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We are part of the same human family

Editor, The Times:

As we see the human tragedy unfold in Haiti and know that the suffering will only deepen and continue, how are we to respond? [“Desperation grips Haiti as aid struggles to get in,” page one, Jan. 15] How might we — as individuals, but also as a community — mobilize material response while also asking deeper questions?

Do we see ourselves in the faces of Haitian children, women and men? Are we really members of one human family sharing one Earth? How are disasters made worse by the structural violence of poverty and the convoluted mix of the environment and politics?

The basic human rights of food, water, home and health, denied to many Haitians daily, are now utterly absent for hundreds of thousands. But is this just another natural disaster, news flash or tragic case study? And will we refuse to accept that our lives are too busy and our personal connections too distant to get involved?

As our hearts are moved, we can resolve to work collectively, creatively and concretely in the months ahead. Such understanding and efforts are the essence of the hope for a better world we so readily avow.

— James Loucky, Bellingham

Organize airdrops

Your headline in Friday’s paper refers to aid to Haiti not being able to be delivered. It seems to me that others must have had thoughts similar to mine: Organize a parachute drop. The roads are virtually nonexistent, the airfield has one landing strip and supplies are delivered in planes from all over the world that have had to circle Haiti for hours waiting for permission to land.

Fly the supplies to bases in the U.S., transfer the supplies to planes such as C-130s and go to Haiti flying a grid pattern and drop the goods from the planes.

People will at least get water, food and medical necessities days earlier than by the method currently in use. We are trying to distribute emergency supplies in a time-honored fashion that is just not consistent with the nature and scope of this particular natural catastrophe.

— Don Rogers, Camano Island

Earthquake foreboding for the U.S.

Hey all you anti-taxers, take a look at earthquake-devastated Haiti for a vision of the USA’s future if you get your way.

Haiti has no building code to build safe, strong buildings. Building codes are developed and enforced by government, financed by taxes. Haiti has virtually no public hospitals, fire or emergency services, which are run by government and financed by taxes. The airport in Port-au-Prince has one runway and one access road. Of course, airports and roads are generally built by tax dollars, then operated by a public, aka government, agency.

Transport of relief supplies from the airport is hindered by limited and damaged roads. Roads are generally built by the government and financed by tax dollars. Delivery of relief supplies by sea is impossible as port facilities are in shambles and there are no operating cranes. Port facilities are a government function and financed by tax dollars.

As our state legislators and the U.S. Congress consider tax issues that will improve the common good, I invite every tax protester to consider the importance of government responses to earthquakes and wildfires in California, volcanoes and forest fires in Washington, hurricanes on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, tornadoes in the Midwest, floods in our river valleys and, of course, 9/11. In every instance, the government has stepped in, provided services and helped to rebuild. These services are not free; they are financed by taxes.

Taxes are the dues we pay to belong to the greatest club on the planet: club USA. That club strives to assure our safe travel by land, air and sea. It guarantees the basic education of our children, financial subsistence of our elderly and disabled and safety of our population through police, fire and emergency services. To deny our responsibility to each other is to deny our own humanity.

— Paula Joneli, Des Moines

Another way to help

You really should include Partners in Health on your list of recommended charities [“Haiti earthquake: how to help,” News, Jan. 15]. It was founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, whose biography by Tracy Kidder — a New York Times Notable Book for 2003 — was the first book adopted by the University of Washington as a recommended read for all incoming freshmen the next year.

PIH has operated in Haiti for 20 years and is known as a model for charities in other poor countries. Its reputation is as an excellent organization that makes the most of its contributions and has very low operating costs.

PIH was praised after getting assistance to Port-au-Prince very early after the quake and Farmer’s hospital in Cange is already filled with injured refugees from the city.

— Edna R. Peak, Des Moines

Limbaugh’s comments

Rush Limbaugh should be charged with a hate crime. When someone like Limbaugh, who has a national radio show that reaches millions, asks people not to donate to relief efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, should he not be charged with a hate crime?

Without donations that some Americans might not now give, many more people could die because of his cruel words.

He said Americans don’t need to contribute to earthquake relief because they already donate to Haiti through their income taxes. He will do anything, no mater how low, to get reactions from the media, Robert Gibbs, myself and countless others.

In our lives, most of us know people just as petty but they don’t have radio shows. How can this man sleep at night knowing there are small babies, children and other human beings buried under rubble at this very moment?

— Joe Giannunzio, Redmond

Photo of bodies inappropriate

The photo on the front page of Friday’s Seattle Times of the dead earthquake victims in Haiti is abhorrent and completely inappropriate.

One of the important tenets of humanity is that we care for the dead and respectfully honor their passing. In the situation in Haiti, with so many deaths resulting from a natural disaster, there are not enough resources and too many dead for this to occur.

By publishing such a horrific picture of these victims, The Seattle Times has shown only the highest disrespect for these victims and their country in its hour of need.

— Christy Wyborny, Seattle

Some parasitic wasps may be no bigger than the head of a pin, but their genetics have plenty to teach us, a new study in Science says.

A research team has sequenced the genomes of three different species of parasitic wasp. Why bother with these tiny insects? For starters, genetics is easy. Females, like humans, carry two copies of every chromosome. But males develop from unfertilized eggs, which only carry one of each. With only one copy, even recessive mutations will be easy to identify and characterize [Ars Technica].

Parasitic wasps, then, make for an interesting science experiment. But their genetics could hold practical secrets, too. These wasps are deadly to many insects that bother us by attacking crops or livestock. “If we can harness their full potential, they would be vastly preferable to chemical pesticides which broadly kill or poison many organisms in the environment, including us,” Werren said in a statement [San Francisco Chronicle].

Also, don’t be surprised if other surprises turn up. Scientists have already documented that parasitic wasps have genes related to smallpox and other viruses, though they aren’t certain exactly what those genes do. A different Science study earlier in the year, though, said that some parasitic wasps may have gotten their poison from ancient viruses.

Parasitic wasps are nasty creatures—DISCOVER has documented their creepy habit of turning other animals in zombies. But nastiness aside, lead research John Werren says, we ought to be thankful for these wasps and their bloodlust: “There are over 600,000 species of these amazing critters, and we owe them a lot. If it weren’t for parasitoids and other natural enemies, we would be knee-deep in pest insects” [AFP].

Related Links:
80beats: Parasitic Wasps Got Their Poison From an Ancient Virus
80beats: Caterpillars Beware: Parasitic Wasps Come in a Wide Variety
DISCOVER: Zombie Animals and the Parasites That Control Them, a gallery of great creepiness

Image: flickr / wormwould

Scotland, U.K. | Horticultural Marvels

Snail-shaped grass mounds, twisting DNA helix sculptures and undulating waves of rhododendrons make up The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, a thirty-acre garden designed by architecture theorist Charles Jencks and his late wife, Maggie Keswick.

Located at their private residence, Portrack House, near Dumfries, Scotland, the garden’s design is guided by the fundamentals of modern physics and, according to Jencks, brings out the basic elements that underlie the cosmos. From 1989 until Keswick’s death in 1995, Jencks and his wife, an expert on Chinese gardens, met with horticulturists and scientists in order to design a landscape that would bridge the worlds of art, nature and science.

Perhaps viewed as an unconventional approach to landscaping, the garden features a dizzying display of geometric fractals that all illuminate – or at least are inspired by – concepts of black holes, string theory, and the “Big Bang.” The garden features five major areas connected by a number of man-made lakes, bridges and other architectural works, including large white staircases and terraces that zigzag down a green hillside, representing the story of the creation of the universe.

Jencks continued work on the garden through 2007. Today, it is open to the public one day a year through the Scotland’s Gardens Scheme and helps to raise money for Maggie’s Centres, a cancer care foundation named after Jenck’s late wife.

Robert Gottlieb

President Franklin D. Roosevelt just after he was elected to a fourth term in office, November 10, 1944 (George Skadding/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

I was jolted the other day when The New York Times science section splashed three big close-up head-shots of FDR across the top of its front page. (The story: his death of a cerebral hemorrhage may have been linked to a melanoma.) Suddenly, unexpectedly, there was the face of my president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932, at the height of the Depression, more or less a year after I was born, and by the time I became conscious of the great world out there, he had become the family hero: as resourceful as he was wise, as charming as he was brilliant. Everyone we knew loved his handsome, distinguished face, was moved by his beautiful voice—the famous fireside chats!—and, most important of all in those frightening times, took comfort from the confidence he radiated. We knew instinctively that with him leading us, all would be well.

Of course by the time we were in the war I was aware that there were people who hated him—that traitor to his class, that nigger-lover, that camouflaged Jew (Franklin Delano Rosenfeld); him and that virago wife of his, rushing around the world making trouble instead of staying home and looking after the children the way a decent woman would. But such people were beneath contempt. (Decades later, I was seated next to Sandra Day O’Connor at a formal dinner party in Washington, and we found ourselves talking about FDR—and amused at our wildly different experiences of him as kids: Where she grew up, in the ranching world of the southwest, his name was anathema!)

I remember in the fall of 1944 standing on Broadway and 73rd Street,
opposite the old newsreel theater, waiting with my mother for the president (our president) to pass by in his motorcade. It was only weeks before the election, and he was campaigning for his fourth term, in freezing weather. It was a long, cold wait. But eventually the cars came flashing by, and
there he was—leaning out toward the crowd, waving, smiling. A thrilling sight. You could see even in those few un-retouched seconds, though, that he was worn and tired; just possibly unwell.

Nonetheless, his death only a few months later—at the ridiculously young age of sixty-three—was not only unforeseen but cataclysmic, particularly so, perhaps, for people my age who had never known another president. I was not only in grief, I was scared; the bottom had fallen out of the world. With FDR in the White House you knew that your president was on the job taking care of you—like your parents, or the cop on the corner. The name “Harry Truman” meant nothing to you in 1945—he represented uncertainty, not security.

Have there been presidents since Roosevelt who’ve given American kids that sense of being guided and protected, of being in safe hands? Did Eisenhower? We didn’t need protecting during his reign; everything was stable and secure, or seemed to be—except when we practiced hiding under our desks to shield ourselves from A-bombs. Did Reagan? Perhaps to those who saw him as an amiable grandpa, but he didn’t project Roosevelt’s unshakable benign authority. Did Kennedy? Nixon? Carter? How about George W? And will Barack Obama ever come to stand as a symbolic bulwark between our threatening world and the anxieties of our children? We can only hope he will.

The night of that 1944 election I was so nervous I begged my parents to wake me up in the middle of the night when the voting was conclusive—but only if Roosevelt won. He did, and they did. I went right back to sleep, but I still remember how relieved I was on hearing the good news. With FDR in charge for what I thought would be another four years I had nothing to fear.

If you’ve ever wanted to know just a little bit more about how things work in your Xbox 360, be sure to head over to Xbox.com and read the new Xbox Engineering blog. While it’s not much now, it’s where our engineering team will be making posts to give you a little peak behind the scenes and how we solve hard problems in the console space. On behalf of the team, we hope you’ll enjoy what promises to some geeky posts.

Memphis, Tennessee | Miniatures

The Mississippi is the second longest river in the world, but in Memphis, Tennessee you can see it all in one short afternoon.

The River Walk is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi river, from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans, LA. Each 30″ stride is equivalent to one mile on the actual river. Along your journey, you’ll revisit historical events and learn about geographical transformations.

The “1,000” mile journey concludes at the Gulf of Mexico, a one acre enclosure that holds 1.3 million gallons of water. There, visitors can enjoy a leisurely pedal boat ride around the Gulf area with the Memphis skyline in the background.

At a time when plastic is “choking the Pacific Ocean,” bio-engineers at the Ford Research and Innovation  Center are developing natural-based plastics in hopes that one day cars will use compostable parts, WalletPop.com reports.

The average car has roughly 300 pounds of plastic on it, all of which is petroleum based. Ford’s research team’s goal is to develop a plastic that will actually nourish soil when composted, rather than sitting around for a thousand years.

Check it out!

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Biodegradable Plastic Bags Aren’t Good For The Environment

A slippery saliva slope

It is clear that Seattle Parks and Recreation has an excess of employees and time [“No more spitting, smoking at parks?” page one, Jan. 15]. I realize that not much is happening in our parks during this dark and wet time of the year; no flowers are growing, no grass needs mowing and no baseball games are scheduled. But give me a break!

Is the city paying its employees to fret about spitting? Is the city really OK with its employees standing around engaging in informal discussions about spitting and is the city not embarrassed that it is has a department head conducting a formal analysis? Is Eric Friedli, the manager of policy and business analysis, facing a shortage of serious issues that really need analyzing?

I would love to see an account of the number of employee hours that have gone into the spitting issue. Oh but that’s not the end, we’ll need a trained enforcement team to identify spitters then ban them from parks. And then we’ll need an appeals process because not all spitting is equal and that will need analyzing too — I personally think that when a bug flies into my mouth, it’s OK to spit it out.

— Boyd Brakken, Seattle

Don’t change what works

All of a sudden, in the course of a week, we learned that our high-school daughter’s principal at Center School is being transferred to Rainier Beach smack dab in the middle of the school year and that our 5-year-old son’s principal is being transferred out of Madrona K-8 in March.

I have no idea what is motivating these transfers, but I do know this much: After years of being saddled with the APP program, Madrona K-8 is emerging as a real beacon of hope for Seattle schools. Test scores are skyrocketing. School spirit is high. The kids are wonderful and happy and the teachers are great. The school’s community is strong, and a big part of that comes from the strong leadership provided by Madrona’s current principal.

With the upcoming change to neighborhood-based schools, we need her leadership more than ever. We need continuity and vision until the successes we’ve seen at Madrona K-8 become entrenched as part of the school’s culture. It’s definitely not time to take away our leader.

As for Center School: The principal, who seems wonderful, just arrived! Why transfer her so soon after she just started her work there?

When a school is working, don’t break it apart. Let it thrive and let other schools learn from that success.

— Peter O’Neil, Seattle

Can’t afford two principals at Rainier Beach

As a taxpayer in Seattle, I have serious concerns about the plan and expense of having two full-time principals at Rainier Beach High School. If the current principal is not capable of running the school on his own, then get rid of him and hire someone who is competent. If we expect excellence from our students, the expectations for our principals should be no less.

— Mary Beth Hatfield, Seattle

It was almost a year ago that Verizon said it would offer unlimited phone calls for $100 a month. The same day, AT&T (NYSE: T) matched it, leaving Ralph de la Vega to brag two months later that he was very proud of his marketing team to be able to act “within hours to make it into the same news cycle.”

Well, the top AT&T mobile executive must be proud again. Hours after Verizon Wireless lowered the price of its unlimited voice plans to $70 this morning, AT&T followed suit and matched Verizon’s latest offer. Verizon’s new unlimited plan now costs $70 a month, or $90 including unlimited text, picture and video messages.

While the news indicates that the two carriers continue to be competitive with one another, it’s also obvious that they are feeling pressure from the lower-end of the market, which commonly offers better deals, including unlimited voice, text and internet plans for as little as $50 a month. More details on AT&T’s new plans after the jump…

AT&T has three new plans:

—Feature phone customers can have unlimited minutes for $70 a month, and $20 for unlimited texting.
—Slightly richer “Quick Messaging Devices” will charge $70 a month for unlimited talk, and will require $20 a month to be spent on either texting or Web browsing packages.
—All smartphones, including the iPhone, may now buy unlimited voice and data for $100, not including $20 a month for unlimited texting. Release.

Related

• Price Wars: Boost Mobile Unveils Unlimited Voice And Data Plan For $50

Job loss abroad

Editor, The Times:

I don’t understand how anyone in the government expects there to be a permanent increase in the number of jobs available without looking outside our country for the work that has escaped our shores [“Focus should be on job creation,” Opinion, Jan. 10].

Current job programs focus on bolstering employment by getting buyers to purchase products and services now available in our country. Without bringing manufacturing back to the United States from overseas, there can be no lasting cure to the jobless dilemma.

Today’s programs are a bit like encouraging me to buy meals from my wife while she is pushed to buy lawn-mowing services from me. Ignoring the obvious sexist tone of this example, there is no net gain to our family. To make a difference to our economic situation, we must add value within our family and sell that added value to someone outside the house.

This is a corollary to the present decline of manufacturing in the U.S. Until our country has an industrial policy that encourages keeping and increasing value-creation activity within the country, markets the value-added products outside the country and imposes penalties on imported value, there is no reason for the capitalistic system to create value here. We can’t fully employ our work force if they are their only customers.

— Mike Anderson, Burien

An economic clarification

Your Jan. 10 article about the growing acceptance of Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s libertarian campaign [“Economy puts Paul’s views in spotlight,” News, Jan. 10], along with its reference to the grievously neglected Austrian School of Economics, was a welcome sight indeed for those of us who have deplored the lack of free-market-oriented coverage in the mainstream media.

However, the article’s description of Austrian economics as one that “emphasized tight controls on credit and money supply” calls for clarification lest some readers be led to believe that it endorses government-administered credit control. Nothing could be more incorrect.

While it is true that Austrian economics maintains that credit must be inextricably linked to savings and that any issuance of credit by banks — that is not covered by savings deposits — is fraudulent as well as unsustainable and destabilizing to the credit markets, this view doesn’t imply the necessity of central control of bank credit.

If banks were subject to the same requirements to honor their obligations as other businesses are, then the ever-present threat of a run on their demand deposits would create a powerful incentive for them to limit loans to saving deposits. Thus, in a free-market environment, with no central bank or compulsory bank deposit insurance, it would be holders of demand deposits who would ultimately keep bank credit in check.

— Mark G. Warner, Bellevue

Fearing for the American dream

I have lived the American dream. I grew up going to public schools, then community college and graduated from state college. I own and operate a small business that has grown over the past two decades to employ up to 18.

However, I fear for the direction that my country is taking and the future my children will inherit. My company has grown and survived the past recessions. I have always been bullish that my company and our country would survive such downturns. We are a country founded on freedom and capitalism. Because of this we have become rich not only in treasure but also in spirit.

This next year we will all get a clearer picture of how the left has changed the direction of the economy. We are near or past the tipping point where the private sector will no longer continue to lead us to the position we have attained.

Taxes will go up to cover the spending free-for-all. When taxes go too high, the behavior of the successful will change. Why would the business community continue to lay the golden eggs needed to finance the spending, if it offers little to no reward?

No policy from Obama’s administration is pro-business. More small businesses will go away, and this time new ones will not be replacing them.

— Mark Peterson, Yakima

Federal government is no deus ex machina

Rep. Ross Hunter’s, D-Medina, euphemism “manna from heaven” when referring to potential budget help from the federal government is indicative of the kind of thinking that got the state in this budget mess to begin with [“$2.6 billion budget gap prompts look at taxes,” page one, Jan. 11].

There is no more manna left in the federal coffers; they merely borrow it or print it — neither very heavenly. A more accurate description would be manna from the Chinese or Saudis, or whoever else may purchase new U.S. government debt. But in the end, the “manna” is actually from our children and unborn grandchildren.

— Donald Villeneuve, Renton

Start an income tax

As mentioned in The Times’ article, Washington state ranks dead last in regressive tax structure.

The more money you have, the less of your income goes to state taxes; The less you have, the more of your income goes to the state. This is not right.

With our state facing a huge budget hole and some type of new tax is needed to preserve essential services, 2010 should be the year our Legislature bucks up and starts a state income tax. Unless you’re very wealthy, this will be far better for you than a sales tax increase.

— Melanie Mayock, Seattle

Larry King has landed the first interview with the mother and husband of late actress Brittany Murphy, who died on her bathroom floor Dec. 20. The interview with Sharon Murphy and Simon Monjack will air on CNN’s Larry King Live Wednesday, Jan. 20, the one month anniversary of the star’s death.

“You want to know what broke Brittany Murphy’s heart? Hollywood broke Brittany Murphy’s heart,” Monjack tells King in the emotional chat.

You can score really big by entering the My Doggie Valentine Photo Contest by Purina. All you have to do is upload a photo of your dog and explain why your dog is your Valentine!

Please note that commenting on this post won’t enter you. You must go to the Chef Michael’s website to enter by January 25, 2010.

The loot includes a free Doggie Dinner gift package for the first 1,000 entrants. The grand prize winner gets a trip to New York City this February! The prize includes roundtrip coach airfare, four nights hotel accommodations in a dog-friendly hotel, $1,000 prepaid gift card and one-year supply of Chef Michael’s canine creations dry dinners, any variety.

The trip is for two people and up to two qualifying dogs to attend the Be My Valentine Doggie Dinner Party on February 10. Please read all the official rules for more details, but you must be a doggie owner who lives in the US to qualify.

Even if you don’t win the contest, you’re still helping pets in need just by uploading your dog’s photo. Chef Michael’s will donate $10 to Adopt-a-Pet for every valid entry up to $7,500.

(Image via Purina, Chef Michael’s)

Post from: Blisstree

My Doggie Valentine Photo Contest

The bandit is back, and he’s packing a bunch of phones in his bag!  From now until January 25th, we’re running a One-Pawed Bandit Giveaway Blitz!  Thought your chances were good before?  Now they’re even better!  Over the next ten days, you have the opportunity to win one of five Pantech Matrix Pro devices!  On that note, special thanks to our friends at Pantech for providing us with giveaway devices.

Here are the details:

• Five (5) Pantech Matrix Pros will be awarded by the One-Paw Bandit between January 15th and January 25th.
• You must register on PhoneDog.com as a fan in order to play.  We promise we won’t send you anything unless you request to be on our mailing list!
• Navigate to PhoneDog.com’s One-Pawed Bandit page directly, or look for the “Win Phones” tab at the top of PhoneDog.com.
• You are given five (5) spins from the website, and an additional five (5) spins from Facebook every day.  Be sure to use them all!  You’d be surprised at the number of wasted spins we see on a daily basis – it breaks our heart!
• Three (3) identical pictures of fruit or three (3) bells does not constitute a win – it must be three (3) phones.
• Be sure to come back every day to increase your chances of winning!

Since January 1, 2009, 67 winners have won a device through PhoneDog’s One-Paw Bandit game.  You could be number 68! 

Get out there and play!

Here’s a Genius Bar horror story for you: Justin Barry, an apparently disgruntled seventeen year old, walked into a Staten Island Apple Store and typed this message on one of the display machines. He’s now facing seven years in prison.

I have threatened your store and all its employees with a bloody death … whoever the crew maybe working, or the innocent citizens that walk in … will be eliminated with the force of a… bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest.

Barry claims he was joking—he signed the threat with the name of a friend’s father—but he’s facing terror charges that could leave him locked up until his mid-twenties. With any luck he’ll be out just in time to get in line for the iSlate Nano. [MacWorld]

There’s a new wave of drama headed to the 14th season of The Bachelor.

Contestant Tenley Molzahn is pregnant!

Tenley, 25, drops the bombshell on lovelorn pilot Jake Pavelka in a preview of next week’s episode. Tenley, who works in the Admissions Office of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Huntington Beach, California was previously married, and has said on the show, “I haven’t dated anyone since my ex-husband….”

No word just yet who fathered the baby.

The pregnancy announcement comes just weeks after the revelation that contestant Rozlyn Papa, a 28-year-old single mother from Virginia, allegedly had an “inappropriate” relationship with Bachelor producer Ryan Callahan. Although Rozlyn denies it, Bachelor host Chris Harrison, as well as numerous other women in the house, insists Papa had sex with the married Callahan. Ryan’s wife has since filed for divorce.

The Bachelor airs Monday on ABC.