I've known some columnists who complain they have difficulty discovering subjects to write about after awhile. Lately, my problem is exactly the reverse.
There are so many subjects calling out for attention, I don't know where to turn first.
When in doubt, start with the good news, however hard it sometimes is to find.
* I didn't know Priscilla "Patsy" Bullitt Collins. She was an heiress of King Broadcasting who died this past June at 82. But I wish I'd known her, because "Patsy" was a stereotype-killer.
At a time when our country's rich folks seem greedier and more preda-tory than any time since the Gilded Age of the original Rockefeller, and others of his ilk ("robber barons" they were called in the late 19th century, for you television addicts who aren't familiar with the term or any era preceding last Tuesday), Patsy left her charitable trust - which at $71.5 million, according to The Seattle Times, represented the vast majority of her net worth - to CARE, the Nature Conservancy and the Trust For Public Land.
In addition to her death bequests, Patsy gave away more than $200 million during the last 13 years of her life to various causes, including the environment, disadvantaged children and charities serving the city's poor families. As someone who has written quite a bit about the Enron Boys and the Bush family, I felt compelled to mention a shining example of the opposite type of rich folk, and Patsy certainly qualifies as a great example for her peers.
* I've talked here recently about the dismaying trend in America, begun with the election of James Brolin, oops, I mean Ronald Reagan, to elevate unqualified celebrities to public office in America. California's new governor, Arnold the Termina-tor, and our new city council member, Jean Godden, are prime examples. But have no fear, the trend is continuing.
Last Thursday (Nov. 20), The Se-attle Times had a frightening front-page story about Krist Novoselic's ambitions to be our state's new Demo-cratic lieutenant governor in 2004.
Krist earned his celebrity status backing up Kurt Cobain in Nirvana, the rock group that led the grunge movement, the short-lived musical revolution that did more to put our city on the map in the early '90s than anyone might care to admit.
I liked Pearl Jam better, but I have a couple of Nirvana CDs. I'm glad Krist made money and didn't whack himself like poor Kurt. But for God's sake, I don't necessarily think he should be second-in-command of the entire state, especially now when the state's state seems so financially precarious. Just as I'd rather see Ms. Godden writing chattery drivel and not city policy, I'd prefer to listen to Krist's new CD, not his state-of-the-state address.
Puhleeeze just rock and roll, Krist!
* On the national level I can no longer ignore the trials and tribulations of accused bigot and self-admitted pain-pill junkie Rush Limbaugh.
Don't get me wrong, after my term serving Uncle in the late '60s, I did my share of drugs. I inhaled. And I availed myself of a government-sponsored program for veterans to quit ingesting narcotics a few years later. I succeeded in quitting, but 30 years later I still never feel superior to folks with addictions. It's a problem I understand firsthand. But I also never called for lengthy prison sentences for other junkies while I was using dope myself.
Limbaugh is a vicious hypocrite, and hypocrisy of the Limbaugh variety - making millions by disparaging people of color, gays, drug addicts and women who don't conform to 19th-century canons of behavior - is, to my mind, a crime almost up there with rape and murder. Limbaugh has been one of the most divisive figures on the American landscape in the past decade or so, enriching himself by attacking the defenseless. And now he is being investigated for alleged money-laundering. I'm rooting for the detectives on this one.
* And Limbaugh isn't the only celebrity in trouble this week, and therefore endangering a future political career. And the Ronald Reagan biopic starring James Brolin isn't the only show CBS television cancelled in the past month.
Nov. 20, CBS cancelled a planned Michael Jackson special. Jacko, as the former pop star is sometimes called, is being investigated for child molestation. No! Tell me it isn't true! How can a man who admitted on a February television special that he slept in the same bed with visitors to his home, Neverland, who were under the age of consent (that's kids, folks), and called such actions "sharing love," be a child molester? Next you'll be telling me that Adolph Hitler hated Jewish people.
But, if you want to look on the bright side, Jacko got the same attorney who defended Winona Ryder after her last shopping spree, and it always cheers me to know some attorney is going to make a lot of money muddying the waters of human suffering.
* Finally, a survey of more than 1,000 big U.S. companies in September discovered that salary increases (for employees, not executives) were the smallest in the U.S. in 27 years. According to Mercer Human Resource Consulting, pay raises in 2004 will be about the same, making it the third consecuctive year salary hikes have shrunk below 4 percent. My only two questions are: Where's the Recovery? and Who's been president the past three years while raises for regular people plummet?
I'm sure you know the answer. It's the same guy who has gutted the EPA and is now talking about overhauling Social Security. That's right, Tony Blair's friend, li'l Georgie.
I wouldn't count my government-enhanced retirement chickens yet. Li'l Georgie, the rich guy's friend, is on the case.
Four more years! Not.
Freelance writer Dennis Wilken is a resident of Lower Queen Anne. Write him c/o mptimes@nwlink.com
