April 2003

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The Silos

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I left South Florida because of the Silos.

In the summer of '99, Walter Salas-Humara's band played a little club called Home in Davie (just west of Fort Lauderdale—and home to Vanilla Ice). The venue had only been open for a few months, but had quickly establshed itself as the most reliable space around town to catch live rock n' roll. Not exactly a heroic accomplishment: the music scene in South Florida sucks. The staples are Jimmy Buffett covers, arena shows, and B-level  blues bands. Most touring groups without the backing of corporate sponsors don't bother with the long journey down from Atlanta.

I'd been a Silos fan since hearing the band's 1987 release, Cuba. The Caribbean island from which the album gleans its name (and from which Salas-Humara's parents emigrated) is never mentioned, but the songs are suffused with meditations on home and place. Each track is a minimalist portrait of day-to-day domestic life: marriage, parenthood, love, loss. Granted this sounds about as rock n' roll as a Barney disc, but that's what made it exceptional. The music threads a path somewhere between X and Uncle Tupelo, with flourishes of strings and horns rearing up against screaming guitars.

The Home show was a sort-of homecoming for the band. Many of the group's early songs were first recorded in Fort Lauderdale and nearby Deerfield Beach. I expected a decent crowd would show up to catch the local kids made good.

There were roughly 10 people in attendance. I was the only one paying any attention to what was happening on stage. The rest of the crowd was gathered by the bar, or at the back of the room, conversing as if the music was coming from a jukebox. I don't remember much about the show, except that I left thoroughly depressed. About a month later Home closed. A few months after that I moved to Minnesota.

I caught the Silos again in December, 2000, at the 7^th Street Entry. It was one of the bitterest cold nights of the year and I'd taken the bus downtown by myself. Earlier in the evening Alejandro Escovedo had put on his standard dazzling performance in the main room. As midnight approached and the Silos took the stage, Escovedo could be seen drinking a beer in the back of the 7^th Street Entry.  

Walter Salas-Humara and his two cohorts were in fine form, ripping through their two-decade catalogue of songs to an enthusiastic crowd. Considerable alcohol intake prevents me from providing exact details. I loaned $20 to my colleague Pete Scholtes and spent my last five bucks on beer.

It was a brutally cold walk home, but worth the pain.

To quote John Doe and Exene Cervenka: "I wish that it would snow, or at least rain and hail, rain and hail, rain and hail in Fort Lauderdale."

Posted by Paul Demko at April 30, 2003 5:33 PM

 

But Where Does He Stand on Sodomizing Dead Fetuses?

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Signorile on Santorum:

But the creepiest bit in the article actually had nothing to do with gays or sodomy. It was this buried little factoid: "He and his wife, Karen, have seven children—including, as Santorum puts it, 'the one in Heaven.' Their fourth baby, Gabriel Michael, died in 1996, two hours after an emergency delivery in Karen Santorum's 20th week of pregnancy. The couple took Gabriel's body home to let their three other young children see and hold the baby before burying him..."

That's been reported before—it is in fact often repeated in the context of Santorum's crusade against abortion—but having this weirdness brought forth within the context of the guy's condemning other people's behavior is pretty jarring. I mean, how much more perverted can you get than walking around with a dead, five-month-old fetus and having your kids caress it?

Read the rest here.

(Please no hits from people searching for "sodomizing dead fetuses.")

Posted by Paul Demko at April 29, 2003 9:15 PM

 

Najaf Poets Thrash U.S. Marines, 7-0

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Pentagon refuses to confirm the defeat.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 29, 2003 7:18 PM

 

Give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, give a man a soccer ball ...

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The New York Times profiled the city's fledgling homeless soccer team on Saturday. The group is preparing for the Homeless Street Soccer World Championship that will take place in Graz, Austria this summer. Not your typical jock bio:

Jeff Rubin was a subway motorman whose life turned dark after a pretty young woman jumped in front of his train.

"I was pulling into the station and she was blowing kisses to me on the platform," he said, standing on the sidelines of the gym. "Then she jumped in front of the train."

That was his last day of work. He spent his savings traveling around the world for two years trying to forget the kiss-throwing woman. He has lost touch with his wife and his two children on Long Island and still wakes up screaming in a shelter on the Bowery. Playing on the team makes him think of his son, who he started on soccer.

"He must be 17 now," he said, staring off. "Maybe he still plays. If only I could bring him here with me."

Read the rest here. Thanks to Chairman Mose for the tip.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 28, 2003 7:15 PM

 

Levine and Turnipseed

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Judith Levine's controversial tome about teen sexuality, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex, published by the University of Minnesota Press, was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the general interest category on Saturday. The honor is remarkable given that one of the other finalists was Samantha Powers' Pulitzer Prize winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.

For those with short memories, Levine's book became a political lightning rod when it was published last year for daring to suggest that it's perfectly normal for teenagers to be having sex, that current statutory rape laws are absurd, and that abstinence-only education endangers kids.

Then-state-representative Tim Pawlenty made headlines by calling for an investigation of the University of Minnesota Press for publishing such heretical ideas--even though he hadn't read the book. For more on the controversy see my City Pages cover story.

Paperback Turnipseed

Penguin has purchased the paperback rights to Minneapolis author Joel Turnipseed's Gulf War memoir Baghdad Express. The tentative publication date is November. To read more about Turnipseed see my recent profile. Also worth checking out is Robert Wilonsky's piece on recent Gulf War books in the Dallas Observer. Turnipseed will be reading at Ruminator Books in St. Paul Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 28, 2003 2:11 PM

 

Jacob Cassady's Political Machine

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Not much to report from the St. Paul Ward 2 DFL convention. As expected, former city council president Dave Thune outpolled five other contenders to secure the party's blessing. Current Ward 2 city council member Chris Coleman is not running for re-election. At least two other DFL'ers will be competing in the primary anyway: Christine Nelson (who has the support of the chamber of commerce) and Donna Swanson.

Jacob Cassady, a 23-year-old legal investigator, secured just three votes on the second ballot and was dropped. In his concession speech Cassady counseled his supporters to vote for whomever they wanted: "So ma, you're on your own."

Posted by Paul Demko at April 26, 2003 5:37 PM

 

Bush Economy

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Monthly job growth rates since World War II:

Truman 1: 60,000 jobs gained per month
Truman 2: 113,000 jobs gained per month
Eisenhower 1: 58,000 jobs gained per month
Eisenhower 2: 15,000 jobs gained per month
Kennedy: 122,000 jobs gained per month
Johnson: 206,000 jobs gained per month
Nixon 1: 129,000 jobs gained per month
Nixon/Ford: 105,000 jobs gained per month
Carter: 218,000 jobs gained per month
Reagan 1: 109,000 jobs gained per month
Reagan 2: 224,000 jobs gained per month
G. Bush: 52,000 jobs gained per month
Clinton 1: 242,000 jobs gained per month
Clinton 2: 235,000 jobs gained per month
G.W. Bush: 69,000 jobs LOST per month

For more on these figures go here.

Cribbed from the Minnesota Labor listserv.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 26, 2003 11:07 AM

 

Pi Press Cartoonist's Farewell Memo

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Kirk Anderson was laid off earlier this month by the Pioneer Press after eight years as the paper's editorial cartoonist. Read his sad, angry, funny farewell letter here. A pertinent excerpt:

I hope seeing my rolling bloody head bobble down the stairs doesn't frighten anyone, I hope it just makes you cheesed off about the mess it leaves behind. I hope job cuts don't make anyone feel resigned to their fate and lucky merely to have a job; they should make us all fight harder for what we've got, and fight harder to build on it. Strong journalism doesn't come from frightened workers. Strong journalism comes from empowered employees who believe in themselves, in their mission, and who know that their company supports and cares about them and their mission too.

That passage doesn't really do Anderson's memo justice. I encourage you to read the entire missive. For more on his dismissal, and the ensuing outcry from editorial staff, see this Editor & Publisher story.

Why couldn't they fire Charley Walters?

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 10:35 PM

 

The King of Soul

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Swamp Dogg on Solomon Burke:

Solomon could sing "Three Blind Mice" and make you feel emotions for the mice being bulldozed from your ass and groin, while pushing them through your heart until your eyes unleash a monsoon upon your face. He's definitely a ten-handkerchief act!

From a Q & A in the Oxford American's excellent new music issue.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 9:07 PM

 

Naked Photos of Jessica Lynch

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Among the searches that have landed people at my blog in the last 24 hours: "Maureen Dowd nude," "physical therapists nude," "nude strikes," and not one but two queries for "Uday Hussein nude."

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 5:14 PM

 

Come Play With Me

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On the off chance that anybody is reading this blog, and on the further off chance that there are soccer enthusiasts reading this blog, I am organizing a pick-up game this Sunday, 3 p.m. at Fort Snelling. For directions go here. If it rains I won't be there.

(Image courtesy of Jessica Meihack)

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 2:29 PM

 

King Thong

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Police in Menomonie, Wisconsin arrested 22-year-old college student Anthony Scholfield on Sunday for breaking into a house shared by eight female co-eds. A search warrant executed at the suspect's home netted 854 pairs of thong underwear.

The Smoking Gun has the sad details.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 2:02 PM

 

Goal! Cesar!

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To watch Flamengo goalkeeper Julio Cesar score on himself (and knock out his own teammate in the process) during the Brazilian club championships go here.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 24, 2003 11:56 AM

 

Pioneer Press Sausage Making

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The Steven Howard Bailey trial that wrapped last week offered many bizarre--and disturbing--scenes. The 54-year-old St. Paul resident was charged with killing Maceo Frank Brodnax through asphyxiation during a sadomasochistic sexual encounter. (For my earlier post on this topic look here.)

There was prosecutor Margaret Galvin wielding a dildo roughly the size and circumference of a rolling pin. A videotape recording of the fatal final sexual tryst featuring an unconscious, gas-mask-clad Brodnax handcuffed to a bed. Color photos of the victim's grossly bloated, decaying corpse.

The scene that I found most excruciating to witness, however, was a seemingly innocuous taped conversation between Bailey and Pioneer Press cops and courts reporter Lisa Donovan. Soon after Bailey was arrested, he spoke with Donovan several times via phone from the Ramsey County jail. Two of these conversations were played in court. 

As evidenced by the recording, Bailey was a gregarious, even charming interviewee. The primary topic of discussion, naturally, was the inmate's predilection for sadomasochistic sex acts. Throughout most of the tape Donovan can hardly get a word in. 

But at one point the conversation turned to Bailey's (not very promising) future. "So what do you expect to find when you get out of ... jail, which you inevitably will?" Donovan asked. "I don't think that you go to jail for this kind of stuff." 

This kind of stuff. Let's think about that for a second. Bailey was charged with (or about to be charged with) third-degree murder. Surely we don't fill our prisons with people accused of such silly crimes.

As Janet Malcolm posited in her remarkable 1990 book The Journalist and the Murderer, all reporting is a kind of confidence game. Journalists are forever sucking up to sources and then putting the screws to them in print. Every reporter has to come up with their own moral yardstick for how far they are willing to take this con game. I think it's fair to say that Donovan went a wee bit over the line.

Unfortunately for Bailey, Donovan's reassurances didn't prove prescient. On Monday Judge George Stephenson delivered a mixed verdict. He found the defendant not guilty of third-degree murder, but convicted him on the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter. The recommended prison term for such an offense is four years. Bailey will be sentenced on June 22nd.

Perhaps Donovan should serve her own sentence: weekly visitations until Bailey is a free man.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 23, 2003 7:48 PM

 

Matt Taibbi is a Sick Fuck

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And also a very funny man. His weekly "Cage Match" column in New York Press is a refreshing blast of bile and vitriol. This week's dispatch can't be summarized.

Speaking of New York Press (where I once worked as a lowly intern, almost single-handedly destroying the 1994 "Summer Issue"), it's one of the few papers to run another of my favorite comic strips: Neil Swaab's "Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles."

My vision for the future: More Swaab, Less Rall.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 22, 2003 5:35 PM

 

Playing for Uday

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Saturday's Guardian featured a painful story chronicling Uday Hussein's stewardship of the Iraqi national soccer team. Players deemed to have performed poorly--or worse were ejected from a game--were routinely imprisoned, beaten with electrical cables, and tossed into vats of raw sewage. Uday kept a private torture scorecard during matches, detailing exactly how many post-game lashings a player was to receive. A choice passage:

A red card was particularly dangerous. Three years ago, Yasser Abdul Latif, a former captain, was accused of hitting the referee in a club match in Baghdad. He was taken to the Radwaniya prison camp, on the edges of the capital, and confined to a cell two metres square, with a tiny window high in the wall.

His head and eyebrows were shaved, and he was stripped to the waist. He was then ordered to perform press-ups for two hours. Three guards flogged him with lengths of electric cable, spelling off when their arms grew tired.

The torture continued, in two-hour sets with an hour's break in between, and the beatings grew more savage as Latif tired. The only relief, if it can be called that, came when he was led outdoors into the winter cold, and doused in freezing water.

Read the rest here.

Note to Flip and Gardy: this motivational technique apparently didn't work very well! Iraq has failed to qualify for the last four World Cup tournaments.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 22, 2003 11:58 AM

 

Channeling MoDo

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The Antic Muse has written a highly amusing cultural deconstruction of recent columns by the increasingly odious Maureen Dowd. Choice passage:

Speaking of cross promotions, a friend writes that it's only a matter of time before MoDo reaches for the Bashar Assad/Dubya parallel.

• Camera-friendly spoiled son fulfilling father's legacy? Yup.
  
• Mechanics of state jury-rigged to ensure his election? Naturally.
  
• Quite stupid? Yes-indeed-ee.

Read the rest here.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 21, 2003 1:26 PM

 

Yecke: Every Child Deserves an Equally Shitty Education

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I awoke this morning to the shrill, morally hectoring voice of state education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke on KSTP (AM 1500). For those who aren't avid talk-radio listeners, Yecke has become something of an omnipresent star on the conservative airwaves for her blunt talk and can-do attitude since taking office in January.

This morning she was admonishing Minnesota's education bureaucrats for yet another sin: not being more like their Southern counterparts in Mississippi, Alabama, and West Virginia. At one point morning show co-host Mark O'Connell said something along the lines of, "Isn't West Virginia really the model to look at here?" (Forgive me if this isn't an exact quote; I was just waking up.)

Now granted I gradually came to realize that the discussion was about disparities in standardized test scores between whites and minorities (primarily blacks and Hispanics), but let's look at a few quick facts here.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's national "report card," the average score for 4th and 8th grade students in Minnesota on math assessment tests taken between 1992 and 2000 was 235, or 9 points higher than the national average. Mississippi, Alabama, and the much ballyhooed West Virginia? All scored below the national average.

The disparities are similar on reading scores. In 1998, 36 percent of 4th and 8th grade students in Minnesota tested "proficient" on nationally standardized reading tests, compared to just 29 percent nationwide. In Mississippi, by comparison, a whopping 18 percent of its students were deemed proficient readers, while 24 percent hit this mark in Alabama. West Virginia met the national average at 29 percent.

The bright side: this looks like one educational goal that Minnesotans can meet! I bet within four years we'll be able to stand tall next to West Virginia with perfectly average test scores. (It may take a little more time to meet the lofty standards of Mississippi.)

The downside: this looks like an example of that "subtle bigotry of low expectations" that Yecke and President Bush like to discuss so much (with excruciatingly pained looks on their faces). Except this time it's bigotry directed at all of our children--white, black or other.

The Minnesota promise: an equally bad education for all students!

Posted by Paul Demko at April 21, 2003 8:47 AM

 

Whole Foods Hypocrisy

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Whole Foods Market presents itself as a progressive purveyor of organic and natural foods. The Austin, Texas-based retailer, which has 148 stores nationwide and annual sales of $2.7 billion, has repeatedly been named one of the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune magazine. "We believe in a virtuous circle entwining the food chain, human beings and Mother Earth: each is reliant upon the others through a beautiful and delicate symbiosis," reads the Whole Foods web site.

Lord knows what that means, but apparently that "virtuous circle" does not include organized labor. A fledgling nationwide drive to unionize employees at Whole Foods is encountering stiff resistance from the grocery chain.

In July, workers at its Madison, Wisconsin store voted to Join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1444. Whole Foods unsuccessfuly sought to have the election results overturned. Since then contract negotiations have gone nowhere.

Another union election was slated to take place this month in Falls Church, Virginia, but it was scuttled due to charges of illegal anti-union activities by the company. Among the allegations were that pro-union workers were fired and union representatives were assaulted and harassed. The election is on hold while the National Labor Relations Board investigates the charges.

UFCW Local 789 is now attempting to organize workers at Whole Foods' two Twin Cities outlets. On Saturday roughly two dozen union supporters held a rally outside the St. Paul store on Grand Avenue. The protesters waived signs that read "America Works Better When Workers Have A Voice" and "It Ain't Easy Being Green." Union supporters railed against Whole Foods for failing to pay a living wage (new hires make $7.50 an hour) and offering no job security to its employees. "We're gonna make this place do right by people before we're done," declared Peter Rachleff, a professor of labor history at Macalester College.

Brendan O'Sullivan, an employee at the Madison store, offered insight on how difficult organizing--and ultimately negotiating a labor contract--will be.  "We haven't agreed on a single word of contract language," he said of the Madison negotiations. "Whole Foods right now doesn't care about us at all, but they care about all of their stores." 

Union supporters in Madison have placed ads in several weekly newspapers across the country to rally support and encourage other stores to organize.

For more information on the union drive, go here.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 20, 2003 8:15 PM

 

That Smell

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If you end up in the hospital this weekend you might want to check the sheets before climbing into bed.

Employees of the Community Hospital Linen Service staged a one-day strike yesterday, shutting down the cleaning facility utilized by Twin Cities hospitals.

The labor stoppage was the latest in a series of rolling one-day strikes called by members of Service Employees International Union, Local 113. The union's labor contract with area hospitals expired in February and a new agreement has yet to be reached. Health-insurance premiums, which have skyrocketed in recent years, are the chief stumbling block. SEIU estimates that 44 percent of its 5900 members--which include physical therapists, cafeteria workers, and janitors--don't have coverage. To read my earlier article on the labor dispute go here.

Previous work stoppages have been staged at Fairview-Riverside and Mercy hospitals, and in the next two weeks employees at three other medical facilities will temporarily walk off the job. The strikes have so far failed to budge contract talks, however: no negotiating sessions have taken place this month.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 18, 2003 2:57 PM

 

Guarani Contracts Aggressor With Name of Rock Band

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Creedence Clearwater Couto, a 6-3, 185-pound forward, is making a name for himself with Brazilian soccer club Guarani. As best I can determine the 23-year-old has scored four goals in his last four games. Unfortunately I can't find any English-language links, but try this translated story.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 18, 2003 12:00 PM

 

The Maelstrom

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Neil Pollack reaps the spoils of war.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 17, 2003 5:34 PM

 

Suburbia

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Posted by Paul Demko at April 17, 2003 12:18 PM

 

U.S.A. v. Richard Lee Rubin

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The Pioneer Press reported today that Sherburne County Jail inmate Richard Lee Rubin has been charged with two counts of threatening President Bush after sending letters saying that he would kill him. Unfortunately the paper failed to provide any details on what exactly Rubin, who is being held on charges of bank robbery and probation violations, had written.

According to the federal indictment, on March 14, Rubin handed a letter to a correctional officer that was addressed to President Bush. It states in part: "I will be coming to Washington D.C. to kill you. You are a worthless excuse for a human being soon you will die so enjoy life while you can. Because soon I will kill you."

It's unclear if Rubin's missive was delivered to the President, but he felt compelled to communicate with the Commander in Chief again on April 3. This letter focused on a similar theme, but provided a greater level of detail regarding his intentions: "When I get out of here I will go get a gun go to Washington and blow president Bush's head off ... I will do America a favor and get out and blow Bush's head off."

It's not clear from the indictment whether Rubin's gripe with the President is personal or political.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 16, 2003 5:38 PM

 

Strippers of the World Unite!

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The Nation has an excellent piece by Marc Cooper in its most recent issue detailing the political awakening of Las Vegas strippers. Led by a former factory worker turned exotic dancer named Andrea Hacket, the strippers have mobilized in the wake of a new law regulating lap dances. (No more garter-belt tips!) The women are threatening to unionize. A few salient passages:

Before her sex-change operation in 1995, Hackett spent seventeen years working for Boeing in Seattle as a machinist and union activist. ... "I know I'm the only nude dancer in Vegas who went to Woodstock and who burned her draft card," she says. And for good measure, she adds, "I'm also a socialist."

Within days of the bill's passage, Hackett founded the Las Vegas Dancers Alliance, and by the end of the summer she had signed up nearly a thousand members. She now has "club reps"--sort of clandestine shop stewards--in about two-thirds of the dance establishments, and they are signing up about twenty-five new members a week. In addition to holding regular organizing meetings at the local library, Hackett's LVDA published a "Dancers Voter Guide" for the November 2002 election and conducted the first known voter-registration drive in history of nude and lap dancers. "We registered almost 500 new voters among the girls," she says proudly. ...

Hackett, meanwhile, has found fertile organizing territory among the dancers, who have also been feeling the economic pinch of the past two years. While in the salad days of the dot.com bubble a top dancer could count on maybe forty to fifty lap dances a night at $25 each, today she is lucky to do ten. "You might think that's a lot of money either way," says Hackett. "But we are exploited by everybody." Vegas's exotic dancers are treated as "independent contractors" by club owners, meaning not only are they not on the payroll, thus receiving no benefits or insurance, but they have to pay the owners as much as $70 a night just for the right to perform. Then there are payoffs to the bouncers, the deejays and sometimes even to the parking valets. And whatever money is generated by the dancers has to be split with the club owners, sometimes on a 50-50 basis.

Read the rest of the story here.

There is only one unionized strip club in the country, San Francisco's Lusty Lady Theater. Read a 1998 Mother Jones article about the organizing drive here.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 15, 2003 11:53 AM

 

Cigarettes Don't Kill People ...

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New York's ludicrous, two-week old smoking ban has claimed its first victim.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 14, 2003 4:53 PM

 

DFL Stalemate in Ward 1

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On Saturday afternoon, several hundred Ward 1 DFL'ers spent one of the first beautiful days of the spring huddled inside Central High School. The goal: to endorse a candidate in the upcoming election to replace St. Paul city council member Jerry Blakey. (For my preview of the convention in this week's City Pages go here.) After eight hours of speeches, motions, posturing, pleading, and--most of all--waiting, the delegates adjourned without endorsing any of the nine candidates. On the seventh, and final, ballot Bao Vang received 50 percent of the vote, while Vic Rosenthal garnered the support of 35 percent of the delegates—both far short of the 60 percent required to earn the party's backing. This stalemate means that there will be as many as eight DFL'ers competing in the September primary. (Kerri Allen, after receiving just 17 votes in the first round of balloting, dropped out of the race.)

A few thoughts to ponder as the contest moves forward:

1. What's the deal with Toumoua Lee?  At the start of the convention Lee announced that he was no longer seeking the party's endorsement. The real-estate agent and developer was not expected to be a significant player in the endorsement battle, but it was still a perplexing move. Lee is considered by many to be the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce's candidate of choice. Will Lee position himself as the moderate Democrat in the race, in the mold of St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly and (former-DFL'er) Senator Norm Coleman? With no candidate benefiting from the fiscal and human resources of the DFL, the Chamber could become a significant player.

2. Melvin Carter was the big loser at yesterday's convention. The retired St. Paul cop was thought by many to be a top contender to secure the endorsement. At the start of the convention, Vang and Carter sought to have the rules amended so that there would be an unlimited number of ballots (virtually ensuring an endorsement) but the measure failed. Given that Carter was being advised by Ed Gross (a veteran politico who has consulted on the campaigns of Paul Wellstone, Jay Benanav, and many others) there's no way he would have sought the rule change if he didn't think he had a strong shot at the endorsement. But Carter limped to third place in the first tally and never gained momentum. On the third ballot, he was one of three candidates to attract 14 percent of the vote--just shy of the 15 percent needed to stay alive. Instead of conceding defeat, however, Carter contested the legitimacy of a delegate and forced a revote. This hardball maneuver kept him in the hunt for one more round of voting, but also held up proceedings for more than an hour and clearly annoyed delegates. Carter was eliminated on the next ballot.

3. Have we seen the last of Jerry Blakey? More than likely. The three-term council member has said that he won't seek another term. Blakey was widely expected to garner a post in the Pawlenty administration, however, and didn't end up with a job. With the race in flux will Blakey reconsider? It might be irrelevant. After Blakey's switch to the Republican Party few believe he could win a fourth term in this heavily Democratic ward.

4. Hooray for no endorsement! The next five months will be fascinating. When I asked two astute political observers which candidates they thought would still be standing after the primary, they came up with four different names: Debbie Montgomery, Vang, Carter, and Rosenthal. In other words, there's no consensus favorite.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 13, 2003 6:24 PM

 

Maakies

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The greatest comic strip in the world can be found here.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 13, 2003 1:07 PM

 

Collateral Damage

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The redoubtable Bob Norman has penned a heartbreaking account of the execution of John Komyakevich, a Russian immigrant and Floridian who dared to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Here's how the piece opens:

As he watched the Iraq war on television, John Komyakevich had no idea he was about to become a casualty of the conflict.

The 33-year-old Russian immigrant sat inside Margarita's, a hole-in-the-wall neighborhood pub he managed on Federal Highway in Lake Worth. The clock was approaching 11 p.m. on Sunday, March 23, the fourth day of the war. With him in the narrow, dimly lit room were a couple of patrons and Walter Peretto, a soft-spoken, bespectacled bartender. Other than the CNN war coverage, which Komyakevich likened to a drug, everything seemed normal enough.

The trouble had already left the building. Ron Mellor, a 61-year-old former Marine, had walked out in a rage after an argument over the war with Komyakevich.

Read the rest of the story here.

This is the insanity that Chris Hedges was talking about.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 11, 2003 10:48 AM

 

War is Hell

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Chris Hedges was a full-time war correspondent for two decades (most recently for The New York Times), hopscotching from El Salvador to Sudan to Bosnia with little or no respite from the battlefield. He's been deported from Libya and Iran, held captive in Iraq, and shot at in more countries than he cares to remember.

In his recently published account of this two-decade journey into hell, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, Hedges writes of becoming a war junkie, addicted to the intoxicating sensuality and heady freedom that the battlefield sanctions. It's a devastating chronicle of the root causes, perilous attraction, and appalling human impact of war. The book is also a angry rebuke of this nation's current nationalistic frenzy (dressed up as patriotism) and the media's acquiescence in shielding the true horrors of conflict. For more on Hedges check out his 2001 Harpers dispatch from Gaza and this excellent Q & A.

Hedges was in town yesterday to speak at a war conference sponsored by Inver Hills Community College. As he spoke televisions all over the world were broadcasting images of the massive statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Baghdad and delirious Iraqis (all 200 or so of them) finally giving the American occupiers the welcome that they've been craving. Around urinals, bar stools, and water coolers, these events were widely hailed as the beginning of the end of the "liberation" of Iraq.

Hedges had a slightly different message for the roughly 600 people gathered in the auditorium. "I caution you, when you watch these images today, to remember that Iraqis, no matter their hatred of Saddam, do not want to be occupied by the United States," Hedges began sternly. He went on to point out that when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 (in an attempt to stem attacks by the Palestine Liberation Organization) their forces were initially received by cheering crowds, but that that radically changed in a short period of time. "Hezbollah is a creation of the Israeli invasion," Hedges argued.

The Harvard Divinity School graduate delivered a harrowing account of how extended exposure to war radically altered his own psyche. After five years of covering the war in El Salvador in the 1980s, upon leaving the country he savagely attacked a KLM airline employee at a ticket counter over some perceived slight. "War's sickness had become mine," he noted.

Hedges also offered a withering assessment of American arrogance as exhibited by the Bush Administration's foreign policy, specifically its callous indifference towards long-standing allies and international institutions. "One of the things that disturbs me so much about this conflict is the way we shredded NATO, and destroyed, or at least deeply damaged, the United Nations Security Council," Hedges lamented. "No matter how powerful we are we can not live alone."

Too bad this message wasn't broadcast on CNN.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 10, 2003 6:53 PM

 

Attention Kmart Shoppers

Filed under: Imported

Four days until the Midway Shopping Center Kmart closes its doors. There's not much merchandise left to pick through, leading to some strange bulk purchases. This morning I witnessed a woman buying an entire shopping cart worth of Miracle-Gro. The blue-haired lady directly behind her, who couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds, had her cart filled entirely with cans of some Slim Fast knock-off.

The only area that remains reasonably well stocked is the music section, with every CD marked down 50 percent. I spied some of my favorite albums of the last year: George Harrison's Brainwashed, the Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera, Tom Petty's The Last DJ, and at least 20 copies of Bruce Springsteen's The Rising. Each can be had for about $7.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 10, 2003 4:37 PM

 

RIP Tariq Ayyoub

Filed under: Imported

My former colleague Paul Belden wrote this remembrance of the al-Jazeera reporter who was killed by American troops. Interesting quote:

"Of course they meant to kill him - for Christ's sake, he was standing on the roof! Two bombs came in and blew it apart," said Serene Halasa, a former al-Jazeera correspondent whose first job in journalism was working under Tariq. "The lies they tell - they're insulting. Without honor."

Posted by Paul Demko at April 10, 2003 10:09 AM

 

Watch Out Andres Cantor

Filed under: Imported

If the NBA won't have me, this might be another possible career option. (Thanks to blog-free Burl Gilyard for pointing this out.)

Posted by Paul Demko at April 9, 2003 6:47 PM

 

He Did Star in a Movie Called "The Slave"

Filed under: Imported

Steve Reeves, the late bodybuilding icon and legendary B-movie Hercules, made a bizarre cameo at the trial of Steven Howard Bailey on Tuesday afternoon. A quick recap for those not familiar with the Ramsey County case. In November, Bailey was charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of Maceo Frank Brodnax, a California man who'd traveled to Minnesota for a weekend of sexual slavery and sadomasochistic pleasure after meeting Bailey on the Internet. According to the cops, Brodnax died of asphyxia and chloroform poisoning. For more grisly details on the case, go here and here

According to the testimony of St. Paul Police Sgt. Jane Laurence on Tuesday, Bailey told her that he first became aware of his sexual proclivities while watching "gladiator" movies as a 10-year-old boy. For reasons that I can't quite understand, this revelation led to a long semantic battle between the prosecution and the defense over whether Bailey was attracted to the "power" exhibited in such films or the "death."

Finally Judge George Stephenson got his own opportunity to tackle this key issue. (Because of the salacious nature of the purported crime, Bailey has waived his right to a jury trial.) "Are you familiar with Steve Reeves?" the judge inquired of Sgt. Laurence. "Are you familiar with any of the movies Mr. Reeves was in?" Sgt. Laurence, looking slightly confused, had to admit that she was not acquainted with the redoubtable actor and director. Judge Stephenson (apparently experiencing a childhood-flashback) went on to explain that when he was a boy these films were known as "strong-man movies" and that "most of the movies were Italian and dubbed in English."

This brief lesson in movie history completed, the judge then returned to the murder trial.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 9, 2003 5:05 PM

 

Attention Charley Walters

Filed under: Imported

I am declaring myself eligible for the NBA draft. If a mediocre 6-11 basketball player who can't rebound, play defense, or score inside is coveted by the NBA, then why not a 5-1 reporter whose last court experience was a stoner game of horse in early 2000?

Posted by Paul Demko at April 9, 2003 3:39 PM

 

Did the CIA Fuck Up the First Attempt to Kill Saddam?

Filed under: Imported

Interesting item from Gregg Easterbrook in The New Republic regarding the "decapitation" strike that kicked off Gulf War II. His main source is a story that ran in Aviation Week & Space Technology. Key passage:

According to Aviation Week, which normally provides faithful representation of the Pentagon view, the decapitation strike failed owing to a CIA screw-up. First, the CIA did not warn the Pentagon that it thought it would soon locate Saddam. Had the Air Force known this was possible, its tactical move would have been to place B2 "stealth" bombers in the sky above Baghdad, circling and waiting for target coordinates. ... Instead, Aviation Week asserted, the CIA did not tell the Pentagon until it was too late to place B2s--which must fly 2,000 miles to Iraq from the island of Diego Garcia--"on station" above Baghdad, waiting for orders.

Worse, Aviation Week claimed, once the CIA had its tip about Saddam, it waited three hours to present the information to the White House. Why the wait? Because the CIA wanted to have handsome briefing books it could hand to the president and his aides! By the time the briefing books were prepared and Bush said go, the information was already old.

In short, Easterbrook concludes, "This may be yet another monumental Agency foul-up." Read the full story here.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 8, 2003 6:51 PM

 

Johnny Cash Death Watch

Filed under: Imported

The fabulous Melissa Maerz has blogged about the Johnny Cash cover of Trent Reznor's "Hurt." As she notes, it's a wrenching glimpse of the Man in Black staring down his own mortality. For another chilling Cash vocal performance check out Rosanne Cash's gorgeous new album Rules of Travel. Her pop sings on the duet "September When it Comes"--basically a meditation on his own impending death. Listen here.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 7, 2003 9:22 PM

 

Where's Bill Hicks When We Need Him?

Filed under: Imported

The late, great comedian Bill Hicks delivered one of the best post-mortems on Gulf War I. Listening to him riff on the bloodlust that our first Iraq adventure inspired is hillarious--and unsettling. You can catch this monologue (and many others) at the excellent Sacred Cow web site. 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 7, 2003 8:16 PM

 

Minnesota Thunder MLS Bound?

Filed under: Imported

Major League Soccer, the seven-year-old professional league that is struggling to gain a toehold in the American marketplace, announced last week that it will add two new franchises in 2005. Among the eight cities mentioned as possible expansion candidates: Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Jim Froslid, general manager of the Minnesota Thunder, which currently plays in the A League, confirms that there have been discussions about the team joining MLS. "There's quiet momentum," he allows. "Nothing's really public at this time; there are people working on it."

The big problem--naturally--is that there's currently no stadium in the metro area suitable for a professional soccer team. (Sorry, but MLS is not going to place a team in Blaine, the Thunder's current home.) The prospect of finding the money for a new soccer stadium while the Twins and Vikings still have their hands out seems extremely remote.

Here's the part that makes this potentially more than idle speculation though. The top investor in MLS is Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, who owns six of the league's ten teams and is basically the sole reason that there still is a professional soccer league in this country. The president of Anschutz Entertainment Group is Tim Leiweke, whose brother just happens to be ... Tod Leiweke, president of the Minnesota Wild!

 

Posted by Paul Demko at April 7, 2003 3:00 PM

 

Attack of the Cat in the Hat

Filed under: Imported

Borders has reached a new low in its attempts to destroy the union at its Uptown bookstore.

A quick recap for those who have not followed this story. In August, 21 employees of the Borders store voted to join United Food and Commercial Worker Local 789 by an overwhelming margin. Read my story about the organizing drive here. Since then attempts to negotiate a contract have gone nowhere. Local 789 is now engaged in an all-out publicity war to try and pressure the retailing behemoth into making some concessions, such as paying employees a living wage of $9.33 an hour.

Enter Dr. Seuss. Last month, as part of this publicity campaign, roughly 50 union supporters showed up at the Borders store in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul for a read-in of a bastardized Dr. Seuss story entitled "The Organizer in the Cap." The manager of the Midway store unsuccessfully attempted to kick them out.

However, the company has discovered a new way to silence its employees and harass the union. Last week Local 789 received a cease and desist letter from an attorney representing Dr. Seuss Enterprises, charging the union with copyright and trademark infringement. Here's a snippet:

Seuss is expressing no opinion about your organization's efforts. UFCW Local 789, however, has not been authorized or licensed to use "The Cat in the Hat" to promote its campaign. ... This is a violation of Seuss' intellectual property rights.

For some reason I suspect that the folks at Borders' corporate headquarters may have helped instigate this legal threat.

To keep up to date on the Borders negotiations (both in Minneapolis and elsewhere) check out the excellent bordersunion.com.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 7, 2003 1:28 PM

 

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