Letters

Best Complaint

Re: "Best of the Bay" (Sept. 18-24)

Labeling Sami Al-Arian as "Best Martyr" certainly qualifies you for an award of your own, "Most Galling Act of Chutzpah." As a Palestinian, Al-Arian shares Yasser Arafat's definition of "martyr," which coincides precisely with Arafat's definition of suicide bomber. Surely you are familiar with Arafat's call for "millions upon millions" of suicide bombers to march on Jerusalem, just as surely you are familiar with Al-Arian's calls for "Death to Israel."

You miss the point when you cite the support for Al-Arian by local and national professors' unions; they do not defend his point of view, and certainly not his so-called "martyrdom." They do, however, correctly take the position that academic freedom and the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech should not make a teacher vulnerable to firing just because his stated views are vile, obnoxious and hate-filled. You are right to cite President Judy Genshaft's waffling on the issue of Sami's dismissal. She kept the community on the hook for many months, lacking the courage and decisiveness required; in the end, she has tried to palm off final responsibility for decision making to the courts, an abrogation of her responsibility.

Perhaps my biggest complaint is your slamming of PRIMER, Promoting Responsibility in Middle Wast Reporting. You accuse them of being one-sided in favor of Israel, while overlooking the plight of the suffering Palestinians. As a human being, I recognize that the Palestinian people on the West Bank and in Gaza are indeed suffering. But surely the blame for that must be placed squarely on their leadership. The squalid refugee camps where Palestinians wallow in poverty and despair are not, after all, in Israel. Why don't their oil rich Arab brothers come to their aid, instead of ignoring the suffering? You challenge PRIMER, but do not refute anything they report. From everything I can tell, what PRIMER reports is always factually accurate. If you accuse them of bias or inaccuracy, you have a concomitant responsibility to back up your accusations. Unless you do so, it is you, not they, who clearly evince slanted journalism.

Norman Orenstein
Clearwater

Where's the Peace?

Islam is a religion of peace and harmony? Since when? Who does Layelle Saad think she is kidding? Almost 3,000 dead innocent civilians from the WTC attack. The 1993 bombing of WTC by Muslims. The U.S. embassy in Africa bombed, resulting in hundreds of innocent civilian casualties. Suicide bombings by Palestinian Muslims have Israelis living in a state of terror. The Muslim government of the Sudan has declared a jihad against the Christian south, resulting in over 2-million deaths there. Next to the former Muslim Taliban government of Afghanistan, Muslim Somalia is the most lawless country on this planet. In Muslim Indonesia, the government forces its citizens to carry an identification card that includes their religious status. In too many Muslim countries, women remain second-class citizens while many of their basic rights are denied. In many Muslim countries, just the importing of other religious literature is banned.

John Zito
Via e-mail

Glass of Whine

First, I would like to say that I love the Weekly Planet. The writers attack their columns with a fresh attitude and the paper exudes an energy lacking in other publications. But, alas, your wine column sucks. Taylor Eason might be better suited to rating Mello Yellow or Diet Sprite. I doubt that he would know a good glass of wine. He assumes that all of us who do love wine are effete snobs, and mocks wine experts who write with authority. I find Taylor Eason's column offensive. He's like a no-talent stand-up comedian who thinks that stringing a bunch of obscenities together to replace any real talent is satisfactory. To sum up your column, Taylor, in words that you will comprehend, it's ka-ka poo-poo. But oh wait, is it possible that there's a connection between the publisher/president Ben Eason and Taylor Eason? Hmmm?

Carol Johnson
Via e-mail

Editor's note: For the record, Taylor Eason is a woman, the sister of Publisher Ben Eason and a shareholder in the Weekly Planet's parent company Creative Loafing. Before becoming a writer, she worked in the restaurant and wine industry for nine years, including two years of food and wine study at Ecole Hoteliere de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, she has served on wine industry panels for the California wine trade. Besides pissing off elite wine snobs, her goal for Corkscrew is to share her love of wine and to deflate the pretension surrounding its enjoyment.

Corrections

Due to a production error, Cheryl Thomas was misidentified as Cheryl Arenas in an Orbital item last week.

Alas, those of you in need of discipline will be disappointed to learn that Paradise, which was mentioned in our award for Best Place to Get Spanked, is now closed.

Outback Steakhouse won our Readers' Poll for Best Steak. The title of the award was omitted.

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2002.