Hope for stop to Iran appeasement effort
Up until now, the foreign policy blunders of the Obama administrations have not resulted in a massive outcry. I am referring to “fast and furious,” Benghazi debacle, Syrian Civil War, Russian aggression, Yemen, student revolution in Iran, ISIS beheadings and the slaughtering of Christians.
But now, we come to a much more serious situation, which is the negotiations with Iran over the question of it becoming a nuclear power. Iran is a country that is ruled by a theocracy. Their standard chant is: “Death to America” and the “Extermination of Israel.” These are not mild threats. These are deadly serious statements. Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach America. Their regular missiles can reach Israel. Much of their nuclear facilities have been hidden from U.N. inspections.
Now while crippling sanctions are finally being felt in Iran, President Obama feels that we can conclude an agreement. We will remove the sanctions and they promise not to build a bomb for 10 years. In other words, let the future president 10 years from now handle the problem.
From what I understand, President Obama will not submit this agreement (treaty) to the Senate for ratification. He knows the opposition will never give the two-thirds vote necessary. He will simply issue an executive order. This move would violate the checks and balances that are called for in the Constitution. President Obama seems hell-bent on creating a legacy for himself. Appeasement is his policy. Appease your enemy and take your friends for granted.
We can only hope he comes to his senses or the Congress stops this appeasement dead in its tracks.
Jonas Kover
Amsterdam
Cuomo policies chase good teachers away
Kudos to Mr. John Metallo for his April 14 comments on the debate concerning educational testing on MSNBC. As do most teachers, I think that it defies logic to believe that individual teachers are wholly responsible for their students’ test results.
Consider the cases of many devoted, talented and hardworking teachers who are assigned low-ability level groups of students. It always takes very skilled teachers to work with these students. Often, classes are overloaded and have a high percentage of special-needs students. Teachers are battling low attendance rates, poor nutrition and behavior problems for a good portion of class time. Yet, there is no handicap exemption given to the teachers.
It would be interesting to see Gov. Andrew Cuomo play golf against Tiger Woods without a handicap. Not only should we be concerned with what Gov. Cuomo’s next move will be, but what teachers will do. Do we really think young college graduates will be flocking to urban schools for teaching jobs? Will they be naïve enough to go into teaching above second grade?
Many districts have seen higher retirement rates and transfers from upper grades to lower ones in order to avoid the stress on themselves and their students. Not only are we losing valuable talent too early, but skilled educators are being discouraged from working in our neediest districts.
Emilia Sasso
Rotterdam
The writer is a retired high school teacher.
Happy with paper but not some of changes
Re April 21 letter, “Liked TV and movie schedule the old way”: I, too, like L.M. Basil, do not enjoy some of the new changes lately with your paper.
I miss the monthly insert of Relish, which I really enjoyed; not its new substitute, in which I found nothing of interest. I also miss the Sunday insert, with its many interesting articles. And lastly, rearranging the TV-movie-weather page to inside the section, instead of more conveniently on the last page of the section, where I can refer to it throughout the day.
The rest of the paper is great, and I especially look forward to Sara Foss’ opinions.
N.L. Cavallaro
Ballston Lake
Writer described the Dems’ dysfunction
Re April 23 letter by Don Steiner, “Republicans have odd definition of ‘govern’: I would applaud Mr. Steiner on his summary of Republicans’ “governing.”
By explaining what they are trying to figure out, he has described the total “dysfunction” that the current administration has created.
Thank you for explaining the Democrats’ total dysfunction so admirably.
Frank G. Helba
Niskayuna
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Categories: Letters to the Editor
