Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald Aug. 2, 2012

Rare common ground on the horrors of war

To the Editor:

I rarely agree with any of Randi Kreiss’s political commentary. However, in the interest of “fair and balanced” letter writing, I agree with her column “Is it sweet and fitting to die in war?” (May 24-30).

How soon will we forget the sacrifices the members of our military and their families are making right now, in the U.S.’s futile attempt to promote democracy (translated: oil supply) in Iraq and Afghanistan? Let’s hope the American people and our government learned a lesson from how our Vietnam veterans were treated.

Thank you, Randi, for the Memorial Day reminder of the horrors of war.

James E. Deneen Jr.

Rockville Centre

D’Amato got it wrong

To the Editor:

I am a loyal subscriber to the Herald, and I value your excellent coverage of local news and events, but I would like to know why a great local paper like yours sees a need to run opinion columns that focus on presidential politics. If I want to read partisan opinions from retired politicians who are now highly-paid lobbyists, I can pick up The Wall Street Journal any day.  

In particular, I’m disappointed that your paper gives a weekly platform to Alfonse D’Amato to write his partisan talking points without any regard to fact checking or other journalistic standards. 

I don’t have enough space in this letter to point out all the misleading statements in Mr. D’Amato’s recent columns, but in “The simple answer? It’s Obama’s fault” (July 12-18), he attempted to rewrite history when he cited the Federal Reserve’s study about household net worth levels dropping from 2007 to 2010. What he neglected to mention was that the recession that “wiped away 18 percent of your savings and investments” started in December 2007 under President Bush and lasted for the final 13 months of Bush’s presidency before ending in May 2009, four months after President Obama took office. 

The misleading statement that Obama “racked up more debt in three and a half years than Bush did in eight years” conveniently confuses the difference between debt (bonds issued) and deficits (structural imbalance between revenues and expenses).  

In the Bush administration’s eight years, the federal government went from having a surplus of $281 billion to a deficit of $1.2 trillion, a negative swing of $1.5 trillion. Under the Obama administration, the deficit has stayed level and has declined as a percentage of GDP because the economy has grown. 

Facts are facts, and I think an award-winning newspaper like the Herald is doing a disservice to your readers printing partisan misinformation posing as opinion. There are plenty of local issues in Nassau County, that you could focus on in a non-partisan way that would add value to our community.      

Bernard Kilkelly

Lynbrook