Ad-dressing controversy
Such a basic question was shown in “School dress code skirts rights issue, students say” (Page 1, Sept. 4). The article ends with the fact that the issue wasn’t addressed in the Constitution, but the Bible story says that our first God-approved piece of clothing was a fig leaf. Now in the 21st century, we still haven’t agreed about such basic issues as how to dress and, indeed, the subject of sexuality. Doing some research on the Internet, I found that a rather daring step was taken in our country when women started to show a little ankle in 1913. So goes the pageant of cultural evolution. I was going to try to make a pun and say I hope someday we settle this “hemming” and hawing, but alas it refers to speech rather than this type of issue.
— Gary Leavitt, Skokie
Economic development
On the heels of Navistar reaching a successful agreement to establish our world headquarters in Lisle and as a follow-up to your Sept. 11 editorial “A little love for Navistar,” I want to thank Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan on behalf of CEO Dan Ustian, our board and our investors. Quinn and Madigan showed tremendous leadership in working with Navistar and the community to make it possible for us to relocate to the former Alcatel-Lucent campus. When we had reached an impasse with the Lisle planning and zoning process, it was the governor and attorney general who stepped up to offer assistance to keep Navistar in Illinois and to create economic opportunities for the whole region. The governor’s staff and assistant attorneys general met with the opponents of the project and their attorney to explore ending the dispute, which ultimately led to a solution that worked for all parties. Even after Quinn proposed, helped to pass and signed into law targeted incentives to keep Navistar in Illinois, there still was a major obstacle to overcome because the solution resulted in significant cost increases resulting from moving operations from Lisle to another Illinois location.
But the governor and his team didn’t give up. Quinn directed the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to work with Navistar on a package of incentives that could make our new plan financially feasible. In the end the governor came through with an investment package of nearly $65 million that sealed the deal. The Quinn administration’s economic development efforts resulted in Navistar committing to investing $205 million in Lisle and two other Illinois facilities.
Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office, joined by the governor’s staff, successfully mediated with the neighbors opposing the Navistar facility.
This is how a public-private partnership should work. Thanks to the work of Quinn and Madigan, a path has been cleared for a company with deep roots in Illinois to stay here, retaining or creating nearly 3,000 permanent jobs over the next several years along with more than 400 construction jobs.
— Don Sharp, vice president and chief information officer, Navistar Inc., Warrenville
Dress codes
Another school year and we teachers are compelled to address rising hemlines and falling necklines — not because we want to (or think it is the best use of our time) but because we’re darned if we do and darned if we don’t. It’s easy to say we and our administrators “waste time” on dress codes, or try to infringe on students’ personal rights to come to school dressed as they please. Public schools are a melting pot of parent and student views, not all of them liberal. For every parent or student who complains we’re being too strict on dress codes there are others who accuse us of not being strict enough. Our schools are public places packed with a mix of cultures and we have to do our best to make everyone as comfortable in that environment as possible. Is it really that much to ask that we don’t all have to see your underwear?
— Linda Bennett, Naperville
Truth about health care
“Truth at a premium” (Editorial, Sept. 13) ought to include more truth: We don’t know what the new health care reform program will cost. Another truth, not mentioned: Eliminating lifetime limits, offering preventive care with no co-payments and enabling unmarried dependent children to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26 are all valuable and worthwhile benefits of the new health care reform program — for everyone. Present more truth please.
— Nancy W. Cook, Lake Villa
Peace in Israel
This is in response to “What’s so wrong with giving peace a chance?” by Tribune reporter Ron Grossman and “It’s now your move, Mr. Abbas,” by columnist Charles Krauthammer (both Commentary, Sept. 13). Israelis and Arab Palestinians have the same dream, i.e., having a sovereign state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River with Jerusalem as its capital. Neither Krauthammer nor Grossman mentions the real reason Palestinians are reluctant to sign on a peace agreement based on the negotiations at Camp David with President Bill Clinton, i.e., a Palestinian state with 97 percent of the West Bank and Gaza, at the time under Israeli administration, East Jerusalem with special arrangements of dual sovereignty for the holy sites and part of the Negev to account for the 3 percent of the West Bank to remain under Israeli sovereignty where 80 percent of Jews reside. Gaza, now under the rejectionist Hamas administration, is out of the equation.
We were almost there and while Ehud Barak, at the time prime minister of Israel, was agreeable to this solution, Yasser Arafat balked and dropped a bombshell by demanding the return of Palestinian refugees, refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to declare the end of the conflict. The real reason Arafat, and likewise Abbas, are reluctant to sign on a two-state solution is demography, which is on their side. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, like his predecessor Barak, aware of the demographic issue, wants a two-state solution and insists on recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and on a statement declaring an end to the conflict. By demanding the return of more than 3 million refugees, the Palestinian leaders want to erase the Jewish character of Israel, which would de facto become a bi-national state in the long run.
The late Professor Edward Said, who was a mentor to Palestinian policymakers, never wanted a two-state solution. He wanted a bi-national state. In one or two generations, the Arab Palestinians would then be the majority and the next president and prime minister of “Israpal” or “Palisra” would be an Arab Palestinian.
All that Mahmoud Abbas, like Arafat before him, has to do is wait and attend many peace conferences to extract Israeli concessions. A mock Palestinian state could be declared in a year or two as a bridgehead for the full cake, but it won’t change anything and the status quo will be maintained, keeping the dream alive for Palestinians. This, unless Abbas realizes that his dream will never be attained. Only then shall we have peace.
— Isaac Cohen, Chicago
