Why Not Change Names of Those Tongue-Twisting Cities?

Some things in the news you never forget! Like the report a few years ago about an audacious Mayor Logo of a Texas town that changed its name to Buck Naked (!). In his defense of the action, he said: “If you can prove that one person came into this world with clothes on, we’ll change the name!”

Bravo, Mayor Logo! As a matter of fact, there are a few towns in Washington State that might gain a new lease on life with a name change, starting, perhaps, with the state itself. To avoid continued confusion with that other Washington, how about changing it to, say, Paradise or New Heaven --- or, in keeping with the lack of rain (Ho! Ho!) the Everbrown State?

And then, with apologies to our native American forebears, how about taking a look at, ahem, Pyssht, Chewelah, Cowiche, Duckabush, Cle Elum, Entiat, Fishtrap, Humptulips, Kapowsin, Mockonema, Ohanapecosh, Paha, Penawawa, Queets, Stanokawa, Twisp, Utsaladdy, Wahkiacus, and Zillah.

You can see that there’s a lot of room for improvement there. Now out here where I live in Issaquah…. Hmmmmmm. Issaquah. Buck Naked, King County? Naaaaah. It’s already taken.

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Ban on Fireworks Sales More Urgently Needed Today Than Ever

With the Fourth of July not far off, I think cities and counties, particularly in Western Washington, should go all the way on fireworks --- and ban them in toto the year ‘round, except for those fireworks displays run by professionals who are properly trained and licensed.

The ban should go into effect right now, before the fireworks stands are up and it’s business-as-usual in the death-and-damage business. Some areas in Western Washington are tinder dry and just waiting for the slightest spark from a fireworks display to bring great destruction.

I think every local and county lawmaker should be required to read the gruesome statistics of death and severe injuries to hundreds each year from fireworks. The lawmakers should also talk to firefighters, police officers, hospital emergency-ward attendants, and pet owners to understand the havoc created by the fireworks craze.

A total ban this year and every year hereafter would save a great many lives and prevent lifelong agony for thousands injured seriously in fireworks blasts.

There’s Good News for All Those Television Couch Potatoes

Hey! All you TV couch potatoes! Listen up! I’ve been holding on to some good news for you from what is called the International Conference on Physical Activity. It’s old stuff, but it’s still up to date and practical. If you can say the name of the Conference, you’ve already passed the first test.

At any rate, the doctors affiliated with the conference said, after four years of study, that you don’t have to train for the Olympics, climb mountains, or jog from Seattle to Portland to avoid the dangers of obsessive TV-watching. All you have to do, besides fixing the dial on your favorite channel, that is, is to get off your duff frequently.

Walk up and down the stairs and around the house. Bend those knees, extend those arms, and dance. Yes, I said dance. Even sex helps, but I imagine you don’t need to be coaxed to try that exercise. Oh, yes. Please be sure to draw the curtains. Your neighbors may not be watching TV.

All this kind of exercise could save your life, say the experts. Now, here are a few special Guzzo tips for you. Put the refrigerator in the garage or up in the attic. Sell all your comfortable chairs and sit on the floor. When the dog or cat wants out, go with it. And get on an honest scale that doesn’t lie about your weight.

Then, if you dare, get a doctor like mine, who says you’re digging your grave with your teeth. Or maybe you should seek a doctor like my previous one, who ordered me to quit smoking and said: “You must make a choice. Do you want to go to a doctor like me for advice or go to your favorite undertaker?” I quit smoking that very day, and I’m still here to tell about it.

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CEOs Raise Their Salaries While Rest of Nation Is in Recession

It’s not only a scandal. It’s immoral. While the rest of the country is forced to tighten its belt and pick up the tab for the economic jolt we’re suffering these days, the nation’s CEOs manage to jack up their salaries or retire as they pocket outlandish golden parachutes in the millions of dollars.

To repeat an old but unfortunately true cliché, the very rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer --- and, we should add, the most important middle-income Americans take on an even greater share of the tax burden and the ever-growing costs of food, gasoline, and everything else.

I think we’re headed for trouble if we don’t bring CEO and executive salaries and golden parachutes down to a reasonable level in America. That’s the stuff of which revolutions are made. If you have any doubts on that scary score, just ask your nearest reputable historian.

Here’s what I think: CEOs of large concerns deserve good salaries, but I think their boards of directors and stockholders should demand that they observe this voluntary rule: Their salaries and income from stock options and bonuses should never exceed a certain percentage of their companies’ net profit. With a rule like that, they could easily afford to pay their staffs and workers what they deserve --- instead of the scraps that are left.

Sonics’ “Robbery” Proves Pro Sports Need a Major Overhaul

Well, now, the Sonics “robbery plot” thickens! With the news that Clay Bennett and the Oklahoma City moguls intended all along to move the Seattle team to Oklahoma, the former owner, Howard Schultz, the Starbucks chief, is saying, in effect, “We wuz robbed!” and is going to sue to undo the sale of the local N.B.A. franchise.

Schultz is insisting, as everyone else in Seattle is, including the press, that Bennett promised upon purchasing the team that the Sonics would stay in Seattle. The suit is due to be filed in court within the next couple of weeks. What a dandy of a trial that is going to be!

It’s obvious that Bennett and his rich Oklahoma City chums are going to argue in court that Washington State and Seattle lawmakers reneged on legislation that would have enlarged the Sonics’ home court or built a new arena. What greed these sports moguls have! Their purpose is to add arena seats because that would give them more money.

The entire episode indicates that something is decidedly “rotten in Denmark” --- or, to put it more accurately, rotten with professional sports in America. The N.B.A.’s mouthpiece and leader, David Stern, told Seattle fans that, if the Sonics leave for Oklahoma City, Seattle will never get another basketball franchise!

Stern should be forced to resign for embracing the Bennett group’s theft of the Seattle team. Whatever happened to common sense? Instead of inviting the Sonics scandal and others like it in pro sports, all the N.B.A. would have had to do is grant a franchise to Oklahoma City! It would be that simple.

But, no. The greedy pro-sports owners must have their own way. That brings me to a proposal I have made many times in recent years. Congress should step in and pass legislation ordering that only cities should own all pro-sports franchises, not individual owners.

With that kind of a law, only the voters and sports fans of cities could determine whether a basketball, football, baseball, hockey, or any other franchise could leave town. Every major city in the U.S. should have the right to own franchises in all pro sports and to force them to leave if they wished.

Under such a law, the cities would not own nor operate the teams. That would be done by eligible owners or organizations, and the city governments should have no say in the day-to-day operations of the teams. Doesn’t that make a lot more sense than the present stupid tugs of war the pro leagues now condone?

Why should so many major cities be denied the right to own franchises for any pro sport their fans would like and support? The wealthy owners say they have a right to make all decisions concerning sports teams, since they put up the dough, they say, to operate the teams and pay the players.

Oh, yeah! I say pro sports would die overnight across the country if the fans quit buying tickets and stayed home. It’s their hard-earned bucks that make it possible for pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and all the other sports to survive. They should have the most important voice in how the leagues are run --- and their voice could be heard through city governments that own the franchises!

Plenty of Blame to Go ‘Round in Seattle Sonics’ Debacle

Something most certainly is “rotten in Denmark” when a city like Seattle, which is one of the most supportive cities of all pro sports, has its Sonics franchise stripped away from it by a bunch of greedy, wealthy owners in the National Basketball Association and transferred to Oklahoma City.

The owners are the main “thieves” in this case, but there is plenty of blame to go around, and Seattle’s sports fans should remember in November’s elections that Democratic officials are also the culprits. Now, two years too late, Washington’s Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, and leaders of the Democratically controlled legislature are bemoaning the loss of the Sonics.

They are joined by two other Democrats, Senators Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray, who are also very critical of the Sonics “robbery” but are doing nothing about the N.B.A. owners’ action. If they were really concerned, they would immediately introduce legislation in Congress to take away the owners’ sports dictatorships and order that all pro-sports franchises should belong to the cities and their sports fans, whose dollars at the turnstiles make pro sports possible.

Speaking of blame, it is now quite clear that the wealthy manipulators from Oklahoma City, led by Clay Bennett, intended to move the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City from the beginning. Their promise to keep the team in Seattle was so much boloney, as was their demand that the city needed a much larger arena, or else….!

Look at it from the N.B.A. owners’ perspective: Their profits are tied directly to ticket sales at arenas around the country --- and the larger the arenas, the greater are their profits. It’s as simple as that! Thus, one can see why they voted for the city in Oklahoma over Seattle because the Oklahomans have voted to build an arena larger than Seattle’s.

When Seattle’s Sonics delegation went to the legislature to present its problem and to inform the legislators that the team could be long gone if something wasn’t done, the lawmakers just yawned and refused to take any action. That was despite the fact that the private sector, led by Steve Ballmer, John Stanton, and Jim Sinegal, offered millions of dollars to help refurbish the Arena or build another structure.

Now Howard Schultz, the Starbucks mogul who sold the team to the Oklahomans, says he is going to file suit against Bennett and his clan because they promised they would keep the team in Seattle when the deal was made. The city also has filed suit to keep the Sonics here till 2010, the contract’s end.

I don’t think either of the court actions will keep the Sonics in Seattle. The most important action should be taken by Washington’s congressional delegation to declare that all sports franchises should be owned by cities, not by greedy owners. The cities would then award ownerships to worthy individuals or organizations. Simple, no? And it’s the action that would reward all sports fans for their support and loyalty.

Nazi Skinheads Should Be Made to Visit Hitler’s Death Camps

In recent years, thousands of Jews from various parts of the world have been making a grim pilgrimage to what were once the dreaded Nazi death camps in Germany. They’re grieving for the six million Jews murdered in gas chambers, ovens, inhumane Nazi laboratories, and by firing squads.

Most of the travelers are survivors or members of the families who perished in Hitler’s death camps. They have cried so often in the past 70 years that they probably have few tears left to give. And yet, despite the cataclysmic suffering, we have people among us who insist that the holocaust never happened and that the Nazi butchery was invented by Jews, non-whites, and others.

These nonbelievers are the Nazi skinheads and the misguided few who believe them. I think we ought to take up a collection to send them on the same odyssey the Jewish survivors have been making to the Nazi death camps. And since they apparently don’t read nor think, we should require them to talk to the American soldiers who liberated the remaining death-camp prisoners.

We should also insist that these nonbelievers see the ghastly photos and films of the incredible carnage perpetrated by Hitler and his genocidal gang. Maybe they might then be inclined to recant and recognize the truth.

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Media Should Not Report the Sleazy Details of Sex Crimes

Call me old-fashioned, if you will, but I’m disturbed over the news media’s fascination for reporting all the slimy, lurid details of murder and sex cases --- complete with photos in the print medium and videotapes in the television medium. Don’t they care about who is reading and viewing?

All my life I’ve devoted myself to fighting censorship, which is the enemy of a free nation. But in recent years, the news media have gone overboard and confused the public’s right to know with their penchant for anything pornographic that helps the newspaper and TV ratings.

We need to know the basic facts concerning the trials and tribulations of the persons involved in committing sex crimes and crimes of violence. But those facts can be reported without the prurient details. When I started in the news business back in the 1930s, it was a widely accepted tradition that no one should tamper with the public’s right to know but that all media should observe the rules of good taste and common sense.

Back then, it was deemed a matter of media responsibility. Now it seems that the media generally have adopted the crude “let it all hang out” approach of the sleazy sex and weird tabloids and magazines. Old-fashioned or not, the news media need to return to the era of self-discipline and responsibility.

Is Morality Code Finally Being Revised in Islamic Nations?

Is it possible that the winds of change and modern democracy are finally having their effect in Islamic nations? Hmmmm. What brought that to mind was an Associated Press report from Tehran, the capital of the puzzling and ever-dangerous Iran, concerning the arrest and jailing of a leading official.

The official is General Reza Zarei, Tehran’s longtime police chief, who was arrested and sent to jail after he was surprised by his own forces at a well-known underground brothel in the capital. At the time, he was apparently making whoopee in the presence of six (count ‘em!) nude women, all of them prostitutes.

The news media in Iran gave the event considerable play, mainly because Zarei has been known and heralded for his well publicized campaign against vice in the capital. Will wonders never cease? Now, the question remains what will happen to the errant police chief.

In many other similar cases in Islamic nations, Muslim males have escaped scot-free for rapes and other criminal actions, and it has been the women --- even in the case of rape --- who have been jailed or even executed for looking at a man who is not their husband. I’m surprised that the six nudes in the police chief’s case weren’t arrested, instead of the chief. But maybe the morality code has finally been updated! We’ll see.

POTPOURRI: Why all the fuss and bother over plastic and paper bags and the problem in disposing of them in landfills? The issue itself would be tossed into the waste bin for all time if the extremists would shut up and get lost. It’s a simple answer. Forget about the overloading of landfills and send all the wastes out to an incinerator to be turned into ashes and thereby easily utilized as a fertilizer or ground cover. And to think that Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickels wants to impose a 20-cent charge on bags at the grocery! Just like a politician to create a tax to solve a problem. . . .· Have Americans gone daft? And is the Guinness Book of Records partly to blame? On one hand, a 22-year-old man won the Acme World Oyster Eating championship in New Orleans by downing 35 dozen oysters in eight minutes! And on the other hand, a 13-year-old boy in Blaine, Washington, worked his way into the Guinness Records by blowing up 213 balloons through his nose! Glory be! Is there no limit to our craziness? . . .· And now we have yet another disturbing indication of the increasing failure of American education to keep up with schooling standards in other major nations. According to the Associated Press, Promise Alliance reports that “half of the students served by public-school systems in the nation’s largest cities receive diplomas.” When 50 percent of our youngsters fail to finish high school, we are headed for real trouble. Why in the world do we permit so many young people to drop out of school? . . .· Readers of my commentaries know of my warning that American cities have grown too large and must be scaled down drastically to curb growing crime, poverty, traffic tie-ups, and other grave problems in over-large metropolises. Now we’re told that the bulging-city problem is worldwide in scope and that by the end of 2008, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. And it will get worse, unless cities everywhere find ways to move people back to rural areas or at least to smaller towns outside the big cities. . . .· It’s hard to believe, but researchers tell us that the growing number of employees suffering from lack of sleep has become a serious American problem and is costing companies billions of dollars. The National Sleep Foundation has reported that about 70 million American workers have a problem sleeping and many of them take naps on the job. It’s also a growing problem on the nation’s roads as more and more workers are falling asleep at the wheel. Wake up, America!

U.S. Must Return to Sensible, Reasonable Environmental Policy

Now that the all the exaggerations and misinformation of another Earth Day have subsided, it’s a good idea to take a good, hard, long look at those who have taken what was once a good idea and turned it into an elaborate, tarnished event that has become a national and even an international joke.

Not only that. The extremists who have distorted the Earth Day idea are responsible for the terrible excesses of an environmental movement that has thwarted what its originators had proposed --- a careful, sensible movement to protect the forests, rivers, valleys, lakes, and streams of one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I should know. Way back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, my old friend, Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, and I pioneered the environmental movement in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, we were not alone, but we were the most outspoken persons in the brand-new movement that struggled to be recognized.

I did my part as a daily columnist airing the need for a beautification plan for Seattle and the surrounding area and for planting and saving trees, bushes, ponds, and the shore lines of rivers, lakes, and even the oceans. Dixy was also an outspoken environmentalist, and on one occasion coaxed the state legislature to protect important rivers from incursions by certain industrialist expansions.

All went well, and the exhortations made frequently by Dixy and me had much to do with the early gains by the new environmental movement. In the meantime, similar phases of the movement were making headway in various other parts of the nation, and it seemed that the U.S. was finally on its way toward a sensible, manageable environmental policy.

Then all hell broke loose. It came in the form of a miserable, scientifically wacky book by Rachael Carson, “Silent Spring,” which signaled the entrance of the power-mad, radical element that used the Carson manual as a springboard for turning a sensible movement into a politically motivated, power-hungry force.

What the extremists have done with their radical demands is to virtually destroy the very movement they have pretended to support. Consider, for example, what their noisy objection to the insecticide, DDT, accomplished. DDT, one of science’s most successful chemicals, brought a virtual end to malaria in the U.S. and throughout the world, bringing an end to the annual deaths of 3,000,000, most of them children.

Thanks to the Carson treatise, the extremists said DDT was harming the eggs in eagles’ nests, and gullible politicos bought it an banned the insecticide. Other nations followed suit, and the annual death rate from malaria rose from a few hundred back to the 3,000,000 total --- which it is today!

On other fronts, the environmental extremists brought a halt to the much needed expansion of nuclear-power plants and oil refineries. The result has been that the U.S. has not built a new nuclear plant nor an oil refinery for more than 35 years. If you want to know why you’re paying outrageous prices for gasoline and why we’re at war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, as a result, you now have your answer.

I must repeat myself. We must return to an environmental policy that is not only sensible and scientifically reasonable but a policy that disregards Carson and all the environmental extremists and places the needs of human beings over those of plants and animals. If we don’t do so, we can eventually say “Goodbye, America.”

Bush Pressured to Order Iraq to Pay for Reconstruction

Congressmen from both parties have joined to make what I consider to be a logical demand in the Iraqi War --- a demand I hope President Bush also embraces and makes a major part of his policy regarding Iraq. They want oil-rich Iraq to start devoting its lucrative income from oil exports to the cost of rebuilding Iraq.

The lawmakers say that the Iraq government could divert at least $56 billion to the massive rebuilding effort in the nation. If that were to happen, the new request of $108 billion Bush has asked Congress to set aside could be halved and set the stage for eventual elimination of virtually all financial aid to Iraq.

Indications are that the present budget battle in Congress will heat up as never before, particularly if Bush defies the move to force Iraq to ante up at least $56 billion for reconstruction in the embattled nation. Of course, the Democrats will use the budget battle to pressure Bush to order an early pullout of American forces from Iraq. Stay tuned. This is going to get hot and furious.

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POTPOURRI: The Middle East’s new Hitler, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, is so anti-American --- to match his anti-Israeli hangup --- that he keeps repeating and repeating the old theme of the Muslim extremists that the U.S. orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon as a pretext for invading Iraq and Afghanistan. In that ridiculous stance, he is, of course, joined by the Leftist fringe in the U.S. and elsewhere. . . .· It’s hard to believe that, more than half a century after the eradication of Naziism, devotees of Hitler’s National Socialism still reside in the U.S. and continue to organize marches and to shout “Sieg Heil!” Just recently, 30 of the Hitlerite critters stopped traffic on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., and had to be controlled by capital police. The group was from Michigan and belonged to the National Socialist Movement in that state. Will they ever learn? . . .· Glory be! It had to happen sooner or later. A newly developed body scanner that can peer through a person’s clothing and disclose any type of item, including weapons, has made its debut at the Los Angeles International Airport. It is remarkably efficient in its operation, but already it has complaints from persons and organizations charging that it is an unlawful invasion of privacy. Privacy! That’s malarkey. If the new scanner protects me and others on flights, let it probe wherever and whenever it wishes. . . .· Those people who are complaining bitterly because of the tight new security rules on the Puget Sound ferries apparently don’t realize that we are in a war against international terrorists --- terrorists who will stop at nothing to kill or injure Americans wherever they may find them. Maybe the ferries should require that all persons traveling on the ferries view films of the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Wouldn’t all those ferry riders rather be safe than sorry? . . . · In case you have missed the infrequent mentions in the news media, let me offer this note: Believe it or not, researchers in Europe and the U.S. are still trying to come up with a substitute for meat --- a substitute made from non-meat resources. Funny thing is, some animal-rights fanatics are already opposed to any substitute because, they say, it will be like chewing and swallowing the real thing. Some people are never really satisfied. . . .· Wonders will never cease. Greek and Armenian priests who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church engaged in fisticuffs and rowdyism recently. And guess where the big scrap happened? It happened in one of the most sacred places in all of Christianity --- the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the site on which Jesus was buried and resurrected! The Armenians and Greeks have been feuding for many years --- but do they have to do it in one of the holiest places in Christianity?

No Other City Like Seattle for Live Theater, Save N.Y.

With the exception of New York, why is Seattle the most active city for live theater in America, with far more active drama companies per capita than any other town? The answer lies in a theater tradition that was created many years ago by several very daring innovators.

For example, Nellie Cornish was a pioneer in establishing the live-theater tradition at her one-of-a-kind school of allied arts. Among the teachers she brought in to teach at Cornish School were Burton and Florence James, who later created their own repertory theater in affiliation with the University of Washington --- until they encountered political problems.

How well I remember the irascible and arrogant Glenn Hughes. Despite his ornery qualities, he must be given credit for introducing generations of young Seattleites and imports from other cities to the world of drama. Also associated with the U.W. were the talented Geraldine Siks and Agnes Haaga, who matched Hughes’ efforts in children’s theater.

And we cannot and must not overlook the contributions to Seattle’s world of live theater of two extremely significant names --- Seattle’s John Considine and Alexander Pantages, who were for many years the biggest names in professional touring theater and brought so many theater companies and world renowned performers to the city.

All of these people, and many more I haven’t mentioned, created a mass audience no other city has been able to match. Today we’re seeing the results in an extraordinary daily calendar of top-grade stage performances. All the innovators I’ve mentioned deserve more recognition than they have had.

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Scrap Bumbling NASA and Privatize the Space Program

Like one of its errant missiles, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been drifting in space and needs an immediate correction before more billions are wasted. I think NASA should be phased out and privatized so that the private sector can compete for space programs and bring our journey into space down to earth, so to speak.

The space agency, which made the horrible unscientific decision to embrace the global-warming hoax, is hopelessly weighed down by a bloated bureaucracy that is more interested in winning bigger budgets than in conquering space. How many more gigantic and costly snafus do we need before we scrap NASA?

From the tragic Challenger on, the record has been horrendous --- shuttles that leaked fuel, expensive launch delays, the unworkable antenna on the Jupiter-bound spacecraft, and the $2 billion Hubble telescope with the faulty mirror.

But worst of all has been NASA’s policy of spending billions to put people into space when it could learn just as much, if not more, by putting far less expensive but more efficient instruments out there. The space program needs the competition private industry can give --- with better results for a lot less money and fewer mistakes.

160 Million Bucks for Highway Leading to Souvenir Stands?

After all these years, it still sticks in the craw, as the saying goes. There are times when we should repair damage done by an infuriated Mother Nature. And there are times when we should leave that damage alone. I think the latter applies to Mount St. Helens in Washington State.

I can’t argue with the establishment of the Mount St. Helens National Monument. Some of it was left substantially as the violent eruption left it back in 1980. But we foolishly spent $160 million or more, most of it federal and some state cash, to clear debris and build a handsome two-lane highway to the site north of Spirit Lake.

One hundred and sixty million bucks for a mountain highway leading to some souvenir stands? The feds and Olympia legislators spent millions for the souvenir trade while roads, highways, and bridges that were critically needed or that required crucial repairs went begging in the rest of the state?

Did we have our priorities mixed or didn’t we? Maybe we should dynamite Mount Rainier and Mount Baker into erupting so we can get some quick millions from the government treasury to build more roads --- and more souvenir stands!

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Remembering Wayne Dean, Who Gave His Life to Save Children

I know Memorial Day is a couple months away, but the mere mention of it reminds me of the man I have called my No. 1 hero. His name was Wayne Dean of Snohomish. He was a loving, caring Grandpa, whose family was his main reason for living.

It was about 18 years ago that Wayne and his family were spending a vacation at Long Beach on Washington State’s Pacific Coast. Without warning, his five grandchildren and one of their friends were swimming offshore when they were trapped unexpectedly by giant waves and a sever undertow --- something that can happen frequently.

Sensing the potential tragedy of the situation, Wayne swam out about 100 yards to save two of the children, then went back for two more and rescued them, too. He dived back in a third time, but the Herculean strain stopped his heart and he drowned. The remaining children somehow found their way back to shore safely.

I doubt that there is a greater hero anywhere than Grandpa Wayne Dean. His death was tragic, but what a legacy of love, courage, and devotion he left his wife, Virginia, his children, and his grandchildren --- and all of the rest of us, as well. I said it at the time, and I must repeat it: Washington State should build a statue honoring Wayne Dean and remembering his feat of valor and love every Memorial Day.

World Needs a Permanent Military Force to Keep the Peace

The bloody tragedies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, and so many other places on the planet point up one of the greatest deficiencies in a world that is desperately seeking permanent peace. That’s the need for a permanent, mobile military force to keep the peace and put an end to what is already the Third World War.

Add to that the international terrorist war sparked by Muslim extremists in many parts of the world and it is obvious that such a military force is an absolute necessity. Those persons who say we can solve all the problems by simply withdrawing American and allied forces from the trouble spots are the peaceniks whose policy would bring surrender and chaos to the U.S.

It has become quite obvious in the past few decades that the United Nations, which was created immediately after the Second World War to establish world peace, has been a colossal failure. Even its so-called “peacekeeping force” has been a failure and, in fact, has been made a liability because of inbred fraud and corruption.

We can no longer depend upon the U.N., which I have labeled the “Useless Nations” because of its ineptness. One of the reasons for its ineptness has been the presence of so many Second and Third World nations that are unwilling to support a strong international force or are involved in political or economic struggles that make them unwilling to marshal such a world force.

In order to stem the tide of the increasing bloody tragedies, the United States should adopt a new, two-pronged policy. The first action should be to withdraw from the U.N. and keep the billions we have been giving it over the years as the largest contributor to its treasury.

The second action should be to bring together the world’s major powers, usually referred to as the First World nations, and organize a volunteer military force that would be sent to trouble spots to quell rebellions or other deadly conflicts that threaten the peace of well-established governments.

The men and women who joined the ground forces, air forces, and naval forces of the new military force would have to be volunteers. And it goes without saying that the pay of such personnel would have to be high enough to attract the best and most experienced volunteers.

Furthermore, the military leadership of the international force should be rotated so that all member nations would be equally represented in the top echelon. They, too, should be well paid to make certain that the men and women at the top of the unusual military structure are of the finest caliber.

Overseeing the entire effort should be a council of military leaders chosen by each country represented. They would operate like the staff chiefs of the U.S. Defense Department and the chairmanship of the council should also be rotated to make certain that each nation was given equal responsibility.

Are we ready for such an ambitious undertaking and solution of the world’s chronic tragedies? Frankly, we really have no choice. The conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, and other regions must be stopped. And there is no other real solution to the ongoing international war on terror, which is, in essence, a religious war.

Report of Israel-Syria Peace Talks Is Hard to Believe

No final decision has been made, but an Associated Press report from the Middle East indicates that two longtime enemies, Syria and Israel, may be on the verge of an astonishing peace effort that could go a long way toward cooling off conflicts in the region --- or it could be a cloak-and-dagger scheme that could bring even greater conflict, or war.

As the A.P. reported it, a Lebanese cabinet minister revealed that Israel had delivered a message to Syria’s President Bashar Assad that it was prepared to return the strategic Golan Heights in exchange for a peace treaty. However, the Israeli government has refused to comment on the report thus far.

Nevertheless, it is known that Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did tell reporters several days ago that he and Syrian officials have exchanged messages “clarifying what each nation would expect from a peace deal.” Olmert also told newspapers that “they know what we want from them, and I know full well what they want from us.”

I would be greatly surprised if Israel gives up the Golan Heights land, which it seized way back in the late 1960s to thwart the repeated attacks by Syrian military forces on Israeli villages in the immediate area. Because of the strategic position of the Golan Heights, which looks down on Israel’s territory, it is ideal for lobbing bombs and missiles down on the Israelis.

How well I remember the elation of the Israeli military a short time after its troops had routed the Syrians and taken control of the Golan Heights. I was visiting Israel at the time with other American newsmen, and we were permitted to travel up to the high region and to interview Israel’s military leaders.

They were a happy lot, because they had removed one of the sorest spots in their battles with Syrian forces. One of the men I interviewed was an Iraeli colonel in charge of a tank division. He was eager to answer questions, so I asked him a few humdingers, including this one:

“Colonel, I know you’re pleased with your victory over the Syrian forces and have driven them off the Heights. Now that the battle has ended and at least a temporary peace has been established, are you willing to make a permanent peace with the Syrians? Oh, and how far is it to the capital of Syria, Damascus, from here?”

He smiled, then said: “I would hope that we can achieve a permanent peace with the Syrians, and the sooner the better. But I will leave that to the diplomats of both countries. And, if it doesn’t work, well, so be it. You asked how far it is from here on the Heights to Damascus. It’s about an hour’s ride --- by tank.”

His meaning was clear. And Israel’s determination to keep control of the strategic Golan Heights has never wavered all these years. That’s why I am now surprised to hear about any talk of a peace treaty by Israel that would give the Heights back to Syria. If such a peace deal were arranged, what guarantee would the Israelis have that Syrian forces would never again lob missiles and bombs down on Israeli towns? Stay tuned.

Mariners Should Try Guzzo’s Revolutionary Pitching Plan

Hey, all you Mariners sports fans! Are you as disgusted with the Mariners’ bull pen as I am? And do you want to see an end to the losses of games in which the team rings up an early lead, only to have it frittered away by lousy pitching in the late innings? Of course you do, and so do I.

Well, I have just the “cure” for those disappointing blowouts, if only the people who run the Mariners would listen. Now, hear this. It’s an idea I have been trying to popularize for as many years as I have been a sports nut who is immensely fond of baseball --- as well as other sports.

The idea goes this way: The team has a regular pitching cadre of about a dozen men, culled from an even larger group of pitchers who show up for spring training. Each year, the manager designates four, five, or maybe six of what he considers his best pitchers as starters every fourth, fifth or sixth game. The rest, only so-so pitchers, are assigned to the bull pen.

OK. So you have at least five, maybe six, pitchers you can say are your best arms. Let’s just say six are good enough to be starters. Each one starts a game every five or six days, right? I way, wrong! These days it’s a rarity for any pitcher, no matter how good, to pitch an entire game of nine innings. Under the Guzzo Plan, you would select your six best pitchers and have each of them go three innings every other day, instead of waiting five or six days. In that way, each pitcher would give his best effort in three innings, then go to the bench and rest for a day. He would do the same every other day and never tire.

Under such a plan, you wouldn’t need daily visits to the bull pen with the hope that a second-rate pitcher can save the day for you, something that rarely happens. I’ll bet that the first manager who dares try the Guzzo Plan would soon wind up as a pennant winner and go to the World Series, where his new idea would work wonders.

So, now you say, how in the world are you going to score such pitching? If Jack Jones pitches only three innings, he would never record a victory, something every pitcher must have in abundance to win a better, more lucrative contract. I realize that would be a problem, but there is an easy answer for that problem, too.

If three pitchers go to the mound and the team wins the game, each pitcher would be awarded one-third of a victory. By pitching every other day, he would soon amass a total victory string that would far surpass today’s efforts. In effect, it would be only the scorekeepers and the newspaper sports reporters who would have a problem, but even they could learn to live with the “one-third-of-a-victory plan.”

Only one other problem would remain to be solved. And that is what to do with the bull-pen pitchers under the Guzzo Plan. It would solve itself. The best pitchers in the bull pen would be called on only if one of the three-inning starters faltered and didn’t have his best pitches on a particular day.

I forgot to mention one other problem the plan would solve or at least minimize. Note that most pitchers who suffer an injury on the mound do so because they have pitched too many innings and they go on stubbornly in search of a win. Not much can go wrong with a good pitcher who toils for only three innings every other day. Have I made my case? OK! Now play ball --- three innings at a time and win pennants and World Series!

Seattle Should Turn Fort Lawton Into “Aspen of the West”

At the moment, a classical struggle is going on between the residents of the affluent Magnolia community and the city of Seattle over the future development of Fort Lawton, now called Discovery Park, which is adjacent to Magnolia --- and both factions are missing a great opportunity for both Magnolia and the city.

Fort Lawton, once the property of the federal government, was a key facility in the Second World War. Its purpose was twofold; one was to process Army troops being trained for ground and sea duty in Alaska and the Pacific, and the other was to stand guard over the entrance to Puget Sound, with many big guns at the ready in case the enemy came by sea.

I have great memories of the old Fort. It was a training ground for me when I was assigned to it in 1942. I earned my master sergeant’s stripes there and at the Port of Embarkation and trained other troops, as well. But my most important reminiscence of the Fort was its magnificent beauty, its enormous ocean and Sound vistas, and its promise for the future when the war had run its course.

Later, as the critic-at-large of the Seattle Times, I paid a visit to the extraordinary Aspen arts, cultural, educational, and convention center, which remains to this day one of the most precious gems of the state of Colorado as it draws visitors and conventions from all parts of the U.S. and the world.

I thought immediately that, if the City of Seattle had any imagination, Fort Lawton could become “the Aspen Center of the West” and draw the same worldwide attention and marvelous reputation that Aspen has brought to Colorado. In the mid-1950s, I wrote my first column urging Seattle to consider converting the fort into another Aspen --- and I wrote and spoke about the idea many times thereafter.

But now, the city, which will inherit the Fort, apparently wants no part of the “Aspen Dream” and is, instead, devoted to the idea that the precious land and all its vistas should be devoted to building housing for the homeless. Well, I, too, want to help find homes for the homeless, but the Fort Lawton site is not the place for it. Magnolia’s residents agree.

There is plenty of unused land available for construction of homeless communities on the outer edges of Seattle. The extraordinary Fort Lawton site, which is one of the most dramatic gateways to the city and the region, is crying out for a superior development that would be a boon to the entire city, state, and the Northwest.

What puzzles me is why the politicians down at Seattle’s City Hall can’t see the financial opportunities in the potential drawing card a “Seattle Aspen” would be for the city. If the arts and cultural opportunities don’t impress them, the money that would come in to the city by way of convention attendance should draw their enthusiasm.

If the politicians aren’t interested, the business leaders in the community and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce certainly should be. And, most important of all, the news media should be telling the people about the “Aspen” idea and its potential. If they did so, I have no doubt that public sentiment would force the politicians to pay attention.

Maybe the Magnolia residents who oppose the city’s plan to build housing for the homeless at the old Fort can ignite the public spark needed to make the city consider the Aspen plan.

Ever Ponder the Special Abilities of Birds, Animals, Insects?

Maybe you will think I have lost all my marbles when I write this, but I’m going to try it out on you anyway, with the hope that you won’t think I’m daft and ready for the booby hatch. It’s this: Have you ever wondered, as I have wondered, about the fact that birds, animals, insects, and other living things can do many things we humans can’t?

And should we change our way of thinking about all other earthly creatures? Let me give you a for-instance: Have you ever watched a bird in flight, and, as I have, wished you could fly like it, balance ever so dangerously on a thin, wind-blown branch, and survive in the worst outdoor conditions?

Well, I have done it often --- watched birds, that is --- and wondered why humans, who deem themselves superior to birds, can’t emulate the robins, pigeons, hawks, eagles, and all other birds. How much more could we human beings do in life if we had the ability to float in the air and go from here to there without driving a car or catching a bus?

Regarding so-called “wild” animals, have you ever watched a giraffe pick fruit off the middle branches or the very top of a tree, without the need to climb the tree or use a ladder? And, if you have ever been accosted by a robber or murderer, don’t you wish you could have escaped with the speed of a lion, tiger, gazelle, or any of the other creatures of the jungle?

Maybe a daily swim is your thing, and you are proud of your ability to swim the length of the pool in seconds. That’s nothing compared to what you could do if you had the speed, maneuverability, and daring of all the fish in the sea. Nor could you last for more than a minute or two under water, whereas they can live beneath the surface.

Have you ever watched a huge elephant give itself a shower simply by dipping its versatile trunk in water and hosing itself thoroughly? Wish you could do that? Or maybe you’ve watched a squirrel squeeze easily through the thicket, race up and down trees, or build a home in a tree trunk --- and wished you could do it, too.

It’s probable that you have an utter disdain for moles, insects, and all other smaller creatures that can live underground and burrow through a hillside in minutes, then live there, safe from other creatures that might be looking for them. Wow! Imagine what you, a human, could do if you had that capability!

I could go through the entire bird, animal, and insect world and detail the various characteristics we humans admire but cannot duplicate. But that would take an encyclopedia! Suffice it to say that we should quit boasting about our superiority and start appreciating all of God’s creatures.

And, speaking of God, I believe, as some other people do, that all His creatures have souls and, when their lives are done, go to their own Heaven. Did I hear you laughing? I don’t mind. But I must ask you this: Can you prove that I’m wrong and that these creatures don’t have souls? Of course you can’t.

I’m not asking you to believe as I do. But, please, do me and yourself a big favor. The next time you see a bird soaring through the air or a mole burrowing quickly into the earth to reach its home underground --- or any other phenomenon involving another of God’s creatures --- ponder the possibility that they, too, are God’s creatures and that you wish you had their remarkable abilities, abilities we don’t have.

Haq Murder Trial Calls for Adoption of “Two-Trial” Idea

The grueling, tragic murder trial of Naveed Haq, now going on in a Seattle court, brings up a suggestion I have made, along with several other observers, to effect profound changes in jurisprudence regarding plaintiffs whose attorneys say should not be convicted because they are mentally unbalanced and in need of serious treatment.

Haq, who was born in Pakistan and has been a U.S. resident for a number of years, committed a deplorable crime back in 2006, when he penetrated the headquarters of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, shot and killed one member of the federation and seriously wounded five other women.

On the witness stand, Haq’s mother recited a sorrowful tale of her son’s rapidly deteriorating mental state. Of course, she was appealing to the jury to excuse her son’s behavior and deadly action. On the other hand, the prosecuting attorney in the case has shrugged off the “mental status” claim and pursued the position that Haq was sane and that he carefully planned his murderous action.

Was he sane or insane and was he responsible or not responsible for his deadly assault? These are questions that keeping coming up in many other murder cases in American courts. And, as is the case in the countless other cases, the Seattle jurors in Haq’s murder trial are given the unenviable task of judging whether a plaintiff is sane or insane. In the commentaries I have made on such cases in the past four or five decades, I have stated, as I still do, that jurors do not have the expertise and experience to make a decision regarding the mental state of plaintiffs in murder or other criminal proceedings. That decision should be left to psychiatrists and/or psychologists.

It is far too big and too impractical a task to ask ordinary citizens to make judgments in such cases. Therefore, as I have said so many times, a drastic change should be made in
federal, state, and local laws to correct a major flaw in our court systems. It’s a change that was made several years ago in Denmark and one or two other European countries.

Under Danish law, for example, plaintiffs in murder cases, who say they are mentally ill and were insane at the time they committed a murder, must first go through a trial in which reputable psychiatrists and/or psychologists determine whether a plaintiff is a bonafide mental case. If they decide that a plaintiff is insane and was not fully responsible for his or her actions, the plaintiff is ordered immediately into an agency treating the mentally ill --- there to stay until the state or nation decides when the plaintiff is cured and should be released, or whether he or she should remain in the agency for the rest of his or her life.

If the experts decide the plaintiff is sane and was mentally stable at the time of the crime, he or she is then ordered to face trial for that crime. In the second trial before ordinary citizens, neither the plaintiff nor his or her lawyers can bring up the mental issue --- and the judge proceeds with the trial on the basis of the evidence.

I think the “two trial” idea is one that is based on common sense and fairness and that it should become the law in federal, state, and local courts. What would it take to make the idea a reality in the United States? It would take the combined resources of the President and Congress, all 50 state legislatures, and all county and city councils. Maybe that sounds like an insurmountable task. But, if an advanced country like Denmark can do it and make it succeed, America can and should do it, too.

Obama-Clinton Racism Talk Blocks More Important Issue

Because of the reckless, mud-slinging tactics of the two Democratic senators, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the presidential campaign, the most boring and repetitive that I can remember, has deteriorated into a meaningless battle over racism and has cast aside the real issue in the race.

That issue is which candidate will help solve America’s most serious problem: How will we rescue our economy from the shackles of Big Government and prevent the rapid slide toward Socialism? Even the Republican front-running candidate, John McCain, has paid little attention to that issue, although one hopes his record in Congress indicates he will address it sooner or later.

When they have taken a little time away from the race issue, Obama and Clinton have both indicated that, if they get to the Oval Office, they will pursue a continuation of the Democratic spend-and-spend policy and the revocation of President Bush’s program of tax cuts.

If the Liberal print and broadcast news media were doing their job properly and not taking sides in the political struggle, they would have reported in detail that Bush’s tax-cutting program had helped improve the economy greatly --- until the Democrats seized control of Congress in 2006 and set the stage for the present downturn.

With regard to the racist issue, Obama’s pastoral pal, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, may have tossed a black-white bombshell into the campaign, but he has accomplished what he probably did not intend. He has taken the public’s mind --- and the media’s attention --- off the far more important issue of the nation’s economy.

Maybe that was his hidden purpose, and, perhaps, Obama’s, as well. Whether it was or wasn’t, he has succeeded in a most abominable fashion to re-ignite the race issue, despite the fact that, in the past half century or more, the nation’s black community has made many important gains toward equality and economic improvement.

In fact, the black community needs new leadership, not the bombastic, America-hating rhetoric of a Rev. Wright --- or other misguided characters, like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al. I’ve long wondered, for instance, why the black community hasn’t tried to persuade a truly dedicated black American, Colin Powell, to run for the presidency.

Powell, a Republican and a leading conservative, would certainly have had my vote. It’s too bad he didn’t make a run for the White House back in the early 1990s, when polls showed he would have won in a landslide --- and, besides, prevented the victory of one of the worst Presidents we’ve ever had, Bill Clinton.

There are other excellent black leaders who should have come forward to take the lead in the political derby. I don’t understand why they have permitted the Jacksons, Sharptons, and other loud-mouths to assume the un-elected position of spokespersons for the nation’s large black community.

Whatever the case, race should not be an issue in this or any other presidential campaign. Saving America from advancing Socialism should be the No. 1 issue for the candidates of both parties.

Not Even Barbie Passes Iranians’ Rigid Morality Test

The skittish Iranians have decided that even the Barbie doll is a terrible menace that has been developed by the “decadent Western nations” to bedevil Muslims. Fancy that! The latest anti-Barbie edict has been issued by a leading Iranian judiciary official, who said “the doll and other Western toys are a danger that needs to be stopped.”

According to the Associated Press from Tehran, hundreds of Barbie dolls and other Western toys have flooded markets in Iran and have proved to be very popular with the Iranians, most of whom obviously see no “religious” problem in these “evil devices” from the U.S. and other Western nations.

Apparently Barbie and the other toys have been smuggled into Iran in recent years, which means that many Iranian marketers see no religious problem in the illegal imports. How the smugglers have succeeded in evading Iranian import restrictions was not explained.

Joining Barbie in the list of condemned foreign imports are “such personalities as Batman, Spiderman, and Harry Potter --- as well as irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies, all of which are warning bells to the Iranian officials in the cultural arena, according to the complaining judge.”

This A.P. paragraph illuminates the ridiculous Iranian view: “Barbie is sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.”

POTPOURRI: Isn’t it strange that the treatment of women in Texas’ Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of the Mormon strain, is similar to the way women are treated in Islamic nations around the world? It’s even stranger still when one considers that both religions believe in the same God, although they have very different ways of doing it. I hope we don’t have to wait for the Second Coming to get our answer to this dilemma. . . .· In this great land of freedom and liberty for all, I feel we must come up with a sensible way to retire former Presidents so that they don’t embarrass themselves and America with their egotistical behavior. Look at former President Jimmy Carter. Bad enough that he was one of our worst Presidents; did he have to go to the Middle East and elsewhere making an ass of himself and embarrassing the U.S.? Some ex-Presidents, like Carter and Bill Clinton, forget that they no longer represent the American people when they leave the Oval Office. . . .· I have been a longtime supporter of President George W. Bush, despite some major mistakes I think he has made in his two terms in office. But one that baffles me most is his strange turn-around on the issue of that miserable hoax, global warming. A few years ago, he pooh-poohed the whole idea of global warming, as he should have. But in recent times, he seems to have done an about-face --- without offering any reason for the drastic change in policy. Is it a case of politics-as-usual? . . .· The mania for collector’s items continues to grow sillier and sillier by the day, and one wonders why. Maybe this one is the most ridiculous example of them all. Someone with more money than sense has just bid $10,100 for a half-eaten waffle left on the counter of a diner in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Senator Barack Obama, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. The purchaser wasn’t identified. . . .· Once again, from the “Will Wonders Never Cease?” department: A prisoner in an Arkansas jail is suing the county because he lost more than 100 pounds. He blamed the loss on the jailhouse menu. Now, get this: He’s now down to 308 pounds! The officer in charge of the jail said meals for inmates average 3,000 calories a day. The hefty prisoner is in prison on a murder charge. I wonder which law his lawyer will say was broken.

Soccer Turnout Proves We’re Ready for World Sports Leagues

Pardon me, but it’s time for a reprise on that old refrain, “I Told You So.” It starts something like this: Two weeks ago, a soccer match between leading teams from Mexico and China, arranged by Seattle sponsors, drew the amazing total of 56,416 fans to Quest Field.

So what did it prove? Specifically this: The fans are there and waiting for the World Leagues in all pro sports that I have been promoting for many years! If that many spectators are willing to put down their bucks for a soccer match between teams from the Western Hemisphere and the Far East, they are anxiously waiting for other sports teams from foreign nations, as well.

Presently operating leagues in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and other pro sports would not be hurt in the slightest by world leagues in those sports. In fact, their popularity and their futures would be enhanced by world leagues. If you’re in doubt, just take a look at the number of foreign players now performing in U.S. leagues.

And, speaking of foreign players, wouldn’t it be better for all nations if those foreign players joined teams from their own countries and visited the U.S. to play against American-born athletes? Sure, the foreign players come here because they can make more money playing in the U.S. than they can at home.

But, if world leagues were established, it goes without saying that foreign teams would make a lot more money at the gate and, thus, be able to match the salaries American league owners pay their players. There is no doubt that competition with other countries would result in a sports boom in all participating nations.

The stage seems to be already set for the creation of world leagues. Many nations, besides the U.S., are already engaged in promoting baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. And interest is growing for teams in football and other sports. An NFL-style league faltered in Europe, but it would have prospered without question if European teams could have played teams from other countries.

One of the reasons I have been plugging for world leagues for many years is that I believe the expansion of all sports around the world would promote peace among nations. The diplomats’ efforts have failed miserably. Why not give sports a chance? It would be infinitely better to have nations scrapping on the football field or basketball court than to have them destroying themselves in futile wars.

What would it take to initiate a worldwide move for teams in all the major competitive sports? I think it should start with moves made by the President and Congress, bolstered by a widespread public demand. That public demand would need to be promoted by all the print and broadcast news media.

There is a possibility that some factions in Americas’ pro-sports world might argue against world leagues because they might fear that their gate receipts might be affected by world-league competition. But I think that fear could easily be overcome by an outpouring of fan support for the world-league idea. Give peace a chance!

Obama’s Biggest Mistake: Sponsoring the Global Poverty Act

In his zeal to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency, Senator Barack Obama has committed some boners recently that could cost him down the stretch, most notably his about-face concerning his old friend for the past 20 years, the “God damn America” pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

But despite those boners and the embarrassment caused by Rev. Wright, Obama’s biggest mistake --- the one that could cost him the nomination for sure --- has attracted little attention from the Democratic Liberals in the print and broadcast news media. However, it is one that could provoke national repudiation of Obama when it is detailed.

The mistake? It is Obama’s role as the sponsor in the Senate of what is called the Global Poverty Act. A Senate vote on the measure is imminent. It has been estimated that the measure, if it passes the Senate and the House, could eventually cost the incredible sum of $845 billion --- all of which would come out of taxpayers’ pockets.

Obviously, none of that money would ever be repaid the U.S., a condition that has prevailed in our costly foreign-aid programs of the past and present. We have already proved, time and again, that throwing money haphazardly at problems in foreign nations has not worked and that the greater portion of foreign-aid funds has found its way into the pockets of the greedy leaders of Third World and Second World nations.

However, that hasn’t deterred Obama, the glib politician, who believes, as Liberal Democrats have, that our proper role in the world is to keep pumping American dollars into every poverty-stricken nation, even though those dollars don’t seem to help the underdeveloped countries climb out of their economic misery.

If Obama’s Global Poverty Act is passed by Congress, I hope President Bush has the courage to veto it. Instead, I hope Bush will adopt a plan along the lines I have been proposing for many years --- a Foster Nation program, which would begin with the immediate cancellation of all costly foreign-aid programs.

Under the Foster Nation idea, we would select one downtrodden nation at a time, adopt it as a foster nation, then send it our best minds in a variety of fields to help it bolster its economy, develop its natural resources, expand its agriculture and industry, nurture its educational system, and do all the things necessary to help the nation raise its standard of living.

Doesn’t that make a lot more sense than Obama’s wasteful, costly Global Poverty Act? Most certainly. In the long run, it would also bring us new friends around the world. In addition, it would persuade the starving masses to stay at home and quit trying to enter the U.S . illegally.

If we were wise enough to adopt the Foster Nation program --- or something very much like it --- America’s tax dollars would stay at home, where they belong, and we could withdraw from the United (make that Useless) Nations, which keeps draining our tax dollars and failing to fulfill its original purpose, which was to unite all nations and ensure world peace.

U.S. Should Copy Europeans’ Action to Eliminate Anorexia

Like many other observers, I have often been severely critical of European countries for one reason or another, but I have found a reason at last to applaud them for a change --- and it is a change I have long hoped to see come about in America. Perhaps it finally will, with an outburst of common sense in the federal government.

The change in Europe has been reported by the Washington Post, and it makes a lot of common sense. It involves action principally in France, Italy, Spain, and Great Britain to bring the force of law to bear on the fashion industry, fashion magazines, and any other medium that promotes thinness, extreme dieting, and other habits that result in anorexia and bulimia, leading to death in many cases.

According to the Post, “The French National Assembly approved unprecedented legislation that would make the promotion of extreme dieting a crime punishable by up to two years in prision and fines of up to $47,000.” One French authority estimated that “as many as 40,000 French people, mostly young girls and women, suffer from anorexia.”

Also, according to the Post, “Spain has banned models with less than a specified body-mass index. Italy has barred girls younger than 16 from its runways and started requiring all models to present health certificates proving they do not suffer from eating disorders.

“New laws in Britain require models with anorexia or bulimia to prove they are being treated for the disorders before they can participate in London Fashion Week next September.”

The French government’s action has already resulted in positive action. France’s fashion industry has agreed to and signed a pact that commits it to a program to combat anorexia. That program will promote “healthy body images in advertisements and on Paris runways, although the agreement is nonbonding and sets guidelines, rather than issuing requirements.”

It has been estimated that cases of anorexia and bulimia in the U.S. far exceed the 40,000 figure in France. So do the number of deaths related to those eating disorders. It remains for Congress to recognize the need to take action. That action should be aimed at fashion and other magazines, newspapers, and television networks and stations.

In addition to Congress, the medical profession, psychiatric associations, dance studios, and many other agencies should join the fight to banish excessive dieting and the glorification of slimness. As already noted, young girls should be the primary target, but some boys and young men in dance companies are victims of the dieting craze, too.

Of course, the actions in European countries were bound to elicit the protests and opposition of the fashion industry, fashion magazines, and some other quarters on the grounds that government has no business making anti-dieting rules. But the death toll has grown so large in Western countries that governmental action is a “must.”

It might also be a good idea for the schools to include courses detailing the deadly effect of excessive dieting and the habit many bulimic girls have of forced vomiting after meals to eliminate the food. Maybe religious organizations should also join the movement to eliminate anorexia and bulimia.

An Eternal Story: Why Are Muslims at War With Each Other?

Somebody is missing the biggest story of the century, and the blame could be shared by many in the world’s print and broadcast news media, the experts in academia, the diplomats in every government on earth, and the learned men and women in the realm of every religion across the globe.

It’s a story that will take more than a Sherlock Holmes to unravel, but it is one that must be detailed and explained before the world erupts in what has, in effect, already begun --- the Third World War, sometimes described as the international war on terrorism. Muslim extremists have already dedicated themselves to fighting that war, while other Muslims declare their religion calls for world peace.

The story that needs to be investigated and explained is substantially this: Why are the men and women of the same religion --- the religion of Islam --- devoted to killing themselves in Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and many nations in the Far East, the Middle East, and other continents?

In Iraq, for example, where a democracy is trying desperately to survive, some factions of the Sunnis and the Shiites are in a constant state of war, with the result that not a day goes by but what one group or the other has dispatched a suicide bomber to a mosque or other public place, with disastrous results.

Then, too, Iran and Iraq have been at each other’s throats, despite the fact that Shiites control the governments of both countries. Even worse, the Shiites in Iraq are at loggerheads and killing each other. Therein lies the mysterious story that needs explaining by reporters, clergy, historians, and all the rest.

They’re all Muslims, yet they are in almost perpetual warfare? Why? Why? Why? Is it because there are two or more views of what Muhammad intended in the Koran? If that is the case, shouldn’t we in the U.S. and many European countries be worried that the recent migration of thousands of Muslims to our lands will mean an internal war?

The crux of the untold story should be to explain why people of the same religion are at war with each other, despite the fact that, historically, they worship in the same mosques. Another angle in the mystery is why some enterprising reporter, historian, or religious leader hasn’t tried to find the answer to that mystery.

I have proposed one method of finding the answer. For many years, I have been proposing that we need a World Council of Religions, in which all the religions would participate. In such a council, the religions of the Western World would be able to extract answers to the mystery.

Also, the representatives of Islam in the council would be called upon to control the extremists, end the internal hostilities, and start the world on the long promised road to permanent peace. Therein lies the story that must be told before the world erupts in a brutal war.

At the same time, the Islamic delegate would help solve another mystery: Was Muhammad a man of peace or a man of violence? The answer to that question could go a long way toward pacifying the two warring Islamic factions and smoothing the road to a permanent peace.

Bungee Jumping Is Stupid and Should Be Banned Everywhere

OK. So bungee jumping probably was originated by an aboriginal South Seas tribe centuries ago as a macho test or a religious rite, or whatever --- and it might have remained a deep, dark secret if it hadn’t been for the National Geographic and some well-meaning anthropologists.

Does that make it right in 21st Century America? Of course not. I realize that we will always have thrill-seekers in our midst, but that doesn’t mean we have to accommodate them with stupid and sometimes suicidal bungee jumping. Frankly, I think the practice should be banned everywhere before the deaths and serious injuries start piling up.

If the thrill-seekers need to satisfy their urge for action, all they have to do is drive on our freeways and bridges during the rush hour or get a front-row seat at the next heavy-metal rock concert. There’s only one thing worse than bungee jumping itself. And that’s all the free publicity it gets in the print and broadcast news media.

Life itself is one long bungee jump. That’s what passes before your eyes when the rope breaks --- if you’re stupid enough to take the bungee route to the cemetery.

* * *

Next Time Little Mike Slugs His Sister, Step In and Stop Him

Let me set the scene for you. Your rambunctious son Mike slugs his little brother Fred or sister Amy for the tenth time since breakfast. And you shrug it off and say to your spouse, “Oh, that’s OK. He didn’t hurt Fred or Amy. They’re just playing. Leave them alone.”

So you leave them alone, even though Fred or Amy needs an arm splint or a call to 911. If that’s what you’ve been doing, psychologists who recently developed a major child-abuse study say you’re making a terrible mistake. The next time Mike raises an arm or a broom to whack little Fred or Amy, break it up immediately and discipline Mike the Monster.

If you don’t, say the psychologists, the chance is you are paving the way for many visits to the shrink for Fred or Amy when they get to be 18, 20, or so. Their research indicates that constant beatings by siblings produce lowered self-esteem and persistent moods of depression.

So, Mom and Dad, it’s not just child abuse by adults you have to worry about. Watch Little Mike and his mean left uppercut. And, if you don’t, be sure to put quite a few bucks in the bank to pay for the bills by the family psychiatrist or psychologist.

A Bright Idea That Remains to Be Implemented by Congress

Holy Ballot Box, Batman! Here it is, the season of endless gab by the presidential candidates, and Congress still hasn’t adopted a bright idea the first President Bush proposed 17 years ago. Sad to say, his son, the second President Bush seems to have ignored his father’s idea.

The first President Bush suggested to Congress and the people that we should turn over to the American public the big job of chopping the enormous, ballooning cost of federal government and the national debt. It’s one of the cleverest and most important ideas any President has offered.

Bush proposed that deficit reduction, a gigantic slash in government spending, and budget-balancing could be accomplished through the income-tax system --- and through your tax report and mine. By checking a box on a tax return, the taxpayer would start a chain reaction that would force the government bureaucracy and Congress to chop at least 10 percent from the tax deficit --- a move that would free billions for much better use in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Congress refused even to consider Bush’s proposal in the early 1990s, and subsequent Democratic lawmakers also turned thumbs down on the idea. President Bill Clinton ignored the Bush proposal and, in two terms, seemed interested only in increasing taxes and shutting out the voice of the people.

Even the Republicans who took control of Congress in the mid-1990s failed to heed the brilliant proposal of the first President Bush. If they had implemented Bush’s remarkable idea, I think they would have denied a second term for President Clinton and his spend-spend-spend mania.

All of which moves me to bring up once again a suggestion I have made so many times in commentaries, articles, speeches, and even books. That suggestion is to amend the U.S. Constitution to include the right of the American public to make laws or get rid of bad laws made by lawmakers.

It’s called the public-initiative process, and it is already operating frequently in Washington State and many other states. Under the initiative process, petitions are circulated among the voters, and if a certain specified number sign the petitions, an issue proceeds to the ballot box for the voters of the state to consider.

It’s no surprise that, in Washington State, the Democrats shy away from or even try to abolish the initiative system. Obviously, they don’t want the general public to interfere with their pet projects and their ever-continuing penchant for solving any problem by taxing an already over-taxed populace.

I know that an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is usually a long, drawn-out process, but the initiative idea is so important in this free country that it must eventually be extended to the federal level. I’m positive the American public would vote overwhelmingly for such an amendment, despite the opposition of Democratic lawmakers.

FCC Should Ban All Poker Games From National Television

In this most wonderful of all nations, we also have our quota of whacky oddballs, and they aren’t all in the realm of politics. This time they seem to be appearing in mounting numbers in national television, where, it appears, the people who make the big decisions have lost their way big time.

How else can one account for the maddening proliferation of poker games, of all things, on many network channels? Are the networks so unimaginative that they cannot come up with better programming than poker games, as if the national TV studios have suddenly been taken over by the gambling lords in Las Vegas?

My objection to the televised poker games is twofold. First, watching people play poker for high stakes on TV is a gigantic bore. And, second, how in the world do the TV networks get away with running a gambling racket on so many channels without being challenged by law enforcement?

Furthermore, many channels specializing in sports programming have adopted poker-game formats to fill in their otherwise busy schedule. Now, pray tell, who in the world, outside of Las Vegas, that is, has designated poker gambling for high stakes as a competitive “sport”?

If this keeps up, it’s reasonable to assume that, in time, national TV networks may introduce pornographic programming and perhaps such other monstrosities as bullfighting Spanish style, burlesque shows, soap operas taking place in nudist camps, and other similarly whacky entertainments on the assumption that “the public demands them.”

As if that weren’t enough news from the whacky front, Parade magazine reports that a Democratic congressman from Florida, Rep. Robert Wexler, has filed a bill in the House that “seeks to exempt online poker and other games of skill from the law. If the legislation passes it could lead to more than $3 billion a year in taxes.”

There it is again! Once more, a Democratic lawmaker has uttered the “secret” word, “taxes,” to legitimize an utterly crackpot move he hopes to convert into national law. One of Wexler’s henchmen, Josh Rogin, speaking for Wexler, told Parade: “Regulating online poker could be a new revenue stream, and there aren’t many these days.”

Legalize online poker games? Where in the world is the beleaguered Federal Communications Commission when we need it most? The FCC should have banned poker games and any other form of gambling from television at the onset. It has the authority to do so and should act pronto.

Also, as Parade indicates, “according to a 2006 U.S. law, it’s illegal to pay for most online wagers with a credit card --- which basically prohibits Americans from betting money on online poker or other such games,” even though some people “get around this by using foreign credit cards and bank accounts.”

What a terrible example TV is setting for youngsters in America. The TV poker games will give them the impression that gambling is a “sport” and, since it is programmed as “entertainment,” it must be OK.

Shield Law Protecting Reporters Finally Makes It to Congress

It’s about time! Although it is expected to have a tough time getting through both houses of Congress, a federal shield law protecting the confidentiality of reporters’ sources of information has finally made its way to the preliminary stages of action in both the Senate and the House.

One of the reasons it faces rough going is that the Bush administration opposes a shield law, despite the fact that 49 states have already passed such a law. The administration fears that a shield law would be used by foreign spies or terrorists to plant false reports designed to aid their nefarious causes.

That fear is totally unfounded, and I can vouch for the necessity of a shield law from my many years of experience as a reporter and as managing editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. During my ten years as P-I editor, I turned the newspaper into a constant investigative force, and my staff and I uncovered several widespread cases of fraud, corruption, and lawbreaking.

On many occasions, courageous tipsters were of enormous help in pointing to significant cases of wrongdoing. Without their help, we might not have been able to uncover the many cases of crime our reporters found. Those tipsters came forward because our reporters promised them that their names would not be revealed to anyone as the providers of vital information.

Anyone with common sense can understand why reporters across America need a shield law. With such a law in the 49 states, persons with vital information do not have to worry about putting themselves in danger if they deliver the truth to a reporter. And reporters who refuse to divulge their source of information are also protected from legal penalties under a shield law.

The administration has gone way too far in stating its case against the proposed federal shield law. Because of the need to hunt down terrorists and terrorists’ means of communication, the attorney general, Michael Mukasey, has warned that a shield law “would wreak havoc on national security and other investigations.”

Mukasey and the administration are way off base in this case. I can make this pronouncement with great confidence: “A shield law does protect reporters’ sources of information, but, far more important, it protects the American public’s fundamental right to know the facts about criminal elements.”

President Bush should change his opinion about a shield law and give it his support. He should heed the sentiments of many Conservative Republicans in Congress who have already signaled that they will join a move to get a federal shield law passed in both houses as soon as possible.

It should be made clear to the President that security moves to detect foreign terrorist elements through all of the communications channels are far different than protecting the identity of American citizens who are anxious to provide key information to reporters that will help reveal serious skullduggery.

Incidentally, many judges who have penalized reporters refusing to divulge their sources of information also need to understand the great difference between terrorist security and home-grown criminal activities. In fact, judges should be the strongest backers of shield laws because they help expose criminals.

Canada’s Women Coming to U.S. to Have Their Babies

Are you one of those misinformed Americans who believes the United States should adopt Canada’s system of socialized medicine? Well, you obviously haven’t read nor heard of the thousands of Canadians who have to come to the U.S. for medical services because they can’t get into the crowded doctors’ offices and hospitals north of the border.

Maybe this report from Toronto’s Globe and Mail, relayed by the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto, will open your eyes: “More than 100 Canadian women with high-risk pregnancies have been sent to U.S. hospitals over the past year, in what a doctors’ group attributes to the lack of a national birthing plan.

“The problem has peaked, with British Columbia and Ontario each sending a record number of women to U.S. neonatal intensive care units. Specifically, 80 B.C. women have been sent to U.S. hospitals since April 1, 2007; in Ontario, 28 have been sent since January of 2007, according to figures from the respective health ministries.”

The parade of pregnant or seriously ill Canadians crossing the border into the U.S. goes on and on, and still some of our Socialist-minded Americans keep crowing about the advantages Canadians “enjoy” with their government-run medical system. That parade includes a growing number of Canadian doctors who have moved their practices from Canada to the U.S. because of the long lines of patients seeking treatment up there.

This quotation from Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, is significant: “The problem is due to bed closings that took place a decade ago, the absence of a national birthing initiative, and too few staff. Neonatologists are very stretched right now. We’re so stretched, it’s kind of dangerous.”

“Dangerous” is right! When are the Canadians going to see the light and realize that their venture into socialized medicine has been a failure? If the present trend keeps up, most of their doctors and other medical help will have crossed the border and become part of our fine health system.

In a facetious mood, Taranto added this tongue-in-cheek comment: “Read between the lines, and you realize this is a sinister Canadian plot to take over America. Canada’s military is no match for ours, so the crafty Canucks are using infancy instead of infantry to carry out their imperial designs.

“Think about it. Canadian officials send women across the border, smuggling in ‘anchor babies’ cleverly disguised as clumps of tissue. The women give birth inside the U.S., which means their Canadian offspring are entitled to U.S. citizenship. As these ‘children’ grow and mature, they receive instructions from their masters in Ottawa about how to undermine American culture.

“Before you know it, your kids are stuffing themselves with liters of back bacon, downing kilogram after kilogram of Crown Royal and Labatt Blue, and belting out ‘God Save the Queen,’ as they watch hockey on television.”

Taranto may have been kidding, but it seems there is more than a kernel of truth in his warning about Canadians “taking over” the U.S. That’ll be the day!