.Letters for the week of July 16-22, 2003

“The Rise of Point & Click Liberalism,” City of Warts, 7/2

Touché, Thompson

Move On, Chris.

Chris Thompson’s pan and putdown of the efforts and achievements of MoveOn.org are another installment of Thompson’s almost-a-conservative cynicism parading as cool analysis. For example, he’s ignorant of the fact that East Lansing, Michigan, turned out 250 antiwar protesters in below-freezing temperatures when he asks whether MoveOn activities will play in East Lansing. Chris, there are enlightened enclaves all over the USA; furthermore, their ties to MoveOn don’t preclude direct action.

Next, Thompson lays down an old-left challenge in the sand when he mentions disparagingly that the urban, sophisticated secularists of MoveOn have so little in common with the culture of Kentucky. However, since “Kentucky culture” has contributed little to progressive social change, it’s Kentucky’s responsibility to catch up. The civil rights movement and the hippies proved you need only a critical mass to make massive cultural shifts and that mass is a surprisingly small number.

James Baldwin once said that the revolution always comes from an unexpected quarter. Those “quarters” are emerging. Will Thompson ever recognize them?
Maris Arnold, Berkeley

Thank you for that wonderful article on hip-hop films. So many people fail to see beyond flicks like Boyz N the Hood, or whatever gangster rap movie is out. But there are a lot of real visual artists out there informing not just the hip-hop community, but the global community, about the hows and whys in the urban art scene. Good job.
Adisa Banjoko, San Jose

Does the $5,307 the Oakland Public Library paid for three hundred copies of the latest Harry Potter book really reflect “a hefty discount from the publisher,” when at Costco three hundred copies at $15.79 each would cost only $4,737?
Robert Lauriston, Berkeley

The life of Dan K. does not seem like fun to me at all. To be so caught in the need to be seen, no matter what, and so caught in the need for substances to escape his life feels painful and difficult.
Ernest Isaacs, Berkeley

Despite Mr. Benedictis’ letter regarding the parking fines during street sweeping and his Marie Antoinettesque comments, the issue is not all that hard to describe: Government trying to do good but screwing things up.

Sweeping past logic, the city has decided to clean up the streets in my neighborhood four days a month. Somehow the expense and pollution of thousands of cars being moved and circling for combined hours, meter people and their vehicles and labor, street sweepers and their labor and expensive vehicles, posting ugly street signs, frustrated residents and their parking fines, with City of Oakland accountants adding it all up, are worth cleaning up a few bits of dirt and leaves.

There is no motivation to change this coming from the city, because they make a lot of money off of fines. To some people, the fines are already a lot of money and if they increase, it just shows the greed has no limit. There are more low-tech and green solutions to the problem, but they wouldn’t make as much revenue and so they’ll be ignored.
Bob Giles, Oakland

Chris Thompson’s credibility is lost! “Shock and surprise” does not describe my response. Obviously Mr. Thompson is more interested in convincing readers to believe lies than in perpetuating fairness and truth. In particular, the personal attacks on Housing Commissioner Marie Bowman of Berkeley were unjustified, and from what I have read, unbelievable.

In particular, the statements attributed to Bowman by Affordable Housing Associates manager Candy Hester border on the absurd. There are many public records of Bowman addressing the Berkeley City Council with dignity and eloquence. The quote attributed to her by Hester — “sometimes we don’t gotta call” — are words that would never emerge from Marie Bowman’s mouth. She speaks grammatically correct English, whether on commission business or at BANA parties, and would never use the words “don’t gotta” in any context. I am surprised Thompson would risk his reputation and credibility as a journalist to print such babble.

I have watched with interest for the past two years as Ms. Bowman, other Housing Advisory Commission members, and concerned residents have spoken to the city council regarding what they describe as questionable business practices by the AHA. At no time have these persons stooped to lawbreaking and/or using slander to make a point.

In fact, the supporters of AHA have made many attempts to discredit and discourage respect for Ms. Bowman and other members of the Berkeley neighborhood associations. Mr. Zwick and Mr. Kashani, in fact, have described Bowman as “sophisticated,” using the term as if it were an obscenity. Thus, it is no surprise that Zwick would use the local press as puppets to slander Bowman. Unfortunately, if his best evidence is the Candy Hester quote, then nothing in Thompson’s essay or in Zwick’s e-mail can be believed.
Liz Campos, Berkeley

I am very impressed with your article. What impresses me is not that you did anything to pump up Eli’s. You just reported the truth. I have a number of musician friends who have played there, names like Scott Duncan, Gino Baronelli, and Nate Holmes. What I really enjoyed was the mention of the Continental Club, because I am a member of Shabfas, a new R&B band in Oakland. We just signed on to the Continental Club to provide music there every Friday, starting July 25. As I worked on the deal, I became fascinated with its rich history. I think that Shabfas can help bring the Continental back into the limelight. Hopefully, when you get the time or the chance, you can help us get it back to where it was by putting in a good word for it. It’s a very wonderful place that just begs for that big spender to come back, sit in the balcony, and watch the show.
Barry Alexander, Oakland

I was sorry to hear the story of poor Austin, but also felt sorry for the veterinarians that have judgment passed against them in the article. When the article said that “no local animal doctors wanted to testify against one of their own,” I don’t think it’s because we want to protect each other, but rather doctors recognize that medicine is not as easy as it seems. Diseases are easier to diagnose in retrospect. Diagnosis is like Wheel of Fortune, where pieces of the puzzle keep getting added and the point at which each doctor knows the final answer can vary. The added complication with medical diagnosis is that the puzzle pieces may in fact be from different puzzles. Often individuals have concurrent, unrelated disorders, such as hair loss from both flea and hormonal issues. Veterinarians recognize that while they individually may solve one difficult puzzle very quickly, the next one may be more difficult for them.

The case presented in the article did not seem as simple as the lawyers’ plan to argue it — i.e. that a simple testosterone test would have revealed the diagnosis. Retained testicles more frequently cause tumors, but these tumors usually produce estrogen, not testosterone. In addition, the testicle does not usually produce much hormone or clinical signs until the tumor is already present. If that tumor happens to be malignant, the outcome is likely to be bad. Many medical problems have unfortunate outcomes that are caused by the failure of the body to function well, not by a doctor’s mistake. The question that needs to be addressed by a malpractice case is whether the veterinarian was negligent, and whether their negligence actually led to an outcome that was worse than the original problem.

What the article failed to explore was the question of whether allowing large judgments for pain and suffering actually leads to better medical care. When Robert Newman is quoted as asking a room of veterinarians, “How many of you believe for a moment that if you make a mistake that results in this dog’s death, you make me whole by giving me $23?” I am sure no veterinarian in the room raised their hand. Veterinarians know what Jennifer Rampton admits: “There’s really nothing that would compensate.” All the money in the world doesn’t fix the hurt that we have when we lose someone we love.

Have the large settlements and judgments in the human medical field improved the care we receive, or have they just allowed more people — the trial lawyers and the insurance companies — to make money from the interaction we have with our physician? I think the situation has created more pressure on our doctors that actually impairs our interactions with them. They must maintain an awareness of covering their legal liabilities at each of our visits. They must also charge more money to pay for their own malpractice insurance.

Most of the money from this system goes not to the individuals who suffer, but to the lawyers on both sides. For many human physicians, the cost of their malpractice insurance alone is more than a veterinarian makes in one year. I believe that a well-functioning state board is a better way of evaluating doctors, and revoking a license to practice medicine is a much better penalty for true negligence.

As our country addresses how to reduce medical costs and handle the current medical care crisis, we need to remember that money doesn’t pay for the loss of a loved one, and vindication can come through means other than money. Personally, when a client expresses unhappiness about the treatment they received, I hope they feel vindication. I care about the pets I treat and their owners’ satisfaction, and I am always trying to do the best job that I can. Unfortunately, I also well know that all of us die at some point, and the hurt that it causes for those of us still alive is sometimes very difficult to bear. Money doesn’t really make the hurt any less.
Eleanor Dunn, DVM, ABVP, Oakland

Excellent article. However, you are missing a little-known but important piece of the story. Many people like Michelle Thompson get approved for loans for which they don’t really qualify, with payments they can’t afford from the start. On top of all the abuses you have chronicled, dealers frequently put false information on credit applications. They show inflated income. They invent additional sources of income. They understate rent. They show phony down payments. All this without the buyer’s knowledge. Lenders don’t check — they approve based on the false information. The car buyer is guaranteed to fail, ending up with a repossession and a huge deficiency balance still owing.

These are a dealer’s most profitable deals. The buyer has no bargaining power whatsoever — the price, even the choice of vehicle, is dictated by the dealer. And lenders almost never hold the dealer accountable: Even in those cases where the lenders learn what really happened, they don’t want to make volume dealers unhappy, and they simply accept the losses. This form of predatory lending is a big part of the automobile industry, and it is virtually unknown and unwritten about. It happens to be my specialty.
Will Slote, Binghamton, New York

Last week’s cover story “Quit Your Church” inaccurately described the concept of predestination when it stated even “the saved” could be damned — by definition, “the saved” are God’s chosen people. What we meant was that, under Calvinism, even those who consider themselves saved could end up in hell. We also said Tom Holt “runs” Bible Ministries International. He is in fact treasurer of the corporation’s board. We regret the errors.