Friday, May 23, 2008

All Things Considered does R!ecreate68

Not much new from NPR Denver reporter Jeff Brady, but a few good nuggets. For one, Brady says "the city's head of security for the convention says he's talking to the group and is relatively comfortable all will go smoothly." But wasn't Glenn Spagnuolo claiming just a couple of days ago that the city had cut off communications? Yes, he was. Odd. Maybe the new guy renewed contact.

Brady: "[R!68 cofounder Barbara] Cohen says the group is operating on a tight budget. It has about $1500" (ten of that is mine; if this thing fizzles I want it back). The tightness of the budget raises a frightening possibilty. Cohen:
In case we have to get our own port-a-potties, we will be having an adopt-a-port-a-potty campaign, where for $120 you can pay for a port-a-potty and that will give you the right to decorate it . . .
Is she serious? They're expecting 50,000 people and they don't know who's paying for the port-a-potties? What if they don't get adopters? Will the city have to pony up, or are we looking at 50,000 people and three (nicely decorated) port-a-potties in Civic Center park?

Along with some fun sounds from 1968 like William F. Buckley threatening to push Gore Vidal's face in if Vidal doesn't stop calling him a "crypto-nazi," Brady digs up a couple of original 68ers for quotes. Tom Hayden says the potential for violence in Denver is less because likely nominee Barack Obama opposes the war. Fellow 68er Bobby Seale says he won't be marching; he had a heart attack a few years ago and has a defibrillator. Seale's son, Brady says, is an army reservist on his way to Iraq in June. What a country. Happy Memorial Day!

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