public comment section to applaud the town’s creation of a 10-member Latino advisory committee. They spoke in English and Spanish to a filled meeting room, including an unprecedented gathering of men, women, and children from East Hampton’s various Latino communities. Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell proudly affirmed that this initiative, sparked by the members of the new committee, would open a new era of response to Latino concerns, and, in the words of Ms. Guichay and Ms. Quintero, the “integration” of one-third of our residents into the whole community.

Then, five Montaukers reported a major step forward in Ditch Plain. The four-acre ED40 beachfront property has been rezoned from resort to residential, preventing replacement of the former East Deck motel by another beachfront commercial venture. The work of a coalition of community environmental groups, the breakthrough is a first gingerly step toward retreating rather than armoring against the ocean. 

These initiatives are pathbreaking. They happened through local leadership and painstaking collaboration among people with various points of view. They show that our town, faced with major changes in population and environment, can be resilient and become healthy. It is exciting that we are adding a wealth of new partners to forward-looking community efforts.

JEANNE FRANKL

Our Housing Shortage

East Hampton

February 8, 2016

Dear David,

I want to acknowledge Jeanne Frankl’s warm and encouraging response to my “Guestwords” comments of Jan. 21, in which I urge local Democrats to adopt a stronger stand in support of affordable housing for East Hampton’s low and middle-income families.

I especially welcome Ms. Frankl’s comments that the 48-unit Stephen Hand’s plan would have had a substantial impact on our housing shortage, and her insistence that affordable housing for working families truly be a priority for the current town board and include all hamlets. 

I differ with her, however, that East Hampton Democrats have a consistently stellar record of support for affordable housing, a claim that is especially undermined by the town board’s recent rejection of Stephen Hand’s at the behest of a pampered school board.

Sincerely,

RICHARD ROSENTHAL

Is That a Spider?

Amagansett

February 5, 2016

Dear David, 

You remember the nursery rhyme: “Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider, who sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away!”

So, Miss Muffet and I had lunch in Wainscott.

Me: Here’s a tuffet. Shall we have curds and whey?

Ms. M: They don’t allow spiders in this place, do they?

Me: We do not discriminate.

Ms. M: I don’t like them.

Me: We are proposing a “Tiny House” rental residency for the town and land in Wainscott: 500 square feet, state-of-the-art sewage, which creates Hamptons Poo Doo fertilizer for the 190.

Ms. M: Children?

Me: No children, work force service providers, young professionals. One to two-year rentals.

Ms. M: I don’t like paying for other people’s children.

Me: Weren’t you one, once?

Ms. M: No. Oh, God. Is that a spider?

Me: I certainly hope so.

All good things, 

DIANA WALKER

Airport Safety

Wainscott

February 5, 2016

Dear David,

David Gruber shed light with an informative letter. In another publication, there was an additional article, confirming what Mr. Gruber shared in his letter. Airport safety is a priority for all, not only the pilots but a far greater number of families on the ground.

It seems that some pressure is being exerted by a few pilots to bring up an already made decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to abandon that runway 4/22.

I remind the town board and the pilots that the 1989 airport plan was accepted by the F.A.A., declaring that runway 16/34 was the better crosswind runway and that 4/22 was designated as abandoned. Here is the verbatim quote from the recommendation of the F.A.A.: “We recommend the elimination of runway 4/22 from use as a runway and that the plan specifically designate runway 16/34 as the secondary runway. 4/22 does not offer significant additional coverage, based upon historical wind conditions. Its intersection with other runways is dangerous.” 

Despite the poor condition and abandonment, the pilots continued to use it, until McGintee shut it down. So much for their mantra of safety.

Elsewhere in the enormous document, it is noted that 16/34 actually was better in the crosswind. In 2005 Mr. Jim Brundage, the manager, mentioned the danger of the intersections. Also noted at the time, the F.A.A. stated it would not share in the cost of a tertiary runway, considering it unnecessary. 

Two pilots I know told me that many of the pilots do not know how to operate in the crosswind. This runway exposes those residents on the ground to the most danger, as planes often fly at altitudes below 100 feet. That is the space between two telephone [poles]. My own experience was that the wheels of a plane clipped a branch of a tree and it fell into my swimming pool, witnessed by a guest.

 It was reported to the then-manager, who did absolutely nothing. Would a town board not consider the safety of a far greater number of families on the ground far more important than to appease a few pilots, most of whom do not even live in the town? This contradicts the record that the board has stood for. 

Residents first. I urge all residents who are affected to have their voices heard and contact the town board not to even consider this.

ARTHUR J. FRENCH

Runway 4-22

East Hampton

February 8, 2016

Dear David,

Last week I wrote to call attention to the fact that all of the safety and operational improvements now under way at the airport, save one, had in fact been recommended in early 2014 by the noise subcommittee that I chaired. One would hope that this finally puts paid to the false claim that there is a plot to close the airport by those who want to control noise. Aviation interests found it expedient to make this claim in order to prevent the town board from recovering control of the airport from the Federal Aviation Administration, which was achieved at the end of 2014. It was never true. Those adversely affected by noise want an airport that serves primarily the interests of local pilots without destroying the peace and quiet of thousands near and far. This can be achieved. 

Last week, I promised to explain the one project that was completed against the recommendations of the noise sub-committee. This project was the repaving of a section of abandoned runway 4-22 to serve as a taxiway, as it has been since it was closed as a runway a decade ago. There is no doubt that taxiway 4-22 was in a poor state. We recommended that it be repaired. However, we proposed that the repair be a minimal repair to ensure safety, long enough for the long ago proposed completion of a full parallel taxiway for the main runway. The full parallel taxiway would be much more useful for aviation and is still on the project list. If it is completed, the excessively expensive repair of 4-22 to runway standards will have been unnecessary, a waste of airport funds. 

Although the taxiway project was wasteful, the town board was under political pressure from aviation interests to take the least cost-effective path in order to make it easier for the board in the future to approve the repavement and reopening of 4-22 as a runway. Why does the aviation community insist on closing the current secondary runway, 16-34, reopening the old runway, 4-22, at great expense, when either one exceeds F.A.A. safety standards for wind coverage? Indeed, every airport master plan and airport layout plan going back to 1980 has found that the current secondary runway, 16-34, provides superior wind coverage to 4-22! 

In the face of these facts, the very reason why, under the 1989 Airport Master Plan, runway 4-22 was scheduled to be closed by 1995 (although it remained open an extra 10 years before being declared unsafe), airport users have long claimed that 4-22 is better in the summer, when there is more air traffic, while 16-34 is better in the winter, when there is less traffic, although also higher winds. One would suppose that the claimed seasonal bias, if any, would at some point over the last 35 years have been analyzed by the airport engineers who have done the runway wind analysis. With their automated tools, they could do this in a couple of hours at most. Nope. The claim of a seasonal wind bias has been repeated over and over again with no supporting evidence. 

So I did the seasonal analysis myself, using the 80,000 wind observations that the airport engineers themselves used for the 2010 Airport Master Plan report. That report concluded, again, that the existing 16-34 is the more useful secondary runway. While I don’t have the automated tools that the airport engineers do, the trigonometry is the same with or without automation. I did it in a spreadsheet, checking whether there was adequate runway wind coverage, month by month, for all 80,000 wind observations. 

What I found is that there is in fact a very slight seasonal bias. Changing the secondary runway to old 4-22 would result in 1.5 additional days of use in the warm months (May to September) with the loss of 3.7 days of use in the colder months (October to April). The net of 2.5 days in favor of existing runway 16-34 is the reason why it is the superior secondary runway. But what if we take air traffic into account? 

In the warm months, there are on average 32 landings a day by light aircraft. In the cold months, 13 a day. Switching the secondary runway would therefore enable 48 additional landings per year (32 times 1.5) in the warm months and preclude 48 landings a year (3.7 times 13) in the cold months, for no net change in operational utility. Even if we ignore the lost utility in the cold months, the cost to repave and reopen 4-22 is now estimated at $3.8 million. On an annual basis, that is about $300,000 per year over the 20-year life of a runway. So, the cost for each summer additional landing enabled by reopening 4-22 would be about $6,000 a piece — for which the town collects maybe $10 or $20 in landing fees. That is wildly uneconomic, a tremendous waste of limited airport financial resources. 

Are you mystified as to why airport users would be so willing to waste the airport’s financial resources while it is the members of the community who are adversely affected by airport noise, who are concerned to spend them prudently in order to ensure a well-maintained and functional airport that serves local aviation needs? As I said last week, it is all explained by the mysterious case of the airport deer fence. But I am going to have to complete the story next week.

Sincerely,

DAVID GRUBER

For Lent and Beyond

East Hampton

February 8, 2016

Dear Editor:

Yesterday marked the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter, when many Christians abstain from animal foods in remembrance of Jesus’s 40 days of fasting in the desert before launching his ministry.

But meat-free Lent is much more than a symbol of religious devotion to Christ. It helps reduce the risk of chronic disease, environmental degradation, and animal abuse. Dozens of medical reports have linked consumption of animal products with elevated risk of heart failure, stroke, cancer, and other killer diseases. A 2007 U.N. report named meat production as the largest source of greenhouse gases and water pollution. Undercover investigations have documented farm animals being beaten, caged, crowded, deprived, mutilated, and shocked. 

Lent offers a superb opportunity to honor Christ’s powerful message of compassion and love by adopting a meat-free diet for Lent and beyond. After all, it’s the diet mandated in Genesis I-29 and observed in the Garden of Eden.  

Our supermarket offers a rich array of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, as well as the more traditional vegetables, fruits, and grains. Entering “vegan recipes” in our favorite search engine offers more products, recipes, and transition tips than we can use.

ELIJAH HANNESBURG

 

The Republican Pack

Montauk

February 5, 2016

Dear David,

I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying the current race for the Republican presidential nomination, with its colorful cast of visionary politicians.

Leading the Republican pack in national polls is our New York native son, Donald Trump. He has promised to make America great again by building a very big wall to repel Mexican rapists and by banning Muslim immigrants. He abhors illegal immigrants and promises to deport them because they have broken the law, but he does admire the assassin Vladimir Putin. Trump claims that he wants to be president, but I fear that he really wants to be der Fuhrer. I am awaiting a future meltdown at a debate where he exclaims: ¨Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer.¨ I am also fearful that if he were elected president, he might get enraged with our open border with Canada and order a missile strike on Ottawa. Donald is very entertaining, and if he were running for carnival barker he would have my vote.

Of all the candidates, the best educated is our Ivy League protégé, Ted Cruz. He is suave, slick, and a great debater. Best of all, he has a great retro 1950s hairdo. If elected, he promises to close down the federal government if he is unable get his Tea Party agenda passed by Congress. I do not think that is a good idea. I could never vote for Ted.

Many pundits think that the eventual Republican nominee will be the very photogenic Marco Rubio. Some have even referred to him as the Republican Barack Obama. A few years ago, Rubio was in favor of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. He now claims that he was misquoted and currently is opposed to a pathway. If he wins the nomination, he will favor a pathway to citizenship and claim to be misquoted during the nomination race. Marco proudly alludes to his humble roots by reminding everyone that his father was a bartender. Marco is famous in Florida for making a wicked bourbon Manhattan.

The one candidate who has apparently disappointed many wealthy donors is Jeb Bush. He is the son of George Bush and the brother of George Bush, so he is probably a little confused. His campaign has faltered because he has failed to get his message across to Republican voters. This is because he has no idea what his message is.

As for Chris Christie, we are all fortunate that he will soon return to his former role in closing bridges and tying up traffic for those attempting to flee New Jersey.

For God, country, and my Irish mother.

Cheers,

BRIAN POPE

Religion and Government

East Hampton

February 7, 2016

To the Editor:

When Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio spoke after the Iowa caucuses they both stated that our rights are God-given and not given to us by our government. Essentially, our allegiance is to our faith, not to our country, blurring the lines between religion and government and harking back to all those thousands of years when religion trumped government and the unbelievable amount of chaos and death that it produced. Jesus on steroids.

But America was special. Despite the presence of a large number of religious zealots in the early settlements, who were instrumental in justifying the destruction of the non-Christian Indian population, the Constitution was created. And amazingly, the Constitution gave religious groups the right to practice their religions (Native Americans excepted) — but nothing more. The wily framers had read the history books about crusades and inquisitions and reformations and pledged, no mas. Religion was an enormous bag of crap that had absolutely and categorically no place in the U.S. government. Separating church and state was an act of faith in support of the state.

The problem for the Christian church was obviously Jesus. “The kingdom of heaven is in all of us” reduced the clergy to purveyors of good deeds, and “We are all God’s children” eliminated exceptionalism and the concept of being chosen (except for the Jews, who coined and patented the “chosen people” logo). Religions are like sneakers. Dress them up, pump them up, give them lights and sparkles and fancy names, but they all get wet in puddles and can’t be worn in the snow.

So these imbeciles, and what else can you call someone who talks politics and religion at the same time without being disrespectful, flood the debate podiums, and only Sanders, a chosen Jew, says religion isn’t important in his life. Thank God for Bernie. God didn’t give Trump $20 million, his father did. Cruz gets his millions from demented religious donors who believe that the world is 5,000 years old, and Rubio doesn’t remember that religion was a no-no in Cuba.

Religion does have a unique political value. When you can’t give people housing, give them God. If there’s no work above $7.50 an hour, supplement their income with Jesus. No health care? Keep praying. No retirement plan? Heaven is just around the corner. Inexpensive. One size fits all. And, it’s not made in China.

But in the political realm, all religion is always a false positive. Implying that someone is good by association is no different than the Nazis’ belief in blond hair and blue eyes. See ISIS for a better example. Anyone who talks about their religion as a measuring rod for their political viability is a con man, using faith as camouflage to cover up basic inadequacies. 

Cruz and Rubio are wimps. Mama’s boys. Not the kind of guys you’d go to war with or cover your back in a street fight. Not the guys leading the troops into battle, but comfortable sending them out to die.

Just like Jesus threw out the moneylenders from the temple, we have to throw these purveyors of bad faith off the podiums. Let them sell their snake oil in the local markets. Our system can’t support the disconnect from reality.

NEIL HAUSIG

Women’s Rights

East Hampton

February 5, 2016

Dear Editor,

I am somewhat befuddled (not unusual) by a recent letter to The Star alleging that Hillary Clinton failed to support women and women’s rights. I refer to the letter written by Ms. Tessa Raebeck that appeared in the Feb. 4 edition of The Star.

Quick research using Google and Wikipedia showed me that not only was the allegation off the wall, it was bizarre. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is and has been by any measure the foremost patron and supporter of women’s rights, children’s rights, and those of families throughout the world for all of her life and is renowned as the leader in those fields. Where was this woman when Hillary wrote “It Takes a Village,” where was she when Hillary, after being the victim of attacks and vilifications personally and politically on an unheard-of continual basis for over 20 years by right-wing forces arrayed against her liberal and progressive agenda?

Why has there never has been any such criticism of her ardor for the rights of women, children, or families? Because, Ms. Raebeck, it is universally known (except possibly, by you) that Hillary Clinton is a demon and the queen of good works in those very fields. 

A mention of Roe vs. Wade support made me think of Gov. Chris Christie’s response on why he was not doing more about the flooding in south New Jersey: “What do you want me to do, go down there with a mop?”

I suggest that anyone really interested in Hillary Clinton’s commitment to women and women’s rights Google her and use Wikipedia to read about her most amazing positive works in her lifetime. The pages of the encyclopedia cover all the years of Hillary’s activities since high school and are replete with positive activities for the 30 years she toiled in the vineyards of politics for the benefit of the children and women of this country and the world. The superlatives abound. The adulation pours out. The accolades overwhelm the reader. From walking alone in the fields of Alabama on behalf of the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s to Beijing in 1995, Hillary has been the voice and action facilitator of women’s rights.

Tirelessly, Hillary has traveled the world speaking out on behalf of women’s rights. Her rousing speech at the 1995 conference on women, a gathering of 180 countries in Beijing, is still referred to as the watershed moment in women’s rights, declaring that “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” That speech brought about a confrontation with China and other countries that had not considered women’s rights human rights and tried to get her to soften her words. She would not.

That speech alone is enough to guarantee Hillary’s credentials as the leader in women’s and children’s rights in the world. As that speech thundered into the ears of every nation that downgraded women’s rights Hillary Clinton was certified as the greatest defender of women’s and children’s rights in the world.

From Ted Kennedy to Orrin Hatch, from the prime minister of Australia to the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, to those who overwhelmingly elected her to the Unites States Senate twice, they all joined her in her efforts to upgrade children’s law, fight for the Children’s Defense Fund, head up Legal Aid access.

A woman’s right to choose, deny genital disfigurement, fighting to protect a woman’s right to vote, to work for equal pay, to serve in the military, to have equal access to the courts in cases of rape and more, much more.

And here we are now: In spite of every meanspirited attack against her, in spite of false controversy over private emails that are not hers but a systemic failure of the system that has existed for decades, she stands up to run for the job she was born to have. She is the most talented, knowledgeable, strong candidate among the others seeking the job,

Go ahead, Google Hillary Clinton, read what they say, and then write another letter swallowing what you said about the next president of the United States.

RICHARD HIGER

Surprises Never Cease

Sag Harbor

February 8, 2016

To the Editor,

As long as we have Senator Bernie Sanders and his persistent cry against the abuse of deep-seated corporation corruption against the American people, it’s fair to mention a few examples often found in the Business Day section of The New York Times.

On Feb. 4, under the headline “A Mogul Dethroned,” under pressure from shareholders and a lawsuit, the CBS executive chairman, 92-year-old Sumner Redstone, was forced to resign from his perch at the top of his $39 billion entertainment empire, challenging his mental competence. I wonder if he knows you can’t take it with you.

At first I thought this was a joke: “Walmart Sues Puerto Rico, Claiming an Unfair and Onerous Tax Burden.”

MSNBC has been invaded for a few months by Michael Bloomberg politics, called “With All Due Respect,” including Bloomberg-Wall Street Journal polls and ready to invest $1 billion. He has sent his pundits to test the waters for him. This is the third time he’s wanted to run for president. When he ran for mayor of New York City for a third time, his pundits received $250 a day. Bloomberg won, or, shall we say, bought his former illegal role as mayor. He’s galled by the possibility of Donald Trump or the rise of Bernie Sanders.

Also, Bloomberg could not tolerate a loss by his friend Hillary Clinton. The energy now appears to be headed toward Senator Sanders, and he’s worried 84 percent of his followers are young people. Can you ever imagine the gap between Sanders and Bloomberg? All the above is the reason Sanders entered the race for president. With the presence of Bloomberg and his pawn, television events seem to be stacked against Sanders. Their motto is, Sanders can’t make it. Of late, surprises never seem to cease. Hold on!

At the moment, Republicans scare me, especially Rubio. He flipped completely, has a super PAC, but he’s tagged a “boy in a bubble.” President of the United States? Commander in chief?

In peace,

LARRY DARCEY