Letters to the Editor: Cleveland Kidnappings, Hawking, Mount Zion Cemetery

How Much Involvement?

This is a thought-provoking article about our own responsibility as neighbors (“We Must Be Our Brother’s Keeper,” May 17). How do we strike the balance between being intrusive and being helpful?

Haya Leah Molnar
via jewishjournal.com

Brotherhood

In light with teachings of Holy Quran, we Ahmadis hope to bridge the gap and form bond of love with the fellow Jewish brethren (“His Holiness,” May 17)!

Noor Ul Amin
New Delhi, India
via jewishjournal.com

Boycotting Israel

I want to thank [Stephen Hawking] for boycotting Israel (“Hawking and Mohammed,” May 17). It was an insignificant, petty declaration with no real consequence. Had he not, I would have mistakenly continued to think he had integrity.

Israel should also be boycotted for receiving 180,000 Palestinians into their hospitals for medical care each year, too!

Phillip Pasmanick
via jewishjournal.com

I am sure that a lot of the Palestinians in Israeli jails, including young boys, do not feel Israel is so wonderful. Bravo, Mr. Hawking.

Ann McCoy
via jewishjournal.com

Global Warming: Real or Not?

On atmospheric CO2 reaching 400 parts per million, Marty Kaplan’s article on global warming attempts to gin up high drama about a subject waning in the public’ consciousness (“Say Goodnight, Earthlings,” May 17). Professor Kaplan: “Our planet’s hair is on fire.” Catchy, entertaining, but is it science? Data from the NASA Climate Change public Web page http://climate.nasa.gov/key_indicators suggest otherwise.

A plot from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at the top of the page, shows atmospheric CO2 steadily rising since 2005.

Lower on the page, a plot from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies indicates that global average temperatures have been slightly declining since 2004.

In other words, global temperature is not following the atmospheric CO2 concentration. An unbiased analyst would see no correlation between the two. Therefore, CO2 concentration exceeding 400 parts per million is no reason to panic and to dismantle our economy. Which is why the American public lost interest in the issue.

Professor Kaplan is using “disaster porn” (his words) and “grab us by the eyeballs” (his words) to push a gloom and doom picture in support of a Luddite economic approach. Solid data from two of the world’s research powerhouses prove him wrong.

Alex Abramovici
Pasadena

Marty Kaplan responds: Mr. Abramovici bases his case on global temperature from 2004 to the present. Anyone who’d like to see what’s happened from 1880 to the present — both to global temperature, and to CO2 concentration — should look at the same graphs on the same NASA page he cites:climate.nasa.gov/key_indicators. The facts really do speak for themselves.

Mattel Details

I read your article on the Autry exhibition with great interest and hope you will accept one comment/correction (“How the Jews Changed L.A.,” May 3). Mattel was started by both Ruth and Elliot Handler. Ruth was the CEO and Elliot the chief development officer (now would be referred to as chief creative officer), and both were responsible for developing and bringing out the Barbie doll and then Hot Wheels.

Irwin Field
via e-mail

Giving Credit Where Due: to L.A. Times

I was gratified to read Jared Sichel’s extremely well-reported and -written story “Restoring Mount Zion” (May 10). I’m glad that the Jewish Journal is covering the sorry state that this cemetery finds itself in — as well as nascent efforts to do something about it.

It was pointed out to me, however, by the person who forwarded the article to me that there was no mention of the fact that the publication I work for, the Los Angeles Times, broke that story. In fact, I was the person who reported and wrote the story about Mount Zion’s condition. As you know, these stories get picked up elsewhere, and people are none the wiser that the L.A. Times had a thing to do with breaking this story.

Hector Becerra
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times

Editor’s note: The Journal has written about the decay at Mount Zion Cemetery before, including in 2007, as has The New York Times. The Los Angeles Times article mentioned did not break the story, but it did provide another look. We regret that omission.