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    Letters our members have written to newspapers are the individuals'   
    observations, and not reviewed by MVPP. We print them here (the papers
    sometimes don't print them), to reflect our members' diverse opinions.

Islamic Cultural Center in NYC

Lawrence Eagle Tribune August 19

We read and listen, with sadness, to arguments about whether or not an Islamic community center should be located in downtown New York City. Many within the Muslim religious community are contributing members to our society like you are and like we are. Iman Feisal Raul, who is connected with the proposed Islamic Center, is a respected member of an interfaith dialogue group that has been together in New York City for a long time.

Too many of us don't know much about Muslims or the religion of Islam. Like most of us, some are conservative politically and religiously; some are liberal, politically and religiously; and some are moderate, both politically and religiously. Each of us needs to examine how political and religious people of all faiths are really alike in so many ways. All major religions have the message of peace. Are we able to create peace in our own hearts and look for the presence of peace in the hearts of others as we discuss this issue?

Women and men alike, as citizens of the U.S. are proud to say we stand for democracy, for freedom and for tolerance. Many Muslims citizens, hold those same values. However, far too many people, including some who hold responsible positions, are speaking out with opposing views. Let us not lose sight of those values in our society that guarantees rights to all people regardless of color, culture, and creed.
Let us not foster religious persecution or create a hostile atmosphere around this issue and the decisions being made. There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue, but anguish, fear, or stereotypes should not be used as a yardstick to judge how decisions should or should not be made. Our country does not, or should not, make decisions based on emotions. Some Muslims, here in Massachusetts, especially women who wear a head scarf, do not feel safe walking down streets to do their laundry or grocery shopping. Are we guilty of creating "monster images" and stereotypes where a few radical Muslim fundamentalists make every Muslim a radical fundamentalist? Are we guilty in what we say and how we act?
Some are advocating building no more mosques anywhere, and some voices seem to be echoing George Wallace who, in 1963 'drew a line in the dust' and said: "segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever." Is that what you want? That's not what we want.
We do not know Muslims living in Manhattan, but they must have suffered like other families suffered on September 11th. Hundreds of Muslims died that day, both in the Towers and in trying to rescue trapped people.
As Christians, we are reminded that Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, even those who are perceived as "the enemy." It is clear to us that "everyone" is our neighbor. Jesus treated everyone with respect. Gandhi said "Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love."
People of the Islamic faith are not our enemy. We hope we can use this opportunity to find occasions to talk with each other and learn from each other and in the process create bridges that lead to understanding, peace and justice.

Jim and Mary Todd
Lawrence, MA

Three Notes from Michael Bleiweiss
Lawrence Eagle Tribune Sound Off 7/29

The recent incident with Shirley Sherrod at the Department of Agriculture
demonstrates much of what is wrong with American politics. First, right-wing
ideologues issue lies, half-truths, and deceptions to advance their agenda.
Second, the right-wing press runs with it. Third, the main-stream press picks
it up without checking any facts first. Finally, the spineless Democrats
immediately capitulate without doing their own checking or push-back.

This is the tactic that the right employs repeatedly to great effect. It was
the same pattern that trashed ACORN and got us into Iraq. It behooves
all of us to look under the hood before accepting any assertion as fact.

-------------------------

There is something that I do not understand about the BP oil well. They have
now managed to cap it off successfully. Why are they still going to plug it up?
It could now be used as a producing well. BP already has the infrastructure in
place to harvest the oil. Why waste it?

-------------------------

Once again, the Republicans have remained faithful to their corporate masters
by filibustering the Disclose Act that would have required political ads to
reveal which corporations contributed to them. The bill might have been
imperfect, but could have been amended. Instead, they chose to stick to their
obstructionist strategy by blocking all attempts to protect us from total
corporate domination of the political process.

-------------------------

"Bad English" is in such a hurry to condemn immigrants that he forgot the most
likely reason that the receptionists speak broken English with foreign
accents -- he has been transferred to another country. It is well-known that
big corporations outsource customer service to low wage countries like
India, the Philippines, and Mexico. This is because they are more interested
in saving a few dollars than in employing Americans or providing good service.

Where's The Media Outrage Over Global Security Issues?

Through the years, picking up and unfolding the daily paper has
been like crossing a bridge into territory that's been talked about or
hinted at through the week. With this copy, the reporters' task is to
inform us further with facts and analysis. The territory is no longer
strange but within our purview and we can act on what we've learned as we
see fit. Of course, once in while, there's an event that's emblazoned on
page one that's totally unnerving.

"Oh, no!" won't fend off the impact of a local train wreck, the
unearthing of a plot by extremists to blow up an important government
building on a Sunday afternoon, a suicide pact agreed to by some of our
soldiers in Afghanistan. These are events we'd rather not know about but
they shock us into recognition of our commonality as so much of the daily
paper does-- or did.

At one time, we relied on certain columnists, radio and TV
commentators to keep us fully and accurately informed about any number of
important, possibly life-changing circumstances. Among others, Woodward and
Bernstein, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, Peter Jennings,
Dan Rather and Edward R. Murrow did their jobs in ways that enlarged our
understanding of the use and misuse of government, the direction and
misdirection of our culture and our own part in the overall drama.

In recent years, I had to turn to British papers online to learn
just what was really going on in Iraq. The Downing St. memo gave me far
more straightforward, truthful information than The New York Times and I
knew our engaging in a "shock and awe" attack on that country was more than
ill-advised. Millions of dead and displaced Iraqis are an enormous reproach
to us. The mainstream media seem to have been diverted by the likes of
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh while those reliable columnists we could depend
on are disappearing.

Attempts to compensate for the loss of information and the
immediacy with which it's presented are apparent in Consortium News that
features publications that are thought to be somewhat marginal like The
Nation and Mother Jones. They don't include the larger audience that needs
to be informed about events so they can be responded to, hopefully, in
probing, measured ways.

Where, for example, is the widespread outrage over the
information unearthed by Congressman John Tierney who is chair of the House
Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs? Titled "Warlords,
Inc", he spoke of the Pentagon's paying warlords in Afghanistan to assure
that the roads are safe for our troops and trucks. The warlords, in turn,
are paying the Taliban to assist them. How can that be? Why aren't we
hearing about it on the front pages of our papers?

On June 18th, a U.S. naval carrier group, reportedly accompanied
by at least one Israeli vessel, passed through the Suez Canal and into the
Red Sea and went on toward the Persian Gulf. One of the carriers with 4,000
Marines aboard joins and serves to augment the U.S. armada now opposite Iran
supposedly at the ready with a total, all told, of 10,000 combat personnel.

Where is this reported in our press with warnings that an attack
on Iran would be a catastrophe, especially in that part of the Middle East?
Israel has nuclear weapons along with Pakistan and India. A tinderbox
mentality is at work. We need to know what could be in the offing. What we
don't know (because we aren't being told), could bring grievous harm our
way.

Bring back the mainstream press and instruct it to do the job it
was intended for. After all, Ronald Reagan said, "Trust but verify". The
general population needs to be in a position to do so

Cynthia Fisk, Gloucester

A chance to see the truth at last

Newburyport Daily News, August 10, 2010

To the editor:

Politicians lie to us. Wall Street lies to us. The Pentagon lies to us. The oil industry lies to us. Lying seems endemic in upper levels of power.

Wikileaks has presented us with the unvarnished truth, a rare and precious commodity in this nation. Wikileaks will save thousands of lives if Americans face the truth revealed in the released documents and act to end the savage and pointless wars that consume us.

Our civilization is unraveling due to the avarice and heedless aggression of those who wage war for profit. In the past 60 years America's covert and overt wars have killed millions of people of all ages all around the globe. We have become a raging war machine abroad while conditions at home continue to deteriorate. Any claim that our military actions make us safer is a bad joke. How long can this insane policy of endless wars that corrupt, pollute and destroy continue before collapse becomes inevitable?

Those who risk everything to bring truth to light deserve our utmost respect and support.

D. Philip
Newburyport

Change of party
Eagle Tribune Jy 2, 2010

The calls from the right to impeach President Obama are starting. I wonder
where these writers were when George Bush lied to start an illegal war,
sanctioned torturing prisoners, violated the Constitution and the law to have
warrentless wiretaps, had Justice Department lawyers sacked if their politics
wasn't conservative enough, also failed to send guards to our border with
Mexico, and proposed an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Most likely, they
were calling his critics traitors. What a difference a change of party makes.

Michael Bleiweiss

-------------------------

Corporations are Still not People
Eagle Tribune Jy 14, 2010

Jerry McConnell criticizes Rep. Shea-Porter for voting to apply restrictions to
corporate spending in political campaigns. He employs the standard right-wing
epithets and a string of lies and half truths. I am curious where he is getting
his "information."

Let's get one thing straight first. Corporations are artificial legal
constructs, NOT people. Therefore, they should not have any rights not
explicitly granted by statute. A string of rulings by "conservative,"
pro-corporate Supreme Court justices over the past century declaring them
to be people does not make them so. These rulings need to be overturned
-- by Constitutional amendment, if necessary. Remember, earlier Courts
also ruled in favor of slavery and segregation.

Regarding the Disclose Act, it does the following:
1. Prohibits government contractors from campaign spending.
This restrains a clear conflict of interest problem.
2. Restricts foreign nationals from making contributions to the political
activities of foreign-controlled companies.
3. Prohibits corporations from coordinating their political activities
with candidates.
4. Requires disclosure of political campaign spending by corporations.

Nowhere in the bill could I find any references to exceptions for unions or
other non-profit organizations. In addition, no new restrictions are placed
on political speech by individual real human American citizens.

The Supreme Court just gave corporations the right to spend billions of dollars
to influence political campaigns in their favor (in addition to the army of
lobbyists that they already employ to influence legislators). It is only fair
that we the people get some tiny crumbs of protection from this onslaught of
corporate control.

Sincerely,
Michael Bleiweiss

-------------------------

Victory for all of us
Eagle Tribune, Jy 16, 2010

Against the odds and unrelenting criticism of the anti-labor forces on the
right, the Shaw's strikers finally won a fair contract from the giant
corporation that sought to push them down. This is a victory for all of us
who work for a living. It is thanks to the ongoing efforts of the unions that
any of us have jobs that pay living wages and give decent benefits.

Michael Bleiweiss

America and Israel
Lawrence Eagle Tribune 7/14/2010

President Obama and Israel's Prime Minister Netenyahu told us that despite some family squabbles, the two basically agree. It is true. In spite of crimes most of the world abhors, the US still gives Israel all the military aid it needs to commit those crimes.

At the same time the two leaders met, Israel indicted some of its soldiers for inhumane acts. These indictments are supposed to make Israel look civilized.
They didn't indict the government who ordered the January 2009 invasion and that used experimental weapons against great numbers of civilians.

Some blame a Jewish lobby, but the American people are more responsible. Many Americans think that Israeli soldiers swooping in from helicopters can claim they were shooting in self defense. When a flotilla of ships tried to bring much needed supplies to Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, Israel sent helicopters. Who paid for those helicopters? If it was the US, shouldn't we taxpayers question it? We sure question other tax expenditures. Or are Americans rooting for their team, without looking for what is just?

There have been crimes on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, but many more Palestinians have been killed. In the January 2009 fight, approximately 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. (After publication, I realized this was 100 to 1) Only 235 of the Palestinians were combatants. This 10 to 1 ratio is similar to previous events. American cheerleaders may think the Israelis are more effective, but I think that in its fear Israel is making it worse. What would you do if an innocent family member was killed? Can't Israel's government see that terror inspires more terror? A growing number of Israeli citizens are questioning their government's actions.

Many Americans think these troubles are impossible to fix because they go back forever, but they really only go back sixty years. There was some friction in the 1930s, but the fighting really started after WWII, when Great Britain played both sides against each other and the US would not admit significant numbers to immigrate to the US. With the two biggest western powers crowding European Jews into Palestine, it exploded. America helped cause the mess and has to help fix it, but when the US does question Israel, it still provides military aid with our tax dollars. It has to be fixed, and military aid won't fix it.

Brian Quirk, Lawrence

Ecological time bombs facing us

The Daily News, Newburyport
July 6, 2010

To the editor:

I suppose the simplest way to put it is that if the earth dies, we die. If fish stocks are destroyed, there will be nothing for fishermen to catch. If living forests are turned to wasteland, all the countless ways they support life, including providing oxygen to the atmosphere, are lost. If irreparable holes are torn in the infinitely complex living network that sustains us, it is only a matter of time before we disappear.

This is really difficult for most people to grasp. Certainly the shills in Congress who are paid big bucks to value rapacious corporations above the human population don't want to hear it. But neither do car lovers who can't see the downside of oversized gas-guzzling vehicles or who thrill to off-road adventures while tearing up local ecosystems. We are blind to our own environment and take for granted that we are entitled to demolish everything in sight rather than respect and cooperate with nature. Too bad for us in the long run.

Michael Klare has identified four mega time bombs waiting in the wings that could follow the BP undersea gusher currently destroying the Gulf of Mexico. One of these is the Hibernia oil platform off the coast of Newfoundland, the world's largest, apparently sitting in the middle of an iceberg freeway (said traffic increasing with rising global temperatures). Its builders, a consortium of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Murphy Oil, Statoil and the Canadian government, assure us it is safe and can withstand a hit by an iceberg. Of course, we are talking about the icy, storm-ridden North Atlantic, and potential hits by multiple icebergs. (And speaking of icy, what about BP's ongoing effort to drill off the coast of Alaska using miles of connecting undersea pipe? These sites are not surrounded by the balmy waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Stopping the flow of an undersea accident in either place will not be an option). Klare also speaks of the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria, where horrific conditions exist due to the plunder of oil and other resources by corporations foreign to the area. On a map that may seem a small dot far away, but all dots do connect and send waves across the globe. We are facing countless other severe ecological threats as well, but again, few seem to recognize this or their own involvement in environmental destruction.

Which brings me to my last musing. The above cited situations have been created by giant corporations in criminally heedless, single-minded pursuit of profit and total disregard for the well-being of humans and other forms of life. Few take the time to question where our wealth originates or where it goes (think Wall Street) or what our personal responsibilities are for protecting our home environment. We really need to rethink the way we live.

D. Philip, Newburyport

Lawrence Eagle-Tribune.
3 responses by Michael Bleiweiss 4/16/10

The writers bashing the Shaw’s strikers have it backwards. The problem isn't
that the strikers are overpaid and greedy, it's that similar non-union workers
are underpaid. $19 per hour is not that much money. It translates to $36,000
per year -- barely middle class. Similarly, health insurance is essential to
quality of life, but unaffordable to an individual policy holder. Would you
really deny these hard-working warehouse workers a decent standard of living?

The fact is that unions help all of us have better wages and benefits by setting
the standards across the job market. You should be joining them, not knocking
them down. Your own wages and benefits could be at stake.

-------------------------

The opponents of the new health care reform law scream that we are
losing our freedom and of the end of democracy. Where were they when
Bush was ramming through the Patriot Act and implementing warrentless
wiretaps? I guess the repeal of the Bill of Rights is less dangerous than
social programs.

They also cite its cost. They weren't upset when the Reagan and Bush tax cuts
for the rich created ballooning deficits. Nor did they complain about the
trillions of dollars cost of their wasteful weapons programs or the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.

They are not really opposed to deficits per se, just to anything Democrats try
to do.

-------------------------

Limit Treatment claims that citizens from foreign countries come here for
medical treatment. Does (s)he have any actual statistics to back this up?
How do they pay for it? After all, we also have the most expensive medical
treatment in the world. I doubt that their national medical system covers it.
Perhaps these are the super-wealthy people from those countries.

It should also be pointed out that American insurance companies are
encouraging their subscribers to travel to India for major operations.
The trip, plus treatment in a boutique hospital there is still cheaper than
being treated in an ordinary hospital here.

____________________________________________________________________

Older letters can be found in newsletters. Letters about the Israel/Palestine wall.

___________________________________________________

Merrimack Valley People for Peace meets monthly, on the fourth Tuesday,
at 7:30 pm, at North Parish Church, North Andover.
(NOT DECEMBER)

Contact Merrimack Valley People for Peace       (978) 686-8207
            P.O. Box 573
            North Andover, MA 01845

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