Opinion

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Dry Bones c s o lg%

IN THE SHADOW
OF MIGHTY
CIVILIZATIONS

Editorial

Vote 'Yes' On Proposal

D

uring the High Holidays, Jews
around the world prayed to God to
alleviate human suffering and heal
the sick. Voting for Proposal 2 on Election
Day, Nov. 4, is one way to help make sure that
we in Michigan are doing our part.
• Michigan is one of only three states
outlawing research on human embryos
and the creation of new embryonic stem
cell lines that hold tremendous promise
for curing a wide range of diseases. While
these cures won't come quickly, adoption
of Proposal 2 will amend the Michigan
Constitution to permit such research along
federal guidelines.
Proposal 2 has broad and deep support
in the Jewish community. Extracting cells
from 5- to 7-day-old embryos is permitted
according to Jewish law (Halachah), and
that's one reason Israel is a world leader
in embryonic stem cell research and that
Orthodox Jewish researchers have been in
the forefront of such work.
We are satisfied that this proposal
respects and accommodates religious
beliefs. No one is forced to provide an
embryo for research or conduct such
research. Proposal 2 will allow those who
created embryos for fertility treatment
the choice of donating those embryos for

medical research as readily as they can
donate them to others seeking children.
That makes sense.
We're disturbed by arguments coming
from Proposal 2 opponents.
While we believe Proposal 2 is pro-life,
others believe it anti-life. The Michigan
Catholic Conference and Michigan Right
To Life are the most prominent opponents
of Proposal 2, but they don't frame their
opposition campaign in religious terms.
Instead, TV ads warn about raising taxes
(although no state funding is asked for
in the proposal) and about unregulated
research and cloning (although the pro-
posal specifically outlaws cloning, forbids
the sale of embryos and embraces federal
laws governing research).
And the name Michigan Citizens
Against Unrestricted Science and
Experimentation (MI-CAUSE) is dishon-
est because Proposal 2 promotes nothing
of the kind.
Furthermore, contrary to the mislead-
ing ads of the Proposal 2's opponents,
not only will adoption of the proposal
not financially harm taxpayers — it will
quickly bring benefits to our state by
bringing biotech jobs and investment
and keeping top researchers here. It will

strengthen research
universities, grow tax
revenues and, eventu-
ally, reduce healthcare
costs.
Of course, it's not
an issue of dollars and
OUR FLIMSY SUKKOT
AND FAITH IN
cents; above all, it's an
HUTS
HAVE
HOUSED
THE
FUTURE.
issue of life — and
OUR BELIEF
quality of life and
death.
We fully respect
those whose religious
beliefs compel them
to oppose embryonic
stem cell research.
They believe it is a
I
moral issue, and they
are right to advocate
for their beliefs. But
www.drybonesblog.com
they are not being
honest by advanc-
they can engage fully on ballot issues
ing specious political arguments in the
and should make passage of Proposal 2
cause of a moral position. They should
a priority. Our synagogues, organizations
make their case on the moral terms that
and schools should be educating about the
motivate them, and let people decide if
issue and importance of passage not just
they agree or not. For our part, we don't
to our Jewish community but to the com-
agree.
munity as a whole.
While nonprofits cannot, and should
Let's not just vote for Proposal 2, let us
not, engage in party or partisan politics,
work to get it passed. L

ail

Reality Check

Shaddup, Already

D

uring this election campaign,
there are two items I regard as
indispensable: the mute button
on my TV remote control and a plumber's
helper. I use the mute whenever I spot a
political ad slithering onto the screen and
the plunger when I'm a little too late with
the mute.
These ads, especially the ones funded
by public interest groups (a misnomer
if there ever was one) lead me to won-
der if the political debate can get any
dumber. They usually end by giving view-
ers a phone number and saying, "Tell
Congressman so-and-so to stop murder-
ing grandmothers."
Appealing to emotions, reeking with
buzzwords, crawling with innuendo and
paranoia and short on verifiable facts,
they sometimes descend to the level of a
Monte Python sketch. Or the toilet.
Gas prices were too high so that was all
U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg's fault for being
out of touch and taking contributions

A36

October 16 2008

from big oil. Will he get the cred-
it now that they've come down?
Nah, didn't think so.
Some guy rails about mean-
ingless change and then throws
himself off a bridge on the end
of a bungee cord. Yeah, I can see
where that makes sense.
The only thing worse than
these ads are the chat rooms that
follow political articles on the
Internet. Filled with invective,
racist slurs, off the wall rants by
people who should be confined to a rub-
ber room but are probably going to vote.
At least, when people wrote letters to the
editor in newspapers they had to be semi-
coherent, and only those that made sense
usually were published. Not anymore. Ifs
crackpots unlimited out there.
One consolation is that letters directed
to me from the Jewish News readership
are far more chipper than what I used
to receive when I wrote a column at the

Detroit News. Most of them
are actually thoughtful and
polite although I have never
known politeness to be an
essential component of a Jew
making an argument.
I did have some very nice
pen pals at the News. But
there were some, a minority,
who were as nasty as they
come. Let me be clear. If you
are thin-skinned, writing a
newspaper column is not a
good choice of occupation.
I have no problems with my ideas being
attacked. But when that spills over into
threats, obscenity filled personal attacks,
sneering references to my religion and
even to my daughter Courtney after her
death — well, call me a wuss, but I think
that goes a little too far.
Of course, most of these messages
arrived in letters with no return address
or in middle of the night phone calls when

I was sure to be out of the office. I think
e-mails may actually have eased that sort
of thing since it gives you an opportunity
to engage your critics, which seems to
frighten them.
But nationally syndicated conservative
columnist Kathleen Parker, who wrote
recently that Sarah Palin should drop out
of the race to save John McCain's candi-
dacy, said that she has received e-mails
suggesting she should have been aborted.
Such lovely people. But I think it really
is a reflection of the gutter level of politi-
cal ads that allow public interest groups to
say almost anything that won't result in a
libel suit against the TV station that car-
ries them.
Freedom of speech should carry with
it some degree of accountability. Without
that, it's nothing but rude noises in the
plumbing. E

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com.