Letters to the Editor Saturday, March 19

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Cloak of secrecy has poisoned Regents

Why is the state Education Department’s office of assessment such a mystery to K-12 educators?
Why are Regents exams such a mystery to students? For decades now, state Regents exams have been treated like the Defense Department’s nuclear codes. My colleagues and I attended the  New York State Council for the Social Studies conference last week in Albany.
We were literally four miles away from the Education Department headquarters. How many department assessment reps attended in person? Zero!
There were a few sessions that were held remotely and scheduled specifically as not to allow for challenging questions about the first administration of the new U.S. history exam in June.
Teachers, students and administrators simply want information to help prepare kids for the exam.
The only information available is a single prototype framework with a small sample of questions.
This process, this intrigue, this obfuscation is completely unacceptable. I often ask myself what the goal of the Office of Assessment is. Is it to fool 16-year-olds into failing?
A team of educated adults who specialize in history should not be proud that they can fool teenagers into selecting the wrong answers.
The time for this archaic practice is over. Regents exams are fine as one of several measures of academic ability. They need to go away as a graduation requirements.
Years of omitting historically marginalized groups from curriculum, inequity in Regents prep availability (it takes money), and the cloak of secrecy surrounding the process have poisoned the well. Time to do better, state Education Department.
Christopher Ognibene
Schenectady

Let health officials make health rulings

Exactly why do we have government (federal, state, county) health departments?
For the monitoring and management of public health? If so, aren’t they manned by qualified medical and scientific professionals? If so, then it seems to me that when the public is facing a health crisis (pandemics, etc.), it should be the health departments that make the relevant decisions concerning containment measures, masks, vaccinations, protections, information dissemination, etc.
Why would public health decisions be made by political office holders? Would you have a carpenter make decisions about your cancer therapy?
Do our laws give public health agencies the authority they need to make and enforce decisions in a health emergency? If they don’t, they should.
Tell our lawmakers (our employees) to make it possible for the scientifically qualified professionals to do their job. Think about it.
Marilyn B. Guidarelli
Schenectady
The writer is a retired registered nurse.

Doctor’s lawsuit was unprofessional

Regarding recent articles in The Gazette regarding an Amsterdam doctor suing a butcher for refusing to sell him steak and his subsequent withdrawal of that suit, (Feb. 24, March 1) that’s a good way to get publicity, Dr. Kwiat. But personally, that would not be my plan of action.
Notoriety of that lawsuit was not the way to get your point across.
You hurt people, and that is not something a professional, like yourself, should be proud of.
Yes, we all believe what we want to believe. But I strongly disagree with how you processed that.
Needless to say, I am on the side of the butcher.
Helen Tatarek
Schenectady

Preserve trees to protect land, views

This is in regard to the letter from Russell and Marsha Chase (“Niskayuna should act to block project lights”) in the March 5 Gazette and March 11-17 Your Niskayuna.
We have the same issue on Van Antwerp Road, as most people between Balltown Road and Union Street have cut down all of their trees. And there are not only street lamps on at night every few feet, but flood lights that stand 50 feet tall in the Hillside school parking lot that fill my windows nightly with their glare.
The laws regarding light trespass according to Lawinsider.com, “Light trespass from a property shall not exceed 0.5 footcandles at the property line, measured five feet above the ground.”
And examples of shadows created by light trespass can be found at: https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightinganswers/lightpollution/lightTrespass.asp
There is another issue as well; the trees also keep the river bank and hills intact.
Niskayuna residents would better be served by requiring independent review of projects and to follow codes regarding “character of the town” instead of allowing engineers hired by developers to say their projects are safe and legal.
Look at what was done in the area of Union Street and Troy Place when Albany Med and the private dentist expanded.
The so-called green space created to offset the expansion is just a drain basin for filthy road runoff that now has no place to go because of all the new concrete.
And the typically tiny trees that were planted by landscapers need 50 years to become the fans needed to hide light and create shade and oxygen.
Beth Jacobs
Niskayuna

Don’t trust media when seeking truth

Location: college literature class.
The scene: Genesis, garden dialogue between the Serpent and Eve. Action: Wily serpent sets trap, Eve finds forbidden fruit pleasurable, sharing it with Adam.
Professor: “Did Eve die?”
“No,” chorused the entire class.
Professor: “Who lied?”
Sensing a trap, I watched stunned as the class unanimously chorused, “God.” Class dismissed.
If only I had the presence of mind to suggest we invite Eve for an interview, but I could only sit horrified that an esteemed professor would lead an entire class off the cliff as cleverly as a pied piper.
Perhaps he was playing devil’s advocate and expected pushback;
If so, he was disappointed.
Today’s pied piper is the media, firing mantras like missiles of destruction. Rarely held accountable when proven false, their lies live in the minds of the unwary. When forced to repent, the media merely whispers, in contrast to their brash, mendacious broadcast.
As a child attending public school, we knew the Ten Commandments; they were clearly posted. We knew it was not virtuous to bear false witness. We knew the press was protected by our Constitution for independent publishing of facts.
A once-sacred press has become a brazen American enemy. Schooled in perpetrating and perpetuating lies, obliterating selected targets and creating division, they engage in willful abuse of their protected liberty.
We must engage in wise discernment, conscientiously seeking truth, lest we become ensnared by our own complacency. Obliviousness to the eternal struggle between good and evil is a direct path to destruction.
Joanne Darling
Pattersonville

We need truth about Russia and NATO

Somebody is lying about Russia.
First, NATO was created after World War II in response to a perceived threat from the Soviet Union. The number of member states has grown from the original 12 to 30 today, with combined annual defense spending in excess of $1 trillion. The NATO bureaucracy itself spends $1 billion to $2 billion per year from annual assessments paid by each member country.
Second, Russia’s annual military budget is around $65 billion, or about the same as the United Kingdom. According to Western media, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine suffers from lack of fuel and food for the invasion force.
Morale is also an issue, with The New York Times reporting some Russian forces have surrendered rather than fight. TV military talking heads conclude Russia will either lose the war outright or be bogged down for years fighting a determined insurgent force. If true, Russia doesn’t sound like much of a threat to NATO countries.
A more rational assessment is Russia will likely ensure Ukraine never joins NATO, while remaining incapable of mounting a credible invasion of Eastern Europe. That also means NATO is obsolete. The risk of a European ground war is low probability and distracts from the real risk to the United States, which will come from Asia.
Tim Connolly
Fultonham

Biden has unified the nation for the worse

Let me list the kudos for the man who was to unify our nation. In a sense, he has done so by solidly unifying Americans who wonder what the hell is going on in our country?
1. Gasoline prices: His first day in office, he stopped leasing on federal lands and stopped the Keystone pipeline. Brilliant.
2. Inflation: What can I say? He blames everyone else and never takes into account the massive social spending (Build Back Better.)
3. Afghanistan: We left many people behind who helped us while we were there, and perhaps the most idiotic thing was to leave the weapons behind.
4. No accountability: The press shows a blind eye and even a harmless question from Lester Holt brings a sarcastic reply.
5. Covid: Follow the science, they told us, until it did not meet their needs.
I could list more, but brevity tells me enough is enough.
Jerry Bubniak
Northville

Pro-Trump letter lacking in facts, logic

I’m responding to Anthony Wasssil’s March 14 letter (“Country was better off under Trump.”) His claim of Trump telling Putin “If you go into Ukraine, I’ll blow Moscow off the face of the earth,” has no verification. Apparently, it was a comment made to golfer John Daly. Where is your evidence? Especially since transcripts of Trump’s conversations with Putin are nonexistent.
During Trump’s administration, Putin had no reason to invade Ukraine, as Trump himself was trying to destroy NATO. Seems they had the same objective.
As for the disappearance of pro-Biden signs, rational people tend to remove political signage, once the election is over.
And, as an independent, I can certify that I now sleep better at night with Trump out of office. Are things perfect? No. But at least we no longer have a narcissistic, sociopath in the Oval Office.
Lastly, I’m skeptical about your objective, with your additional racial remark comment.
Jill Miglin
Burnt Hills

Hope for Dems to lose in fall and 2024

A recent article in The Gazette included the text that a certain leader had reasons that made sense to him at the time, and he really believed his actions were for the good of the country, but in hindsight was a total disaster.
Naturally it’s a quick conclusion to think it must be Joe Biden. Granted, the only real choice he gets to make on his own is what flavor ice cream he’s having today, but he is the president, and the buck stops with him.
We all know about the millions of undocumented immigrants flooding over the southern border, the Afghanistan debacle, his obvious mental decline and physical infirmity, inflation, gas prices, Russia and China knowing they are free to do as they wish, the covid masking nonsense, and the list goes on.
It’s clear to everyone his policies are failing miserably, and literally none of his policies have had a positive effect.
We assume he (his puppet masters) doesn’t mind destroying the lower- and middle classes to attain their goals. I don’t know how far he will be allowed to go with our ruination. Seriously, it is not a joke what they have done to us all while they live in their mansions (with walls and armed security). Hopefully, the Democrats will be voted out of office by a righteously angered populace this November and again in 2024. Oh, and that person The Gazette wrote about, whose policies looked really bad in hindsight?
That was Benedict Arnold.
Bill Denison
Burnt Hills

Purchase sustainable hiking, camping gear

It’s cold, but time to plan for all that neat car camping this year.
New sustainable gear is a must. Your made-from-bottles gear and efficient butane stove or wood campfire? Passé my friends. Sustainability has passed you by.
There are now portable wood stoves – no more gas smells and fear of burning down the woods. Too big, you think. Take a look at these cool stoves that cook and generate electricity.
Still having match troubles? Where are they? They are wet. Where is the striker? Problem solved. A real plus, too – a bright mini flashlight.
Any gear we buy new has some environmental impact. Look for hiking gear that’s gentle on the environment, avoids single-use plastic, and still holds up on the trail: bamboo cloth, sea algae, Merino wool, no-plastic water bottles, wheat fiber, reprocessed natural fibers.
Be sustainable, be chic and stay healthy.
Renate Reeves-Ellington
Delmar

Socialists, media to blame for our woes

As I have seen our nation turn into chaos the past year, and now on the verge of World War III or worse, I think it is time for everyone living in America that loves freedom, and money in their pocket, to act, speak out now!
The socialist progressive Democratic Party with President Joe Biden and company leading them are responsible for inflation, loss of respect and fear from all our enemies.
Even the most liberal of them are saying enough, but Biden is hell-bent on pushing through his agenda, whatever it costs.
Think of all the millions of lives ruined by Biden, the Democratic mandates by power-hungry Democratic governors, the teachers unions, school boards, the FBI, DOJ, others. The southern border is not secure, with the help of our government paying the Catholic Church money for hotels, airfare, clothes, etc. This is treason at the highest level. Wow, no arrests, investigations, nothing. Why? You the people have to ask this question, and demand arrests for all involved – the president on down. The media is also to blame, TV, newspapers, radio, etc. Corporate-controlled. Boycott corporations and hit them where it hurts – money.
Albert P. Marvell
Scotia

Too much money wasted on hot fusion

Hot fusion requires the creation of temperatures of 100 million degrees to fuse atoms. This also involves the transportation and burning of the most dangerous isotope in the universe, tritium.
Enough went missing (search under New York Times 1989, Department Of Energy, and missing tritium) to build a fission-fusion-fission bomb with 1000 times the explosive yield of Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Physicists want tritium to be ubiquitous. Hot fusion will always be the most expensive way to generate electricity.
Cold fusion (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) at room temperature has yielded positive results from the very first experiments, but hot fusion scientists have poisoned the well springs of experimenters.
Just search under ITER to see how wasteful physicists are. If that money had gone into biology and chemistry, we would have a much longer healthy lifespan and over $10,000/year of extra disposable income for every family of four.
Richard Moody
Albany

Biden’s inaction is empowering Putin

How do you deter an aggressor? America’s reaction to Putin’s invasion in Ukraine is to do nothing that might anger Putin.
When Putin used the word “nuclear,” the Biden Administration was cowed.
Putin’s attacks on civilian targets prove that we are not deterring him. Rather, our hesitancy to supply Ukraine with MiG jets shows that Putin is deterring us while he commits atrocities against the Ukrainian people.
When reporters ask the president’s spokespersons to explain why we agreed to supply anti-tank missiles but not MiG jets, the answer is always that we would be escalating this war. Putin escalated this war from day one by purposely targeting civilians and attacking without provocation.
Matters have been made much worse both in this country and abroad by our energy policies.
his administration refuses to unleash our oil and gas industries to provide energy needed here and by our allies in Europe.
Instead, President Biden pleads with Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to increase their oil output which strengthens their economies while weakening ours.
Meanwhile, our inflation rate is 7.9% and rising, and we are told that the president is doing everything possible to restrain price increases.
In fact, his policies are contributing mightily to the cost of all goods Americans depend upon to live.
Only now Biden can deflect blame onto Putin — rather than take responsibility for the downward slide he already had us on.
Richard Evans
Burnt Hills

Putin’s Ukraine war reeks of hypocrisy

Vladimir Putin has proclaimed that Ukraine was historically a part of the Russian Empire and cites that as a primary reason for his war to reclaim it.
Here is a parallel to contemplate: There is a region formerly known as East Prussia (its capital, Koenigsberg, was founded by Germans in 1255) that had been a part of Germany since 1701.
However, in 1945, following the defeat of Germany in World War II, East Prussia was split: the southern half was given to Poland, while the northern half along the Baltic Sea was given to the Soviet Union, despite the fact that the Soviet army did not conquer the area (the British RAF was responsible for that).
So, following Putin’s logic, my questions are: Shouldn’t Russia withdraw from the former East Prussia (now known as the Kaliningrad Oblast) and return it to Germany? If Russia refuses, should it be invaded in order to reclaim and return that historically German territory to Germany, and send the Russians packing?
Interestingly, it was reported recently that Putin’s mega-yacht is in Kaliningrad’s harbor, presumably safe from seizure because it is in Russian territory. Isn’t that convenient? Two birds with one stone, anyone?
Paul Deierlein
Schenectady

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