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Brooklyn Daily
To the editor,
I wanted to tell Joanna DelBuono how much I enjoy her Not for Nuthin’ column. My husband likes reading it too!
Stacy Topalian
Manhattan Beach
Bush-whacked
To the editor,
Stanley Gershbein says Vice President Joe Biden was wrong when he said Gore won the election (“Stan: Wrong again, Mr. Biden,” It’s Only My Opinion, July 5).
According to a New York Times article, if all the Florida votes had been counted, Gore would have won. He won the popular and electoral vote. Bush wasn’t elected. He was selected by the Supreme Court. Later Sandra Day O’Connor regretted her vote. Bush stole the election. His brother was governor, and there were various irregularities in the voting process. Many thousands of African Americans were prevented from voting because it was known that they would vote Democratic.
There was also the intimidating mob that Republicans orchestrated. It was comprised of people yelling and banging on the doors of the room in which the votes were being counted. The nation saw it on TV. It is indeed troubling when a major party sinks down to that level.
Since the Republicans are a minority, nationwide, the only way they can win is by suppressing the vote, gerrymandering, or other devious practices.
Jerome Frank
Coney Island
Thanks, Courier
To the editor,
What a beautiful and touching article (“Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation’s Buffy Buffington dies peacefully at home,” online July 15).
I wish our aunt was able to read it and appreciate it. We don’t know what to say. It is spot on and we are in tears. We are so proud to be her family. The family always learned so much by the life that she lived. She was a great example to us all. We’re still shocked that she is no longer here.
Thank you for taking the time to do this, and for doing it in such a beautiful and well-thought-out way. You did a wonderful job. Regina Visone and Geraldine Pizzo
The writers are the nieces of the late Lydia Buffington.
Piping mad
To the editor,
The Floyd Bennett Gardens Association did not take part in the pipeline protest (“Brooklyn environmentalists protest proposed Rockaway pipeline,” online July 17). We had nothing to do with it.
Some of the gardeners are against the pipeline, others are in favor of it. The Floyd Bennett Gardens Association has not taken an official position. I am aware that member Lois Pinetree took part in the protest, but she did so as an individual, not as an association representative.
According to Pinetree, the Floyd Bennett Garden Association, the 500 gardeners who utilize the community garden, and other environmentalists, are concerned that methane, which the nearby metering station will vent, will create a noxious environment for their placid, outdoorsy hobby, as well as obliterate the local fowl population.
In a meeting between Transco-Williams, National Park Service, and the Floyd Bennett Garden Association, 15 months ago, we were told that no methane would be vented, and that the noise level of the metering station would raise the noise level to a point that it would not be noticeable.
Transco-Williams has recently submitted their Environmental Impact Study to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is still reviewing it. No permits have been granted yet.Adriann Musson
The writer is president of the Floyd Bennett Gardens Association.
True-blue American
To the editor,
So while the nation was reeling this way and that over the Martin verdict, some of us were involved in other things that didn’t get the attention of this two-sided tragedy, made so by the media and the race baiters.
Did anyone take notice that a neighbor, an American hero, was laid to rest last week? He was 18 years old, and he was a Brooklyn American. He happened to be a young black man who wanted to serve his country, and in so doing he made the ultimate sacrifice when he was killed in action on the Fourth of July in Afghanistan.
We escorted his body from the airport to his community church, to the funeral home, and to his final resting place. There were no crowds, no media throng, and no so-called community leaders raising their voices about the sacrifice made by this young man. Nor did they come to offer condolences to his family and friends. Where were those big mouths?
We were there to honor and to remember. And by the way, it made no difference to me that PFC Errol Milliard was black and I know that his family didn’t care that I am white. We are Americans.
God Bless PFC Milliard and his family. I am honored to have crossed paths with you.Charlie Gili
Marine Park
• • •
To the editor,
I’ve been wanting to comment on the George Zimmerman trial, but haven’t gotten my thoughts together on it yet. So I share this story of something that happened to me when I was in my late teens.
I was driving in Philadelphia and a policeman pulled me over. As he approached my car I rolled down my window.
“Give me your license and owner’s card,” he said.
With one quick motion, I opened up the glove compartment, pulled out my wallet and turned to face the policeman. I saw he was pointing a gun at me and had a scowl on his face.
In a shrill tone, he bellowed, “Don’t you ever do that again!”
Confused, I said, “I only did what you told me.”
The policeman answered, “I thought you were going for a gun. If you ever have to go into your glove compartment, please ask first and then do it slowly.” Lesson learned.
Two weeks later, I read in the newspaper about a black motorist in Philadelphia who was shot dead by a policeman. He too had been stopped and had been asked for his license and owner’s card. He too reached to open his glove compartment, but there was no lesson imparted here. The policeman’s bullet saw to that.
They later opened his glove compartment and found that all he had in there was his wallet.Alan Magill
Midwood
‘Patriotic’ Fillmore
To the editor,
On the Fourth of July, friends and neighbors awoke to find dozens of American flags placed at the curb in each and every lawn on E. 36th Street between Avenue S and Fillmore Avenue.
They were placed there by the good people at Fillmore Real Estate, as a patriotic gesture to help celebrate Independence Day. Unlike many flags, now made in China, these were stamped “Made in USA!”
Many thanks to all at the real estate office for brightening up our block with the good, old, red, white, and blue!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
‘The Color Blind’
To the editor,
Alice Walker who wrote “The Color Purple” is advocating that other artists boycott Israel.
Walker, who wrote the novel depicting the plight of African-Americans, now turns around and shows the same type of bigotry to Israel and the Jewish people. She doesn’t want her book translated into Hebrew. Guess what? Who cares? Who would want a book that was written so poorly in English on purpose, to be translated that way anyway? How fortunate she is that Steven Spielberg took a mediocre book at best and turned it around to a good movie.
Let her sit in Ramallah with the Palestinians and see for herself where Palestinian children are made to participate in reading anti-Semitic poetry. Could you imagine if Israel taught its youngsters such things about the Palestinians?
She doesn’t want to realize that the Palestinians want the Jews dead at any cost. Negotiations shall never be that part of their vocabulary.
Would Walker be advocating for the Jews of northwest Africa who were expelled by Arabs in the 1950s? Methinks not. Congratulations and thanks to the entertainers who are ignoring her requests for such a boycott of Israel. Walker and her crew ought to be ashamed of themselves.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Bloomy bootcamp
To the editor,
Mayor Bloomberg will soon be out of office and can now follow his passion — Bloomberg Bootcamp. We could use another Jack LaLanne or Richard Simmons.
He would be the perfect replacement for Jack LaLanne, with all his healthy ideas, like bans on smoking, trans fats, sugary drinks, implementing healthy school lunches, bicycle riding, and now stair climbing. He could have a TV show or do infomercials.
I could just see him barking orders, dressed in army fatigues, with a riding crop under his armpit at Bloomberg Bootcamp.Chita Vilard
Flatbush
• • •
To the editor,
If health-and-fitness guru Mayor Bloomberg had his way, it would be illegal to take elevators for less than five floors. You would have to hoof it, the way he does in his townhouse. I could see it now. Cops issuing summonses to people sneaking on elevators for short trips.
He could also charge a small fee to tenants in city-owned buildings for using the stairs, even though the elevators are broken down. Think of the money they’re saving on the gym membership they would have to pay to use the StairMaster.Jesse Blaze
Midwood
• • •
To the editor,
Nanny Bloomberg is at it again. Now he’s telling New Yorkers to take the stairs instead of using the elevator — something he does in his townhouse. He says by walking up his five flights of stairs, it helps to keep him in shape.
Well, Mr. Mayor, people have been doing this for years, but not by choice. There are the thousands of people who live in city-owned buildings, whose elevators are constantly broken down and not fixed sometimes for weeks. Thanks for the workout.
Peter G. Orsi
Marine Park
Al’s pals
To the editor,
The five mayoral candidates who took Al Sharpton up on his challenge to have a sleepover in pubic housing, in Harlem, are idiots.
It was nothing more than a publicity stunt, and if one of them does get elected that would be the last time they see public housing again, except for Gracie Mansion.
I would like to see Al Sharpton dare them next to jump off a bridge.Augie Pazzo
New Port Richey, Fl.
DNA 101
To the editor,
I attend the My Turn program at Kingsborough Community College for seniors. In a course I am taking for the summer, our professor pointed out that there is no difference in the DNA of African Americans, Asians, or any other non-white people. There is a greater difference of individual DNA between two Caucasians, or two African Americans.
Racism always looks to stigmatize and stereotype various groups. And the one percent that truly runs America’s power and wealth at the disadvantage of the 99 percent use racism to separate any opposition to challenge poverty and the inequalities in distributing services and goods.
We just have to look to prisons where the administrations use one racial prison group against the other to maintain control. In California, inmates are engaged in a hunger strike to bring attention to long-term solitary confinement, and they have reached a truce amongst the inmates to not fight each other in prison and to stop street violence among gangs, in order to work together for a real America.
Let us have a criminal justice system that reduces recidivism with rehabilitation instead of brutal punishment, and ends the torture of solitary confinement. Allan Feinblum
Midwood
Joan’s tips
To the editor,
Are you running to the garage every time you need a tool? Try storing your most-used gardening tools in a mailbox out in the yard. You can attach a mailbox to your deck, or to the side of your home, or to a post in the garden, for your gardening gloves, trowel, snippers, etc.
It’ll come in mighty handy in the summertime, to have those gardening tools on hand.Joan Applepie
Mill Basin
Unethical pols
To the editor,
Is it ethical for elected officials to hold one office while campaigning for another?
Consider Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio, Comptroller John Liu and Council Speaker Christine Quinn running for mayor, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer running for comptroller, and Councilwoman Letitia James (D–Fort Greene) and state Sen. Danial Squadron (D–Brooklyn Heights) campaigning for public advocate.
Contrast all of them with former Bill Thompson, Erick Salgado, and Anthony Weiner running for mayor, Eliot Spitzer running for comptroller, and Noah Gotbaum, Cathy Guerriero, and Reshma Saujani running for public advocate. These candidates are running without the benefits of currently holding other public office.
The lines are clearly blurred between the day jobs and the new jobs DeBlasio, Liu, Quinn, Stringer, James and Squadron seek. All six have been engaged for years, in a non-stop series of press conferences, news releases, issuance of various reports, letters to the editor, guest columns in newspapers, and publicity stunts at taxpayers’ expense.
Hard-working civil servants work full time. They can’t campaign part time during the day. They would have to either take a leave of absence or quit their day jobs.
DeBlasio, Liu, Quinn, Stringer, James and Squadron should avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest by resigning their current offices.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.