Sunday's letters: Islam, 9/11 monument, First Amendment, IBEW Local 97, physician aid in dying, debt negotiations

Extremists misinterpret
teachings of Islam, too

To the Editor:
Critics often blame Islam for influencing extremists. Yet those very critics who criticize Islam have themselves been cited by Anders Breivik as influences for his recent attacks in Norway. Breivik has cited numerous quotations from Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders in his manifesto, but they insist that their works have been misinterpreted.

Let us assume they are correct. Why then, do such critics never consider that extremists have misinterpreted Islam in the same manner?

The Quran explicitly states, “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:257) and “Whosoever killed a person — unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land — it shall be as if he had killed all mankind” (5:33).

Any verse can be taken out of context. For example, the Quran (2:191) does say to fight the infidel — however the preceding and succeeding verses show that fighting is permitted against such people who attack first and transgression is not allowed.

While such critics do not condone the killing of innocents, Breivik did cite their works as an inspiration. If they defend themselves against such allegations, they must afford the same respect when assessing Islam.

Atik Ahmad
Waterloo

Include diverse symbols
at 9/11 monument site

To the Editor:
An organization of American atheists is petitioning the courts to rule against the First Amendment. The matter at hand is the display of a surviving piece of steel at the former World Trade Center, reminiscent of a cross.

To deny any religion free exercise and prohibit displays of religiously-based symbols is to violate the phrase, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” While the display of a religious symbol may be discomforting to a follower of another faith, or to a person having no defined faith, to prohibit the display of any given religious icon in a public setting is to deny religious freedom to followers or adherents of other faiths.

While no person should ever be forced to worship, neither should they be allowed to prohibit worship by others. A more appropriate solution might be a demand for inclusion of various symbols of victims of 9/11, and include a secular memorial for non-believers.

Patrick Ryan
Jamesville

Union courageously
exercised its rights

To the Editor:
It's not Labor Day this week, but all of Central New York organized labor is celebrating. We had a victory: IBEW Local 97 is back to work at Constellation Energy with their heads held high

A labor leader only calls for a strike vote if all avenues of resolution are fully exhausted and a worker never commits to a strike unless it’s so obvious that even the worker farthest from the negotiating table sees clearly that there is nowhere to go because the company has stopped listening. And so these IBEW 97 union members did exercise their right to strike, but to do so during a period in American history when the tide has turned so harshly against the common working man and woman is tremendously courageous.

Even successful strikes are never truly a victory for either side, but sometimes they are a necessity, as in this case where the senior union members were willing to give up some pension benefits to look out for the workers coming up behind them. In voting to accept the new contract and end the strike, IBEW 97 President Ted Skerpon said that his members voted for “a compromise made to help the younger workers.”

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo always stated in his speeches that unions were the only institution in the history of the world that bettered the lives of the common man and woman. But today we are experiencing a time when the American citizens have forgotten where our bread and butter truly comes from.

Thank you IBEW 97 members for standing up for all of us, as we all, union and non-union, find ourselves in the war against corporate domination and greed. Thank you for reminding our community that good paying, stable jobs are also saved when workers choose to speak out and exercise their rights.

Ann Marie Taliercio
President,
Central New York Area
Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

Physician aid in dying
compassionate option

To the Editor:
According to health care economists, rising health care costs are the driving force behind rising Medicare expenditures and our national debt. Estimates show that about 27 percent of Medicare's annual $327 billion budget goes to care for patients in their final year of life.

One way to limit these costs is to allow physician aid in dying, an option permitted in Oregon, Washington and Montana. This gives people choices for a dignified death and lowers health care costs. Over two-thirds of people support this option, and their chief reason is to prevent passing on excessive medical costs with little functional improvement at the end of life to their loved ones.

In the three states where physician aid in dying is permitted, the sky hasn’t fallen, it is not overused and it has not become health care for the poor at the end of life.

We need to pass legislation in New York state to permit physician aid in dying. Not only is it the most compassionate option, it is also the least expensive.

After all, whose life is it anyway?

Gene Tinelli, MD
Jamesville

Seeking compromise
society's universal value

To the Editor:
Trying to be fair, and compromising with those who differ from you (for the sake of the greater good), seems to have come on bad times. The True Believers are the fly in the ointment, and the ointment is the diverse and pluralistic society we live in.

Fundamentalists of every sort are always reluctant to compromise their absolutes, and that’s why they are a problem within that larger society. When they seek to impose their views on others, we shouldn’t be surprised when those others complain!

The principles worth fighting (and dying) for are not the sectarian beliefs of this or that group, but rather the fundamental and universal values we hold dear — democracy, respect for others, and a willingness to compromise for the sake of greater good.

Dick Pilgrim
Syracuse

Carry out will of people,
not will of the parties

To the Editor:
I sent this to Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle concerning congressional gridlock.

I am extremely disappointed in the conduct of the U.S. Congress, both by Democrats and Republicans!

When are you going to do your job and serve the American people who trusted you enough to send you to Congress and work for the good of the country and not the good of the party? It seems all anyone in Congress is concerned with is the 2012 elections. Remember, we sent you and the president to Washington to carry out the will of the people, not the fragmented will of the party.

Get with it and compromise!

Edward W. McCarthy Jr.
Liverpool

View on debt proposals
out of step with people

To the Editor:
To Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle:

Your teleconference Thursday made it clear that your position on the debt crisis is not in step with your constituents. I would like to know why you insist on the short-term increase in the debt ceiling. It will only keep the markets jittery, put our bond rating in jeopardy and keep businesses in uncertainty so they will further hold off hiring.

You have had more than six months to raise the ceiling, so what makes you think that you can do it in another six without the same shameful and dangerous game of Russian roulette? You tried to reassure seniors that this plan (your emphasis) by the House does not touch Social Security and Medicare. Does this mean that you want to tackle it before you approve the next increase in six months?

Mary Boyle
Syracuse

Save money by firing
our elected officials

To the Editor:
If our legislators say that a smaller government is the answer to our debt problems, maybe we should just fire them and apply the savings to bring it down. After all, they work for us and aren't accomplishing anything anyway.

Robert Smith
Chittenango

Beware the bell, which
tolls for each one of us

To the Editor:
To signal the end of the business day, the New York Stock Exchange rings a loud bell. This is followed, regardless of conditions, by loud applause.

Considering Congress and the state of our disintegrating government, I am reminded of the famous lines of English poet John Donne (1571-1631): “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Frank Roger Sharp
East Syracuse

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