Magdalena Emperatriz was kidnapped on May 31, 1982 during a counter-insurgency campaign carried out by the Salvadoran army. She was 15 days old. The campaign resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians and the destruction of dozens of towns and hamlets as well as the abduction and disappearance of 54 small children.

In 1995, when Magdalena was 13 years old, she was located in an orphanage in San Salvador. The late Dr. Robert Kirschner, former director of the International Forensic Program of Physicians for Human Rights, identified the girl through an analysis of her and the putative father’s DNA. The two were finally reunited.

Eye sockets roll down the red carpets,
Mute zombie pedestrians push traffic stand buttons,
Flags lay flat on the backs of young oafs' t-shirts,
DJs pump up the crowd with yankee doodle dandy whistles,
Fat mayors and Century 21 realtors give speeches,
It's a Victory Parade for America,
Only the lemonade tastes bad,
and, no one is...

Eighteen months from now, citizens will vote for president. If the 2004 campaign is anything like the last one, the election returns will mark the culmination of a depressing media spectacle.

For news watchers, the candidates and the coverage can be hard to take. Appearances on television are apt to become tedious, nauseating or worse. Campaign ads often push the limits of slick pandering. Journalists routinely seem fixated on "horseracing" the contest instead of reporting about the huge financial interests that candidates have served.

Media-driven campaigns now dominate every presidential race, badly skewed in favor of big money. And while millions of progressive-minded Americans are eager to have an impact on the political process, they often face what appears to be a choice between severe compromise and marginalization.

Remarkable transitions occur during presidential campaigns. People who are usually forthright can become evasive or even downright dishonest -- in public anyway -- when they declare themselves to be fervent supporters of a particular contender. Nuances and mixed assessments tend to go out the window.

The Historical Trekkers group will tour Dysart Woods this Saturday, May 3 with muskets and 18th century attire. They say that Dysart Woods is one of the extremely rare places where they can see a historic tract of the old growth forest that once covered 95 percent of Ohio.

They will arrive at the ancient forest between 10-10:30 a.m. this Saturday. Media are welcome to record the event. “With the current permit to mine directly under the ancient forest, this may be the last opportunity of its kind to tour a significant historic forest in Ohio, unless the permit can be stopped in the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources or in court,” said Dysart Defenders Coordinator Chad Kister.

“With only .004 percent of old growth left, this is an extremely important historic resource,” said Kister. “For the Ohio Valley Coal Company to request to mine under every acre of Dysart Woods is wrong and it needs to be challenged and stopped.”

The following is a statement from Thom "Swanny" Swan, Coordinator of Historical Trekkers:

Don't think the antiwar movement has dropped off the political map. A lot of those people, and there were millions of them, are thinking: Who should I vote for in 2004?

This brings us to the Democratic candidates vying for the honor of running against G. Bush in 2004. Senators Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, Bob Graham, John Kerry and Rep. Dick Gephardt all supported the war with varying degrees of enthusiasm

Firmly antiwar were one white, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and two blacks, the Rev. Al Sharpton and former U.S. Senator Carol Mosely Braun.

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, now vying with Kucinich for the support of the progressive crowd, stood by his position that any attack on Iraq should have the explicit blessing of the U.N. Security Council.

The logic of Dean's position is that if the U.N. Security Council had approved, war would have been justified. By contrast, Rep. Dennis Kucinich has always taken the position, as has Rev. Al Sharpton, that the U.N. inspectors should have been allowed to do their work. In