Remember the Golden Rule

Remember the Golden Rule
EDITOR:
A letter printed Nov. 17 is another sad example of how misconceptions can persist despite the all the information available today.
If one is to use the letter's criteria to classify terrorists, then the Irgun and Stern gangs which were instrumental in securing the creation of the Israeli state would certainly qualify. In fact, Yitzhak Shamir, the former prime minister of Israel was the Stern gang commander who ordered the murder of the U.N. designated peace mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, on Sept. 17, 1948. These groups were also responsible for bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and the Deir Yassin massacre in which, according to Israeli sources, over 100 women, children and elderly were killed. Similarly, the number of "accidental bombings" of civilians during the recent Lebanon war also serves as another example.
The letter's statement that "the Palestinians as people were created 30 years ago" is thoroughly in erroneous. First of all, if he is referring to the creation of the PLO, that happened in 1967 not 1977. Further, the creation of this organization does not denote a people, but language, culture, and continuous habitation in a particular area does.
Both sides of my ancestry come from a town that is next to Bethlehem, called Beit Jala. Most of its inhabitants are Christian and my family's baptismal, wedding and funeral records go back centuries and, in fact, my family does descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I believe that for peace to grow there must be justice. And as long as there is a group of people in the world that has been and continuous to be maltreated, and has no peaceful recourse to address it, there will be conflict. Letters such as that of Nov. 17 not only help to prolong the conflict, but are also in direct contradiction to what Christ taught: "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself."
OMAR G. JADUE
Austintown
An attack on our freedom
EDITOR:
As a former smoker (who quit almost two years ago), I feel compelled to stick up for the rights of business owners to run their business as they see fit. If the owners (who put up their own money) want to allow smoking in their business, then that should be their prerogative. We don't need a new Nazi group (Smoke-Less Ohio) getting an unconstitutional law passed by creating panic among nonsmokers about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
There was a study done by the World Health Organization a few years ago on the dangers of second-hand smoke that was buried because it didn't fit the anti-smoking agenda.
Issue 5 is also unconstitutional since it infringes upon the rights of people who smoke who are smoking legal products. This law is similar to the Jim Crow laws of the '50s and '60s that discriminated against African Americans in the South.
Isn't it ironic that on Dec. 7 (Pearl Harbor Day, which got us into World War II against the old time Nazis), we lose another freedom to a group of new Nazis. All freedom-loving people should stand up now, because in time they will be coming after your freedoms.
FRED GREEN
Poland
Too quick to take offense
EDITOR:
Lets look at our country: same sex marriages, blue hair, piercings anywhere -- almost everything goes. But a woman who nurses her child on an airplane is cast in shame. An act as natural as sneezing is suddenly offensive.
Let's concentrate on statistics. Breast fed babies develop mentally faster and have a boosted immunity. But whether bottle or breast fed, an infant eats on demand. Not every situation can be planned and perfect.
CHRISSY FLESCH
Mineral Ridge