Nov. 23, 2003 - 14:57 PST

THE WONDERING JEW

Heck Of A World

It is strange, I think, that little progress has been made in this world lately when opportunities to do such have been so great.

Reading an article in the Eugene, Oregon "The Register Guard" today by David Shaw of the Los Angeles Times. He tells about newspapers in the Ukraine and mentions, "Since 2000, 13 journalists have been killed in just one of those republics -- Russia. "Reporters Without Borders calls the country the most dangerous in Europe for journalists. Since 1995, six men who owned or ran news media have been killed in one Russian city -- Togliatti -- which as The New York Times reported recently, is now knoown as, "The City Of Dead Reporters."

Mr. Shaw tells about, "Tatyana Goryachova, editor in chief of the weekly newspaper Berdyansk Delovoy, in the Ukranian port city of Berdyansk, was walking home from work one night last year when she decided to quicken her pace to get out of the winter cold and into her home, then just 100 yards down Gorbenko Street. She tried to squeeze past a man walking slowly in front of her on the narrow, darkened sidewalk. He didn't make way for her. Instead, he suddenly flung a jarful of hydrochloric acid over his shoulder, into her face."

Mr. Shaw related that she was blind for two months and has sight now because of surgery to her right eye financed by an American benefactor who was recruited by an American reporter. Gradually she regained sight in her left eye. But that is not all.

Mr. Shaw tells us, "Anonymous callers have threatened to kill her and harm her mother and her 4-year old daughter, and 11 days before she was attacked by the acid-thrower , her husband Sergey Belousov, the publisher of Berdansk Delovoy, was driving his car when it suddenlly swerved out of control and crashed into a tree. Doctors treated him for a concussion. Mechanics examined the car and found that someone had tampered with the steering mechanism. Goryachova is not surprised that no arrests have been made, either in the attack on her or in her husband's automobile "accident."

Mr. Shaw goes on to tell of the other things being done to the couple who are brave enough to tell the truth. He reports that the local authorities are trying to shut down her newspaper. "She says they've pressured her advertisers, used their influence to have her printing bill tripled and repeatedly sent fire, safety and tax inspectors to her offices looking for "phony" violations." Mr. Shaw goes on, "She'd just heard from her husband that the local postal service, which has a monopoly on the delivery of periodicals, had issued an ultimatum. "They already charge us more than they charge the government-controlled media, and they gave us a week to pay even more or they won't deliver the paper," she said. Mrs. Goryachova says she gate the post office the $2,000 she won as part of her Courage In Journalism award.

She has received some help already. Thanks to Hal Foster, a former Los Angeles Times staffer the Omaha World-Herald has agreed to donate one of its old presses and to train her husband to opeprate it. (Foster was also responsible for finding the man who financed Goryachova's eye surgery in Dallas.)

There is more to Mr. Shaw's article, "I felt an intense burning right away . . . the pain was excruciating," she told Mr. Shaw over breakfast with him a couple of weeks ago when she was in Los Angeles to accept a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.

Her offenses ? She writes about bribery, fraud and other offenses by the biggies in government in her area.

Another headline for an article by Nicholas Kristof in the same paper saying, "No simple way out of this nameless war." One could write a book about that I think, and I think he tells it true. I see no simple nor easy way to end this thing in Iraq. "Operation Iraqi Freedom," has such a stale, phony sound to me any more. And I am doubtful about us coming out of it with honor intact.

Reading on, An article by Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times "FBI memo details scrutiny of anti-war protesters."

In the article is the following, "FBI officials said in interviews that the intelligence gathering effort was aimed at identifying anarchists and "extremist elements" plotting violence, not at monitoring the political speech of law-abiding protesters."

"The initiative has won the support of some local police, who view it as a critical way to maintain order at large scale demonstrations. Indeed, some law enforcement officials said they believed the FBI's approach had helped to ensure that nationwide anti-war demonstrations in recent months. drawing hundreds of thousands of protesters, remained largely free of violence and disruption."

The article is about a half page long and is quite detailed. Mentioned is the fear that the monitoring program could signal a return to the 1960's and 70's when FBI agents spied on political protestors such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He quotes, "The FBI is dangerously targeting Americans who are engaged in nothing more than lawful protest and dissent," Anthony Romero, executive directgor of the American Civil Liberties Union.'

Then if The American Civil Liberties Union is discredited in some eyes Mr Lichtblau continues, "Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law pprofessor at American University who has written about FBI history, said collecting intelligence at demonstations was probably legal. But, he added, as a matter of principle, it has a very serious chilling effect on peaceful demonstation. If you go around telling people, 'We're going to ferret out information on demonstrations,' that deters people. People don't want their names and pictures in FBI files.

Mr. Lichtblau mentions the abuses by the FBI with the Cointelpro program against people Hoover considered enemies. Which later caused restrictions on the activities of the FBI. Then Mr. Lichtblau mentions, "Those restrictions were relaxed significantly last year when Attorney General John Ashcroft issued guidelines giving FBI agents authority to attend political rallies, mosques and any event that is open to the public"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reminds me of our Denver police spy files which apparently in one form or another are still in possession of someone in the department, although some of the people on their list have been allowed to see what is written about them. But apparently the files have not been discarded. Recently the Denver cops were taking down license plate numbers of cars parked around places where a private meeting was being held. Later on the Denver Police have been accused of feeding information to the FBI of a similar nature. Jeepers, I had some reservations in filling out the application for a security clearance back in the 60's when I was chosen to go to Viet Nam to do work my company had contracted to do for the government. At that time I could remember every job I ever worked , every address of my residences, dates and all. I was told that people would be checking on me to make sure what I said was truthful. I wondered if they would contact some of the Nosey Parkers in the neighborhoods where we once had lived. In my case I guess I was luckier than folks whose life was messed up by maladroit government investigators. I don't think we will be attending any public meetings in the future, I would be too busy trying to figure out who the FBI guy could be. I know he wouldn't announce, "Hi, I'm an FB Agent to peacefully attend your meeting. I definitely would not be a speaker at a meeting either. Makes me wonder if there are still video-cams on telephone poles in the streets of some towns so that they can spot criminals on the street, Smile folks, you could be on Candid Video-cam. Makes me wonder too, what information is on the magnatized strip on the back of my drivers license ? On my check card ? Are we, any of us, as a company or private individual still subject to having our personal belongings searched, our business records and other private things searched secretly and those who know are not allowed to tell me ?

Makes me sad that things have come to this state here in our country, so paranoid we have been made that we allow things like this to happen. My opinion anyway, we are better off than other countries, but for how long ? Thinking it over, its a Heck Of A World . . . . . . . . .

Blog