Nathan Turner's Trip to China

The New York Sun has covered high school teacher Nathan Turner's illegal trip to Cuba that several lawmakers have condemned. The Sun's Jacob Gershman points out that Congressman Jerrold Nadler had written a letter indicating that he was "pleased" about the trip. I have written letters to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control, which is responsible for enforcement of the sanctions concerning Cuba, and to Mr. Nadler. Conservative estimates are that Fidel Castro has murdered over 100,000 of his own citizens, several times more than Pinochet murdered. Castro has thrown his country into poverty, reduced standards of living and has tortured and imprisoned political prisoners.

As Andrew Wolf reported on April 17, Turner's trip is not an isolated incident. Mayor Bloomberg wrested control of the city's schools from the Board of Education early in his tenure. Since then, he has supported 15 "social justice" high schools. As Wolf points out, social justice high schools have seen students encouraged to lie to the police and adopt anti-American and pro-terrorist ideologies. Although Mayor Bloomberg has criticized Mr. Turner's illegal trip, he has done nothing to close the inappropriate and doctrinaire "social justice" high schools.


PO Box 130
203 Watson Hollow Road
West Shokan, NY 12494
April 19, 2007

Office of Foreign Assets Control
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Treasury Annex
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20220

Dear OFAC:

I would like to bring to your attention a violation of federal law by a New York City schoolteacher, Nathan Turner. The violation was reported in the New York Sun on April 18 and 19. The April 19 article is at http://www.nysun.com/article/52820.

Mr. Turner ought to be prosecuted for several reasons. First, he has violated federal law. Second, as a teacher he offers an example to his students. Law-breaking is not the example a teacher ought to offer. Third, New York City has established a series of left-wing “social justice schools” that encourage antipathy toward the police, toward the United States and toward your office. You should not take Mr. Turner’s indoctrination of our children to have contempt for the United States, toward its laws and its values lightly. The nation ought to make clear to Mr. Turner, and to New York City that their indoctrinating children into anti-American prejudice is inconsistent with our nation’s core values. Fourth, it should not bear reminding that Fidel Castro is a sociopathic butcher. As the Libertad Act of 1996 points out, the Cuban government engages in armed terrorism against the United States; utilizes torture; and has an unacceptable human rights record. More to the point, Fidel Castro has murdered more than 100,000 of his own citizens, several times more than Pinochet murdered. The indifference of Mr. Turner and left-wing New York politicians to Castro’s record of butchery cries out for a courageous response from your office. New York City and its ignorant, left wing bigots, to include Congressman Jerrold Nadler, have winked at mass murder, and your office needs to let New York City know that the United States does not agree with Congressman Nadler’s contempt for human life.

Sincerely,



Mitchell Langbert

Congressman Jerrold Nadler
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Nadler:

The New York Sun reports that you have written a letter to Nathan Turner, a New York City High School teacher, indicating that you are "pleased" about his trip to Cuba. As you may not be aware, conservative estimates are that Fidel Castro has murdered more than 100,000 of his own citizens; has engaged in torture; and has encouraged acts of terrorism against the United States. That you are pleased that a high school in New York City encourages its students to engage in "exchange" with a despotic dictatorship that has systematically starved and murdered its populace; engaged in torture and encouraged acts of terrorism against the United States suggests either gross incompetence or depraved indifference on your part. You are the equivalent of holocaust denier.

Sincerely,


Mitchell Langbert