Here's your chance, boys and girls, to go to "work" for the Star's editorial department. No pay, but heck, think of the glory.

A friend passed this on. The Star is soliciting readers to write IN Touch on line commentary. Can I apply? Can Rishawn Biddle apply?

Here's the pitch, from the editorial department's Jane Lictenberg:

"If you're getting this message, that means you're in my electonic mailbox.

"I'm looking for new writers for the IN Touch blog www.indystar.com/intouch). See more information below. If you know of
anyone who is a good writer with strong opinions and knows a fair amount
about local, state or national issues, would you ask that person(s) about
writing for IN Touch, or give me the contact information and I'll get in
touch? I'm looking for people who do not work for city or state
government; nor should they be involved in party politics or advocacy
roles for specific causes/organizations.

"Thanks for your help,
"Jane

"Jane Lichtenberg
Community Conversations Coordinator
The Indianapolis Star
307 N. Pennsylvania St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 444-6015

"IN TOUCH INFORMATION:

About a dozen members of the panel write short articles (about 150 words)
on topics of your own choice. We ask that you write at least every couple
of weeks, and welcome articles even more often. They will be posted on our
web site (see above) and often readers comment on them. When they do, you
are welcome to answer their comments but don?t feel obligated to do so.
IN Touch also appears each Sunday in the Voices opinion section. Since we
usually have more articles than we have space for, I take turns running
them.
The usual length to write for IN Touch is one year, but if you feel that
is too long, you can write for a shorter period.
Articles should be sent to intouch@indystar.com
Two more things. You?ll need to come to The Star (307 N. Pennsylvania St.)
to have your photo taken (Monday-Friday 10:30 am to 4:30 pm). I?ll need a
specific time and date so I can make sure a photographer is available.
Also, I?m including a few questions for you to answer. They will be posted
on the web site under ?contributors? along with your photo.
If you have questions, please feel free to phone me.
Jane

Born: (city, year).
Occupation:
Indianapolis resident: (number of years)
Author whose latest book I can?t wait to read:
Best thing about living in Indy:
And the worst:
Columnists I find myself agreeing with most often: "

I think I might go for it. But a twist on the latter answer may sink the deal. Columnists I find myself agreeing with least often? The glad-handing Dennis Ryerson.

In the final push to help Barack Obama do well in Indiana, Guy and I drove to Montezuma on Monday to hang fliers on doors. Drew Athens made the request. He's the 20-something staff person with the campaign who was working in Putnam County and West Central Indiana.

"It's about the last thing we have to do," he said. "We are trying to contact people we think might vote for Obama and give them voting information about where the polls are."

This is part of the amazing strategy of Obama's campaign and his leadership style: go to the ground, to the grass, to the roots. It is not a top-heavy campaign; it's run by a swell of volunteers and young people like Drew ($1,000 a month pay for the chance to, as he said, do a job he believes in and loves.) In effect, it is a campaign made up of those voters in Montezuma who are looking for hope.

That is a commodity in short supply in the little Parke County community.

Tranquil little Montezuma, with 1,000 or so souls, on the Wabash River, was settled in 1821. Its last boom was when the canal was a hot economic concept, almost 200 years ago. The town is severely economically depressed. In 2000, about 20 percent were below the poverty line; 30 percent for those under 18 and over 65. It has to be more now.

The poverty blew me away. It's that kind of poor-white small-town hardship that in small towns seemes especially pointless.

On Montezuma's less-prosperous south side, people are living in ramshackle homes with falling-down porches and chains or ropes outside for the dogs. The beautiful sunshiny day put full light on lack, everywhere. No place to eat in Montezuma, just a gas station where you could buy a pack of Marlboros and a Coke. No jobs to speak of -- probably the nearest employer in Parke County is the Rockville Correctional Prison east of Montezuma, off Highway 36.

On the north side were the trailers: rows and rows of decrepit motor homes, with more rickety little porches and sometimes a pile of trash where part of a trailer had been torn up. We were there long enough for the kids to get home from school. I wondered what they did for fun or entertainment. We didn't meet many people; the mission was to simply hang the fliers on doorknobs and exit. One man who was home had no teeth. He was in his 30s.

Overall, a hell of a lot of hurt.

Yet in that tiny town, there were probably 100 or so identified Barack supporters who, theoretically, had reason to hope.

What can government do for the Montezumas of the U.S.? I don't know. But anything -- a dream, a vision of a better way, that thing with feathers -- is better than this.

Time for a change.

Remember the post about lifer Debbie Bostic retiring on a Friday from the Star, then getting called back into work the next day -- to answer the phones, open mail and perform all those other vital duties?

Yes, it's true. Sad, but true.

However, when Deb learned that her loyalty to her employer had been written about on this blog, she sent the following email to Star staffers. It's worth sharing, if for no other reason, to know that exec editor Dennis Ryerson is now advocating the "no-blog" pledge...which I find particularly delicious and hilarious.

Here's Deb's last will and testament:

"Well, I was not going to send an e-mail -- I wanted to find the perfect card and send it to you all, which I did. But I heard something today which made me want to send an e-mail to clear a few things up.

"First of all, I left the Star because I felt it was time. I wanted to leave on a good note and I wanted a change. I had a good review with Todd Moore, my supervisor, so I was not going to be fired -- was I Todd? -- No, just kidding. But I really love this building, the paper. I may not like some of things that happen around here but I bet you can find that at any company. This company had/has been good to me and I am grateful for that.

"Someone told me that on a certain person's blog it said I was retired on Friday and had to open mail and work on Saturday. That is not true. I always have let my supervisor know that if we are short (and I love having overtime, doesn't everybody), that I would work. My boss always checks with everyone else, (meaning the messenger for whom I was filling in for) before he asks me and had been told *by me* that if he can't find anyone that I am available. I loved doing it because he and Joyce always thanked me for pitching in and helping, and that is what I felt I should do for my team.

"Someone told me that this blog is never factual (which is unfair), but now I believe what the person told me. If you have left the paper and are bitter I am sorry. But move on. But if you are going to state something, please, just the facts, and if you don't know then don't quote them. I am sorry for a lot of things, but working at the Star is not one of them.

"I have felt honored to work among some of the nicest people God ever made. You're giving and caring and you showed me that you cared for me and for that I am grateful and humbled to have received your kindness. Thank you so very much.

"P.S. Dennis I said I would not blog and I won't. But does this mean I
still have a job, since I still have my e-mail?"

I had my email, too, until Mpozi Tolbert died.

Does she not read? Can she not hear the national pundits say, "It's over"? Is she so out of touch with reality?

Does the entire Democrat Party have a death wish?

The Republican side of my brain says that it is time for the Dem pooh-bahs to put an end to the pain.

As my buddy Nick Crews said this morning, "I am a liberal, I don't like the Republicans on issues, but this is what drives me nuts about the Democratic Party. There is so much hand-wringing."

The GOP, he argues, would have done the tough thing and kicked Hillary to the curb when Rush Limbaugh started his nasty cross-over campaign. When the writing was on the wall. When it was clear she cannot win.

Instead, being the party of tolerance and inclusiveness, the Dems allow this drama to continue. It's brutal. Or as Maureen Dowd said in this morning's New York Times:

"And heaven help the Democrats as they try to shake off Hillary. On top of her inane vows to obliterate Iran, OPEC and the summer gas tax, she plans 'a nuclear option' during her Shermanesque march to Denver.

"Tom Edsall reported on The Huffington Post that the Hillaryites will try, at a May 31 meeting of the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee, to renege on their word and get the Michigan and Florida delegations seated. Addressing supporters here, she urged the counting of the Florida and Michigan votes, noting 'it would be a little strange to have a nominee chosen by 48 states.'

“'It’s full speed onto the White House,” she said."

No, it is not. It's a death march.

Thanks to reader Nicholas Martin for passing along this analysis. It appeared on the Lew Rockwell.com Blog:

"May 06, 2008
Newspaper Deathwatch Posted by Ryan W. McMaken at May 6, 2008 07:20 PM

"As a wise pundit recently pointed out somewhere - it's not that so
many people keep voluntarily cancelling their subscriptions. It's just
that paid subscriptions expire when the readers do. Newspapers are now
"-- The New York Times lost more than 150,000 copies on Sunday.
Circulation on that day fell a whopping 9.2% to 1,476,400. The paper's
daily circulation declined 3.8% to 1,077,256.

"-- At The Washington Post, daily circulation decreased 3.5% to 673,180
and Sunday dropped 4.3% to 890,163.

"-- Meanwhile, daily circulation at The Wall Street Journal grew a
fraction of a percent, up 0.3% to 2,069,463 copies. At USA Today,
circulation inched up 0.27%* to 2,284,219.

"-- The New York Post lost over 3% daily and more than 8% on Sunday.

"-- Daily circulation at The Orange County Register plunged 11.9% to
250,724 and Sunday fell 5.3% to 311,982.

"-- In Los Angeles, the Times lost more than 40,000 daily copies. Daily circulation there was down 5.1% to 773,884. Sunday declined 6.0% to
1,101,981.

"Also Top 25 Sunday Newspapers here - all in decline.

"John Hazelhurst from the Colo. Springs Business Journal pointed out
these facts from Editor and Publisher's other recent news -

"- The core audience of daily newspapers consists of adults 50 and
older. Between 2003 and 2007, 8.4 million Americans in that age range
died.

"- In the large metro areas alone, as many as 1.4 million of the 2.35
million newly dead were daily newspaper readers.

"Now they're gone and not coming back."

Sad but true. The Star's analysis of its profile readership, long before Gannett came in, was a middle-aged white man who drinks martinis and drives a Lincoln. Guess what? He passed away.

A friend recently called to cancel his subscription to the Star, after receiving it for 25 years. The upshot? The circulation person who took the call made no effort to find out why or to offer a better deal. Nobody cares. It's just a corporation, and everyone is a cog in the wheel....