SAVE BROADWAY, RAISE THE LIMITS

EDITOR: In the mid-'90s, with no vacancies, tons of serious independent businesses, and sometimes more tourists than full-time residents on the streets, Broadway Avenue was like the downtown of the most perfect little city in the world. I don't understand how anyone living there today who knows what it used to be like could argue for maintaining current density and still call himself a community advocate ["Fear of Heights," Amy Jenniges, May 12].

Perhaps folks like Ann Donovan are trapped in the golden days of Broadway Avenue and believe that any developer should consider it a privilege to develop there. That's hard to believe though, since long-term residents must see that like so many of the businesses that catered to them, the people are gone. At this point, any developer is taking a chance by developing on one of the only major streets in Seattle that is going downhill, especially when they can invest in taller buildings in cheaper neighborhoods west of Madison Street (which is really springing to life, in case Donovan hasn't noticed).

In unique neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, we should demand a lot from developers-like beauty, quality, and historical accuracy. But if "community advocates" won't budge on something as appropriate a 20-foot height increase on a street as wide and important as Broadway Avenue, there soon won't be much community to advocate for.

Brad Cross

SEATTLE WILL NEVER BE NYC

EDITOR: Amy Jenniges' editorial "Fear of Heights" is wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to start. Jenniges had resources readily at hand to make her article fair and representational of all parties involved. Instead she chose to single out Ann Donovan and attack her personally. Not only does this opinion piece grossly misrepresent the facts, it is also a disgusting exhibit of Jenniges and The Stranger's total lack of professionalism.

No one I know makes as much effort as Ann Donovan to fairly represent the multiple voices on Capitol Hill. She does this as a volunteer out of love for, and commitment to, our community. Ann is intelligent, caring, and fair-she listens with an open heart and engaged mind, considering everyone's input. She does an excellent job representing this community. (Much more than I can say for The Stranger). For Jenniges to suggest otherwise is deceptive and simply untrue.

The Capitol Hill Community Council's board (me included) took great efforts to represent the community in a fair and responsible way. Ann Donovan did not create, conduct, or tabulate the survey on her own. Neither was she the sole contributor or distributor of the flyers that went up two days before the public meeting on May 3. (Many of which strangely disappeared the very next day. What happened to free speech?) There were several of us involved and our effort was spurred by the need for community input in this public process. We were willing to accept whatever that input happened to be. Thanks Amy Jenniges for negating the hours of volunteer work the rest of us put in and thanks for disregarding the voice of over 150 Capitol Hill residents.

As to the height increase and the Gardner Johnson report, did you even read it or did you simply find a quote to fit your assertion and print that? Many of you at The Stranger seem to equate a height increase with an improvement of the business climate on Broadway. This is not only naive, it is potentially harmful as it diverts attention from addressing the real economic and social issues at play on Capitol Hill. We already have the density to support our businesses; the problem isn't the need for more people, the problem is why aren't they shopping on Broadway Avenue?

It also seems like some of you at The Stranger want to make a little NYC right here in Seattle and think increased density on Capitol Hill will do just that. I'm not sure how many of you, if any, have ever lived there but I did for over a decade and I can tell you that Seattle is never going to be NYC. It lacks the diversity-cultural, economic, social, and otherwise, as well as that extroverted, melting-pot energy that makes NYC special. And what about all that comes with additional density-increased noise, trash, pollution, taxes, rents, homelessness, poverty, and isolation? Building taller buildings, increasing density, and having 24-hour pizza are not going to make Capitol Hill vibrant again.

Instead of trying to be something that we're not we should value and support the very things that make Capitol Hill unique. One of those things is our love and acceptance of difference, this is where our strength lies and we should celebrate and embrace it.

Illeny Maaza

THREE CHEERS FOR SHARKANSKY

EDITOR: I'd like to drop you a line and tell you how much I enjoy the Sharkansky column. His stuff seems to spring from a pretty clear and engaged mind. That's more than I can say for the grand majority of newspaper writers in Seattle.

Steve Prestek

CHERYL HATERS CAN SUCK IT

EDITOR: Last week's I Anonymous ["Please Have Mercy, I Beg You," May 12] was completely lame. The article you chose to publish attacked a DJ who has made a tremendous contribution to Seattle's independent music community. Her personality and charm brighten my day each time I'm lucky enough to catch her on the radio.

Peter Mitchell

[Editor’s Note: In an effort to be more thorough, The Stranger now prints all the correspondence that comes to our Letters Editor. Because of the sheer volume of mail, we can’t always be bothered to edit, or even read it all. So blame the writers for mistakes of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or logic, because they’re there, if you’re looking.]

STRANGER COMPLICIT IN CHERYL HATING

EDITOR: I was appalled by your most recent column “I, Anonymous,” [“Please Have Mercy, I Beg You,” May 12] in which a particular and recognizable local radio DJ is directly criticized for her on-air personality. The only outcome that can possibly occur from such a rant is to emotionally crush the subject rather than right some particular wrong or admit to some specific misdeed, which exemplify the best instances of this column. However, this writer, a true coward to make such a personal attack anonymously, chooses to land only low blows when turning off the radio and playing a cd or turning on the iPod would more easily do. The writer selfishly fails to realize that many other listeners might feel differently, and even if the writer did feel so moved to action, why air it out here? Why not write to the station itself? Such misdirection is a coward’s game. What is most appalling, however, is the lack of journalistic integrity and apparent agenda displayed by The Stranger’s editorial staff in selecting this particular slight. Unless this column is truly on the decline, which I suspect more and more each week, and nobody else is writing in, I wonder what more amusing sordid personal confessions were turned down so that The Stranger could hide behind this coward in its own cowardly attack.

Jim Beckmann

A CHERYL HATER SPEAKS

EDITOR: I’m really sorry to say it, but I felt compelled to write in and agree with the sentiments of the I, Anonymous writer who was hating all over Cheryl Waters this week. I love KEXP and give them money, and even listen to Cheryl’s show, almost every day. I was so excited when my favorite station got rid of those terrible DJs Amanda “not” Wilde and Stevie “I’m 300 years old” Zoom. It’s a pity they replaced them with people who are also pretty terrible—maybe not as bad. Kevin Cole and Cheryl at least seem to know something about music. But they’re both lousy on the air. Dull voices, dull wits, and just basically unpleasant. It’s a good thing they play so much music. Why can’t the best station in Seattle have the best DJ staff, too? Anyway, I’m just voicing what all my KEXP-loving friends also think. Sorry, but not that sorry.

J.L.

AND ANOTHER

EDITOR: That I, Anonymous was painfully right. Jesus, somebody get Cheryl Waters off the fucken radio. At least she and John aren’t doing that godawful “banter” between shows anymore. It almost drove me to KZOK.

Radio Fan

CHRISTIANITY IS NOT THE WORLD

EDITOR: While I don’t like writing letters to the editor about other letters to the editor, something “Mike” shouted in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS really grated on me. The overwhelming majority of the world is NOT Christianity, and especially not while people probably in his camp are trying to say other less conservative Christians don’t worship their God.

In actuality, Christianity is about 2.1 billion, Islam 1.4 billion, Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist 1.1 billion, and about 2.4 billion Other. Hardly the overwhelming majority. Unless Mike is only considering People Who Matter by excluding those aren’t of European descent.

But majority or not, the freedom to practice religion goes both ways. Mike can’t claim the same freedom I have by telling me that I live in a Christian world so Just Be Quiet when somebody tries to lead me in prayer or spend public money acknowledging a very specific Christian God. If taking God out of public policy threatens your religion, then your religion is a threat to mine.

Mike correctly points out the Taliban as an organization forcing religion down people’s throats, but it’s predictable how so-called Religious Freedom organizations run by Christians are only concerned about people unable to practice their Christianity. And worse, cannot see the parallels of fundamentalism in any religion. Is Mike so passionate about Chinese Buddhists I wonder?

Do not call me intolerant of Christians, Mike. I would give my life fighting for your freedoms if I were called to do so. But those freedoms are also mine.

Paul Forgey

DON’T CALL ME CANADIAN CHRISTIAN, AMERICAN

EDITOR: In brief response to the letter by ‘Mike’ [“YOUR ATHEISM IS COOL (DIRECTOR’S CUT),” More Letters, May 12], yes, Canada is ostensibly christian. However, for the most part nobody gives a damn or makes a big deal about it. Like language politics, religion is seen as a private matter - the only mormons I’ve seen knocking on my door were from the US! So it’s a bit complicated. While Canada is less secular and politically correct, it doesn’t seem to matter since everyone is so much less hung up about it. Hearing George Bush talk about his personal conversations with god gives the rest of the world chills because intolerant fundamentalists (whether they are from texas, iran or wherever) all sound predictably the same.

To give an example, at my public highschool, one required class was Morals and Religious Education. In the US this would be either a scandal or a dream, depending on where you live, and unconstitutional in either case. But, here nobody cares about religion (according to the 2001 census 31% consider religion important, %16 are atheist), so we had a broad, historical, and realistic overview of various religions and spent the rest of the time talking about how to drink and use drugs responsibly. hoo boy, and the US is only a 45 minute drive away.

So my point here is that while “THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF THE WORLD” is religious, not everyone is quite as obsessive/insecure about it as the US is. Read the bible, but please not with a megaphone.

martin

SMART KIDS NEED SMART SCHOOLS

EDITOR: Normally, I don’t respond to such ill-wrought and overwrought commentaries as the Open Letter to the Seattle Public School District” by “Jurist Prudence,” [Advertisement, May 12] but an appalled friend asked me to; besides, it’s conceivable that some of your readers may be swayed by Prudence’s misbegotten sentimentality.

I drive my 9-year-old son to Lowell Elementary School every day in my 1995 Toyota Corolla station wagon—not, as Prudence would have it, a Mercedes, BMW, or late model SUV. My car, I believe, is fairly typical, but then I haven’t conducted a meticulous survey as apparently Prudence has done. Prudence’s eyesight is impressive indeed to have spotted “hypodermic needles from IV drug users in the playgrounds and surrounding yards,” as well as “duct” tape and bungee cords holding the building together. Perhaps Prudence should get a day job.

I enrolled my son in Lowell because I wanted what most parents want for their children: I wanted him to be challenged in school. It’s as simple as that. The data are overwhelming that students who are engaged in their schoolwork are more successful. And it’s difficult to be engaged in your schoolwork when your teacher is attending to students who aren’t able to master what you’ve mastered years ago, whether it’s quadratic equations, hygiene, or self-control. We all have that in common.

Lowell provides a community for both advanced placement students and special education students; it’s a great mix. The advanced placement students see every day that those much less fortunate than they are have needs, talents, and personalities consistent with their own. They belong to a community at Lowell—a caring, cohesive community.

Prudence’s alternative to having this community is to destroy it—disperse it to Spectrum programs in local neighborhoods. But the whole idea of Lowell is to foster an environment of challenge and engagement—just like environments in other schools. The APP students at Lowell aren’t “better” than the other students. However, they, like the special ed. students at Lowell, do have different needs; and those needs are met at Lowell and not at other Seattle public schools. They’re certainly not met by the Spectrum program; otherwise, there would have been no need for APP.

Let me make one other comment on Prudence’s observation that placing “gifted students from Lowell into the local neighborhood schools would provide tangible role models for other striving students.” It’s unfortunate but true that “gifted” students, as well as special ed. students and other students who are different in some way, are not often looked upon as people to be emulated; rather, they are often ridiculed, harassed, and denigrated. To the extent that Prudence believes they will be role models, the current Spectrum students should be able to fulfill that position. But if Prudence believes that everyone is going to look at a student who gets top grades as a hero, well, my guess is that Prudence hasn’t been to school in a long, long time.

The existence of Lowell Elementary provides a quality, public education for its students, and it doesn’t hinder the education of other students. It’s not broken; please don’t try to fix it.

Neal Starkman

NAME THE UNNAMED

EDITOR: The Stranger has printed an advertisement as sly and underhanded as a Karl Rove piece. Is it now the policy of the newspaper to allow un-signed or un-ascribed political advertisements? I would request that you publish the name of the organization or individuals who posted the ad.

Other cities (NY and Chicago) with far more economic and racial diversity than Seattle have had highly successful accelerated or gifted programs for many years, and understand the need to create a community for these children. The gutting of this program by a rudderless school board is a sad event. You have just become a willing pawn in the program’s destruction.

Randall C. Franco

JURIST PRUDENCE IS A SPITEFUL PIECE OF SHIT

EDITOR: I don’t know if you print letters that are a response to a “Paid Advertisement,” but I could not let this one go by without comment. I cannot believe what a spiteful piece of shit you published on page 4 of your May 12-18 edition. Some anonymous person (or people) under the nom de plume ‘Jurist Prudence’ takes aim at what is an essential and incredibly successful school program. I could respond to their letter in detail, but you would only publish it if I paid you, so here is a brief response.

* Lowell parents are not all wealthy elitists who drive the kids in their SUVs. Take a look at the line of buses on the west side of the school any morning and the old Volvos etc on the east side of the school.

* We have an obligation to educate all our children and many of the gifted go through school bored out of their minds and ignored by teachers unless they cause trouble. Lowell has done a great job of creating an environment where this group of children are well served with less money per capita than any of the other schools in the district. Yes the children could move to Spectrum programs, but these are not designed to serve the same group and the district’s commitment to Spectrum has been very shaky over the years.

* It is a flat out lie that only “upper echelon public officials who (sic) children attend this school”. Children are tested and even the children of a past Superintendent of the Seattle Schools could not get in when they did not test in.

* The city cannot write off neighborhoods like Capitol Hill by closing and selling off their schools. They need to make them good places families and children as that will make them good neighborhoods for all.

* Assuming that the School Distinct could net $20M before the next fiscal year (an almost impossible achievement), it would solve the budget shortfall for 1 year. What is Jurist Prudence’s solution for the subsequent years? Close another successful program and sell off the building? The problem is that our schools are grossly under funded. The number I recently heard (but have not been able to verify) is that Washington State ranks 48th in per capita student funding. This kind of solution is idiotic.

I am pleased to hear that Mr. Manhas has withdrawn the school closure plan. Small schools are a good model for education. I only hope that there is a way that he and the school board can make the budget work.

Nic Rossouw

OPEN LETTER FROM THE CAPITOL HILL COMMUNITY COUNCIL

STRANGER EDITOR AND AMY JENNIGES: Your personal attack on Ann Donovan in the editorial Fear of Heights (May 12, 2005) is completely unprofessional and out-of-line. Ms. Donovan is our current president but unlike other institutions in this city, she is not our dictator. The Capitol Hill Community Council (CHCC) works as a democracy. We meet as a group, we discuss issues and we encourage, include and seek out community input. The Council strives for honest, fair representation. We are an all-volunteer organization without political aspiration. We do not work in a self-indulgent vacuum.

The CHCC has been actively addressing the Broadway rezone issue for at least 5 months. On Tuesday, May 10, Ms. Jenniges called Ms. Donovan and mentioned that The Stranger was working on a piece about the rezone proposal. She said that The Stranger wanted to include something about the survey. Jenniges indicated that she wished to do a balanced story regarding the upzone on Broadway. She also mentioned that she had to rein in Josh Feit in his editing of this particular piece. Apparently he was angered by the signs the board posted to try to get community input for the public meeting on May 3. Noticeably, he was not in attendance at that meeting.

The Capitol Hill Community Council did two surveys. The first one was to the “capitolhillnews” email list. We had just over 45 respondents and a majority of them were homeowners. Many were unilaterally against height increases. Even among those in favor of the height increase, a strong pattern emerged (based on their added comments) against an upzone of everything. The majority stated hat there should be some tradeoffs in exchange for increased heights and zone changes. Many indicated that they were voting for change, thinking it would improve Broadway.

We reviewed the results at the April Community Council meeting. Surprisingly, a resident had done his own on-the-street polling. His polling revealed strong opposition for the upzone. The group at the April CHCC meeting felt that more input was needed and therefore it was decided to poll a larger group in the hopes that the respondents would more closely match the neighborhood demographics of 11 renters for every to 2 homeowners. Council members then went out and personally collected surveys on Broadway, 15th Ave E, and along Olive Way. The results of this on-the-street polling provided results that aligned much closer to the actual ratio of renters to homeowners. The fact still remained that the great majority of respondents were not in favor of the upzone -- including a large number of people who didn’t want any of the proposed changes.

The CHCC Board took great efforts to represent the community in a fair and responsible way. Ann Donovan did not create, conduct or tabulate the survey on her own. There were several people involved. The main reason for this extra effort was the belief that greater Community input was needed in this public process. All involved were willing to accept whatever that input happened to be.

Thanks Amy Jenniges for negating the hours of volunteer work put in and thanks for disregarding the voice of over 150 people as “a few noisy residents”.

The CHCC has stated that it wants trade-offs for any height increases/zone changes, and if additional heights are granted, there should be some public benefit. Fortunately, Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck heard the community, and consequently proposed a very balanced amendment through the plan he released to the public on May 11.

The CHCC is not the only community group to oppose across-the-board height increases to 65 feet, contrary to Jenniges’ suggestions. In fact, the Capitol Hill Stewardship Council also came out against the height increase portion of the rezone proposal. This was without soliciting as much neighborhood input as the CHCC did prior determining its position.

Additionally, the only thing Ms. Donovan said to a property owner after the May 3rd meeting was that the financial overhead of the Safeway project was probably much larger than the former QFC site – which Burkheimer has repeatedly said has been in his family for 50 years. Surely a development planned for that site with 120 units would be financially viable at the current zoning. (There are witnesses to this conversation.)

Here are a few additional facts to help clarify several inaccuracies in your story:

* Kinko’s relocated up the street to a new development in the neighborhood.

* Si Effert’s property at the corner of John and Broadway does not have any street level vacancies, and that property is due to be taken by Sound

Transit as a part of the construction of the Capitol Hill station.

* One new development has opened in the past year on Broadway (Broadway Plaza) and another development is due to start very soon at the Bank of America site.

* A mixed-use project with Walgreen’s will be going in at the corner of Pine and Broadway -- at heights taller than had originally been planned by Walgreen’s, which revised its plans to accommodate community requests.

* Burkheimer has had plans for his property (the old QFC site) already drafted for the past 4-5 years. At one time, he met with the Council asking for support for a small height departure (4-9 foot) to facilitate adding in ductwork for a grocery store. The CHCC supported his request. QFC moved out of Burkheimer’s property after they both knew that it would not be a part of his redevelopment -- this has all been public knowledge, known for at least the last 4 years.

* The building at the corner of Broadway and John is 5 stories tall, not 6 stories, as incorrectly reported in your story.

The Capitol Hill Community Council Board

Gary Clark

Catherine Brumbaugh

Illeny Maaza

[Ed. Note: CHCC board member Andrew Kirsch was out of town and did not have an opportunity to comment on this letter, so his name is omitted.]

MESSAGE BOARDS ARE SAVING BROADWAY

EDITOR: I want to commend Amy Jenniges on this weeks article “Fear of Heights” [May 12 ]. I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for almost ten years now, have been active within the business community and am a member of the Capitol Hill Message Boards where members can post feedback to the Capitol Hill Community Council.

The Capitol Hill Community Council is a very small group of elected individuals (by whom, I have no idea). Whatever criticisms I may have of their position, they do have the ear of City Hall and are recognized as the voice of Capitol Hill by the City Council.

In an area of the city where there are 30,000 residents, the total members on these boards currently numbers only 355 members. This small group of individuals were the pool by which the recent survey was conducted. From this already small number, a grand total of approximately 150 surveys were submitted (see survey results from last weeks Capitol Hill Times). By any stroke of the imagination, saying that the results of this survey could be an accurate assessment on how the residents of Capitol Hill feel about re zoning Broadway would be a stretch.

Whether the Capitol Hill Community Council President, Ann Donovan, is passing her own personal views off to the city has yet to be seen. However, one has to question the nature and intent of the questions being asked on the Capitol Hill News Group site.

For Example, Here is but one posting from this board: “Stop the Destruction of Broadway! Tuesday May 3, 2005, 6:00 PM Seattle Central Community College Room 1110 The mayor of Seattle has proposed a major and controversial upzone of Broadway which may block sunlight, destroy buildings that give character to our neighborhood, eliminate views, decrease parking availability, and will reduce residential open space.” To the best of my knowledge, this could definitely be considered a leading/manipulative post by a President of a community organization.

I would encourage as many Capitol Hill Residents as possible to become involved in the above mentioned message boards and also e-mail, write and call the City Council members and the Mayors office on the issue of re zoning of Broadway. Ultimately getting accurate public feedback to the voting proper decision makers is of vital importance. Clearly, Broadway is not getting any better and creating problems for the City and the devlopers willing to invest in our neighborhood does not benefit anyones interest.

Paul R. Riek

Capitol Hill

RAISE THE HEIGHT LIMITS

EDITOR: Ann Donovan and her compatriots fail to see the big picture in regards to raising Capitol Hill’s building height limits from 40 feet to 65 feet. In only about 3 years, one and half city blocks of Broadway businesses are going to be completely bulldozed. The existing businesses will need a new place to go on Broadway and right now there there are few options. Most of these businesses will either move far from Broadway and never return or they will simply shut their doors. So why is a block is getting bulldozed and why 3 years? Four words: Sound Transit’s Light Rail. The Capitol Hill Sound Transit Light Rail station is going from John to just south of Denny on the east side of Broadway and construction is expected to start as early 2008. Since cut-and-cover construction is being used, the entire area will be bulldozed, a large hole dug, the station constructed, then covered over, and businesses will be allowed to return after several years of this construction (while this is unfortunate, I agree that given the location and depth constraints that this is Sound Transit’s only realistic option). If new places for businesses are not created, Broadway will look like swiss cheese.

Chris Dreher

SAVE BROADWAY, BUILD IT UP

EDITOR: As a gay, rock-loving, Doc Marten-wearing 14 year old, Broadway was cemented early in my mind as a little slice of urban paradise. This was in the mid nineties. With no vacancies, tons of serious independent businesses and sometimes more tourists than full-time residents on the streets, Broadway was like the downtown of the most perfect little city in the world.

I don’t understand how anyone living there today who knows what it used to be like could argue for maintaining current density and still call themselves a community advocate. Perhaps folks like Ann Donavan are trapped in the golden days of Broadway and believe that any developer should consider it a privilege to develop there. That’s hard to believe though, since long-term residents must see that like so many of the businesses that catered to them, the people are gone. At this point, any developer is taking a chance by developing on one of the only major streets in Seattle that is going downhill, especially when they can invest in taller buildings in cheaper neighborhoods west of Madison (which is really springing to life, in case Donovan hasn’t noticed).

In unique neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, we should demand a lot from developers, like beauty, quality, and historical accuracy. But if “community advocates” won’t budge on something as appropriate a twenty-foot height increase on a street as wide and important as Broadway, there soon won’t be much community to advocate for. Donovan may want to start sending out feelers for positions on the Central District community council.

Brad Cross

SEATTLE WILL NEVER BE NYC (DIRECTOR’S CUT)

EDITOR: There was a time when I read The Stranger weekly. I hated to miss even one issue. But that was several years ago and those days are long gone. Why? One reason is uninformed, one-sided, naive writing like that exhibited by Amy Jenniges’ in her editorial Fear of Heights (May 12, 2005). Articles like this have turned my stomach one too many times. It’s like you all are a bunch of reactionary peter-pans, living in your own little NYC wanna-be fantasy land. You try so hard to be cool, contrary and against the status quo that you just end up looking like juvenile, self-indulgent asses. It’s too bad really and Micheal-Jackson-kind-of-sad.

This article is wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to start. Jenniges’ musings about the proposed rezoning of Broadway is equivalent to Dan writing about the fashion trends of women’s thong panties. (Remember that Dan? I do.) But what makes this worse is that Jenniges had resources readily at hand to make her article fair and representational of all parties involved. Instead she choose to single out Ann Donovan and attack her personally. Not only does this opinion piece grossly misrepresent the facts it is also a disgusting exhibit of Jenniges and The Stranger’s total lack of professionalism.

There is no one I know that makes as much effort as Ann Donovan to fairly represent the multiple voices on Capitol Hill. She does this as a volunteer, out of love for and commitment to our community. Ann is intelligent, caring and fair, she listens with an open heart and engaged mind, considering everyone’s input. She does an excellent job representing this community. (Much more than I can say for The Stranger). For Jenniges to suggest otherwise is deceptive and simply untrue.

The Capitol Hill Community Council’s board (me included) took great efforts to represent the community in a fair and responsible way. Ann Donovan did not create, conduct or tabulate the survey on her own. Neither was she the sole contributor or distributor of the flyers that went up two days before the public meeting on May 3. (Many of which strangely disappeared the very next day. What happened to free speech?) There were several of us involved and our effort was spurred by the need for community input in this public process. We were willing to accept whatever that input happened to be. Thanks Amy Jenniges for negating the hours of volunteer work the rest of us put in and thanks for disregarding the voice of over 150 Capitol Hill residents.

As to the height increase and the Gardner/Johnson report did you even read it or did you simply find a quote to fit your assertion and print that? Many of you at The Stranger seem to equate a height increase with an improvement of the business climate on Broadway. This is not only naive it is potentially harmful as it diverts attention from addressing the real economic and social issues at play on Capitol Hill. We already have the density to support our businesses the problem isn’t the need for more people, the problem is why aren’t they shopping on Broadway?

It also seems like some of you at The Stranger want to make a little NYC right here in Seattle and think increased density on Capitol Hill will do just that. I’m not sure how many of you, if any, have ever lived there but I did for over a decade and I can tell you that Seattle is never going to be a NYC. It lacks the diversity -- cultural, economic, social and otherwise, as well as that extroverted, melting-pot energy that makes NYC special. And what about all that comes with additional density: increased noise, trash, pollution, taxes, rents, homelessness, poverty and isolation? That’s part of the package. Building taller buildings, increasing density and having 24 hour pizza is not going to make Capitol Hill vibrant again.

Instead of tying to be something that we’re not we should value and support the very things that make Capitol Hill unique. One of those things is our love and acceptance of difference, this is where our strength lies and we should celebrate and embrace it. I could continue but I won’t.

Illeny Maaza

Capitol Hill resident, shopper and homeowner

Note to Amy Jenniges: Shame on you! Perhaps you should read the journalist’s code of ethics, here’s the gist: “Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.” Oh, that’s right this a Stranger piece, no need for accurate, honest reporting here, just an opinion will do.

Note to The Stranger’s editor: If you do choose to print or post this letter I hope that the original context and intent of my letter is not lost in the editing process.

THANKS FOR HELPING SAVE BROADWAY

EDITOR: I just wanted to commend you on an overdue very well-written article. I’ve been watching the slide of Broadway for years and can’t believe a few loud-mouthed idiots want to keep it on the slick slope to oblivion. Thanks for raising awareness of our chance to start the revival of what used to be the most bitchin’ street in town.

Al Payne

Nordstrom Corporate Rack

Home/Gifts/Handbags

BROADWAY IS DYING, LET IT GROW

EDITOR: Thanks for your article in the current Stranger! I live on Broadway E. just north of what’s left of the business district. I am not much of an activist, but Ms. Donovan’s selfish, short-sighted stand outrages me and I would like to find a way to express myself in opposition to her. For years I have held that Seattle’s short-sighted limitations have cost us the Sammamish plateau, which might well still be the almost virgin area it was when I first came to the city. People have been driven out of the city to the suburbs, generating intolerable traffic and ridiculous sprawl. Higher buildings would create more view property than the present limited height buildings currently provide.

Distributing an anti-height brochure on the basis of interviews with only seven people is, in my mind, almost criminally misleading, and most surely perversion of the public responsibility Ms. Donovan carries.

How do I find out when the City Council meets to consider the height proposal, and where can I find out where and when the Capitol Hill Community Council meets; I have enough mind left to give that council a piece of it.

C. Wight Reade M.D.

BROADWAY NEEDS DENSITY

EDITOR: Thank you for the story, “Fear of Heights.” I live further up on Capitol Hill, and as soon as I saw Mayor Nickels on the news talking about his proposal to raise height limits all over the city, I knew we’d soon be hearing alarmist excuses from the usual reactionary nimbys with no vision for the future. When will Seattlites get it through their skulls that density is good for quality of life in an urban area? I’m from New York, and don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that Seattle is a much more green, open, and airy city than New York. But New York is cavernous because so many buildings are over 60 stories, well beyond the outside limit Nichols is proposing for the downtown business district. Environmentalists should be for density because it means a shorter commute, more stores within walking distance, more people on public transit and fewer single-occupant cars clogging up the highways and bridges. It means a vibrantly alive city. Once upon a time the founders of Seattle envisioned a new New York. As long as new building continues to keep the green of the Emerald city in mind (like the new courthouse and library, which are set back from the street and include landscaping), taller buildings can inspire us all.

Julia Trimarco

SHARKANSKY IS SMART

EDITOR: Stefan (“the shark”) Sharkansky has me thinking. As much as I desire a high gas tax in this state (there is a myriad of logic for it that I believe outweighs the logic against), does he not have a ridiculously valid point? We the people of Washington State approved an absurd restriction on the government to send tax hikes to the voters for approval (as if any tax increase will ever be approved by a state majority...). It’s dumb, but it’s the rules. It is arrogant of Olympia to snub these rules determined by “the people” in what is supposed to be a “democracy.” I am in full disagreement with voter approval for taxes but understand and even support the cries for the legislature to behave. I would like to hear a local politician’s explanation for why or how they can get around voter approved rules.

Paul Marrott Weaver

WHERE’S SHARKANSKY?

EDITOR: I’ve started picking up The Stanger to read again, looking forward to Stefan Sharkansky’s “Sound Bite” column. However, it’s really hard to find. I could not find “Sound Bite” listed in the Table on Contents in the hard copy and could not find it in any of the online table of contents. I eventually found it by searching for “Stefan Sharkansky” on the search page and was then glad to find it. Please keep Stefan’s column running and reasonably easy to find.

Lisa Ball

“P” IS FOR “PATHETIC”

JOSH FEIT: Ok, let me get this straight—you go to a campaign event attended by hundreds of people, and find just two neighborhood folks you can cite to support the conclusion that neighobrhood people love Greg Nickels [CounterIntel, May 12]. By way of contrast, at Nick Licata’s event, you could find dozens of neighborhood people and, if you were lucky, two developers. Does this mean that there’s a groundswell of developer support for Licata? Pathetic.

Matt Fox

CONTRACEPTION EMERGENCY

EDITOR: A hearty thanks for Hannah Levin’s article Access Denied. Despite Steen’s left-handed compliment (and he is still the most important component of your fine paper) this is a vital story that deserves, demands really, further coverage in keeping with other recent important stories in The Stranger. To wit: The inconsistency of pro-birth abortion whiners about the fetus “holocaust” while denouncing with equal vigor alternative birth control methods that would certainly reduce the number of abortions. Science, as pointed out in your article, has nothing to do with it. We are inflicted with the forum of people who would have those of us who are fucking in anything other than the missionary position, for any reason other than procreation, put in PRISON. Period. In other words, a march backward in time. Overstated? Perhaps, but included is a bit of our glorious past for your consideration. “If any person shall carnally know in any manner any brute animal, or carnally know any male or female person by the anus or by and with the mouth, or voluntarily submit to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years”- (Commonwealth of Virginia Anti-Sodomy Statute, 1792) Finally, the database of local pharmacists who will happily dispense ECP’s is fine. But what about the same for pharmacists who refuse to do the same? As a former techician who has worked in in and outpatient pharmacies in Washington and California, I would like to know who these people are and, when possible, to test how firmly are held their convictions.

Chris Hite

DEMOCRATS ARE ALSO TERRIBLE

EDITOR: I’m surprised Hannah Levin’s article “Access Denied” failed to mention the proposed “Workplace Religious Freedom Act,” which would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense prescriptions for contraceptives. Maybe it’s because Levin is too focused on the “religious right.” The bill’s co-sponsors are John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

June Williams

BLAH BLAH BLAH LIBERALS

HELLO JOSH: Your “Suspect Senator” article [May 5] seems like an awful lot of tolerance coming from a democrat. You don’t like someone so get rid of them. Sounds like maybe some of you need to pratice what you preach and use some of that tolerance you all whine about not getting.

Robin Larson

ENJOY THAT COCKTAIL… FASCIST

HANNAH LEVIN: On your question about $10 margueritas [“Date Place Time, May 12], yes it’s the war, but not the one you think. Check out what has gone down in Mexico over the last few years, the Mezcal struggles, the Agave issues. Tequila is more expensive; like petroleum, there is only so much cactus to go around. Its a story ripe for The [Dook, Dook, Dook] Stranger.

Kevin Scientist

CHAC FLACK ATTACK

EDITOR: I was a little offended by the oblique accusation of being a liar in Brendan Kiley’s article about the problems at Capitol Hill Arts Center. It seems to have stemmed from my quote, “But without Static Factory, CHAC, and especially the Lower Level, would not be possible,” and “I believe they were used.” And the CHAC rebuttal that, “CHAC counters that it bore the majority of the bar-construction costs (a claim Static Factory doesn’t dispute)”. Such is the peril of the quote without context. I was initially not interested in contributing to the article for this very reason. But now, it‚s out there, and I feel the need to defend myself, with context.

I was talking about community, not currency. And while money is a big part of running a business, an equal part is; who is making that money for you and how are you treating them?

When CHAC started, members of what became Static Factory Media provided many of the client connections that helped CHAC establish itself and pay the rent. During the renovation, SFM worked on the Lower Level for free. Then, for the next year, the SFM crew continued to work for free building up programming in the bar and making connections in the community. Interestingly, CHAC CEO Matthew Kwatinetz was unaware that SFM was working without pay until much later. Among those programs and connections were Basskamp (which helped bring Decibel Fest to CHAC), the Monday night Burning Man crowd (which was a consistent highest grossing night and rented the upstairs for meetings and parties on many occasions), a well attended Indie Rock Night (Programmed by SubStudios, another CHAC tenant), an excellent art gallery in the bar and many other successful programs and events produced both in conjunction with and independently of CHAC.

All of this groundwork was laid while the SFM staff was working with no compensation except as bartenders, sound techs or security. The amount of free work done on/for the Lower Level by SFM and their friends, without cost to CHAC, is probably at least equal to the amount of money CHAC spent on building the LL. It was only in the last year or so that SFM were able to pay themselves.

SFM was there from almost the very beginning, pitching in, building up and making significant progress and community contributions under the haphazard strictures placed on them by CHAC.

When SFM leaves CHAC, so will their programming and connections. Also, they will vacate a space located directly beneath a busy theater, with all of the noise and strict regulations from above. Who else will want to rent this space? Who will run the bar? Who will program the nights? CHAC? With a full time staff of only four and a number of part time employees? While producing four full theater productions (I heard a rumor of eight for next year), managing rentals, tenants and facilities? The loss of Static Factory will leave a gaping hole in the CHAC income, mission and reputation.

Maybe I was talking about currency after all∑ But not the kind you can put on a spreadsheet and show your investors, until it has been lost, forever.

Sky Darwin

Former Production Manager, Technical Director

(and apparently not a Co-Founder) of Capitol Hill Arts

Center

BRENDAN KILEY RESPONDS:

Sky: I never meant to suggest you were lying. Other people also asserted that Static Factory was “used” but I wanted to make clear that SF didn’t claim to bear the majority of bar cost. Your position on financial vs. community capital was one among many nuances sacrificed at the altar of brevity. My apologies.

THE DAY ANNIE BLEW HER SHOT AT BEING PUBLISHED BY WAVES OF ANGUISH (AND JOY) PUBLICATIONS

EDITOR: Ms. Wagner’s piece on Bach at Leipzig [On Stage, May 12] is devoid of reasons for her taste.

Dr. Franz Angst

Publisher, Wages of Anguish (And Joy) Publications

HOLY SHIT: A LETTER ABOUT THE SCORE!

EDITOR: Chris DeLaurenti’s most recent column [May 12] is most welcome, and I would like to add a thought or two to his comments. I believe that the villain in the demise of high musical culture (which includes composers as diverse as Harry Partch, Alban Berg and Charles Mingus, to name but a very few) is the ideology of the market and the mass market which it serves, oriented entirely as it is to instant gratification and giving “people what they want”, a perspective appropriate, perhaps, to new born infants, but hardly to presumably intelligent adults. Higher culture is based on a diametrically opposed perspective-the appreciation of masters and their work, an appreciation which takes both time and effort to develop, never mind the capacity for patience with might at first seem strange, even difficult and - who knows? - perhaps even morally suspect. Sad to say, much of the “serious” music industry had done little else but pander to mass taste and expectations in the name of democratic ideals and egalitarianism-the “masses” may not know much, but they know what they like, and in the end they are masters of the situation. Even genuine appreciation of the masterworks of past tradition is successfully aborted, never mind the fate of dynamic and vital new work, by the symbiotic dynamic of the bottom line and mass cultural illiteracy. The mind-set responsible for this state of affairs is exactly as insidious as that of the partisans of openly totalitarian regimes with their subordination of culture to class, race and/or national ideologies, and the partisans of mass democratic culture can only look on with satisfaction as the classical tradition of Indian music, for example, is drowned in the liquid manure flowing daily out of American sound studios. These latter are in a league with such philosophers of the rabble as, say, Andrei Zhdanov and Joseph Goebbels, and are every bit as guilty of crimes against culture as were these masters of the past, one a communist idologue, the other a Nazi. True, here artists aren’t shot or driven into exile (if they are lucky), but anyone who has confronted the deliberate and screaming indifference that American cultural institutions greet any endeavour independent of the market dynamic, as I have, can only agree with Harry Partch’s wry and rather sad observation on American musical life in his time: “They don’t kill you here-they just ignore you to death.”

phillip arnautoff

GODDAMN IT. OH SHIT!

EDITOR: I hate to say that the conservatives are right, but when Dan went on his tirade about thanking god recklessly in a public forum [“Thank God,” Dan Savage, May 5], i.e. harping on actors/musicians thanking the all mighty, he should have made sure he never had made the same mistake... In the following Article : http://www.thestranger.com/2004-05-06/feature2.html Savage starts with the phrase, “Thank God.” And granted it’s an old article, but he used the phrase none the less. Just balancing out the side a bit.

Mike Drinkwater

LIE-CROSOFT

EDITOR: A couple weeks back, Microsoft Operations Program Manager Jeff Koertzen told The Stranger that he was quitting Microsoft over its handling of the gay marriage issue [“The Lying Game,” Sandeep Kaushik, May 5]. “My principles do not allow me to work for a company that [lies],” he explained.

I wish Koertzen luck finding a job with a corporation that doesn’t lie. But since he was able to work for Microsoft despite the fact that it lied its way through one of the most important antitrust lawsuits of the last quarter century, I’m sure his “principles” are flexible enough to keep him from having to undergo too much sacrifice in finding a new occupation.

Trevor Griffey

Seattle

LATE TERM ABORTION ARTICLE PRAISE

EDITOR: The Chocolates for Choice coverage [“Half Baked,” Annie Wagner, Feb 24] included some good remarks about the Clinton disposition even as the Roe v. Wade decision might be revisited during Bush’s term, etc. It has become rather nice to find such reports on your website.

Dave McLallen

Birmingham, AL

UP WITH STRIPPERS

EDITOR: I’m sure every radio at The Stranger was turned to Air America, waiting for Dan Savage’s admittedly brilliant and hilarious media whoring. But Mayer Greg “Chainsaw” Nicols was busy on KUOW denouncing strippers. Nobody but Dan Savage would have the balls to stand up for strippers, not even me. I have a job and it wouldn’t be smart to use my real name in a letter to the Stranger about how much I love strippers and going to strip clubs with a dollar in my mouth and getting lap dances from beautiful young women rubbing against my crotch for twenty bucks.

None of the city council members will take a pro-stripper stand, the flaccid liberal fucks. Nicols said that these businesses “don’t add anything to the neighborhoods.” Let’s leave out the back room politics behind the moritorium that maintains a shared monopoly among the present businesses, and benifits the present strip club owners over the consumers and dancers. Just applying the logic of what it “adds to the neighborhood,” are strip clubs worse than drinking clubs? Let’s say a hard working man goes into a strip club and spends a hundred bucks, then gets back in his car and drives home. Do you really think that is worse than the same guy going into Deano’s, drinking a hundred bucks worth of swill, and then driving home. I think not. And we don’t have to beat up on Deano’s, there are hundreds of people driving home every night after doing commerce at a drinking establishment or two. And there are plenty of other types of business that “add nothing to their neighborhoods.”

At some point the prudes and scolds will run all the commercial fishermen and construction workers out of town to work in Portland, or Anchorage, or Vancouver, BC. Jumping Jesus, do we really want Seattle to become Salt Lake City? Let the girls dance naked, and quit being such a bunch of asses. Fuck. I heart strippers, mass!!!

Priapus the Elder

I LOVE YOU, BUT WHAT DO YOU DO FOR ME?

EDITOR: What the Fuck? I wait every Thursday for The Stranger. I am glad to see that you finally distribute as far south as the Half Price bookstore in Southcenter, but really where and when? The Stranger used to be distributed at Metro bases, but we have our share of Bible Thumpers. In fact, I have had a passenger complain about my reading of pornographic materials—I was reading Savage Love with a dilldoe ad opposite—while on duty. Fuck them, I’m on break. I’m entitled to solitude. Contractually, I can kick your ass off! Be grateful that I hate waiting in the cold as much as everyone else, I don’t have to let you on the coach while I am on break! I love The Stranger. I have one passneger that leaves me an advance copy Wednesday evenings on the 5. To him, I am grateful (even enough not to use a contraction). But if I try to access The Stranger online on Thursday—no dice, it’s last week. Even the Weekly isn’t as lame. What’s the dice? Where and when can I find the most updated scoop on Last Days, Savage Love, Mistress Matisse, and The Stranger Suggests? Screw outside of greater Seattle, how about your true devotees that solicite your actual advertisers, such as; Babes in Toyland, Neumo’s, and the Cinerama, not to mention tons of others. I want locations on vestibules, especially at bus terminals. A devoted fan with a 4am to 7ish. (My employer would be pissed.)

K Gray

P.S. THEY ALSO PROMOTE GAY MALE MASTURBATION

EDITOR: I was perusing the current trends at my local Abercrombie & Fitch location when I came across a table full of brightly colored t-shirts. As I came closer, I noticed there were messages printed on the shirts. Some of the various messages included, “Sotally Tober”, “I need a stiff one”, and “I see you already met the twins.” As I was looking at the advertisements, a young girl around 12 years old held up one of the bright green t-shirts relaying the message “Don’t bother, I’m not drunk yet” and she smiled. She seemed tickled by the offensive message on the shirt. I wondered if this young girl knew exactly what that shirt implied.

A&F Co. wasn’t always the controversial company that it is today. Historically, A&F Co. was one of the popular retail stores for America’s sporting elite. Their target market included big-game hunters, outdoorsmen, and fisherman. Not only the wealthy, but also the influential sported these fashions as well. Ernest Hemingway, President Teddy Roosevelt, President Gerald Ford, Katherine Hepburn, and Clark Gable all wore Abercrombie & Fitch fashion. Today, the corporation cater to a different demographic. Their target audience has turned toward wealthy suburban adolescents.

At the point of purchase, the store maintains a fraternity-like atmosphere. The walls are wood-trimmed and loud music is pumped throughout at a level mandated by corporate regulations. This is all designed to enhance the comfort of teens while shopping. In addition, the company places large photographs, such as those of naked male torsos, consistent with its catalog and advertising image throughout the stores and on its shopping bags.

If Abercrombie & Fitch is catering to the youth of our society, then why are they promoting underage drinking? This immoral business practice is completely unacceptable. The legal drinking age is 21, and the company targets to children under said age. This company is releasing a statement that it’s okay for kids to drink. It’s okay for them to drink to drunkenness and participate in sexual relations. In the past, they have marketed sexy thong underwear to minors, racist t-shirts, and now are pushing the image of drunkenness being acceptable and cool. This company has gone way over the line.

Even still, with all the opposition from the public, A&F Co. still thrives. They are growing each year, and calculate a 15% mean growth for the next 5. They have asserted that they will continue to use a highly sexualized theme to market their clothing and according to profits, it’s highly unlikely they will change their minds. I can’t believe that an adult would purchase said t-shirt for a child. It’s hard for me to accept that as a society we are that irresponsible. I urge you to step up the monitoring of the purchases your teen makes. I suggest we teach our children about underage drinking and how it is in fact, not the new cool trend A&F Co. states it is. Don’t let this retailer teach our youth about responsibility, for they are horribly lacking.

Jennifer Faulmann

Kirkland

SEATTLE SUX FOR BMX

EDITOR: Upon the demolition of the Ballard skate park, citizens of Seattle have been left with few places to skate and BMX. The funny thing is that BMX bikes were never allowed at the Ballard skate park in the first place. Myself and several other Seattle riders would often be in the midst of a great session on the ramps when the cops would roll by and tell us to leave. Currently the only legal places to ride BMX in Seattle are the dirt jumps in Woodland Park at Green Lake. If you do not like to dirt jump then you are left with out a place to ride. In an effort to construct a new spot for people to BMX and skate, some friends and I decided it would be a good idea to bring some ramps to an abandoned warehouse and see how long they would last. After driving the ramps on top of my Ford Taurus to said warehouse, we reached an obstacle. The gate was locked. With a little bit of ‘jimmying’, the gate to what could have been Seattle’s next dry BMX and skate spot was opened. Unfortunately this had roused the attention of the Seattle Police. With bright lights shining in our faces we did as we were told. Thoughts of burglary and trespassing ran through my mind as the cop patted us down and ran our names for warrants. When everything turned up clear, the officer made a very kind gesture. He offered to give us a place to ride for the night. He said that he had to close down a park, but instead of locking the park down for the night, he let us set up our quarter pipe and ride till the wee hours. The park was lit and much more visually appealing than the abandon warehouse. Needless to say, this officer was going out of his way to help some BMX riders get their kicks in. A big thanks goes out to ‘officer Lou’ for understanding that this city is hurting for spots to BMX and skate and that more needs to be done to fix this issue. Spots like the DIY skate park on Marginal Way are an amazing start. The city also needs to provide BMX riders and skateboards with places to ride. Skateboarders are not the only ones that are lacking legal places to ride; BMX riders of the city are also out of luck when it comes to public facilities.

Tyson Minck, Kyle Emery-Peck, Seth Holton.

BUSH-BLAIR BLOWOUT I

DEAR EDITOR: On Sunday, May 1, 2005, the London Times published the text of what has become known as the “Downing Street Memo.” There has been close to a total news blackout on this subject at the local and national print and tv levels. What is going on at your establishment that this explosive evidence is not being covered extensively? On May 6th, eighty-eight members of Congress signed a letter to President Bush asking for an explanation. The White House has ignored the request. As a citizen of a democracy, I depend on a free and aggressively curious press to pursue items like this to the very ends of the earth. Get Busy.

F. Steven Trevallee

BUSH-BLAIR BLOWOUT II

EDITOR: I’ve been following the story of the Downing Street Memo in the Guardian UK and other foreign news services but have seen little if any coverage of the memo and its implications here in the Washington State press. As a Washington State resident (all my life!) I would very much like to see heavy coverage of this issue in our local news media. I’ve included a comparison of the contents of the memo with the words of the Bush Administration juxtaposed for comparison. The loss of American lives in Iraq is rapidly approaching 2000, and many of them are from Washington State. If the President and his administration misled us into war, we have a right to know and a right to hold the Bush Administration accountable.

Carl Hess

BUSH-BLAIR BLOWOUT III

EDITOR: the downing street memo released by the london times on may 1st states the bush administration had made their decision to go to war with Iraq in the summer of 2002. even more damaging, it reveals that the bush administration had a flimsy case for war, and would fix the intelligence around the policy. if true, this is a government scandal that merits nothing short of impeachment for massive deception of the american people and the world.

the press owes the citizens of the united states a full investigation into this matter and tough questioning of our government officials. the downing street memo should be the lead story of every media outlet until the questions raised by this document are answered.

philip weatherill

BUSH-BLAIR BLOWOUT IV

EDITOR: With the reporting of recent world events, it is safe to say the good old American media are collectively asleep in the pasture. Permanently! Are we, as Americans, the worse off for it? Only if we become as cowed as the press and TV industry.

Two weeks ago, a highly confidential British memo was leaked through the Times of London on the eve of that country‚s recent elections. Finally, the smoking gun regarding the dubious rationale of the Iraq war was found. The British memo documented (among a number of things) that President George W. Bush had all along intended to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as early as the summer of 2002! Remember that stuff about weapons of mass destruction? They turned out to be cow patties gussied up to look like steak dinner. As many suspected, the Bushies drew their conclusion first (topple Saddam), with the phony justification to follow (the illusive, non-existent WMDs).

The minimal attention the British memo has received stateside is an outrage, thanks to the American media. War information, refried U.S. intelligence data and outright propaganda, in the service of the now much reviled “you are with us or against us” Bush foreign policy, has been dutifully promoted by the complicit media‚s talking heads and glossy eyed scribblers.

The British memo also reflected the arrogant view of diplomacy and weapons inspections as obstacles to skirt, rather than necessary steps to prevent going to war. This cynical sensibility was shared by the Bush administration and its British counterparts, warmongering stooges all. Several troubling elements are coming to a head simultaneously here, making for a disturbing brew. An extremist, political juggernaut, republican in name only, now dominates all branches of our American government, and is effectively bullying the fourth estate as well. The “one party takes all” approach quashes dissent, marginalizes political adversaries, changes rules mid-game to fit the majority‚s needs (witness the filibuster farce) and misinforms the electorate wholesale. We are now living through what can fairly be described as a constitutional crisis.

This president and his trained lackeys have continually dissembled, fabricated and obscured facts to promote their war; they have benefited from the toadying reportage of a non-critical, bottom-line obsessed corporate media.

How can one possibly believe that the far-reaching riots in the Arab world this last week have all been due to a small blurb in Newsweek about Koran abuse, and not actually a response to the occupying American army, the decimating of Iraqi citizens and the torturing war detainees? Newsweek was intimidated into taking the fall for some of the consequences of Bush’s ill-conceived, unplanned disaster in Iraq.

What is to be believed out of the White House and your TV screen? The suggestion here is to start at zero and to work your way back. It is the responsible thing to do as thinking, caring citizens. Don’t believe the hype. Otherwise, with apologies to Orwell, Big Brother is you, watching.

Dr. John Mark Kowalski

Canaan, NY

BUSH-BLAIR BLOWOUT V (WAIT FOR IT)

EDITOR: While the news media have devoted substantial coverage to Newsweek’s retraction of an article that the White House says incited deadly riots in Afghanistan, the checkered journalistic record of Newsweek investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff has escaped scrutiny. Isikoff’s May 9 “Periscope” article cited “sources” who “tell Newsweek” to report that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators at Guantànamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a Quran down a toilet. Newsweek retracted the article, acknowledging that in fact, only one source actually reported the allegation, and that source backed away from it.

Isikoff’s role as a leading reporter on the so-called “Clinton scandals” in the 1990s, including the Paula Jones, Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky cases, has gone virtually unnoticed in broadcast, cable TV and print reports so far on the Newsweek story. Isikoff was so committed to one story detailing Paula Jones’ sexual harassment allegations against then-President Bill Clinton (which formed the basis for a civil suit that was dismissed for a total lack of merit), that he got into an argument with his editor at The Washington Post -- an argument so heated that Isikoff was suspended and left the newspaper shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, conservatives praised Isikoff for his efforts. Fox News host Sean Hannity lauded Isikoff as a “respected journalist” for four straight days in 1998 for his role in the Clinton sex scandal, once the Jones case had set the stage for impeachment proceedings against Clinton [Hannity & Colmes, 6/15/98-6/19/98]. In his reporting on the Clinton sex scandal, Isikoff relied on sources whose stories were unverifiable, motivated by personal agendas, and often collapsed under later scrutiny.

In his book A Vast Conspiracy (Random House, 2000), legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin criticized Isikoff for allowing himself to be used by Clinton’s attackers. Despite Isikoff’s own frequent reliance on questionable sources, he was blistering in his criticism of CBS’ 2004 story about President Bush’s National Guard record (or lack thereof). Appearing on the September 26, 2004, edition of CNN’s Reliable Sources, Isikoff said: “I have to say, if you look at what happened here, this wasn’t a mistake. This was a complete meltdown of basic, minimal journalistic standards.”

Could this whole fiasco be another Karl Rove distraction -- this time to make us look away from the July 2002 meeting that was described in a leaked report in the London Times, reporting that the intelligence to justify our invasion of Iraq was being tailored around Bush’s policy?

Kyle Bradshaw

Los Angeles, CA