New York to Regulate Photography

The city of NY is planning to regulate the public use of photography.
Thhe reasons are commercial, the city wants to regulate (or calims it wants to regulate) public commercial work ... use of public spaces for makign movies, commercials, etc.

Fine enuff, but the effect is censorship. The impact of public photography on free speach has been enormous. There is no better evidence of this than the insisteance in fascist countries of regulating use of the camera as tightly as regulation of guns.

SLUVILLE Community Meeting

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting of SLUFAN. I wanted to see who the people were that "represent" SLU to the City.

Not exactly sure who is behind this group but they "represent the people" or somesuch in the creation of the new SLU. For those who do not know what this means, Vulcan, the investment firm for Paul Allen, owns most of the real estate between Westlake Mall and Lake Union. And Vulcan plans to make a lot of money, a lot of money. The UW has a new campus here and I work in that campus.

FWIW SLUFAN stands for " South Lake Union Friends and Neighbors" but the reality is that SLU is mostly warehouses, a few shops, a nascent UW medical campus and a couple of companies. Alan bought the land and is building a city .. a city of some 100,000 souls according to numbers hizzoner the mayor touts. So it is pretty hard to imagine a collection of friends and neighbors that is meaningful.

Anyhow, I want to see SLU succeed. 100,000 is a LARGE portion of the city! I work there. Oh, and by the way, my tax dollars are subsidizing this construction. The cost estimates I get from knowledgeable folk is that SLU will never bring in enough taxes to support the investment the City is making.

So I figure I have good reason to seek answers to two questions:

What kind of city will the retired Microsoft Billionaire build using SeattleJew's money?

How will the SLU neighborhood affect the rest of Seattle?


I am NOT copacetic. So far the buildings have all the charm of Legoland. Less, really, as the only thing homogeneous is that the buildings seem made of instant kit materials. I am especially not fond of the wide spread use of corrugated metal. I am not sure my spell checker can spell "temporary."

The quality might be less important of there was more evidence of social engineering. There do not appear to be plans for such local magnets as a library or sculptures or art street or ... (to be fair, the SLU rolls down to Mercer and on the other side of Mercer there is small lake side park. Crossing Mercer is an adventure!

At the meeting there was wistful discussion of the unlikely possibility that Vulcan might build some housing for artistes or crafts people. Everyone agreed this wold be nice but I think at my age I can recognize the old wink and nahhh!! strategy.

One idea I have thought some on is the possibility of SLU attracting a particular type of folks .. say scientists? Sadly this seems unlikely too. Most of the housing will be rather expensive and none of it is being designed to attract the literati. T he most that Vulcan seems to be able to imagine is compliance with the City's rules about having some middle income housing. Plans for the necessary amenities to attract families do not exist though there is some vague idea that a city of 100,000 will need as school or two. As for art galleries, bookshops, ... well there are coffee shops already!

This is sad because a LOT more could be done. Theoretically the SLU project is being built around a biotech park. Unfortunately there is no evidence of effort to get some of the denizens of this zoo to make their homes near by. The "vision" of Vulcan may be best summed up by its demand that the city build a trolley train to downtown. Why? I suspect this is to attract high rollers who will buy condoes and take the tram into the theater at night. Not really conducive to biotech types who work long days and grab meals at a canteen or a bar. There is a suggestion that someone will someday extend the choo choo to the UW and maybe even Fremont. We will see, bye and bye.

So there is a citizen's board, it is called SLUFAN and this was SLUFAN's meeting. SLUFAN seems like reasonable folk. The chair is Steven Paget an architect with a local firm. He seemed to me to be a bit awkward in the role of representing the people of a neighborhood that does not yet have folks. Steve recently succeeded Robert Grossman , a PEMCO executive who described himself as a career corporate community relations type for PEMCO .. a local insurance company. Bob is the balding guy to the left. A third guy is described below. Together these three appear to be acting as an executive committee for a large group listed here.

What disturbs me is the lack of small business people, workers, or potential SLUite residents on the board. SLUFAN's leadership seems to consist of the contractors and investors plus representative of the Hutch,two private schools, and the Wooden Boat Center. Unless I miss my guess none of the small businesses in the neighborhood are represented. As for potential residents as opposed to a landlord or two, how can the no-yet-there be represented here-and-now?

Besides the existing chair and his predecessor, here is the list from the SLUFAN website:

Phillip Fujii
Phil is the community relations manager for Vulcan Inc.
Jerry Dinndorf
Seattle District Manager for the Associated General Contractors of Washington.
Suzie Hanson
Suzie is an educational administrator at Spruce Street School, a local private elementary I think.
Jill Mackie
Director of External Affairs for the Seattle Times Company.
Diane Masson
Director of Marketing for Mirabella, a Continuing Care Retirement Community and future home to 500 seniors in South Lake Union.
Dawn Oliver
Director of Development and Admissions for Morningside Academy, a non-profit school dedicated to students having average or above average intelligence in grades 1—9.
Robbie Phillips
Community Relations Manager at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Scott Redman
Executive Vice President for Business Development and Administration at Sellen Construction Company, he largest locally owned general contractor in the Puget Sound region. Scott's step-grandfather, John H. Sellen founded the company.
Dick Wagner
Founding Director of The Center for Wooden Boats, a hands-on maritime museum.

The third board member present, probably the token representative of the residents. was the most quiet, his name is (I think) Lloyd Douglas. "Lloyd " represents the Cascade Community. My guess is that the community is a rearguard, slowly evaporating till its a remnant that will not be able to afford the new Vulcan and SLU. Mr. Douglas seemed depressed.

What I was left with was a disturbing feeling that this is all frosting. There seems to be very little urban planning here, little effort to create the sort of magnets that make other parts of Seattle each unique.

The sad thing is that Paul Allan does seem to want a legacy. A colleague of mine recently met with Mr. Allan on a very different issue and Allan, I am told, emphasized his need to make a mark.

What greater legacy could there be the building a great neighborhood? Unless Alan and the City want SLU to turn into a central city version of Levittown, there is a dire need for leadership. At the least, it seems to me, that the City, in return for the infrastructure investment coming from MY taxes, get Mr. Alan to put some $$ into the neighborhood to build off of the biotech promise.

A few such thoughts:

a. The Trolley. As a new denizen of the SLU, I am insulted by Vulcan's push for the Trolley. The company and the city seem utterly ignorant of how Biotech is done. We are less likely to go downtown for lunch than most of are to take our bikes over the Fremont bridge.

A wondeful idea would be a circum Lake Union trolley car system to unite the UW, Hutch, and biotech near Fremont.

The city planners tell me this is in the plan. I will believe that when I ride the trolley. In the mean time it is a 1/2 hr ride from SLU to theUW. What effect does thnis have on attracting Biotech?

A similar issue exiusts for the AMGEN campus. there is no feasible transit between AMGEN and SLU.

b. Shoppimg streets are the major differences between urban villages and suburban housing projects. Folks in Bellvue live in great tracts of homes connected by roads to a few gathering places. This model can not work in a city. Dense housing requires dense commercial activity.
SLU needs at least one low overhead shopping district designed for art galleries and small businesses. Maybe a euro style walking street?

c. A PacRim academic center could revolutionize the Seattle Schools and attract families.

An important part of a new city neighborhood is attitude toward schools. This is a critical time in our city. After decades of devotion to integration in Seattle, the Supreme Court has made our system of racial preferences illegal. Racial assignments were dieing anyway, a victim of costs of busing, yuppification of Seattle's more central districts, and affluent parents .... Black and White, choosing to send their kids to private $chools.

SLU could have an academic cluster containing a library and a public High School. This could seed a lot of activity, esp. if this were an innovative school built, perhaps, with Gates money, and commi9ted to attracting all kids. The result? Families, including Black families, would choose to live in SLU because of the school! Done well, such an academic center could be a commercial magnet as well, housing a new-world library built to serve the information era.

A very creative idea might be to take advantage of the public spirit of Seattle's private schools. Northwest School (see article in this Blog) is a great example. its founders were very much liberals and very much fristrated by the public school system. They still work hard to recruit kids from divers backgreounds and support this with scholarships.

Why not have the academic center INCLUDE private schools! If Lakeside, Bush, Northwest, the Catholic Schools and U Prep and so on really mean what they say about diversity, this might be an opportunity. The PacRim academic center could be public but provide resources that students form these $chools could share.

My example of moving the Burke Museum (below) fits this idea. The Burke has a great and largely unseen collection of PacRim art in a time where Asia is the center of much of the economic future.

I can go on and on ..........

e. a biotech incubator, that is rental space for start up companies. Most start ups do not have the $$$ to buy a buildoing from Vulcan!

Why isn't there one now? I suspect it is an investment risk issue. OK, but isn't that the sort of risk that the city, the state and Vulcan might want to share?

f. some cool public sculpture.

This may seem like a small issue but it is not. The sculptures in Fremont ... Waiting for the Interurban, Lenin and the gnome are huge assets that define that neighborhood.

g. housing designed to be affordable to fellows.

This is a bit like the issue of an incubator. Fellows incomes are at the lowq end of what Vulcan is promising and grad students are even worse off. BUT, these are very desireble tenants. Thyey take good care of their homes and graduate to more expensive tastes. And ... the presence of housing attracts busiuness. This would be a very logical collaboration between the Biotech businesses, the Hutch anjd the UW.

h. a technical book store.

The University Book Store is a non profit! They should have a branch downtown anyway. So .. why not subsidize them t create special branch for bhusiness and tech .. in SLU? Couild even be part of the academic cluster!

i. wireless web

This is an obvious and inexpensive amenity.

j. move Allan's own institute from Fremont to SLU.

Again obvious.

k. a new museum .. e.g.move the Burke to SLU.

The Burke will eventually have to move. Its current space is maxed out (and then some) and its combination of roles confusing. One idea ... the Burke is a PacRim museum, inter alia. What if the academic center was to emphasize PacRim culture? I love the idea of a school, a museum a book store all built on the themes of PacRim culture! My comments about the Northwest school, above, may be relevant.

All this would take leadership but might also be an opportunity for Mr. Allan's money to do some good WHILE being a good investment for Vulcan. Also realize that the City, NOT Mr., Allan, is subsidizing the current plan. Why should I, Joe Taxes, subsidize SLU ?

2 Dimensions, 2 Parties

Just a thought ... are we going back to the future? In the old days folks talked about the US Congess as having two parties for the elction and two different parties after the election. We had the Repubs and the Dems, but once the Congress was in place, it realigned along conservative::liberal lines.

TGhe immigration bill makes me wonder if that is where we are going again? Might not be bad to see some folks elected as Publican but voting centrist.

A Post by Thomas Jefferson's Descendent

Darcy Burner ran against the ex Sheriff, now congressman, Dave Reichert. Thomas H. Jefferson, a dear friend of SeattleJew, has recently reviewed a political video made by Ms. Burner. Ms. Burner is a fave of the Drinking liberal crowd and an aspiring carear politician. Given the good folks supporting her, SeattleJew contributed a lot of dollars to her first campaign and she ran almost won in 06.

Goldy and other are enthusiastic about the ad but Tom Jefferson* , feels differently:


The commercial may be effective marketing, but what does such professionalism prove? You like GW Bush? Rove is one of the most successful hawkers of political cheese cake since Hugh Heffner. So GW is a good choice?
Yeh the commercial is a slick ad that paints The Sheriff as a Bushie-Whoopie. And Darcy Darcy ,,, hmm she comes across as a stay at home Mom with the time on her hands needed to support her little 'un AND run for Congress.
Remembering the slurs against my gran gran Dad, I cringe at this sort of negative campaigning. Ol Tom may have been an idealist and a hypocrite but he did not return the Federalist invective in kind. Rather , the red haired one let us all know of his dreams for the future. Of course he was a hypocrite but who is not? Tom also carefully courted an image as being a virile young man .. as contrasted to his dour rival from Quincy.
May I suggest there is danger in Darcy's approach? How does Darcy support herself and the young 'un? Ms Burner was not all that high up in Microsoft, so I don't think she made the big bucks needed to retire at a tender youngish age.
An ad that defines Darcy totally as not being Reichert ... may not be good in a District where he remains popular ... without giving us any reason to respect her other than seeing a clatch of paid groupies who came to her door sounding "Darcy Darcy" rather like the zombie crowds in a grade C horror flick.
Anybody looking at this may also want to look at at the Obama Girl video posted in the next entry in this blog. I wonder if the Obama shtick is what Darcy should do? Inject a little humor into the race. How about this scenario ....

Two geeks on a Bellevue Street. We know this is Bellevue because the cars passing are Lexus, Mercedes and an occasional Lotus. Across the street, an office building flies an American flag and a banner for Vista.

The geeks watch a Ferrari (driven by a white haired guy accompanied by a Marilyn like young thing) park a bit down the street. They look with with obvious desire at the car but ignore White Hair and blondy as the Ferrari pair exit, his hand on her ass, on a red carpet into a political reception with Bush Chaney signs.

The Geeks (an Asian and a Teutonic looking fellow) gather round the car, and steal caresses off of its sleek red body.

The the Geeks hear a voice, talking reason across the street. They look up .. its this shortish, thirtyish lady, walking a ten year old boy down the street, teaching as they walks. They turn and follow her. Listening as she looks in a store window and explains to her rapt young tow head the ways software makes jobs and why educating oneself is so important. At each store window she gives a short new lesson, Others join the original duo, following along as in one of those Verizon ads. We hear a ringtone, "Happy Days are Here Again." She reaches into her puree and pulls out an iPhone. We hear a voice that sound like, could it be Bill Gates?

"Darcy, are you there? I need your help!" Darcy answers,

"How can I help, Bill" Crowd behind is quiet, waves a few Darcy signs and smiles as the voice over says ...

"Darcy Burner, What can She do for you?"

* Mr. Jefferson claims to be a direct, if spiritual, descendent of the Red Haired One and Ms. Hemings.

The Obama Girl

Irresistable art

I am sure I will eventually think of something to say. Finished my Jefferson biography today. Great book.

Is Fascism the Answer?

What effect does the transferability of virtual caital have on the concept of a free market?

Classical economics teaches that mercantilism, that is the pursuit of busingess to amass cash, fails unless the cash is invested to improve the productivity of society or entity generalting the cash. So Spain failed because they acquired huge amounts of capital at low cost by looting the new world. This might have worked fine, except that the Spanish invested their capital in France and the Netherlands, giving rise low cost industries there while nothing was developed in Spain.

The analogy to Seattle seems obvious. In our economy, a huge part of capital is in the form of intellectual property. In this economy, jobs are driven by where the IP is applied . So today, Boeing may have factories for the 787 all over the world but the highest paying jobs are in Seattle where the machine is designed and assembled. We read that Boeing is very leaslous of this skill set.

How difficult would it be to transfer the manamegement skills to China? The issue os even clearer if we ask how dificylkt it would be to transfer the proprietary skillsets behind Microsfot or Starbucks? The ease of transfer of intellectual property seems to me to have a huge effect on conventional nationalistic economic models because the cost of transferring the capital, in the form of the productivity engine, to another coutry is negligible.

The implication is that knowledge economies are NOT in the interests of a nation's workers unless the nation and the corporation are synonymous, i.e. fascism!.

For those too young to remember, fascism was once synonymous witn a model of governewmtn where large coprorations and the state merged. Mussolini may have ended up looking like Hitler's cousin, but his ability to strengthn the Italian econmy was touted by Roosevelt and other liberals as an example to the world.

In today's global economy we have both liberal/democratic societies and fascist societies. In the non fascist societies within this economy all jobs migrate to the lowest possible cost employers. This low coat, a la Ricardo, is acceptable to the source economy because productivity of the original workers ,,, now intellectual managers ... is vastly increased.

Of course, the usual implication is that the source economy will grow by investing more in the high productivity, IP generating sector. The latter assumption seems to me to be faulty. The Amerfican (or Seattle) corporation generating the IP is not the Nation. It may well be in the corporation's interest to transfer the IP generation to a lower cost market as well, iff that marlet is susccesful in producing IP. In a liberal/demcratic society, there is no motivation of coprorations to invest in development of an intelelctual workforce since that is the task of the nation.

So here is my scenario. Imagine the world does not go to war and global warming remaining a marginal cost. Suppose that 1/3 of USA capital is in IP rich industry ... from Boeing to Hollywood. Lets take any one such entity. What would it cost Microsoft or Boeing to become an Indain company?

Don't get me wrong. I believe in global economics and consider myself first a human then as SeattleJew. A global economy is probably the most good for the most people (ironically). However, if my model is corect, the fascist states will have an innate advnatge over the liberal domocratic states. Liberalism (classical definition) means the inevitable loss of productivity aka capital by the American worker.

I also see dismal solutions to this problem ... war or American fascism being the usual answers. The lateral term may not be totally firghtening. European countries, along with Japan and Korea, seem t me to be pursuing a model that might be called sate corporatism. At one level this means that there are incentives for Daimler, Airbus, or Nokia to invest in the intellecual infrastructure of the nation. How can tis effect the US? We still live under the dream of Jefferson where each Ameican is free to devleop her own business (well Tom would said his). Is there a European like model that can take root here? Is the alternative Bushism?

SeattleJew

RACIST HEADLINE ON BBC: Man cleared over Aborigine death

The actual article is pretty balanced, about a police officer, the Man, who killed an aboriginal Australian.

Rushdie and Islaam

Pakistan's parliament has protested the British Queen for her honoring Salman Rushdie with a knighthood. The amazing arrogance of this was the claim by the Minister of Religion that Britains's actions would justify the actions of suicide bombers who try to defend the Prophet's honor.
Rushie, on the right, is a great artist. The comparison in this photo to Kubrick is relevant because the movie guy has also criticized a culture , in his case the West. I wonder how Pakistan would take it if Bush issues a fatwa on Kubrick's life? Or, for that matter what if we said violonece vs. Pakistan is justified by this behavior?
Religous tolerance should never extend to toleration of bigotry. Islamic denigration of other religions is despicable. What is worse, is their presumption that they have the right to impose their standatds on the rest of the world.

Of poppies and Father's Day

Here is a mystery. appropriate for Father's Day and for my Dad who served heroically in WWII.

When the USA invaded Afghanistan, the one thing the Taliban were reported to have done that was good was cracking down on the poppy trade.

Now, however, we read that the (presumably Taliban) insurgents in Afghanistan are using the poppy trade to finance their insurgency. Given the strong prohibitions against drugs in the Quran, I wondered if the original story was untrue and the Taliban were hypocritical?

Lee, at HorsesAss and at Blog Reload, corrected me:

Nope. Completely incorrect.

In the 2000/2001 cultivating period, the Taliban used violent reprisals and severe punishment to cause opium production to plummet from 3,276 mt in 2000 to only 185 mt in 2001 - a fall of a staggering 94 percent. In areas under its control, the Taliban was uncompromisingly tough, allowing it to complete, according to the London-based Independent newspaper “one of the quickest and most successful drug elimination programmes in history”.

I suspect he is correct. Here is a more extensive report saying the same thing about the then rulers of Afghanistan. But this leads to another issue. If we and the Muslim right both agree on drugs, isn't this an opportunity to collaborate? If there are issues we and the Imans and Mullahs share, why not find common ground?

I fund a good analysis of the current situation on a blog called From the Wilderness. Here is a summary.

FTW reported that the US uses Uzbekistan to stage operations into Afghanistan since September 11. Uzbekhistan, in turn grow poppies. Of course, the Uzbeki government is not part of the righteous Islam movement and they are fighting their own battle against a Muslim insurgency. The question FTW raises is frightening. Whose side are we on? FTW reports that Richard Secord has recently traveled to Tashkent. Secord was one of the CIA agents involved in heroin smuggling, from Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the 1960's and and during the Iran-Contra years. Is the USA supporting the poppy growers because they are opposed to the Taliban?

I would tend to think FTW was being an extremist, but his version Iand lee's) fit too neatly into past history of the Reagan-Bush I, Bush II tradition. Frightening.

In the spirit of irony, I turned to the Veterans of Foreign Wars .. the folks who sell poppies to support our vets. "The VFW has made that trademark a guarantee that all poppies bearing that name and the VFW label are genuine products of the work of disabled and needy veterans. No other organization, firm or individual can legally use the name "Buddy" Poppy." They explained the poppies history with the famous poem:

In Flander's Field by John McCrae
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.
And yet, times do change,
and now I wonder,
Do poppies yet grow yet in Flanders Fields
and are they made by vet's scarred hands?
Or do more potent poppies grow in Afghanistan,
Under the cruel hands of warlords while,
now the paper poppie is
assembled in China
to make our wounded vets more efficient?

(words added in black).


Happy Father's Day.

Father's Day

I look forward to having lunch with Havi. Wish Hillel were here.

In the meantime, a new friend, Michael Hood, author of Blatherwatch, has delivered a wonderful tribute to his dad on NPR. Here is the link.

The picture to the right is of my Dad. Michael's essay makes me want to do something similar here.

Healthcare Myths

The Free Market

The weirdest part of the debate about heathcare is the perception by the right that we now have a free market. We actually do, but the market does not operate to reduce costs or improve care because the competition is completely removed from the customers of the health care.

We can solve the problem by eliminating the insurance industry

First, it really does not make sense to call healthcare insurance when what we are realy doing is paying an annual fee for a needed service. A part of those payments are for insurance.

BUT, wh it is true that we can cut costs of healthcare by about 30% if we eliminate the profitts and expenses of the intermediary insurance companies, the costs of the services themselves are laways rising becasue of the unique properties of health care inflation. Health care inevitably inflates faster than inflation because there is limited possibility for increase in productivity. Doctors already spend far too little time with their patients and the expanding power of biomedicine means the scope of services is always growing.

prevention saves money

Preventitive medicine increases costs. The longer we live, the more years of poor health we will have JUST because we are living longer. Plus, living longer does not alter the steady state rate at which folks die and terminal care is a huge part of the health care bill. Cigarettes are a good assert to healthcare bills because they make people die younger.

SeattleJew

Who is that painted lady?

Cultural gaps have proliferated all over our society. Amongst the oddest is the changing view of the role of the political spouse.

The photo is of the Congressman from Bellevue, Dave Reichert. I assume the lady in the mink stole with the mascara and bling around her neck is his wife of more than 35 years, Julie.
The odd thing here, of course is that this looks like a picture of Mamie Eisenhower. I noticed some similar costumes at the Rove dinner. Makes me wonder. If Reichert were to run for national office , how would Julie Reichert's image play?

The Iranian Threat vs. The Bush Regency

Darryl (from Hominid Views) and I have had a debate about how far along and what the intent may be of the Iranian nuke effort. I hope he has a chance to look at this al Jazeera piece. El Baradei has been right before!
The obvious issue is the Regency, that is the current caretaker government in DC has no credibility. As for "our side," KOS and its ilk are so blindly peacenik that they may drive the candidates away form rational discussion of the alternatives.
The current situation reminds me all to much of the wind up to WWI ... this time with far bigger consequences. A follow-on piece in the NYT is worth reading as well.
The bottom line is that the Iranians have a brilliant strategy that should lead them to becoming a nuclear power within l2ss than 10 years. Bush, having wasted his resources, seems powerless.

A Debate about abortion rights with Lee, thehim .....

Cross posted from Horsesass with some editing. Lee is a blogger who identifies himself as a Jew by descent but knows very little about Judaism. He i, however, very opionated on liberal issues and often makes statements of personal belief that he mistakes for facts or reason. This echange originated after I remarked that the abortion issue ought not be the basis for name calling wither way, fundie beliefs in life begins at zygosis are no more unreasonable than some of the belifs held by liberals. In this case, Lee seems to believe that sacrosanct life begins at birth.

(the him is in italics)

I believe that the determination of the value of the life of a fetus is a moral determination that gets made m{b?}y the mother, and therefore it is unconstitutional for the government to interfere with that decision.

Lee ...

There is nothing in science or law about morality. This is a very reasonable statement of thehim's personal belifes, your religion?

I also believe that putting someone in jail for drug use is similarly unconstitutional, so please recognize that I’m not arguing from a conventional wisdom standpoint, I’m arguing from a purely logical standpoint,

You have a very odd idea of the difference between logic and personal belief. What is "logical" abut your statement? Nada. You are stating, as you have every right to do, YOUR

I suspect that what you really mean is that, like Ayn Rand,you reject laws that punish people for victimless "crimes." I suspect you and I would agree on many such laws .. But, none of this has to do with the US constitution.

Baloney.
Fettucine

All of those things you mention (a right to slavery, public nudity, carrying a dagger on an airplane, refusal to use vaccines,)deal with things that directly affect other people. A woman having an abortion does not.

Hunhhhh????? how does public nudity affect others? Do you support the chador then too? You think it is OK to have laws against nude beaches? How does a Sikh carrying his (concealed) dagger endanger others? (on vaccines we agree). BUT ... to argue that a woman aborting a viable fetus does not affect other people only makes sense if you somehow decide that a fetus is not a person and the husband has NO rights?

Even if YOU somehow have figured out that life begins with a foot through the labia, MOST of your fellow citizens disagree with you. Moreover, if I happen to be the father of the fetus in question, obviously I have an interest in the outcome.

Furthermore, imposing any of those rules that you mention does not impose as difficult a predicament upon an individual as forcing a woman to carry out a pregnancy.

I agree but this has no bearing on the law. Lots of laws effect people, that is why we have them.

I suspect that your problem is that your moral system/beliefs/religion has sanctified the role of the Mom. That is fine. my belief system is sort of like that too.

The first amendment guarantees that people have a right to any form of irrational thought, so long as it does not affect another human being. If this is not how it’s interpreted, I find that to be a mistake.

The first amendment, as far I can see, says nothing one way or another about what people believe. What it says is that the state can not establish a belief system (religion). I rather agree that we should have a right to believe what ever verkuchte things we want to believe. What does this have to do with the thread?

U.S. law also forbids homosexual couples from being married. To me, that’s a very clear violation of the first amendment as well. Polygamy is fine by me, as long as the wives are not forced into the relationship. From a legal standpoint, we have some difficulty in defining issues of custody and other legal rights, but the government has absolutely no business telling people they can’t be in polygamous relationships.

We are not terribly far apart on this issue. I believe in full contractual rights between individuals. I call it a NOK law .. next of kin. Each of us should have the right to declare another individual as NOK and in that capacity they have assorted rights.

At the same time I think the argument about "marriage" is idiotic. Biologically (that word science again!) the genders are different and it is reasonable to have a word for the heterosexual pairing. This overly heated issue all goes away if the government just recognizes the obvous right of all of us to designate a NOK and then marriage becomes one of whatever number of different living arrangements folks want to have. In most of Europe there is one form or another of NOK laws and the issue of marriage has become much less important than it is here.

I do think there are issues about family structure vis a vis child raising. These are difficult and fairly rare but
it s perfectly reasonable to argue that all other things being equal a mixed gender family is a better way to raise a kid then a single gender. That said, a gay couple who love and support each other are a damned site better parents (or likely to be) than a "married: couple who don't have those properties.

What I’m saying is that unless the fetus can removed and live on its own, it is a violation of a woman’s rights to deny her the right to an abortion.

This is exactly the present law in our own state. 24 weeks was picked because there is a consensus that the fetus is viable at that point. I am not sure about the "right to an abortion" ... I do not think there is an absolute answer because the issue of life is a religious one.

A fetus is no more sentient than the animals we slaughter for our hamburgers.

This is an absurd statement. I could say that a new born baby is no more sentient than a full term fetus but as a scientist I try not to make statements about undefined terms or about things I do not know how to measure.

For you to give it{the fetus?} more value than that (that what?) reveals how you’re imposing a religious opinion that you’ve somehow convinced yourself is a scientific one. Back to the drawing board, Steve. You messed up.

Lee .. YOU are the one making statements of truth, not I. I have made no claim that life or sentience begins at any special moment. I am not sure I have even stated my personal beliefs on the matter.

(Siamese twins) was meant for John. I know you’re not smart enough to understand it.

Lee, Lets not have a silly name calling exercise. I suspect after an MD, a PhD, and several decades as a professor I know a bit of biology.

Your own ideas of biology are, well, pretty far from current. In the case of the fetus and the mother, only the mother is (... a human being. We become human beings through awareness. We have powerful brains that make us aware of the world around us and makes us comprehend life to an extent that we’ve accepted that every life is precious.

I am not sure I can even parse the grammar here. This seems as religious as the discussion I once read in the Bhagvada Gita about the "essence" of life, "Atman." The Gita, perhaps like thehim, teaches that life IS synonymous with breath. Is this your idea? Figure is from text on website of memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hindu scriptures say that the Atman dwells in the lotus within the heart. Visualize within yourself a lotus, centered right within the center of your chest, right within your heart. Try to mentally feel and see the heart as a lotus flower right within you. Within the center of the lotus, try to see a small light. Hindu scriptures state that the Atman within the heart looks like a brilliant light about the size of your thumb--just a small light. This light is an emanation of your effulgent being. It is dwelling right within. The Self God is deeper than that. The lotus is within the heart, and the Self God dwells deep within that lotus of light. (image is Krishna in the Lotus.)


But it makes no sense scientifically or logically to believe that a fetus, who has no ability to experience the world yet, can have this awareness. That’s why, previous to birth, there’s no justification for conferring human status to a fetus.

You are Hindu! I have always wanted to understand Krishna!

Just because it’s sentient is meaningless. Insects are sentient.

Really???? In Disney cartoons?? Lobsters too? Guess I better not boil any more lobsters. What do you mean by entient? Is this different from "awareness" since you think humans, but I assume not insects, are aware?


She does have ‘magical’ rights over the baby. She’s carrying it! Jesus, are you that stupid?

Sorry, I thought YOU were claiming to be rational. Women bear kids. That is just biology. I feel we need to have laws that recognize pregnancy, even though the effect is of necessity sexist. That idea is based on the obvious biology. There is nothing scientific about a woman,s right to end a pregnancy of a viable fetus.

The mother loses the right to an abortion when a procedure with no greater risk to the mother can be performed in order to save the fetus.

I think you are getting there, You need t understand that the risk here is relative. Birth itself is a real risk to the mother.

my religion is not defining anything. Read your own words above about "awareness." The you go on with MORE religious statements, some of which are pretty fundie, Life begins at conception. Well, I know that Catholics and Muslims believe this. I am not sure about other religions. In Judaism, OJ anyway, I think there is some idea that life beigns with fetal movements. All this is importnat but arbitrary.

Human life begins at some indefinable after birth. This is not religion. This is both science and common sense. YOU (not I) have argued above that human=awareness and made the statement that awareness only begins after birth (Atmen again?).

I’ve explained why your ideas are wrong. I don't think I have said what I personally believe.

FWIW, Obviously the woman's right to her own life must come first. Other than that, I think the first trimester should be under control of the mother or, in certain cases, the responsible adult (e.g. I do not think a ten year old should be allowed to bear a child). I think the second trimester should begin to invoke some rights of the father, certainly he has the right to know his partner is pregnant and should have some say in any decision. I do not know how to make the balance here, but at a minimum, a second trimester abortion should invoke the father;s right to know and there should be a requirement for consultation between the parents and a responsible third party. After that I would lean to the mom having the final right. Third trimester is very hard. I d believe a woman can be forced to bear a third trimester baby against her will. please note my use of the term "belief."

Jefferson wasn’t an atheist. I did not say that he was, but the definition of atheist may be a bit more than we want to do here. How much of Jeff have you read?? have you read his edited bible?

Right, I’m an atheist and I understand (Indians have inherent rights that could not be over-ridden by the law). Jefferson did not. As always, you don’t have a point.

I don't have a point? If you are a real atheist, then do you believe in natural law? Hve you read Rouseau? Locke? Jefferson himself? Jefferson posited the existence of eternal natural laws. This is part of Judaism I accept. IMO, Jefferson was a devout hypocrite or a pragmatist who conveniently decided to sidestep the natural law when t was in conflict with what he saw as the manifest destiny of America.

Is Obama Ready to be Prexy?

I don;t usually borrow art but this toon from Politico and the accompanying text are really important.

The question is simple .. is BO real or a media creation? Read about it here.

This article from Politico describes how Obama set up his office when he became a Senator. To summarize, he recruited first class advisors and staff .. including people outside the usual Democrat apparatchniks.

The media haze we all live in is scary, but so far every time someone reports on an experience with this fellow the answer comes back the same ...Obama is real, different, honest,.committed to public service, open to a lot of ideas. Sounds good.

I am also impressed with his willingness to tell the truth in Detroit.

My biggest worry now is whether he is too nice? How tough can he be? Is he a second coming of JC ... this JC not the guy on the cross. I believe that Jimmy was a great president who lacked public leadership skills .. at least partly because this JC was almost pathologically honest. Remember the sweaters and the fireside talks about thermostatic sacrifices? Jimmy Carter foresaw the current crisis exactly. Yet we did not believe him. Contrast that with GWB's mis-selling of the Iraq war. GWB did a good job selling an idea so bad that it has left his presidency in a junk yard of its own. Would we have beenb better off if JC had lied and somehow convinced us all that energy independence was a national goal? The came Ray-Gun.

Anyhow, I recommend the Politico article. Enjoy.

Job Opportunity fir a Geologist at Creation Museum

Speaker and Researcher of Geology

Reports to: Mark Looy (for the moment)

Duties and Responsibilities

• Speak to layperson (and occasional science) groups across the country as requested through AiG Outreach Dept. Expected travel a minimum of 25%.
• Literature and field research.
• Write regular articles for web and other AiG publications.
• Produce books, DVDs, curriculum materials, etc.

Education, Experience and Skill Requirements

• Doctorate in geology preferred, or some other related scientific discipline (e.g., paleontology).
• Minimum of 5 years’ field or teaching experience in study discipline.
• Extremely strong knowledge of creation – understanding both the biblical and scientific arguments.
• Articulate and engaging speaker is a must, along with the willingness to be mentored in order to become an even better speaker (i.e., to be “teachable”).
• Ability to express concepts in writing

Items needed for possible employment

• Resume
• Salvation testimony
• Creation belief statement
• Confirmation of your agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith

Please send, with cover letter, to:
HR Department
Send Email

Should I apply?

I actually think there is value in looking at the "Bible" as a source for scientific questions. The problem for the Creationist community is that any scientific alternatives to the current Darwin/Big Bang model, will indubitably bear no resemblance to any specific biblical myth.

Take for example the flood. On SeattleJew I posted a link to the ad at the Craetion Museum for a geologist. That add includes a REQUIREMENT that the geologist beleive there was world wide flood. Trouble is this makes no sense, as it is described in the Torah.

There is a Jewish approach that i think may interest you and would make the Discovery Institute a lot more sane. Maimonides and Spinoza both taught that science IS revelation and is MORE reliable than the recorded records of revelations. So, when discrepancies exist, the jobh of a true intellectual is to do their best at reconciling the differences.

There is, IMHO, a scientific reason for accepting this approach. That is the evidence that the Torah is old enough to reflect flecks of exp0eriences “we” have experienced. This is especially important for discussions about archeology. Dever has argued that there are numeorus pieces of data in books of Judges and Kings that combine well with scientific archaelogy to create hypothesis about the history of Canaan. This is good scieece.

I would go further. there are many reaisns, in my opinion, to link the Torah to more ancient things, including human evolution. Closest in time is the myth of Moses. Whether Moses did or did not exist, the semitic::Egyptian interplay is now well documented and included a period, the Hyksos, where Semites were actiually rulers in Egypt. Sound familiar?

My most extreme idea is that there may be a link between the Torah (and other ancient writings) and human evolution. The idea is this … “we” have only spoken for about 100,000 years and given the way evolution works, it is unlikley that this happened in one miraculous event. Speech, however, seems to have incuded a lot of other stuff .. including myth making. Dis any of these earliest myths survive long enough t be recorded in the Vedas or the Torah? While there eas no world wide floood, could there have been floods or similar disasters that isolated subgroups of use as geneticists call “choke points?” Could one of those be the ancient semites?

The point is that the Torah, the Vedas, and Egyptian writings are the oldest documents we have. Leaving aside divinity, it makes good sense to use these as a source of data.

Obama's visit

Havi, Barb and I went to the Obama rally last night. I am not sure there is much difference between Obama the TV presence and Obama the speaker to crowds. He speaks well, is very magnetic, has a charming calm mien.

I was left glad that I read Huffington where other folks have gotten to know BO personally. Reading the endorsements of intellectuals like Nora Ephron means a great deal to me.

The finished product from the media confuses me. I had hoped to see some of the real man, what I saw was a slick presentation of a bright man, but too much polish. I would have like to see him take his jacket (mismatched!) off, sit on a stool and answer questions. Sigghh. At least we got to contribute $150 more to the campaign.

I was also a bit disturbed by the opening entertainment. There were two African-American dance troops and a horrible American idolish singer from Tacoma. The Tacoman was a sad version of a sixties guitar folk protester ..except he could not sing and the lyrics were a countrified view of love as sadness. Skill and talent were not there. His lyrics were more country than 'nam, and his guitar sounded like it was made by Casio. All in all, like watching American Idol.

By comparison, the two African dance groups were awesome. They were kids and adults, with enthusiasm and rhythm, GREAT! One group represented East Africa .. too bad no one pointed this out! Didn't the candidate have a parent from Kenya? Instead of diversity, lets celebrate Obama himself .. just as we celebrated Kennedy the Irishman!

The hostess, a former PBS host turned PR professional, named Chin, introduced the dance groups as an example of Seattle as a divers society. This sort of liberal claptrap puts me off ... but more so I fear that it will put the truly divers Seattlelite off. There is some sort of condescension, a racist condescension .. liberal or not .. in referring to an African American troupe in a white city as evidence of diversity. Seattle is, after all, the home of Quincy Jones and Jimmy Hendrix. This sort of talent and creativity is very much Seattle and American, like the Senator that in a way.

In the same Seattle spirit it was good to see that former Mayor Rice was there to endorse BO. Rice, the color of dark walnut, was the Mayor of our city, never dod anyone regard Mr. Rice as our Black Mayor. With only about 5% Black population Norm was el;eted for his charm and leadership qualities. Sound familiar? I am very glad that Norm Rice was not introduced as the Black Mayor!

The best thing about Mr. Obama, so far, is that he is the antithesis of the republican cnadidates pool. There are real issues that real Publicans once stood for. There is a real constituency for balanced budgets, religion in the schools, an offensive American military. There are many Americans who would like t change how kids are taught and do all we can to make US industry competitive. Obama was right when he daid the poeple are lookng for a change and I suspect his "act" is tailored to that desire.


Look at the selection of leaders the GOP offers and imagine the outcome in 2008:

Romney .. He is the only really good choice you have but 30% pf your party will never vote for someone who thinks Jesus was an American Indian. How will Romney the Mormon play in the right wing Christian churches a la Colorado Springs? Imagine the man who chose Jesusrunnignvs. the man who believes in Moroni? The central problem for Romney is the hypocrisy of any Mormon who tries to equate his or her religion with Christianity. Romney should have taken the stand that being a Mormon is good in and if itself. He shold make a Kenendy speech about not followign the dictates of the elders even when they claim to be speaking for God.

Guiliani ... a successful mayor with little else to recommend him PLUS 3 marriages, him kids openly hate him, and there are the pix of Rudi in drag. Hmmm .. Dukakis in the tank, Kerry windsurfing, Rudi in panties? If BO is the candidate running against RG, someone will make the swiftboaters sem like a kindly memory.

Fred Thompson .... the babe wife, a record of saying government is boring. He did command a nuclear submarine in a movie and has stayed at Holiday Inn. As a mdia creation and maybe as a real person, Thompson is a threat to BO and even more to Hillary. But, it seems to me that BO has more raw talent as an actor.

John McCain. McCain could have been Kerry's VP. he should have done it. Now he is 75, with a scary history of melanoma. And, he is sadly leashed to Mr. Bush. How do you campaign for President on "Bush was Incompetent" ticket?

Gingrich. Newt typifies the horrid contradictions facing the party that claims to be the representative of the moral majority. His life style .. the money, the wives, the spouse abuse, the affair during impeachment all scream of hypocrisy.

So far this essay is at best defensive. I WANT to say positive things. The speech, wasn't that why we had come? Obama's speech was well wrought. He seems sincere and much of what he said was wise. H estarted out with some modesty .. somehow this was unconvincing:

"I have to say that sometimes I have to ask myself, how in the heck did I get here? How did I come to be standing in front of these crowds that are so representative of America, that draw from every walk of life. And I wish I could take credit. But I have to tell you it has to do with more than me. It has to do with this hunger, all across the country, this palpable energy everywhere we go. ... Everyone is clamoring for change."

Somehow I do not think that the editor of the Harvard Law review arrives there from a public school in Malaysia w/o ego. But Barak seems to be telling us something lese and this is convincing, he really does seem ordinary. Here is a Harvard Law attorney who has chosen a modest and public life of service. This is hard to imagine, but then you remember the strange accident that led to his election to the Senate, an election where he was unopposed because of a scandal in an otherwise popular Republican incumbent. "So many of us understand that politics has become a business instead of a mission." Somehow I find myself believing he is on a mission and is modest.

Obama in the crowd. JOHN LOK/THE SEATTLE TIMES

The message "we've got mutual obligations toward each other."of a government for the people does mean something after 6 years of Bush and 8 of Clinton, of government meant to float all boats only if there is enough water for the yachts. The contrast between Obama's message and Edward's is entirely in whether you believe that one is and the other is not a true man of the people. Would Michelle and Barak Obama's buy a mansion like the Edwards'? Surely the Obama buzz cut doesn't cost$400. I wonder if an Obama presidency would make buzz cuts popular for white folks too? And mismatched suits too? Is Barak going to grow a Lincolnesque beard? In SeattleJew's opinion, classism is the most mportant issue facing us all and Obama, while not focusing on the issue, seems innately committed to a Jeffersonian, class free, opportunity based society. If Barack and Michelle benfited from Affirmative Action, they may understand the anxiety of the unemployed parents from Detroit worried about how to educate young John and Jane.

I especially like the message in re Iraq. This man is NOT a radical, "It is time to match the might of our military with the strength of our diplomacy and the power of our alliances and the wisdom of our strategy." Obama went on about HOW to withdraw troops "we have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in." BO is no simplistic peacenik, though he did say "But I will tell you this Seattle: If Congress doesn't do it before George Bush is out of office I will do it when I am in office. You can take that to the bank.". Later I heard David Goldstein's radio show. David seems teetering into the Obama camp, albeit worries that Barack is too middle of the road.

I enjoyed the audience. By far the richest mixture of people I have seen in one place at kone time in years. Every race seemed to be represented other than Martian. I met a lot of impressive people and interestingly. like Mr. Obama himself, they were all rational, patriotic people. No peaceniks or anti-Amerikans! Oh, and I met some friends form Morehouse College in Atlanta. Great to see these folks at an Obama rally. The yuong people of the very special school could be a vanguard of change in the South! Imagine .. Obama takes Georgia! Imagine further that BO takes the vote of white Christians, seeking an alternative to the flotsam and jetsam of the post Bush Pubican party. Much of what Obama said w=should appeal to these people .. a call for all Americans to come back together to work for the common good. And, he manages to claim he makes hois decisions as a Christian! Can you imagine a similar claim by Giuliani or Gingrich?

What I did not hear? Obama should not only be moderate, he should be extreme in asking for sacrifice. "Some of these things are going to cost money and we cannot do a lot of these things if we keep on spending on $275 million a day on a war that is not making us safer in this world. It is time to bring our troops out of Iraq." All fine and good but WE need to pay of the trillion dollars Bush wasted. I would have liked to hear a commitment to national service, to tolerance, to a more literate America, to .... the things he will need to ask of us if he is elected. I keep wondering, do the consultants tell him that such a message is bad for votes?

I have begin to worry that BO may not have the strength to call on his fellow Americans for sacrifice, This sunny message may be an election strategy, but addressing the nation's problems will require a very different message than what was given last night. I want to believe this "new" man has that sort of strength.

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