Letters to the editor

Editor,

In his letter in the Jan. 3 edition of the Daily Journal, Kirsten gets it wrong when he says that I label anyone who criticizes Israel as an anti-Semite. What I objected to in C. Burgess’s letter in the Dec. 13 edition of the Daily Journal is that she questions the loyalty of Scott Abramson and assigns his "homeland” to be Israel and not America. Where does she come up with this notion? Why doesn’t this disenfranchisement of an American citizen "disturb” Kristen in the way he says my letter does. Yes, I liken this behavior to Nazi Germany where Jews were declared traitors, robbed of their citizenship and then there lives.

I do object to the AIPAC becoming the whipping boy for everything that goes wrong in the Middle East. AIPAC is doing what every lobby has done since the birth of our democracy. If the detractors of the lobby have any legitimate complaint it is that the group is operating so well.

I have no problem with criticism of Israel. What I ask is that Israel be judged on a level playing field and that she not be expected to abide by standards above that of other nations. In particular what other nation of 7 million people is surrounded by 22 Arab nations with a population of 325 million who would like nothing better than to wake up in the morning and look out and see Israel vanished. Other nations make tough decisions to protect their citizens. Should not Israel be given the same freedom?

Phil Smaller

Palo Alto

Joe McCarthy would be proud

Editor,

I just could not believe all the gibberish in Stephen Hurd’s letter on Dec. 12 in the Daily Journal in response to my letter on Dec. 5. Hurd’s letter contained grammatical errors, was factually incorrect and was full of name calling and mud slinging. Mr. Hurd asks if several Democratic politicians "can do something for da peoples?” (his words). Mr. Hurd, weren’t you ever taught proper English in the schools you attended? Mr. Hurd claimed that the Bush tax cuts brought in a record $2.2 trillion to the federal government. But this is a very misleading statistic. The $2.2 trillion was already coming into the U.S. Treasury before the Bush tax cuts and the tax cuts actually reduced the amount coming in. Mr. Hurd claimed that I resent the success of "the smart working folk.” When did I ever say or imply that? And how does he define "smart working folk” as opposed to not so smart? It seems to me that most people work out of economic necessity or perhaps some other reasons regardless of how smart they are. Finally Mr. Hurd said "No doubt Mainwaring will keep voting for these international socialists, making him a useful idiot a la Trotsky.” For the record I have never voted for, endorsed, or supported in any way socialist candidates, let alone any international socialist. I would challenge Mr. Hurd to prove how the many Democratic politicians that he dislikes are socialists. And Mr. Hurd’s linking of me to Trotsky is absurd, as well as outrageous. Mr. Hurd, Joe McCarthy would be very proud of you if he were alive today.

Bruce A. Mainwaring

San Mateo

Huckabee deceived electors

Editor,

Mike Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Mitt Romney despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars and deciding in the campaign’s final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor.

"No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this World, that he may please Him Who hath called him to be a soldier!” (2 Timothy 2:4) Then came the illustration where Lot had become a judge in Sodom, which means a politician or a ruler there, and by being there he was actually hindering the Will of God in trying to save Sodom.

"God told him to be a soldier of the Lord, to win souls and not to save their bodies and their self-indulgent, rich, luxurious lives which have so little and no concern for the billions of poor of the World! Talk about the very elect being deceived” (Matthew 24:24).

Oh, they are so deceived. It obviously is possible. It’s as though the Lord is amazed and astonished that the elect could be so deceived, that it is possible for the elect to be so deceived. Why did the Lord give so many warnings about false christs and false prophets if it were not possible for the elect to be deceived? — When they are obviously so deceived.

Ted Rudow III

Menlo Park