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Friday, May 27, 2005  

Opinion: Mayor West should ride into sunset

I haven't written about Spokane Mayor Jim West previously because I've been waiting for him to resign. But, again this week West (pictured) expressed his determination to remain in office despite his inability to govern effectively. On May 5, the Spokesman-Review published a package of articles disclosing allegations of sexual impropriety involving the mayor dating back more than 25 years. Two men now in their 30s say West and his best friend molested them when they were in elementary school. David Hahn and West were both sheriff's deputies and Boy Scout troop leaders. According to several sources, they used their positions to engage in erotic acts with boys, ranging from having Scouts pull their pants down in public to oral sex and sodomy. Hahn committed suicide after being confronted about his alleged pedophilia in 1981. West emphatically denies the allegations of the men who claim he forced them to have sex with him when they were children.

But, the mayor does not deny that he has used his office to obtain sex from young men. The Spokesman-Review learned that West was frequenting Gay.com to meet barely legal males, some still in high school. It hired an expert in computer forensics to engage the mayor and confirm his identity. (Use of that technique has resulted in its own controversy, which I will blog later.) The investigator was able to establish that not only was the older man who pursued young men there the mayor, but that he was willing to offer them positions in city government in return for accepting his advances.

After the initial series was published, one of those men, Ryan Oelrich, agreed to speak openly about his experiences with Mayor West. Oelrich says he was contacted at Gay.com by a man who used two screen names over a period of about a year. The man, in his 50s, said he had seen Oelrich in person and found him attractive. Weeks later, someone suggested to Oelrich that an application for a seat on the Spokane Human Rights Commission from him would be looked upon favorably. Oelrich applied, met with the mayor and was approved. Soon after, Mayor West is said to have revealed he was the older man who had pursued Oelrich online. The pursuit is alleged to have become more than virtual. Oelrich says he was constantly harassed by West, including an offer of $300 if he would swim naked with Spokane's chief executive.

Other young men have also come forward, though most have asked that their names not be published. Among them are one who says he was offered a paid position in Spokane city government, and, another who says he had sex with the mayor in West's vehicle, on city property.

Gay rights activist Mike Kress, in an opinion piece in the Spokesman-Review, has explained why be believes West should resign.

A person's sexuality is a private matter, and Spokane Mayor Jim West's sexual orientation should be no exception. However, the hypocrisy, cynicism and lies upon which Mr. West built his political career harmed homosexuals in our state, and his sexual orientation is thus a legitimate topic for discussion.

Over the years, Mayor West furthered his political career in part by opposing equal rights protection for all citizens. By opposing civil rights legislation that protects gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered through his actions and his rhetoric Mayor West enhanced his standing in the Republican Party and with Washington's conservative voting bloc.

Some commentators have said that such attacks on West are unfair. They believe that homosexuality should not be viewed as limiting a person's political options. In an argument reminiscent of the one Jeff Gannon/James Guckert relied on to try retain credibility, sympathizers say Mayor West had every right to be closeted and hostile to gay rights. However, I don't think a person needs to agree with Kress that West's hypocrisy is a problem to oppose West's continued leadership of Spokane. West's admitted actions alone -- misusing his position as mayor to pursue dates and obtain sex -- are reason enough for him to resign. A heterosexual mayor would be subject to the same criticism.

Spokane has a 'strong mayor' form of government. The city council cannot force West to leave. The only avenues open are a recall or resignation. The recall process in Washington is cumbersome, and, even a successful effort can be appealed. The most reasonable way to end the embarrassing situation the city finds itself in is for Mayor West to honor his professed love for his hometown by resigning. It is time for Jim West, who has been a mover and shaker in state politics for more than two decades, to ride off into the sunset.


5:35 PM

Friday, May 20, 2005  

Politics: Bush to veto stem cell research bill

President George W. Bush is a stubborn man. That trait is evident in his recent positions: Insisting that man whose character is not suited to diplomacy be name America's ambassador to the United Nations. Insisting that Right Wing extremists be considered for vacancies in the federal judiciary. Insisting that 'reforms' to Social Security are beneficial to most Americans, when, actually, they increase the risk of Americans being poor in their old age.

But, Bush will demonstrate perhaps his most unreasonable act of stubbornness next week. He will again seek to block meaningful research into embryonic stem cells. The New York Times reports.

WASHINGTON, May 20 - Setting up a showdown with Congress over the thorny issue of embryonic stem cell research, President Bush vowed today to veto any measure that would expand federal funding for the studies - an extremely rare personal threat from a president who has never exercised his veto power.

"I am a strong supporter of stem cell research, but I've made very clear to Congress that the use of federal taxpayer money to promote science that destroys life in order to save life, I am against this," said Mr. Bush, speaking in the Oval Office during a brief joint appearance with the Danish prime minister, Anders Rasmussen. "Therefore, if the bill does that, I will veto it."

The president also expressed grave concerns about a report that South Korean researchers have perfected a method of cloning human embryos to extract their stem cells that could, theoretically, be used to develop treatments and cures that would be exact genetic matches to patients.

"I'm very concerned about cloning," Mr. Bush said. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable."

The veto threat, coming just days before the House is set to vote on the bill Mr. Bush opposes, sets up a confrontation between the White House and Congress at a time when Mr. Bush is already having trouble on Capitol Hill. His Social Security proposal is not gaining traction, and his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, has attracted intense opposition. Now some Republicans are pressing to loosen federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, creating deep divisions within the party and reviving a contentious issue that dominated the early days of the Bush presidency.

The core of the President's error is the Right to Life movement's insistence that any intervention once human ova are fertilized is murder. No life is destroyed because of embryonic stem cell research. The embryos are either left over from fertility treatments or developed solely for research. The irony, of course, is that, potentially, lives -- real ones -- could be saved by successful applications of the research.

Support for embryonic stem cell research crosses political lines. Some Republicans, realists in regard to this matter at least, believe the benefit to be derived from the research is much more important than qualms about experimenting with human genetic material.

The Republican sponsor of the House bill, Representative Mike Castle of Delaware, said today he was not dissuaded by the veto threat, and believes the measure will pass when it comes up for a vote Tuesday. And the sponsor of an identical Senate measure, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, vowed to "bring the matter to a head" in his Senate subcommittee, which controls federal funding for medical research.

I do not expect President Bush to have a sudden attack of insight. Embryonic stem cell research is one of the issues he can use to curry favor with Christian evangelicals. He will continue to exploit it for that purpose. It is up to leaders not compromised by a need to appeal to that constituency to prevent or override the veto of this very important legislation. They must confront the President's stubbornness head on.

What's the art?

The late actor Christopher Reeve was an activist in favor of embryonic stem cell research.


11:28 PM

Wednesday, May 18, 2005  

Commentary: Avoiding 'the bottle' still current

Coming from a cultural background in which heavy drinking is not uncommon, I've sometimes wondered why I have never been attracted to alcohol or drugs. Just call me conservative in that regard. After a single vodka binge in college, I've haven't been drunk. I never wanted to be so close to a toilet bowl I was hugging it again. My drug experimentation stopped with marijuana more than a decade ago. No cocaine. No heroin. No meth. Ever.

However, I do have memories of the drunken antics of relatives, an uncle in particular. There are the times Uncle Frank would pass out in my mother's garden. Being helpful children, we would water him right along with the corn, tomatoes and okra. I recall watching him in a fight with another inebriate when I was quite young. They were so soused their blows and kicks did not connect. I was bewildered by the difference between that fight and the ones I saw on television. Not all the memories are amusing, though. Ne'er-do-well Uncle Frank once set our house on fire. He lost consciousness while in the bottle. His cigarette -- hand-rolled with Prince Albert tobacco -- did the rest.

If someone had asked me why I did not think drinking excessively is a good idea when I was 10 years old, I would have said: Because it makes people do stupid things.

I thought about my long deceased uncle while reading an article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review. (A paid subscription is required.)

A missing Spokane Valley woman was found in her car Monday morning, alive and cold, about 24 hours after she got it stuck in a ditch on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

She was unable to exit the driver’s side of the car, because it was lodged against a tree. And the car’s broken windows did nothing to keep the rain out all night. But rescuers freed her by simply opening the passenger door, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

Inside the car, rescuers also found a nearly empty two-liter bottle of Potters vodka.

Christine K. Arbogast, 44, was reported missing Sunday after her husband got a cell phone call from her around 4 a.m. saying she was lost. She’s been asked to leave the Wild Boar Inn Bed and Breakfast in Harrison, Idaho, for “unruly behavior” and was reportedly drunk when she left, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

You read that right. Ms. Arbogast could have exited the damaged vehicle through the passenger side door. All that was required was a small application of common sense. Instead, thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on a search for her.

I still have a reason why I don't think drinking heavily is a good idea: Because it makes people do stupid things.


11:00 PM

Monday, May 16, 2005  

Commentary: A message from the proprietor

Am I dead? (Pinching self.) No. Not even in a permanent vegetative state. However, I have suffered some setbacks that led to a hiatus. The longest ever. I regret disappointing readers, and, apologize for having done so.

~ Computer problems that resulted in a replacement of my hard drive a couple weeks ago. I often write blog material early and store it. All those entries were lost. Since the hard drive problems also effected my clone to a backup device, they were permanently lost.

~ Failure of my blogging clients. My old favorite, Kung-Log, was lost in the hard drive meltdown. My secondary client, Chronicle Lite, has refused to work since the new hard drive was installed. The error message says it can't find the server, but no way to set the server address is offered. This entry is being written in the free version of iBlog, but it is inadequate because there is no automated coding available. Each italic, bold, paragraph, etc., code must be typed.

Prior to the complete failure of the hard drive, the computer was only nominally functional or not functional at all. These problems, coupled with my busy summer schedule, caused me to throw up my hands for a while. However, I haven't stopped reading and thinking. That means I might as well as be blogging. For me, blogging is just an extension of reading and thinking. So, I shall return.

The other most irritating aspect of losing my data is that my iTunes library went along with the rest. I am slowly rebuilding it. I do mean slowly. Tedium thou name is inserting CD after CD into a computer to import MP3s into iTunes. Some music I will not be getting back at all. Having been an iPod owner since the first iteration, there were CDs in the library that I no longer own. And, of course, all music from the iTunes Music Store is permanently gone. If you would like to do me a favor, purchase a CD from Amazon and send it to me. Whatever you think I would like. Or, make a small contribution to my PayPal account.


4:45 PM