In his almost routinely brilliant manner, Post editorial cartoonist Don Wright Wednesday commented on Israel’s use of U.S.-built F-16 fighter jets in retaliatory attacks against what he characterized as comparatively defenseless Palestinian targets. That doesn’t mean other Americans had to like the cartoon, as shown by this phone message from Samantha Rosen:
“I’d like to comment on your cartoon, if you can call it a cartoon, of (a jet labeled) ‘Made in America, Built by Americans,’ with the Star of David on it and a missile going right toward the heart of a child being held by an Arab woman. That is really, really low, anti-Semitic, below the belt. Israelis do not aim for children or for mothers, (though) they do get killed along with other people. I did not see a cartoon made with the terrorist who had his body strapped with all kinds of grenades (and) blew up a mall . . . .” “I have just seen the editorial cartoon in this morning’s Post,” said a male reader who left another message. “I’m speechless. I know Israel has responded to the Palestinians. But to show an American fighter jet aiming a missile to a mother holding a baby in her arms, that’s going a bit too far.” And that, if I correctly understood the cartoon’s exaggerated symbolism, was exactly Mr. Wright’s point.
Kenneth Scherzer, a collector for 65 years, appreciated the May 19 article about the U.S. Postal Service’s reissue of a stamp that had been printed in error. He differed, however, with the article’s statement: “It is the only time in U.S. postal history that an invert has been intentionally, officially reissued.”
This is the second time, he said. “In October 1952, a stamp was issued for (U.N. Secretary-General) Dag Hammarskjold. In error, the yellow background was printed upside down on some of them,” he said, and there are stock catalog numbers, 1203 and 1204, respectively, for the correct and deliberately misprinted one.
The Lake Worth reader also took issue with the description of four other stamps as “Cinderellas.” He said, “That’s something that looks like a stamp but isn’t,” and the article correctly cited such examples as revenue stamps, savings stamps and dues stamps. Of the four 60-cent stamps, however, Mr. Scherzer said: “These were not Cinderellas. They were definitely printed as stamps” and, as the story said, were valid for postage.
Lillian Kingery’s message said she wanted to talk about grammatical errors in . . . a photo? It turned out to be the picture on the front of the May 14 Local News section that accompanied a story about a pre-kindergarten reading program, but her complaint wasn’t with the paper. Ms. Kingery, a former teacher, had noted that among the sentences were some written on three lines with the first letter of the second line capitalized. “I think that a picture in this case is worth much more than a thousand words,” said the sharp-eyed reader. “Here is an example of children who are not being taught capitalization and sentence structure. That’s basic.”
Alan Meadoff called to say that he had “just finished reading your editorial (Monday) on ‘Show class in Wellington,’ and I think you made a mistake in that you have implied that Banyan Lakes and Banyan Estates are part of Wellington. They are not.” The same applies, he noted, to an earlier article on the subject (“New Wellington school approved amid protests,” May 17). The developments are in unincorporated Palm Beach County.
Post staffers have to love readers such as Sylvia (whose last name I missed), who commented last week: “I’m calling because I’ve been out of the country in Singapore for about five weeks, and coming back, I really appreciate The Palm Beach Post’s coverage. I missed all the coverage. Saturday’s editorials were just wonderful, and (the) coverage of all the things that are happening. I’m very happy to read a newspaper again.”
