Letters
Wealth: Wrong Basis
I continue to be distressed by the number
of my Jewish relatives and friends who are
making their presidential candidate pref-
erence based primarily on their wealth sit-
uation. Granted, due to legislation passed
during the Bush administration, tax rates
on dividend income, capital gains and
estates have been significantly reduced,
permitting greater wealth accumulation.
However, at the same time, we have wit-
nessed a steady erosion of our civil liber-
ties and sense of social justice. These are
two of the fundamental hallmarks of our
Jewish faith and tradition. How can social-
ly conscious Jews support an administra-
tion or candidates who advocate stripping
away yet more of these?
Certainly wealth accumulation in a
country whose individual freedoms and
sense of social justice are virtually non-
existent is a meaningless status and one
clearly not in concert with our faith.
To me, the acid test in the upcom-
ing election is: Which candidate do you
want nominating justices for the United
States Supreme Court? There are likely
to be at least two vacancies occurring
during the next four years and both are
expected to come from socially con-
scious justices.
To any Jew, the answer should be crystal
clear.
Ronald M. Horwitz
Farmington Hills
Sign Pollution
Ah, its election season and in addition to all
the commercial visual pollution we normally
see, there is the election sign.
Here in West Bloomfield, we have one
candidate that has taken visual pollution
to a new level. Some subdivision entrances
have four to 10 of the same signs all over
the place.
This brought up a question in my
mind. If one sign doesn't deliver the mes-
sage, will 10 signs do? It seems like such
a waste. An even better question is what
would the candidate do with tax-provided
funds that would be in his charge, if
elected?
I'm all for open and vigorous cam-
paigns where everyone gets to make
their name known, but does a candi-
date for office really want to show how
wasteful he can be? That just makes me
decide to vote for the "other" guy.
Stuart L. Sells
West Bloomfield
Consider Ecology.
I am writing in response to a comment
made by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
during the first presidential debate on
Sept. 26. As a graduate of Ferndale High
School with a master's degree in marine
biology and as someone currently pursu-
ing my Ph.D., I feel compelled to write and
share my concerns with readers.
At the beginning of the debate, the
Republican presidential nominee was
talking about freezing spending, and he
mentioned that he would cut funding for
unnecessary" research (such as bear pop-
ulation studies) and focus his efforts on
defense and veteran affairs. This statement
infuriated me, not only as a biologist,
but also as a responsible member of the
generation that is going to be accountable
for dealing with the largest environmental
issues in the history of the human race.
I urge readers to consider their concerns
for the health of our planet and for future
generations. Ultimately, the environment
is our most important issue. If we don't
take care of our planet now, the economy,
war, and politics may not even be factors
in our future.
Please make sure you are registered,
get to the polls and once there, make your
vote count!
((
Royal Oak
Sukkot And Ecology
On Sukkot, the Jewish festival devoted
to our offering thanksgiving for the
abundance of life, we are reminded that
End Of The Line
Today marks the end of a fun and infor-
mative run of Alef Bet'cha Don't Know, a
regular feature in the IN for more than
eight years. We thank the author, Goldfein,
aka Allan Gale, associate director of the
Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, for sharing the tidbits about Jewish
life with our readers.
Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians
New York, N.Y.
Working For Obama
Although my daughter Halie is not a
young Metro Detroit Jew, she is playing a
key role in this presidential race ("Political
Insiders',' Oct. 2, page A14). She is young
(29). She is from East Lansing and the
Detroit Jewish News has always been our
Jewish newspaper.
Halie is the Jewish vote director for
Florida for the Obama Campaign. She is
working passionately to organize Jewish
Floridians and deliver Florida for the
Illinois senator, the Democratic presiden-
tial nominee.
Halie has been noticed nationally by
Judy Woodruff (News Hour with Jim
LehrerIPBS), John King (CNN) and most
recently in an article by Chris Megerian of
Fox News.
Sandy Soifer
East Lansing
Going For Obama
With all due respect to those who tout
U.S. Sen. John McCain's relationship with
Israel, I submit that this election is about
more than Israel. This election is about
repairing the damage that President
George W. Bush has inflicted upon this
country.
It is about the economy. It is about regu-
lation vs. deregulation. It is about spend-
ing on infrastructure and health care ver-
sus spending on a nonsensical war in Iraq.
It is about tax breaks for the middle class
vs. tax breaks for the wealthiest individu-
als and corporations.
This election is about selecting a
leader who will likely nominate one or
two Supreme Court justices who will have
a profound impact on whether or not the
court upholds a woman's right to choose
among other issues.
It's time to take a good hard look at the
serious domestic issues at stake in this
election. And that is why I support Sen.
Barak Obama, D-Ill., over Sen. McCain, R-
Ariz., for president.
David Moss
Huntington Woods
REPO 'cha Don't Know
Israel is one of only two countries in the world that is currently
successful in shrinking its desert areas. What is the other coun-
try?
—Goldfein
•eu!go ushisuy
— Robert Sklar, editor
How to Send Letters
October 9 • 2008
Richard H. Schwartz, president
Jewish Vegetarians of North America
Meagan Dunphy-Daly
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A6
humans are only privileged caretakers
of this precious, but imperiled, planet.
Like the wilderness sukkot of our
Israelite ancestors, this Earth is no more
than our temporary dwelling, and it is
our important responsibility to cherish
and care for our planet and all its crea-
tures, as co-workers with God.
The fragile shelter of the sukkah
should remind us that we can't rely on
technological advances to save us, and
we must find a way to live in harmony
with nature.
As we decorate our sukkahs with
pictures and replicas of fruits and
vegetables on our harvest festival, we
should consider how future harvests are
endangered by global warming, widen-
ing water shortages and soil erosion and
depletion.
As our Israelite ancestors were sus-
tained with manna, a vegetarian food
"like coriander seed:' while they dwelt
in sukkahs for 40 years in the wilder-
ness, we should sustain ourselves with
tofu, the modern-day manna, and a
wide variety of other plant foods, to
improve our health and to help move
our endangered planet to a sustainable
path.
Copyright 2008, Jewish Renaissance Media
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