Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Man, I'm a genius Language history was made right here, or several posts below this one, on Sunday afternoon. That's when I published the first known (to me) use of the term "torturegate" to describe the current furor and recriminations over the U.S. Army abuse of prisoners in Iraq. I know it's a big claim. But earlier today, I noticed that someone had visited the blog from a Google listing for "torturegate." At that point -- it was about 2 in the afternoon, Pacific time, that was the only indexed reference to that word. Now, about eight hours later, the Google search on "torturegate" shows two more references, both more recent than mine. Also, a search of Nexis for the last couple of months shows zero instances of "torturegate." Before you use the word, just remember this blog is copyrighted, and words invented here can only be used by the express written consent of myself and the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Royalties for using this new word will be set at rates affordable to all. And stay tuned for our full line of Torturegate (marca registrada; patent pending) products (and if there's a particular Torturegate product you'd like to see, please write the management). 10:09:39 PM    comment []

Haymarket Square May 4, 1886: A bomb kills 12 people (including eight police officers) during a labor rally on Chicago's near West Side. The bomber was never caught, but police arrested eight leaders of the rally, who were subsequently convicted despite the lack of evidence tying them to the attack. A year and a half after the bombing, despite a worldwide outcry at the miscarriage of justice, four of the organizers were hanged, and one committed suicide. Actually, I wasn't thinking of the anniversary at all, but I saw it in a list of events for May 4 (for me, May 4 is mostly the day in 1864 U.S. Grant launched his bloody but ultimately successful campaign against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia). Taking a very short look around, I found a couple of great online resources about Haymarket (which resonated through Illinois and national politics for years afterward and played a role in one of my favorite historical novels, Howard Fast's "The American," about the life of Governor John P. Altgeld). Check out the Chicago Historical Society's  detailed history of the case. Also good: The Chicago Public Library's online Haymarket collections (from which the picture above is taken), which includes a brief writeup on the history of the famous (in Chicago) Haymarket statue memorializing the police victims of the bombing and was still attracting bombing attempts as late as 1970. 9:49:07 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Brekke.