reduce the disparity, but Proposal 2
outlaws those protections. It's really a
game, and since gays can't marry,
they have to pay but don't get to
play. Worse, if your kid could marry
but doesn't there goes protection for
your grandkids.
Married people get paid more
"because they need it." Even if wages
are the same, married people's health
insurance costs more. An employer
spends only so much for compensa-
tion. Since married people get more,
unmarried people get less. Further,
despite the "marriage penalty," mar-
ried people with children do much
better on taxes than any unmarried
couple.
If Proposal 2 passes, it's only fair to
remove the extra benefits married
people receive. Four kids? Buy more
insurance. Want your child deduc-
tion on state taxes? Tough luck. After
all, fair is fair.
Gary Rimar
Bloomfield Hills
Bush Gets At Root Cause
Surely, any- fair discussion of the
long-term Middle East foreign policy
strategies of the two presidential can-
didates deserves mention of President
George W. Bush's forward strategy to
reform and bring Arab democracy to
the Middle East — a subject notice-
ably absent from the editorial
"Succeeding Against Terrorism" (Oct.
15, page 55).
There was no mention of the Oct.
9 democratic elections in Afghanistan
— the first in its history in which 10
million Afghanis, including 4 million
women (who up until a few years ago
were not even permitted to attend
school) participated in the democrat-
ic process.
You speak of Sen. John F. Kerry's
patient approach to long-term for-
eign policy, yet apparently have no
patience for democracy in Iraq,
where we have been fundamentally
changing the nature of a country
ruled by a brutal dictator for more
than 30 years, and where we have
only been present for a year and a
half.
President Bush is attempting to get
to the root cause of Islamism by
changing the nature of the regimes
that not only sponsor terrorism, but
also institutionalize the Islamists'
message in their schools, mosques
and state media. Regime change does
not mean the overthrow of every gov-
ernment in the region, but includes
our efforts in Pakistan where U.S.
funds are sponsoring public schools
and thus marginalizing madrassahs.
It means encouraging states like
Libya to renounce their weapons of
mass destruction programs. It means
slowly fostering institutional democ-
racy in countries like Saudi Arabia,
which in November will be holding
its first municipal elections. This is a
long and difficult process, but in the
end, it is the only realistic means of
effecting long-term change in the
region.
Stuart Raider
West Bloomfield
In Kerry's Corner
Congratulations on your endorse-
ment of Sen. John F. Kerry for presi-
dent ("Kerry For President," Oct. 22,
page 45). We were concerned that
you might never take that obvious,
logical step.
It was distressing in the past month
to read in the Jewish News articles
extolling the virtues of President
George W. Bush as a friend and stal-
wart advocate of Israel. This per-
ceived advocacy was given as justifi-
cation for his re-election.
Could this be the same George
Bush who justified a war in Iraq on
the basis of distortions? Can this be
the same Bush who has destabilized
the entire Middle East? Can this be
the same Bush who has alienated
friends and allies? Is this the same
Bush on whose watch we have
observed nuclear proliferation in
Pakistan, Korea and Iran?
Is this the same Bush who made us
more "secure" by policies that have
provoked the increased number of
terrorist attacks in Iraq and in remote
places like Spain, Bali and most
recently Egypt? Is this the same Bush
who squandered our surplus and sent
our deficit soaring, whose policies
promise to threaten Social Security
and Medicare?
Emanuel and Deborah Frisch
Farmington Hills
JN Has Failed Us
The Jewish News has enthusiastically
endorsed Sen. John F. Kerry for pres-
ident despite the reportage and
observation that it was President
George W. Bush who blamed the
stateless Arabs in Judea-Samaria for
their part in the ongoing intifada and
the slaughter of the Jewish mothers
ands children on Israeli buses.
Further, Bush stated that Israel
"had the right to defend itself" until
the stateless Palestinians replaced
their dictator, Yasser Arafat, with
someone who would be satisfied with
the West Bank as part of Palestine
and not the part reserved for Israel.
No president or candidate has ever
issued a public statement saying that
Israel has a right to defend its Jewish
population and the stateless
Palestinian Arabs are to blame for
Israel's intransigence. Bush did, so
why does the JN endorse Bush's
opponent, regardless of the impor-
tance of its meaning?
Once again, the Jewish News has
miserably failed the Jewish people. It
has allied itself with Arabs and other
European enemies that have shouted
their objections and hatred at the
Jewish state from 1948 onward. Even
John Kerry continues to shout his
objections to Israel intransigence and
stubbornness.
But despite all this, the JN has
endorsed John Kerry, not George W.
Bush. You are foolish and unwise.
Michael Drissman
executive director
Committee for the Jewish Idea
Troy
Rally Disappointing
I was saddened by my experience at
the Jews for George rally at Congre-
gation Beth Ahm [a rented venue] in
West Bloomfield on Oct. 20.
When my two friends and I walked
into the synagogue, we felt very
uncomfortable as someone immedi-
ately came to us and told us we
would have to remove our Kerry but-
tons. When we took our seats, the
woman next to me actually told us to
leave, claiming that we were protes-
tors. When I tried to explain that we
just came to hear former New York
Mayor Edward Koch, she rudely
turned away. A few minutes later, a
policeman tried to evict my friend
from the building because she initial-
ly refused to take off her Kerry but-
ton.
-
Honestly, we are three senior
women in very good stranding in our
Jewish community. The last thing we
had in mind was to cause a ruckus.
- I am a native New Yorker - and a
long-time fan of Koch. This is why I
came to the rally, even though I am a
Democrat. However, he, too, was a
disappointment. When one of his
answers to a question was challenged,
Koch flew off the handle and
screamed, "This is not a debate. I
have already answered your ques-
tion." Subsequently, my question to
the former mayor was also brushed
aside.
Rosalind Siegel
Huntington Woods
Beware Of Kerry
It is often said that you can judge a
man by the company he keeps. That
being the case, Jewish voters should
be Kerry-wary.
Featured at the Democratic
National Convention was a troika of
Jew- or Israel-bashing luminaries.
Convention speaker Rev. Al
Sharpton helped incite anti-Jewish
riots in Crown Heights and Harlem.
Michael Moore, darling of the anti-
Bush and anti-Israel factions, was an
honored guest in the presidential
box. Moore has remained silent on
allegations that Hezbollah had helped
distribute Fahrenheit 9/11 in the
Mideast. He was quoted in the New
York Times as having said Israel, along
with the oil companies and
Halliburton, are the epicenters of evil
in the modern world.
Also in the presidential box was
Jimmy Carter, whose pro-Palestinian
bias is well known and who has been
named by Sen. John F. Kerry as a
possible Mideast envoy, much to the
dismay of Anti-Defamation League
National Director Abraham Foxman.
Kerry recently appointed Jessie
Jackson of Hymie Town and Arafat-
adulating fame, as a senior advisor.
Martin Indyk, another Kerry
choice for Mideast pointman,
declared that Israel must relinquish
the Golan Heights to Syria; Syria has
13,000 Katusha rockets aimed at
Israel and is a state sponsor of terror.
Syria also is leading efforts in the
U.N. to de-legitimize and sanction
Israel.
Also close to the Kerry campaign is
James Zogby, president of the Arab
American Institute, who applauded
Kerry's characterization of Israel's
West Bank security fence as "another
barrier to peace."
Enough to make any Jewish
Democrat want to commit "hari
Kerry"!
Judy Grant Granader
Bloomfield Hills
More letters on page 10
10/29
2004
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