Somehow, we don’t think it was Barshefsky

Those radical rainbow warriors from Greenpeace International are distributing free condoms in Seattle this week to promote their "Practice Safe Trade" campaign. Head of delegation Remi Parmentier tells the Observer that when he presented one of the prophylactics to "a very important female delegate" from "a very important delegation," she asked: "Is it mint flavored?"

Maybe Dan Quayle was in charge of the seating

As the Observer was, uh, observing the opening session in the Paramount theater Tuesday morning, we noticed that the first 8 or 10 rows of seats — capacity 150 or so — were all reserved for the U.S. delegation. This strikes us as extremely bad manners on the part of a host. Quick, name 131 WTO member nations whose names start with letters that come before "U."

Note to KOMO: Check the Bill of Rights

The Observer will leave the in-depth news media analysis to our esteemed columnist Norman Solomon. But as absolutists on the issue of free speech, we have to denounce the head-in-the-sand attitude of Seattle’s KOMO-TV, which has announced it will restrict coverage of anti-WTO protesters. KOMO says it "will not devote coverage to irresponsible or illegal activities of disruptive groups." Channel 5 made a similar statement on air Tuesday night.

But as Ben Bagdikian, a former top Washington Post editor and noted media critic, told The Seattle Times, that policy would prevent the station from covering the Boston Tea Party, Mohandis Gandhi’s movement for Indian independence and Rosa Parks’ refusal to sit at the back of the bus. Bagdikian’s opinion is that political disssent or civil disobedience may be "all the more worthy of coverage." We think so too.

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