TV news coverage was pretty sparse for last night's candlelight march and vigil in Seattle, which is disappointing but not surprising. The emphasis of the local 11:00 news was on a rather brutal murder and the subsequent capture of six suspects—"if it bleeds, it leads." They gave the peace march about three minutes, showing the inside of the First Methodist Church (wall to wall people), a shot of the streets (wall to wall people stretching for many blocks) and very brief interviews with a couple of marchers. They estimated "a few thousand people."

". . . and now for the latest in sports. . . ."

The newspapers did a bit better, though. Here are the stories in the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.   

There was a march and demonstration last Sunday, from Volunteer Park (a couple blocks north of where I live) to the Westlake Center in downtown Seattle. About 5,000 people gathered that time. Things are just getting tuned up around here. This run-down in The Seattle Weekly from a week or so ago gives a fair notion of a few of the activities coming up.

One of my senators, Patty Murray, delivered a very strong speech during the Senatorial debates last night. She laid it out there point by point, and didn't mince any words. The Congressional Representative from my district, Jim McDermott, has also been very outspoken, engendering the irritation of the Bush Administration a couple of times by having the audacity to go and see for himself, then speaking his mind. I'm still waiting to see what my other senator, Maria Cantwell, is going to do.

I'm pretty proud of Patty Murray and Jim McDemott. Hey! That sounds like a great ticket for 2004!!

Don Firth