The Minnesota State Fair opens later this week and the NARN will be broadcasting live from the Fair on Saturday AND Sunday from 12pm-3pm. Here's the lineup for both days:
Saturday August 27th
First Hour: Week in review and St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly
Second Hour: Mark Stutrud, founder of Summit Brewing, a great local craft brewery
Third Hour: Live coverage of the State Fair Parade and Scotch Egg eating contest
Sunday August 28th
First Hour: TBD
Second Hour: TBD
Third Hour: Live parade coverage and James Lileks
We're talking with Brian Maloney, about the investigation he and Michelle Malkin are carrying out on Air America.
Plenty of guests on our next broadcast.
Currently, we have scheduled war correspondent Michael Yon - who's doing some of the best war journalism so far in the Iraq war.
Then, we'll be talking with representatives from the Center for Parental Responsibility, a group working to change Minnesota's archaic, discriminatory family court, divorce and child support system.
Join us!
We'll be at White Bear Lake Superstore again today.
It's a beautiful day to buy a car! Come on out!
For those who listened to the show today and want to see more from him, here are:
--his book at Amazon;
--his blog;
--the NY Times article that was published just before his abduction and murder;
--Kathryn Jean Lopez' retrospective in NRO; and
--a site for donations in his memory.
Thanks for listening today.
During yesterday's newscasts on AM1280 The Patriot, Tony Verkinnes said that the NARN was going to be at White Bear Lake Superstore today, Saturday, August 6.
We will, in fact, be at the superstore next Saturday, August 13.
I have dug out our interview of Steven Vincent from 23 April 2005, which according to the interview was two days before he left to Iraq and Basra. In light of the tragedy of Steven's murder, I found listening to it again poignant.
Please download the file before playing it, as this is hosted on my private site currently and probably not up for massive bandwidth use. It is a rather large file (18:24, 16.8 mb), but I wanted to keep the sound quality. The file has been reduced to 5.4mb. We'll move it to a better server when we find one.
Cross-posted with additional notes at Scholars.
The BBC reports this morning that author and blogger Steven Vincent was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists near Basra. His female Iraqi translator survived the kidnapping, but the terrorists dumped Vincent's bullet-ridden body outside of the city within hours of his kidnapping:
The pair were kidnapped by five gunmen in a police car as they left a currency exchange shop, Lt Col Karim al-Zaidi said."Both were later shot, but Vincent was killed, while the girl [translator] is alive," said Mr Zaidi.
Mr Vincent was shot several times in the head and body, said Mr Zaidi. The translator, Nour Weidi, was seriously wounded.
This death hits closer to home for me. Steven had appeared on our radio show several months ago when his book In The Red Zone first came out, and once again this spring before returning to Iraq. While Steven supported the general war effort in Iraq, his writings did not fall into the category of cheerleading for Bush or every part of the American strategy. He wrote and spoke movingly about the tragedy of the Iraqi people -- the tragedy of the long oppression of Saddam Hussein, and the tragedy of their liberation and difficulty in adjusting to their new status. His book was personal, gripping, and brilliant -- a must-read for anyone wanting to know about Iraq and the war.
Lately, the BBC says, Vincent had written about the issues in the British sector around Basra. He had told people about Shi'a radicals infiltrating the local police in the area, taking advantage of their position to assassinate former Ba'ath party members. His kidnappers may come from that group, rather than a Zarqawi faction; one would suppose that the latter would have taken advantage of Vincent's notoriety in the West for a ransom demand or at least a videotaped execution and statement. His business relationship with Nour Weidi could also have offended locals -- he wrote about that danger in his book, and it could explain why she got shot as well as Vincent.
Unfortunately, we will likely never know the full circumstances.
This is quite a blow for everyone who cares about the Iraq issue, the blogosphere, journalism -- but most of all, for those of us whom Steven touched in one small way or another. He knew the risks and went to Iraq anyway because he felt that the stories and voices of the Iraqi people must be heard. That kind of courage will be missed most of all.
Godspeed and farewell, Steven.
Other reactions from the blogosphere:
Michelle Malkin (with links)
Marc Landers
Lorie Byrd
Arthur Chrenkoff
Publius Pundit
Mark Tapscott
La Shawn Barber
Cori Dauber
James Joyner
Jim Henley
Danny Glover (National Journal)
NARN links:
Power Line
Mitch Berg
King Banaian
Fraters Libertas
