The Rolling Thunder Down Home Democracy tour is headed for Seattle and there is plenty of room for more rainmakers. The idea was born in the brain of Texas firebrand Jim Hightower and draws its inspiration from the old style Chautauqua--part country fair, part revival festival and pure grass roots democracy. The basic idea, according to the organization's website is "bringing together a large and broad group of progressive constituencies (not just leaders) to spend a day or two in a sort of citizenship fair, learning from each other, getting top-notch training on everything from media work to fundraising, having activist workshops on issues and organizing, participating in both short-term and long-term strategizing sessions, getting energized by two or three rousing speeches, joining in a march or demonstration, and simply grassroots progressive activism."

The national organization founded by Hightower is coordinating the efforts to bring the tour to as many cities as possible. An event in Austin has already happened and the tour rolls into Chicago, on June 15, Tucson on July 27, and Seattle on August 24, with Minneapolis set for November 2. The national organization has money and a list of national speakers and entertainment acts. It's up to the locals to take care of community involvement, local presenters, speakers, performers and generally planning and executing their local installment of the tour. As usual, the biggest problem is likely to be diversity. Local labor, environmental and social justice groups are already on board but there is plenty of opportunity for more communities to be represented. It would be really, really nice to not have the same habitual white leftists dominating the conversation again. It's still early enough to get in on the outreach, inreach, and planning stages. The next public planning meeting is on June 13 at 7:00 PM at Seattle Central Community College in room 1110. More information can be had a www.rollingthundertour.org or email Seattle@rollingthunder.org.--Troy Skeels

Guess who else is coming to town? Far-right media zealot Bill O'Reilly will be the headline speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual radio convention, held this year in Seattle September 12-14. You remember the NAB--they're the trade group of big owners and networks that, among other things, killed Low Power FM (with NPR's help) and got one of the biggest corporate welfare handouts ever in the heavily-lobbied-for Telecommunications Act of 1996. Assuming Clear Channel hasn't bought all 12,000 North American radio stations by then, they'll be in Seattle in three months, and as with a similar NAB convention in San Francisco two years ago, media activists are planning a counter-convention. And, in a stunning city oversight, the malcontents have reserved Freeway Park--in full view of the lobby of the Convention Center (on the side away from Pike St.). Stay tuned for more...--Geov Parrrish

There's a war criminal coming to town, too. In what has to rank as a grotesque insult for any person who, after years of struggle, is finally graduating this spring from UW, their featured commencement speaker June 15 is none other than "We Think The Price is Right" Madeleine Albright, the Clinton-appointed butcher whose price in question, in a challenge posed to her directly by Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes in 1996, was half a million dead Iraqi kids. There will be protests, of course--see the calendar for details--but what I wanna know is what, exactly, is the variant Albright will bring to the usual hackneyed advice such speakers give new grads? "Go out into the world, rape, pillage, destroy, make sure as many people die as possible, and someday you, too, can rise to a position where you can commit genocide with impunity!" What inspiration. How much money is UW--that is, the taxpaying public--paying to reward this war criminal?--G.P.

In Afghanistan, British troops have launched Operation Buzzard, an attempt to hunt down "Taliban, Al Qaeda, and pan-Islamists." What do they mean by "pan-Islamists?" They're talking about Afghani warlords, like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who have declared a jihad against US and British troops in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, who fought the Soviets in the 1980s with CIA-provided weapons and who escaped to Iran when the Taliban came to power, is now living somewhere on the Afghan/Pakistan border (or so the British believe). He's got a lot of supporters, and they're getting ready to raise hell in Afghanistan. Their goal is to disrupt the loya jirga, a large council, scheduled for June 10-15, where our favorite warlords will choose candidates for a new government. So much for unity, democracy, and accountability. You have to wonder if Hekmatyar -- a butcher and war criminal, but not worse than some of the butchers who'll be at the loya jirga--actually has a valid point.--Maria Tomchick

According to Pakistani analysts who've been studying militant groups in their own country, there are half a million Muslim militants in Pakistan ready to fight in either Kashmir or on the border with Afghanistan. Half a million men -- that's larger than most armies, even in an industrialized, militarized society like the US. Where did they all come from? The Pakistani military and intelligence service have been recruiting, arming, and training Muslim militants in Pakistan for over two decades, leading one analyst to comment that Muslim militants have long been an instrument of Pakistan's foreign policy.

India--a democracy, unlike Pakistan--has been completely justified in calling for an end to the cross-border incursions that culminated in a recent, deadly attack on the Indian Parliament. But Pakistan's dictator simply can't do anything about the Muslim militant groups in Kashmir; if Gen. Musharraf cracks down on militant groups, he'll find himself with a civil war on his hands. The incursions won't end, so the main question is: How will India respond and will they use tactical nuclear weapons? Will the world community be able to de-escalate tensions? So far, three weeks of negotiations have led nowhere.

We live in scary times. With a petulant child for a president (Bush), a cold-war dinosaur in charge (Cheney), a psychotic (Rumsfeld) running our foreign policy, and a Christian soldier directing a war against the Bill of Rights (Ashcroft), I don't feel particularly secure right now. It doesn't help that I was one of the folks pointing out last October that a war in Afghanistan would destabilize the whole region. It's come to pass, and I'm sorry I was right. How will I feel if India and Pakistan nuke each other? A whole lot worse than I felt after Sept. 11.--M.T.