October 2005

G. Gordon Liddy has been indicted.
No, wait – I meant Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Just a little time
warp, from a third-rate burglary in 1972 to a third-rate perjury in 2004. The
big fish are still hiding in the muck at the bottom of the reflecting pool,
and the White House is spinning like a top, as a car bomb kills 25 near a mosque
and market in Howaider, Iraq, and eight more U.S. soldiers are killed in Iraq,
and three bombs kill more than 50 people in Delhi, India. Does anyone remember
this song?

They’re rioting in Africa
They’re starving in Spain
There’s hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
AND I DON’T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH!!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off
AND WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN AWAY!!
They’re rioting in Africa
There’s strife in Iran
What nature doesn’t so to us
Will be done by our fellow "man"

There must be hope – this song was written in 1953 and recorded by the
Kingston Trio in 1959. About fifty years later, the world is still here. And
so are we.

Thursday, October 27, 2005.

Yes. I did it. I signed up for NaNoWriMo,
the National Novel Writing Month. For past six years, crazy people hav signed
up for NaNoWriMo, agreeing to write 50,000
words, the equivalent of a 175-page novel, in one month. When Molly talked about
doing it, it sounded interesting. And I really want to do more writing. So …
by the end of the month, I may have a second novel written! Wish me luck.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Last week I wrote about the abduction
of Orlando Valencia, an Afro-Colombian activist by rightwing paramilitary forces.
Orlando was found murderd yesterday. His wife, the mother of his seven children,
identified his body today. Orlando should have been in the United States
last weekend, speaking at a conference in Chicago, and then meeting with Congressional
representatives. But the U.S. State Department refused to give him a visa. For
an article that tells the story context, see Kari Lyderson’s "An
Activist Left Behind."

Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Days
of the Dead I
am writing this column on October 25, on the third anniversary of the death
of Paul and Sheila Wellstone, and on a day that also marks the death of 2000
U.S. soldiers in Iraq. …

Días
de los Muertos Escribo
esta columna el 25 de octubre, en el tercer aniversario de la muerte de Paul
y Sheila Wellstone, y en el día que marca el fallecimiento de 2,000 soldados
estadounidenses en Irak. …

Monday, October 24, 2005
By the numbers
The clearly hand-made sign hung crookedly above the freeway, black lettering
on cardboard asking, "Why 2K?" In less than a mile, it registered—we
are approaching the day that U.S. military deaths in the oil war in Iraq will
pass the 2,000 mark.

Gas prices fell last week all across
the nation, according to the morning news. The sign on Lake Street promised
gas for only $2.29 per gallon this afternoon. I wonder whether I should fill
the tank today, or take a chance on even lower prices by Wednesday or Thursday.
Got to keep up with the numbers.

The radio reported more deaths, at
least 20 people killed in suicide bombings at the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad.
Just civilians, though. They don’t count. Nor do hungry children or homeless
families. Only soldiers count in the oil war, and only U.S. soldiers at that.
Almost two thousand, and counting.

Saturday, October 22
Citizen Journalism

Doug McGill, formerly of the New York Times and Bloomberg News, has this crazy
idea that local stories have global dimensions, that global stories can be identified
and told by starting next-door or down the street, and that citizens can and
must contribute to journalism in our time. On Saturday, he talked about the
sea change in journalism made by the appearance of cell phones and the internet.
He listened as participants recounted stories they want to tell.

– When you grow up with medical insurance and suddenly find yourself without
insurance, sick, and dependent on the services of a public clinic, you begin
to realize what life is like for increasing numbers of uninsured families. And
you have plenty of time to think, as you wait for hours to see a doctor.

– Why do U.S. customs officials have to act so menacing to permanent residents
returning from a trip abroad? And if Europeans, resident in the United States
for decades, experience such hostility, what must it be like for Moslems?

– The white car speeding past on I94 carried a bumper sticker saying "Burn
the Koran, Love Jesus." What is it like to be a Muslim living in Minnesota
today?

With luck, some of the participants will come back next week with paragraphs
on paper, or questions about writing a lead or starting an interview or finding
a source. Some of them, like participants in the August workshop, will see their
stories published. If you are interested, go to:
Citizen Journalism Workshops

Twin Cities Daily Planet
Doug McGill’s Localman page

Friday, October 21
Neither
Peace nor Demobilization

The Colombian authorities say that
there is an accord between the government and the paramilitaries. They say that
the paramilitaries are now in the process of demobilization. But for Orlando
Valencia, an Afro-Colombian activist of the Community Council of Curvaradó,
there is no peace.

According to the International Commission
for Justice and Peace, Orlando Valencia was detained and disappeared on October
15. …

10/15/05
Disaster
Response

Disaster piles upon disaster this
year. First the tsunami, which we’ve almost forgotten. The one, two, three
punch of hurricanes Katrina (New Orleans), Rita (Houston), and Stan (Guatemala,
El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras). And in between the hurricanes, the
horror of Pakistan’s earthquake.

Mind-numbing numbers march across
television screens …