20 THE COURIER SUN • MARCH 5, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com editorial letters sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Tom Topousis Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola, Angy Altamirano Katrina Medoff, Eric Jankiewicz, Salvatore Licata Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Demetra Plagakis Warren Susman Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-In-Chief VP, Events, Web & Social Media Art Director Assistant to Publisher Assistant Art Director Artists Staff Reporters Contributing Reporters Web Editor Events Manager Senior Acc ount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 Sales fax: 718-631-3498 www.couriersun.com editorial e-mail: [email protected] for advertising e-mail: [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2015 by The Courier Sun All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within five days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Courier SUN and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is Congress should listen to Israeli prime minister When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress this week, it had better listen and listen carefully! His concern about Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon cannot and must not fall on deaf ears. There are going to be those who have chosen not to be in attendance during his speech. That is very unfortunate and also a diplomatic slap in the face, which he certainly does not deserve. Shame on President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for not being there also! This nation is being steadily taken down the path of no return by President Obama and his vice president. Nothing seems to matter to them unless it is in their interests and not those interests of the country. That is disgraceful and despicable. No wonder our country is sinking in its popularity and stature around the world, thanks to those two blundering buffoons, as well as the Congress. John Amato Fresh Meadows All or nothing You should know that this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo has linked the DREAM Act and the Education Investment Tax Credit in the same budget bill. If that budget bill passes, everybody wins — and if it doesn’t, then no one wins. It’s a classic “all or nothing” situation. As you already know, the DREAM Act has been designed to help the children of undocumented parents, and undocumented students who already have earned their high school diploma or GED to receive financial assistance for college. The Education Investment Tax Credit is designed to provide a tax credit for businesses and individuals who donate money to private and parochial schools’ scholarship funds. Both of these bills offer more educational opportunities for New York’s students. We all know that the DREAM Act won’t pass on its own in the Senate because the Republicans don’t want it, and the Education Investment Tax Credit won’t pass on its own in the Assembly because the Democrats won’t support it. On Feb. 26, the state Assembly separated the DREAM Act and voted for it. Even though I’m glad that the Assembly passed the DREAM Act, I am afraid that by voting for it separately — and not as the governor wanted it to be voted on, which was WITH the Education Investment Tax Credit — neither will have a chance to become a reality this year. My dear reader, I hope and pray that both of these tuition assistance bills will be able to pass this year, but I do share Governor Andrew Cuomo’s position that the best way for the DREAM Act and the Education Investment Tax Credit to pass is to link them together for one vote. It’s all or nothing, and I choose all. Speaker Carl Heastie and the Assembly know that the Assembly voted four years in a row to pass the DREAM Act — to no avail — because the Senate didn’t want to vote for it. My question is: Why did they do the same thing this time when they know the Senate won’t pass it alone? Why didn’t they do what the governor wanted them to do and link both bills together so it could pass? Do they really want the DREAM Act to pass? I am afraid that the Assembly has just taken the pressure away from Governor Cuomo and relieved him of his commitment to pass the DREAM Act. State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz 32nd Senatorial District Tax dollars wasted in newspaper ads How much money is the NYC Department of Education wasting every time they take out multi-page ads in the New York Daily News along with other daily and weekly newspapers for “The latest news from the NYC Department of Education Public School Press”? These dollars would be better spent educating children than promoting Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farifia. Drip, drip, drip, watch your tax dollars go down the drain. Have you also seen all the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, Or Repair Charges Come Between You and Your Property” full-page ads in your daily and weekly neighborhood newspapers? Even worse was the 116- page recent supplement that appeared in the New York Daily News on Tuesday, Feb. 10. It lists line by line the name of every New Yorker who owes real estate tax, emergency repair or other property-related charges in “the City of New York may sell a lien on your property” advertisement. Is this the best way the NYC Departments of Finance, Environmental Protection along with Housing Preservation and Development can spend taxpayers’ dollars? Why can’t all three agencies compare their respective lists of people who owe money with those filing city and state tax returns? Surely the technology exists to place a lien on any tax refunds? You could also extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone call, letter or email informing them of their overdue obligations. What’s next — will the city send out marshals going door to door serving subpoenas? Larry Penner Great Neck Playing games with public safety The most reliable thing about Congress is its uncanny ability to turn every possible issue into a political football. Take, for instance, the imbroglio over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which the rightest of right-wingers on Capitol Hill have tried to attach to their brand of immigration reform. The Democrats want no part of that reform idea and would rather act on both matters separately. Just when it seemed some common sense prevailed through a Senate-brokered compromise on Feb. 27, the House flushed that compromise down the toilet later that same day. Congress eventually agreed to keep the DHS funded for another week through a bill passed largely by the minority Democrats and Republican allies of House Speaker John Boehner. The DHS isn’t just some bureaucratic behemoth needlessly fed billions of dollars. It’s an organization formed following the 9/11 attacks to better defend and prepare the nation against any possible disaster, man-made or natural. Queens, along with the rest of New York City, has a target on its back in this age of terrorism, and the DHS plays an essential role in protecting LaGuardia and Kennedy airports from those who would do us harm. The DHS also provides the NYPD with pivotal support in investigating potential threats to the city and stopping plotters before they strike. Some may criticize the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) response following Hurricane Sandy, but the truth is the agency — another wing of the DHS — did play an important role in helping storm-stricken areas of this city recover. New York City needs a working and fully-funded DHS to adequately defend itself against terrorism and respond to any emergency that may strike this area. Playing political games with the DHS, as Congress is doing, endangers this city and other major urban areas across the nation. The city and nation also deserves a real immigration reform bill, but attaching this idea to homeland security funding is misguided and absurd. It’s time for politicians to stop playing games with public safety; Congress must fulfill its responsibility to the American people and fund the DHS without complication.
SC03052015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above