Protest

February 20, 1991 If things get bad enough you can bet protests will, too This letter was in response to columnist Don Hannula’s column that began, “Another war. Another debate on the precious right of dissent.” Editor, The Seattle Times: Another war, another round of calls for “responsible dissent” that stops short of naming the problem and having an effect upon it. Mike Lerner’s teaching career was indeed destroyed by the way he opposed the Vietnam War. He brought the issues into the classroom and involved his students in the reality, the necessity, of acting against the war – a war that defined an entire generation. (Don Hannula’s column, Feb. 6) The anti-war movement was the best learning experience of my education. Among other things, it prepared me to understand and oppose the present war. Perhaps things will be different this time. So far, the opposition to the Gulf War is broad, well-mannered – and, so far, ineffective. What will happen if the war drags on, costs and casualties mount, the draft is reinstated? What will be the expression of the tragedy of loved ones dying, the fear of being drafted, the anger at the destruction done to innocent civilians in Iraq? Will people tire of the openly acknowledged military censorship of the news and the complicity of the media? And speaking of complicity, what about our representatives in Congress, who spoke out so boldly until Jan. 16 and then jumped in line? How will people express their frustration with them? The anti-Vietnam War movement was successful, which is a good reason to look there for lessons. The war tore our society apart (not to mention its effect on Indochina). It was an injustice so powerful that huge segments of this country opposed it in any way they could. That included militant students and other young people, whose strategy was “Raise the price.” Make the war so expensive, in broken glass, civil disorder, and alienation from established institutions, that it would be too costly for the government to pursue. If this happens again, it is George Bush who is leading us there. If things get bad enough, people will do what they have to do to put a stop to it. The blame will not rest on the few college professors who have the courage to teach about the most important issue of our time. Roger Lippman Published

October 17, 1996 Editor, The Seattle Times: Your obituary of former assistant attorney general James Wilson [Oct. 16] brings to mind my one encounter with him: his unsuccessful prosecution of me and several other anti-war activists for our participation in a 1969 demonstration at the University of Washington. He had known my mother many years earlier through membership in the Americans for Democratic Action. During a break in the trial, they recognized each other in the hallway, though he must not have realized she was related to me. He said to her, "Isn't it a shame how kids get to be criminals these days?" She responded, "I think you are the real criminal." What more could one ask from a mom? Roger Lippman Mom at age 82

December 8, 1999 Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Assistant Police Chief Ed Joiner says (P-I, 12-8-99) that "in a perfect world" the police would have have liked to create "a deserted core where the [WTO] conference took place," shutting that part of the city to everyone else - shoppers, workers, and protesters alike - like they would in a military dictatorship. If anyone should be falling on his own sword after this affair, it would be Joiner, the man who ordered the police to use tear gas and rubber bullets against thousands of non-violent protesters and out-of-luck Capitol Hill residents. If a new police chief is to be chosen from the ranks of the SPD, let's hope it's not someone from Joiner's culture. Meanwhile, Bill Bryant, a Seattle consultant on international trade, was reported to have said, "If this were run by corporate elites, the trains would have run on time." He should take this obvious allusion to Italian fascism and move to Singapore, where he and Joiner would probably be more appreciated than in Seattle. These two wishful practitioners of a police state are well in tune with the ethos of the WTO - unelected tribunals serving only corporate interests as they meet in secret to strike down environmental protection and worker safety laws. Roger Lippman

 

Media

December 15, 1993 Editor, The New Yorker: When I was in high school in Sacramento and following state politics closely, Robert Monagan, a young, attractive Republican from Tracy, was elected to the State Assembly. He rose quickly to become GOP leader in that body, and his upward momentum carried him to a significant role, possibly not culpable, in Nixon's felonious re-election campaign. Of course it was all downhill for much of the gang after that episode. Monagan is now known primarily as the eponym of a brief stretch of Interstate highway that carries the less fortunate through Tracy on their way to Stockton, presently the per capita murder capital of the U.S. None of this is very interesting, but who knows what your fact checkers might have uncovered had they been on their toes when reviewing your December 13 article on the recent Ed Rollins affair. They missed the fact that Monagan's name was misspelled repeatedly, by the distinguished Sidney Blumenthal, no less. At least we know that the author doesn't drive to Stockton very often. Roger Lippman

May 21, 1997 Editor, The Seattle Times: The Times has devoted substantial space to recent dramatic revelations of the thoroughgoing brutality and greed of the Mobutu regime, which had plunged a nation rich in resources into poverty worse than existed under colonialism. There has even been the occasional acknowledgement that it was U.S. policy and money that helped create and maintain Mobutu's dictatorship. But precious little of this was reported during his 30-plus years of kleptocracy. The critical time to report on such regimes is while they are in power. That information could perhaps have had an impact on persistent, repeated U.S. government and corporate support for Mobutu. Meanwhile, militaristic dictatorships continue in power in countries such as Indonesia. A little more light shed on those governments and the U.S. role in maintaining them - and profiting from them - would be most welcome. Roger Lippman

April 25, 1998 Editor, The Seattle Times: Today, curiously, I received the Times Eastside Edition, even though I live in central Seattle. I tried to remain calm and read it anyway. However, on page 4, I found the headline "Chilean president reports big victory against guerrillas." The story related how President Alberto Fujimori claimed a major victory against Peru's Shining Path. They may believe this stuff in Bellevue, but I remain unconvinced that Fujimori is president of Chile. Roger Lippman

August 4,1998 Editor, The Seattle Times: I am astounded that in the lead sentence of the main front page story, you print the statement that "U.S. Marines invaded [Grenada] to oust Cuban forces" in 1983. (Times, August 3, from a Washington Post report.) Not even Ronald Reagan, in the depths of his anti-communist delirium, claimed that as his justification for military intervention in Grenada. As the story gets around to explaining, the ostensible purpose of the invasion was to protect the U.S. medical students in Grenada. A little more attention to accuracy on the part of your editors is in order. Mindlessly reprinting dispatches from other papers is not quality journalism. Roger Lippman

 

Miscellaneous

April 12, 1991 To: Ron Sims, King County Councilmember Dear Mr. Sims: I read in the Seattle Times of April 11 that Councilmember Kent Pullen is proposing to buy a helicopter for the King County Police so that they can conduct a drug war on King County citizens from the air. I certainly hope you are not supporting this crazy scheme. The Sheriff plans to equip it with “infrared devices that can track heat sources such as lights used to grow marijuana.” Can you imagine the likelihood of mistaken identification of heat sources in people’s homes, and the resulting police crashing through people’s doors while a helicopter hovers overhead? I don’t think this is the kind of protection the people of King County want or need. The skies of the City of Seattle became much more peaceful sometime in the mid-Seventies after the Seattle police helicopter crashed while looking for marijuana growing in the Arboretum, and the City Council was so annoyed that it refused to pay for another one. I encourage you to oppose the proposal for a county police helicopter. Please let me know your position on this issue. Roger Lippman No response!

April 21, 1991 Editor, The Seattle Times: The Times (April 8) reports that major traffic and parking problems are expected from the new sports arena next to the Kingdome. But wait! The city of Seattle is still dripping with yellow ribbons and American flags that proclaim, “I’m proud that (someone other than me) fought a war so I’ll have enough cheap gasoline to drive to a ball game in a mostly empty car.” Well, it doesn’t look like that will work much longer. Instead of locking ourselves into ever-worsening traffic and future military expeditions to guarantee cheap oil, I propose the following: 1. Parking lots at the Kingdome and arena shall be used by buses only. Design the parking lot at the new arena with this in mind. 2. Limit parking within a mile of the stadium to two hours during events, thus preventing game-goers from parking on the streets nearby. (Sounds harsh? This is essentially the situation around Husky Stadium on game days.) Also impose a special tax on event parking in parking lots in the area, with a possible exception for carpools. 3. Vastly improve public transportation to the stadium for events. Get Metro to coordinate with stadium schedulers. Run shuttles from various parts of town and the suburbs. Make them cheap enough that people will actually use them. And get the private sector involved by encouraging espresso carts at each Metro staging area. Roger Lippman

April 23, 1992 Let’s hope students learned about political compromise [Not exactly my point.]  Editor, The Seattle Times: It was heartening to read about young students encouraging the state Legislature to ban non-biodegradable balloons that can kill animals that eat them. (The Times, April 18) The ban passed the House but died in the Senate, and the reporter notes that the students learned something about the political process in the bargain. Let’s hope that they learned the meaning of “pro-business,” a euphemism commonly heard these days. Usually it means “Republican,” or sometimes “pro-business Democrat,” as in “Paul Tsongas.” What it really means is, we’re more interested in a company’s right to make a profit than we are in he well-being of the Earth and its inhabitants. And we are so reflexively in favor of the former that we can’t even visualize a compromise to allow both. If students can learn that lesson in elementary school, there may be a chance for democracy. And it the Times reporter had bothered to identify the senators who killed the bill, those of us who are already voting could remember to do something about it as the next election. Roger Lippman, Seattle Published

March 18,1996 Editor, The Seattle Times: A county consultant recommends that the Kingdome not allow fans to bring in their own food and drink. (Times, March 17) This will compel people to buy more of the low-quality, overpriced concession food that, we now learn, is hazardous to our health due to negligence on the part of the concessionaire. Is this the purpose of County government? Instead, why not allow a variety of concessionaires, each trying to outdo the next in quality food and reasonable pricing? Then maybe people would want to buy the food. Roger Lippman

January 2, 1999 Editor, The San Francisco Chronicle: Your reporter David Abel (Chronicle, January 1) went to Cuba and managed to find some things wrong. Surprise. After 40 continuous years of U.S. economic, political, and/or military aggression against Cuba, no wonder there are problems there. An interesting report might have looked at the Cuban standard of living, compared it favorably with other poor Caribbean nations, and gone on to consider how things would be if Cuba were left alone by its powerful neighbor, or even encouraged in its independent experiment. The reporter was so determined not to acknowledge the positive accomplishments of the Cuban revolution that he seems to have forgotten how to string a sentence together.      "Once a crime that brought time in jail, now Cubans can barely survive without using dollars." Hello? Do you still have copy editors there at the Chronicle? Roger Lippman

July 3, 1999 If the FBI wants its bug, maybe we can make a deal Editor, The Seattle Times: I read with interest your June 20 article on electronic tracking devices and their possible application to humans, pets, and vehicles. (“Implanted microchip? Futuristic tracking idea might be on track.”) While the FBI, characteristically, declines to comment on whether it would use such devices, it has been using them on vehicles for many years. In the early 1970s, a friend who traveled in leftist circles found an electronic-tracking device attached inside his car’s fender. He took the bug apart and gave it to me. Soon after the device stopped transmitting, the FBI visited my friend to demand its return. Ironically, the car had a blown engine and had not moved since the device was attached. If the FBI still wants its bug back, perhaps we can make a deal. It’s around here somewhere. Roger Lippman Published

October 13, 1999 Editor, The San Francisco Bay Guardian: How interesting it is to read that San Francisco is about to spend most of a million dollars for an electronic tracking system, so riders can know when the next bus is coming.  In Seattle we have a different method.  Believe it or not, the buses run on a schedule, which is posted at most bus stops. This high-tech solution costs next to nothing, and anybody with a state-of-the-art wristwatch can know when the next bus will arrive. If that tempts you to move here, don't forget that it rains all the time. Roger Lippman Seattle

January 2001 Great Timing Editor, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine: It's pretty funny that Stewart Brand and friends built a 10,000-year clock that rang in the new millennium a year early (Chronicle, December 31, 2000). If you're going to blunder, there's nothing like preserving your screwup for a hundred centuries of posterity. Even the funny papers now recognize that the millennium actually starts this year. It's not unlike the recent presidential election. Lots of people are pretending that Bush was elected, but within the year it will be obvious to all that Gore won Florida and the electoral vote. Roger Lippman Published

January 19, 2009 NEWSPAPERS Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: In the January 18 P-I, State Sen. Jim McDermott bemoans the "dire straights of the newspaper business." Maybe he'd feel better if he read The Stranger. Roger Lippman Published

January 11, 2010 Growing Up Distracted Editor, The New York Times Re: “Old Fogies by Their 20s” (Week in Review, Jan. 10): “I worry that young people won’t be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to,” an official of the Kaiser Family Foundation was quoted in the article as saying, referring to the technology habits of younger generations. I can just imagine flying in an airplane, in 20 years or so, and the pilots would be so engrossed with electronic toys, and so incapable of multitasking, that they might not even notice if we missed our destination by 150 miles. But that could never happen. Roger Lippman, Seattle Published (January 21, 2010)  What I described in the second paragraph had just happened.

September 2013 They Said I Was a Communist Editor, Reed Magazine: Chris Lydgate’s absorbing article about the invention of a new sign language by Nicaraguan children is marred by a flawed assumption. He refers to the Sandinista government of Nicaragua as a “Communist regime.” Maybe he picked this up from U.S. government officials, like Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms, but the Sandinista government was not avowedly Communist, nor was it considered so by informed observers. Among those observers I include thousands of North American volunteers, such as myself, who went to Nicaragua after the 1979 revolution to share our skills and assist with the sort of humanitarian development that had been so lacking under the Somoza dictatorship. (I worked on a rural solar electrification project, along with comrades of the Portland engineer Ben Linder, who was killed by the Reagan-funded contras.) For us “Sandalistas” and for so many of the Nicaraguans we worked alongside, the greatness of the Sandinista revolution was that its leaders and millions of participants applied the resources of the country to improving the lives of its citizens. It is distressing that some, who are perhaps unfamiliar with the events there, categorize that revolution with the disparaging language used by those who murderously worked to destroy progress in Nicaragua. Roger Lippman Published EDITOR'S NOTE: Yikes! Thanks for sorting the leftists from the rightists. Roger preparing a solar panel for installation in a remote Nicaraguan community, 1988

May 22, 2020 Editor, The New Yorker: A hundred years ago, as related in these pages last November, Booth Tarkington, having been placed on a New York Times list of the greatest contemporary men, declared, “you can’t say who are the 10 greatest with any more authority than you can say who are the 13 damndest fools.” The cultural evolution we have seen in recent years has changed all that. It is now possible to compile a highly accurate list of the damndest fools. It would be composed of those who, following the exhortations of the loudest sociopath in the neighborhood, drink poison or pop dangerous pills to protect themselves against a disease they do not have. Ironically, it worked for them, because they are now dead. This is as good an example as any of what Adam Gopnik once declared to be “the intractable power of pure stupidity,” though I suppose that death from pure stupidity makes its power somewhat more tractable. Of course, the list of 13 has plenty of room for expansion these days. That would start with the Republican officials who have sold what might have passed as their souls to Trump when they at one time knew better. Next will be those leftists who, finding Biden not a pure enough alternative to the fascist danger, will sit this one out. Remember “There’s no difference between Bush and Gore”? We’re still paying for that one. Only this time, the stakes are even higher. Privileged white boys may not get that, but I hope everyone else will. Roger Lippman

August 24, 2020 Editor, The Seattle Times, In his latest uninformed political interference, Trump accused the Food and Drug Administration of “impeding enrollment in clinical trials” for coronavirus vaccines. (Times, August 23.) I suggest a compromise that should satisfy everyone. Let’s have all White House senior staff, from the president on down, along with Trump’s Republican Congressional supporters, enroll in clinical trials for these vaccines, which are as-yet not proven safe or effective. If it works, great! Trump will have actually done something useful. If it doesn’t work and there is no protection, or there are harmful side-effects, so it goes. Back to the drawing board – perhaps with less interference. Meanwhile, all those Trump sycophants who think they know better than the scientists could take a good swig of oleandrin, the extract of a highly toxic plant lately favored by Trump. Better than bleach – it’s organic! Roger Lippman

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