Plant pest can and should be used for food
Re: “Alexandria volunteers will target plant pest,” April 26
With all of the people needing food assistance in these current economic conditions, I find it exciting that there is going to be a huge roundup of the invasive garlic mustard “weed.” The article didn’t say what was going to be done with the plants, and I assume they will be thrown out.
I hope not. Fifteen minutes of research on Google should give Alexandrians an idea of how nutritious this plant is. It can be used like any other green to enhance soups, stews, salads, etc. Hopefully someone will recognize its food value and get it to the soup kitchens or arrange for people to pick it up for themselves.
I agree that garlic mustard is very invasive and needs to be controlled, but while doing so, you should make use of a nutritious food that you can put on your table for free.
Ellen Schenck
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Sitting behind a safe computer, it’s easy to criticize
Re: “Even abusive public servants can’t get fired,” April 22
Steve Greenhut conveniently forgets to mention what these “public servants” are doing to earn their “outrageous” salaries. They are not called firefighters for nothing.
All they are being asked to do is enter a burning building and rescue people who might be trapped inside. If Greenhut thinks they don’t deserve the money they earn, perhaps he can volunteer to be a firefighter himself.
He probably also feels that local police officers are overpaid. After all, all they occasionally have to do is go down a dark alley knowing that there might be an armed criminal in there somewhere.
I wonder how much Greenhut earns for sitting safely in front of a word processor writing books about overpaid public servants.
George Bogart
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Ehud Barak does not speak for all of Israel
Re: “Netanyahu says occupation must end,” April 20
Contrary to this headline, it was Labor Party head Ehud Barak who said that the occupation must end. The dominant party in the coalition, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is Likud — so the pronouncements made by Barak as defense minister do not represent the Israeli government, only his personal views.
This is the same Ehud Barak who lost his position as prime minister in 2000 based on his acquiescence to the flawed peace plan proposed by the then President Clinton, first at Camp David and then Taba. This led to the second intifada where more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered.
With the current refusal of the Palestinian Authority to negotiate and the dire consequences of withdrawal from Gaza that brought renewed rocket attacks on Israel, only Netanyahu and the Israeli electorate set policy for the Jewish nation.
Nelson Marans
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