Regarding the Dec. 28 “D.C. Journal,” which discussed the legislative efforts of the Illinois congressional delegation:
Unfortunately, the information gathered for the article was extremely incomplete, resulting in a rather superficial and very inaccurate portrayal of the delegation’s legislative achievements.
For example, the article failed to mention the successful passage of a number of bills I introduced that were incorporated in the much-heralded Balanced Budget Act. For example, House Bill 125, a bill I introduced to ensure that the State of Illinois had the right to determine how it calculates unemployment benefits, thus saving Illinois taxpayers and Illinois employers up to $40 million a year, was included in the Balanced Budget Act.
In addition, House Bill 124, my bill that lifted the burden of unemployment taxes from hundreds of religious schools, was also included in the Balanced Budget Act. Nor did the article mention the nearly one dozen tax-relief provisions I successfully incorporated into the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997–the first substantial tax cut taxpayers have received since 1981.
Perhaps if the Tribune had contacted members of the Illinois delegation directly, the article would have more accurately reflected our legislative achievements.
`TITANIC’ MUSINGS
Regarding Frank Rich’s fine piece titled “At the Movies: Soaking the filthy rich” (Op-Ed, Jan. 9):
As Mr. Rich cleverly underscores, the movie “Titanic” has made a titanic splash at the box office by tapping into the tide of antipathy toward the hyper-rich in America.
But is that the whole story? Might there not be another, darker reason for the movie’s mass appeal, one that transcends questions of “class” and the glaring gap between rich and poor, putting us all in the same boat and on the same perilous voyage? Since the Cold War ended, and even before, we Americans have gloatingly prided ourselves on being the remaining “superpower”–an invincible “titan”, as it were, in a stormy sea of global uncertainty. Like the voyagers on the Titanic, drunk of champagne and hubris, we’ve come to believe ourselves somehow immune to the kinds of global shocks and crises that have caused other regimes to go under.
Might that now be changing? Might the subconscious seeds of a new awakening be at work? Might the so-called “Asian contagion,” however seemingly remote at its outset, now be the “iceberg” cutting into vain illusions of invincibility? Has the “Titanic” tapped into the rising swell of collective uneasiness, drawing the moviegoing masses like so many lemmings to the big screen in a darkly subliminal, ocean-going rendezvous with awareness?
