Wednesday, January 7, 2009
2008 Presidents of the United States of America
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Something to look at:
Does that gap between Carter and Clinton, a gap that separates Carter from the rest, mean anything?
City Charges Filed In Chop Suey Shooting
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:40 PM
King County Prosecutors have filed murder and assault charges against 18-year-old Carlos Bernardez for his alleged role in a shooting at Chop Suey early Sunday morning.
Bernardez is accused of fatally shooting local MC Joseph Ryan (AKA 29-E) and wounding Avery Turner (1st Black Prez).
It appears prosecutors have not charged anyone for the attack on James Jones (known as Trama), the apparent target of Sunday's shooting.
Prosecutors also filed drug charges against 25-year-old Roger LaBranche after, court documents say say, police found a back pack filled with 45 grams of cocaine, nearly 300 ecstasy pills, 81 grams of marijuana, a handgun and $7,000 cash in his car—a rented Pontiac Grand Prix—parked outside of Chop Suey.
City Panic at the Disco
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Assuming that Neighbours, Seattle’s venerable gay nightclub, survives the “Ricin Threat of 2009,” owners must still deal with the ongoing fallout of lease dispute from last summer.
In August, a family land trust that owns the dilapidated dance hall on Broadway and East Pike Street sent a letter terminating the nightclub’s lease and ordering the club to vacate the premises by the end of the month. In the letter, landlords argued that Neighbours, which has been getting gays hammered to disco and new wave since 1983, was only permitted to run a tavern, restaurant, and cabaret—not a nightclub. (More here.) Neighbours responded with a lawsuit against the owners, arguing they had a right to stay.
“The old owner was fine with us,” says Mona Elassiouti, who manages finances for Neighbours. She says after the family's primary representative died, his brother Donald Regalia took over. “The brother has different interests,” she says.
But now, four months later, the Regalia family says Neighbours hasn’t been paying rent. “We haven’t received rental payments in two months and there have been shortfalls in rental payments for two prior months,” says the Regalia's attorney, Charlie Lyman. “Unfortunately, we have been frustrated that we have requested meeting on several occasions but it hasn’t come to fruition,” he says.
“We didn’t want to sit down with someone trying to kick us out,” says Elassiouti.
As for the accusations that rent isn’t paid: “That is completely incorrect,” responds Neighbours attorney Mark Kimball. “I have looked at the accounting recently. I think we overpaid slightly and we are current on the rent.”
Rumors have swirled that the bar will be demolished for condos. But Lyman dismisses the speculation. “There is absolutely no plan in place that I know of to demolish building and put condos there that I am aware of,” he says. When asked if the Regalia family would seek to keep Neighbours in the space through the end of its lease in 2020, he said, "The answer is yes and no." He wouldn't elaborate on any specifics.
Both parties say they expect the disputes can be resolved by the end of the month. “We are planning to have a meeting regarding settlements,” says Kimball.
Games / Nerd Rochambeau A-Go-Go
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Some friends and I play rock-paper-scissors (a.k.a. rochambeau) a whole lot, and the other day I mentioned that I'd read in a magazine a quote from a TV show that referred to an expanded RPS game. The TV show was "The Big Bang Theory," but that show didn't create the expanded RPS game. It's been around for years, and it's Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard. Here's an illustration:
"Paper disproves Spock" is brilliant. But, when I was doing research, I discovered that someone else has created a rochambeau game that includes 7, 9, 11, 15, and even 25 symbols. Here's a part of the 25-symbol rock-paper-scissors, which they sell as a poster:
But 25 wasn't enough, so they created a 101-gesture RPS game:
You can buy that in poster form here. There's no real reason for me to share this information with you at this particular time, I just think it's super-cool.
News Rainageddon? Precipipocalypse?
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Don't know what to call the sequel to Snowpocalypse 2008, but the wet water falling from the sky is causing all hell to break loose out there. A quick look at the Seattle Times' website reveals that all sorts of rivers that I've never heard of are flooding large parts of the state I've never visited. Too bad there's nothing we can spread on the streets—some sort of magical anti-salt—that would cause the rain to turn into snow when it hit the ground, as snow tends to stay put for a while and melt slowly. I blame the mayor!
Politics The Transition
Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Matt Stoller, one of the major forces behind the liberal blog OpenLeft, is giving up his blogging on that site (for now) in order to take a job in... the House of Representatives.
He says he's going help patch a "rootsgap."
Politics / The Ladies Gregoire's Budget Slashes Health-Care Funding for Low-Income Women
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:45 PM
(Updated to reflect new information from NARAL Pro-Choice Washington).
According to NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, the proposed state budget would eliminate about $1 million in funding over two years for nurses providing direct family-planning services to women in community service offices around the state. That's about 58 nurses, plus medical supplies and a state staffer to run the program. The federal government matches the state's funding 9 to 1, which means the cut really amounts to about $12 million. Even worse, the cut eliminates programs that actually save money in the long run—like prenatal care, cancer screening, annual exams, and birth control. Although local papers have praised Gregoire for "keeping her campaign pledge" not to raise taxes, they've mostly ignored another campaign pledge that was instrumental in her November victory over Dino Rossi—her promise "not to balance the budget on the backs of Washington's most vulnerable." Cutting family-planning funding for the state's poorest women would force them to go to county health clinics—and those, too, are getting cut or, in many cases, eliminated altogether.
In fairness to Gregoire, this proposal comes from the Department of Social and Human Services, not Gregoire herself; however, it's in response to a mandate that all government agencies slash funding—a mandate necessitated by the fact that Gregoire won't raise taxes or eliminate corporate tax loopholes.
Karen Cooper, director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, calls the proposal to cut the nurses' funding "stupid," both because it leverages so much federal money and because it will only cost the state more in the medium to long run. "Obviously, there are going to be cuts, but they need to be thoughtful and smart. You don't cut things that end up costing you more money," Cooper says. "If cutting birth control means there are more babies born in this state, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that's going to increase [the state's] expenses. Birth control is cheaper than babies."
NARAL is also fighting to change the wording of the state's sex-education law, which currently requires the state to apply for funding for abstinence-only programs. NARAL's preferred wording would require the state to seek funding only for medically accurate, evidence-based sex education programs—programs for which more funding might become available under Obama, who has said he supports comprehensive sex ed. And the group is seeking renewed funding for a small program it runs to train residency doctors to treat spontaneous miscarriages in a doctor's office, rather than sending women to the emergency room, which can cost thousands of dollars more. That program costs about $600,000.
Cooper acknowledges that the state is facing tough economic times, but says that doesn't justify cutting entire programs. "Anybody can cut five percent out of a budget without cutting whole programs," she says. "We're doing it; so can they."
Politics Road to the Doghouse: Puppedential Debate
Posted by Gillian Anderson on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:35 PM
From the Daily Show, Anderson Cooper moderates the "debate" for first dog.
Books "Quitting puts wrinkles on your SOUL."
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:33 PM
The New York Times is reporting that Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the Conversations With God series of books, plagiarized a story by Candy Chand that appeared in many different places, including a Chicken Soup for the Soul book.
During a dress rehearsal, he wrote, a group of children spelled out the title of a song, “Christmas Love,” with each child holding up a letter. One girl held the “m” upside down, so that it appeared as a “w,” and it looked as if the group was spelling “Christ Was Love.” It was a heartwarming Christmas story from a writer known for his spiritual teachings.Except it never happened — to him.
Ms. Chand said she originally wrote the piece about her son, Nicholas, and his kindergarten winter pageant and published it in Clarity in 1999. In his Dec. 28 blog posting, Mr. Walsch, who also has a son named Nicholas, said it happened at his son’s pageant 20 years ago.
Walsch said he's considering leaving Christian website Beliefnet. Many of the The New Agey Christians on Walsch's blog are ready to forgive and forget.
Wow! I mean wow!Neale, you are so awesome and so real.
I don't see the big deal in what happened, and I mean no disrespect to Ms. Chand. Stuff like that happens to me, and all of us, all the time.
I have learned and been able to stretch my spirit so much with this blog.
Well , I for one am aghast....Neale, is this a rouse?...If you have 9 or 10 children, how do you know it didn't happen?...maybe the 2 of you were at the same children's concert. No, I don't think Chand should be offended at all. Isn't that what the cosmic consciousness is all about? Minds and thoughts merging, even if it is a true story for one person, are we betting the odds that it could not have happened to thousands?.....geesh come on..!
I think there is something more behind this.
Neale, Someone once said,"I'm all in,I'm totally committed here,Even if the going gets rough,Especially then." Aging puts wrinkles on your face,Quitting puts wrinkles on your SOUL. YOU will not have to think but for a second as to why YOU received THIS message today. LOVE Your Friend, SEAN
And my favorite: Frankenstein's monster forgiving its creator:
Neale, I believe this is a beautiful story of creation. You've experienced Candy's story - twice - then and now! I don't think you stole it...it is a beautiful story of oneness! Empathy somehow. Am I going too far?You two should unite and create something new...maybe a page that contains something like experienced stories. As you for instance being that girl in a story right now. And at the end everyone astonished! It would be a beautiful prove of oneness or love from all the people of the world!
What do you say?
Love,
Teja
Politics Pure Class
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Remember how the Obama family couldn't move into the Blair House early because, according to the White House, the place was booked up? It was a lie—an expensive, pointless, graceless, classless lie.
Via Towleroad.
Science / Sex Re: Greenland Don't Want to Hurt Nobody
Posted by Eric Grandy on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Never fear, Lindy—if Greenland's bump'n'grind is a product of catastrophic global warming, Kells is prepared to evacuate Earth for the infinitely superior "Sex Planet":
(Also, he will pee on you.)
Film Have the Razzies Nuked the Fridge?
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:47 PM
This whole post is totally worth it just for the headline.
Anyway. the Razzies nominating ballot was released today. Here is the list of Worst Movie nominees:
Speed Racer, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, The Day the Earth Stood Still, High School Musical 3, The Hottie & the Nottie, Dungeon Siege, The Love Guru, Postal, Rambo, The Happening, Meet Dave, Witless Protection
I'm shocked by the lack of inclusion of two major franchises: Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the WTF. I think The Day the Earth Stood Still was too boring to be Worst Picture, but many of the others on the list are worthy of being there. Putting High School Musical 3 on the list seems a little teenage boy-ish of the nominators, frankly. And nowhere on the list of nominees are Punisher: War Zone or Seven Pounds. There were a bunch of lousy movies released at the end of the year in 2008. In fact, maybe this list was simply produced too soon and didn't include any year-end stinkers? It didn't have any nominees from this movie, after all:
Science / Sex Greenland Don't Want to Hurt Nobody
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:46 PM
...but there's something that Greenland must confess:
I don't see nothing wrong here.
Housekeeping Where's the Paper-Paper?
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Distribution of this week's print edition of The Stranger has been delayed due to flooding, landslides, ricin, and the violence in the hiphop community. Meanwhile, here's the new paper online. Thank you for your patience.
Politics Election Time!
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:38 PM
The most telling fact about last night’s elections forum—what, you didn’t know we’re having an election? We are, for King County Elections Director, next month—was that just three candidates, of a total of six, bothered to show. Given that this was one of the few chances candidates would have to face off in public before ballots go out next week, you’d think that the three absent contenders—Pam Roach, David Irons, and Julie Anne Kempf—would have welcomed the opportunity.
Instead, the 40 or so folks who made the drive to the Renton Carpenters Hall for the King County District Democrats’ candidate forum—moderated by HA blogger David Goldstein—were greeted with a half-empty panel. Seated at the bunting-draped table were current elections director Sherril Huff (appointed to the position by Ron Sims before voters made her job an elected position in November); former sports bar owner and Orting schoolteacher Chris Clifford; and former bank manager Bill Anderson. After state Democratic Party chair Dwight remarked that the voters, "in their infinite wisdom," had decided to make the elections director an elected position—a comment that elicited boos from the audience—Goldstein noted that he was an "ironic" choice to moderate the panel, given that "there isn’t anybody here more opposed to an elected elections director than I am."
Despite the wishes of some hyperventilating bloggers (who didn't bother to attend), the forum was mostly without fireworks—the one exception being a bit of sniping between Huff and Clifford, who bellowed (if you've ever heard Clifford talk, you know what I mean), "If you can’t tell people where you live and you do not submit a truthful declaration of candidacy about where you live, we cannot trust you!"—a reference to the fact that Huff moved to King County from Bremerton right before she filed. (More on that weird little sideline here). Huff responded airily, "I have a background of more than 30 years in public service and I will match my integrity with anyone’s, including my opponent here."
Of the three candidates at last night's forum, only one—Huff—is considered a serious contender for the job, and not just because she already has it. Since her appointment last year (and indeed, since she came on as assistant director in 2004), Huff has presided over major reforms in the county elections system that have resulted in more transparency and fewer election foul-ups. Like Anderson and perhaps Clifford (who left early to attend a Municipal League endorsement interview), Huff said she agrees with the idea of permanent and same-day voter registration (although she said same-day registration presented challenges counties would have to work out); unlike her opponents, she "unequivocally" opposed making the elections director an elected position. In response to Anderson's defense of the new system—"The citizens should have a say on whether I'm doing a good job"—Huff said that making the position elected "has taken a certain element out of the qualifications for what is a very demanding, high-profile position that requires a significant amount of public trust."
She might as well have been talking about her absent opponents—Kempf, who was fired from the position after lying about ballots that were mailed late; Roach, a Republican with a vendetta against the King County Council; and Irons, a onetime Ron Sims opponent whose bizarre feud with his family resulted in his own mother refusing to endorse him. Of those, perhaps the scariest is Roach, an oddball state senator who once allegedly pulled a gun on a senate staffer.
Ballots for the February 3 special election will be mailed out January 14 and 15; the next chance to see the elections director candidates is at a forum being put on by the Seattle Municipal League on Tuesday, January 13, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm at the Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th St. NW.
Books Local Zeroes
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:35 PM
This guest blogger on Maud says that regional writers suffer the most of all when books sections in alt-weeklies close down.
Last week the big news coming out of Cooper Square was that the once-venerable Village Voice had let go yet another of its legendary contributors, Nat Hentoff. But the ever-shrinking coffers of its parent company, Village Voice Media Holdings, also claimed a victim far away from downtown Manhattan: the book section at the Nashville Scene.The Scene’s books section was one of the best in the South, willing to take risks on new reviewers and little-known books — in 2002, Margaret Renkl, the Scene’s literary editor, gave me my first freelance gig. The section lasted a long time, given the rate at which regional outlets for literature and serious criticism are rapidly dying off: Last year the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cut its full-time book editor, Teresa Weaver, and it seems every year brings a new, potentially fatal challenge to the Oxford American, now a quarterly run under the stewardship of the University of Central Arkansas.
My first thought, of course, is that I'm really glad I don't work for VVM. But I'm of two minds about regional book reporting. Two or three times a week, I'll get a book-shaped envelope in the mail that is stamped, in giant letters, right above the address: "LOCAL AUTHOR." And almost invariably, that book is utter crap. I think regional criticism is a dangerous thing: I don't think anyone walks into a bookstore, just looks at the Northwest section, and then leaves.
One of my favorite things about having a books section is that you can talk about just about everything, from politics to philosophy to the recipes of rock stars to booklets sold in the aisles of grocery stores. Some weeks, it's the national affairs desk. other weeks, it's about local poetry, or a Seattle readings series. Which is not to say that I think you should be able to read The Stranger's books section and not tell what city it's published in. One of the most important parts of the books section is the calendar with all the dozens of events happening in bookstores and libraries all over this city. And many of our national affairs books features are timed to local readings. But I do think that regional affairs should not get special treatment simply because they're regional. I've read too many lame interviews with authors of badly drawn kid's books about geoducks (or what the fuck ever) to say that local coverage is a purely good thing. So I guess what I'm saying is that good coverage of good local books is a welcome thing. If the Scene really provided that, I'm sad that it's gone, too.
News Mark Doty: "It's especially ugly for these words to be used against gay men."
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:26 PM
A sentence written by poet and author Mark Doty appeared verbatim in the threatening letter sent to 11 gay bars in Seattle.
"This is just repellent," Mark Doty writes in an email. "On the literal level, my poem is about looking at fish on ice in the grocery store, and wondering if they could be called individuals. But I wrote in '94, in the crisis years of the epidemic, and so I was really thinking about mortality. I was trying to imagine some way to make the loss of those we love seem even temporarily bearable.
"So I was thinking about what it means to 'have' a self, to be a self, when selfhood is something we lose. I was trying to console myself and others, at least a little, for all we'd endured. So, it's especially ugly for these words to be used against gay men. Writers have no control over what people do with their words, but this is as far from my intention as you could get."
You can read Doty's poem, "A Display of Mackerel," here. And to make a little more good come of this ugly incident, take this opportunity to purchase and read Dog Years, Doty's bestselling memoir.
Chow / ??!! / Sex I Have a Question.
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:11 PM
What is a "twat waffle"?
What is twatty about this? ———>
Whose idea was that? What a weird thing to say. Slang is weird.
Books Today in Library News
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Jacket Copy has a great story about how how government cutbacks might not be the end for the Providence Public Library System:
Rhode Island, which tied Michigan for the nation's highest unemployment rate in November, is facing state and municipal budget cutbacks. The Providence Public Library, a private nonprofit that has run the city library for 100 years, has proposed leaving open its central branch while closing five of its nine local branches.Not so fast, a group said in a news conference Monday. Give them to us.
It looks like the The Providence Community Library, "a newly formed nonpfrofit of library and community leaders," is going to get the go-ahead to take over the lesser branches. This could turn into something that other communities will need to pay attention to as budgets get cut everywhere.
TV Thinking of Buying GRΣΣK: Chapter Two on DVD?
Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:54 PM
If you are, then first of all, way to commit. And second of all, you probably don't care what intrepid film intern Evan Stewart has to say about it. But you should read his review anyway:
About three years late in TV’s recent slew of teen drama/comedies, ABC Family Channel’s GRΣΣK tells the annoying go-nowhere saga of a bunch of kids in the Greek system at the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University. It combines all the intrigue of fraternity/sorority politics with the high drama of semi-casual relationships. If that doesn’t sound interesting to you, that’s because it isn’t.Everybody at Cyprus-Rhodes seems to have the same problem: they can’t get over their ex-lovers. Rusty can’t get over Jen K., Cappie can’t get over Casey, Evan Chambers can’t get over Casey, and Casey can’t get over Cappie OR Evan Chambers! (These people are all as irritating as their stupid names would suggest.) Frankly, I can’t see why any of them can’t get over each other, since every character is so bland and middle-of-the-road, they’re nearly indistinguishable.
The tone of the show suffers from a similar problem: it can’t commit entirely to any one genre. It’s not funny enough to be a comedy, not dramatic enough to be a drama, and not interesting enough for me to watch ever again. I was a die-hard fan of The O.C. (before that surreal fourth season of garbage), a show that GRΣΣK mindlessly apes while missing what made it—and its recent idiot cousin Gossip Girl—so great: over-the-top crazy drama from good looking idiots.
If GRΣΣK cuts out the stupid plot devices like some teenager missing their old girlfriend (relatable! boring!), and starts having really stupid plot devices like someone doing porn to raise the money to pay their legal fees for killing their teacher, then I might start watching it. Maybe.
Media / Arts / Visual Art Marc Cooper's Autopsy Report on the LA Weekly
Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Looks like it's a week of departure-related media critique up and down the West Coast. This is a must-read account of the death of the LA Weekly at the hands of New Times.
News Marginal Conditions—Ski or Ride at Your Own Risk
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Slog tipper Sean sends this picture from Summit East...
"The passes and the resort were closed today," writes Sean, "so initial reports are no injuries." It looks like we won't be riding up Easy Gold or Kelchelus after the Summit reopens.
"My friend and I tried to ride at Alpental yesterday," Sean added, "but they never opened the lift so we went home. Didn’t make sense to me then, but it sure does now."
Visual Art / Arts What It Really Means That Sheila Farr Left the Seattle Times
Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:12 PM
News The Other Ricin Letter
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:11 PM
We posted a copy of the threatening letter that was sent to 11 gay bars but we didn't post a copy of the letter we received at the Stranger. Folks are asking to see it, and here it is...
There isn't much in it that I didn't include in my first post about this story yesterday.
Books Reading Pretty Soon
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:05 PM
So the internet is fucked for a few people at the office, and has been all day. At first, this was delightful: I cleaned my desk and rearranged some of my books. But I went out for lunch and come back and it's still fucked and so here I am at the stately Constant home (a.k.a. Casa del Fuck), doing Reading Tonight extremely late for the first time in the year I've had this job. Apologies.
First and foremost, there is the kickoff event of Comixstravaganza at the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library. It's at 6:30 pm. David Lasky, who I love, will give a slide show presentation of comics artists who are here in the Pacific Northwest. Comixstravaganza is a monthlong celebration of comic books by the SPL, and you should take a look at the whole schedule here. There are lots of make-your-own-comic workshops featuring artists like Lasky and Greg Stump, who you may be familiar with. There are events for adults and kids. You should go to at least one.
However, there is also a very interesting-looking poetry reading up in Wallingford: Some of the Subtext folk are presenting something called The Ur Sonata, in which an actress and a visual artist come together to present "Kurt Schwitters' epic Dada sound poem, the Ur Sonata." There is much, much more information about the Ur Sonata here, and it's fascinating, challenging stuff.
Lastly (and, I hate to say, leastly) Thomas Aslin and Laurie Blauner read at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight, reading from their new books. A Moon Over Wings is a collection of poems about family. Wrong is a collection of poems about heartbreak. Together, that just about does it.
For more information and upcoming readings, please consult the readings calendar.
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