Happy Valentine's Day

My favorite Valentine's Day story.

This is good too.

Also Terrifying: Russia

This was some time ago, but I underestimated how long it takes me to pull together a damn blog post. Michael Specter spoke on Fresh Air & wrote an article for the New Yorker about the state of journalism in Russia (specifically, the fact that the Kremlin can kinda just order journalists murdered pretty much whenever.) Michael Spector: the heat on the streets.

Update on Iraqi Refugees

Regarding the NPR story I mentioned yesterday, CNN reports that Rice has approved talks with Damascus about Iraqi refugees and that the State Department has set up a task force to examine the issue. It's no secret that Iraqi citizens are being uprooted across the country -- death threats & forced emigration are common themes in reports on this war. Here's hoping for some meaningful developments on the humanitarian front...

On the radio, radio

I haven't worked myself up to Posting Thoughtfully yet, but a few things I've at least thought about posting are worth mentioning now:

Paul Rusesabagina, whose story was the basis for Hotel Rwanda, warns (on Worldview) that the situation in Rwanda today is not good. Note my limited vocabulary and beware that I might be hazy on the details -- I listened to this in the car & don't have a firm command on the events in Rwanda. Rusesabagina is concerned that when the genocide trials stop being handled by the ICC and move back to Rwanda, there will barely be the pretense of fairness. He also has no faith in Rwandan president Paul Kagame, who was portrayed as a folk hero in Gourevitch's book on the genocide. In fact, he accuses Kagame of inciting war with the Congo by killing Rwandan refugees there (again, see disclaimer -- I know nothing about this). (Side note: Rusesabagina does NOT seem to be a Gourevitch fan). While I'm not surprised that the tensions between Hutus & Tutsis are not being neatly sorted out, this interview still startled me a little. I've read enough to know that it's not unusual for multiple stories & accusations to cluster around a horrible event like this, but it wasn't until I heard Rusesabagina call out Kagame that I saw how easily I framed this story into good guys and bad guys. In ways that I can't articulate, I think that instinct really muddles things.

Anyway, it's worth a listen. Also...I might be growing increasingly fond of Jerome McDonald. I'm starting to love the fact that he just can't properly pronounce anything foreign, so strong is his nasal Midwestern accent, and yet he soldiers on, unfazed.

Also, Catrin Einhorn has an enraging, heartbreaking story about an Iraqi woman who was forced to move to Syria with her daughter after her husband was murdered (in front of her) for giving information to American troops. Her sister & brother-in-law live in the Chicago suburbs and are desperately trying to get the US to allow her legal entry into the country. I know this is a Chicago Public Radio heavy post & I definitely know that the station has made a lot of dick moves lately, so I don't mean to be a cheerleader when I point out that Catrin Einhorn is one reason to subscribe/reconsider not subscribing. Radio reporting seems like a highly specific field, and public radio reporting seems to be really tightly controlled (there's a very recognizable form & pacing to the whole endeavor). Catrin's stories, to me at least, seem to have a rare personal touch. She seems to know her craft and get deeply invested in the stories she tells. And this most recent one is just a hell of a godawful story.

Raise a Glass to Fewer Hangovers

I was able to install flash on my computer at work, so I don't have to wait until I go home to check out all those YouTube forwards anymore. In honor of this and other nascent lifestyle-realignment-type resolutions (No more YouTube at home! No more than 4 beers in a night! No more than 4 Freecell games in a row! Etc, etc, etc), I thought I'd both kill and revive the old website. We'll see how I do in the follow-through department. For now, I hope there's more to come.