On Grandparent’s Day, here’s five programs that deserve your support

Today is Grandparent’s

Day — my first celebration as Pop Pop Jack, my newest identity.

Our nine-month-old granddaughter Julianne’s birth last Thanksgiving morning was, to say the least, a truly glorious gift to our whole family. Her health and happiness are sources of joy without limit.

For 40 years, I have served as an advocate for family policies and innovative programs created to prevent problems at every age and stage of life.

A special focus of these efforts has been ways to translate the science of prevention into practical steps, and attract investments from public funds and private philanthropy. The adage “an ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure” is a proven strategy that deserves this add-on: timely prevention avoids a ton of punishment.

How dare we pay the cost of failure when we have proof positive of what works to keep bad things from happening? This concept is true for us as individuals and extends to our society as a whole. When we practice prevention, we save lives, money and a wide variety of community problems.

Ensuring healthy births, providing excellent care for toddlers, investing in quality preschool and understanding the value of support for parents are all important to reduce risk and enhance the odds for success — emotionally, educationally and economically.

Having entered this grandfatherly stage of life, I feel wellpositioned to look back and plan forward. It is now clear to me that aging is not just about celebrating more birthdays.

I now more clearly understand that successful aging is defined by the concept of legacy — about what we will be remembered for and judged.

Looking into the bright eyes of our sweet and smart grandbaby, Julianne, I know what others have called the great tomorrow we may never see.

As I have now joined the ranks of Florida’s great family of grandparents, I am dedicated to launch a “Grands for Children” campaign.

As voters and voices advocating the well-being of our families, communities, state and nation, it is in our best interest to leverage our power to assure the health, safety and security of all the young ones who will some day lead us into the future.

Florida has developed an impressive array of preventive policies, programs and partnerships that have proven their worth over the past few decades.

Here’s is a list of five Florida home-grown prevention and intervention programs deserving of your attention and support:

Healthy Start Coalitions – A community-based cost-effective system of service coordination for pregnant women and infants, which has a 25-year track record of success in promoting healthy births. https:// www.healthystartflorida.com/

Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and its affiliates, Prevent Child Abuse and Healthy Families – A public-private partnership providing tools and strategies for parents and communities to keep children safe and free from abuse and neglect. https://www.ounce.org

Florida Association for Infant Mental Health – A collaboration promoting increased understanding by professionals, parents, and caregivers of the importance of the early years in a child’s prospect for life success. https://www.faimh.org/

Children’s Forum – Provides advocacy for improved professional development in the field of child care and early learning. http:// www.flchild.com/

Guardian ad Litem – Recruits and empowers citizen volunteers to advocate for abused, neglected and abandoned children so our judicial system can better serve these most vulnerable young Floridians. http:// guardianadlitem.org/

It is my heartfelt and headstrong belief that all Floridians, especially my fellow grandparents, have the opportunity to shine a positive light on the value of preventive investments in the future of our children — all our children.

Try different questions for Kavanaugh

The Senate committee is asking the wrong questions.

If I was on the committee I would ask, is God above the law? Is Jesus Christ above the law? In each case the answer would be yes.

Then I would ask the judge to recite the First Amendment of the Constitution. Is the president above the law? Whatever response he makes, he is denying the impartiality of the Supreme Court as an independent department of government. There are limits to executive, judicial, and congressional powers. The only supreme power belongs to the people in whose authority the sovereignty of the nation rests.

Morton Kurzweil, Margate

Congressional Republicans’ Supreme hypocrisy

The hypocrisy and lawlessness of the Republicans in the Senate not allowing all the documents regarding the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to be a Supreme Court justice to be seen and heard by the people of this country is damning. It's the opposite of democracy and that's dangerous territory.

Barbara Jaffe, Boynton Beach

McCain played politics with funeral plans

The funeral John McCain carefully planned for himself is an extreme example of his self-admiration. Yes, he was a POW. Yes, he was a politician. We have all made sacrifices in life. But to rely on past performance to continue to push your political agenda at your own funeral was brilliant. Every detail of his funeral had a specific purpose to elevate his legacy and to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. He handpicked and personally called on people to deliver eulogies who would play on the emotions of others – people who were surprised that he even asked them and who weren’t close to him. They complied with his request because they could use the platform. The result, important news affecting our nation and the world was pushed onto the backburner because John McCain wanted to bury the accomplishments of the current administration.

Susan Tangalakis Oliver, Hillsboro Beach-

Don’t confuse opinion with reporting

I agree with (the letter) that a newspaper’s reporting should be unbiased and I believe that is true of the Sun Sentinel. On the other hand, opinion by definition is the bias or belief of the one who is opining and is, therefore, perfectly placed in the Sun Sentinel Opinion page.

Ellen Isaacs, Pompano Beach

Schools amendment meant to dupe voters

This is in response to the editorial written by Erika Donalds regarding proposed Amendment 8.

I also feel that families and students deserve to choose from a variety of top quality, innovative school programs for their students. What she did not explain is how putting all charter schools under the control of the state rather than the local school board is going to accomplish this. Also, if she is so proud of her amendment why did she allow it to be buried at the end of a group of bundled amendments with a title that would lead voters to believe they were voting on term limits for school board members? She should have insisted her amendment stand alone. Shame on her for trying to dupe voters into sending control of our schools to Tallahassee. The Court was right to scratch this amendment off the ballot.

Carol Foster, Pompano Beach

Don’t forget to defend Affordable Care Act

In the upcoming elections, I cannot sit idle and watch the Democrats push for Medicarefor-all when I know how hard we fought to get the ACA passed. We are now expected to forget how hard the battle was when we introduced Medicare and instead to stand behind and cheer as we start a new fight that we most definitely will lose; giving up all the progress we made when the ACA was accepted. It is simple; Medicare-for-all is not feasible and would never become law. We must continue to support Obama’s legacy and the ACA.

Mariel Del Valle, Miami