Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested at RNC

I love this country.

At what point does armed revolution get put on the table? I mean, we did fight a freakin war to get rid of the fascists in Europe. Killing Nazis is a cherished part of American history. It's part of our national identity. We obviously have a large supply of them here these days. Why not kill them?

Seriously, though. There's no excuse for this sort of behavior, and no room for the sort of world-view that allows for this sort of behavior. It is patently unamerican. Those who excuse it are traitors to their country, plain and simple, foul beasts who hate us and our way of life and will stop at nothing to destroy our freedoms. They are vermin, no more worthy of consideration than the fascists that preceded them. We allow them to exist at our own peril.

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... But I bet it won't be. Not to most distracted Americans.

I am thoroughly disgusted with my fair city.

My neighborhood overlooks the downtown war zone, & is under a near complete lockdown.

The pressure has been building ominously for days, as preemptive, baldly terroristic raids have been carried out against citizens & journalists.

Now they got the big fish.

Chances are, this will hardly make a ripple on the national news scene. It doesn't seem to be being carried by the local press, even.

But the ramifications are very, very serious.
Way to radicalize those teetering on the fence, you assholes.

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What the hell does "suspicion" of rioting mean?

Is that whispering to another person on a street corner about starting a protest?

Tell me our civil liberties aren't being trampled to death, with Insane McCain eager to continue the eight-year assault.

Obama Fan
Obama 4 President 2008

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Gestapo, Gestapo everywhere. They traded their Swastikas for Badges. If Hitler would not have been so greedy in his land grab, the Third Reich would still be in power. Oh, yeah. They are in power here in the good ole USA. Hitler had to go to save face. Add that and Eighty years and USA looks like Europe in the 1930's. Whoever turned an honest dollar doing honest work? Rockefeller? JP Morgan? Halliburton? George Bush? John McCain probably has but he is their new patsie. Stay at home and you still might get arrested for conspiracy. Do not meet with anyone and spy on your mother. Heilen Sie. Dieser scheise ist alles fiched los.

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And they need to file their stories. But that story only gets better the longer they're in there. I'm curious about their thoughts on this. Nobody in the whole world is safe as long as the fascists are spared from "a better place".

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Cue the brownshirts beating people senseless with baseball bats. What country is this? What year is this?

peace,
Paul

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you have been living in a sham democracy all these years.

turn off the idiot box and and smell the tear-gased air.

although, you deserve much worse for electing war-criminals including the current dictator-in-chief Cheney.

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She may have found a way to get the story out of the "terrorist" box the rest of the media put it in.

And on a day without wall to wall RNC-generated coverage too.

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The arrests of Ms Goodman and her colleagues underlines the point that US society is at an inflection point: it can slope towards what King called "the arch of Justice," or it can further slope towards a police state.
The Carter-Reagan election was the first of such inflection points, and the turn taken by the society is now apparent. If Obama loses this election, US citizens will lose their society.

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I got through to the Ramsey County Jail at about 9:30 EST 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

The woman on the line told me that Amy had been released. She said to call back in a few hours about Amy's colleagues. Her colleagues haven't been "booked in" which means they can be held for 36 hours without charge... OUTRAGEOUS!!!

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Re-posted from the other Goodman arrest alert [with slight edits]:

The National Guard is in my city.

I just watched a video stream of a handful of citizen journalists, surrounded by at least 100 security force thugs. Some of them were released.

I tried to walk around my block about an hour & 45 minutes ago, & was turned back with the excuse that someone had made a bomb threat. I laughed at [the officer].

But I turned around.

The rolling confrontations between "our" para- militarized police force & protesters (of all stripes) have been going down all afternoon, within about a 10 minute walk from my door. But I can't get in to see it. To attempt it would mean certain arrest, for no gain. No one would even notice it happening.

We've all been predicting this sort of thing for a long time, & now it's on. If just a taste...

One of the few real journalists in town to cover the RNC, & one of the few with a well-known & respected platform, has been detained by our security State.

At least they haven't shot anyone.

Yet.

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Atwood wrote Handmaid's Tale in response to her US friends always boasting "it can't happen here". Guess what folks, it's happening; we're living it. And the mainstream propaganda press is talking about the baby and little else but the baby. Heilen Sie, indeed.

You might want to buy your copy of HMT before it gets banned. And pay cash so there's no record of your purchse.

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This should be widely reported on the network news, but it won't be. Americans will be sheltered in their cocoon of ignorance, while being lulled with the refrain, "the best democracy in the world . . ." This is the kool aid that the public drinks of daily.

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The banality of this incident reveals what a stupid idea it is to believe in a national security state. You mean to tell me that those heavily equipped riot police felt threatened by a fifty year old woman? This was a cowardly act.

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When we wake puking shame
at last, and know the dream
for sham, embraced en masse...
When bells that rang victorious
hang mute, their tarnished claims
ignored in disrepute, and
bitter sons, having been all they
could be, can't wish back innocence
or the leg below the knee...

(This brash regime's trimmed reason
from its ranks, its black guard
in the street, protecting flanks.)

...then will we heed the schemers'
gloating leer? "There's no future
for dissidents here."
Row on row, with hand
in trembling hand, it's come to this.
We dreamers need to stand.

- G. Karl Marcus

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Don't just call the local police or mayor.

Call every national cable news outlet and demand that they air this footage--demand that this become a top news story.

"The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching..." The Chicago DNC, 1968. Honor that event by allowing the whole world to see...once again.

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FREE AMY..!!!


"THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING, THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING..!"

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it's video of a girl trying to hand a daisy to a riot cop and getting hosed with pepper spray:

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/09/01/pepper.mpg
www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/09/01/pepper.mpg

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Nothing would energize and unite the nazi faithful like a Seattle type riot in St. Paul. The Left is going to have to ignore the GOP agents that have been planted in their midst or be ready to fight.

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY

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Freedom of speech is tolerated only if you whisper ... if you question authority you are arrested. "Liberal" has somehow become a four letter word. Science is sacrilegious. Fetuses get more respect than Adults. Church leaders praise War. Veterans are refused health care. Retirement funds stolen. Police "serve & protect" only the powerful. What country was this ? It's no longer Land of the Free & Home of the Brave.

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this is so outrageous, how can questioning authority be a punishable offense in a democracy where freedom of speech and freedom of the press are supposedly constitutional rights?

demand that the charges against Amy Goodman and her colleagues be dropped immediately:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/756588519

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Police will break the law until citizens get tired of paying the costs of liability suits.

In LA it does not seem to matter that police abuse costs taxpayers multi-millions $ every year.

Yes, the media mentions the settlements but then forgets about it. I hope the Democracy Now people sue for all they can get. It's the only way the police will change.

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There will be no change through peace,
so long as their piece is protected
with pieces.
Tears of desire crying for a world on fire,
inspire cans of gas to disperse the unrested masses.
We use words so they fight back with spray,
throw you in prison, and the keys away.
Thugs in riot gear know only violence,
and do not hear passive protests through silence.
They protect themselves with taxpayer funds,
kevlar flack jackets, shields, and guns.
Stand as one and lock your arms together,
and wind up with your arms all locked together
as you stand and face their juries.
Flurries of 'less than lethal' bullets
fired to rid you of your worries.
Armed conflict and confrontation
birthed this neofascist nation.
Only through bullets and blood,
tears and death and screams of pain
until the streets flood,
will we ever see a new generation.


There will be no change without a conflict.
Words are good for filling pages and prison cells. Not even Obama can change this.

Call me a pessimist, but.....

Sadly, no....we can't.

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Amy Goodman is one of my heroes. I'm sure she and I would not agree on every subject or issue, but I cannot think of another journalist better than her, or more committed to what journalism should be. It is sad to see her treated such, but it is NOT unexpected.

Power will ensure it remains in power. 9 times out of 9 when one hears of "violent protests" it is, in fact, the forces in power who use violence, not the protesters. It is those in power who are threatened by questions. It is those in power who would use force to achieve their ends, and therefore assume all others are intending to use force as well.

Look at the police in that video, they are in full protective armor. Are we to believe their lives are so threatened (even threatened in any way) that they must wear such garb? Apparently they believe so. What does that say about them, their expectations, their fears, their motivations, and the true reality of their commitments?

I know Amy Goodman will be okay, as well as her producers. If anything this episode foregrounds the harsh reality of why the U.S. lags significantly behind many countries when it comes to democracy.

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But isn't that what Rush Limbaugh called for at the DNC?

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As a midwesterner who has spent many great summer vacations in Minnesota, and someone who thinks of Garrison Kellior when I think of St. Paul, I was stunned by this and other images of an emerging Police State at the DNC and the RNC.

Arresting and intimidating a journalist like this is simply outrageous.

You can bet that I will encourage everyone I know to avoid St. Paul until the mayor and council apologize to Amy Goodman and admit, in udder shame, their violation of our Constitution.

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Stop talking about it and do something about it.

They have one fatal flaw; those that are seemingly in control only hold their position through a legal network of corporate based terrorist funding.

Stop the senseless consumerism and you'll;
Stop the senseless funding and you'll;
Stop the senseless madness that has infected our nation and the world.

Know that senseless consumerism is fueled by the absence of your own identity, which is fueled by your addiction to television, which is where it all starts. Be you! Be aware! Be your own culture. Socialize don't watch fake socialization. Don't be a consuming monkey.

It's easy. Just stop and think before you buy anything. Ask yourself "where is this money going?" Is it going to General Electric in any way shape or form so that they can perpetuate their war related manufacturing interests and obfuscation of the truth through their ownership of ABC News?

It's easy and rewarding. Just have a mind about the problem and do it. Form boycott groups. Identify and target the endless list of traitors who have hijacked your nation and your freedoms. You have the power. Just do it.

Start using cash whenever you can. Electronic money is their lifeline, their blood and the main apparatus of their control. Using cash not only helps to remove their tracking apparatus but it will reduce the cost of money and preserve your freedom.

Resist the urge to spend beyond your means. Don't fuel the credit machine for a short term gratification. Learn to live within your capital means as much as possible. People don't realize that the true impetus behind the revolt of our Founding Fathers was to free themselves from the tyranny of the centralized European banking machine. Now we've come full circle and they have taken control again in your cultureless sponsored void of senseless consumerism and now you can see the truth about what it has bought you.

Electronic money is just another tax on your income. Use cash or lose it. When it's gone you're entire existence is erasable without recourse with the flip of a switch. Preserve your freedom. Use cash today!

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I haven’t lived in either Minneapolis or St. Paul for nearly 20 years, and last visited when my sister died in 1999, but I’ve always thought warmly of my hometown. So I was astonished when e-mails began trickling in during the week from confused, frightened and oft-times angry friends and acquaintances back home. They wrote chilling accounts of police conducting wholesale, warrantless raids on people whose only crime is that the Secret Service and Dept. of Homeland (In)Security, aided by local police goon squads dressed in riot gear, thought they might, possibly, somewhere, somehow, exercise their 1st Amendment right to protest during the Republican National Convention.

The first inkling of what was unfolding came late Thursday morning from Nancy, my fifth grade love who grew up to become a physician and soccer mom in the suburb of Edina, a place so conservative and rich there’s a local ordinance requiring residents to vote GOP before being allowed to move in:

"There’s a story about St Paul police raiding a home and arresting people who were going to protest at the convention. OK, so you know me: I voted for Bush twice and I’m no lefty loonie. But this scares me ... Police in riot gear raided a house early this morning, arresting nine people who said they were in town to protest at the convention. But they were charged with having too many people in a residential home! What the hell?"

Then, two more friends wrote.

Mike, who owns a store in a mixed St. Paul neighborhood, wrote, “I don’t know what’s going on but unmarked cop cars with sirens screaming are chasing all over hell and back.” Then an e-mail arrived from Ivar, a playwright, saying, “Jesus Christ! A bunch of cops dressed like the Road Warrior just broke into a home down the street and hauled out a bunch of people in handcuffs and hoods. As they were being thrown into police vehicles, cops arrested a guy across the street taking a home video of the bust. My street looks like Burma.” He meant Myanmar but Ivar’s showing his age these days like the rest of us boomers.

By Saturday, the trickle of messages became a torrent.

To verify what friends were writing, I called the St. Paul Mayor’s Office where I was directed to the police. A PR woman for the cops said I had to talk to the Secret Service, which refused to answer any questions but asked for the spelling of my name before telling me to call Homeland Security where repeated calls were not returned.

I tracked down a cell at the convention office of the RNC where the man who answered claimed to have no idea what I was talking about, helpfully suggesting I call the police before suddenly asking how I got the number. Ring around the rosy.

It was like trying to get an answer from Dick Cheney’s office.

The barrage continued all weekend.

From Carrie: “I saw 25 officers barge into a house wearing masks and SWAT gear. They had semi-automatic rifles. After, somebody told me the pigs (haven’t used that word in decades!) ordered everyone on the floor, rifles pointing at their heads they were handcuffed. The cops didn't have a search warrant. They were kept on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away computers and political stuff.”

Rick: “Remember Summit Avenue? Mansions, clubs, cronies? Near the Governor’s Mansion, the cops just burst into a house looking for ‘photographs and maps of St. Paul.’ I have photos and maps of St. Paul! I’ll be next!”

Robyn and Brent: “Enya (their daughter) and two school friends were taking pictures of the convention center when cops grabbed and handcuffed them, shoved them into a squad car and threatened them with arrest! She’s hysterical. Enya’s college will be paid for with a large check from the city. Assholes.”

Lake Woebegon is a police state

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I would like to know what the remnant that still remains of our civil law has to say about this. I agree that this crudely violent treatment of obviously harmless journalists fully qualifies as "illegal." But what are the consequences? Aren't there penalties for police officers who commit illegal acts?

At the very least, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Nicole Salazar, and Amy Goodman deserve apologies for the way they have been mistreated. The rest of us also deserve some reassurance that when police officers do this, they get some kind of punishment. I'll settle for firing, but some jail time would be even better.

Otherwise, mercy, we are in a police state, aren't we? I won't pretend ignorance that the police have from time immemorial preyed upon poor people who lacked legal representation - above all upon African-Americans. Indeed, knowledge of this history makes these recent events believable, even though they are sickening and surreal.

But I do not believe that even in the past, the police were allowed to treat journalists as criminals with impunity. Heaven help us if the police can do this to people and we can no longer even find out about it, because the press is in the slammer!

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"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever."

-George Orwell, 'Nineteen Eighty-four'

Tell everyone you personally know and trust about what is happening in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but only those you deeply trust. Make sure they tell their most trusted friends too. It's time for small, secret networks to start springing up. These fascist lunatics work in secret to suppress us; it is time for us to work in secret to suppress them.

This whole situation must be known by all rational people before Orwell's little comment above becomes an absolute and permanent reality everywhere. America is finally going mad with violence-lust and hatred to accompany its incredible greed, competitiveness, and shallowness.

Work is needed to combat this.

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From the comments, I am reassured that there are alot of people who are aware and alarmed. In my personal daily associations, however, I appear to be the black sheep. But, as we make our comments, we are sitting alone at a keyboard. How do we stike a balance hitting the keys AND being on the streets in large numbers to show our unity? When I do go to protests there are only a dozen or two people who show up. Not good enough! Most of the sheep are sleeping in.

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What did you morons think? The fascism that you have been supporting around the globe so your Corporate elites have cheap access to the resources of other nations wasn't going to come back home?

Be happy that your government hasn't really started using the tactics to control the public it has been teaching to foreign dictators at the School of Americas.

Keep you head down; watch more baseball, basketball, soap operas etc etc; don't even bother to vote as their ain't no difference between the two sides of the same coin.

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When John Adams was president he had laws passed that suppressed the news media of his times. when Thomas Jefferson was elected, he immediately repealed those laws, knowing that a free press was imperative for a free nation and people.

In Germany in the 1930's the first thing that Hitler attacked was the free press and it was one of the first things re-established after the end of WWII.

Now we are once again faced with the suppression of a free press this time by the Republican Party, our government, and corporate control of the media by a few companies or individuals.

FOLKS, THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE FOURTH REICH AND WE BETTER GET READY FOR THIS TO CONTINUE! IT IS THE RESULT OF LIVING IN FEAR! NOW WE HAVE SOMETHING TO REALLY FEAR - AND IT IS NOT MUSLIMS OR TERRORISTS FROM OUTSIDE THIS NATION - IT IS OUR GOVERNMENT!

What you have just seen is what will happen when Bush/Cheney declare martial law - or worse yet, if McCain/Palin were to declare it! It is what will happen to any of you who speak out and demand the truth. It is what leads to renditions, death camps, and gulags where people just disappear so that corrupt governments can survive, and it is what will happen here if we just sit back and do nothing.

They came for us - and there is no one to speak up! Well, it is time to speak up and it is now time to act! Campaign for a return to a free nation with controls on corporations, banks, and the media. Vote for candidates who do not threaten our civil liberties, but rather understand their importance in our society. And, prepare for civil war, because when this type of action becomes common place, that is what we will have to do to become free once again!

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Are there any depths that PIGS won't stoop to just for the money? Just for the ego rush of enforcing their power mad will upon others?

Pigs that willingly conduct violence upon their own, must be culled from the herd and slaughtered.

Any system that profits from conducting preemptive violence upon it's own people, must be lead to slaughter.

Or they will just continue to slaughter us, and our children.

Thank You Amy!

And Fuck You St. Paul and especially Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. Truly a PIGS pig.

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UM twin cities starts classes today... website has no alerts or notifications of class delays...

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I have a friend whose 17 year old son went to the protests yesterday with a peaceful group (including a minister). He was brutally beaten by the police and arrested- no rights read, no protections. He was taken into the station/jail, but when they found out he was only 17 they released him without his belongings, without a phone call. Just put him on the street, bleeding.
I'm sickened by this.

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Okay, so is this just incredibly lazy reporting or what? The RNC is happening in ST. PAUL, MN, and yet the MINNEAPOLIS police are being blamed for mistreating Amy Goodman. Now, maybe the cops who dealt with Amy were in fact MINNEAPOLIS cops: I can't tell from the report. But the fact is, we are TWIN CITIES, not one city, and we don't share a police force, and as a resident of MINNEAPOLIS, not ST. PAUL, I'd appreciate not having our cops blamed for excessive force if they are not the ones doing it.

These things matter. Accuracy matters. Details matter.

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all hail Amy Goodman et. al. who had the good decency stand far enough out in front for the Truth & let them arrest them for doing the Right Thing.

for shame to all the media & 'talk show hosts' who would selectively cover only one or neither of these events that document the decline of human & civil rights in the Americas.

Greenwald: Scenes from St. Paul -- Democracy Now's Amy Goodman arrested
PoGo Was Right - privacy rights violations @ the DNC & RNC

The next time I hear a talkshow host talk about how only 'sheeple' don't stand up & defend their rights & intelligence by refusing to take off their shoes @ an airport scanning... I'll remember Amy Goodman & CodePink & how... real pacifist humanists & journalists behave when the rubber bullets meet the road...

HAVE YOU BEEN TO JAIL FOR JUSTICE?
- Anne Feeney
Was it Cesar Chavez or Rosa Parks that day?
Some say Dr. King or Ghandi
Set them on their way
No matter who your mentors are
It’s pretty plain to see
That if you’ve been to jail for justice
You’re in good company

Have you been to jail for justice?
I want to shake your hand
‘Cause sitting in and laying down
Are ways to take a stand
Have you sung a song for freedom
Or marched that picket line?
Have you been to jail for justice?
Then you’re a friend of mine

You law abiding citizens
Come listen to this song
Laws are made by people
And people can be wrong
Once unions were against the law
But slavery was fine
Women were denied the vote
While children worked the mine
The more you study history
The less you can deny it
A rotten law stays on the books
‘til folks with guts defy it!

Have you been to jail for justice?
I want to shake your hand
‘Cause sitting in and laying down
Are ways to take a stand
Have you sung a song for freedom
Or marched that picket line?
Have you been to jail for justice?
Then you’re a friend of mine

Well the law is supposed to serve us
And so are the police
When the system fails
It’s up to us to speak our piece
We must be ever vigilant
For justice to prevail
So get courage from your convictions
Let ‘em haul you off to jail!

Have you been to jail for justice?
I want to shake your hand
‘Cause sitting in and laying down
Are ways to take a stand
Have you sung a song for freedom
Or marched that picket line?
Have you been to jail for justice?
Then you’re a friend of mine
Have you been to jail for justice
Have you been to jail for justice
Have you been to jail for justice
Then you’re a friend of mine

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
┄┄
" ... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice... "" ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
┄┄
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"
┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

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The Republicans are friggin' terrified that that the mass of hoipolloi will get "ideas" and maybe launch a "France 1789". Their solution? A good dose of "preventative repression" such as they did with Goodman.

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McVey & fiends were willing to blow up the Fed building thinking the UN troops were taking over our country. Didn't they characterize this takeover with troops in Black army/ riot gear.
Which side are they On Now...those 'Free Speechers' or the 'Empire Storm troopers'?
Seems maybe they were not so interested in saving The American Way of Life as Much as oppressing and Destroying it?
Where are these Americans who claim to be Pro American..shouldn't they be out protecting the Right to Free Speech- 1st right just above Right to Bear Arms!
Appears the Republican Party has no interest in Protecting Ameircan rights Or Freedoms.
Democratic convention may have sidelined the protestors, but they never pulled out the Battle gear & Tear Gas!
so which party Actually protects the Constitution,Bill of Rights, even Understands why the Declaration of Independence was Written?The Democratic party is fundamentally built on the Rights of the People- Labor & Equal Rights for All.Repugs are for the Rights & freedoms of the MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS!Which steal, control and profit off OUR National Resources (energy/military might/food production/Labor) and hand US A Bill for the 'priviledge' to serve them!
Monopolies and Resource hostile takeovers are NOT the Free Market, or Even Patriotic.they are Totalitarians without any Allegience to ANY Country.
Worried about the 'empires Storm troopers'taking over the US, just look for their Logo- 'Neo Con Republican'

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The one thing different from Germany in the 1930's is that we now have cellphone cameras everywhere and spectacles like the arrest of the Democracy Now! crew can be broadcast over the whole planet in minutes. This should give the republican fascists pause as it is so much harder to hide the truth and squelch reality. The corporate media will do what Goebbels advised: Tell the lies over and over and they become the truth.
Keep your cellphone handy and make copies as soon as you can so the fascists can't squelch or distort it!

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is simply that neither candidate, or their staff, or any political higher up anywhere, has spoken out against any of this. Could you imagine for one moment if Obama, or McCain for that matter, stood up at the convention at any point and asked the police to stand down and let the people peacefully protest as guaranteed in the constitution. How would that make any person in this country who votes react? My guess is that had Obama said something of that nature, and said the words "police state" he would be voted in by the largest landslide vote ever, mobilizing the progressive and younger vote as never before seen in this country. But no. Silence remains the norm. And silence in this situation equals viewing what is happening as ok.

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.
.
.
. . . in the Civil & Privacy Rights Fire-sale... "
(Did you know you can commit "criminal damag"e with a child's crayon,wig and top hat. Find out how from Kent police at the EcoRally!! on video...a fascinating & amusing series of interviews detailing 'confiscations' on the way to a peaceful ClimateCamp... )


be AFRAID to stand up for platform changes!
be AFRAID to stand up for civil rights!
be AFRAID to stand up for yourselves!

why?

because they've made you so skeered, you're SPLIT between a corporatized 2-party system that vilifies any other choices or Truths as ...
...potentially allowing the OTHER party to win

man, did they screw with your heads

New Spy Software Coming On-Line: "Surveillance in a Box" Makes its Debut

Glen Greenwald: AT&T thanks the Blue Dog Democrats with a lavish party

Securitizing the Global Norm of Identity: Biometric Technologies in Domestic & Foreign Policy

Preventive DNA law sought: DNA Sample would be taken after arrest, not conviction
By Judi Villa, Rocky Mountain News

National Lawyers Guild: RNC Police Raid "Preventive Detention"

Pre-emptive arrests include FECES & URINE samples in St.Paul RNC crackdown on peaceful protest... before the events, of course note: feces & urine samples?? for drug-testing... or DNA cataloguing??

CURIOUS REGARDING WHY PROTESTERS WERE DISTRESSED about the AT&T-sponsored PR GreenZone @ Denver's DNC??

Taking Liberties - watch a fascinating documentary from the UK on the decline of privacy, human & civil rights in G8 Developed Nations ...from the viewpoint of UK citizens. trailer WATCH THIS FILM!!

FBI wants instant access to British identity data
Americans seek international database to carry iris, palm and finger prints - The Guardian

‘Server in the Sky’: FBI international biometric db planned - ZDnet

Children on DNA database 'built by stealth'

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
Spread Love, not corporate dependence & fear,

BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
┄┄
" ... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice... "" ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
┄┄
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"
┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

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The RNC has a sign up at their convention that says "Country First" Well what happened to "Country First" during the last eight years? What happened to "Country First" during KATRINA, before the lies that started the Iraq War, 45 million that doesn't have healthcare, before millions of jobs were shipped overseas, before rewarding companies to ship them overseas, before billions going to Halliburtion without any other bids, before vetoing the children's healthcare bill, before allowing CEO's to walk away with millions while laying off their employees, and the list goes on. Please answer these questions for me.

The Bush/McCain Republicans must think the American people are ignorant. Who in the world would vote for a Republican after witnessing the past 8 years?

Please join me at www.wemustchange.org

I need volunteers to join me at "WeMustChange.org" I need writers with a different perspective, website designers, creative, business savvy people to join this crusade for change.


Email me at david@wemustchange.org

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The DN! people are champions of our times, and commendable on so many levels to such high degree I can't easily think of others I hold to equal esteem journalistically or personally. Bless them all.

This arrest is a pointedly notable event, certainly. In considering intimidation, tipping points, and ramifications, let anti-force remain at the forefront of our thoughts and not counterforce. Hate nothing but hatred. Remember Winston Smith's moral error in 1984. An excerpt:
forcesofhate.mp3

Hatred is as much a mindkiller as fear. Rather hold tight to courage, and faith in the nation as a whole. Err on the side of love and hold tight to your generosity of spirit even as we know that conformity supports what passivity enables.

Fear may be a mindkiller, but hatred is a soulkiller.

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he certainly did well enough under the might of India's **corporatized** 'FreeTrade' oppression.

violence ONLY BREEDS THE EXCUSE FOR 'OFFICIAL' militarized responses of violence.

when cowards are skeered... they grab a weapon.

when the ETHICAL & INFORMED stand in public & declare the TRUTH... we don't need weapons.

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
┄┄
" ... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice... " ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
┄┄
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"
┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

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Social Justice types are always pushed under the rug by the GOP. Come on,Leonard Peltier,Abby Hoffman,
that's how far back this crap goes,even farther. To treat folks with opposing views as criminals sounds almost...NAZI.

Face it we live in a society that's 'Rulership by Fear' and this is how we do it. What else do we expect from a Party that's more criminal than the freaking Mafia??
You can speak out,if you're 20 miles away but get too near,zap,you're arrested. Control,control,control the marching orders for the RNC ,and the DNC, are'nt much better.
But we're all better than both of these groups. let's keep our collective foot on whomever the winner is and make sure the government operates from the good of the People and not the welfare of the Corproations.
That's democracy in action,although they might call it a revolt. Depends on which side of the dollar you're on.

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Only thing that could make that video better would be someone popping up with an AK-47 and taking those stupid loser, punk cops out! What a pathetic joke the United Snakes has come to.

Jiff
Is your ISP watching you?

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Open letter to Mayor Chris Coleman, St. Paul and to the St. Paul Chief of Police from the former Undersheriff of Ashland County, Wisconsin:
The arrogance and outright stupidity of your counter-dissent, pre-emtive raids is beyond undestanding. Study some history. This type of police action does not stifle dissent, in increases dissent. This abuse of police authority does not stifle violence, it contributes to the reliance on violence by those who would otherwise prefer debate or other peaceful means. When you start waving guns in peoples' faces, especially after invading their castle, they tend to think "well, I've got to get me a gun". Human history is chock full of examples that people will always eventually rise up against a police state.
Wake up ! You are being used by the Aristocracy to protect their continued freedom to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and huge financial crimes that have already bankrupted this Nation. By attempting to stifle dissent and our attempts to bring the criminals in public office to justice you are aiding and abetting criminal activity and you are obstructing justice. You are becoming the criminals and you lose your authority, you become part of the problem. Then all you have is your guns.. need I tell you to count your numbers and then count ours ?
The crimes of this US administration are so heinous and the failure of Congress to fulfill it's constitutional mandate to rectify the situation is so outrageous that ALL citizens should be taking to the streets to demand action to bring the criminals to justice. AND WE WILL.
Will you be on the side of the Constitution and the Law or will you prostitute yourself to the criminal enterprise that occupies the White House and certain sectors of Congress ?

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Amy is being interviewed live on Thom Hartmann's show live right now 12:15 pm, Tuesday

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“I don't believe in 'My country right or wrong'. My country wrong needs my help.”

— Peter Halsten Thorkelson


“In totalitarian countries, truth is systematically sacrificed in the struggle for victory. But in a democratic state, a concern for truth must be sacred: The very foundations of the regime are at stake.”

— Tzvetan Todorov

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It is clearly evident that the media coverage of the two party system drives the illusion that by voting "we make the choice" and have to live with the results of a corrupt system.

Within the stadium not one Propagandist politician dare address the fascism being played out in the surrounding areas. Not one , not Obama, and certainly not McCain even touches on what is happening.

This brings my view to question the validity of the candidates, specifically Obama, and for obvious reasons not McCain.

That validity is simply this:
If Obama (after being elected!) doesn't impliment immediate reversal of the so called Patriot act and all FICA and
military commissions act as well as the
reinstatement in writing of Habeas Corpus, then to
open a new indepth investigation into 911 ands well as
have Carl Rove brought in as has been made so by the Congress.

Then too impliment immediate idictment of GWB and Cheney and Rummy, and Roberto Gonzales, Rice George Tenent and the rest of the corruptive fabric of the republican party.

Then the whole idea of democratic system is a shame.

I do pity these dumb asses because the rest of their lives will be lived under high securtity body gards and the idea of freedom that they might have is their denial of the illusion they have painted for themselves as well as the rest of the world.

SO for those of you that think Obama is the so called "Change" you are hoping to see , if the new administration does "move-On without making the criminals in the current administration Accountable for everything from war crimes to the breaching of the Constitutional foundation this country "was" suppose to be based on then screw you all and the country completely.

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Recall that little government prohibitionist program we endorsed called the "War on Drugs?"
The sole casualty was the 4th Amendment.
Over the span of a few decades--thanks to Nixon's appointees and beyond--so many exceptions were carved to the 4th Amendment that "they swallowed up the rule." So good-bye illegal search and seizures and detentions.
Good-morning, corporate America.
Recall: none of _our_ rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is self-executing. We have to go to court to vindicate these rights, and we have to stop electing politicians who display an on-going contempt for our Rights.
I know where Republicans, neo-cons, and Corporocrats stand on our Bill of Rights and _any_ human rights, for that matter (the 2nd Amendment excepted).
The real shock came when Obama voted to give immunity to phone companies who had disregarded our rights of privacy. So that's where he stands on our 4th Amendment rights.
The point is: elect candidates who take a dim view of arbitrary searches and police brutality. Recall those in office who don't.
Were I a St. Paul resident, I would ask for an immediate recall of the mayor, councilpersons who endorsed this move, and fire the chief of police.
One final point: Corporations and bankers who profit from these actions are laughing all the way to the bank on this one.
When police "misbehave," nothing happens to the cops' pensions or salaries. Oh, at worst they get fired. And why waste that valuable training and a proven man willing-to-follow- orders? They get a job at a police department elsewhere...
And, by the way, not a penny from a lawsuit comes from the mayor's pocket, either. The city/government "pays." It's _our taxes_ that pay for it.
So think about it: We pay to get screwed (taxes to fund and arm police); then pay _again_ to fight and settle lawsuits for "our agents' " ham-fisted tactics...
Government under corporate candidates, what a concept!

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Putting journalists in jail is SO RUSSIAN!

Amy Goodman is one of the best journalists in America and I love her for her courage.

This should be all over the MSM but of course it is not.

Sorry to be pessimistic, but this is another nail in the coffin folks.

The entire "security" scene in St. Paul is one of the most blatant and appalling acts of this criminal administration, and that's saying a lot. They obviously do not care that they look like totalitarians. They're ok with that, because they can get away with it due to a compliant press.

Which means that it will only escalate from here.

Full martial law, here we come.

Luv,
Granny

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And if you people don't see that yet, then I guess we'll all just be forced to suffer the consequences of our collective ambivalence, won't we?

Several million people are going to have to die, of that you can be certain. Hundreds of thousands will be "detained" and perhaps worse. I'm from Denver and spent hours watching jack-booted thugs standing at the ready, itching for an excuse to unleash the pathological violence that dwells within them.

You have no idea what kind of fucking cyborgs you're really dealing with. These people walk around with zip ties and machine guns as if it were the most natural thing in the world. These people are mechanistic thugs who, once switched on, will not stop until the streets run red with blood. They are killers first and family men and women second. They have been brainwashed and know no loyalty to anyone except their immediate supervisors. And those men only answer to god knows who.

And here's the really good news, tens of thousands more PTSD-enhanced robots will be returning from Iraq to take up the soon-to-be created positions of authority (law enforcement, special ops, FBI, etc.) I look for a new spin-off of the Dept. of Homeland Security in the coming months. How sadistic do you think people who have been slaughtering civilians with high tech weapons will be? They've acquired a taste for killing and they won't see one goddamn iota of difference between you and "hajji".

Enough with the peaceful protest/pacifistic shit. Yeah, it worked in Colonial India, that doesn't mean it will work here. Alternet is being monitored as are your phones and emails. The British couldn't follow your car from outer space with a Lockheed Martin satellite. KNOCK OFF THE NOSTALGIC BULLSHIT!! Time to get real about a few things:

1. American fascism is here to stay - whether it's under the auspices of McCain or Obama. The Corptocracy will not go quietly into the night. They have far too much invested in the status quo. If Obama tries to dismantle the system, they'll dismantle his head with a 7.62mm bullet.

2. Weakness will be met with increasingly vigorous and violent responses. The American govt. is rife with bullies, and if they detect the odor of fear in the air, they'll simply swing the nightstick with ever more fascist zeal. You'll also notice how we shy away from armed confrontation with Russia or China.

3. There will be horrendous bloodshed initially, but once a few dozen politicians (their families included), hedge fund managers and bankers have been sniped, strung up or decapitated, shit will start to work itself out in one hell of a hurry. The rich are none too interested in having their heads separated from their bodies.

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It is interesting in that the Code Pink person was arrested after questioning a police tactic, then being pushed to the ground by club. The arrest came because she was talking to reporters about it.

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Most Americans think if you're arrested, you must have done something wrong, even when the "wrong" is simply questioning a "peace" officer.

As we expand our prisons, our Dept of Homeland Security, our police forces, etc., we create a "standing army" that is prone to abuse its power, especially when most Americans see this army as making them "safer."

What we really need is a candidate who's willing to downsize our military, eliminate Homeland Security, and change our approach to law and order from merely catching and warehousing.

But no mainstream candidate dares to speak such words ....

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No one can get anywhere without non-violence at the root of protest and remember violence can simply be verbal. We have to realize that situations like these have strong primal territorial and tribal roots. Everyone does things they would not ordinarily do when in these situations but violence only turns a cause into a conflict with it's own agenda. The cause gets lost in the scuffle. The police are there to project power and it isn't personal, they take on the authority of civil control similare to our military around the world. Reacting to it aggressively gives them the chance to unleash themselves. Peaceful protest means peaceful protest in attitude as well as action. Violence generates further hatred and comes back again regardless of which side resorts to it. The biggest danger to peaceful protest however is the presence of provocateers so you have to be careful not to follow someones actions, you may be being duped. Also if the confrontation is not peaceful both side may actually be trying to provoke the other to do something violent for one reason or another.

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This is a typical response from "Law Enforcement" officers to inquiries about this incident (& others like it):

"When people decide to gather in public, they're violating the law, they're in violation of civil order. If you do that, you deserve anything an officer gives out. Press are not special." --LA Sheriff Deputy

"These people need to understand this is America. You wanna protest, you pay a lobbyist, that's the only legal way to express yourself. If you don't you'll get stomped." --LAPD officer

"These journalists are from the liberal media. They need to know their place. If you're in a war zone, you can't expect special treatment." --Ventura County Sheriff Deputy

Only three but of the 102 inquiries made where responses were given, these were the most typical.

So pay attention 'Merkins... the cops don't see you as citizens or their neighbors or friends. You are the Enemy. Period.

That is all, go back to your throw-ball and beer...

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if it's used to support benevolence.

This is one of the underlying hidden themes of what her and her ilk sell to the devoted. The objections to violence in these comments are hypocritical if written by anyone who believes in governemnt solutions to problems of society.

How else are these solutions implemented if not by the use or threat of use of violence?

If you really believe violence can be used altruistically, then please, don't complain when that legalized power corrupts; unless of course you have some insight into some recent major change for the bettor in human nature.

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Let us try to live up to our progressive name and think of something more creative than the caveman force tactics of the repressers to solve the challenges we currently face. What good to win the battle if it requires turning into what we loathe?

We have legal and constitutional recourse that we should avail ourselves to before we lose them entirely. One of them is to author, sponsor and force a vote on new constitutional amendments. Off the top of my head and to serve as a starting point for discussion, I suggest these two:

1. Corporate Patriotism Amendment
Be it amended that no company or corporation shall seek to make profit from supplying any materials or services to the Armed Forces of the United States of America during time of war, declared or undeclared, in which American troops are engaged in armed conflict in any foreign land or region. Violation of this amendment will be a crime of treason and the punishment for violation will be death. It shall be the sole and full responsibility of the ownership of any private company or the board of directors of any public company to ensure compliance with this amendment and those same will bear the sole and full penalty for any failure to comply. It will be the responsibility of the GAO to verify compliance.

(Pass that, and we will never be involved in a shooting war anywhere ever again. Gen. Smedley Butler was 100% correct when he famously said "War is a racket." And, should it ever actually be a necessity to enter into war, is it really too much to ask those who do not fight to give up their profits when it is not too much to ask our sons and daughters to give up their lives?)

2. Protection of the Free Press
It being recognized that a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of a free and democratic society, be it amended that no organization whose function and purpose is dissemination of news may be owned, operated or controlled by any individual, group or commercial entity who is engaged in any other occupation or commerce other than journalism.
The penalty for violation of this amendment will be forfeiture, without compensation, of all holdings in and assets of the journalistic organization involved.

(Thomas Jefferson never tired of warning of the dangers of for profit corporations to any free society. I can't believe anyone is surprised that MSM isn't covering protest demonstrations, much less being willing to cover Amy's arrest. They know they are not journalists, just corporate lackeys. But they love their cushy and prestigious lifestyles and fat pay checks. And they know the internet and people like Goodman are a real threat to their gravy train.)

Of course it would take people with far higher legal and writing skills than my own humble abilities to properly frame these. But the intent would be to cast them in such a way as to use the very brainwashing that the neocon corpocracy has instilled in the unwitting masses against them. Phrase them so the very same knee jerk reflexes they have carefully conditioned in the sheeple work in our favor.
So that the cons can not fight them without blowing their own flag waving, democracy lovin' cover.

Just a thought.

And here's another thought. They have to import law enforcement from far and wide (states away apparently) to keep the lid on a few thousand, 99% peaceful, demonstrators? My my. They best hope we can find peaceful resolutions to our grievances, or they are in a world of hurt. And they know it.

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File your complaints here. Please call, write and email them. Amy Goodman has dedicated her life to journalism and now is the time to give back to her.

Attorney's Office
Saint Paul, MN 55102
Phone: (651) 266-8710


Mayor's office

390 City Hall
15 W. Kellogg Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55102
Phone: (651) 266-8510
Fax: (651) 266-8513

Comment page

https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69

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What the F is suspision of rioting . Are they NOT sure whether there is a riot going on ? It would be laughable if it weren't so serious . Where is the right to peacefully assemble ? apparently it is confined to some out of sight Free Speech Zone . No wonder they think eveything is fine they are never allowed to see those who might disagree with them .

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http://www.infowars.com/?p=4297

Somebody with a sac(and arguably crazy like a fox) willing to take action. I watched this like a dozen times with a tear in my eye. Call me a softy...

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The deffinition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again expecting a different result. There is no different result we are still answerable to a slave driven economy. What constitutes involuntary servitude? For me it is slavery to a job that is not of my making under a governance that does not represent Me nor my family, friends, Relatives, or even my enemys but only a few elite political hacks at the top of the pyramid.

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So if the police are breaking the law grievously, who do you turn to? Do Americans have to begin vigilantism against the police in places like St Louis like the patriots that fought the armed redcoats? I was never one to tie the 2nd amendment to individual arsenals in civilized cities, however St Louis is not, IS NOT a civilized city. If the people have no legal redress against uniformed goon squads, should the citizens sit by or decide on other means to protect their rights.

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While it may be a weak response, there should be a massive lawsuit under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It's currently in 42 USC Chapt. 21, Sec. 1983ff. This post-Civil War law was written to protect freed slaves from criminal acts by local authorities. The fact that we still have to use it may argue against its efficacy, at the very least individuals who violate rights could be hauled into the court of public opinion.

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Who ordered the FBI, police, and Blackwater (if that's who they were) to act the way they did?

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When Bill O'Reilly's info-tainment is considered journalism and real journalists like Amy, Nicole and Sharif are thrown in jail, it's a clear indication that our society's values are way out of whack.

Consumerism, corporatism and media-ism have destroyed the American public's ability to distinguish between journalism and media.

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Quote "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Quote "One man with a gun can control 100 without one..."

Quote "Fascism is capitalism in decay."

Quote "Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot."

Paraphrase "A man willing to use a gun in cold blood against civilians is rare indeed. One need only find 100 such men and he can control an entire people."

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There was a law that has been on the books for a very long time- I think it is called “Possee Contanimus”. This is one of the fundamental laws that Bush has removed by executive order. Basically it says that the military cannot be used as a police force. In Denver, the police behaved like policemen. In Minnesota, they did not. There was something very un-police-like about what happened there. Policemen know better than to manhandle reporters- especially ones with cameras. In Denver- the police surrounded the crowd- and let the people who wanted to leave. They only arrested the ones that stayed. In Minneapolis, the arrests started BEFORE anything had happened. The whole town turned into one big lockdown zone. Then the level of force used was orders of magnitude higher. People were corralled and then everyone was arrested- even the ones that followed police orders. It is hard to believe that the police there was comprised of local Minneapolis forces. I think we have seen in the RNC the first violation of the use of the military (Blackwater) in a civilian situation.

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