Enough Is Enough With Higher Taxes
I have just finished reading Raphael J. Sonenshein’s [article] on Gov. Schwarzenegger and need to make a few comments (“Is Arnold Serious?” Jan. 15). At some point raising taxes ceases to increase revenue. California has reached this point. By raising taxes on “the rich” we simply encourage them to leave the state, which lowers our tax revenue.
The article also falsely claims that we are faced with the choice of either cutting prisons or universities. If only we had an easy choice like that. California is in such a financial fix that it will have to cut both prisons and higher education. Additionally, cuts are going to have to be made in medical assistance to the poor.
Since the state legislature is essentially controlled by state employee unions, the necessary cuts are not going to be made and the state government will either collapse or be forced into bankruptcy. It will be interesting to watch.
Susan Jordan
Hollywood
Welcome, Dennis Prager
What a breath of fresh air it was to wake up and see Dennis Prager as a new columnist in The Journal (“Messengers Who Forgot Their Message,” Jan. 29). A great choice, may I add. We all can learn from and respect all the common sense and wisdom he will give to all of us. I am sure he will be appreciated by most of your readers. It will be an improvement over the same old predictable leftist rants of Marty Kaplan.
Richard Levine
via e-mail
I am Jewish and approximately the same age as Dennis Prager. I am personally offended. I am a liberal and proud of it. I consider the term “liberal” to mean one who is open to new ideas and change, if necessary; this is a concept which is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and values. I do not consider myself a “leftist.” It is just too easy to lump words together to invoke misplaced passion.
I intend to continue to write The Jewish Journal regularly, whether published or not, to identify Prager’s simplicity.
Martin H. Kodish
Woodland Hills
Mr. Prager evidently still believes that those who agree with his vision of Judaism are the only ones who promote Judaism. And so to Prager, “no one outside of Orthodoxy was advocating Judaism.” To infer that Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist rabbis or their congregations are not advocating Judaism only makes sense to someone who is convinced that his version of Torah is the only truth. It seems to me that our tradition has always taught that there are many paths to understanding Torah. Hillel and Shammai almost always disagreed, but no matter the majority view both opinions were always considered sacred.
It is no wonder Prager believes that far more Christians believe in Torah than Jews and that he often feels closer to believing Christians than left-wing Jews. Obviously to Prager you can’t be a left-wing Jew and advocate Judaism. Sad, indeed.
Norman Pell
via e-mail
Funnyman Jackie Mason
I was motivated into reading The Journal’s Q&A with Jackie Mason (“Q & A With Jackie Mason,” Jan. 15) after reading the Marshall Grossman “letter” in your most recent issue (Letters, Jan. 29); an ugly, ad hominem attack branding the comedian a “racist fool.”
A maturing Mason tackled the human condition through the prism of his amazingly incisive and increasingly acerbic comedic mind. He may have no peer in this regard. The closer to truth, the more amusing and focused his unique, bantering, patter.
I choose living in the world of Mason; not one where politically partisan, myopic scolds anoint themselves arbiters for [us] and “the community at large.”
Stuart R. Weiss
via e-mail
More Joy of Skin
Just a note to tell you how much I enjoyed your gribenes article (“The Joy of Skin,” Jan. 22). I render my own schmaltz when I make chopped liver and can’t help but pop a gribene or two into my mouth, hoping the Lipitor I take in the evening counteracts the damage the gribene does. The next generation never heard the word gribene.
Helaine Gesas
via e-mail
Debating ‘An Education’
I appreciated Tom Tugend’s effort to be evenhanded in his discussion of the controversy over “An Education” (“Realism or Anti-Semitism?” Jan. 29). However, I believe the distinction he draws between “ordinary moviegoers” who thought the film was “anti-Semitic” and “critics and academics who rallied to defend it” may be misleading. Beside Joe Baltake, David Edlestein — the New York Magazine film critic — wrote a very sharp piece exposing “An Education’s” anti-Semitic message.
The dozen or so “ordinary moviegoers” who wrote to me to express their outrage over the film came from all over the country and England, as well; they are articulate, intelligent, insightful viewers who were responding to the film not just emotionally, but also intellectually. Thank you, Tom Tugend, for keeping the debate alive.
Irina Bragin
via e-mail
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