Letters to the editor for Saturday, November 11, 2023
∙ Editor's note: Got a message you'd like to share in our Thanksgiving edition Nov. 22? The deadline is early so send it by Nov. 16.
Remember this on Veterans Day
As we celebrate our veterans this holiday, and on one day earlier for me, the 248th birthday of my beloved U.S. Marine Corps, it is important to consider the current backdrop against which our hard-fought freedoms rest. The Republican Party’s standard bearer and front runner for the presidency is a draft dodger, an insurrectionist against the government he attempts to lead, someone who denigrated U.S. veterans as suckers and losers, someone who praised Hezbollah, a terrorist organization responsible for the death of over 241 of my fellow Marines, someone who on the campaign trail even today heaps praise on dictators Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Viktor Orban and someone currently facing 91 charges by juries of his peers in four different jurisdictions. For all those Americans who think this man will be the answer to their grievances, whatever they may be, please think again. Remember, he has said his presidency will be all about revenge. Believe him. For all those Americans, to include the current crop of Republican wannabe presidents without the moral courage to openly confront the facts about Mr. Trump for fear of losing votes, please remember that your support says much more about who you are than who Mr. Trump is. Remember these things for the veterans who down through history have protected our democracy which is now under constant assault by those who think authoritarianism is a viable alternative when one party can no longer win in the marketplace of ideas.
Thomas Minor (USMC, ret.), Bonita Springs
Are book burnings next?
The newly released list of books being banned in Collier County is almost comical, if it wasn’t so sad. Florida high school students are apparently not bright or mature enough to read Hemingway or a number of other classic novels. It is an insult to the students and an affront to the inherent strength of our country and its sense of freedom to read what you want, say what you want and make your own informed decisions. Collier County will be sending students off to college, underprepared to think critically.
Kevin Mcginty, Naples
Speak out to school board
“Anna Karenina”? I loved it. But students won’t find that book on public school library shelves in Collier County. In an effort to comply with Florida HB 1069, “media specialists” have pulled it, along with over 300 other titles. It’s a list that reads at times like a “who’s who” of American literature, from Hemingway and Flannery O’Connor to Vonnegut and Stephen King. Collier County now holds the dubious honor of having pulled the most titles from school library shelves (Clay County comes in second, with a measly 177). According to PEN America (“Index of School Book Bans – 2022-2023”), more books have been banned in Florida than in any other state.
What can you do? Attend the upcoming Collier County School Board meeting and speak out. The school board meets this coming Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Administrative Center, 5775 Osceola Trail, Naples. To review the agenda (available about a week beforehand), go to Collierschools.com. To speak during Public Comments, you may sign up online the day of or in person at the meeting. Meetings can be long, so bring a drink and a book. Maybe one of the banned ones.
Speaking of books and censorship, our Collier County Board of Commissioners voted in October NOT to renew our public library’s membership in the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA is a non-governmental organization dedicated to free speech and free expression, so this decision by the commissioners is worrisome. What can you do? Start attending meetings of the Library Advisory Board. The next one takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 10 a.m. in the Sugden Theater room, Headquarters branch, 2385 Orange Blossom Dr., Naples. While you’re there, check out a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates or Toni Morrison or Leo Tolstoy -- while you still can.
Melanie Wicker, M.A.T.S., Naples
Emotionally charged topic
Currently, banning a book has become a highly emotionally charged topic. In the past what books or educational materials were selected or rejected/banned were done by teacher committees, librarians, subject specialists and school administrators. Their main criterion being: Does the material being selected contribute to learning the curriculum? Other considerations were budget concerns and priorities.Since schools don’t and can’t provide all the books that some parents want, perhaps the slack should be taken up by the public libraries or purchased by parents. To expect the schools to cater to every parent’s likes and dislikes in not a reasonable expectation for the schools.Richard Piccirilli, PhD, Naples
Mayor Heitmann effective
Learning that Mayor Teresa Heitmann is seeking reelection brings optimism, as she's effectively guided our city through tough times, including a pandemic and Hurricane Ian. She's kept her campaign promises and stayed on track. She asked what residents wanted, we responded, and under her leadership followed though, making good on the city's commitments despite challenges.
Headline grabbing politically motivated statements, recently put out by those seeking to challenge her, alleging "massive tax hikes," when our property tax rate saw only a slight rise, was fearmongering and resulted in just an additional 20 dollars annually per million dollars of property value. Impressive amidst inflation and recovery efforts, keeping our rates among Florida's lowest. We don’t need council members who fight, we need council members, and a mayor, who do what is right.
Despite widespread challenges in police staffing nationally, city management, with Heitmann's team, has innovatively curbed police vacancies through targeted incentives.
The mayor and council members have been proactive, dedicating long hours to meticulous preparation and in-depth meetings, allowing for citizen participation. While efficiency is a valid pursuit, the diligence in tackling complex issues is a testament to their dedication to OUR welfare. Complaints about the time our mayor, and council members, dedicate to city matters really needs to stop, their unwavering service deserves our gratitude. Thank you for your leadership and hard work Mayor Heitmann.
Maria Mair, Naples
Unhinged antisemitism
We need to face a few unpleasant realities about the war against Israel.
Israel is the victim, not the aggressor. Rockets are falling on its towns and cities as I write. It is taking all the casualties, but this is a war against Judeo-Christian civilization.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism has been adopted by over a thousand international agencies, 31 states (including Florida) and the District of Columbia, and 15 cities and two counties in the state. It categorically defines anti-Zionism as antisemitism. Hamas and its apologists are nothing less than rank antisemites.
Hamas may be grotesque and barbaric, but it is just the bloody tip on the spear of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, and differs only in degree from the PA, PIJ, Muslim Brotherhood, Hizballah, and Houthi. Mahmoud Abbas, the “moderate” president for life of the Palestinian Authority, was educated in the former Soviet Union and is an unrepentant Holocaust denier. His PA has steadfastly vetoed numerous peace plans and proposals for a "two state solution." Instead it encourages shooting, stabbing and bombing of Israeli and American civilians as "legitimate resistance." Its primary schools teach their children to hate and kill Jews, and it pays handsome, lifetime stipends to the families of imprisoned or dead Palestinian terrorists, including Hamas war criminals; for which the American taxpayer picks up the tab.
Hamas is a cult of death. It does not just use human shields, it indulges in human sacrifice. It bears primary responsibility for the death and suffering inflicted on Israel and Gaza but it does nor stand alone. If progressive politicians, editors, college presidents and clueless students were serious about protecting Gazan civilians from hardship or harm they would demand its immediate surrender. If they wanted to liberate them from Hamas, they would work for a swift and complete Israeli victory. Instead, they libel Israel and slander the IDF, spew Hamas propaganda, and organize rallies for a Judenrein State "from the river to the sea." This is not "justice for Palestine," it is raw, unhinged antisemitism.
“Ordinary Gazans” may be among the victims of the war Hamas provoked, but they are not all innocents. They led Hamas terrorists to their sleeping victims and pillaged in their wake. They cheered the “victorious” return of rapists, torturers and baby killers. They abused living captives and desecrated their dead bodies. They danced in the streets and handed out sweets on Sept. 11, 2001, and October 7, 2023. Not one has thus far come forward to identify where the abductees are being held. The Gaza “Metro” is three hundred miles of sophisticated, reinforced concrete terror tunnels. That is longer than the subway systems of New York or London. It was not built by Thai guest workers. They may not be guilty, but that does not mean they are not complicit.
Allen Menkin, M.D., Naples, Project Coordinator. CAMERA’S Christian-Jewish Partnership Against Antisemitism
Shallow or pandering?
What should we make of Governor DeSantis’s recent statement that the U.S. should not admit any Palestinian refugees fleeing the war between Israel and Hamas because, as he claims, “they are all antisemitic”?
Was he just trying to create an issue to use against his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination or was he revealing further evidence that deep down inside there is a shallow Archie Bunker?
One would have thought that his Ivy League education, or any education that included study of the genocidal 20th century, would have put the notion of collective guilt — a concept that has been used so often to rationalize killing innocent civilians — to rest, once and for all.
It is sometimes difficult to discern whether our governor believes the simplicities he spews or is just using them to evoke some nativistic passion for what he hopes will be to his political advantage.
In the end it hardly matters: If it is the first, it is testimony to a sadly ineffective education. If it is the second, it is despicable pandering.
Robert Hilliard, Sanibel, and Howard Simon, Gainesville
Having it both ways
Ron DeSantis talked about a poor Jamaican woman who decided against having an abortion, who emigrated to America with her daughter. Now the daughter is a member of the Florida Supreme Court. It's a good thing that he didn't charter a plane and ship her off to Martha's Vineyard.
Ed Margulies, Naples
Abortion rights
On Friday, the 24th of June, 2022, the highly conservative Supreme Court, voted to overturn a 50 year federal decision of the court that allows a woman’s right to an abortion. The U.S. Constitution does not grant this specific right; it is based on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Both decisions are interpretations of what the Privacy Clause governing Due Process means.
It is no wonder that in the 18th Century, there was no specific consideration for abortion, so as to include it in the Constitution, because after all, the women of this period didn’t enjoy many rights, period. So whether an enlightened Supreme Court of 1973 chose to stretch the meaning of privacy in the Due Process Clause or if the current makeup of conservatives on the court saw an opportunity to overturn a decision that has been demonized by conservatives for 50 years, it will be left to the states to sort out.
Personally, I have always been pro-choice, but I have always thought that six months was too long to make that choice. I think that with choice comes the responsibility to make that choice at the earliest possible time. The only problem I have in the limit of 15 weeks is that politicians are making that decision, rather than a solution as the result of a debate among the medical professionals and renowned ethicists.
If left to the states, it should be decided by a referendum of the state's residents, not by some political legislature, but in the words of Abraham Lincoln “Democracy is a rule of the people, for the people and by the people.”
Roger W. Quagliano, Estero
What about adoption?
Whether you’re for or against, there is an answer that gets everybody off the hook and over all these many years I’ve never heard the media or anyone else bring to light. Even the unborn baby who would otherwise pay the ultimate price gets a start at life. It’s called adoption.
I was born in the middle of the Great Depression when life was really tough. My parents considered aborting me but knew they had made the right decision after I was born.
So my parents took care of me even before I was born. What’s your story?
John Mallen, Marco Island
Best they can offer?
The third Republican debate was another amateur show.Except for Chis Christie who is sadly still a bit tainted by his embrace of Trump in 2016 the only interesting voices were Welker and Holt.They asked good questions, kept the proceedings under moderate control but usually were responded to with a canned speech especially from DeSantis and Scott.Ramaswamy went completely off the rails in a Ted Cruz type rant and Haley reiterated her usual ho-hum spiel except this time she caught up with the tone on women's rights leaving the rest in the dark.The only one standing with any leadership qualities who is not afraid of the absent elephant might gain some traction if he were a bit more forceful.As for the rest, if this, including the absentee, is the best they can offer, keep your fingers crossed and wish for a better day.
Fred Jodice, North Fort Myers
Bigots, fools identify themselves
I am a big believer in free speech. Let people talk long enough and you find out who they really are and what they believe.Antisemitism has lurked in the shadows. It was not spoken about in polite company. True feelings about Jewish people were whispered or appeared on leaflets put on car windshields. Rights of Jewish people were ignored in silence and secret votes taken to deny access to clubs, businesses and institutions. Much like Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax was as loved as a baseball pitcher but that was different than real life. We all love winners especially when they play for our team, regardless of race or ethnicity.
But now, it is out in the open. Students who want their loans forgiven march and chant “From the River to the Sea” in some form of group hysteria. Progressives who fight for LGBTQ+ rights are now focused on supporting Hamas although the leaders of Hamas would throw LGBTQ+ people off the tops of the buildings in Gaza to prove their worthiness to their version of the Koran. Representative Talib tries to tell us “I didn’t mean what you think I said.” It is cool to tear down pictures of hostages taken by Hamas. After all, the hostages are the least important aspect of the war in Gaza. Oh, and if you support Israel, it is because you are racist and you don’t understand all the faults you have within yourself. After all, the Palestinians are much like the oppressed brown people of the world. Never mind that a lot of Israelis are brown as well. And if an old guy stands up for Israel on the street, well, just hit him in the head with a bullhorn and kill him.So there you go. It is out in the open for everyone to see. It’s ugly and it won’t be forgotten easily. Patrick Henry said “I may disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” People think he was defending the principle of free speech. I believe he truly was but he was also allowing the bigots and fools to publicly identify themselves by their own words. People will let you know who they are if you let them talk long enough.
Chris Corrie, Bonita Springs
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, November 11, 2023
