A guide to the Hippocratic Oath

By Dr Daniel Sokol
Medical ethicist

Hippocrates: the father of modern medicine?

When I asked my medical students to name famous doctors in the history of medicine, their first answer was Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered hundreds of patients.

I nearly swallowed my tongue.

Their second answer was House, the fictional doctor from the American TV series.

Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes.

Their third answer was Hippocrates, presumed author of the Hippocratic Oath - I breathed a sigh of relief.

Written nearly 2,500 years ago, the Oath is the most famous text in Western medicine, yet most people (including doctors) know precious little about it.

One GP recounted the story of an elderly patient who believed the Oath instructed doctors never to tell patients the truth. It contains no such advice.

Here is a brief guide to the Oath.

The Oath starts: "I swear by Apollo the physician and by Asclepius and Hygieia and Panacea... to bring the following oath to fulfilment."

Apollo, the god of healing, fell in love with a human, Coronis.

I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them Hippocratic Oath

In his absence, Apollo sent a white crow to look after her.

When the crow informed Apollo that Coronis loved another man, Apollo's rage turned the crow black.

To avenge her brother, Apollo's sister shot Coronis with an arrow and, as she lay dying, Coronis told Apollo that she was bearing his child.

Although Apollo could not save Coronis, he rescued the unborn child, Asclepius.

Hygieia, the goddess of health, and Panacea, the goddess of cures, are the daughters of Asclepius.

According to legend, Hippocrates was a descendant of one of Asclepius' sons.

Inspiration

Doctors taking the Oath would doubtless have been inspired by this illustrious lineage of healers.

The next section instructs the doctor to treat his teachers as his parents, and to pass on the art of medicine to the next generation of healers.

In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science Hippocratic Oath

The Oath continues: "And I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them."

In other words, doctors should act in the best interests of their patients, and when unjust circumstances arise - for instance, a certain life-prolonging drug may not be available on the NHS - they should strive to correct the injustice harming their patients.

The next part seemingly concerns euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, saying: "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel."

Two leading scholars of the Oath, Littre and Miles, have however suggested that this passage alludes to the then common practice of using doctors as skilled political assassins.

Steven Miles notes: "Fear of the physician-poisoner may be traced very close to the time of the Oath."

The word "euthanasia" (meaning "easeful death") was only coined a century after the writing of the Oath.

Abortion

The text continues: "And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary."

This passage is often interpreted as a rejection of abortion.

However, abortion was legal at the time and the text only mentions pessaries (a soaked piece of wool inserted in the vagina to induce abortion), not the oral methods of abortion also used in ancient Greece.

As pessaries could cause lethal infections, the author of the Oath may have had a clinical objection to the method, rather than a moral objection to abortion itself.

The next sentence - "In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science" - is a call for professional integrity.

Doctors should refrain from immoral behaviour and resist the temptations that accompany their privileged position (today, from drug companies offering generous gifts, for example).

Surgery

The Oath continues: "I will not cut, and certainly not those suffering from stone, but I will cede this to men who are practitioners of this activity."

Another common misconception is that the Oath forbids surgery.

About whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable Hippocratic Oath

In fact, it instructs doctors to acknowledge the limits of their competence and to refer cases to more specialised practitioners.

Next, the doctor enters the patient's house: "Into as many houses as I may enter, I will go for the benefit of the ill, while being far from all voluntary and destructive injustice, especially from sexual acts both upon women's bodies and upon men's."

The need for such a statement reflects the wide distrust in healers at the time.

In a competitive marketplace where quacks abounded, it was necessary to reassure the public that doctors would not exploit patients.

Confidentiality

The penultimate section deals with confidentiality and reads: "And about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable."

As today, patients in ancient times shared deeply personal information with doctors on the assumption that their details would not be revealed to others.

Without this trust, patients may withhold facts that would help the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.

The text ends with the rewards that await those who respect the Oath ("the benefits both of life and of art and science, being held in good repute among all human beings for time eternal") and the punishment of those who do not ("if, however, I transgress and swear falsely, the opposite of these").

This whistle-stop tour of the Oath gives some idea of the content and spirit of this ancient text.

In an age of technological developments, cosmetic surgery, complementary medicine, drug companies, and many other temptations for patients and doctors alike, the spirit of the Oath is as relevant as ever.

• Dr Daniel Sokol is a medical ethicist at St George's, University of London, and Director of the Applied Clinical Ethics (ACE) programme at Imperial College, London.

English heroes of Agincourt? They are just war criminals (say the French)

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:49 AM on 25th October 2008

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To Shakespeare, it was the moment a feckless youth turned into a great king, leading his army to victory against seemingly impossible odds.

But French academics have a very different view of the Battle of Agincourt - claiming that English soldiers acted like 'war criminals'.

They also accuse King Henry V of giving his permission for captives to be burnt to death and ordering his bodyguards to execute a noble who had surrendered.

Romantic view of history? Kenneth Branagh playing Henry V in a film of Shakespeare's play in which he leads his army to victory against impossible odds

The battle - part of the Hundred Years War - has become a byword for English heroism in the face of insurmountable odds.

But nearly 600 years later, historians will tell a conference at the Medieval History Museum in Agincourt that the stories that Henry's troops were hugely outnumbered are a lie.

The museum's director, distinguished French historian Christophe Gilliot, said: 'There's been a distortion of the facts and this conference will attempt to set the record straight.

Brave or brutal? An illustration of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 in which the English were always thought to have been hugely outnumbered - but French academics claim they in fact acted like war criminals

'We have historians arriving from all over France, and all will produce hard facts concerning the battle.

Inspired leader: A portrait of Henry V

'At the very least the English forces acted dishonourably. The Middle Ages were a very violent time, of course, but some might accuse the English of acting like what might now be called war criminals.'

The Battle of Agincourt was immortalised by Shakespeare and is the centrepiece of his play Henry V.

It took place on Friday, October 25 in 1415 after a force led by Henry engaged the French at Agincourt, a small village not far from Calais in northern France.

The traditional story is that the English army, made up mainly of archers using longbows, massacred a vast force of French noblemen.

But detailed bureaucratic records from the army of the French king, Charles VI, reveal it was made up of 9,000 travelling soldiers, perhaps with another 3,000 local troops.

This compares with a total force of 12,000 which travelled to France with Henry - although 3,000 were lost during the preceding siege of Harfleur.

English chroniclers writing in the years following the battle wrongly claimed that there were as many as 150,000 French, compared with 6,000 English soldiers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, no English academics have been invited to today's conference in France.

But Professor Anne Curry, a military historian from Southampton University, admitted that many accounts of the battle have been exaggerated to give the impression of 'plucky little England against the evil French'.

Although Henry triumphed at Agincourt, he never succeeded in his ultimate aim - taking the French throne.

Pang brothers sign 10-year deal with HK's Universe

Written by Patrick Frater

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Story Categories: Festivals, Film, Hong Kong, People, TOKYO – "Bangkok Dangerous" and "The Eye" helmers Danny and Oxide Pang have signed a ten year exclusive management and production agreement with Hong Kong production and distribution group Universe Int'l Holdings. Under the new deal, the twin brothers will next direct "Child's Eye," a horror pic that would be one of the first pics from Hong Kong to be made to modern 3D standards. Production is tentatively skedded to start in April or May next year. That will overlap with final stages of effects and post production on "The Storm Warriors II," a "300"-style martial arts actioner that stars Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi, Simon Yam and Tang Yan. Pic, which has been widely pre-sold, is now being lined up for pan-Asian release on Dec 17, 2009. The brothers are also committed to shoot "Storm Warriors III," a pic that will again use characters from the underlying comic series that spawned "1998 movie "Stormriders" (sic) and "Storm Warriors II," though will take a significantly different, post-modern tone. "Our deal covers both Danny and Oxide, whether working together or on their solo films. We have worked together on so many of their films that we all have an extremely good understanding and working relationship," Alvin Lam, Universe COO, said. "It also includes their Hollywood careers, and while we would not expect to fully finance any of their American studio movies we will likely take a co-producer or associate producer role," Lam said.

'Fart gas' link to blood pressure

Hydrogen sulphide is behind the smell of rotten eggs The gas best known for being used in many stink bombs may also control blood pressure, say US researchers. Small amounts of hydrogen sulphide - a toxic gas generated by bacteria living in the human gut - are responsible for the foul odour of flatulence. But it seems the gas is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure. The findings in mice may lead to new treatments for high blood pressure, the Science journal reported. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland, found that the gas is produced in the cells lining blood vessels by an enzyme called CSE. We know hydrogen sulphide is not good for us at high levels but it seems that at the lower levels in the body it is essential Professor Amrita Ahluwalia In mice engineered to be deficient in this enzyme, levels of hydrogen sulphide were almost depleted compared with levels in normal mice. The CSE-deficient mice also had blood pressure measurements about 20% higher than the normal mice, comparable to serious hypertension in humans. When the engineered mice were given a drug which relaxes normal blood vessels - methacholine - there was no difference, indicating the gas is responsible for the relaxation. Treatments Another gas, nitric oxide, is already known to be involved in control of blood pressure. Researcher Dr Solomon Snyder said: "Now we know hydrogen sulphide's role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension." Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, an expert in vascular pharmacology at Barts and The London Medical School, said: "This study shows that smelly hydrogen sulphide is also likely to have a role in regulating blood pressure and it will be a bit of an impetus for scientists to develop more specific tools to work out what's going on. "We know hydrogen sulphide is not good for us at high levels but it seems that at the lower levels in the body it is essential." Dr Allan MacDonald, a reader in pharmacology at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: "Treatments based on hydrogen sulphide could become important in a variety of cardiovascular diseases," he said.

Tommy Smothers gets due for censored show

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

"No comedian's wife thinks he's funny," Tommy Smothers says as he surveys the panoramic vista from his hilltop home and vineyard in the middle of Sonoma's Valley of the Moon. "The first few years of the marriage, maybe. I was funny as hell the first couple of years."

Smothers first repaired to this peak 40 years ago to lick his wounds after CBS abruptly pulled the rug out from under the top-rated "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on the eve of its fourth season, the culmination of constant harassment and surveillance by the network's censors during the show's three seasons.

At last month's Emmy Awards, Smothers accepted a belated trophy for his contributions to the team that won the 1968 writing award for the show's final season; Smothers left his name off at the time, fearing the inclusion would draw controversy. When he accepted his Emmy last month, he was typically plainspoken and eloquent at the same time, a Smothers hallmark. (The speech is on YouTube.)

"Freedom of expression and freedom of speech aren't really important," he told the audience, "unless they're heard. The freedom of hearing is as important as the freedom of speaking. It's hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war. There's nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action. So I dedicate this Emmy to all people who feel compelled to speak out, not afraid to speak to power, won't shut up and refuse to be silent."

September was a watershed moment for the Smothers Brothers in another respect: The long-awaited release of the comedy show's third and final season on DVD, this time including the portions of the show CBS censored, including Harry Belafonte singing "Don't Stop the Carnival" as footage of violence outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago rolled behind him.

NPR television critic David Bianculli will publish his oral history of the Smothers Brothers show next year. What started as a last-ditch effort by the network to salvage TV's dying variety-show format became a landmark series in television history.

Act of repression

The muzzling of the Smothers Brothers at the height of the Vietnam War and the era of student protest was an emblematic act of political repression three months after Richard Nixon was elected president. But the firing of the Smothers Brothers has echoed through the years, becoming a case study in mass media censorship. The brothers, who arrived on the small screen as clean-cut, wholesome folk song parodists, stumbled into the turbulent times.

"Instead of vacuous comedy, we thought, 'Let's do something with some bite,' " Smothers, says. "There was the Vietnam War, voters' rights - all sorts of issues that we thought we could reflect and develop a point of view. We didn't even know it was important until they said 'You can't say this.' Forty years later, people are still talking about it. Isn't that amazing?"

The Emmy sits on the top of a grand piano cluttered with family photos. Smothers, 71, and his wife of 18 years, Marcy, have two teenagers (Smothers also has a grown son from an earlier marriage). Medical school skeletons, some wearing costumes, are stationed around the spacious living room that looks out over the valley. Smothers sits in a chair next to a table with a pair of lamps shaped like giant kernels of candy corn.

"I had mixed feelings," he says about the award. "It's in the past - what's the difference? Then my wife and kids got excited about it, and I started to think maybe this is pretty cool. I started to think about what am I going to say. Because we were silenced for it 40 years ago doesn't mean we have been converted. So I made my little statement. Steve Martin introduced me. My brother thought it was cool, pretty neat."

From the standpoint of today's TV fare, the old Smothers Brothers shows look decidedly tame. One of the first bits that raised the network's ire involved nothing more flagrant than comedian David Steinberg saying Moses burned his feet on the bush, and "there are many Old Testament scholars who to this day believe it was the first mention of Christ in the Bible."

But it wasn't the lame anti-war jokes or comedian and presidential candidate Pat Paulsen's editorials on gun control that earned the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" its place in history. "The silencing made it more important, the issue of being censored," Smothers says. "If they had just not picked up the show, it wouldn't have been that big an issue."

Government censorship isn't necessary in a free-enterprise system, Smothers says, citing reasons that prove he hasn't mellowed a bit in four decades. "The country doesn't have to stop people from saying stuff. The corporations do it for them. Look at the Dixie Chicks. The corporations are fighting things for other people. That's fascism in action. Fascism is when private industry owns the government."

Developing the act

The two brothers (and a sister - Tom, Dick and Sherry) grew up in Southern California. Tommy and Dickie began to develop an act while students at San Jose State, an act they polished at North Beach nightclubs in the '50s. Their 1961 album, "Live at the Purple Onion," established them as leading clowns on the folk-music scene. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary in show business and perform as many as 60 concerts a year.

"We were famous before we were good," Smothers says. "Now we're good, not famous."

The act has changed little over the years. Tommy Smothers started playing yo-yo about 25 years ago - when he does yo-yo tricks, they are funny, and when they don't work, even funnier - and he usually carries one in his pocket.

Tom and Dick Smothers not only mined the fascination of the day with folk songs, but also the passive-aggressive relationship between brothers - "Mom always liked you best" - a role that often spilled over into their offstage life.

"We've been 2 feet apart for 50 years. He's always on my left. I'm always on his right. Same with our baby pictures. We've been looking at each other that far away. We'll get offstage and he'll look at me and say, 'When are you going to have that cyst fixed?' "

Smothers says all that stopped after an 18-hour couples-counseling session about 15 years ago.

The counselor "changed everything basically by saying, 'Stop the nonsense - you're professionals, cut out all this brother s-,' " Smothers says. "We could fight. We could clear a room."

Smothers replanted 45 acres on the hillsides surrounding his home after phylloxera took the old grapevines. When he and Dick, 68, first moved to Sonoma and bought property outside Kenwood, they started producing Smothers Brothers Wine, but long ago changed the name to Remick Ridge, after their grandfather.

"People would say Smothers Brothers is a good wine, but it has a funny finish - things like that," says Smothers.

Dick left Sonoma long ago for Florida, but his older brother has developed a keen appreciation of the role the straight man plays in comedy teams.

"The straight man in vaudeville was paid more than the comic," he says. "That was the skilled position. The straight man could introduce acts, and you could put him with a funny guy and have him control that. If you don't believe the straight man, you don't believe the comic. Look at Bud Abbott, Dean Martin, Dan Rowan. I learned this in 50 years in the business - the quality of the straight man defines how good the act is."

When he first moved to the property, he lived in a cabana next to the swimming pool and then slowly built a barn, garage and magnificent home over the years. He has grapevines trained to grow along his rooftop, a tomato plant sprawling onto his patio and rosebushes he prunes himself.

The firing clobbered the Smothers Brothers, who spent years recovering their careers and, in many ways, their lives as well.

"It took three years to get my sense of humor back," he says. "I started taking everything seriously. I became the temporary poster boy for the First Amendment, freedom of speech. Twenty years later, there's Howard Stern."

Humor reclaimed

He and his brother went off separately, as Smothers struggled to find himself. "Everything was so serious," he says. "Then I saw Jane Fonda on the 'Tonight Show' one night talking about burning babies. I think Cesar Chavez was on the same show. It was like an epiphany for me - there was no joy, no sense of humor, no laughter. It just turned me around."

He leaves and returns with a calligraphic print he and his wife sent out some years before as a Christmas card. It is a quote from Alistair Cooke that reads:

"In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. So it would be a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly, that it put off enjoying those things for which we were designed in the first place: the opportunity to do good work, to enjoy friends, to fall in love, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby."

With a playwright's timing, his wife arrives, fresh from working out, a trim woman who hosts a radio talk show in Santa Rosa.

"OK, so she's 25 years younger," says Smothers. "If she dies, she dies."

"I didn't think that was funny the first time," says his wife.

In Tommy Smothers' life, everybody else is a straight man.

Reviews: The "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" final season DVD and a documentary on the show's censoring. E3

E-mail Joel Selvin at jselvin@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/DD5013G5AT.DTL

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Christian wives set up sex wesbite

A website called Christian Nymphos has been set up by a group of wives to encourage young women to embrace intimacy in their marriages.

The site dispenses advice on how couples can spice up their love life without breaking God's laws, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Suggestions for new sexual positions, scenarios and games are published alongside to links to Bible study websites.

"God wants us to be madly in love with our husbands," wrote the anonymous women behind the site. "He wants us to keep that fire burning in our marriage beds."

Of the website's provocative name, they add: "The word Nympho has a negative connotation for some. It doesn't have to stay this way."

Although the tone of discussion can be explicit - oral sex, orgasms and sex aides are frequently discussed - the moral message is still strong.

Sex outside of marriage is forbidden, masturbation is frowned upon, and erotica is only acceptable if the characters are married.

Christian Nymphos has had more than 800,000 visits since its launch last year.

"It's good to know that there are Godly women who are not ashamed of the blessing of marital sexual love," wrote one reader.

'No God' slogans for city's buses

The posters could run from January Bendy-buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could soon be running on the streets of London. The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins. The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord. It aims to have two sets of 30 buses carrying the signs for four weeks. The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well. The BHA is also considering extending the campaign to cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Professor Dawkins said: "Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride - automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children. This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion Professor Richard Dawkins "Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side. "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion." Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the BHA, said: "We see so many posters advertising salvation through Jesus or threatening us with eternal damnation, that I feel sure that a bus advert like this will be welcomed as a breath of fresh air. "If it raises a smile as well as making people think, so much the better." But Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice said: "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large. Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large Stephen Green of pressure group Christian Voice "I should be surprised if a quasi-religious advertising campaign like this did not attract graffiti. "People don't like being preached at. Sometimes it does them good, but they still don't like it." However the Methodist Church said it thanked Professor Dawkins for encouraging a "continued interest in God". Spirituality and discipleship officer Rev Jenny Ellis said: "This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life." She added: "Christianity is for people who aren't afraid to think about life and meaning." The buses with the slogans will run in Westminster from January.

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ALEC EMPIRE - ON FIRE

Gay history museum shows current debate is nothing new

Marriage issue made headlines even 50 years ago

By DAVID NG Los Angeles Times

Oct. 18, 2008, 6:16PM

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. — They read like dispatches from the controversy over Proposition 8, the current ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California.

"Homosexual Marriage?" asks one magazine headline in large white type. Another takes a more aggressive approach: "Let's Push Homophile Marriage," accompanied by an illustration of muscled men in amorous poses.

But a closer look at these magazine covers reveals something rather unexpected. They were published in 1953 and 1963, respectively — decades before same-sex marriage became a national lightning rod, let alone a rallying point for gay rights activists.

Copies of these yellowing periodicals are on display at the ONE Archives Gallery and Museum, a new space in West Hollywood that appears to be the first museum in Southern California solely dedicated to gay history.

The museum — really a micro-museum at 600 square feet — has set a macro goal for itself: to bring little-known aspects of gay history into the public sphere. The museum is an offshoot of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, which is affiliated with the University of Southern California.

The old magazine covers dedicated to gay marriage come from ONE magazine, the first gay publication in the country.

"They show that we've been having this fight for a very long time, longer than most people think," said Joseph Hawkins, president of ONE. "It was an act of defiance to publish stuff like that in the '50s and '60s. I'm surprised that alone didn't get the magazine shut down."

Hawkins, a professor of anthropology and gender studies at the University of Southern California, serves as curator of the museum. Because the archives are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the museum by extension cannot directly support political causes, including the effort to defeat Proposition 8.

"Let's just say we have to be extremely careful," Hawkins said.

The city of West Hollywood donated the space — a former storage garage — to the museum and is helping with some of the costs.

The rest of the funding comes from the ONE Archives.

Vatican plan to honour wartime Pope Pius XII would be 'severe blow to Catholic-Jewish relations'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:36 PM on 17th October 2008

Holocaust survivors say Pope Pius XII never openly denounced the Nazi slaughter of Jews

France's main Jewish organisation has warned that a Vatican plan to put wartime Pope Pius XII on the road to sainthood would deal a severe blow to Catholic-Jewish relations if completed.

Holocaust survivors felt "profound hurt" because Pius never openly denounced the Nazi slaughter of Jews and his failure to do so after the war was "profoundly shocking," the CRIF umbrella group of Jewish organisations said.

Its statement came a week after Pope Benedict defended the diplomatic approach Pius took as the best way to save the greatest number of Jews and said he hoped his beatification - the first step to sainthood - could proceed without problem.

'The plan to beatify Pius XII, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, would deal a severe blow to relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish world if it is carried out,' said CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions.

'Concerned about burning his bridges with Germany, Pope Pius XII never delivered a clear speech denouncing the singular monstrosity of the extermination of millions of Jews,' it said.

'Furthermore, he did not do it after the war either, which is profoundly shocking.'

The long-simmering dispute between Catholics and Jews, whose relations have otherwise improved greatly in recent decades, flared up last week when an Israeli rabbi told bishops meeting in Rome that Jews could not forgive and forget Pius's silence.

Founded as an underground aid network for Jews during the German occupation, CRIF is the public spokesman for the 600,000-strong French Jewish community, the largest in Europe.

Its statement was much stronger than a recent appeal by the United States-based Anti-Defamation League, whose National Director Abraham Foxman urged the Vatican to open its wartime archives fully before making any decision on Pius.

CRIF said Pius did help to hide "a certain number of Jews" in Rome during the German occupation and that "the magnificent role played individually by some clergy, notably in France, to save Jews" should not be underestimated.

But it argued that Pius should have played the role of a prophet denouncing Nazi crimes rather than a prudent diplomat.

CRIF criticised the Vatican for not publishing all its Holocaust-era archives and said most independent historians did not agree with the official Catholic position that Pius worked ceaselessly to save Jews.

'As long as no new documents indisputably change the historical view of this era - and none have yet been provided - Jewish survivors of the Shoah will suffer a profound hurt if the silence of the magisterium in the face of the genocide of the Jews is presented as model behaviour,' it said.

Pius's defenders, including some Jews, say the oppression of Jews would have been worse if he had openly condemned it.

They cite the rise in deportations of Dutch Jews to death camps after Catholic bishops there denounced Nazi policy in 1942.

'He often acted in a secret and silent way precisely because, given the real situations of that complex moment in history, he realised that only in this manner could the worst be avoided and greatest number of Jews be saved,' Benedict said at a Mass last week to mark the 50th anniversary of Pius's death.

The Vatican also says it has published most of the significant documents about Pius and keeps some closed to researchers only for organisational reasons.

November 2008 Atlantic

Since he could speak, Brandon, now 8, has insisted that he was meant to be a girl. This summer, his parents decided to let him grow up as one. His case, and a rising number of others like it, illuminates a heated scientific debate about the nature of gender—and raises troubling questions about whether the limits of child indulgence have stretched too far.

by Hanna Rosin

A Boy's Life

Brandon Simms at age 5 in a Disney princess costume
(Courtesy of the family)

VOTE!

Yes on 1A - Californians for High Speed Trains

Vote NO on Prop 4

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Obama '08

Lily, Mooch & Skloot

'A Time for Dogs...' Ranked Number One on Yahoo! Drama Poll

"A Time for Dogs and Wolves," a drama series which aired on MBC last year, has been chosen by Korean and Japanese internet users as the best drama series of the year. According to the organizing committee of the annual Seoul Drama Awards, the drama received 60.1% of the total votes cast from September 4 to October 5 on Yahoo! Korea and Yahoo! Japan. The recent poll was conducted solely online. A total of 16.8 million people cast their votes on Yahoo! Korea while 17.8 million people cast votes on Yahoo! Japan. However, as one person could cast votes more than once, the total number of votes is likely to be more than the actual number of people who took part in the poll. 2TV's "Hong Gil-dong, the Hero" took the second spot with 36.9% while MBC's "Coffee Prince" took the third spot with 2.0%. Actors that starred in "A Time for Dogs and Wolves" also topped the rankings. Lee Jun-ki and Nam Sang-mi shared the number one spot with 60.1% and 47.9%, respectively. Actor Kang Ji-hwan took the number two spot with 36.8% while Sung Yoo-ri took the number two spot in the female category with 39.1%.

New research reveals Edwardian doctors' prescription for the 'disease' of love sickness... sex

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:17 PM on 18th October 2008

In matters of love, the Edwardians were notoriously strait-laced.

But lovesickness, apparently, was another affair altogether.

This, according to recently uncovered documents from the era, was regarded as a serious medical illness.

And the cure for such a malady in those times of buttoned-up desire and repressed longing?

Randy Victorians recognised love sickness as a medical illness and were prescribed sex as a treatment

According to doctors back then, the best thing was an energetic session of lovemaking.

Dozens of previously unseen doctors' reports, diaries and prescriptions show how patients were treated in hospital for the 'disease' of lovesickness.

Symptoms listed included depression, inflammation of the body, excessive erotic desire, irrational thoughts and a loss of self-control, researchers from the University of Bristol found.

Remedies included potions, diets, mental exercises and listening to music.

In drastic cases, doctors performed bloodletting.

But the best remedy for lovesick patients was sex, according to Dr Lesel Dawson from the university, who led the research.

'Lovesickness was often quite a "class crossed" love when a rich person was in love with a servant or a poor girl but they weren't allowed to express that,' Dr Dawson said.

'Lovesickness was particularly prevalent when people were not allowed to express love which caused anger and frustration and then turned into a mental illness.

'When they visited doctors, love was represented as an infectious malady caught through the eyes which triggered an immediate physical reaction.

'Edwardians believed that the liver malfunctioned, the blood became corrupt, and the body deteriorated and a number of different methods were used to fight the effects.'

Anatomists from the time logged cases of burned and damaged hearts in patients who had died complaining of love sickness.

Many sayings such as 'burning with desire' and 'dying of a broken heart' are believed to originate from the period.

Other remedies of the time included examining the patient's astrological chart - and even travelling to 'free the mind'.

Many patients were prescribed music as a way to lift their spirits and 'expel the harmful vapours' which doctors believed intensified the disease.

' Lovesick individuals were encouraged to keep busy, to exercise and to confess their passion to a friend,' Dr Dawson said.

'But the best cure for lovesickness was thought to be sex - and doctors would often recommend this to the patient's family.'

Dr Dawson added: 'According to early modern writers, sex expelled energies which accumulated in the body and putrefied, releasing harmful vapours that could cause

Greece hails Lord Byron a hero and dedicates a day of celebration in his name

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:46 PM on 17th October 2008

Greece has dedicated a day of celebration to mark the anniversary of Lord Byron, depicted here in his costume as a Greek patriot

Greece has declared the anniversary of the death of Lord Byron, the British Romantic poet who fought in its 19th century war of independence, as a day of celebration to hail Greek culture.

Byron died of pneumonia fighting Ottoman rule on April 19, 1824, and a parliament statement said this day would now be marked by events to keep alive the memory of 'a man who believed deeply in democratic values and Hellenism.'

Byron was a celebrity during his own lifetime for his Romantic poetry and his support of revolutionary causes. He paid for the refitting of the Greek fleet and refunded part of the ragged revolutionary army after arriving in Greece in 1823.

He died a year later in Messolonghi in western Greece, where a cenotaph is said to contain his heart. His support for the Greek cause helped inspire young men from Britain, Italy and the United States to join the uprising.

Greece won its war of independence in 1832 following the intervention of the Great powers: Britain, France and Russia.

Though Byron enjoys hero status in Greece, he was shunned in Britain.

Westminster Abbey in London refused to bury his remains in its Poets' Corner because of his Bohemian lifestyle.

He was famously described by a contemporary as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'.

The other man on the podium

By Caroline Frost

Peter Norman wore a badge supporting the protest Enlarge Image

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a gloved Black Power salute on the Olympic podium in October 1968 it sent a shockwave through sport. But what happened to the other man on the platform?

Forty years ago, two black Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, won gold and bronze medals in the 200m final at the Mexico Olympics, and used their time on the victory podium to protest with a Black Power salute.

The photograph of the two men with their heads bowed, each of them with an arm raised in the air and a fist clothed in a black leather glove, is one of the most striking images of the 20th Century.

Their actions caused havoc at the Games, ensuring the pair were ejected from the US Olympic team. But three men won medals in that race, and the consequences for the third athlete on the podium would be every bit as significant.

The silver medallist was a laid-back Australian, an up-and-coming runner called Peter Norman who, in the words of his coach, "blossomed like a cactus" when he got to Mexico. While observers expected the Americans to make a clean sweep of the 200m medals, Norman kept them interested by breaking the world record in the heats.

BLACK POWER SALUTE Raised fist traditionally used as salute by left-wingers and radicals Origins of gesture's adoption unknown Fist symbols adopted by Black Panthers in the 1960s

An apprentice butcher from Melbourne, he had learned to run in a pair of borrowed spikes. More significantly, he had grown up in a Salvation Army family, with a set of simple but strong values instilled from an early age.

As his nephew Matt Norman, director of the new film, Salute, remembers: "The whole Norman family were brought up in the Salvos, so we knew we had to look after our fellow man, but that was about it."

In Mexico, that was enough for Norman, who felt compelled to join forces with his fellow athletes in their stand against racial inequality.

Norman was one of Australia's foremost athletes but was ostracised

The three were waiting for the victory ceremony when Norman discovered what was about to happen. It was Norman who, when John Carlos found he'd forgotten his black gloves, suggested the two runners shared Smith's pair, wearing one each on the podium.

And when, to the crowd's astonishment, they flung their fists in the air, the Australian joined the protest in his own way, wearing a badge from the Olympic Project for Human Rights that they had given him.

The repercussions for Norman were immediate. Seen as a trouble-maker who had lent a hand to those desecrators of the Olympic flag, he was ostracised by the Australian establishment. Despite qualifying 13 times over and being ranked fifth in the world, he was not sent to the following Munich games, where Australia had no sprinter for the first time in the Olympics. Norman retired soon afterwards without winning another title.

Sydney hope

Divorce and ill health all weighed down on him over the next few years. He suffered depression, drank heavily and grew addicted to painkillers after a lengthy hospital stay. During that time, he used his silver medal as a door-stop.

One of the things that kept him going was the hope that he would be welcomed and recognised at the Sydney Olympics. As his nephew puts it: "Then his life would have come full circle."

The US monument to the protest has an empty space

He was to be disappointed. In 2000, Peter Norman found himself the only Australian Olympian to be excluded from making a VIP lap of honour at the Games, despite his status as one of the best sprinters in the home country's history.

But the US athletics team were not going to ignore this omission. They invited Norman to stay at their own lodgings during the games, and welcomed him as one of their own. In an extraordinary turn of events, it was hurdling legend Ed Moses who greeted him at the door, and that year's 200m champion Michael Johnson who hugged him, saying: "You are my hero."

In 2004, Peter's nephew Matt started work on Salute, a documentary that, for the first time, brought all three athletes together in a room to tell their story of that day in Mexico.

Two years later, Peter had just seen the film for the first time and was about to embark on a publicity tour to the US when he had a heart attack and died. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, to whom he had always stayed close, travelled to Melbourne to act as pallbearers at his funeral, and remember their friend.

Empty place

"Peter didn't have to take that button [badge], Peter wasn't from the United States, Peter was not a black man, Peter didn't have to feel what I felt, but he was a man," says Carlos.

"He was that committed, and I didn't know that," adds Smith.

In 2004, a 23ft statue honouring Smith and Carlos was erected in San Jose State University. This huge replica shows each of them with their fists in the air, just as they stood four decades ago in Mexico.

Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at Norman's funeral

The place for the silver medallist is empty. It is where students and tourists stand to have their picture taken, when they want to take their place in sporting history.

In the film now being shown all over Australia, the absent athlete reflects on his legacy.

"I'm a firm believer that in a victory ceremony for the Olympics, there's three guys that stand up there, each one's been given about a square metre of God's earth to stand on, and what any one of the three choose to do with his little square metre at that stage is entirely up to him.

"If it hadn't been for that demonstration on that day, it would have just been another silver medal that Australia picked up along the line. No one would ever have heard of Peter Norman."

The film Salute is now on release in Australia, and being shown at various film festivals around the world.

Global crisis sends east Germans flocking to Marx

By Erik Kirschbaum Erik Kirschbaum – Thu Oct 16, 11:36 am ET

BERLIN (Reuters) – Two decades after the Berlin Wall fell, communism's founding father Karl Marx is back in vogue in eastern Germany -- thanks to the global financial crisis.

His 1867 critical analysis of capitalism, "Das Kapital," has risen from the publishing graveyard to become an improbable best-seller for academic publisher Karl-Dietz-Verlag.

"Everyone thought there would never ever again be any demand for 'Das Kapital'," managing director Joern Schuetrumpf told Reuters after selling 1,500 copies so far this year, triple the number sold in all of 2007 and a 100-fold increase since 1990.

"Even bankers and managers are now reading 'Das Kapital' to try to understand what they've been doing to us. Marx is definitely 'in' right now," Schuetrumpf said.

The revival of Marx's treatise reflects a broader rejection of capitalism by many in eastern Germany, a communist country until 1989 and now racked by high unemployment and poverty.

A month of intense financial turmoil has toppled banks in the United States and forced a series of government bailouts in Germany and elsewhere, reinforcing anti-capitalist sentiment.

Chancellor Angela Merkel -- herself an easterner -- unveiled a 500 billion euro (388.5 billion pound) financial rescue package this week, a move decried as a reward for irresponsible bankers.

A recent survey found 52 percent of eastern Germans believe the free market economy is "unsuitable" and 43 percent said they wanted socialism rather than capitalism, findings confirmed in interviews with dozens of ordinary easterners.

"We read about the 'horrors of capitalism' in school. They really got that right. Karl Marx was spot on," said Thomas Pivitt, a 46-year-old IT worker from east Berlin.

"I had a pretty good life before the Wall fell," he added. "No one worried about money because money didn't really matter. You had a job even if you didn't want one. The communist idea wasn't all that bad."

CAPITALISM EVEN WORSE

Unemployment in the former communist east is 14 percent, double western levels, and wages are significantly lower. Millions of jobs were lost after reunification. Many eastern factories were bought by western competitors and shut down.

"I thought communism was shit but capitalism is even worse," said Hermann Haibel, a 76-year old retired blacksmith, who was strolling near Alexanderplatz in the heart of old East Berlin.

"The free market is brutal. The capitalist wants to squeeze out more, more, more," he said.

Free market hopes were high in the east when Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised "flourishing landscapes."

But while some areas on the outskirts of Berlin, in Leipzig and along the Baltic shore are thriving, much of the rest suffers from depopulation and high unemployment.

The opposition Left party, which traces its roots to Erich Honecker's SED party, has capitalised on the frustration and become the east's most popular party with support of 30 percent.

"I don't think capitalism is the right system for us," said Monika Weber, a 46-year-old city clerk.

"The distribution of wealth is unfair. We're seeing that now. The little people like me are going to have to pay for this financial mess with higher taxes because of greedy bankers."

Like many other east Germans, Ralf Wulff said he was delighted about the fall of the Berlin Wall and to see capitalism replace communism. But the euphoria was ephemeral.

"It took just a few weeks to realise what the free market economy was all about," said Wulff. "It's rampant materialism and exploitation. Human beings get lost. We didn't have the material comforts but communism still had a lot going for it."

But not everyone condemned capitalism. Astrid Gerber was a master tailor in East Berlin before her company was shut down.

"It was my dream job," said Gerber, 42. She was unemployed for seven years, then opened up a newsstand but gave it up after her family disintegrated due to her 90-hour work week.

"Capitalism has its advantages but so does communism," she said. "I can't say one is better than the other."

Ugandans ban female circumcision

In some countries FGM is seen as a way to ensure virginity

A community in eastern Uganda has banned the deeply rooted practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), an official has said.

Kapchorwa district chairman Nelson Chelimo said it was "outmoded" and "not useful" for the community's women.

The Sabiny are the only group in Uganda that practises FGM, which involves cutting off a girl's clitoris.

Mr Chelimo said the council had submitted legislation to parliament for the ban to become law nationwide.

"The community decided that it was not useful, that women were not getting anything out of it, so the district council decided to establish an ordinance banning it," Mr Chelimo told AFP news agency.

He said there was a local belief that women who married without circumcision would be stricken by illness, but that this was "really outmoded".

FGM is seen in some countries as a way to ensure virginity and to make a woman marriageable.

In Africa, about three million girls are at risk of FGM each year, according to the UN.

UN agencies have called for a major reduction in the practice by 2015.

They say it leads to bleeding, shock, infections and a higher rate of death for new-born babies.

VOTE NO ON 8

On Columbus Day, correcting Columbus’ legacy

By Mark Anthony Rolo, October 13, 2008

On Monday, Oct. 13, schoolteachers across the nation should find the courage to speak the truth about the man who sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

Trying to explain to youngsters how this country came to be is surely no easy task.

How can you sugarcoat telling a fourth-grader that Columbus did not “discover” the “new" world — that he more accurately opened the door to conquering it?

How do you explain to a fifth-grader that the only measurable blood spilled in Columbus’ encounter was that of indigenous Caribbean islanders?

Can you even use the word “genocide” in a sixth-grade classroom?

There was a time in this country once when celebrating the feats of Columbus and his successors was less complicated. Only a generation ago, students did not learn the full extent of Columbus’ impact on the peoples who inhabited this continent.

But let’s set the historical record straight.

Hundreds of thousands of indigenous Taino Indians were raped, murdered, and forced into brutal slavery as a result of Columbus’ conquest. Much of the Taino population fell to new diseases such as smallpox. Extinction is all that remains of the Taino today.

Those who like to honor Columbus would have us believe that bringing up the darker side of the explorer is an attempt to blow the man’s memory off course.

But these facts of genocide and land theft are not part of a revisionist, false history. In his own words spelled, out in his personal diary, Columbus acknowledged his scheme to subjugate the Taino Indians: “I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as I pleased.”

Columbus’ men rounded up 1,500 people and selected 500 as slaves to be shipped off to Spain. Two hundred died en route. This did not deter Columbus, who, according to historian Howard Zinn, later wrote: “Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.”

Some defenders of Columbus fall back on the rationale that he was just a man of his time, with the prejudices that prevailed. But one of Columbus’ own contemporaries, Bartoleme de las Casas, a Spanish colonist turned priest, spent his last years trying to wash the indigenous blood from his hands by calling for an end to the slave trade.

This year many teachers may stress tolerance of opposing views as they try to bring a broader and more balanced view of Columbus’ legacy into the classroom. But a lesson plan on tolerance won’t do.

Putting an end to the hero worship of Columbus begins with telling the truth: Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 not to explore, but to conquer with domination, brutality and — yes — genocide.

Mark Anthony Rolo is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe in Wisconsin. He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.

Sydney brothel-goers lose a Touch of Class

Cheaper rivals force bordello out of business after 40 years of infamy

By Kathy Marks in Sydney
Thursday, 9 October 2008

AP

Kerry Packer once hired the venue so his polo-playing friends could enjoy some 'good, clean girls'

There is still a welcome mat outside A Touch of Class, and its website promises visitors "sumptuous earthly delights". But gentleman callers will be disappointed. After nearly 40 years of serving the local community, Sydney's most infamous brothel has shut up shop.

Politicians, judges and the late media magnate Kerry Packer were, reportedly, among those who frequented "Toucha", as it was fondly known. Mr Packer, Australia's richest man for nearly two decades, once hired the entire venue, it was rumoured, so that his polo-playing friends could enjoy themselves with "some good, clean girls".

Now the brothel, which operated out of three Victorian terraces in an unassuming residential street, is up for auction. The manager, Peter Lazaris, blamed competition from a rapidly proliferating number of cheaper establishments. He declined to comment on whether a raid by tax investigators had also played a role.

While the fixtures and fittings – including Roman fountains, crushed velvet furnishings and themed rooms complete with silk sheets and ensuite spa baths – are not included in the package, the bricks and mortar come replete with decades of colourful history.

A Touch of Class has been a Sydney landmark since 1972, but enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s, under the watchful eye of its most flamboyant madame, Zara Powell. Mrs Powell, a former convent girl, wrote a book about it, after leaving to found her own establishment, Zazzi's. But to the relief, no doubt, of many a pillar of society, she betrayed few secrets. The brothel prided itself on its discreet image; according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the adjoining terraces were known as the Three Wise Monkeys. For several years, there was a large truck parked permanently outside, ensuring that coming and goings were protected from prying eyes, including people sitting in a popular beer garden directly opposite. Rowdy drinkers, it was said, would heckle patrons on approach.

The truck collected a legendary number of parking tickets, and was replaced in the 1990s by a high wooden fence, which the local council declared illegal. In recent years, a dark green wrought-iron screen has shielded the premises. The brothel, located in a semi-gentrified neighbourhood near the city centre, was one of many local establishments – a search on Google lists 41 others within two miles.

But none had the same cachet, nor the same notoriety, nor the same knack of getting themselves into the papers. When someone was caught behaving badly, or using their company credit card to pay for services, it always seemed to be at "Toucha".

The brothel, which could fetch more than A$6m (£2.3m), also featured in a 2006 Australian film, Candy, starring the late Heath Ledger. The brothel was popular with visiting sailors, but had been open only intermittently of late, and missed out on what other establishments say was one of their busiest periods: World Youth Day in July, when thousands of Catholic pilgrims descended on Sydney for a week-long celebration.

Devo - Freedom of Choice

Class surprises lesbian teacher on wedding day

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 11, 2008

More...

A group of San Francisco first-graders took an unusual field trip to City Hall on Friday to toss rose petals on their just-married lesbian teacher - putting the public school children at the center of a fierce election battle over the fate of same-sex marriage.

The 18 Creative Arts Charter School students took a Muni bus and walked a block at noon to toss rose petals and blow bubbles on their just-married teacher Erin Carder and her wife Kerri McCoy, giggling and squealing as they mobbed their teacher with hugs.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, a friend of a friend, officiated.

A parent came up with the idea for the field trip - a surprise for the teacher on her wedding day.

"She's such a dedicated teacher," said the school's interim director Liz Jaroflow.

But there was a question of justifying the field trip academically. Jaroflow decided she could.

"It really is what we call a teachable moment," Jaroflow said, noting the historic significance of same-sex marriage and related civil rights issues. "I think I'm well within the parameters."

Nonetheless, the excursion offers Proposition 8 proponents fresh ammunition for their efforts to outlaw gay marriage in California, offering a real-life incident that echoes their recent television and radio ads.

"It's just utterly unreasonable that a public school field trip would be to a same-sex wedding," said Chip White, press secretary for the Yes on 8 campaign. "This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to have an understanding of its purpose."

The trip illustrates the message promoted by the campaign in recent days, namely that unless Prop. 8 passes on Nov. 4, children will learn about same-sex marriage in school.

"It shows that not only can it happen, but it has already happened," White said.

California Education Code permits school districts to offer comprehensive sex education, but if they do, they have to "teach respect for marriage and committed relationships."

Parents can excuse their child from all or part of the instruction.

On Friday, McCoy and Carder, both in white, held hands on Newsom's office balcony overlooking the rotunda and recited their vows.

"With this ring, I thee wed!" Carder said, shouting the last word for emphasis.

After traditional photos, the two walked out City Hall's main doors where the students were lined up down the steps with bags of pink rose petals and bottles of bubbles hanging from their necks. McCoy, a conferences services coordinator, was in on the surprise and beamed as the children swarmed around Carder.

The two said they have participated in the campaign against Proposition 8 and planned to travel around San Francisco on Friday afternoon in a motorized trolley car with "Just Married" and "Vote No on 8" banners.

The two met on a dance floor two years ago.

"This is one girl I can honestly say deserves happiness, and it came in the form of Kerri," said Carder's friend Dani Starelli.

Creative Arts administrators and parents acknowledged that the field trip might be controversial, but they didn't see the big deal. Same-sex marriage is legal, they noted.

"How many days in school are they going to remember?" asked parent Mark Lipsett. "This is a day they'll definitely remember."

Carder's students said they were happy to see their new teacher married.

"She's a really nice teacher. She's the best," said 6-year-old Chava Novogrodsky-Godt, wearing a "No on 8" button on her shirt. "I want her to have a good wedding."

Chava's mothers said they are getting married in two weeks.

The students' parents are planning to make a video with the children describing what marriage is to them.

Marriage, 6-year-old Nolan Alexander said Friday, is "people falling in love."

It means, he added, "You stay with someone the rest of your life."

As is the case with all field trips, parents had to give their permission and could choose to opt out of the trip. Two families did. Those children spent the duration of the 90-minute field trip back at school with another first-grade class, the interim director said.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's not controversial for me," Jaroflow said. "It's certainly an issue I would be willing to put my job on the line for."

E-mail Jill Tucker at jtucker@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/11/MNFG13F1VG.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Offended neighbors get Utah park statue moved

AP Photo: In this Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008 photo provided by the Edge of Cedar State Park...

By PAUL FOY, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 2, 6:02 PM ET

SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah state park moved an American Indian-inspired statue of a humpbacked flute player Thursday after objections that it was offensive because the male figure is anatomically correct.

Officials at Edge of the Cedars State Park moved the sticklike figure from in front of its museum to a spot behind it so it can't been seen from the street, park manager Teri Paul said.

The park, in Blanding, is the site of an ancient Pueblo Indian ruin, as well as the modern-day museum.

The sculpture is a modern interpretation of a Hopi symbol of a flute player. Made by artist Joe Pachak, it has welcomed visitors to the park for 19 years.

It raised objections only recently from a group of Blanding's more conservative residents, who were concerned that the figure has male anatomy, Paul said.

At first park officials were going to ban the figure from the park altogether. But another group of citizens complained of censorship.

"So, our solution — I believe we have served everyone the best we possibly can," Paul told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It's not right in the front of the museum on the street, where everyone can see it."

The statue depicts an image commonly found on rock panels in southern Utah, a man believed to be announcing the arrival of spring with a flute.

The flute player is a Hopi clan symbol that's often confused with the ancient fertility god Kokopelli. Tribal elders specifically asked the park to make the distinction clear to visitors, Paul said.

One of those who supported the move, Harold Lyman said he objected to the phallic symbol because it isn't always depicted in traditional rock art images of the flute player. Therefore, he told The Salt Lake Tribune, it's not an essential part of the image.

Susan Dexter was among those who favored leaving the sculpture in place.

"Give me a break. It's not like a massive erection like some of the ones you see on the panels. It's nothing like that," Dexter told the Tribune.

The work is among several pieces of Pachak's sculpture that grace the 17-acre heritage park. The artist didn't return a telephone message left Thursday by the AP at his home in Bluff.

___

On the Net:

Edge of the Cedars State Park: http://www.utah.com/stateparks/edge_of_cedars.htm