By Michael Kaufman

Dustin Hoffman has been a favorite actor of mine ever since I saw The Graduate in 1967. His performance in Rain Man ranks as one of the greatest pieces of acting in cinema history.  He was magnificent as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman on Broadway in 1987. (I had orchestra seats for that one.)

But I passed up the opportunity to see him play Shylock in Merchant of Venice for free in Central Park during the summer and I will not pay to see it on Broadway now either. I wish he hadn’t taken the part. I wish the New York Shakespeare Festival had chosen another of the Bard’s great works for Central Park this year and that it was so successful they took it to Broadway. But not Merchant of Venice.

“One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognize that Shakespeare’s grand, equivocal comedy The Merchant of Venice is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work,” wrote Harold Bloom, literary scholar and critic. This is spelled out in detail in Morris U. Schappes’ pamphlet, Shylock and Anti-Semitism, originally published in 1962 and later reissued by Jewish Currents magazine. As Jonathan Freedland wrote of the 2004 movie version with Al Pacino as Shylock, “There is no getting away from it: Shylock is the villain, bent on disproportionate vengeance. Crucially, his villainy is not shown as a quirk of his own, individual personality, but is rooted overtly in his Jewishness.”

Shakespeare depicted Shylock as “obsessed by money, a man who dreams of moneybags, whose very opening words are ‘three thousand ducats.’ When his daughter betrays him and flees with a Christian lover, it is her theft of his money which is said to trouble him as much as the loss of a child,” said Freedland.

 “As the dog Jew did utter in the streets/’My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!’ ”

Shakespeare, added Freedland, “is dealing here not with a specific trait of Shylock the man but an anti-Semitic caricature.”    

Similarly, Shylock’s demand for revenge (“An eye for an eye …) plays on the ancient notion of the Jews as vengeful people.  A Jew seeking Christian flesh stirs memories of the anti-Semitic “blood libel,” that Jews use Christian blood for religious ritual. “Above all,” wrote Freedland  “it evokes the accusation that fuelled two millennia of European anti-Semitism—that the Jews killed Christ.”

Both Schappes and Freedland point out that Shylock’s villainy is depicted as a specifically Jewish villainy. “And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn/To have the due and forfeit of my bond.” And both reject the notion often put forward by the play’s defenders that the anti-Semitism is trumped by Shylock’s poignant and humanizing “Hath not a Jew eyes…” speech.  When Christian characters in the play behave badly, it is because they are not living up to and honoring their Christian faith. However, when Shylock acts badly, says Freedland, “Shakespeare suggests he is fully in accordance with Jewish tradition. Shylock plots Antonio’s downfall with his friend Tubal, promising to continue their dark talk ‘at our synagogue.’”

By the time Shylock makes his renowned speech, it evokes little sympathy. Indeed, says Freedland, it turns out to be an “over-clever” defense by Shylock of his own bloodlust—an argument that, since Jews are the same as Christians, he is entitled to exact the same revenge they would.”

None of this is to suggest that those involved in staging the play in Central Park or in bringing it to Broadway are anti-Semitic.  Many, including Hoffman, are Jewish. Their view of the world, from the culturally diverse arts scene in Manhattan, might well assume that their audiences are free of such antiquated prejudice. In that context, says Freedland, “stories of anti-Jewish hatred take on an almost allegorical quality—as if they are not about Jews at all, but are, instead, parables for racism or intolerance in general.

“This might work if Shylock was, say, an Inca, or a Minoan—if, in other words, the Jews were no longer around. But Jews are still around—and so, unfortunately, is anti-Semitism.”

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

You won’t find my face on Facebook, my space on MySpace or my tweets on Twitter. I’d much rather talk to someone in person or write complete sentences to express my thoughts than exchange messages in code. As you read these words, tens of thousands of people across the globe are pecking away at  keyboards large and small, writing messages like “lol,” “brb,” “lmao,” “gtg,” “rofl,” and “wtf.” So maybe it is not my place to comment on the fuss created by Mike Wise, sports columnist for the Washington Post, who tweeted his way to a one-month suspension by intentionally using his Twitter account to plant a false story.  But I’ll do it anyway.

What the hell was he thinking? Or as someone has probably tweeted by now: “wthwht?”

Wise, a columnist at The New York Times before moving to the Post in 2004, explained that he wanted to illustrate how sloppy sports journalism has become thanks to social networking and the blogosphere.  On Monday he posted the tweet heard round the world: “Roethlisberger will get five games, I’m told.”

That would be Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League, who faces a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. Speculation had been circulating that Roethlisberger’s suspension would be reduced. Wise got the not-so-wise idea to use  that to show how easy it is for people to plant false information online…. and to expose how little effort is spent nowadays in checking facts. Indeed, his planted “story” was immediately picked up by several media outlets, including the Miami Herald and ProFootballTalk.

A few hours after posting, Wise proudly revealed the truth about the hoax on his radio show. But to his surprise, instead of winning kudos for a masterful expose, he was roundly criticized. Furious sports bloggers denounced him and the Post, many complaining that both had lost their credibility.

Wise then tweeted a clumsy explanation.  “As part of a bit on my show today, I tried to test the accuracy of social media reporting,” he wrote. “Probably not the best way to go about experiment. But in the end, it proved two things: 1. I was right about nobody checking facts or sourcing and 2. I’m an idiot. Apologies to all involved.”

Later he was even more contrite, if not more eloquent:  “I’m sorry if I threw anyone off in my zeal to show the danger of social networking and who runs with stuff.” These apologies were not enough to appease the higher ups at the Post.

As Greg Sandoval of CNET News noted, “In addition to the ethical questions, Wise also failed to correctly calculate Twitter’s growing influence as a news source. If he looks upon Twitter as a playground or lab experiment, he should know that 190 million people visit the site every month. Many use it as a news aggregation service and early-warning system. Hot stories spread fast via the service…..But even in the digital age, some of the old rules still apply: people don’t like being misled. “

Sandoval also took issue with Wise’s claim that the hoax had proved him right. “His exercise proved nothing. Wise’s experiment was flawed from the start.  On his Twitter account, Wise identifies himself as a Post reporter. If he was trying to prove that nobody checks out unverified information, he must know that the Post’s name automatically lends the information credibility. It’s not unreasonable for other journalists to assume a report from a Post writer was properly checked out….The Post helped expose the conspiracy behind the Watergate break in and bring down a sitting president (Richard Nixon). Why shouldn’t anyone believe the paper when it says a quarterback will see a five-game suspension?”

“Mike did not follow our guidelines and has since apologized for it,” the Washington Post said in a statement to the Huffington Post. “We take these matters very seriously; however, we do not discuss personnel issues.”

“Seems overly harsh to me,” Post media writer Howard Kurtz tweeted in response to the punishment.  I agree with Kurtz. If they are going to suspend Wise for a month for misrepresenting by one game the length of a professional football player’s suspension, imagine the punishment that could be meted out for failing to investigate the lies and hoaxes planted to beat the drums for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Some good Watergate-like investigative reporting back then might have saved countless lives.

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

Pick up a copy of the Times Herald-Record (or a host of other daily newspapers around the country) any day of the week and you might see a baker’s dozen or more advertisements for massage parlors and strip clubs. The ads are always towards the back of the paper, nestled among the box scores and horse racing results in the sports section.

There’s an ad in the Record for Jenna’s Gentlemen’s Club in Middletown that boasts, “Hot New Babes Everynight!”  Another announces the “Grand Opening” of the New York Spa in Newburgh: “Restore with our Healing Hands of Beneficial Treatments for Body Mind Spirit.” That one includes a photo of a young Asian woman playing the flute. Also in Newburgh is the Hanna Spa, which offers “Ground Floor Discreet Park & Enter.”

There was nothing discreet about the Young Spa, which opened in Pine Island in June and was shut down six weeks later. I knew that one was a goner as soon as I saw their ad in the paper. I was surprised it lasted as long as it did. As reported in the news section of the Times Herald-Record on July 15, “Across the street from a Catholic church and a statue of the Virgin Mary, police say, workers at a new spa on Pulaski Highway offered customers ‘happy endings.’”

“As soon as it opened, police officers realized what it was,” said Warwick police Lt. Thomas Maslanka.

The windows were blacked out, but the place was “anything but discreet,” reported Heather Yakin of the Record. “The front door was locked, with entry by buzzer only. Neighbors saw BMWs and Mercedes — cars out of place in the onion- and sod-farming mecca of Pine Island — there at odd hours. Immediately, people started calling police to complain about the shady business that had opened across from St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church.”

Two people, identified as Myoung O. Kim, 53, of Colorado, and Teck I. Park, 60, of Queens, were each charged with operating an unauthorized practice, a felony; and prostitution, a misdemeanor. How someone from Colorado ended up opening a massage parlor in Pine Island would make an interesting story I think. In any case this was either a setup of the first order or the proprietors are complete idiots.

Meanwhile, the Record continues to accept advertising money from such places, which is what enables them to attract customers. Then it covers the news when the places get busted. As my father used to say, “They’ve got a pretty good racket going there.” In fairness to the Record and the others that accept these kinds of ads, times are tough in the newspaper business. Advertising sales have plummeted in recent years as readers turned to sources like the internet and cable TV, which can deliver information more quickly, if not more accurately.

A month before the bust at Young Spa the Record ran a story by Adam Bosch: “Seven women at two Newburgh massage parlors were charged Thursday with giving massages without a license, a felony under state education law.

“Newburgh Lt. Mike Clancy said the bust was part of an investigation into suspected cocaine sales at the Gold Spa on South Plank Road and Hanna Spa on Route 17K.”

Yes, that is the same Hanna Spa that continues to tout its discreet “park & enter” in the sports section. No drugs were found, but seven Asian women from Queens were arrested and charged with giving massages without a license. 

Back in 2007 the paper ran an article by Alexa James about the arrest of six women who worked in massage parlors in Newburgh, New Windsor and Montgomery. The six were charged with failing to produce a license to practice massage in the state of New York, a felony charge regarded by the courts as more serious than prostitution. The women, all undocumented immigrants from Asia, worked at the Gold Spa on South Plank Road, Tokyo Spa on Meadow Hill Road, Ruby Spa on Route 17K in Montgomery, and the A&A Spa in New Windsor.

The Ruby Spa ads have been replaced by ads for Centure Health Center on Route 17K in Montgomery. Tokyo Spa seems to have been reincarnated with the aforementioned “grand opening” of New York Spa. And A&A is operating—and advertising in the Record—from its new location in New Windsor.

The New York Times does not run such advertising. Nor does the Wall Street Journal, which, like the Record, is owned by Rupert Murdoch. 

I would rather see the paper assign a couple of the fine reporters who still work there to investigate the glut of massage parlor businesses in the region and shed some light on the exploitation of the foreign-born women they employ. I’d like to know more about the patrons, too….those  drivers of BMWs and Mercedes who drive to them in search of “hot babes” and “happy endings.”  What do you think?

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

Billy Loes seemed surprised when Bill Raley told him that people were selling his old baseball cards and autographed memorabilia on the internet. “He did not use or know of the internet as far as I could tell,” recalls Raley, who befriended the former major league pitcher in 2008 while working for Adult Protective Services in Tucson, Arizona. “Billy was just getting out of the hospital then and I saw him in an official capacity. But we got to know each other a bit. I never saw a computer in his apartment. I printed out a lot of stuff for him to read about himself. He was amazed that people were making money off his name ….and that he himself never had received any of it.”  

Loes, best known for his seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s, died July 15 at a hospice in Tucson. “I really enjoyed my time with him,” adds Raley. “He still had a sense of humor. He had been in an assisted living facility after a hospital stay, but left against medical advice and went back to his apartment at Prince and Campbell Roads. In a gruff way, he said the assisted living place was a ripoff and they weren’t doing anything for him that he couldn’t do himself. He complained they were overcharging him. He seemed stubborn…but in a way that made me smile.”

Raley remembers Loes as “very humble.” He did not talk about his baseball career unless others brought it up. “I was the one who talked and made a big deal about it.” According to Raley, Loes was a regular at a small diner where he would walk from his apartment and was a favorite among the waitresses and other patrons. “During my time knowing him, he was living alone and didn’t seem to venture far away from the immediate area of Prince and Campbell in Tucson. He spoke of enjoying the casinos but it appeared he was not able to get there much, if at all.”

Raley and others who knew Loes were surprised to learn that he was still legally married at the time of his death. His estranged wife, Irene, of Chapel Hill, N.C., is his only survivor. “Those who had assisted him thought he was single or divorced,” says Raley, who wonders if Billy might have thought so too. “Certainly in his time of need (medically) back in 2008, he didn’t mention her and I was under the assumption he was all alone.”

As noted in the obituary by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times, Loes compiled a record of 50 wins and 25 losses during his best four years with the Dodgers, from 1952 through their World Series championship season of 1955. His best season was 1952, when he finished 13-8 with four shutouts and a 2.69 earned run average. He was sold to the Baltimore Orioles during the 1956 season and pitched for the American League in the 1957 All-Star Game. He ended his big-league career pitching for the San Francisco Giants in his last two seasons and retired with an 80-63 record.

William Loes was born Dec. 13, 1929, in Queens and became a star pitcher for William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City. Popularly known as the “Kid from Astoria,” he made his debut with the Dodgers in 1950 and rejoined the team in 1952 after serving in the Army. He is remembered as much for his sense of humor as for his pitching skills and was often depicted as a goofy character by sportswriters for some of his antics and comments. But he was also a stand-up guy who was not afraid to confront the management of the teams for which he played. In 1948, fresh out of high school, he negotiated a $28,000 bonus, a huge amount in those days, from Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to sign with the team. He maintained his stubbornness as well as his sense of humor, until the end.

Two days after George Steinbrenner had his fatal heart attack at his mansion in Tampa, Billy Loes died quietly at a hospice in Tucson—so quietly that his death went unreported for nearly two weeks. Both men were 80. Steinbrenner loved owning a baseball team. “When you’re a shipbuilder, nobody pays any attention to you,” he said, “but when you own the New York Yankees…they do, and I love it.” Billy Loes loved playing baseball. Too bad he wasn’t around to play for one of Steinbrenner’s Yankee teams. He’d have given The Boss what for.

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

For a while there I was afraid someone was going to nominate George Steinbrenner for sainthood last week, what with all the glowing tributes that followed his passing.  I wasn’t going to write more about him, either–except that I started remembering some specific things I probably should have talked about before letting Hunter Thomspon’s words about Richard Nixon speak for me. 

Confused reader Frank Manuele wondered if the post was supposed to be about Nixon.  In any case, wrote Frank, “I agree totally and you will always find hypocrites coming out of the woodwork when a famous, controversial person passes….May Nixon never rest in peace and may Billy Martin hound Steinbrener throughout eternity!”

One day he may also be hounded by Dave Winfield, who played for Steinbrenner’s Yankees from 1981 to 1990 en route to his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Winfield contributed mightily to the Yankee teams that decade, driving in 744 runs between 1982 and 1988 alone, and was named to the American League All-Star team each of those seasons. Winfield won five of his seven Gold Glove Awards for his stellar outfield play as a Yankee.

But in 1985, after the Yankees finished second in the American League East, Steinbrenner publicly derided the future Hall of Famer, referring to him as “Mr. May,” a demeaning comparison with Reggie Jackson, who was known as “Mr. October” for his clutch hitting in late-season and post-season games. Winfield, however, would have the last laugh. In 1992, at age 41, he delivered the game-winning (and World Series ending) double for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th inning of their game with the Atlanta Braves. The jubilant headlines in Toronto paid tribute to “Mr. Jay.”

Steinbrenner regularly leaked insulting and trumped-up stories about Winfield to the New York baseball writers. He also ordered Yankee managers to move him down in the batting order and even to bench him. But the bullying Boss was frustrated in his frequent attempts to trade Winfield. Thanks to the efforts of the Major League Players Association, Winfield could not be traded without his consent. He was a “10-and-5” player (10 years in the majors, five years with a single team).

In 1990 Steinbrenner was supposedly “banned for life” from running the Yankees because of his connections to Howie Spira, a known gambler with Mafia connections, whom he had paid $40,000 to provide embarrassing information about Winfield.  (Winfield was traded mid-season to the California Angels and went on to earn Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year Award.) The Lords of Baseball, who can make the Wise Men of Chelm look like Mensa Society material, lifted the lifetime ban on Steinbrenner after two years.

The Boss’s mistreatment of Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Dave Winfield, and others who proudly wore the Yankees uniform are a small part of a larger picture. Steinbrenner showed similar contempt for the people of New York City, especially those who live in the Bronx neighborhood closest to Yankee Stadium. Reader Tom Karlson, who took part in that community’s efforts to keep Macombs Dam Park out of Steinbrenner’s reach submitted his recollections in verse:

The Boss (By Tom Karlson)

Ends at eighty
Silver spoon found near his moving jaws
Filled with white teeth and fleeing grey words
1952 Air Force, Ohio bound, no Korea for him

The Boss sending orders
Hiring, firing
Secretaries, managers, coaches
Church going family man

Running his old man’s business
Buys the Yankees 1973 $8.8 million

Stadium renovation, complete 1976
Strapped city shells out
200 million
Yankees, rent less with sweetheart lease
City, landlord from heaven

Extorting dough for Tricky Dick
Obstructing justice…1974 felony
Suspended from baseball 2 years
Pardoned by Ronnie 1989

Desires Macomb’s Dam Park for three decades
Play land, one thousand working class ghosts
Running, racing, catching fungoes, footballs, kicking soccer balls

Second felony
Trying to renege on a contract
Banned for life from baseball, 1990
Sanitized and reinstated 1993
Blackmails city threatens abandonment
Will run the Yanks to Jersey, Connecticut, the West Side
The braying mayor springs for another stadium
Rises up on Macomb’s 28 acres, $2.3 billion
 
Tickets $25 to $5000
The people’s team

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

I wasn’t going to write about George Steinbrenner. I never liked the guy but it doesn’t seem right to kick a man when he’s down…especially when he’s down for the count. But after reading the outpouring of eulogies and tributes, I’ve had some second thoughts. Like I remember how the millionaire owner of the American Ship Building Company was convicted of knowingly funneling illegal contributions to Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. Was there ever a more aptly named organization than Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP)? This was no misdemeanor. It was a felony crime conviction ….but Steinbrenner was able to shrug it off and keep laughing all the way to the bank.

As head honcho at American Ship Bulding, Steinbrenner was known as fiercely anti-labor. After years of hard-fought negotiations with the unions representing workers at the Lorain, Ohio, shipyard, Steinbrenner shut it down in 1983 and moved all operations to Tampa, Florida. He is not remembered fondly in Lorain by the families of those who lost their jobs.  

Nixon and Steinbrenner were kindred spirits. They could “shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time,” which is what Hunter Thompson said about Nixon after Nixon died in 1994. Thompson, who worked for the Times Herald-Record early in his career, had some other choice words for the disgraced former president after his death. It seems appropriate to recall them now in lieu of mourning the passing of Steinbrenner. 

“If the right people had been in charge of Nixon’s funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles,” wrote the great Gonzo journalist. “He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.

“These are harsh words for a man only recently canonized by President Clinton and my old friend George McGovern–but I have written worse things about Nixon, many times, and the record will show that I kicked him repeatedly long before he went down. I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum.

“Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man–evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. Nobody trusted him—except maybe the Stalinist Chinese, and honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat who kept scrambling to get back on the ship.” Make that a sinking ship built in Tampa by non-union labor.

Goodbye and good ridance to Mr. Steinbrenner.  

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

NEW ORLEANS–By the time I’m finished covering the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting I think I’m going to need to see a psychiatrist.  I should do it while I’m still here since there are thousands to choose from, running the gamut from members of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists (AGLP) to the psychiatry branch of the Christian Medical Association (CMA).

In a delicious bit of irony those two groups were assigned adjacent tables in the exhibit hall, where they are surrounded by far more elaborate booths promoting the wares of pharmaceutical companies large and small. An uneasy truce prevails between the Christians and gays. “We’re here for them,” says Dr. Rosa Lewis of the CMA about the homosexuals next door. “The love of God is for everyone.” Behind her is a CMA banner bearing their slogan, “Changing Hearts in Healthcare.”

“They’re all very polite,” says Dr. Jack Drescher of his Christian neighbors. He agreed that politeness is preferable to the “Torquemada approach.” Drescher says the specialty of psychiatry has come a long way since homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s list of officially recognized mental illnesses in 1973. “Opening Minds” is the motto of the AGLP.

Both groups offer books for sale. The CMA seeks to open hearts with titles like Jesus MD: A Doctor Examines the Great Physician and Could it Be This Simple? A Biblical Model for Healing the Mind. The AGLP hopes to open minds with the likes of Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man and Uncoupling Convention: Psychoanalytic Approaches to Same Sex Couples and Families. Both groups invited me to attend some of their APA convention activities. 

I decided to pass up the CMA breakfast meeting on “The Christian Legacy in Psychiatry.” It cost $20 and the people I’m covering the APA meeting for aren’t paying my expenses. Besides, I wanted to have breakfast at Mother’s. I also passed up an invitation to a three-hour seminar on “The Role of the Psychiatrist within the Church.” I’d have felt like an interloper. But I accepted the invitation to attend the AGLP reception at the Renaissance Arts Hotel in the warehouse district, where I was told there would be free hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.

Also looking a bit like a fish out of water amongst the glitzy exhibits is the table promoting the National Death Index (NDI), a project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While other exhibitors offer free gelato, lattes, Dippin’ Dots ice cream, and beignets to attract visitors, all the NDI offers is information and a plea to healthcare providers to report the deaths of any patients they have been treating and the medications the patients were taking. This will help the CDC identify risks that may be associated with certain medications. The table hasn’t attracted much traffic.

Upon my arrival at the convention hall I was greeted by a noisy group of more than 100 demonstrators chanting, “Don’t drug our kids, don’t harm our kids, leave our kids alone!” They carried placards with photos of some of the leading researchers and clinicians who treat patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Beneath the photos was the amount of money these doctors have received from pharmaceutical companies in the form of grant support, speaker fees, advisory board participation, etc.

Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital topped the list at $4 million. A few years ago I had the opportunity to work on educational projects with Biederman as well as the others who were singled out on the placards. I happen to agree with the general point made by the demonstrators regarding the questionable ethics and undue influence of the pharmaceutical industry. However, I could not help but be impressed by the dedication of Biederman and his colleagues to help children and adolescents with severe mental illnesses. We are not talking about your garden variety ADHD here. These patients and their families live tormented lives.

 
The demonstrators also carried placards bearing photos of young people who committed suicide while being treated for depression. Under each photo was the name, year of birth and year of death. At first my heart went out to the people who carried the photos, who I assumed were family members. But I noticed something odd when I tried to interview the participants. No one would speak to me. With friendly smiles they referred me to one of the marshals of the sponsoring organization, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). When I tried talking to the marshal, he smiled knowingly and took me to meet a “spokesperson.” She politely told me she would be happy to speak with me…later, at the opening of the group’s “History of Psychiatry Traveling Exhibit” at the Riverwalk Marketplace. When I got to the press room I learned from friends that the CCHR is the creation of the Scientology cult. Calling this anti-science group Scientology is like calling an ugly housing project built in a formerly green space “Liberty Green.”

No big medical specialty meeting would be complete without the appearance of a celebrity motivational speaker. The APA had two: Carrie Fisher and Terry Bradshaw. Fisher spoke Monday night at the annual Convocation. “Having waited my entire life to get an award for something, anything (okay fine, not acting, but what about a tiny award for writing? Nope), I now get awards all the time for being mentally ill,” she quipped. “I’m apparently very good at it and am honored for it regularly.”

She looked and sounded terrible as she cracked wise about seeing “shrinks” almost continuously since she was a teenager, the troubled daughter of celebrity parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She spoke of her battles with drug and alcohol addiction and depression, and of the help she has received from talk therapy, drug therapy, and electroconvulsive therapy, which she said, gets a bad rap. Some shrinks were not impressed and walked out on her narcissistic monologue. Others laughed and applauded.

Bradshaw, former football great and current broadcaster, was featured in the APA’s ninth annual Conversations event, funded by Astra-Zeneca. He told of how he developed clinical depression after being labeled a dunce because of his slow drawl and the accusation that he was too dumb to read defenses when he started out as a quarterback in the National Football League. Following his successful treatment, he began to talk publicly about his experience to help fight the stigma attached to mental illness and to encourage others who are suffering to get help. 

A loop of Bradshaw talking about his experience ran repeatedly in the exhibit area. After hearing the same message all afternoon, a sales rep at a nearby exhibitor’s booth said, “Hey, I love Terry Bradshaw. I’m from Alabama and I’m a big football fan. But come on, Terry, get over it already. It’s been years!”

The AGLP members greeted me warmly at their reception, which featured music by a trio of elderly jazz musicians and an aging female vocalist. But food was scarce and the drinks at the cash bar were a little pricey so I headed to another event to which I’d been invited by a representative of a company called Practice Fusion, which offers “free, web-based electronic health records.” This one was at Mulate’s restaurant and bar near the convention center, which features traditional New Orleans food, and there was a nice little buffet and free drinks.

Practice Fusion promises fast set-up and no downtime…and you can switch your practice over in an afternoon. So if you are a medical practitioner and you aren’t pleased with your current record-keeping system, you might want to give them a call.

Maybe George Weiss, the old baseball general manager, was right after all when he snorted, “Sportswriters! You can buy them with a steak.” I’ll have to ask my shrink about that.

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

When President Obama visits West Point Saturday to address the graduating Cadets and their proud families, he will also be greeted by a large crowd of anti-war protesters disappointed with both his failure to bring our troops home from Iraq and escalation of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The Orange County Democratic Alliance, led by Goshen attorney Michael Sussman, is co-sponsor of the pro-peace rally, which is expected to draw citizens–including veterans and members of military families–from neighboring counties and states. “Our voices must be louder if peace is to prevail,” said Sussman. “We will march and engage in peaceful protest against continued occupation of foreign lands while our priorities at home
remain largely unattended.” The rally will begin at 10 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in High Falls.

Some are sure to regard the demonstration as an annoying intrusion on a day set aside for celebrating the achievements of the graduates. But Sussman and his fellow peace acitivists, many of whom voted for Obama in the last presidential election, see the event as an opportunity to let the president know that he will be held accountable for the continuation of the failed policies of the Bush administration.

There was never a legitimate justification to invade Iraq and cause widespread devastation and death (unless you think oil is a good enough reason). Iraq had no connection to the September 11 attacks, no weapons of mass destruction aimed our way, no Al Quaeda terrorists. But Al Quaeda has adherents there now, surely in part because of actions carried out in our name like those seen in this link:

http://www.collateralmurder.com/

Remember when we were told how great it was going to be for women in Afghanistan after we helped the people there get rid of the Taliban? Thanks to us, women would be allowed to attend schools and pursue professions as equal members of society, free of the restraints imposed on them by the tenets of Muslim fundamentalism. Ironically, there was a brief period in recent history when this actually took occurred. But it was when Afghanistan had a pro-Soviet government so our leaders decided to help the Taliban attain power and rid Afghanistan of Russian influence. Why was Afghanistan important to us then and why is it important now, even when we know that Osama bin Laden isn’t hiding there anymore? Did I hear someone say “Oil?” Go to the head of the class. Funny, we never invaded Saudi Arabia to help the women gain equality there.

I wish President Obama would come to West Point and tell the graduates what President Eisenhower said in his farewell address to the American people on January 17, 1961. Noting the development of a “permanent armaments industry of vast proportions” in the years following World War II, Eisenwhower, a West Point graduate and honored general, warned of its implications. “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

And I wish President Obama would tell them about Major General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps, who was at the time of his death in 1940 the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34 years as a Marine, Butler took part in military actions in the Philippines, China, Central America and the Caribbean, and served in France during World War I. His book, War Is a Racket, described the workings of the military-industrial complex of his day:

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

And then I wish President Obama would quote Winston Churchill: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” But he won’t….and that is why the Orange County Democratic Alliance members and others will be rallying for peace Saturday near the gates at West Point.

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

Amid the misplaced anger and hatred directed at Spanish-speaking immigrants in some parts of the country, comes some refreshing news from Middletown. Starting in September, elementary schools in the city will begin offering a dual-language program to up to 88 lucky kindergarten students. The program, funded through a four-year federal grant, will bring together in one classroom an equal mix of English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children.

Lessons will be taught in English one day and Spanish the next. Although this may seem like a tall order for small children unfamiliar with the other language, the program has proved to be an educational success in other districts, including Engelewood, NJ, where two of my daughters took part when they were little.

According to Kristin Kerr, director of bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) programs for the Middletown schools, learning to think and express themselves in two languages helps students develop higher-level thinking skills. “If you are bilingual,” says Kerr, “you have the ability to flex your thinking for problem solving.” Sadly, this is now something of a novel approach to education thanks to “No Child Left Behind” and it’s over emphasis on teaching students how to pass standardized tests rather than to think independently.

Middletown and Newburgh are the only two districts in Orange County that offer the program, which is now in its second year at the West Street School in Newburgh. Lillian Torres, principal of the West Street School, says the first-grade students there are now able to speak, read and write in both languages. “We’ve really got to look at it as ‘gifted and talented,’” she says.

“This is a benefit for any kid and all kids,” adds Kerr. Being bilingual or multilingual will give them an advantage when they enter the workforce as adults. Bilingual programs, as opposed to traditional ESL programs that target only Spanish-speaking students, result in superior academic performance in both languages, explains Jane Briggs, of the NY State Education Department. As a parent of two English-speaking children who benefited from the program in Englewood, I can vouch for the accuracy of this statement and also mention a few other advantages.

For one thing, the children will instinctively help one another learn the language that is new to them. They will forge lasting friendships with children from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds. (Whenever our daughters are anywhere near Englewood they visit their favorite Colombian bakery to pick up a few empanadas and bunuelos.) Equally important, they have both continued to excel in Spanish (and other languages) in high school and college.  

In Englewood the program started in pre-kindergarten, where there were two teachers. An African-American Muslim woman taught the classes conducted in English. A Spanish-speaking white Jewish woman taught the Spanish-language classes. Their close relationship with one another, and the loving attention they gave to all the students, inspired both children and parents alike. Indeed, we still keep in touch.

When school budget cuts led to a shortage of computers in the Englewood elementary schools, no shortage occurred in the dual-language classes because they were funded separately. This could prove to be another advantage for Middletown parents considering the program for their children.

The program will be offered at both the Chorley Elementary and Truman Moon Primary Schools. Parents have recently been notified that they must submit their children’s names to be eligible for inclusion. If you live in the Middletown school district and have a child who will be entering kindergarten at one of those schools this year, I suggest you submit their names as quickly as possible. 

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

By Michael Kaufman

This is a message for all those tea party people who get upset when people call the tea partiers racists: If you are not a racist, why doesn’t it seem to bother you that you have racists in your movement? Why don’t you condemn the racists in your midst or at least dissociate yourselves from them? They give your movement a bad name…or don’t you care?

You can’t tell us they aren’t there. We see their signs and placards–racist images, misspellings and all–whenever we see pictures of your rallies in the newspapers and on TV…even on Fox News. Maybe you see them too. Maybe they don’t bother you so much.

Did it bother you when you saw your fellow tea partiers shouting the “n-word” at United States Representative John Lewis (D-GA) as he walked to the Capitol building during the debate on health care reform? That gave me a chill because I remember what happened to him in Selma when he marched for civil rights in the 1960s. Maybe you don’t remember.

I guess Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Mark Levin, et al, don’t remember either. Or they just don’t care. You know, “they” use that n-word a lot themselves in their rap music so what’s the big deal if white people use it once in a while? Chris Rock answers that question a lot better than I can. So if you ever feel like taking a break from talk radio and Fox News some time, check out his explanation on Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HMRN__XOYA

After you’re done watching Chris Rock, I suggest you work on your spelling. The Christian Science Monitor recently ran some photos from tea party rallies around the country that made lovers of good language cringe. Ironically, a lot of the signs that butchered the English language were carried by white folks who don’t like the idea that some people in this country speak Spanish. A sign calling on Americans to “boycott Mexico” proclaimed. “Respect Are-Country Speak English”

One sign denounced health-care reform, calling it, “One Hugh Mistake.” Another announced, “Not An Extremist, Just Extremey Overtaxed!!! No Amesty.” “Feedom Doesn’t Come Free,” said a placard held by a white teenager. A patriotic white man wearing a hat and shirt that was red, white, and blue with white stars, was captured in the midst of writing his masterpiece: “Birth Certifict Where Obama…”

A smiling young blonde woman held a sign that declared, “Obama Has a Crisis of Competnce.” Another demanded, “Repeel Congress.” And last but not least was a sign that said, “Thank You Fox News for Keeping Us Infromed.” You can see the whole appalling display at http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Copyediting-Tea-Party-protest-signs

But frankly I am far more appalled at the racism than the bad spelling. Not long ago I received an email from Dr. Michael Franzblau, who provided details about the health-care system in Nazi Germany for a recent post. Dr. Franzblau is a hero of mine. He lost 25 relatives on one horrific day during World War II. Nazis locked his family members in their synagogue in Poland, set it on fire and shot those who tried to escape. “I live with the thought of the Holocaust every single day of my life,” says the retired dermatologist.

Years later, during research on medical ethics, Franzblau stumbled upon the case of Hans Sewering, a German doctor and Nazi SS member, who helped implement Hitler’s plan for a master race by sending 900 disabled children from the sanitarium where he worked to a killing center. Dr. Franzblau made it his life’s mission to bring Sewering to justice and he led a successful campaign to force Sewring’s resignation after he was inexplicably named president of the World Medical Association. “I see this man as embodying everything evil that ever took place in my lifetime, as his behavior as a doctor,” said Franzblau.

So when Michael Franzblau has something to say, I pay attention. And here is what he wrote about the racism of some tea partiers and those who use images of President Obama with a Hitler mustache to protest health-care reform: “Joseph Goebbels would be delighted with the dangerous distortion of the facts concerning the truth about Nazism. I am 83 and a veteran of WWII. I never thought that overt attacks on people of color would be tolerated again in the United States.”

But tolerated they are, especially by the personalities at Fox News, who do such a wonderful job of keeping their viewers “infromed.”

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.