Stein Blows Smoke

I WISH you could find a new community member to replace Gil Stein as the designated critic assigned to go after Scott Kennedy and the Resource Center for Nonviolence ("They've Done It Again," Posts, May 19). It's becoming so tiresome to read Stein's nasty and less-than-truthful blasts at Kennedy and the Resource Center.

I have been involved in the Santa Cruz community for more than 35 years and I believe there are very few people who have done more to fight racism and bigotry in Santa Cruz than Kennedy. And very few institutions in Santa Cruz have done more to fight bigotry and racism over the long haul than the Resource Center for Nonviolence. So when Stein accuses them of promoting bigotry he is simply blowing smoke because he has a different political agenda. 

Stein blows more smoke when he accuses Kennedy of trying to delegitimize Israel. Kennedy is a strong critic of Israeli policy and believes (along with me and millions of other American and Israeli Jews) that some of Israel's policies are not legitimate. This is not the same as de-legitimizing Israel as a nation. Stein surely knows this but it seems that he would rather hit hard than be accurate.

Stein uses a similar approach when attacking Kennedy and the Resource Center as promoters of violence when, in fact, all they do is promote dialogue among all parties committing violence in the Middle East. Trying to engage parties who are acting violently does not in any way support that violence—an inconvenient fact that Stein routinely ignores.

To top it all off, Stein manages to attack with guilt-by-association and Nazi comparisons in a single sentence. These may be good words to stir people up, but they do nothing in terms of addressing real issues. 

Scott Kennedy and the Resource Center are raising important issues and engaging in serious debate about Israel and Palestine. Gil Stein attacks and attacks again without any effort to engage in substantive debate. 

Don Lane,

Santa Cruz

Finks at The Fed

KUDOS to Kevin Russell for his excellent letter ("Buffaloed by the Rich," Posts, May 19). Thank you for publishing it. My disagreement is that it isn't the division between the "haves" and the "have nots" that is the problem. The enemy isn't the little guy who worked hard, providing a good or service at the lowest possible price for the consumer, invested wisely, and accumulated enough wealth to pass on to his family. The top 5 percent of our population that pay the majority of our income taxes, while 40 percent pay none (or actually get money "back" that they never paid in), are not the enemy.

The enemy is the fraction of 1 percent of the world's population that have accumulated wealth beyond comprehension: not by providing goods or services at a fair market price, but by manipulating markets, loaning to nations, and playing one nation off against another. These are the SOBs who own our Federal Reserve banking system.

In the '30s a reporter asked "Machine Gun Kelly" why he robbed banks: "'Cause dat's where de money is," was his reply. How times have changed. Now the banks are brazenly robbing the people. We have just witnessed the theft of trillions of dollars transferred from the so-called "Federal Reserve" to the multinational stockholders of the "Federal Reserve." Any attempt to examine the Fed is met with thinly veiled threats to crash our economy. They can, and have.

Mr. Russell was too kind in his suggestions for how to deal with these miscreants: I favor reviving the tar and feathers!

Edgar Darwin,

Santa Cruz

Send letters to the editor here.