SAM not SAAM

Well, I was wrong. The new SAM is a big improvement and now deserves to be called an Art Museum. The new space is simple and unobtrusive and meanders. meanders is the important word for me. I like the sense of disorder in a museum much ore than the kind of regimented flow patterns a lot of new spaces have, esp. the National Gallery in DC (by IM Pei).
I can not remember ever seeing such an unobtrusive museum. The space is pretty much neutral, as if one took a large office building and retasked it as a museum. Of course this is also the Washington Mutual Bank building, but few banks would have the high ceilings and grand spaces needed to be a museum. The outside is, with the exception of the old Venturi Museum's entrance, one more glass sided downtown Seattle nondescript office building. Without signs you would not know that this was an Art Museum rather than the home of various corporate entities, a lawyer or two and a food court.
The best part of the museum is that it has a lot of art, a lot. Wandering through is like visiting a wealthy person's home .. lots of flotsam and jetsam and then .. wow! a Rothkow or Motherwell, or Pollack! The highlights for me were the Northwest art .. a lot of Tobey, some Graves (two really bad ones), didn't see any Callahan or Cage. Still, I have already decided that several of the Tobies are "mine." One made me cry!
Another favorite is a Korean piece of modern sculpture by Doh Ho Suh. .. a Korean dress grown huge and made out of dogtags. I remember when this piece was first shown in Seattle .. I loved it then and still do now. Glad to find that we own it now.
The worst is what is left of the original Venturi building. Fortunately there is no much left other than the stupid hammering man statue and Venturi's grand staircase. This stupidity still goes from nowhere to nowhere. Actually, the grandiose stairs now seem utterly irrelevant to the rest of the building... more or less like an odd set of overbuilt back stairs.
There is also still a sense of nouveau richeness to the place. The entry galleries had a a car show rool flavor with ugly cars turned into chandeliers for no obvious reason. And there were a miscellaneous collection of Warhols and Oldeburgs pop art. Passe, so Passe. Same for a lot of the older European and American art. One good sarget, but the rest were embarrassing .. examples of what happens when folks get rich too late to buy up the good stuff.
Aw hell .. so what? Walk around and there is a lot of good stuff t see. The Coastal Art finally has a decent spade, the African Art is .. well I need to g back. My fave? The Jacob Lawrence gallery!
This tribute to Mr. Lawrence works because it IS a tribute to a great Northwest artist rather than a tribute to a donor. Why couldn't the museum do more of this? One of the greatest art shows I ever saw was an exhibit of the Seattle School at the Tacoma Glass Museum. This was during the opening of this museum, itself a paen to Chihuly, and the curator must have wanted to connect the glass art movement to the hyistory of art i9n the Northwest. That history is unique. The settlers who came here encountered a high artistic culture. Art was an omnipresent integral part of the coastal people's culture. Raven the carving was a way of expressing the reality of raven the deity AND the unity of man and nature. It is difficult not to imagine that this spirit did not osmose into the later nature art tradition of the Seattle School.

Sorry, I have not identified the Seattle School with its most prominent artists . Graves, Tobey, Callahan, and Cage. Their joint work celebrated the same unity of nature, art as well as poetry, music as one sees in the traditional paintings of a bentwood box. The paintings at first seem to be pure geometry, but the geometry resolves itself into animal parts .. eyes, joints, feathers, and fins. Then, these same part metamorphose into people. Graves and Tobey .. consciously or not, continue this amazing tradition. Grave,s "Folded Wing" (left) is one examle .. unfortunately it really does not work online. Thats is why we need a museum!

Maybe I am imagining all this, but it would be a wonderful step if the SAM brought its Northwest school works together! If the curators are reading what I write, please look at it this way ... visitors to Seattle come form Paris and Tokyo, London and Boston. Every city has a museum, some greater than others. With all due respect to Warhol, Lichenstein, Oldenburg . pop art can be seen anywhere. It is a generic form, a generic idea. Moreover, much of this work is easily duplicated. I have seen Warhol's Marilyn as an original (I think) and as a print .. which is real? Exposing these generic pieces, including the Hammering Man sculpture at the front entrance of OUR museum, implies that Seattle is no more than a lately rich community.

So, I will retract my terminology. I will accept SAM as the Seattle Art Museum rather than its former name, the Seattle Aren't Art Museum, because there are so many wonderful thngs to see. I hope thoough, SAM will begin to see itself as more of a stimulus to Art itslef, that we will see a lot more creativity and celebration of artists as opposed to collectors.

Iraq Bans Medical Diplomas

Iraq Bans Medical Diplomas To Keep Doctors From Fleeing

The Washington Post | Karin Brulliard | May 5, 2007 07:53 AM

Iraq is hemorrhaging doctors as violence racks the nation. To stem the flow, the Iraqi government has recently taken a cue from Saddam Hussein: Medical schools are once again forbidden to issue diplomas and transcripts to new graduates.

Hussein built a fine medical system in part by withholding doctors' passports and diplomas. Although physicians can work in Iraq with a letter from a medical school verifying their graduation, they say they need certificates and transcripts to work abroad.

This reminds me, I have wanted to post a question: Why, if we are defending Iraq have we seen so few Iraqis coming to the US? Wouldn't it make sens eif we are trying to Americanize the place to have a LOT of Iraqi students coming here on exchange? That certainly has happeend with other countries we have invaded.

I suspect the Bushies are blocking Iraqi immigration or even exchange programs for security reasons.

The Genetics of Food Safety

Safety is a Mirage

The melamine scandal may be real ... a lot of fuss about a generally inert ingredient that admittedly does not belong in the food supply.

Before going to far with this specific adulteration issue, in the spirit of WWJD, we really need to rethink a lot of drivel about food.

Lets start with the mythology that food grown by small farmers using natural fertilizers and no pesticides is safer.

Really? Safer than what?

How much do you know about the content of "organic" foods? What if they are grown in selenium rich soil, is that OK? How about fluoride rich soil? Do you prefer horse shit or chicken shit to chemically defined fertiizers? Is the chicken shit from prion free chickens? Any reader here who likes fresh fish might look up the Minimata scandal on the web.

Ever hear about the problems with organic peanut butter ... likely to be contaminated by aflatoxin a potent carcinogen unless specially stored.

Here are a few Food Facts:

1. In the wild, humans lived for only about 40 years. We pretty much know this from the timing of mesnes and onset of debilitating age . And primitive peoples are not esp healthy, despite an "organic" small farmer environment. Evolution had no reason to select us to find a diet etc. to last any longer.

Remember primitive peoples did not have access to the choices of food we have today. There were no oranges in the caves of France! I also doubt the cro-magnin knew which foods to eat to get vitamin C. There is likely no "natural" human diet.

2. Modern agriculture (modern meaning anything for the last few hundred years) does terrible things .. monoculture of plants and animals, concentration of plants and beasts in small areas, etc. As a result many farm animals have endemic viruses. Shall we stop mass producing chicken?

3. "organic" is largely a myth. AIDS probably arose because humans ate organic monkey meat. Which do you prefer ... cow dung or pure nitrates as a fertilizer?

So what to do?

1, decrease the population to sustainable levels.

IDEA: PEOPLE CREDITS ... I will guarantee not to have any more kids if you pay me enough!

IDEA: Instead of carbon credits, buy sterilizations! The ultimate antiabortion step! Imagine, "This is Jimmy, I paid $3000 to sterilize a woman in the Ibixi Province of Rawanda! I like buying baby credits from Americans for a Lesser Africa!"

2. INCREASE funding for the FDA. Seriously, our ONLY defense is surveillance and food research. The FDA and the Center for Disease Control are at least as important as the Army to our national defense.

IDEA: label foods with a "safe to eat" rating based on how much we KNOW. Of course this would largely mean all the crap in the "health food stores" would be LOW RATED!

3. Play the Japan game. Japan protects its farmers (NOT ITS PUBLIC) by very cautious laws on what can and can not be imported. We could do the same. E.g. any evidence eof use of human feces as fertilizer or cohabitation by humans and domestic animals would rule out importation from places like China.

IDEA: stp importing foods that do not meat US safety standards. This will raise the price of imported food and make $$ for American farmers.

4. Encourage crop and animal species diversity. Are you worried about food? What happens when ALL the world is eating 3 kinds of cloned rice? The PROBABILITY of a bad genetic event is close to a certainty under these conditions. We have a major need for a systematic effort to maintain diversity on the genomes of our food.

Based on essay at HorsesAss

A Proposal for Seattle Center

There is a movement to redo the Seattle Center. I think this is an idea whose time has come. The Center is adrift with no clear direction other than its role as home to several of Seattle theaters and the opera.

My idea? We can build on the presence of those theaters by taking advantage of the City's cultural history. I suggest re-themeing SC as the Seattle World Cultural Center.

Start by moving the Burke! The Museum could make great use of exisiting buildings and would be a great magnet if it were in a grander space. The forlorn statue of Chief Seattle would then be moved to a hilltop in the new Center and the DayBreak Star center would be encouraged to build an urban outpost as well.

This could help clarify the functions of the Burke as well. Why do we have a museum that combines dinosaurs and Pac Rim cultures? Isn't this a racist subtlety assigning mdodern native peoples to extinction?

As part of this transformation, the Burke would become more like the Smithsonian, a collaboration fo museums. The first such would be a museum for NW indigenes ... dedicated to the Salish peoples.

Hopefully the SAM would chip in by putting a Branch in the center for its wonderful African and NW connections. The Wing Luke could move too.

Other ethnic groups would be encouraged to raise funds for a Center presence .. this would be a hell of a lot better place for the AA museum then the seedy old school now under reconstruction. Seattle's (wealthy) Sephardic community, as one example, is discussing building a Sephardi culture center. Why not at the Seattle Center? How about a Buddhist Temple on site? A museum honoring the Scandahoovians is long overdue. We could even invite the Saudis and Chinese to contribute!

The best part is that this approach would take advantage of the wonderful ethnic festivals that we have weekly at the Center House. BUT, why not make thes international ? Work with the visitor's bureau to attract ethnic festivals from around the world! Bumbershoot as well.

Finally, I would build a new Seattle pUblic School campus on site! Seattle badly needs a prestigous center city high school and creating one around world culture, taking advantage of the performing arts centers already there and the new Burke, seems all to natural!.

Obama Meetup

Anyone who wants to see the Obama Meetup? Click on the links!

slideshow OR pictures.

The meeting was a bit of a disappointment. Turn out was modest and few African Americans were there, esp. given the location .. Mt. Zion Baptist Church. . I thought the folks running it were not too good either. To professional, too preachy, nowhere enough OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA! Sam McKinney talked .. this his him in the picture. Do you know Sam? he is the long term pastor art Mt Zion, a true Scion of Seattle, His voice is getting weak now but at one time he made me think he was G-d. sam is getting a bit out-of-date. He ushed the old fashioned ideas of affirmative action.. proud to be a Democrat with one woman, one Hispanic, and one African running. Proud??? OK, but then he went on to say this was threatening to the whites. Sam, Sam ... we are goig t vote for Barack BECAUSE he is one of us, not because he is Black.

I was also surprised they did not have an Obama speech. This guy is a great speaker! Why not have a little bit of the man cheering us all on?

The organizer gave a weak speech on why BO is the man, flubbing th experience bit all together. Then they had a lady who is active in exchange programs with Kenya .. great lady, enthusiasm bubbled out of her. One sour note? She told a story about who folks in Kenya think highly of BO's dad ..the fell who abandoned young Barak in Hawaii .

Best part was meetin some Republicans who had come out of a sense that this time, THEIR candidate was running as a Democrat. Yay!! Yay !!

Barack for President

Contribute to this campaign at my fundraiser.

Actually I am thrilled by Hillary and Edwards and Richardson. Any of these have the skill to lead .. and we need leadership. I could even vote for Hagel or McCain, except for one thing:

leadership

We have not had a person with the charisma needed within the US and, perhaps as important, across, the world, to get people to come together, to sacrifice, and be proud of who they are.

I have a dream, Given the odd mi of divorced, Mormon, lapsed Catholic, skeptics .. etc that comprise the Reublican Presidential panoply, can you imagine the Covert, Obama, speaking in a mega church? It has already happened!

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WWJD Part 2.

Irony. The Traditional Values coalition has published this poster to justify their position versus gays. These people need a mirror! how can they fail to see that they depict their own God as a bigot when they do this?

Indeed the contradictions in the "Bible" are the source of a lot of hate crime. It is notable that there is only one place in the Bible (that is the Cristian compilation) where tolerance of others beliefs is expressed .. the Torah celebrates the prophecies of a pagan prophet called Balaam.

Jesus and tolerance do not go together very well unless it means tolerance of those who follow him. Take the story of the money changers. This is worthy of an antisemitic screed in the Nazi's Der Sturmer , Of course money was changed in the Temple courtyard. The Temple was the source of authority, for better or worse, esp under the Roman supported Hasmonean Kings. The story is an effective turnaround, the Jews .. they profane the Temple .. yet the Temple itself was misused in that Era by the quisling priests just as much later complicit priests would support fascist regimes.,

I wonder if there is not someplace in the Christian world a seer whow could redeploy the mythology of Jesus in a spirit of tolerance?

Low Expectations of SAAM

Crosscut has a piece extolling the expanded Seattle Art museum. Call me a skeptic. The original SAM, the old Seattle Art museum, was quite wonderful. A jewel case of a building in an amazing location with an idiosyncratic collection of Asian Art. I am not convinced that expanding this place will solve the underlying problem of poor taste.

The downtown SAAM emerged when the uppah crust organized themselves to turn a JC Penney's into what I call "SAAM and the other SAAM." One SAAM, of course, is the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the heiress of the original SAM. Sadly the new SAAM ...stripped the old girl of her wonderful camels .. now replaced by faux dromedaries.

With hard labor, many PONCHO auctions, and subsidies from YLC (your loyal city), the poobahs hired an incompetent architect to build an ugly building cloned from standard plan #25. Venturi's build-a-museum is nothing if not ran inferior imitation of suburban shopping centers. The first time I saww his building, I had to go to South Center t relieve my anxiety.

Other than a trite exterior, Venturi's SAAM has weird shaped galleries, a grand stair case to nowhere (with the real camels), and a cheapo post WWII wind up Japanese toy as its grand symbol.

And what is this SAAM called? of course the Seattle Aren't Art Museum. So, in my head, SAM still exists in Volunteer Park, while SAAM lives downtown.

It is not that there hasn't been any art in downtown SAAM. The African collection is wonderful, if you can find it hidden in back. And there are a few pieces from the era of Seattle's great painters. A glance at Toby and Graves but nothing to rival a show at Foster White or at Tacoma's Glass Museum. . Instead we see restrikes, ......Jasper Johns' 12th version of his flag or some ... other piece that stood the test of time. lasting unpurchased on the wall of some New York gallery. It is not that I am ungrateful to the donors of this stuff, but anyone unprivileged to visit the MFA in Boston, The Art Institute in Chicago, the Whitney, the Guggenheim , or even the LA Musum of Art, must find relief that there is nothing new in Seattle.

Perhaps the most disturbing SAAM exhibit for me has been the Disney-esque presentation of Coastal peoples' art .. gathered on the floor. A kitchen midden of sculptures, lit from below by red lights evocative of a bar on skid row. I cried when I spotted a Mungo Martin Raven trying to free himself from this flotsam and jestsam. OH YEH .. there were two totem poles at the entrance, pushed up against the faux ceiling , groaning with the weight of the building. Someone should tell the curator that this is great art, not ethnic trash.

Then the poobahs built us a sculpture park. Wunnaful, wunnaful. Calder # 32, Stella #12, Northwest artists??? Northwest sculptors ??? Must be too expensive for the poobahs. Hell I like Calder, Gotta get down there some time. me

So now we will see the grander, newer, bigger downtown emporium of art. I will have to go look. I will have to go look.

Given my depression from the past, it has to be better????

WWJD

I had a hard time figuring out this acronym before I caught the idea it was about Jesus. But, my hero is not the itinerent preacher or Dionysian Deity, my hero is Jefferson,

So, here is a new logo. It is copyrighted.

Of Shabat and Baghdad

Even though Barb and I now are usually alone Friday nights, we still try to have a Shabat .. a little chicken, some challah and .. well just the four of us, .. Moshe the dog and Tsono the cat included, watch some TV read books, and then enjoy a shared warm bed. Some parts of getting old are wonderfuil.

But this Friday night we decided instead to go to a talk. The talk was supposed to be by Riyadh Lafta, an Iraqi epidemiologist who published a study in the Lancet, estimating the frequency of deaths as a result of the Bush Blunder. The epidemiology goes on and collateral deaths are a serious issue to most Americans, but the US government somehow manages to not publish meaningful figures. Dr. Lafta was invited to our campus by Amy Hagopian and all seemed well until the US government with the compliance of the British government refused to grant Dr. Lafta a visa or even allow transit through Heathrow so that he could land in BC and speak at Simon Fraser. Amy Hagopian of the UW quickly arranged a speech by Les Roberts, one of the co-authors of the original study.


This Soviet/'South African style repression of free speech really pissed me off so we decided to go to the protest. Seemed like an apt use of Shabat since we always pause during the candles to wish peace to people we know are working for peace. .

Well worth the time. The talk was simulcast from Simon Fraser in BC because the fall back plan had been for him to speak from there with a video link to Kane Hall. Some of the collaborators on the project were at the British Columbia site and joined in the discussion.

Roberts was very impassioned. His anti-Bush war persona was perhaps too strong . Much more important was the case he made for the accuracy of the Lancet article and the frightening story of Bush efforts to repress even this little morsel of truth. Better than Challah .. worth blessing Amy for making this happen.

To be honest the numbers are not all that surprising. The Lancet data showed something like a doubling of the normal death rate, hardly a surprise. In contrast our government claims, with no data in a reviewed journal and no support from any outside agency, that the increase in deaths is only 10%. 10% is absurd! What benefit is there to our country by this sort of stupidity? Goebbels was more successful at propaganda than Msrs. Bush and Rove.

To make matters worse, the "media" ... the same media derided by the Fauxistas and Limbaughs as "left" has in its typical cowardly way insisted on "balance." What is balance? Science is not "balanced" because science requires always taking a critical view. A balanced view is not the same thing as a critical view. In the "mainstream media" balance means finding the rare voice of opposition, even if the voice is a small minority and lacking in expert credentials. In this case, the media got scientists without skills in population science or statistics to offer criticisms.

The worst of it is this derogatory cartoon in my photo, treating the investigators of this peer reviewed study as illiterate peasants. What all this does point out, however, is the deep problem for for debate of any paper. Roberts told us about the lengths the NY Times went to t find an epidemiologist who would criticize the Lancet study. The obfuscatin over global warming is all to familiar. That said, Dr. Robert's arguments ad absurdam that the official estimates of 10% make no sense. How can we hear day by day the Baghdad morgue is full and its cemeteries no longer able to accept burials if this is true? Goebbels understoof the gig lie. So did Stalin. Neither, however, had this well developed anility to use a "democratic" media to distort the truth. It seems to me that the scientific community is cowardly of they do not stand up to this Stalinesque behavior.

During Dr. Roberts talk I felt he hurt his case by adopting the persona of the radical antiwar activist. Certainly this must cost the study some credibility, but he would be less than honest if he did not declare his allegiance.

I was also disappointed by the audience. Lots of (older) familiar faces and very few students. A few hajib clad muslims but no openly Jewish folks,gays, or even the Young Democrats. Equally sad, though to be expected there were no obviously publican folks either. The official UW leadership was notably absent as well. Sad.

It is also too bad the talk was not in the med school. Dr. Roberts is no creature of some leftish peace movement. He is a professor of epidemiology at Hopkins. Given the relevance of his message to our students future patients, esp. to veterans who return with post traumatic stress, but possibly because some of the students will end up serving as medics if we can not find a way out.

Other disappointments: the audience was nealry racially pure. A few Asian faces, maybe 1 or 2 African faces. Apartheid is alive and well in liberal America. My other concern was that some folks objected to my being there as a photographer. I try hard to be unobtrusive. Unfortunately my SLR is not totally silent but I use NO flash. However,l objecting to cameras is wrong .. just as it was wrong of the Publicans to not want me at the Rove affair. Photography is part of free speech. If anything it is sad that the official media, the same folks who go to absurd lengths to find some "balance "to the Lancet paper, were not there.

Click here for more images.

Antisemitic and Anticatholic Bias vs Patients and Chaplains at the National Instututes of Health

By Jacqueline L. Salmon

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 14, 2007; Page A01

The spiritual ministry department of the National Institutes of Health, which serves patients being treated in the nation's premier research hospital, is in disarray and battling a lawsuit and discrimination complaints that allege bias against Jewish and Catholic chaplains.

In February, a federal panel ordered the hospital to reinstate a Catholic priest who was wrongfully fired in 2004. In January, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had found that he was the target of "discriminatory and retaliatory animus." Three other former chaplains have said that they also were wrongfully terminated.

They have accused O. Ray Fitzgerald, a Methodist minister and the former head of the spiritual ministry department, of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism. They say that NIH retaliated against them when they spoke up and invented reasons for terminating them.

Fitzgerald was demoted from the chief chaplain's post two weeks ago after the EEOC, which cited the "animus," and the Merit Systems Protection Board ordered the rehiring of and back pay for the priest, the Rev. Henry Heffernan.

NIH officials "endorsed intolerance, and they reinforced intolerance with intolerance," said Rabbi Reeve Brenner, who testified last year in support of the priest and was fired as a hospital chaplain in February. He has filed a complaint with the Merit Board, an agency that hears federal personnel disputes, saying that he was removed by NIH as retribution for his testimony.

Another ousted chaplain, Greek Orthodox lay minister Edar Rogler, is suing the Department of Health and Human Services, NIH's parent agency, saying that she also was removed for testifying in support of Heffernan. In her lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Maryland, and in her testimony in Heffernan's case, she says NIH officials hatched a plan, "Operation Clean Sweep," to purge staff members who cooperated in the priest's complaint.

Rogler alleges that Fitzgerald made frequent anti-Semitic comments about Brenner. In her lawsuit, she says that Fitzgerald referred to Brenner as "the butthead Jew" and "the crass Jew."

"He would not refer to the rabbi ever by his name," Rogler said in an interview. "It was always 'that Jew, that Jew.' " She was fired from her part-time chaplain's job in 2005 after she said she informed NIH officials that she planned to testify before the EEOC on behalf of Heffernan. The EEOC called her testimony more credible than Fitzgerald's.

NIH spokesman Don Ralbovsky confirmed that the clinical center has replaced Fitzgerald as chief chaplain. Fitzgerald's boss -- Walter Jones, deputy director of diversity management at NIH -- is running the department temporarily, Ralbovsky said. Fitzgerald continues to work as an NIH chaplain.

Ralbovsky would not comment on the allegations. Fitzgerald did not return calls to his office and his home.

But in letters to Rogler and in filings with the EEOC, NIH officials say that they fired Rogler for poor performance and that she didn't come forward with her complaints about Fitzgerald until after she was terminated.

The hospital's chief operating officer, Maureen Gormley, said in a letter to Brenner that he was being terminated for several infractions, including commingling his job as a federal employee with outside activities and being absent without leave for a day.

The former chaplains say that tensions have simmered in the department for years under Fitzgerald. The hospital, a clinical research center, employs about a half-dozen chaplains of various faiths, but in recent years turnover has been unusually high. At least seven have been ousted or have left voluntarily because they were unhappy with Fitzgerald's management style, said several former members of the department.

The Rev. Gary Johnston, who worked there for 18 years before leaving in 2002 to become a Protestant military chaplain, said in an interview that Fitzgerald told him he didn't want rabbis and Catholic priests in the department.

Fitzgerald, the EEOC said, retaliated by suspending Heffernan for five days in early 2004 for coming in on his days off, despite Fitzgerald's order not to. Heffernan held Mass for a priest who fell ill. Fitzgerald also demanded that Heffernan take entry-level training in hospital chaplaincy, despite his 40 years of experience in the field and the fact that other chaplains were not required to do so.

In July 2004, Heffernan was fired. At Heffernan's EEOC hearing last year, Brenner and Rogler testified that they had heard Fitzgerald express anti-Catholic sentiments against the priest. Rogler testified that Fitzgerald told her that Catholic priests are pedophiles.

"They singled out Father Heffernan . . . so they could get him out of there," Brenner said. "That was the most offensive thing -- this 75-year-old man who had more wisdom and integrity in his fingertips than his superiors had in all their lives."

In February, the Merit Board ordered Heffernan reinstated. In a separate ruling, the EEOC ordered NIH to accommodate the priest's desire to see only Catholics, except in emergencies.

The EEOC said that Fitzgerald's testimony was evasive and that statements by Rogler and Brenner at the hearing provided "corroborating testimony" to show that Fitzgerald was biased against Roman Catholics.

"I considered him to be very anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic," Johnston said.

The chaplains tend to the spiritual needs of patients in the two adjacent buildings on the Bethesda campus which make up the hospital -- the 14-story Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center and the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center.

Patients from all over the world are treated as part of clinical studies related to a variety of issues, including weight loss, allergies, substance abuse, heart disease and cancer. The center has about 7,000 inpatient admissions and 100,000 outpatient visits each year.

In testimony and in an interview, Heffernan, who joined the department in 1994, said he protested that the hospital's Catholic patients were being unfairly short-changed because Fitzgerald demanded that Heffernan minister to non-Catholic patients.

He said this left him with not enough time to minister to all of his Catholic patients. Heffernan also was concerned with what he called Fitzgerald's "generic chaplaincy" approach, because non-Catholic chaplains are unable to perform the Catholic sacraments, such as hearing confessions and performing last rites.

Fitzgerald, the EEOC said, retaliated by suspending Heffernan for five days in early 2004 for coming in on his days off, despite Fitzgerald's order not to. Heffernan held Mass for a priest who fell ill. Fitzgerald also demanded that Heffernan take entry-level training in hospital chaplaincy, despite his 40 years of experience in the field and the fact that other chaplains were not required to do so.

In July 2004, Heffernan was fired. At Heffernan's EEOC hearing last year, Brenner and Rogler testified that they had heard Fitzgerald express anti-Catholic sentiments against the priest. Rogler testified that Fitzgerald told her that Catholic priests are pedophiles.

"They singled out Father Heffernan . . . so they could get him out of there," Brenner said. "That was the most offensive thing -- this 75-year-old man who had more wisdom and integrity in his fingertips than his superiors had in all their lives."

In February, the Merit Board ordered Heffernan reinstated. In a separate ruling, the EEOC ordered NIH to accommodate the priest's desire to see only Catholics, except in emergencies.

The EEOC said that Fitzgerald's testimony was evasive and that statements by Rogler and Brenner at the hearing provided "corroborating testimony" to show that Fitzgerald was biased against Roman Catholics.

Rogler said Jones and Gormley fired her after she informed Jones that she would testify on behalf of Heffernan.

In a letter terminating Brenner, Gormley acknowledged that Brenner had an acceptable job performance record during his five years at NIH. But, among other complaints, she accused him of mixing private and clinical work by forming a temple to which he improperly transported Jewish patients for services.

But Brenner, who has appealed his removal to the Merit Board, said that NIH officials never objected to his activities until he testified at Heffernan's hearing.

Heffernan, Rogler and Brenner have won praise from patients.

Howie Appel, whose wife, Marla, has kidney cancer, said that Brenner has visited them twice during Marla's stays and that Brenner performed Friday night religious services in their room.

"He was our only connection to our religion up here," said Appel, who lives with his wife in Lake Mary, Fla. "I admire the guy, and I'm so glad we met him."

Benjamin Rubin, an NIH doctor and a rabbi who occasionally filled in for Brenner, said he was informed that his physician's contract would not be renewed last month.

Rubin said he had complained about the NIH hospital's treatment of observant Jewish patients. Among other problems, he said, an NIH official brushed off his concerns about the lack of worship facilities for Jews on NIH's campus by saying that they could be transported to services off campus. But Orthodox Jews do not drive on the Sabbath because they believe it violates Torah prohibitions against Sabbath work.

Heffernan returned to work in late March and has since been working 12-hour days to catch up. The chaplains' office is struggling, he said.

"It was a sad situation then," he said, "and it's a sad situation now."

Seattle Brews a Bloid

I went tonight to an organizational meeting for a new endeavor, to be called .. perhaps, the Bloid.

Look up n the air it is a Blog,
It is a News Tabloid,
It si a Newspaper,

No ... tis the world's first Bloid! Founded by an impressive crew of local bloggers, under the diumvirate or Geoff Parish and Goldy (nee David) Goldstein.

more to come.

Why the Stock Market Sucks

The pound today reached $2.
Ths stock market is only bullish if you imagine that the dollar is the only currency.

Bush's Masada

Why is my Rove experience relevant?

The sad, and rather frightening, thing about the Bush regime is its isolation. One begins to wonder WHO these guys are? Rove is still in the WH, but even the most extreme conservatives seem to be abandoning this bad smell.

Rove is not the problem, the problem is a Masada-like White House. Do you remember Masada? A group of Jewish irredentist rebels, fighting for freedom from the Romans, committed suicide rather than give in. Heroic? Yes .. but only because we Jews today see them as part of our two millennia effort to be free. I do not think Bush's Masada will be seen in the same way.

Here is a letter from leading conservatives to Bush:

"The letter concludes by saying, "Attorney General Gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country... The President should accept the resignation, and set a standard to which the wise and honest might repair in nominating a successor..." It is the first public demand by a group of conservatives for Gonzales' firing. Signatories to the letter include Bruce Fein, a former senior official in the Reagan Justice Department, who has worked frequently with current Administration and the Republican National Committee to promote Bush's court nominees; David Keene, chairman of the influential American Conservative Union, one of the nation's oldest and largest grassroots conservative groups, Richard Viguerie, a well-known GOP direct mail expert and fundraiser, Bob Barr, the former Republican congressman from Georgia and free speech advocate, as well as John Whitehead, head of the Rutherford Institute, a conservative non-forit active in fighting for what it calls religious freedoms."

This list includes the most extreme supporters of the Bush regime. The only (conspicuously missing) names are the far right religous community. The authors would not be going public if the Bush regime were LISTENING.

But who is left? Who is huddled with Mr. Bush in his Masada? Karl Rove?

I get kicked out of the Rove dinner!

The King County Republicans are fools. About two weeks ago I made a reservation to attend their Lincoln Day Dinner. Though I am hardly a Republican I was fascinated that they had invited Karl Rove to speak and not only that, had scheduled this for the anniversary of the assassination of Lincoln!

Unbelievable poor taste! But worse, what local candidate, I wondered, would have wanted to be seen with this pariah?

Anyhow, the KC Republicans took my $100 even though I explicitly asked if it was OK to bring a camera. The man on the phone said sure, we always allow cameras.

The a couple of days later I was called by the Republicans. they had seen some of my posts and worried that I might intend to be disruptive! Really? Well .. maybe it was my fault. I had offered a prize for the best suggestion of how to clown it up when I had my picture taken (for another $150) with the Architect,

I assured the caller that I was hardly a disruptive type and was neither Republican nor Democrat, rather a patriot who photographs and blogs. I asked them to reconsider. They did. They did three times on subsequent phone calls, each time saying cameras were fine.

Anyhow I photographed some of the protesters ... about 30 folks, maybe twice that at its peak, Mostly polite despite some unneeded provocation by the police who may have been disappointed not to have more to do!
One officer, a King County cop named Stephen Gown, seemed esp. concerned about me. After I photographed some of the demonstrators, this burly guy trailed me on my way to the parking lot and then started yelling at me when I photographed the Sheriff van. (There were two of vans, enough for arresting a lot of folks!).
I assured the officer that I was up to no ungood. He kept flexing his muscles and telling me that he wanted me to move on, that I shouldn't be there etc. I told him I was a paid guest at the dinner and had every right to be there. He then appeared with a nice lady who ostentatiously checked a long list of names (she was confused about how my name was spelled I think) until she finally found me. I said "See!:~~~ She said, OK, I could go into the garage.

So I could go to the elevator and got to the meeting but I could not bring my camera!!!!!!!!!! The lady with the clipboard told me I could stay if and only if I let security hold my camera.

I told her the lady, entiled "event manager," that I had explicit permission but she told me the White House did not allow cameras when Rove speaks except from registered news media. I , I , yi yi. I saw no solution. I guess I could have asked to to see a Secret Sevice Officer to be told this was White House policy. What the hell ......

Anyhow, I did take one, I suppose illegal image of the loverly folks before I left, tail between my legs and made some more pictures of the other side.

• When I reappeared outside, officer Gown seemed to be worried about me. At one point he berated me for being in the street to photogrpah some of the arriving cars. Actually I was about 13" away form the curb and in no way 0obstrcuting traffic .. I think the good man was hoping he could find some reason to harass me. I did point out that under the law I was in my rights to photograph anything in public view ... he became a bit upset and told me He Knew the Law too. I assured him that I was POSITIVE that he did. A lttle later I did jaywalk. I noted one of Officer Gown's colleagues eyeballing me ... I guess it wasn;t worth his trouble!

Sighhh. Later on Goldy's radio show a reporter was asked whether there were cameras allowed .. apparently they were, many folks took pictures but non of them were SeattleJew.

I did enjoy taking pix of the protesters ...especially paper mache Bush chain gang! They marched up and down the street, clearly the royalty of the protesters. Most of the folks were actually pretty nice, many had heard of SeattleJew and enjoyed some of what I write here! Cool! Hope they like the pix too.

Sighhhhh

Goldy is likely correct.

A post on HorsesAss shows that a majority of folks are willing to pay taxes for mass transport. Most people are willing to pay directed taxes for things THEY need.

The problem is that we STILL lack any sense of a long term transportation and traffic plan.

Light rail is everybit as important as the beardless young version of Goldy says. But, light rail needs to be done along with other sorts of planning and that is nt happening.

Look at Capital Hill. The panned station is no where near a parking facility. Presumably a lot of folks will use this as there route to the airport. How? The bus ride to Broadway may take as long as the drive to SeaTaC.

Look at Aurora ... or didn't you know that Aurora IS the AllCan, is the Viaduct?

Look for ANY major roads, other than freeways and viaducts, through Seattle! There are NONE. Major NS roads never are the broad boulevards one sees in other big cities .. e.g. Comm Ave or Mass Ave in Boston. We have dinky, narrow wagon wheel paths that are barely wide enough for two cars. Add a bus or a trolley anf there is NO room for anything, not even a bike!

Look over the water to far off Redmond-Issaquah-Bellevue ... has no one noticed the traffic flow in the AM and PM. Seattle has become a bedroom! Folks drive out of here to work in the AM and back at night! This si OK by me, but doesn't it necessitate a rethinking of how we route light rail?

Finally, look at B-B-B-Boeing. Zeus, Apollo and Raven willing, the lazy B will live long and prosper in Everett. The Lazy B is a manufacturer! It makes planes and jobs. Hopefully, the plane factory will lead to other job centers, but this means we need good commercial transport ... aka freeway or toll roads that connect Vancouver BC to San Fran.
Does anyone see Aurora/the viaduct as an answer?

The bottom line, the lack of regional transportation planning makes everything more expensive in the long run and hurts the public support Goldy talks about because people do not see the long term benefits.

I am hardly qualified but here are my thoughts:

1. The Viaduct

Dump it. All the data says we do not need it for commercial traffic and it is absurd to consider Aurora as a viable NS corridor.

Instead create a FULL CITY traffic plan including creating better pathways, esp. boulevard size roads, on the waterfront, connecting MLK/Rainier to Lake City Way, replacing the Mercer mess with a functional road around Lake Union, AND creating a city wide transportation plan ... busses or whatever but DOIT!

2. NS

Seattle is not a sensible stop on a freeway. In the long tterm the rgion needs either to expand 405 or build 605.

3. EW

Recognize that Seattle is a bedroom might mean building lightrail TO/FROM Bellevue and Redmond.

One Jew's ignorant opinions probably do not matter.

Vonnegut Passes on But Bert is Writing Code

Back at Vonnegut,the day after he died

I think we should all feel privileged not only to have lived while he wrote but that Gutenberg's presses will allow this Vonnegut's word to live on. It is great fun t imagine some kid in 2020 reading Cat’s Cradle and getting a clip of Kurt on UTube of the cranky guy commenting on his own work!

I was lucky enough to see a few of Picasso’s last works AND to see the man's comments on the work on TV. Like Vonnegut, Pablo remained productive to the end. One of the best things in the video was watching Pablo "draw" a bull in the free air with a light while the camera captured his motions. My only sadness for both of these is that by death we are robbed of what might have come.

Yet, maybe, maybe … Intel’s 128cor CPU, plus who knows what OS, maybe, maybe in 2020 Vonnegut could live again? One of m,y neighbors, Bert Smith, is working at Microsoft on the next generation fo computing .. the multicore processor. The limits of this thing are not known. Ray Kurzweil has written an estimate of when the first intelligent machines will evolve .. we may be there! One wonders what it would be like if Bert's software can clone Vonnegut's wit and make it immortal/ What happens to a great talent when the limit of death is gone?

........ and so it goes on and on?

More conversions ...

Synagogue on Hosmer Street Mattapan, Mass.

Imus Rutgers' Hos and the Seattle Connection

Imus Rutgers' Hos and the Seattle Connection

There is a tid bit of relationship between the Imus scandal and the UW. Rutgers hired its current over paid Prexy, Richard McCormick away from his overpaid job at the UW. Amongst this man's least charming assets as Husky President were an appalling but phony claim to a commitment to multiculturalism. Under Richard's rule, the term UW African American became a synonym for athletic scholarship. His administration responded to the murder suicide of a white faculty member by a Chinese student instituting a policy that ended up trying to frame another Chinese person for a non existent crime. (In that case the UW was reprimanded by King County Authorities for its abuse of the student). McCormick, unlike Imus, never apologized and to this day, as far as I know, the UW lacks an office of Chinese affairs even though Chinese students are the largest minority on campus.

It is not that Dr. McCormick is a racist and I would be astonished if he ever called an African American a "nappy headed ho" or used an other politically incorrect term. However, I would be equally astonished to learn that McCormick had undertaken any sincere efforts to do more than make a show of addressing racism at Rutgers.

Personally, I find ethnic humor very unfunny, Dave Chapelle, Seinfeld or Imus, all fit into the same small, tippy boat fueled by the cheap humor of foul language and ethnic deprecation. But this witch hunting over foolish words makes the racism of people like Sharpton too easily ignored.

Where did I put my fucking, piece of shit, schwanztrager? Anyone here know what the Japs mean when they say "Chickshaw?" Anyhow, I think you are a Kafir, Chevy-luving, Hubhcap stealing Spic, Nigger, Kike, Yid, Canuck, Polack, Wop, Ho, Bitch, Freechie, Fag, Slut, Slantete, Hebe, Spearchucker, Yellow, Injun, Chief, Sioux, Honkey, Kraut, Limey, and Fat Cur if you do not agree with this post.

As Synagogues Pass On ....

I have a new hobby .. collecting former synagogues. Here is the first. Temple Adas Israel was built a block from my home when we were the ONLY Jews in the neighborhood! Nice having it nearby but I could never understand why it was built so far from other Jews. I still remember stealing Purim candy from the bima! I also remember when the addition was made .. an odd addition to this elongate, characterless structure.

End of the Publican Era??

Do not confuse Bush's incompetence with the Publican's real threat.

What are the REAL threats of the right wing in the USA?
Is the Democratic Party really able to take on these challenges?

1. Classism: Reward the rich, build a world economy, export jobs whilem retaining capital.

Classism is NOT limited to the Publican party. Just try revising the tax code to balance wealth with income. Can anybody here spell death tax or WA state income tax?

Al Gore is doing many wonderful things, but would he be willing to give up his estate and live a more modest life so that others can go to college?
2. Education: The USA is the ONLY major country that makes education expensive. Not only that, we also have developed a unionized teacher core that insists on dumbed down curriculum ... exept in the special schools for the upper classes.

Which part is more likely to support national standards?

3. Health Care: We spend twice as much for our health care and get no better results overall for the population (classism again). We can not fix this without fixing the classist tax system.

Is either party willing to take on the oncoming issue of paying for Medicare?
4. Immigration: Errr ahhh .. who is the "liberal" here??? Bush, Kennedy, and McCain or ??? What is liberal anyway? Bringing in a large corps of slave labor? Compensating for our fucked up education system by brian draining India???

Do you know any Dems who support a strict immigration policy? Or one bent toward our real needs as an employer? Or one that demands Americans (a labor draft) take jobs?

And how many Dems are ready to deal with the sort of ethnic issues that have arisen in Europe? Can we be tolerant of the Isam described by Ayaan Horsi Ali? Are we ready t legalize polygamy? Female (voluntary) subjugation?

5. Gay "Marriage": I have no idea what Bushie believes really, but I do know that most Americans want equal rights for sig. others but NOT doing away with the term marriage. Are Democrats as tied up in jargon as Publicans?

Is the party of Bill Clinton ready t declare that there is no special realtionship between a Man and a Woman?

6. Affirmative Action: Has any Democrat notices that the average skin tone in the Bush White House is rather err ahhh dark?

Clarence Thomas SHOULD have taught Dems a lesson ... skin color is a lousy measure not only of competence but of ethnic identity. Is the Democratic party ready to divest itself of Farrakhan and Sharpton? 7. The Draft and Taxes: Bush has done huge damage to our national security. We may well need a draft now to deal with this and the taxes t support a draft. The middle class rules the ballot box and the upper class fuels the political campaigns!
Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us!"

Save Our Schools!

David Della, Cheryl Chow, Sherry Carr

On Tuesday Mar. 20 I attended a meeting of the 43rd Democrats to hear about the search committee for the Superintendent for the Seattle Public Schools. Turnout was pretty crummy but three folks spoke representing the District, the PTSA and the City Council. .

Cheryl Chow, assured us that after much work, the Board she chairs as Council President, had arrived at four key qualities. While I did not take notes, I recall her "truths:"

1. The appointee must be committed to education for all kids
2. The appointee must be able to work with students and teachers
3. The appointee must be able to represent the District to the Public.
4. The appointee must understand the financial limitations of the District.

Whatever these truths, I remember them as more than a bit trite. To make matters worse, later she added that the new Superintendent must be an educator BUT he or she must not bring his or her own ideas about education because the District already has a successful academic policy and a chief academic officer. Also, she made it very clear that there would be NO priority for evidence of administrative or other excellence in non academic spheres.

Lets see .....

these criteria would have ruled out John Stanton, probably the most impressive Superintendent we have ever had. The criteria would also rule out Barak Obama, Dan Evans, Bill Gates, Hyman Rickover, Colin Powell, and of course Norm Rice as potential superintendents of the Seattle Public Schools. On the other hand Ms. Chow, a moderately unsuccessful former principle and administrator in the District, would be well qualified as would several of other recent failures as Superintendent. CHOW for Super?

The other speakers were, perhaps, worse. I had never heard David Della before, but we pay this man about 170,000 dollars a year as a Seattle City Councilman. I had heard good things about David Della. He is a former labor activist and I would guess well intentioned. Past record aside, Mr. Della was dressed in pinstripes, looking for all the world like a salesman at a BMW dealership. Like a car salesman, Della echoes platitudes, reinforcing Chow and assuring us that the City was devoted to focusing ITS resources on helping the underprivileged children who, seemingly, represent a majority of the Seattle School kids. When asked if he knew what proportion of our high school age kids are in the public Schools, Mr. Della had no idea. I have been told it is less than 25% overall and nearly zero in the affluent neighborhoods. The city governed by mr. Della is committed to creating new, costly neighborhoods with NO schools. Can little David spell S-E-G-R-E-G-A-T-I-O-N? Does he think the folks living in 3-4 million dollar condoes in SLU will want to pay taxes to support "kids of color?"

I will not say much about Ms. Carr. She is a striking look-alike for Meryl Streep! I kept expecting weight comments. I honestly can not tell you what Ms. Carr (President of the PTSA) believes except that kids deserve an education. She did seem bored a lot of the time and I gave her some points for that. Oh, by the way, she is very pale. I found it hard to print her skin tone!

Words missing from any of the presentations were: leadership, imagination, commitment, track record, knowledge .... It seems we were being reassured nothing would change.

The image these three gave was of a district comprised ONLY of poor kids whose best chance might be to pass the WASL (our state test to gradyate High School). We were reassured that the Superintendent would not contest with the Teacher's Union or the Principal's Association or any of the activist groups. The bottom line message to any parent was, we know best, we want a superintendent who represents Ms. Chow's constituency (whoever that may be), we have no interest in middle class kids, you should feel guilty if you think your kids deserve the best education THEY can get, etc etc.

Where does this go? It goes to a SSD for and only for the poor. A highly segregated district where outstanding achievements, other than perhaps achievements on the athletic field, is not a goal. Where the assumption is that half of our kids are somethnig called "kids of color" and, I presume the rest are a pale background (like Ms. Carr?). Of course within this tapestry, there are no Koreans or Japanese, Guyanese, or Ethiopians just needy kids pale people can help.

Someone needs to tell Ms. Chow that this sort of condescension helps no one. Educational needs are hardly divided (only) by skin tone. A District meant to serve only the most disadvantaged will offer severely limited horizons to the young lady "of color" who aspires to be an engineer or business leader.

Oh, and someone REALLY needs to tell Ms. Chow that "people of color" is a racist term. We, the pople of Seattle are of several cultures. Some of us do have special problems as a group ...l certainly we still have a lot of poor African Americans and the plight of the urban Salish peoples is a major challenge. The same is true for children (regardless of paleness) of broken homes and some recent immigrants who may or may not have darj skin.

Her use of "people of color" is as much a code word for Black as is the less well intended term used by the comedian Michale Richards. BUT, equating all African Americans with the educationally disabled is racist. And, Ms. Chow, your own ethnic group, those of yellow color do rather well in our schools! Her term is not ill meant, but it is dishonest. To make this point VERY clear the one African American in the room got to ask ms. Chow one of the last questions. Ms. Chow may have answered, I could not tell. She was as condescending as possible, assuming that this man (we were in the University District) could only be concerned with the poorest kids. The speaker is the guy in the LA cap in the picture to the left. I do not know this fellow , but Chow's assumption reminds me of the time in a New Orleans hotel lobby when someone asked a friend of mind, a "person of color" to carry her bags. My friend politely refused and I was emabarased. I wonder how she would react if the man in the LA hat were found to be a Vice President at Washington Mutual?

To be fair. I do not think Ms. Chow is a racist. I think she means well. The problem she and the District faces is a hard one and our unpaid board probably selects against many parents and leaders with too much talent to have the time to serve. She reminds me of a liberal vesion of GW Bush. An overwhelmed ideologue.

The new super needs to be more honest and more effective than Ms. Chow. The alternative is a sort of combined District and Poor House, at the mercy of tax payers whose own kids go to private schools and well meaning but not superb folks like Ms. Chow. Am I being as condescending to Ms. Chow she was to the 43d District?

And the super? What is the chance that anyone of quality, irrespective of colored vs pale, will want a job as described by Ms Chow?

Obama nd The Jews

This link is to a very important report on BHO's commtiments to Israel AND the reactins of both Muslim and Jewish communities, I intend to say mor elater, but for now wanted to be sure I posted the link.

Obama Working to Boost Jewish Support

By: BEN SMITH 08:45 AM The Politico

Image: Ethiopean church in Seattle in what I suspect was once a Jewish synagogue.