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Reflections of a reasonable vegetarian

Brian Flemming, who can always be relied on to have something intriguing on his mind, is wondering about the animal rights movement.

Imagine a Martian is given an assignment by his superiors: Go over to Earth, study the humans there, and determine how they feel about the other animals on their planet. My guess is the first lines of the resulting report would read as follows: "The humans on Earth revere the non-human animals. Also they despise them. Also they have no feelings at all about them. At any given moment the humans will passionately rally to save the life of an animal, and in the next moment will slaughter another one without mercy. They will find unremarkable a lifetime of human-imposed suffering by a million members of one species, while finding the nature-imposed suffering of a single member of another species to be a tragedy worthy of heroic measures. The only near-guarantees of survival for an individual animal on Earth are to be of a species deemed 'cute' in that particular geographic region or to fall into a novel predicament and receive media coverage."

A news story is the impetus for Brian's musing. An alligator was recently captured by officials of the U.S. Postal Service. Someone had tried to ship it and it gnawed its way through the carton.

The alligator will remain at a shelter for a week before being shipped to a northern Illinois sanctuary, said Len Selkurt, executive director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control. The sanctuary owner will then take it to Florida, he said. Alligators longer than 20 inches (50.8 centimeters) are not allowed to be sent through the mail, and officials said the shipment from Milwaukee to Colorado was under review.

Brian has a suggestion: "Kill the alligator." He points out that doing so would save money, time and hassle. Furthermore, being killed is the fate of many an alligator, so why spare this one? I'm inclined to agree with Brian, though his suggestion may be tongue-in-cheek. If no one wants the alligator or it isn't eligible for pet status, euthanize it.

Why are you gasping? Let me guess. You saw the word 'vegetarian' in the headline and thought, 'she's a softy when it comes to animals.' Not so. I'm middle-of-the-road in regard to animal rights. I definitely stop short of considering animals equal to humans.

Brian is puzzled by the dichotomous attitude most Americans have toward animals. There is the touchy-feely anthropomorphization common in childrens' stories and the cards sold at chain card shops. Then there is the reality of the diet of most Americans -- replete with the same animals. Talking about irony.

I've been a semi-vegetarian since college. Not a lacto. Not a vegan. A reasonable vegetarian. I don't eat poultry or red meat. Fish and seafood are fine, except for mussels, which I'm allergic to. I don't have a rationale to offer for my vegetarianism. All I can do is tell you my story.

I ate meat as a child. In fact, growing up partly in the rural South, I observed animals going from chickens and pigs to drumsticks and ribs. My mother and aunts killed chickens by chopping their heads off. My father and uncles would shoot a hog, hang up it up to drain the blood and then butcher it. You are expecting me to say that grossed me out. It didn't. Like most humans throughout history, I was not particularly concerned with how the pork roast got on the table as long as it got on the table.

I was influenced somewhat by the anti-meat movement in college. Apparently, I examined whether I really wanted to eat meat. I decided I didn't. But, don't congratulate me, yet. The decision likely had to do with the fact most of my favorite foods were not meat. I actually like vegetables. Legumes? Potatoes? Greens? Bring'em on. I didn't mind passing up beef ribs, pork sausage or chicken wings. Pork chops are another story -- I miss them to this day. On the other hand, I refused to eat chitterlings from the get-go because they stink.

I haven't backslid. No red meat, pork or poultry has passed my lips in years. But, my conversion to vegetarianism was and remains incomplete, including philosophically. I don't agree with much of what is written about grazing ruining the environment. Corporate farming of grains and vegetables is probably equally harmful. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals often embarrasses itself in my opinion. There is something perverse about ignoring human suffering while focusing on the tribulations of farmed minks. Here in Portland, a hospital is picketed several times a year. People from PETA parade around the complex beating drums and chanting a female researcher's name. They castigate her as something akin to a war criminal. Her crime: She is performing research on paralysis using four domestic cats. Though I think it should be humane, I am not opposed to the slaughter of animals for food. After all, carnivores and omnivores behave the same way in the wild.

My failure to conform to what is expected of vegetarians includes not swearing off non-food uses of animal products. I have a Eddie Bauer Stine jacket and a leather office chair. No qualms strike when I am buying leather shoes or a new purse, except about the cost.

I consider myself a reasonable vegetarian because I believe I have reached a balance. I'm in no danger of depriving myself of needed nutrients by being an anti-meat extremist. Nor do I hold eating meat against other people. If someone decides to join me in vegetarianism, fine. If another person wants to pig out on beef spare ribs dripping with a chorizo-based sauce, that's fine, too. I'm willing to leave the choice up to the individual.

Brian goes on to say, in regard to the reptilian reprobate,

There is only one way that all of this effort could make logical sense to me: If every decision maker involved is a vegetarian. Going on the (probably safe) assumption that these decision makers (and those who agree that saving the alligator is the right thing to do) are not vegetarians, how to make sense of it? For example, in order to solve the minor problem of their own hunger tonight, these alligator-savers will likely elect to have, say, a chicken killed, when obviously they could have sated their hunger without killing any animals at all, if they truly believe that one shouldn't kill an animal to solve a problem.

As I said before, I don't have a problem with the star of this drama being offed at all. See you later, alligator. I am a reasonable vegetarian.

Note: Brian delves deeper into the issue of animal rights. He is looking for a philosophy that negates PETA's: "Animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, or experimentation." Read his entire entry here.

Law: But is it terrorism?

I have no reservations about the prosecution of Washington, D.C.-area sniper suspects John Muhammad and Lee Malvo in general. There is compelling evidence they committed the murders they are charged with. But, one aspect of the case does perturb me: They are being prosecuted for terrorism under a Virginia law passed after the 9/11 attacks.

The slayings were part of a string of shootings that killed 10 people over a three-week period in October 2002 in the Washington metropolitan area. Prosecutors said the spree was an attempt to extort $10 million from the government.

Both men are charged with two counts of capital murder, one accusing them of taking part in multiple murders, the other alleging the killings were designed to terrorize the population.

Muhammad was convicted Monday.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- A jury on Monday found John Allen Muhammad guilty of capital murder and three other charges related to a slaying during last year's sniper shooting spree.

The seven-woman, five-man jury also found the Army veteran guilty of committing a murder in an act of terrorism, conspiracy and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The jury announced its verdict after six hours of deliberations.

The capital murder and terrorism charges carry the death penalty as a possible sentence.

. . .The terrorism charge required the prosecution to show that he was responsible for a murder aimed at intimidating the public or influencing the government.

I don't believe the terrorism law was intended for use in prosecuting this kind of serial killing spree. The law was passed with the intention of preventing someone like Osama bin Laden escaping the death penalty if convicted in the United States because he was not an actual perpetrator of the terroristic acts, the 9/11 plane crashes.

The law makes the killing of an individual during an act of terrorism a capital offense in Virginia. But most important, the new law bypasses the triggerman rule so that anyone involved in the planning of a terror attack (but who did not participate in the attack itself) may also face the death penalty.

The law has not yet been tested in the courts.

David Albo, the Virginia delegate who authored the bill, says the law was passed to close what lawmakers saw as a legal loophole. Had Osama bin Laden been arrested following the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon, he would not have faced the death penalty in Virginia even though he allegedly planned it, paid for it, and ordered it, Mr. Albo says.

The new law broadly defines terrorism to include any act of violence committed with intent to intimidate the civilian population or influence the conduct or activities of government officials through intimidation. There is no requirement that the violence be politically motivated.

. . ."The allegation is that Muhammad was the Osama bin Laden of this. He arranged it, set it up, and ordered the killings," says Albo.

That is the problem. Muhammad and Malvo seem to have been motivated by the older man's rancor toward his ex-wife and society. The demand for $10 million surfaced late in the spree and seems to be an afterthought. There is no evidence of an orchestrated scheme as there is in the facts of the 9/11 terrorism episode. What the situation resembles is other domestic serial killings -- not 9/11.

The terrorism statute may be constitutionally infirm.

. . .the broad language renders the terrorism statute unconstitutionally vague because it lacks the specificity in death-penalty laws required by the US Supreme Court. It was this requirement that led Virginia to develop the triggerman rule in the first place, analysts say.

Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says terrorism occurred, defining it in a general sense.

Well, this crime was unusual in many respects, but it was especially unusual because the whole region was the alleged victim. The charge of terrorism is a charge that says you tried to terrorize an entire community.

I think any of us who were around during that period can testify that it was terrorized, and so I think this was one of the strongest cases for a change of venue I have ever seen. Basically, every possible juror was a victim of the crime. So it had to be moved out of that community. I think the judge made the right decision.

Though I agree with Toobin that a change of venue was justified, I have serious doubts about the applicability of the Virginia terrorism statute to these circumstances.

Tech Talk

Jeff Kirvin at Writing on Your Palm says: "I've seen several articles recently predicting the death of the PDA. Do PDAs have a future?" I've been asking the same question. I now have the PDA model I've written about wanting, the Palm Tungsten C. However, I am finding myself at a loss in regard to what to do with it. Kirvin has given the issue of 'whither the PDA?' some thought.

Judging by the press handhelds get these days, you'd think the form factor was doomed. Toshiba talks about the failure of their Pocket PCs and how they might stop making them. The Economist reports that handhelds will never be a mass market. Sony, long the standard bearer for PalmOS, lays off thousands. Only HP, Dell and PalmOne seem strong and dedicated to the handheld market. New devices from those three companies are compelling, but are they enough, or has the "Palm Pilot" finally reached the end? According to the Economist article, "everyone who wants a PDA already has one."

As my regular readers know, my day job is managing the Communications and Imaging department at one of the largest CompUSAs in America. I sell MP3 players, cell phones, digital cameras and yes, PDAs. I can tell you from first hand experience that I sell PDAs every day to people that have never owned one. If anything, the existence of inexpensive devices with bright color screens like the iPAQ 1945 and Palm Tungsten E is drawing new users like never before. While it's taking a back seat to the color Tungstens now, I expect the $99 Palm Zire 21 to sell like gangbusters for the holiday shopping season. People that already wanted PDAs might already have them, but there's a constantly growing number of people who are just now figuring out that they want them. While Franklin Covey is refocusing on selling paper planners, I'm selling PDAs to people that are fed up with paper and want a smaller, lighter and lower-maintenance way of dealing with their commitments.

I've owned three personal digital assistants over a five or six-year period. They were a Handspring Visor Prism, a Palm m505 and the current Tungsten C. I used the first two devices often. Part of one of my books and some of my short stories were written on the Prism and m505. I also used them to write rough drafts of reviews. (I like to write my impressions down while they are fresh and a PDA is more convenient to take to a movie or a concert than a laptop.) My m505 fell into disuse as laptops became lighter and I began taking my TiBook with me more often than I had previous notebooks. The advent and availability of WiFi also played a role. My laptop had an Airport card,so it made sense to carry it instead of my PDA, which was not equipped for 802.11b. I could surf the Web using the free access points and the numerous Starbucks' Tmobile sites in Portland in Seattle.

I thought I would switch back to relying on a PDA once I had the right PDA. (I received a Palm Zire 71 as a gift, but it did not fit in with gadgets I already have.) The Tungsten C has the latest version of the Palm operating system, OS 5, built-in WiFi and comes with a voice memo function. It has a full 64MB of memory instead of the former Palm standard 8MB. With the addition of a secure digital memory card the on-board memory can be increased easily.

Alas! I haven't found the Tungsten C the fit I expected it to be. The WiFi connection works fine once one has connected, but is awkward to initiate. One must first access the WiFi program, then open a browser and sign in to the access provider. To synchronize Avantgo, the best of the web services for mobile devices, one must open it after those three steps. That's rather much after getting used to connecting automatically on my laptop. The voice memo, MP3 and movie viewing functions require the purchase of earphones that fit the Tungsten C's odd input port. So far, the only one I've located that works is a one-ear model that won't do for listening to music and watching videos. In addition, a user needs to purchase an MP3 program and a memory card to hold music and movies. Do I even need to say the sound quality is much less than my iPod's?

I am still becoming acquainted with the Tungsten C. Perhaps it will grow on me. I am apt to learn things that will help as I work my way through the huge PDF that is its handbook. But, now, I am wondering if I will stick with the device.

Kirvin believes the PDA's destiny is to become part of the PAN.

An emerging and often overlooked trend in mobile computing is the rise of Personal Area Networks, usually connected via Bluetooth. A PAN is a system of devices usually worn or carried by an individual that work together to share data and be greater than the sum of the parts. A typical PAN today might be a PDA, cell phone, Bluetooth headset and perhaps a Bluetooth GPS.

PDAs have a future as part of a PAN, a handheld control console. For many, the PDA will be the most visible component of a personal area network, the only part you interact with directly. I'd for one love to see the actual phone merge with a Bluetooth headset like the Jabra Freespeak. All the circuitry needed for a GSM cell phone can now be found on a single board the size of a dime. How hard would it be to add that to a self-powered earpiece and microphone that could be voice-activated sans PDA or controlled via Bluetooth from a PDA? More than that, a PDA is the ideal interface to control a Bluetooth-equipped home theater, Windows Media Center, ebook server, etc. A touch screen handheld with a largish (yet pocketable) screen has so many uses that I'm sure the form factor is here to stay.

Kirvin may be right.

Another possible saviour of the PDA market may be convergence between cell phones and digital devices, which I described in a previous column.

However, I believe the PDA manufacturers will have to hold on to experienced users in addition to attracting new people to the devices to succeed. Whether I remain a PDA owner will probably turn on finding legitimate uses for my Palm Tungsten C.

An achievement that makes Apple CEO Steve Job's endless promotion of the company appear more than hyberbole has occurred: Apple's own stores are in the black.

Apple posted its highest quarterly income for three years in its September earnings results announced today. Excluding two bonus windfalls, the company turned a profit for the quarter of $29 million on sales of $1.72 billion. Without the charges, it would have recorded $44 million net income.

CFO Fred Anderson said that while CPU sales increased seven per cent year on year, revenue increased 19 per cent, which he largely attributed to peripheral sales. The iPod sold 336,000 units in the quarter, said Anderson, adding $121 million in revenue. Apple's US retail stores are finally in the black: the 63 stores open (on average) in the period added $193 million of revenue.

I checked up on how the brick and mortar Apple Stores are doing after getting good news via email Monday.

Apple Store, Washington Square
10 a.m to 9 p.m., Saturday, November 15

Drop in and help us celebrate the newest store in Portland. The whole day is full of festivities. See how Apple is changing the way people view technology. Check out all the new Apple products, including Mac OS X, version 10.3 -- Panther, the Power Mac G5, the ever-popular iPod, and iTunes?the world's best jukebox software that is now available for Mac and Windows. You can also test-drive the new eMac, our most affordable desktop ever, and the new iBook G4, our fast, affordable portable.

The best place to discover. The perfect place to learn. More than just a place to shop, the Apple Store is the place to learn about and take part in today's digital revolution. Attend hands-on workshops and discover innovative business solutions from a Mac Business Specialist. It's the place to see, feel, and interact with everything Apple has to offer.

Join us on November 15. This is one grand opening you won't want to miss.

Yes! Puddletown is finally getting an Apple Store of its own. It will be the only Apple Store in Oregon.

MacNN has statistical information about Apple Stores, including:

Apple will have 74 retail stores, including the new Tokyo location, by December 31.

This year Apple sold 187,000 computers in its stores, 87,000 of which were to first time Mac buyers.

47 percent of buyers at Apple retail stores were new to the Mac platform.

Store traffic, volume, and sales are steadily increasing, while operating expense is going down.

On average six percent of those who visit a new Apple Store buy something. As a store gets older that percent increases to about 13, meaning people are returning.

I look forward to having a third concrete choice when shopping for Mac products. Currently, we are limited to two convenient options, The Mac Store (formerly The Computer Store) and CompUSA. Neither can be relied on for repairs, especially of laptops. The Apple stores have an average turnaround time of two days for repairs -- less time that it takes for Apple to send a box for its general repair service. My first purchase will likely be new iPod earphones to replace the ones I lost last week.

Blogospherics: Deadwood blogs mar blogosphere

Kellea at Her Blog brought my renewed attention to the problem of abandoned weblogs. CNN reports.

One study of 3,634 blogs found that two-thirds had not been updated for at least two months and a quarter not since Day One.

"Some would say, 'I'm going to be too busy but I'll get back to it,' but never did," said Jeffrey Henning, chief technology officer with Perseus Development Corp., the research company that did the study. "Most just kind of stopped."

According to Perseus, there are about 4.12 million blogs. Most either don't attract readers or are quickly abandoned.

The most dramatic finding from the survey was that 66.0% of surveyed blogs had not been updated in two months, representing 2.72 million blogs that have been either permanently or temporarily abandoned.

"Apparently the blog-hosting services have made it so easy to create a blog that many tire-kickers feel no commitment to continuing the blog they initiate," said Jeffrey Henning, CTO of Perseus Development Corp. and author of the survey. "In fact, 1.09 million blogs were one-day wonders, with no postings on subsequent days."

The average duration of the remaining 1.63 million abandoned blogs was 126 days (almost four months). A surprising 132,000 blogs were abandoned after being maintained a year or more (the oldest abandoned blog surveyed had been maintained for 923 days).

The study suggests failure to attract readers is a reason why blogs are often abandoned. Another factor is length of blog entries. Bloggers who write short blog entries, like the ones at this site, tend to quit, probably because they lack writing skills and/or are not really interested in writing. The fact that most people who begin blogs are under 30 may also explain why so many cease as promptly as they start. Perhaps other activities become more interesting to them.

Some folks might say abandoned weblogs are victimless infractions. Not so. Surfing to sites that are deadwood, are updated only sporadically or contain woefully inaccurate information wastes the time of readers. And, often, time is money.

Cliff Kurtzman kept his Year2000.com site up for two years past the turnover, with a note acknowledging that the information could be old. But even abandoned sites deserve a burial at some point.

"There was so much on it that was out of date, and links that didn't work and everything," he said. "It looked bad to have things up there with so many things not working or making sense anymore."

Kurtzman, who uses the site now to promote a newsletter on business and innovation, knows the troubles abandoned sites like his can pose. He'll find a site he likes, only to learn later the information is old.

"Having extra junk out there just makes the process of searching for good stuff even harder," Kurtzman said.

I had one of those frustrating experiences Tuesday night. I was writing a blog item about the success of Apple's stores. I decided to cite a blogger who had heard the rumor Portland would be getting one back in January. He has not updated his blog since July, so I assume it is abandoned.

In the blogosphere, I believe abandoned sites harm us because they create the impression that blogging is a flaky avocation practiced by uninformed and unreliable people. That impression makes it less likely people unfamiliar with blogs will read those worthy of their attention. At the very least, a responsible blogger should inform readers and other bloggers when he intends to take a break from blogging or cease publication.

The overinvolvement of teenage girls in blogging has doubtlessly skewed the statistics in some ways. I hope adults are less inconstant. However, based on personal observation, many adult bloggers abandon their blogs at the drop of a mouse, too.

How does this blogger fit into it all? I am an exception to the rule in most ways -- over 30, a linker to a variety sources and a professional writer. Mac-a-ro-nies is nearly nine months old, having lasted twice as long as the majority of blogs. (As some of you know, I was a contributor to other blogs for months before I began my own, so my blogging experience began earlier.) I credit having been around awhile as a blogger to having things to write about. I've worked in interesting fields, read widely and have always been aware of the world around me. I had won national awards as a feature writer and an essayist, so I had reason to be confident about my skills as a writer before beginning blogging.

If I decide to take a hiatus my readers will be the first to know.

Controversy II: Lynch myth melts down

Atrios and I were the first bloggers to smell something fishy in the reportage about captured Pfc. Jessica Lynch. One reason is that Steno Sue Schmidt was one of the reporters who worked on it. She has a reputation for not questioning her sources closely or judging the credibility of information. We were also skeptical because the story had too many American tropes: amazing heroism by a private in a support role, exceedingly clever American intelligence personnel, the Gunga Dinnish foreigner who puts the U.S. first, blonde woman ravished by swarthy men, etc. However, I did not for a moment expect the narrative to be as false as it apparently is.

Skepticism about the deification of Pfc. Lynch has spread. Rick Bragg's autobiography of Lynch, I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, which has been heavily promoted, was expected to sell well. Instead, booksellers are describing disappointing first-day traffic.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite a media blitz, the biography of America's best-known soldier from the Iraq war, Jessica Lynch, appeared unlikely on Tuesday to translate into big cash as the first day of sales fell short of expectations.

. . .Not a copy had been sold by midday on Tuesday, Veterans Day, at a Barnes & Noble store on Chicago's North Side, said an employee who declined to be identified. The store would not disclose how many of the books sold.

"I've yet to have anyone ask about it," the employee said.

At a Manhattan Barnes & Noble, an employee described interest as "moderate. It certainly has not been exceptional." Another nearby store sold one copy by lunchtime.

On online bookseller Amazon.com, the book ranked 21st in sales, well short of top-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" and the latest get-slim-quick fad, "The South Beach Diet."

This a problem for Lynch if she is hoping to set aside a significant sum. Bragg may have received the greater part of both the advance and future royalities. For Lynch to profit, sales would likely have to be quite high.

I Am a Soldier, Too has also come under fire for its unsubstantiated claim Pfc. Lynch was sexually assaulted by Iraqis.

Viewership of the NBC television movie that sought to define her as the ultimate American heroine, Saving Jessica Lynch, was also lower than expected. CBS' competing movie about the kidnapping of a Utah teenager fared better. Sweet, of The Somewhat Heroic Adventures of SWEET explains why she decided not to watch NBC's expensive sweeps effort.

Call me a cynic. Call me unpatriotic. But I would not, just could not, bring myself to watch the Jessica Lynch story on TV yesterday.

Maybe it was all the hype. Maybe it was the fact that others in Jessica's unit, who had suffered the same fate or worse, were being totally ignored. Maybe it was the announcer telling me it was the show "All America had been waiting for." Maybe it was that annoyingly commercial sounding patriotic tune they kept playing in the promos. Whatever it was, whenever the trailer came on, I cringed.

I thought maybe it was just me, but then I saw an online poll and it seemed there were quite a few folks who, like me, had had about enough of the excessive marketing of Jessica's and Elizabeth Smart's story. My mother was in town over the weekend and we were sitting on the couch watching TV when another one of those annoying trailers started in on us. The announcer said the show would be airing in one hour. My mother groaned and made reference to the fact that we should remember to switch stations before the hour was up. I indeed was not alone.

Perhaps knowing the definitive story was not definitive reduced interest as the hoi polloi became more aware of the discrepancies newshounds have known about for months.

Millions of Americans sat down last weekend to watch one of the television blockbusters of the year. Saving Jessica Lynch, produced by NBC, opened with a vision of US army headlights crawling warily through the Iraqi desert haze on March 23.

The next two hours, according to network executives, offered the definitive account of what really happened to Private Lynch after the 507th Ordnance Maintenance convoy was famously ambushed.

Few viewers will have taken that promise seriously. After yet another week of conflicting accounts, confused memories and unpleasant revelations, the truth of what happened to Lynch is still as murky as the green-tinged video footage of her rescue from a hospital in Nasiriyah on April 1.

Among the people now uncomfortable with the mythic Lynch are those who created her.

In the corridors of the Bush administration, senior officials frankly admit that they would prefer the Jessica Lynch story simply went away.

"The Private Lynch story is becoming a monster," said one administration official.

. . .The Pentagon may have hyped the story of Private Lynch for its own propaganda purposes: now, with a $US1 million ($A1.4 million) deal for co-operation with an authorised biography, the Lynch family is selling a different story, to the increasing discomfort of much of the American public.

Yesterday's contribution to the meltdown of the myth came from an unsavory, but usually reliable, source -- slimemeister Larry Flynt.

Pornographer Larry Flynt says he bought nude photos of Pfc. Jessica Lynch to publish in Hustler magazine, but changed his mind because she's a "good kid" who became "a pawn for the government."

Flynt told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he bought the photos last month from the men who purportedly participated in the amateur shoot with the Army supply clerk. The soldiers "wanted to let it be known that she's not all apple pie," Flynt said.

"My first intention was to publish them, but I don't think it was the best, positive move I could make," Flynt said in a telephone interview. "She's very much a pawn for the government. They force-fed us a Joan of Arc."

. . .Flynt said the photographs appeared to be taken in an Army barracks, and showed Lynch topless and fully nude, frolicking with the soldiers.

He would not say what he paid for the photographs, which he said he'd lock in a vault.

"Some things are more important than money," he said. "You gotta do the right thing."

What goes up tends to come down -- sometimes with a big splat. However, I believe people other than Pfc. Lynch bear the bulk of the responsibility for this mess. The Pentagon and the Bush administration are responsible for a shameless attempt to wrap an unjustifiable war in the flag, with a blonde female soldier wearing said flag. The Washington Post and other media are responsible for having dutifully echoed the government's ludicrous claims initially. The American public is responsible for largely buying the bullshit it was being sold. Let's hear it for skepticism. It beats being played for a fool.

Controversy: Iraqi doctors deny Lynch was raped

Chagrined physcians who saved the life of former POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was injured in an automobile accident while her unit was under fire March 23, adamantly deny she was the victim of a sexual assault. The allegation is reported in a biography by Rick Bragg, I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.

NASSIRIYA, Iraq, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iraqi doctors who treated U.S. soldier Jessica Lynch dismissed on Monday allegations made in her biography that she was raped during her capture in Iraq, saying she had the best possible care.

Surgeons who treated Private Lynch after her convoy was attacked near the southern city of Nassiriya in the early days of the U.S.-led invasion in March said they were shocked and hurt by accusations that she was sexually assaulted.

. . ."The records also show that she was a victim of anal sexual assault," the authorized biography said. "The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead," the book said.

"Jessi's body armor and her bloody uniform were found in a house near the ambush site, the place that some military intelligence sources said she was taken to be tortured. But Jessi remembers none of this. When she awoke in the military hospital, it was during treatment, not torture. When she came to, the cruelties were over," according to the book.

Medical personnel present when Lynch arrived at the hospital say it isn't so.

Dr Jamal Kadhim Shwail was the first doctor to examine Lynch when she was brought to Nassiriya's military hospital by Iraqi special police. Shwail said Lynch was lying in hospital reception, unconscious and in shock from blood loss.

She was wearing her uniform including a flak jacket, military trousers and boots, none of her clothes had been unbuttoned or removed, as the book claims, he said.

The surgeon who operated on her after her transfer to a better equipped hospital also says he saw no evidence of a rape.

Shortly afterwards Lynch was transferred to Saddam Hospital in Nassiriya, now renamed Nassiriya General.

There, Dr Mahdi Khafazji operated on her fractured right femur. He cleaned her body before surgery and found no signs of sexual assault. "I examined her very carefully," he said at his clinic in Nassiriya's center. "I cleaned her body including her genitalia. She had no sign of raping or sodomizing."

Lynch's wounds were so bad a sexual assault would have killed her, he said. "If she had been raped there is no way she could have survived it. She was fighting for her life, her body was broken. What sort of an animal would even think of that?"

The physicians say they provided Lynch with excellent care and are deeply offended to have their treatment of her misrepresented.

Pfc. Lynch has no memory of having been raped or tortured and has not personally alleged she was abused by the Iraqis.

Bragg, the author of the book, departed the New York Times after it was discovered he had taken credit for material actually reported by a stringer. Bragg won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing while employed by the NYT.

I'm annoyed with Rick Bragg for reporting rumor as if it is fact. The passages cited above are damning. Not only does he say she was raped, he implies her injuries did not come from the awful automobile accident, which she does remember. As a reporter, I know he must know better than to do that. Bragg grew up hardscrabble, as described in his autobiography, All Over But the Shoutin'. He appears to have gotten out of touch with that and developed a bit of an entitlement complex. (His rationalizations for lying about visiting a town and writing a story there at the NYT were equally ridiculous.) I don't know what happened to Jessica Lynch. But, neither does Rick Bragg.

Do stop at Perdido Street Station

Young British speculative fiction writer China Mieville is best known for being a candidate for this year's Hugo Award. He deserves the attention. Perdido Street Station is the kind of novel Zadie Smith would call "baggy" -- nearly 700 pages of material that probes into every nook and cranny of an imagined society.

That society is New Crobuzon, a city that arose centuries ago in the shadow of the remains of a partly-excavated leviathan. Huge bones rise above the city and generate unease among those who fly near them or tamper with them. NC is a semi-realistic version of cities as we know them, including poverty amidst affluence, squalor beside beauty and corruption as a companion to order. The citizens, though, are a departure from realism. In addition to humans, they include khepris -- creatures with the bodies of human females and heads of beetles, wyrmen -- squat birdmen who act as couriers and vodyanoi -- an aquactic people who can survive on land if they have a way to keep wet. There are even more exotic denizens available in smaller numbers.

Into this city that would shock Dr. Moreau comes one of those rare specimens -- a garuda. He is an elegant, intelligent and sophisticated blend of avian and homo sapiens. The species dwells in a desert more than a thousand miles from New Crobuzon, though a relative handful have immigrated to the city. This garuda, Yagharek, is seeking one Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin. He is obsessed with regaining something he has lost. As punishment for an crime back home, his wings have been shorn. The crippled birdman walks awkwardly on feet never meant to carry anyone continually. He masks his deformity with fake wings to give the appearance of a healthy garuda.

Isaac is a renegade scientist who also has an obsession. He is interested in 'crisis energy.' He believes the heightened energy produced during crises can be harnessed and used as a source of power. Isaac, much impressed with the birdman, accepts a commission to try to return him to the sky.

Isaac's friendship with Yagharek is not his only close relationship with a Xenian -- sapient nonhuman species. His girlfriend, Lin, is a khepri artist. But, their relationship is fraught with tension because the interspecies relationship is a source of shame for Isaac. Lin's own new commission, to mold a sculpture of a crime lord, becomes a significant subplot to the story.

The scientist first takes a practical approach to the connundrum of flight. He solicits specimens of flying things so he can study them. Among the panoply of life Isaac acquires is a mysterious multicolored caterpillar. Curious about what the unidentified creature will become, Isaac keeps it after he has moved on to theoretical study of flight. He learns the only substance the caterpillar will eat is a narcotic called 'dreamshit,' which induces waking dreams in humans. Eventually, the caterpillar cocoons.

Meanwhile, Isaac has decided on the solution to Yagharek's problem. He will construct a 'crises engine' that will generate energy to allow the garuda to fly. Of course, the applications of such an invention will be myriad. It is a brilliant scientific achievement.

Isaac's well-laid plan is set aside to deal with an amazing crisis when he arrives back at his workshop after a frolic with Lin. One of his co-tenants has been rendered a human vegetable. He learns from a wyrman messenger who witnessed the assault that a huge winged beast with hypnotic powers attacked his friend and literally sucked his consciousness out of him. Isaac also discovers that whatever was in the cocoon has broken free of its cage and disappeared. Soon, there are other casualties. Before long, New Crobuzon is in thrall to five slake-moths, creatures who dine on the minds of those who dream. Each night is a horror as the moths invade the citizens' subconsciousnesses with nightmares and take new victims.

Partly responsible for the society shattering events, Isaac tries to find a solution to the rampage of the moths. However, he is hampered by opponents, including the government and a crime boss determined to recapture the moths and use them to produce the dreamshit drug. With a diverse band of allies, Isaac will eventually end the reign of terror, but at an appalling price in lives and resources.

Perdido Street Station is a page-turner. Each time a reader believes he has enough to digest for now, he is led on to the next passage or chapter. The description of the plot I have given is barebones. There are many twists and turns. There are also additional protagonists and villians, some of whom are worthy of novels of their own. But, the book is not without imperfections. It would have been better to save some of these characters and material for another novel in my opinion. There is so much going on in this narrative they are in danger of not getting their due. Isaac is a rather wimpy hero. He makes so many mistakes that I felt ambivalent about him at the end of the book. At least half of the carnage could have been prevented if Isaac had acted reasonably or quickly. He becomes the judge of Yagharek, who I consider a more honorable person despite his crime. An unintended irony, I suspect.

China Mieville burst onto the literary scene with his first novel, King Rat. It was one of those performances from a new writer people often don't expect to see a worthy follow-up to. They were wrong. Perdido Street Station won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award. Mieville has confirmed his prodigious ability with his latest award-winning novel, The Scar. I believe there will be equally good books in his, and our, future.

V is for victory

l missed V in its real life iteration, when, apparently, millions of Americans sat transfixed before their television screens watching the science fiction miniseries. However, over the years, sci-fi loving friends have pestered me to watch V, saying writer and director Kenneth Johnson's epic, which debuted in 1983, is a must see. I finally gave in this week, two decades after the series aired. Instead of searching for the unopened DVD that is around here somewhere, I screened the video version. What is my verdict on V? Mixed, but mainly favorable.

The storyline is a precursor for the '90s blockbuster, Independence Day. Large, saucer-shaped dreadnoughts appear above major cities worldwide. Human munitions, as deadly as they are, seem puny when compared to the technical achievements of the aliens. Like the extraterrestrials in ID, these are reptilian. But, they mask their real, threatening identity, claiming to have come in peace. Most people, in keeping with their tendency to be happy to have authority figures tell them what to think, say and do, quickly succumb to the not at all subtle manipulations of their friends from Sirius. The aliens are particularly successful in turning members of the scientific community into bete noires among the citizenry through a campaign of disinformation and disappearances. However, a few Americans begin to notice oddities in the visitors and inquire into their origins and plans.

Foremost among the questioners are a television reporter and a medical student. After sneaking aboard the mothership, Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) discovers the aliens are iguana-like reptiles who snack on live rodents and intend to exploit Earth for their own purposes. Meanwhile, Julie Parrish (Faye Grant), a biochemist doing her residency at a Los Angeles hospital, finds herself ostracized along with other scientists and medical professionals who might expose the visitors if not discredited. Rather than wait to be arrested and brainwashed or murdered, she goes underground and sets out to solve the mystery of who the aliens are and what they want. The two eventually meet, and along with other heroic humans, form the core of the resistance movement. They commandeer weapons from the enemy, carry out guerilla raids and penetrate the security of the alien cadre.

However, the antagonists are equally, if not more, intriguing. Diana (Jane Badler), the striking scientific officer of the invasion force, has masterminded a mind control mechanism to use on humans, a form of cryogenic storage so that people can be transported to Sirius, and, is working on other nefarious schemes. Completely ruthless, she will stop at nothing that might be useful in achieving her goals. The human villains are weak, but also dangerous. Motivated by ambition and greed, both Donovan's lover and mother willingly become pawns of the enemy. A young Jew discovers the sense of power he covets as a member of the visitors' paramilitary youth organization.

By the end of the movie, the invaders are on the way to achieving their objectives of depriving Earth of its water and harvesting a human crop. However, the resistance is well on its way too, as distrust of the visitors spreads. In an exciting ground to air battle, the resisters hold their own against an attack by aliens in high tech aircraft.

The movie shows its age in some ways. Donovan's video camera is huge in comparison to today's gear. (It alone seems enough to tip off the aliens when he is covertly filming them.) And, believe it or not, the only photographs of the aliens are stored on a single tape. The extraterrestrials, though grotesque, will have been upstaged by the creatures in the Alien series and other later movies in your mind. The special effects are also less than enthralling. The dialogue is sometimes laughably hackneyed and the nonwhite characters are embarrassingly stereotypical. However, the shortcomings don?t mar the movie enough to ruin it. A strong plot and vigorous cast make V compelling viewing, despite it being the sci-fi movie equivalent of middle-aged.

The story of V continues in a sequel, V: The Final Battle. Read my review of it here.

I listened to a lot of Elliott Smith during the last two weeks, including my favorite album, XO. I've also revisited one of my favorite artists from the 80s and 90s, Don Henley. I'm pleased with how well his songs have held up.

I'm taking advantage of iTunes new audio book capability by listening to some material from audio sources on my iPod. A review is forthcoming.

Note: Some of the material in this entry appeared at Blogcritics.

Politics: How 'bout those mayors?

There is a tendency for political commentary in the blogosphere to focus on state and national politics. However, local elections can have considerable impact on the citizenry. They can also be quite colorful. There were varied outcomes in this week's mayoral races nationwide.

The most exciting result of a mayoral race may have occurred in Fredericktown, Ohio.

FREDERICKTOWN (AP) -- A losing mayoral candidate has been charged with assaulting the incumbent after he was re-elected, police said.

Mike Wagner showed up at Mayor Roger Reed's home after election results were in Wednesday.

An argument outside became heated, with Wagner throwing punches, police Chief Jerry Day said.

Reed, who had been out picking up his campaign signs, called police when he noticed a vehicle following him, Day said.

"I've been here 25 years and this is the first time that something like this has happened," Day said.

Voters elected Reed by a vote of 438 to 284, according to unofficial results from the Knox County Board of Elections.

Wagner sounds like the kind of he-man blogger Kim du Toit, author of "The Pussification of the Western Male," could relate to.

San Francisco's mayoral race didn't end. There will be a run-off between the top vote getters Dec. 9. Both are Democrats and liberals. However, the leader, Gavin Newsom, has broken with liberal orthodoxy in regard to the homeless.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Mayor Willie Brown's hand-picked successor and a Green Party upstart seeking to preserve San Francisco's left-of-liberal identity on Tuesday advanced to a runoff that will determine who becomes the next mayor.

Democrat Gavin Newsom, a city supervisor with a get-tough approach to the city's homeless problem, was the top vote-getter Tuesday, followed by Matt Gonzalez, who is vying to become the Green Party's only mayor of a major U.S. city.

Newsom got 73,635 votes, or 41 percent. Gonzalez had 35,753, or 20 percent, despite entering the race just 13 weeks ago. The runoff next month is necessary because neither candidate got a majority of the vote.

"Round One!" Newsom, 36, said in his victory speech. Now, he said, "we have to work stronger, we have to work harder."

. . .Newsom, who would be the youngest San Francisco mayor in more than a century if elected, is best known for his efforts to get panhandlers off city streets. His proposal to outlaw panhandling in many public places was overwhelmingly approved Tuesday.

Both Newsom and Gonzalez are city supervisors.

I doubt Gonzalez can come from behind to win. But, if he does, having a Green Party mayor could be a boost for that third party in California. Either man will have a hard act to follow. 'Da Mayor,' Willie Brown has become so identified with the city, it will be difficult for people to stop thinking of him in the role.

Intriguing elections of mayors include the one in the City of Brotherly Love, where a scandalous discovery helped the incumbent win reelection.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 4 -- In an emotional finish to a controversy-ridden campaign, Mayor John F. Street won a second term on Tuesday, beating his Republican opponent, Sam Katz, an executive who lost narrowly to him four years ago.

With more than 90 percent of the ballots counted, Mayor Street had an insurmountable lead of 58 percent of the votes, The Associated Press reported, to 42 percent for Mr. Katz.

In his victory speech, the mayor said, "This victory today is a very impressive one, and I will be the first one to admit that when we started this campaign, it would not have crossed my mind that I would be standing here today with the margin of victory that seems apparent here today."

Mr. Street may owe his victory, at least in part, to a scandal that many Philadelphians believed, just four weeks ago, would end his 25-year political career. A listening device was discovered in the mayor's City Hall office early last month, and investigators from the F.B.I. then disclosed that Mr. Street was a subject in a corruption investigation.

The mayor and his allies deftly turned the incident to their advantage by suggesting that the investigation was engineered by the Republican Party in an effort to discredit a black Democrat. The accusations, which fueled widespread racial and partisan rancor, energized voters in this heavily Democratic city, whose black population is roughly equal to that of whites.

National Democratic figures came to town to stoke the flames of suspicion. Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore spoke at rallies for Mr. Street over the weekend.

Is the investigation of Street and his associates are discrediting an African-American Democrat and bolstering Republicans? Who knows? However, it seems the FBI could have learned something from its probes of other black mayors, including Marion Barry during his tenure in D.C. That something? That investigations of African-American political leaders appear to be attacks unless clearly justified and lead to a circling of the wagons.

So far, no evidence of wrongdoing by Street has surfaced publically. But, in an ironic twist, Katz' former partner has been convicted of a crime.

Mark Robins, the former employee of defeated mayoral candidate Sam Katz was sentenced to 14 to 30 months in prison yesterday for stealing $290,000 from a company owned by Katz and other investors.

The failed venture became an issue in the mayor's race because three former partners sued Katz, charging him with participating in Robins' theft.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's office investigated the allegation and concluded Katz was not involved.

Stereotypes about who must be up to something illegal are so strong they should be handled with care. I hope the FBI is not relying on them in probing Street.

Politics: On the campaign trail

Democratic contender for the presidency Howard Dean has some 'plaining to do in regard to a remark he made during a debate that might lead some people to believe he is sympathetic to neo-Confederates.

BOSTON (AP) - Howard Dean, under fire from his Democratic rivals, stubbornly refused to apologize Tuesday night for saying the party must court Southerners with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.

``Were you wrong, Howard? Were you wrong to say that?'' Sen. John Edwards challenged the former Vermont governor in a hot, hip campaign debate.

``No, I wasn't, John Edwards,'' Dean shot back, adding that to win, Democrats must appeal to working-class white voters in the South who consistently support Republicans ``against their own economic interests.''

The exchange was the sharpest of the night in a debate that generally veered away from campaign issues such as Iraq and the economy, and into areas of interest to younger voters.

. . .Sekou Diyday, 25, a supermarket buyer, confronted Dean with the question about the Confederate flag and comments the former governor had made over the weekend in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

``I was extremely offended,'' Diyday said. ``Could you please explain to me how you plan on being sensitive to needs and issues regarding slavery and African-Americans after making a comment of that nature,'' he said to applause from the audience.

Though I believe Dean's remark could be interpreted as insensitive, I don't think he meant to appeal to racist sentiments. I interpret his comment to mean that poor and working-class white people should be recruited by the Democratic Party instead of written off as belonging to the GOP. After all, their economic interest is as neglected by the Republicans as those of people of color. To me, the question is not whether these people should be informed about why they should become Democrats, but how to convince them. For too long, Southern whites have been encouraged to identify with the GOP on the basis of race alone.

Dennis at Republicans for Dean interpreted the remark much as I did.

In my view, I think Dean was trying to reach out to Southern voters, particular white, southern, blue-collar men (aka, NASCAR Dads) who left the Democratic party years ago. He is trying to reach them on economic issues such as health care. It also shows that he is not simply the candidate of the "latte class" as the media has portrayed him.

I think it is a wise strategy. He knows that these are people that have been hurt by the recent economic downturn and maybe dissatisfied with Bush right now. It shows that he is willing to reach out to all Americans, even in areas that political pu[n]dits think are not Dem[o]cratic-friendly areas.

Read the rest of the article and decide whether Dean's perspective is offensive or not for yourself.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. The election of a far Right Republican as governor of Mississippi proves it again.

JACKSON, Miss. - Former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour captured the governorship Tuesday, pulling out victory in a hard fought race against Democratic incumbent Ronnie Musgrove.

. . .With almost 90 percent of the state's precincts reporting, Barbour had 53 percent to Musgrove's 45 percent.

People at Musgrove's party at Old Capitol Inn watched silently, some with tears in their eyes, as Barbour gave a televised address. Barbour said Musgrove called him and conceded the race after midnight.

"There has been no greater honor than serving the people of Mississippi as a public servant," Musgrove told supporters about 12:30 a.m. "I thank them."

Some had said governor's races Tuesday in Mississippi and Kentucky could indicate President Bush's popularity headed into the 2004 federal elections. Bush campaigned Saturday for gubernatorial candidates in both states. Republican Ernie Fletcher won in Kentucky.

I am ambivalent about this loss. Musgrove's identity as a Democrat was often wearing the label only. His positions on many issues are just as conservative as Barbour's. Would a Democrat who is not afraid to embrace liberal positions have fared better? I don't know. But, being a Democrat who dare not act like one doesn't seem to have done Musgrove much good.

The change I refer to above is the inclusion of a previously excluded segment of Mississippi's population in the electorate -- African-Americans. The results have been disappointing. Continuing educational inequities make it unlikely that segment of the electorate grasps the issues as well as it should, as demonstrated by the vote reaffirming the Confederate flag as the state emblem. Voter turnout among blacks is comparatively low. A long tradition of kowtowing to white power results in some African-Americans supporting candidates who are reactionary, including Sen. Trent Lott. This situation is a strong reminder that the work of the full enfranchisement of African-Americans in the South as far from over.

Zizka has some thoughts on what the voting machine debacle may mean.

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the voting machine question, but when we talk suspiciously the possibility of cancelling the 2004 election, here's another scenario to consider. I'm wondering whether the Diebold machines are part of a multi-step plan, and that they're preparing for the Democratic challenges already. Suppose this happens:

1. Bush wins again, including a lot of Diebold states.

2. Dems find anomalies and question the honesty of the election, but more vigorously than in 2000.

3. Just as they did in 2000, the Republican operatives come back twice as strong and claim that the Democrats do not trust the democratic process and are trying to steal the election.

4. As in 2000, there's some kind of arbitrary, coup-d'etat-type resolution to Bush's advantage.

The beauty of this for the Republicans is that **their own cheating** could ultimately provide the pretext for a sort of coup d'etat, if it doesn't succeed in winning outright by cheating.

I also believe the U.S. Supreme Court's interference in Bush v. Gore set an awful precedent. The message sent was that ending an election is more important than whether the election was conducted fairly. At least some of the justices will live to regret the day they made that decision.

Elliott Smith and Portland: An artist and his city

One of the objective correlatives writers sometimes use is to make a city a character in their books. Hannibal, Missouri. Dicken's London. Oxford, Mississippi. Pete Dexter and David Bradley's Philadelphias. The editors of Willamette Week did something similar with Portland in this week's issue. The cover story is in memoriam to Elliott Smith. The conceit of the piece is that the singer and songwriter, who committed suicide in Los Angeles last month, represents Portland and Portland represents him.

A city is lucky to have a musical icon. An artist who, for a brief time, embodies the unique urban history of a place, while adding chapters to that history. New York had Lou Reed in the 1960s, Detroit had Iggy Pop in the early 1970s, Seattle had Kurt Cobain in the early 1990s. And up until last week, Portland had Elliott Smith.

For some Portlanders, Smith's name might recall a simple, beautiful song from a sentimental film some years back. To others, Smith's tales about living on the margins of misery captured the city's dark side, while his gritty realism delivered beauty, too. Even though the musician left Portland five years ago, each song he has written since contains a new piece of history for our town.

. . .L.A. may have been where the musician's life came to its sudden end, but Portland is where Smith spent his formative years. As his songs retain the stamp of the city, Portland retains Smith's imprint. WW asked friends, family, colleagues and fans to share impressions of the young songwriter with the quiet sound. Listening to their voices offers some help in coming to understand a musician--and a man--who never quite understood how to live.

Memorialist John Graham takes the analogy even further.

Though it may sound like an absurd overstatement, in some ways Elliott Smith is artistic Portland. Or at least a fine representation of and avatar for it. Literate. Stormy. Tormented. Prone to grandiose ambitions but weighted down by shame and insecurities.

Portland, Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest in general, is a kind of schizoid place. The PNW is the least churched part of the country and something of a haven for free-thinkers. People here are more likely to read books than elsewhere in the United States. They were the first to approve medical marijuana and Oregon is the only state in which medically-assisted euthanasia is legal. Oregonians vote by mail exclusively. But, that is not the whole story. The Pacific Northwest has disproportionately attracted cults, including survivalists and white supremacists. These states rank high on indices of hunger, and, for the last few years, unemployment. Drug abuse, particularly of meth and heroin, is surprisingly common. The PNW has the highest suicide rate in the country. Getting throught the bleakness of a Pacific Northwest winter in itself can feel like an accomplishment.

Elliott Smith's association with Portland began during one of the most impressionable periods of anyone's life -- adolescence.

Smith enrolled here [Lincoln High School] after moving from Duncanville, Texas, at age 14 to live with his father and siblings. At Lincoln, Smith played in a band called Stranger Than Fiction, belonged to the National Honor Society and graduated with the Class of 1987 before heading to Hampshire College in Massachusetts. He was born Steven Paul Smith but started going by Elliott because he thought "Steve" sounded too "jockish."

He left Oregon for college, but returned afterward, becoming part of several bands, including Heatmiser. The success of the movie Good Will Hunting transformed Smith from a regional attraction into a full-fledged star. The soundtrack featured six of his songs and won Smith a nomination for an Academy Award. It also ended his Portland period. He relocated to real cities, New York, and later, L.A. However, his artistic center, the place he thought about when writing songs, seems to have remained Puddletown.

The place for mourning Smith in Portland is The Wall. But, Inara Verzemnieks, a feature writer for the Oregonian, suggests the connection to Smith that really matters may be interior.

The wall is at Southeast 12th Avenue and Division Street, just on the other side of a bargain store and beneath a mural of a giant banana, and it has become the place, in the days following his apparent suicide, where Portland fans of singer and songwriter Elliott Smith come to mourn.

. . .Up and down the wall, dozens of fans had laid down their offerings -- pictures, drawings, poetry, even a pumpkin carved with Elliott's name -- people like Alice, who may never have known him but who had lived with and loved his music, until it seemed like it was a part of them.

What they blasted from their Walkman in order to survive the trip to Gresham to fold sweaters at the Gap, so they would still have the strength to come home and dream of making movies one day. What they fell asleep to. What they made love to and broke up to. An escape and a validation. A soundtrack to their lives.

Sometimes, the relationship between the artist and the city is eerily clear.

Driving up and down Division Street
I used to like it here
It just burns me out to remember....

-- "Punch and Judy," released on Either/Or, 1997

What do I make of the analogy? I believe Elliott Smith may have 'been' Portland. But, emotionally, Portland can be anywhere.

Law: Georgians impose Ten Commandments on public

Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I just don't understand people? One of the kinds of situations I don't understand them in is when there is a workable solution to a problem, but they choose to ignore it. The bumbling, often mean-spirited nature of homo sapiens means he often doesn't make any real effort to solve problems. So, when a resolution has been reached, why do some folks try to destroy it? I'm wondering about this after reading about a situation in Georgia. The far Right Christian organization Focus on the Family described the what is occurring there in a press release.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Oct. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The pastors of Georgia's Cherokee County, along with concerned citizens, will present a plaque of the Ten Commandments to the county commissioners for display in the Cherokee County Justice Center during a rally in support of the Commandments. The event will be at noon Friday, Oct. 31, on the steps of the Justice Center in downtown Canton, Ga.

"We were motivated to make this request when we became aware of a recently enacted, but little known, Georgia law that encourages the public display and study of those documents which have substantially impacted Georgia's law and heritage," said Dan Becker, pastor of Little River Church in Union Hill, Ga., and organizer of Friday's rally. "There can be no doubt of the historical impact of the moral law of God upon our own laws and culture.

"They're mounting the Ten Commandments in a rotunda area where they plan on putting other historical documents, but the significance here is that the Ten Commandments will be mounted higher than anything else. These commissioners are intending to make a statement."

The rally will feature the presentation of two tablets of granite engraved with the Decalogue in King James English to the five county commissioners by Becker and other pastors. The commissioners will then affix the tablets to the Justice Center and sign a petition stating their intent to defend the right of the people to publicly display the Ten Commandments.

The dispute, a copycat case modeled on the Ten Commandments imbroglio in Alabama, began in Habersham County and is spreading to other Georgia counties as conservative public officials jump on the bandwagon.

The fate of a Ten Commandments display in Habersham County will be in limbo for a few more weeks. It will be at least that long until U.S. District Court Judge William O'Kelley rules on whether or not the plaque must come down from the Habersham courthouse and indoor swimming pool.

O'Kelley heard arguments Monday at the federal courthouse in Gainesville in a case that could have far-reaching effects on similar situations in Northeast Georgia.

"This is a serious and important issue, and it needs to be considered," O'Kelley told the courtroom before adjourning shortly before 4 p.m.

Plaintiffs Charles "Bo" Turner and Gregg Holder, both Habersham residents, want the commandments removed from the government buildings. Both say the display violates the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause.

The constitutional law in regard to displays of religious symbols on public property is reasonable and clear. People are free to display symbols that are mainly secular or, if religious, don't favor a particular religion, with the judicial branch ultimately deciding whether a symbol is acceptable. If anything, the law leans over backward in regard to Christianity because many symbols now considered secular have Christian origins. However, that it is not enough to placate folks who want the United States to be an officially Christian nation. Nothing short of complete capitulation will do for them. The symbols of their religion must be displayed in public buildings.

Such displays violate the Establishment Clause because government gives religion its imprimatur if it allows the installation of religious iconography in public buildings. This is settled law. However, in one of those maneuvers that conservative Southerners are well-versed in because of their long opposition to civil rights laws, the supporters of establishing Christianity as our official religion have decided to use the interposition argument.

The Habersham County Commission passed a resolution in May 2002 to display the commandments. After being sued, the board passed another resolution last August that allowed the commandments to be posted alongside other key historical documents.

Defense attorneys Douglas McDonald, Erik Stanley and Donald Cronin argued that by including the commandments with the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact and Star-Spangled Banner, the display is constitutional.

They also say the commandments are the moral basis of U.S. law.

"Habersham County isn't making a religious statement," Stanley said during closing arguments. "The theme is that the 10 Commandments played a role in the foundation of American law and government."

This legal chicanery last appeared during efforts to prevent racial integration of Southern schools and other other public accommodations. Southern cities, counties and states passed statutes they said trumped federal laws that required ending discrimination against nonwhite Americans and allowing them access to public and quasi-public institutions. The laws passed by Habersham County and likely to be mimicked by other counties are similar. They attempt to allow a practice illegal under the federal constitution by 'interposing' local law. Both the time of the passage of the 'historical documents' resolution and the reason why it was considered prove it to be a pretext to impose Christianity on the citizens of the county.

These efforts will fail. No one, other than fellow travelers, will take the legal arguments of the counties seriously. But, citizens in those counties will pour thousands of dollars into defending the unconstitutional actions of their public officials. In fact, a county has already engaged the same lawyer who got his clock cleaned in the Alabama showdown.

Barrow County officials have hired a well-known attorney to defend their Ten Commandments display.

County commissioners hired attorney Herb Titus to defend the county against a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wants a framed parchment copy of the Ten Commandments removed from the county courthouse.

Titus is a Virginia Beach, Va., attorney who worked on the defense team of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended after refusing to obey a federal judges order to remove a 5,000-pound Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

A group formed for the countys legal defense, Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., presented the commission with a $50,000 check -- the price needed for Titus retainer.

Taxpayers in the county could be liable for additional payment to Titus if private fund-raising efforts come up short, said Chairman Eddie Elder.

Meanwhile, the real needs of the citizens of these counties will continue to go unmet. For example, Georgia ranks lowest in national measures of educational attainment, mainly because public education there is underfunded. I don't understand why the people of such areas allow their elected officials to get away with shenanigans of this sort.

Blogospherics: People are saying

Ghettopoly is not the only subject that has attracted attention in Bloggersville. Both the war in Iraq and blogging itself continue to be vectors of opinion.

Benito Vergara at The Wily Filipino read an account of some utterly obtuse American soldiers in action in Iraq and took it the same way I would. Ben couldn't help but express his admiration.

Way to Go Men!

I'm feeling, like, all inspired and stuff and thought I'd single out Sgt. Mark Redmond and Sgt. Eric Schrumpf as soldiers who need our support. You the man!

As the New York Times wrote:

Like many soldiers here... Sergeant Redmond said he did not expect the Iraqis to resist so doggedly.

"I expected a lot more people to surrender," he said. "From all the reports we got, I thought they would all capitulate."

In the three days that followed, they did not, and he fired every weapon on his Humvee, including a 50-caliber machine gun, his M-4 rifle and a grenade launcher -- everything except the shoulder-fired antitank missile. Many of the Iraqis, he said, attacked headlong into the cutting fire of tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

"I wouldn't call it bravery," he said. "I'd call it stupidity. We value a soldier's life so much more than they do. I mean, an AK-47 isn't going to do nothing against a Bradley. I'd love to know what Saddam is telling his people."

Maybe Saddam is telling his people to defend their homeland from invasion... but wait! We have to support the troops!

Dude, I am totally not voting you off the island!

It amazes me that so many Americans do rather poorly when quizzed on information in almost any area, but seem to imbibe cultural imperialism along with their ABCs. Last time around, it was that silly Army officer saying he can defeat Muslims because his God is better than theirs. Now, we get the Keystone Kalvary smugly revealing its contempt for people from a different culture. Why would folks think that traits such as bravery, deep belief in a deity and a desire to defend one's homeland are American or Western? Why are the deaths of civilian Iraqis considered comedy? It is as if some of our countrymen and women believe only Americans (and perhaps Europeans) are really people.

A new blogger recently caught crap from some in the blogosphere over his satirical entry about the Bush administration's reasons for invading Iraq. Mike Larkin of Larkin Blog posted this pithy political satire.

Mutual Admiration

Osama bin laden, the director of George W. Bush's re-election campaign, today issued a renewed call for jihad against America and expressed his profound gratitude to the American President.

"The President has been an enormous boon to my recruiting efforts. Ever since his incompetent intelligence services inadvertently allowed me to bomb the country on 9/11, I've been on a roll. My recruiting is off the charts. And every day, the Administration does something that really helps my cause."

In particular, bin laden mentioned the invasion of Iraq. "By knocking out my big opponent, Saddam, and turning the country into a breeding ground for terrorists, he has really made my job easy. Words cannot express my admiration. Perhaps another suicide bombing will do the trick."

Reached in the Far East, where he was on a campaign swing for his war on terror, Bush said he was "deeply honored" by bin laden's words, and expressed his own gratitude for the al-Quada leader.

"Before 9/11, I was really sucking wind in the polls. But those attacks were literally a gift from the sky. I've now got the whole country cowed and the press bamboozled. And, as an extra bonus, we've got Iraq's oil. Osama rocks!"

Bush said he hopes that Osama will launch another terrorist attack soon, in time to get the GOP re-elected in 2004. "It would be really great if it could happen the week of the Republican convention in New York next August. All those explosions will make a nice backdrop to my re-election speech. It'll be just like the Fourth of July!"

Some in the blogosphere took the 'he is not allowed to question the efficacy of American leadership' gambit. There was even an effort to pressure Blogcritics, where the entry also appeared, into censoring Mike. These kinds of responses to satirical treatment of the war make no sense to me. Whether actions are rational and/or moral is what determines whether they are right or wrong, not the nationality of the persons involved. Furthermore, political actions that impact the entire country and world are what we really need to scrutinize closely. Satire is is an excellent way to do just that.

Read the rest of Ben's and Mike's entries. I think you will agree with me that both have a knack for getting it right and making it funny at the same time.

Another Michael, the fellow at Ones and Zeroes, is concerned about the firing of a Microsoft temporary employee who dared blog about his place of employment.

Freshly Unemployed

Blogger Michael Hanscom joined the ranks of the unemployed on Monday, because Microsoft Security objected to his blog entry Even Microsoft wants G5s.

The blog entry had a picture of a truck delivering some boxed Apple G5 computers and mentioned where Hanscom worked and what building it was in.

His manager told him that “Microsoft has the right to decide that because of what you said, you’re no longer welcome on the Microsoft campus.”

I agree with Hanscom that the post is pretty innocuous. As a Microsoft customer buying software for MacOS computers, I’d be really annoyed if they weren’t testing them on the latest and greatest Macs. Especially since Virtual PC doesn’t run on G5s yet.

Microsoft employee and corporate blog evangelist Robert Scoble says Microsoft encourages employees to weblog. Microsoft has been, in recent months, ahead of the corporate culture curve with respect to blogging. It’s my hope that this is a mistake or the result of one branch of the company not knowing what other branches are encouraging. Even if Hanscom shouldn’t have posted this picture, this solidly moves Microsoft into the “mixed message” category on blogging, which while not great, is still better than many companies.

I am going to repeat the advice I gave months ago when I wrote about the trend of disciplining or firing journalists who blog. In fact, I'll extend it to other fields. Keep the blogging and your work separate. The interests at issue are quite different. Even if an employer gives an initial approval, I don't believe it should be relied on. The minute you say something that someone at work doesn't like, the approval is likely to be withdrawn. In addition, knowing your employer is looking over your shoulder will chill what you say on your blog. I recommend simply not mentioning blogging if you use your real name and being circumspect even if using a pen name.

Does a fired blogger have a legal leg to stand on? In most cases, no. Most employees are at will. Since firing someone for blogging violates no constitutionally protected rights for a private employer, the employee is the vulnerable one.

If I worked for Microsoft, I would take their policy of encouraging blogging with an entire box of Morton Salt.

Filmmaker and blogger Brian Flemming has good news to report. He has made history with one of his movies and has scored some eleemosynary compression software that will make it easier for him to stream his movies to the Web.

A beneficiary of the new software may be Nothing So Strange, a Flemming film that made its Internet debut this week.

Well, at long last, it can be revealed. It went down to the wire, but we did what we wanted to do: We're debuting the film worldwide on the same day that its exclusive theatrical run opens in Seattle. Made possible, of course, by my new pals at BitPass.

Did I mention that a worldwide internet debut of a feature film has never, ever, ever happened before? And you read about it first at Brian Flemming's Weblog.

The movie is a satirical look at group psychology and group relations, premised on the assassination of an iconic businessman. Wired says,

. . .It's a tale of paranoia and police corruption, of conspiracy theorists and grassroots activism. And it comes with a brilliant and ingenious Internet component -- an entire Web universe of memorials to Bill Gates and conspiracy theorist sites.

Director Brian Flemming began working on the film after attending a November conference in Dallas of researchers who study John F. Kennedy's assassination. Flemming began to wonder: What would a contemporary assassination look like? Who would be the target?"

"It seemed to me, with the growing divide between the rich and the poor, that the violence might take the form of a class war," Flemming says. "So naturally it seemed that Bill Gates would be a primary target. And then I thought, 'What if this happened right here in my own neighborhood, and the Rampart Division of the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) conducted the investigation?'"

Nothing So Strange can be viewed here.

Congratulations, Brian!

The blogosphere reacts to Ghettopoly

David Chang's racist board game, Ghettopoly, has garnered the attention of quite a few bloggers. Because of interest in the topic, I have decided to reprint excerpts from some of the responses. I may have more to say about Ghettopoly later, but for now, these bloggers get their say.

Dustin, of One Man's Opinion, believes my look at the topic was too narrow.

Like Mac Diva, I'm glad to see Asian-American groups speaking out and condemning the creator of Ghettopoly -- which maligns both African-Americans, in its imagery, and Asian-Americans, in linking them to the game's bigotry. However, I am disturbed by Mac Diva's encouragement of Hasbro's lawsuit, and particularly by the notion of the game's creator being "brought to heel". As with any other published material, David Chang, the mastermind behind Ghettopoly, has a right to free speech and free expression, no matter how offensive. To advocate the use of the courts to crush that expression seems to me a violation of that fundamental principle. It's an admittance of the utter failure of imagination and progressive values -- because we have been unsuccessful in destroying the demand for such racist representations, we will attempt to stem the supply by restricting what they are allowed to say.

And who will benefit from the outcome of this lawsuit? African-Americans? Hardly. Asian-Americans? Guess again. The only possible beneficiary will be Hasbro, who will use a set of laws that are antithetical to progressive values (anti-copyright laws that punish users and prevent innovation) to protect a game which is decidedly not progressive (with it's integral system of class capitalism expressed through its low-rent, slum districts -- the $12/night fleabag motels of Baltic Avenue -- linearly opposed to the glittering mansions of Park Place and Broadway). While worrying about the derogatory black imagery of Ghettopoly is commendable, what about the absent black imagery of whites-only Monopoly?

Mac Diva frames Hasbro's case as an extension of the work of civil rights groups who "lack the funds to effectively confront people who engage in appalling acts". I can virtually guarantee that Hasbro is not making this mistake -- they are interested only in protecting a trademark, and would have filed the same suit (and have, I'm sure) if the knock-off's imagery consisted solely of unicorns and fluffy kittens. This is a company that has moved virtually all of its production into Chinese sweatshops and is the target of shareholder action from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility because of its racist protrayals of American Indians -- I'm entirely sure that Hasbro is not the knight in shining armour for civil rights causes Mac Diva makes them out to be.

Centrist Rick Heller of Smart Genes gets to the meat of the matter. (Can a vegetarian say that?) He cites Chang's rationalization for Ghettopoly.

When I play with a traditional board game with my friends, it simply does not appeal to me much. To your dismay, Hip Hop Culture is what I gravitate towards, so naturally when I decided to make a game, I want to give it an urban edge. Stereotypes are everywhere, when you flip to MTV or BET you do not often see the same images and lyrics, rappers rapping about sipping on 40's, pimping hoes, smoking the chronics, slinging crack rocks, wicked jump shots.

Rick isn't convinced.

This is an example of outsider, in this case an Asian-American, wrongly presuming to be cut the same slack afforded members within the group. There is a double standard, and that's not wrong. It's one thing to be self-deprecating with regard to your ethnicity, and something else to demean others.

However, I have a feeling that even if the creator of this game had been an African-American, it would not not be considered acceptable by the black community. It's a free country, and the creator can produce this game, assuming he hasn't violated any copyright laws. But mainstream businesses should be embarrassed to be associated with it.

Civil rights activist Natalie Davis is skeptical about the 'game,' too. She believes it is bad sportmanship.

Personally, I think the game is vile, but there are a whole lot of things that are a helluva lot worse: poverty, violence; inequality; homophobic, pedophile-enabling religious leaders; the Religious Right; and the Bush Administration, for starters. So it is important to keep things in perspective here. But just because people say publicly that Ghettopoly, a game that mines poor people, drive-by shootings, and crack dealers for either humor or profit, is horrifying does not mean they are humorless. Of course, that's the primary sentiment being communicated by some folks at Blogcritics , in response to an anti-Ghettopoly post by Mac Diva of Mac-a-ro-nies. "Lighten up," they say.

Yeah, we're pissing all over their good laugh. Tough. African-American groups, Asian-American organizations, religious leaders, and plenty of people of all stripes who have good sense are sending the message that marketing stereotypes for profit may be legal, but it is not funny. Not for decent people. Nobody is talking about government banning the game or anything -- that would be wrong. But if people can be convinced not to sell it or buy it, that's the free market speaking. Conservatives should love that.

Do follow Natalie's links at All Facts and Opinions to Tim Wise's site. He has his finger on Chang's pulse.

One of the relationships I hope to make more explicit in future blogging is that between neo-Confederate type bigots and more 'subtle' sorts, including 'scientific' racists. Sometimes, a single person embodies both. Al Barger, who we last examined as a neo-Confederate sympathizer, has also considered Ghettopoly. He believes it is good, clean entertainment for Mom, Dad and the little ones.

Ghettopoly - hilarious fun for the whole family

So this Asian-American has come up with a clever little parody of the classic Monopoly game called " Ghettopoly " which features a lot of pimpin' and dope and such. Naturally, the perpetually aggrieved [moi] are, not suprisingly, aggrieved, hollering about this game promoting racism and such.

As Sgt. Hulka said to Psycho in Stripes, "Lighten up, Francis."

Naturally Hasbro doesn't appreciate the association and they're suing. I can understand their position, but Ghettopoly can reasonably be seen as a legitimate parody of this most iconic American game, and how those capitalist ideas play out in the cheap seats.

There's more than one way to take something like this Ghettopoly. Some professionally agitated black folk [the NAACP] will insist on taking it as belittling your race, as if the intent was to foment hate against black folk. It's part of the conspiracy to repress the colored races.

That likely is not the intent of the creator, nor how it will mostly be taken. A white person who really dislikes black people as a group would be unlikely to be interested in this game. I would guess that in fact black folk will be the top market.

I've read more opinions about Ghettopoly, but believe these to be pretty representative. If you want to know the blogger's thoughts more fully, visit his or her weblog via the links included.

Writer's world: Dispatches from the front

One of the periodicals I rely on to keep me up-to-date about what writers are up to is about to cease publication.

NEW YORK - Book, a bimonthly magazine partly owned by Barnes & Noble, is going out of business. The last issue, featuring a cover story on Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, comes out next week.

"Barnes & Noble made the decision it couldn't go forward supporting the magazine," Jerome V. Kramer, editor in chief and a co-owner of Book, said Wednesday.

. . .The magazine was founded in 1998 and at one point had more than 1 million subscribers, thanks largely to a free promotional offer from Barnes & Noble, which owns 50 percent of Book. Barnes & Noble ended the program last year and the subscription base has dropped to around 190,000.

Book was sold in numerous stores besides Barnes & Noble outlets, but Kramer said it lost business after "Barnes & Noble" began appearing, in small print, on the cover earlier this year.

"A lot of independent sellers pulled out," he said.

It appears Kramer unwittingly allowed his publication to get caught in the crossfire between corporate and independent booksellers. I suspect adding the phrase "Barnes & Noble" to the cover of Book was an effort to increase sells by giving it the stamp of approval of a respected brand. However, the change may have doomed the periodical by limiting the number of outlets willing to carry it.

Perhaps Kramer will find a way to continue contributing to the literary world. Book was intelligently written and edited and well worth one's time.

An essay in the Books section of The New York Times makes me realize my reading habits are somewhat anomalous. I estimate at least a quarter of the books I read in a given year are translations from another language. Apparently, that is not so for most people.

"There is no Frigate like a book/ To take us Lands away,'' wrote Emily Dickinson. But the ship most American readers sail remains strictly within national borders. According to a recent Publishers Weekly article, of all the books translated worldwide, only 6 percent (maybe less) are translated from other languages into English. By contrast, almost 50 percent are translated from English into those other languages. We all know that events of global importance take place outside our linguistic borders every day. And since our educational system is famous for how poorly it teaches foreign languages, it might try to compensate by offering students a lot more books in translation.

I think I became a reader of international literature for several reasons.

Margo Jefferson, who wrote the piece in the NYT, believes that the increasing availibility of news from other countries may lead more Americans to read foreign writers. A recent convergence of literary events had that effect on her.

Sometimes literature itself puts a country on our internal map. At about the same time the South African novelist J. M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize, Oprah's Book Club announced that its next selection would be another South African novel, Alan Paton's 1948 book, ''Cry, the Beloved Country.'' To learn more about South Africa, I turned to the Feminist Press's rich new anthology ''Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region.'' It's an amazing resource, close to 600 pages, and it's a true collaboration, the work of seven editors from four countries. The 20 or so original languages include English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa and siNdebele. The traditions are oral and written: there are poems and folktales, stories, diaries and political documents starting from the 1830's.

In a country in which people still mumble about 'the dark continent,' as if we were living in 1703 instead 2003, that is an encouraging thought.

One effect of being a longterm Internet user is one sees different sites develop or fall by the wayside. I have been a member of Nerve.com, a site that publishes tasteful material about sexual issues, for several years. The magazine began as online only, branched out into real world publication and now operates on a Salon-type model -- offering regular and premium content. Over the years, the contributors to Nerve's nonfiction, fiction and photography sections have become increasingly mainstream.

This excerpt from the introduction to the fall fiction issue exemplifies the kind of thoughtful discourse I have come to expect of writers for Nerve.

. . .Many modern stories with sexual content are clever, intelligent, provocative, sad and funny. In the best ones, the characters are marvelously human. But in our sophistication and scrupulous questioning, it seems we have lost something -- the force of that animal which can come out of "nowhere," tear your precious personality to pieces, then melt back into the dark to quietly lick its paws.

Describing this experience is very hard. Describing it while maintaining the delicacy and complexity of your characters is even harder. This is a dilemma for the modern writer who chooses to write about sex: make your characters genuine personalities without being restricted by the limits of human personality; evoke the enormity and ferocity of sex without demonizing it or making it exclusively about feminine shame. Part of the difficulty may be in that last part -- people are now leery of rendering feminine shame, or shame of any kind for that matter. It's almost as if we're too cool for it. But shame is a profoundly human experience, and we risk it every time we encounter a force bigger than ourselves. From my point of view, the older writers sometimes tried to avoid it by palming it all off on the skank. But it's even worse to try and correct that by writing as if shame and uncontrollable depth don't exist at all.

My only complaint is the site has become less contributor friendly. I, and other contributors to the old Nerve, lost our sections at the site during its latest retooling. Though the alteration saves the magazine server space, it also reduces the diversity and communal nature of the site.

If you haven't been reading Nerve, you might want to explore the site. Don't be surprised if you find yourself bookmarking it.

'Ghettopoly' reveals Asian immigrant's bigotry

Ghettopoly, the board game created by an Asian-American to mock African-Americans, is facing a lawsuit filed by established game maker Hasbro. Because of its association with the venerable Monopoly, Hasbro asserts its reputation is being injured by a similarly named game that celebrates bigotry. Salon fills us in.

The company that makes the Monopoly board game has sued the man who created "Ghettopoly" -- a knockoff featuring "playas" who build crack houses on Cheap Trick Avenue instead of hotels on Boardwalk.

The lawsuit by Hasbro Inc. seeks unspecified damages from David Chang, alleging he violated Hasbro's trademarks and copyrights and created "irreparable injury" to Hasbro's reputation. It also wants the court to order Chang to stop producing and selling Ghettopoly.

"While the genuine Monopoly game has become a wholesome and respected American icon ... the Ghettopoly knockoff has generated a firestorm of controversy for its highly offensive, racist content," said the filing Tuesday in Providence federal court.

Ghettopoly mimics Monopoly, except game pieces include a gun and marijuana leaf. In place of the "Mr. Monopoly" logo of a man with his arms outstretched, Ghettopoly uses a caricature of a black man holding a submachine gun and bottle of malt liquor.

The game drew outrage from minority leaders this month after it began selling at Urban Outfitters stores. The retail chain stopped its sales of the game, and Yahoo! and eBay notified Chang they would halt online sales.

David Chang says he does not see anything insulting about the game, which includes 'careers' such as armed robber and pimp. His website describes what Chang apparently believes are the main activities of black people.

Buying stolen properties, pimpin hoes, building crack houses and projects, paying protection fees and getting car jacked are some of the elements of the game. Not dope enough? ... If you don't have the money that you owe to the loan shark you might just land yourself in da Emergency Room.

Interestingly, there is no evidence Chang has ever been exposed to black American culture beyond the stereotypes he is promoting.

Chang, who lives in western Pennsylvania, has no firsthand knowledge of the ghetto. He and his family moved to the United States from Taiwan when he was 8. He went to a private high school and graduated from the University of Rochester in New York state with degrees in economics and psychology.

Perhaps that is why Chang depicts Martin Luther King, Jr., groping his genitals and saying "I've got an itch."

I try to respect the rights of everyone, but must admit that at times I am taken back by the racist attitudes of a significant share of Asian immigrants. They often seem totally unaware of the history of black and Hispanic Americans, including the fact that segregation laws applied to Asians as well as black, red and brown people. But for the sacrifices African-Americans made during the civil rights movement, David Chang, Michelle Malkin and Dinesh d'Souza would not be enjoying the freedoms they take for granted. Admittedly, people of this sort often strike me as more pathetic than anything else. When I peruse the worship of white people by people of color at sites such as Gene Expression, I mainly see very sick minds. However, I am disinclined to ignore such behavior because I believe doing so encourages more of it.

National Asian-American organizations have made it painstakingly clear they do not support the message Chang sends with Ghettopoly.

WASHINGTON, DC (October 9, 2003) -- The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC), the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today blasted the board game "Ghettopoly" by David Chang and Ghettopoly.com and its distribution by Urban Outfitters, saying that the recently released game's use of racist wordplay, caricatures and stereotypes of African-Americans is "offensive, demeaning and degrading."

A takeoff on the classic Parker Brothers "Monopoly" game, "Ghettopoly" enables "playas" to buy chop-shop properties and chicken and rib establishments while building "crack houses" and projects. Among the game's racist contents are stereotypical images of Black people, who are shown as minstrel-like pimps, prostitutes and hustlers. In "Ghettopoly," the bank is renamed "Da Loan Shark." Contestants must avoid being shot or drug addicted, though getting "yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack" earns $50 from other players. Other minorities, including Hispanics and Jews, are stereotyped and caricatured as well.

"David Chang, the creator of the game, was reported saying that Ghettopoly is only a game, but in fact, it is a flashpoint for increased racial tensions among communities of color," said Raymond Wong, OCA National President.

"It is completely inappropriate for Chang and Urban Outfitters to profiteer on damaging negative racial stereotypes," said Christine Chen, OCA Executive Director.

OCA calls on all concerned individuals to contact Richard Hayne, the Chairman and President of Urban Outfitters and David Chang, President and Owner of Ghettopoly.com to immediately cease production of Ghettopoly and pull the game from store shelves.

An Asian-American Congressman has also denounced Chang.

Congressman Mike Honda (D - San Jose) condemned Urban Outfitters for selling the racist board game "Ghettopoly," and demanded that the company pull the product from its shelves. Honda's office was notified that radio personality Tarsha Nicole Jones (Jonesy), of 103.9 FM in Philadelphia, in turn taunted David Chang and Asian Americans by proposing the creation of a game called "Chinkopoly," and urged listeners to call-in with denigrating names for properties in such a game.

"Instead of bringing people together in laughter, this board game has caused pain and outrage. I urge Mr. Chang to stop marketing 'Ghettopoly' and stop production on the complete line of games that is insensitive, harmful, and in bad taste," said Rep. Honda. "It is important that as our communities find out about this offensive issue, and we address it, that we come together and engage in intelligent dialogue. There is no excuse for further inciting groups against each other -- either out of ignorance, or anger."

I am heartened by this responsible leadership from Asian-Americans who understand the pain racist abuse causes its targets and the poison it infuses into society as a whole. Perhaps their message of tolerance will trickle down to Asian-American immigrants who have unthinkingly adopted the bigoted beliefs of many white Americans.

I also welcome Hasbro's lawsuit. Most civil rights groups lack the funds to effectively confront people who engage in appalling acts such as Chang. However, Hasbro has the deep pockets to bring him to heel. Before the process is over, I will not be surprised if Chang has disgorged every cent he made from Ghettopoly. If legal fees don't bankrupt him, a judgment against him likely will.

Health watch: Two tales of depression

A pair of current news stories highlight the seriousness of longterm clinical depression. Kirk Jones survived a jump into Niagara Falls last week. He says he had reached a point in his life when he did not care whether he lived or died. That led him to play a form of Russian roulette. Singer Elliott Smith has been reported dead from apparently self-inflicted knife wounds.

Jones was first described as a daredevil in news stories. However, he says the thrill was not his motivation for risking his life in a feat he is the only person to have lived through.

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario (AP) -- A man who went over Niagara Falls head first said Wednesday that he was driven by depression, not a desire to become a daredevil.

Kirk Jones, 40, of Canton, Mich., is charged with illegally performing a stunt. He is the first person known to have plunged over the falls without safety devices and lived.

In a phone interview with ABC News, Jones said he had been depressed, but surviving the plunge made him want to live again.

"I honestly thought that it wasn't worth going on. But I can tell you now after hitting the falls I feel that life is worth living," he said.

Jones recently lost his job when his parents shut down the family business, which made tools for auto parts manufacturers. His father, Raymond Jones, told The Detroit News he had to lay off his son because of the economy.

Elliott Smith appears not to have ever acknowledged longterm depression, though observers, including fans, suspected it. The circumstances of his death confirm the problem.

He was once dubbed "the unhappiest man in the land." His most renown song was called "Miss Misery." But Elliott Smith sounded disappointed that he was often asked, "Why are you so sad?"

The singer-songwriter, whose fragile, Beatles-tinged melodies elevated to him mythic status on the indie scene and brought him unlikely, Oscar-nominated success , died Tuesday of an apparent suicide at his apartment in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, officials said. He was 34.

. . . Smith's well-being, or lack thereof, was whispered about in recent years on the L.A. music scene. Concerts could be hit and miss. At one Hollywood show in February, Smith commanded the stage for most of the night with just his hushed voice, stool and guitar. But the lyrics came and went. The devoted supplied the missing words, and willed him to the finish.

Smith, who opened up in June to Under the Radar about formerly having been "a really bad alcoholic," rarely spoke of depression, drink or drugs in interviews, just on his records. There, he also spoke of hope and love. Sometimes in the same song.

"It's too bad that people seem to sometimes only notice the dark part of some songs of mine," Smith told Amazon.com in 1998 upon the release of his DreamWorks debut, XO.

Rather, Smith said in a Salon.com Q&A in 2000, he was consistently asked by journalists, "Why are you so sad?"

"Just because people have a range of emotions and thoughts...sometimes they get ecstatically happy about something and at other times ridiculously depressed, doesn't mean that there's something wrong with them," Smith told the Website.

I suspect family and friends often fail to intervene in episodes of clinical depression because situational depression is so common. People have plenty of rational reasons to be sad. However, when depression becomes the norm, dragging on for years, it has moved beyond 'the blues.' At that point, intervention by medical personnel may be necessary to prevent the tragedy of suicide.

Symptoms of Depression

Persistent sadness or unhappiness

Lethargy

Loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities

Irritability

Sudden change in appetite

Disruption of normal sleep pattern

Physical discomfort

Difficulty thinking or concentrating

Thoughts of suicide or death

I believe Kirk Jones did the right thing, despite the possibility of embarassment, in admitting he behaved very rashly because of emotional problems, not machismo. His message, broadcast nationally and internationally, may lead other clinically depressed persons to seek help.

From the news desk

With the help of state legislators, Florida's governor is meddling in what should be a family matter. And, no, it is not his family.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida House voted late Monday to give Gov. Jeb Bush the power to intervene in the case of a brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed last week by her husband's order.

The House voted 68-23 in favor of the bill. The state Senate planned to take it up Tuesday.

The measure would give the state's governor 15 days to order a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Terri Schiavo's. The governor's power would be limited to cases where a person has left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

Schiavo, 39, meets all the bill's requirements. She has been at the center of a decade-long court battle between her parents, who want her to survive, and her husband, who says he is carrying out his wife's wishes to not be kept alive artificially.

The courts have upheld Schiavo's right to finally end her ordeal. The extralegal efforts of the House and governor are meant to continue a tragedy that has gone on for too long already. I suspect it is also a sap to the right-to-life movement, which does not distinguish between the ability to live life and artificial prolongation of breathing. Heartless and shameless grandstanding like this serves no useful purpose. There are people desperately in need of continuing medical care. Ms. Schiavo is not one of them.

When has a person gone too far to make a point about lax security procedures? This is an issue I've discussed with friends in the internet technology field, including one who has been convicted of a computer-related crime. Now, the topic has arisen in regard to airline security post 9/11.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A college student who allegedly hid box cutters and other banned items on four airliners to expose weaknesses in U.S. security was charged with a federal crime Monday, and a prosecutor said he committed a "very serious and foolish action."

The banned items were not discovered on two of the planes until a month after Nathaniel Heatwole, 20, had alerted authorities about his scheme via e-mail. He was charged Monday with taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, then released without bail for a preliminary hearing Nov. 10.

. . . According to authorities, Heatwole told federal agents he went through normal security procedures at airports in Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham. Once aboard, he said, he hid the banned items in compartments in the planes' rear lavatories.

. . . According to an FBI affidavit, Heatwole's signed e-mail "stated that he was aware his actions were against the law and that he was aware of the potential consequences for his actions, and that his actions were an `act of civil disobedience with the aim of improving public safety for the air-traveling public.'"

The young man charged says he had no intention of harming anyone. His goal was to draw attention to how easy it is to take dangerous items aboard an airliner. His lifestyle supports his opposition to violence.

Guilford is a Quaker college with a history of pacifism and civil disobedience that dates to the Civil War. Heatwole is not a Quaker but shares many of the tenets of the faith, including a belief in pacifism, according to a February 2002 interview with The Guilfordian, the campus newspaper.

The student, a double-major in political science and physics, refused to register for the draft when he turned 18 as required by law, according to the interview. Instead, he returned a blank registration form to the Selective Service System with a letter explaining his opposition.

The FBI affidavit, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, said Heatwole breached security at Raleigh-Durham airport on Sept. 12 -- the day after the two-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. He did it again Sept. 14 at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The courts have not been swayed by alibis that say the defendant was testing security in order to prove it ineffective in computer crime cases. Nor do I believe Heatwole's clearly stated subjective intent will override what can be perceived as legal intent to do harm under these circumstances. The disruption caused by planting the contraband items and notifying authorities is in itself enough to constitute an intentional criminal act. However, the core prinicple of civil disobedience is that the person participating in it is willing to bear the burdens the legal system will impose on him for being provocative. I hope Heatwole realizes that two seemingly contradictory things can be true. He can be morally right from the perspective of himself and others and he can be convicted of a crime and punished accordingly.

Students from working-class families are often told that they can still get a college education despite the high costs of private universities. State colleges and community colleges have served as a kind of educational safety net for the non-affluent. That net has developed some big holes.

Offsetting state budget cuts, tuition at public universities rose 14 percent to an average of $4,694 this year, the steepest increase in more than a quarter century, according to the latest annual survey by the College Board.

Largely for the same reason, tuition at community colleges also rose 14 percent, to an average of $1,905. That was the second biggest increase since 1976, the earliest year for which the College Board reports data.

. . .Tuition at public colleges rose so fast this year, the College Board said, mostly to compensate for the declining government support of state campuses. Although the College Board report did not track state appropriations in the current fiscal year, a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures this summer found that total state spending on higher education dropped 2.2 percent this year, with some states trimming their expenditures by more than 10 percent.

Financial aid, usually in the form of loans, does compensate for some of the increase in tuition. However, the difference is not large enough to have much of an impact. Furthermore, loans saddle young people with debts they may have difficulty paying, starting them out at a disadvantage in the work world. The trend in higher costs for public education could lead to further bifurcation of educational attainment by economic class.

Buyer's remorse can taint high tech purchases

My friend Richard Einhorn of Tristero brought my attention to a revealing article about high tech and buyer's remorse in the New York Times. I last grumbled about some high tech gadgets when I discussed the Palm Zire 71 personal digital assistant I had received as a gift, but was ambivalent about. The premise of the article in the NYT is that much of the high tech sells bounty ends up unused.

People acquire these things -- hand-held personal digital assistants, flatbed scanners, compact disc copiers and a host of other objects -- because they promise to make life more efficient, more fun, or, some confess, simply because they appear to help them keep up with what their "wired" friends and neighbors have.

But many such products are simply too complicated for their own good. And all too often, the buyers find that they cannot really change their lives just by acquiring something new and different.

A fellow resident of Puddletown is among the people profiled.

Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, 29, a freelance film editor in Portland, Ore., is all too familiar with the problem of buying things she does not use. Her digital camera sits, as if glued in place, on a bookshelf in her bedroom. And Ms. Vichit-Vadakan's CD burner, which was supposed to allow her to make copies of music she loves for her friends, is the embodiment of a promise gone awry.

"I was hoping to get organized about backing up my files and burning CD's for friends and making copies of CD's and making copies of my software, which they say you're supposed to do," she said. "But nope, I never did any of that."

It's not all her fault. She never did get the CD burner to work on her computer. Weeks, then months passed, and she finally boxed it back up to get it off her desk. Now she is trying to sell it on Craig's List, a Web site built around classified advertisements, but so far there are no takers.

"I guess CD burners have gotten a lot faster," she said. "No one wants this one."

My experience echoes Veronica's. I have a brand new year-old all-in-one printer, copier, fax and scanner, that I purchased late in its sales cycle for only $100. However, I have never actually used my bargain. Epson never produced drivers for Macintosh OS X for most of its printers, scanners and all-in-ones, including the Stylus Scan 2000. Since I rarely venture into Classic, I don't employ this lovely hunk of high tech for any of the things it can do. Efforts to resell it have been unsuccessful. My guess is that people can't believe someone is selling a new whiz-bang device so cheaply; for about the cost of replacement ink cartridges. I did sell my unused $169 Scanmaker SCSI scanner to a neighbor for $30, though. I was able to score another $20 by reselling the unused software on eBay. Since Apple had dropped SCSI ports and I had to replace the last computer I had with one, there wasn't a better option. My newest digital camera, a Pentax Optio 330 is dandy, and much neglected. As is my cordless mouse and an unopened Apple Plaintalk microphone that resides in the back of the hall closet.

A psychiatrist and remorse buyer interviewed by the NYT sheds some light on why we do this.

Julie Marcuse, 57, a psychoanalyst in Manhattan, has the advantage of knowing how to apply cogent psychological analysis to a behavior pattern she knows all too well.

Not long after buying a Webcam that eventually ended up back in its box, Dr. Marcuse bought a scanner. That, too, was a bust. The scanner software created a series of conflicts with other software on her computer. She gave it away.

"I just wanted it out of my house," she said.

"I think we're usually pursuing a fantasy of empowerment when we buy these things," Dr. Marcuse said.

Asked why people have trouble learning to be more wary, Dr. Marcuse referred to "an endearing optimism" on the part of consumers. "Hope springs eternal, you know."

But what about the Palm Zire 71, you ask? I exchanged it for a Palm Tungsten C. I wanted that PDA because I like to use Wi-Fi. My thinking was that I would take it with me instead of my laptop some of the time. I would be able to read my daily sites using the Web service Avantgo and maybe even blog from the PDA if I purchased an attachable keyboard. So far, Avantgo has refused to sync with the Tungsten C, which uses Palm's new operating system, OS 5. There is no Mac software for OS 5 from Avantgo. I also have not located a browser that will fit material to the small screen. (Netspring, a browser I used with my Palm m500 series PDA is not compatible with OS 5.) The MP3 player capability will require I purchase compatible software and yet another pair of earphones. I may need to buy a new microphone to use the voice recorder.

Buyers beware.

Portland 7 case ends with whimper

It's a wrap, as they say in the newspaper business. With the guilty pleas of the two remaining Portland Seven defendants who are in custody last week, the case came to an end.

The last members of the so-called "Portland Seven" in custody pleaded guilty today in federal court for participating in a plot to join the Taliban's fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Jeffrey Leon Battle and Patrice Lumumba Ford agreed to a plea bargain that will result in both serving 18 years in federal prison. Both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to levy war against the United States.

Battle and Ford are among six men and a woman who were charged with conspiracies to wage war against the United States, to provide material support and resources to al-Qaida, and to contribute services to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Some also faced firearms charges. The remaining counts against Battle and Ford will be dropped after they are sentenced Nov. 24, according to the deal.

In addition, the only one of the septet who apparently made it to Afghanistan is said to have been killed in combat near the Pakistani border.

Pakistani troops battling an al-Qaida commando group this month killed Habis Abdulla al Saoub, the veteran Afghan fighter who tried to lead a squad of Portland residents overseas to potential martyrdom.

U.S. officials say they are convinced al Saoub died Oct. 2 with seven others during Pakistan's operation in a rugged area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The FBI is seeking formal confirmation from Pakistan.

. . . Al Saoub, 37, was wanted in Portland as the leader of a group of men who tried to reach Afghanistan two years ago to fight U.S. troops. Five men and one woman have pleaded guilty to participating in the failed mission that ended on the Chinese-Pakistan border. Al Saoub never returned from China, evading capture despite a $5 million reward.The Jordanian native lived in the Portland area from 1996 until late 2001, when he and the others launched their mission to Afghanistan. In the 1980s, al Saoub was an Arab mujahedeen fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials describe the moutainous, isolated area where al Saoub was allegedly slain as being a redoubt for al-Qaida and out of their control. They mounted the offensive in which he is thought to have been killed Oct. 2 in the village of Baghar.

I see some grounds for concern about the length of the sentences offered Battle, Ford and October Lewis, the least active of the seven. John Walker Lindh, who actually participated in fighting, was sentenced to only two years more than Battle and Ford. Lewis, Battle's wife, has agreed to a term of three and a half years. That seems lengthy considering the limited role she played in the conspiracy and her willingness to testify against the others. I fear this may fit into the pattern of sentencing African-Americans to longer prison terms for behavior similar to or less egregious than that of white defendants. However, due to the small number of persons convicted under the Patriot Act,it is difficult to know if disproportionality is occurring.

A defense lawyer for the Portland Seven has no doubt race is an issue.

One of Ford's attorneys, Stanley Cohen of New York City, said in a post-plea news conference that his client pleaded guilty, in part, because he is "a black man, a black activist labeled as a terrorist by the media without a trial who doesn't stand a chance" of getting a fair trial."

Cohen says polls conducted for the defense revealed potential jurors overwhelmingly perceived the Portland Seven as guilty.

There are doubtlessly bloggers who will give the episode the full 'those awful terrorists' treatment. That will occur despite the fact the evidence against most of the defendants consists of talk, talk and more talk. If they really were determined to commit terrorist acts, the long fallow period between their return from China and being taken into custody is inexplicable. What I mainly see in this saga is something more prosaic. This is an object lesson in what can happen when people are too vulnerable to the blandishments of 'mighty mouths,' i.e., the folks who are always so willing to tell other people what to think or do. Most of the defendants appear to have simply jumped on a bandwagon without giving much thought to what doing so meant. Now, they will have time to do plenty of thinking while residing in government housing. I don't believe the Portland Seven are that different from many, maybe even most, people. Some manipulative sort gives'em their marching orders and they are off on a frolic without a clue to the reason why.

My heart goes out to the families of the Portland Seven. By a rough count, at least a dozen children have been left fatherless by the guilty pleas and alleged death. The loss of a father's income alone can be enough to doom the children of prisoners to poverty. I know federal law precludes convicts making a profit from their stories, but I hope there is a way to help these children not pay for the errors of their parents.