By NYPD Captain Joseph Concannon (Ret.), originally published in Square Deal Committee, Inc. Online.
I’m pleased to respond to articles in the New York Post and Huffington Postcovering the Municipal ID program in NYC. Let me begin by stating that, rather than deflecting from the real issues at hand, I would like to answer logically for everyday New Yorkers who may not feel they have a voice.
The following letter by Fred Bedell was published in the Bayside Times.
I was at Our Lady of Snows in Floral Park on Sunday February 8th at the 9:30 A.M. Mass and the Rev. Kevin F. McBrien gave the Homily that I found most inspiring and heart warming. Father McBrien told of a young man going for his first job and had an interview and needed a tie. He went to Target in Raleigh, North Carolina and was looking for a clip on tie but couldn’t find one so proceeded to ask the cashier who said they didn’t have any right now. He explained his problem was that he didn’t know how to tie a regular one. She then called over the menswear salesman to help this young man. The salesman went out of his way to help this young man. He picked out the tie for him and went the extra mile and show him how to tie the tie properly. He than taught him how to act at an interview. First he told the young stranger to give his prospected boss a firm handshake, than look him straight in the eye and explain why he wanted to work for his company. Before leaving he told this young man to tuck in his shirt and to come back and tell everyone how he made out. Many of the workers heard this conversation and cheered this young man on and wished him luck as he left. Father McBrien said this demonstrated an the act of kindness.
Mary Vavruska, the author of this well-written essay, answered the above question as part of a Social Studies project. A Freshman at Brooklyn Tech High School, one of New York City’s Specialized High Schools, she is also an active member of the Conservative Club, Photography Club, and the satirical newspaper, The Radish. In this erudite essay, a must read by all patriotic Americans, Mary articulates the fundamental foundations of America’s political philosophy from John Locke, the ‘Father of Classical Liberalism’ and traces our system of government derived by our Founding Fathers from the best of the governing systems of both ancient Greece and Rome. She concludes with the thinking of Ayn Rand who said that the United States of America is “…the only moral country in the history of the world.”
These achievers we just heard from should go back to their schools and tell them how they have achieved. They need to see heroes like you. Go back to the classrooms and the public schools and tell your stories. Anyone can learn and get ahead in this country.
Michael Benjamin addresses the crowd
The Queens Village Republican Club presented a public forum on the “Specialized High School Controversy” on Thursday evening, February 5th, at the Knights of Columbus in Glen Oaks Queens as the better part of the monthly general meeting. The format was a nonpartisan panel discussion with experts, SHS students and alumni who discussed the mission the tradition of academic excellence and the fight to preserve the high standards of the SHSs. Quality of education is one of the foremost values that Republicans and nearly all New Yorkers share, because education is the gateway to the American Dream.
