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.

Jews. Obama, Jimmy, and Compassion

Sighhhh ...

I understand that the need for my people to defend Israel often means moral compromises that are difficult to reconcile with our traditions of liberalism. Alliances with fundies and even with South Africa make my skin crawl. But, faced with extermination what should we do?

One thing, however, is VERY clear. We should never give the moral high ground to others. No issue is more clear in this regard than the virtual apartheid we impose, for good reasons, on the Palestinians in Israeli controlled areas. Showing compassion for our Palestinian brothers and sisters is the right thing to do AS WELL as making strategic sense.

A failure to understand the power of being strong and showing compassion was the source of the tragic reaction of many Jews to Jimmy Carters new book. "Apartheid" correctly compares the life of Palestinians to the life of Bantu people in South Africa's bantustans. This important point of view outraged many irredentist Jews, who need to see everything in stark colors. They were a bit correct. Mr. carter in trying to help us all see the pain of these people, fails to place blame and responsibility of their own leaders. Is there anyone more desirous of Palestinian well being than the (Jewish) PeaceNow movement. We need to pursue peace while being strong. compromises obviously occur, but they should never occur with the loss of compassion for people in pain.

Now there is the following insulting and stupid letter to Senator Obama. Apparently Adelman and other AIPAC members want to hem in Mr. Obama. This is worng headed and NOT in the interest of Israel. I WANT Mr. Obama to be elected and to use his talents as a leader to bring peace to the much scarred semitic peoples. How in all hell can Mr. Adelman hope for Israel to survive without solving the problem recognized by Mr. Obama?

Yitzak Rabin once said he shook hands with Arafat because there was no other choice. if Rabin could shake hands with a momser like Arafat, surely all of us can show compassion for the people suffering the most because of all this.

the letter:

Dear Senator Obama,

I am writing to express my concern with your comments in yesterday’s Des Moines Register (Up-close Obama urges compassion in Mideast; He backs loosening restrictions on Palestinian aid).

As an Iowan, democratic precinct caucus attendee, and leader in Iowa’s Jewish community, I am greatly concerned about the situation in the Mideast and your views on this matter.

I find your statement in yesterday's Des Moines Register that "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people,” deeply troubling. I would greatly appreciate a response clarifying your statements.

The Palestinian people democratically elected their leadership, part in which, Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. It fails to recognize the right of Israel to exist and encourages terrorist attacks against innocent Israeli Jews, Christians and Arabs.

Again, I respectfully ask for clarification on what you believe needs to be done to bring peace to this region of the world.

Iowa Democrat and AIPAC member, David Adelman

State of the Antiwar Movement

Seattle is voting in a non-binding ballot about whether to rebuild a shoreline highway through the down town or replace the current (falling apart) viaduct with a tunnel. Neither option has any clear financing or idea about how it would impact the city. Instead, the politicians are b;abbering about Seattle's status as a World Class City. Why do we want Seattle to be a "World Class City?" For that matter what is a "World Class City?"


Lets see ...

Do we want to be:

Tokyo ... or Kyoto?
Rotterdam or Leiden?
Munich or Frankfurt?
New York or San Francisco?

It sems to me that the current Mayor equates WCC with lotsa folks living in high rises, I LIKE that idea. I LIKE the idea of Seattle developing an urban, high density culture t fgo along with our traditional neighborhood/Ballard Ya Shure Betcha culture.

But the key words here should be "Seattle" and "Culture." The current growth of high density housing in Seattle has all the urban planning one expects of Marvin Gardens on the Monopoly board.

Look at South Lake Union? No plans for schools, no plans for magnet retail areas, no plans for parks .... forgive me Mr. Allen, but the only reason I can see that anyone would want to live there is a fantasy that this is part of Seattle or, perhaps, the Western end of Manhattan.

How does all tis apply to the tunnel kerfuffle? Other than the surface option and Ron Sims' wise comments, no one has offered a serious plan for the water front. It seems ot me that the City Council cold help by passing legislation requiring any traffic plan in Seattle to include a cultural impact statement, explaining how the work would fit into our overall plan for urban development. Of course this means we need a plan! But why in hell not? Why do we discuss the viaduct as if it were independent of the issues in Rainier Valley or South Lake Union?

Lets look at some of the successes and goofs of the past. The stadia, aside form all other issues, have pretty well destroyed Pioneer Square. Surely, as part of the deal with Allan and the Mariners, an investment could have been required in development of this desirable property? At the other extreme the loverly convention center WORKS because it was panned with the hotels neighboring the freeway. Other examples abound. The Pike Place Market and the stairs project worked very well. Seattle Center works when and only whenb it fits into Queen Anne and serves the downtown, etc etc.

Back at the via duct .. this vote is stupid. We need planning and better leadership. UPDATE .. the citizens voted both options down.

Gack ...

This is a link to a dreadful schtick by Lewis Black, a comedian whose talent for dengrating his own people .. the Jews, has all the charm of the nigger/hinkley slingers we see in the African American community.

The sad thing is that this link appeared on HorsesAss, the blog run by David Goldstein. David is a wonderful, thoughtful rational person. But, like many Jews, he has bought into the general concept that we are just another people and the acceptance of self deprecation. Black is a sad example of our failure as people to stand up for what WE have top offer.

I am not opposed ot Jewish humor. I loved Victor Borge and Mort Sahl. Jewish humor, sarcastic Jewish humor is part of our persona. Mort Sahl aggressively attacked the McCarthy/Eisenhower era conceptions of morality and did so openly as a Jew. Black is no replacement. Mort Sahl he ain't, hell ... Black is not even Al Franken or John Stewart. Black is gross like the black comics who try to make a living off of calling folks niggers and honkeys. Black makes me want to call him a kike!

What purpose does this diatribe serve ... other than to denigrate Judaism along with Christianity? This reminds me of other puerile humor .. such as the Gay group that dresses like nuns, they remind me of Ann Coulter,

Before anyone here misunderstands, I am a very uptight Jew. I think fundies of all kinds are committing blasphemy in an era where Science, call it God if you want, provides a powerful vision of Reality. I think antisemiut5ism is intrinsic to Christian history. Any exclusivist, any dogma that teaches that all other beliefs lead to Hell is despicable. Indeed one thing I am very proud of is that Judaism has rarely shown this sort Christain/Islamic bigotry. Jews are actually taught, that the goyem can more easily please the Diety because the Unnamed One has made special demands on "His" people.

While even Jewish fundamentalism teaches respect for pious goyem, the reward from the Islamic world and Xtian world is to diss my people. Try as he might, even John XXIII, could not dissipate the smog arising form the idea that the Jewish God was bad and needed to be supplanted by the human sacrifice of the crucification. Millions of Jews (and Muslims and Pagans and ... have dies for that cross.

If Black had decried that, as part of his speech seemed to, I would have been very pleased. Instead, his fowl mouth merely adds to bigotry. Gak,

Regional Answers

The central issues in this debate are the need for the Region to move traffic N and S and the need for Seattle to develop its downtown.

The NS issue effects a lot more than I99. In fact I99 is a lousy solution! What dimwit would want to use any sort of I99 .. that is Aurora with tis dstop lights and cross traffic .. to transport a widget from Everett to Vanc WA? A real plan would address the regional needs. What does this mean? 405 and a new "ring road" .. a "605," should be taken seriously. So should rail based solutions.

The Seattle part of the equation changes once when addresses the NS issue this way. The parameters are fairly clear:
1. Seattle needs to maintian or expand its capacity for NS traffic between commercial districts on the N and the S side of the city. Part of the solution should be a COMMERCIAL toll road that would only be open on a limited hours basis to the rest of the drivers. Another part may be other NS traffic, esp. martin Luther King. Currently connections on the east side of the Seattle peninsula are terrible. You can easily get into the Central District from the North via Montlake or the South via MLK, but these routes do not interconnect in any efficient manner. Finally, esp., North of the canal, there is no good way of getting across Seattle.

That brings us to the real idea .. creating a NS waterfront boulevard. This debate would be a lot easier if the damn Seattle newspapers would publish some realistic numbers on costs. Mayer Nickels' claims about costs are fanciful. We need to know what the thing would really cost. That said, we also need to know the benefit from all this to real estate developers and ow best ti optimize their efforts in terms of both the k,ind of city we get and their willingness to contribute $$ to the effrot.

The obvious example is Allantown ... or Vulcan Villas, my nasty name for South Lake Union. Vulcan/Allan are engaged in a classical visionless development. There is no regional plan for Vulcan Villas, no plans for amenities, very limited retail, no transportation plan (other than the silly street car), and certainly no plans for families to live there 9aka schools). In Vulcan's defense, access to and from SLU is horrible. Mercer s unusable most of the day and the current way the viaduct works makes access form Aurora almost impossible,. This issue grows immensely if we are to take seriosly Vulcan's claim to want mixed development with commercial and residential properties.

So, by going regional and figuring on the benefit to Vulcan and other developers, we could three very important questions:

1. how does all this development effect all of our taxes?
2. If improved transport will help Vulcan make $$, what should Vulcan contribute to the costs?
3. How does the viaduct issue effect the region and how should the region help defray the cost of NS traffic?

The Equivalent. Scleroderma

I hesitate to show this image. Years ago I discovered that my inner thoughts emerge in my photography. This is the hard to explain idea of the photograph as an equivalent of what we see. The idea developed by Minor White, my long term inspiration. Minor taught us that the discipline of photography could teach us to see .. to see what we would later print. To see what was there in our minds.

Often I am surprised. Well, this last weekend we were in San Francisco to attend the Scleroderma Research Foundation Meeting. I am funded by the SRF, in part because I very moved by the paradox of this disfiguring disease and the Foundation itself.

Sclerodrma means hardening of the skin and the disease is like a diffuse scarring after being burned. The paradox is that the Foundation was founded by a very beautiful woman, a dancer. I only knew her at the latter stages of her disease. Somehow, through her scarring, came the vision of the beautiful dancer. I do not understand the paradox, her disease made her very beautiful. I wish I had had the courage to photograph her. Is this a lesson about transcendent beauty?

Anyhow, as I walked on Jefferson Street, after the meeting, I heard a street musician playing a lute. The music was wonderful. This is what I "saw." The player had affixed what looked like elongate nails to his fingers and was making music with these bizarre fingers. I tried and tried to find a good exposure, but no matter what I did the camera would only overexpose his normal hands, turning them into these white washed objects. The camera made me angry, yet ..this is what I saw too. You read the image for me!