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Purpose of Sen. Clinton's tactic
In Thursday’s debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, what was the purpose of Sen. Clinton’s attack on Sen. Obama by using the phrase, “Change you can Xerox”? One has to wonder who penned this phrase — the candidate, the candidate’s spouse or a speech writer? When Sen. Clinton attacked Sen. Obama, she addressed him as, “Barack, when you ...” Sen. Obama has the respect of the people he was elected to represent. During a debate in front of the American people, he should be addressed with the respect he is accorded, as “Sen. Obama.” After that, he can be addressed as “President Obama.” Unaddressed safety issues It is great news to hear that the Golden Gate Bridge may finally get a life-saving median strip (“Golden Gate median barrier at last,” editorial, Feb. 18). The battle between the traffic engineers to keep traffic moving and the traffic planners to make traffic move more slowly and safely is an interesting battle to observe. However, the need to make them holistically address this dangerous strip of road, which cuts its way through the residential areas of the Richmond and Sunset districts, is largely unaddressed. That the planning process pits persons advocating Golden Gate Bridge traffic safety in fiscal competition with those concerned about Park Presidio and those concerned about 19th Avenue is the unfortunate result of the lack of a comprehensive plan for this corridor. This roadway has been a death trap for more than 50 years, through rich and lean budgetary times, and if one stands back and looks at the situation, one sees a patchwork of engineering Band-Aids precipitated by a pedestrian death here and a pedestrian maiming there. Along this corridor, volume of traffic still appears to trump pedestrian safety and quality of life in The City. San Francisco Ill-advised Balkan involvement We are again on the wrong side in the Balkans. By backing disaffected Albanian Muslims in their declaration of an independent Kosovo, a very dangerous precedent is being set. They are, in fact, being rewarded for ethnically cleansing Serb Christians from their ancestral homeland of Kosovo, and we are complicit. Furthermore, Kosovo is riddled with corruption, has a 60 percent unemployment rate and will be unable to exist as a state without the EU, NATO and, of course, the U.S. taking care of them. Think Palestine. However, I’m sure that the Saudi Wahabi lobby will be eager to help with school textbooks and madrassas. Also, members of the ruling party KLA have proven links to al-Qaida and have allowed Kosovo to be used by them for operations, according to the Wall Street Journal. The global jihad will see Kosovo as a shining example to Muslim minorities in other countries and as a beachhead in Europe. San Francisco Interesting Iranian item Guess what? There’s a news item that should interest everyone. For those who feel we Americans shouldn’t poke our noses into other peoples’ business — you can just offer a polite “ho-hum.” To the rest, the Iranian parliament is considering legislation that would mandate the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion, a provision that affects all other religions. This is the same Iranian government which, after thousands of years of civilization, is barking at us and others with teeth bared, threatening death and destruction. I know what I’d do to a rabid dog. I wouldn’t wait for it to bite me. I’d read its lips. Off-putting series on lawyers I read with a mixture of amazement and disgust your editorial on the William Lerach plea bargain (Feb. 12) and the companion piece on the Institute for Law and Economic Policy (Feb. 13, 14, 15). The Examiner is, if nothing else, predictable. Just as it has consistently misrepresented the tort and workers’ compensation systems in this state and elsewhere, so, too, it mischaracterizes William Lerach and federal securities laws and litigation. The common denominator is The Examiner’s rabidly pro-business agenda, protecting corporate America while stripping away the rights of citizens to seek compensation for their losses. This is not an apology for Lerach. What he did was wrong. Demonizing him for compensating plaintiffs for the risks of standing up against corporate America, however, while failing to mention the scores of crooked businesses and executives that have ripped off the American public for billions of dollars through fraudulent stock offerings, is one-sided and ridiculous. The same can be said about your piece on ILEP: one very small voice pitched against the deafening roar of a generally pro-business media and power structure that have been funding “tort deform” think tanks for more than 40 years. The Examiner gives preference to letters containing fewer than 150 words. Please include name, phone number and city of residence. To add your voice By e-mail: letters@examiner.com By mail: Editorial Page Editor The Examiner, 450 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94105 By Fax: (415) 359-2766 |
