Pitts hypocritically defends migrant lawbreakers
Leonard Pitts’ loopy, far-left column (“Gassing of migrants reveals the smallness of America,” Opinion, Dec. 2) was absolute mush. I would like to ask Mr. Pitts: Do you live in a gated community? Do you have locks on your home’s doors? Does your home lack a huge banner saying “All, please come in (no locks on my doors) and help yourself to whatever I have that you want?” If you take your family out for dinner and a movie, and you return to find uninvited strangers in your home helping themselves to whatever you have, would you be offended? Mr. Pitts, if you answer “yes” to any of these questions, then you are the king of all hypocrites. So please help me understand why uninvited strangers in your home is not acceptable, but they are perfectly acceptable when they try to illegally break into our country?
LUCIEN B. LANE, ATLANTA
Rep. Scott wrong about ocean management protest
Not that long ago, American oceans were on the brink of collapse.
But the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), a bipartisan 1976 law that was strengthened in 1996 and 2006, reversed the decline. Because of the MSA, 45 fishing stocks have been rebuilt since 2000; 91 percent of stocks with known status are not overfished.
Congressman Austin Scott (“New fisheries policy good for oceans, sportfishing,” MyAJC.com) claims that supporting the MSA means “working to protect the monopoly of the commercial fishing corporations.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Protecting the MSA is how we avoid returning to depleted fisheries and empty oceans.
We support responsible fishery management because healthy oceans are good for everyone, boosting the economy and saving marine ecosystems for the next generation. And we will continue to speak out against the efforts of Yamaha and other corporations to undermine successful protections that have revitalized American oceans.
MARGARET KRAN-ANNEXSTEIN, CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, MIGHTY EARTH
