Metro
Justice Organizer Jon Greenbaum is irked by what he sees when he
glances at the headlines of his local daily newspaper. He’s also irked by what
he doesn’t see: an investigation into voting irregularities during the 2004
presidential election.

On
the eve of a planned march on the Democrat
and Chronicle offices to protest the paper’s scant coverage of the
issue, Greenbaum finds a bittersweet irony in the recent play the allegedly
flawed election in Ukraine is receiving in many media outlets.

“If
it is front page news in Ukraine then somebody tell me why that criteria does
not relate to the United States, when we’ve got the same problem,” he asks.

Greenbaum
blames what he views as “the basic nature of the ‘he-said’ journalism prevalent
right now in corporate journalism” for a lack of critical questioning about
allegations of voter fraud, discrepancies between exit polls and final results,
and persistent difficulties experienced by minorities trying to vote in many
states.

“These
are all red flags. So the stories should be investigations,” Greenbaum says.
“The front-page news should be ‘Wow, there’s something here we need to look
at.'”

Some
in Congress agree. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter is one of several in Congress
who’ve called on the General Accounting Office to investigate “the efficacy of
voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election,” and how the
system can be improved.

Greenbaum
acknowledges the small groups of activists Metro Justice expects to turn out
won’t rival the millions thronging the streets of Kiev. But that doesn’t dampen
his spirits. Greenbaum thinks the protest has made a difference even before it
goes forward. Democrat and Chronicle Managing Editor Jane Sutter called to meet with Metro Justice, he says.

“If
we hadn’t called the demonstration do you think they’d want a meeting with us?”
Greenbaum asks.

The
protest gets under way at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at the Hall of Justice on Exchange
Boulevard.

Oh,
Canada!

As
this week’s edition of City Newspaper goes to press, President Bush is making his first-ever visit to Canada as president.

The
trip to Ottawa comes after four years that have been filled with strains
between the two nations, who share the world’s longest unprotected border.
Cross-border trade tops a list of possible items on the agenda when Bush meets
his counterpart, Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. Relations have been
damaged by cases of “mad cow disease” on both sides of the border and high
tariffs levied by the US on Canadian softwood lumber imports. Beef and lumber
are two of Canada’s main exports and the US is Canada’s number-one trading
partner.

Other
items could include Great Lakes water (see “Great Lakes, cold feet,” page 8), a
continental missile defense system, Canada’s role in Iraq and the War on
Terror, and oil prospecting in Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge (which borders
Canada’s Yukon Territory).

Bush
is likely to get a lukewarm reception from our neighbors to the North;
Toronto’s Globe and Mail, citing
unnamed sources, wrote that plans for Bush to address a joint session of
Parliament were scrapped for fear of hecklers from the majority Liberal Party.
And thousands of protesters will be on hand in Ottawa and Halifax to speak out
against Bush Administration policies.

This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2004.