Comments on On The Radio

a birch steen was spot on this week. that story really rambled, and never really defined seattle's "jewish problem."

I'm too lazy to read the fine print. Who made that cookie? It's beautiful.

Safeway bakery. Or is it QFC? Or is it both? I know I've seen them at the grocery store, I just can't remember which. I should send a box to mom.

I'm halfway through it, Eli, and with all due respect to A. Birch Steen, it's great. Smart, well written, full of interesting personal and historical anecdotes on a topic which, as far I know, no one has written seriously about. And who better qualified than a Seattle native.

Not to kvetch, but the title could be a little less loaded.

P.S. "'The War on Christmas' crazy train" - that's the best name for it I've heard yet.

The Stranger's logo has never looked better than it does this week. It seems... bolder.

When I first visited seattle in 1990 I was buying some stuff at Cellophane Square paying by check. The African American clerk repeated my last name and snarled "you must be a kike". On my second job in Seattle when I casually mentioned one day that I saw jewish one of my African American collegues said "you a jew?" and repeated to several coworkers loudly "____ is a fucking Jew!!" Everytime his antisemetic, homophobic, and mysogenistic rants were about to get him in trouble he would start on a tirade about "black man's burden" and how all his coworkers were racist against him! It worked like a charm. Later a friend (who didn't know I was jewish) confided that he though it was funny when a co-worker said "Hitler was right" When I asked him if he would have been amused if the guy said "The KKK is right" he looked horrified. He admitted he wouldn't have thought it was funny, but also the guy was African American so it never would have been said by him.
When I hear people say what a racist city seattle is I just smirk cause I know that my experiences are not what they want to hear.

Wait, Seattle has black people?

i loved the article.

I have extra tickets to the Dina Martina Christmas Show, and I was going to invite a jewish acquaintence who I'm just starting to become friends with. Now I'm wondering if he'd be offended given that it's a CHRISTmas show.

Should I invite someone else?

no, go ahead and invite the jew, what the heck. if you have concerns, be up front about them, that usually works

p.s. that didn't sound the way i meant it (i.e. "the Jew"). intended something like: sure, by all means, invite your Jewish friend.

Is Dan Savage still an atheist? With newspaper editorial boards from Everett to Tacoma taking the courageous stand to save the "Christmas" (not "holiday") trees at Sea-Tac, I expected something a bit less deferential to religion at this time of year from The Stranger than a cover with a cookie Star of David surrounded by cookie Christmas trees, and a lengthy cover story bemoaning that Seattle isn't friendly enough to "God's chosen people".

Please. Seattle would be a better place if it was less Jewish (and Christian, Muslim, etc). Here's a simple solution for people who can't make it through an airport terminal without seeing a Christmas tree or menorah: Go to a search engine, type in the words "Christmas tree" or "menorah", then hit the image search. Amazingly, a multitude of the desired image appears on your screen. Select the most appealing one, make a paper copy of it, and you now have your own "Christmas tree" or "menorah" that you can pull out of your pocket anywhere and admire. Now you don't have to visually assault us nonbelievers with your silly symbols on publicly-financed property. But of course that defeats one of the primary purposes of organized religion, doesn't it: to shove it in potential convert's faces as much as possible.

Abolish all religions; it is the only way humanity can hope to survive and thrive. Our addiction to gods imperils us all.