Good Times and Bad

Theres one hell of a story over at The Minnesota Independent about a protester. First he was in a funny picture where he's laying down in front of a wall of cops, but lying down in a George Kastanza (sp? Seinfeld) trying to look sexy sorta way. It's fairly amusing. Or at least it was till the cops kicked the shit out of him later that day. He has a rather clear boot print on his back and he's scraped up from being dragged down the street. I'd like to show the pics and have a link to it. Unfortunately every time I've gone to The Minnesota Independent website today my computer has frozen. I think part of it is they're getting way more traffic than they can handle, or maybe my computer is just a POS.

I talked to my uber-right-wing-evangelical-coworker today. I try to avoid politics with her for obvious reasons. Mostly because she's not well informed, usually wrong, but shes a very nice old lady, and she keeps track of our vacation time so its best to keep on her good side. Shes the one I've mentioned wanting to tell that I'm an atheist on my last day because she does like me and that will blow her mind. She's friendly with a devil worshiper? Um, no I don't believe in that guy either. Anyway she brought up having watched Palin's speech, perfect, now I'm not the one who started it. She loved the speech, no big shock. But when she got into Palin's experience I couldn't help but laugh directly at her. She was mayor of a town a third the size of the shit hole I live in, then was govenor of a state with a population of under 700,000. Shut the fuck up. Ok I didn't say that part.

Shit shit shit, I gotta head to class and I was just getting to the part that I'm really happy about.
Go here read this! srsly.

Oh and speaking of populations I'm heading to a city with a population of about 3.5 million this weekend, its called Brooklyn, and its just one part of The City. So I won't be back till next monday most likely.
Have a great weekend and fuck the police!

Serious Business

Ha, I'm sorry but I can't help but giggle a bit when I read this comment from the Leader-Telegram.

Normal, in this case, meant downtown St. Paul was teeming with a cast of characters ranging from delegates attending to the serious business of nominating Arizona Sen. John McCain as the GOP presidential candidate to street musicians trying to cash in on the influx of conventiongoers.

Call me whatever you want but in my opinion the absolutely LEAST serious business being attended to this week is the nominating of John McCain. I'd say the the most serious folks are probably either the Cops or the Anarchists. Everyone else seems out to have fun, ok many of the other protesters are pretty serious too, but ironically the anarchists seem the best organized to really do some shit. From the little I can gather from various media sources these folks mean business and I'm not surprised at all that the cops have been targeting them. I'm surprised they wear such obvious clothing. If I was them I'd have a big white t-shirt with some protest message on it that could quickly be ripped of to change my appearance, and don't put the bandanna over your face till you start some shit, or just before. All I know is that the cops are seeing every type of nutjob you can imagine right now, most of them they know are harmless hippies and what not. Thats not an insult to hippies, they're just not a violent group, so actually thats a compliment. Then all of the sudden they see a line of folks wearing almost all black, faces covered and wearing goggles. Those folks are planning on getting pepper sprayed, watch them.

Within my circle of friends I'm the oddball, because I look so normal. I don't have tattoo's, no piercings, I don't have a mohawk, and I don't wear black that much. In the summer its shorts, a short sleeve button up shirt, and sandals. Winter its jeans, and a long sleeve button up shirt. A big part of this is because I just don't care about clothing and so what I wear to work is just what I wear. The other part of this is because by looking decent and nondescript I can get away with more. I can walk into areas I'm not supposed to be with a slight smile and a purposeful walk and no one hassles me. And that is ultimately my goal in life. Other friends want to say fuck the system, and think the best way to do that is by avoiding becoming a part of the system. They admit that they are slowly being reeled in but they do there best. I on the other hand want to embrace the system, so I can exploit the system. This country is too apathetic to revolt and change things in a major way, of that I am certain, although its possible that could change. The next best hope, is to work within the body politic to try to make changes.

So while I honestly don't think that protests are particularly effective anymore, I do think that the police over reaction can be a very useful tool for getting people riled up. So now lets take a moment and look over some actual serious business from yesterday.

Heres a photo from this slide show, and the related article in the NY Times.
Ok from this pic, thats a legit use of pepper spray, I would guess that cop wasn't knocked over, the article mentions police attempting to arrest someone and other protesters pulling the person away, I'm assuming this is that confrontation. But its still a lot of protesters and not many police around, he probably wasn't in danger per-se but I can understand the use of force in this case.
This is towards the other end of the spectrum, holy crap thats a lot of cops, and one protester who didn't run fast enough.

Heres another article, with more pics. This is either Ralph Nader's Flickr or a supporter, either way theres some pics. Some guy's pics. Another good pic, from here. Oh wow! I knew Rage Against the Machine played at the RNC (and the DNC) I didn't realize Dead Prez was there too, that would have been a great combo show, but I don't think it was, oh shit Anti-Flag too! Heres photos, and a big thank you to Neil who's photos I just linked to.
Also want to thank Neil for this great caption to his photos of the anarchists.
"Each of the anarchist that I photographed is that they all stated that they did not give thier permission to have thier photo taken. In an anarchist state, you need permission?"
I might have time to add more to this later, or start another post but right now I'm outta time!

Fuck The Police

More love from the police coming outta Denver. This time with video... goodness?

First off I hope that woman is ok.

Now lets start this off on the positive. We need police, they are an invaluable part of society. In a utopia then they would become obsolete, but we obviously aren't in a utopia, so we need to face reality and admit that we need the police. (sorry to the anarchists I left a comment with earlier) But being in that oh so very real world we cannot pretend that the police are any more utopic (I might have made that word up) than those they arrest. Occasional abuse by individual officers has to be expected when people are given power over others, they're human, but there are higher ups who's job it is to keep this at a minimum. We can argue how good they are at this another day. The problem in this case isn't an individual officer taking things too far, this is a systemic disregard for civil liberties and human rights. This is important not just for these protests but for society at large, and the police themselves too. By disregarding the law they marginalize themselves, how can they be seen as a legitimate form of Law Enforcement if they fail to follow the law themselves? If the police push too far the people will push back, the people of LA should know exactly what I'm talking about, they had a little civil unrest a while back when the police pushed too far. I honestly don't think this is going to turn into an all out riot, but I do believe that the police are hurting themselves more than the protesters (at least as a whole, some of the protesters are probably in quite a bit of pain). This might sound like concern trolling but honestly I don't want riots, I want civilized discourse, but if they want to leave us with no other options, then well some shit is going to get fucked up.

Thats the big picture take (ignoring the cosmically big picture - the cosmos doesn't care) , then theres an altogether other side of this, the small picture, the what would I do if I was there scenario. Yeah I'm a bit of a feminist, equal rights, equal pay all that shit, I mean come on how can you really try to argue against that? Men should get paid more cause... we always have? I don't know. But I was raised kinda old school, lil bit o chivalry, one of the simple ones being you don't hit girls. Maybe thats a unfair double standard, but I don't hit girls. To be fair I almost never hit anyone at all, which is also how I was raised but if you have to out of defense or protecting someone who can't defend themselves then sometimes theres no option left but a little bit of violence. Now that I think about it, I've only got a mild double standard, I'd hit a woman if left with absolutely no other option, but I'd try even harder to avoid it than I would a man. If thats a double standard then I don't care, its one I plan on keeping, and passing along if I ever have kids.

So how about if you see a man take a club or a bat and knock a woman to the ground while screaming, "get down bitch!" If another man then stepped in and punched that fucker square in the face, you know what, I wouldn't be opposed. I don't see how a title or a badge changes that.

But because I can't be easy about anything, lets flip it around again. For all I know that woman had been harassing the cop, given fair warning and told to step back or force would be used. This is why diplomacy is so much harder than violence. I have a very hard time believing that such a level of force was required, maybe she had been throwing large rocks or something, but I kinda doubt it.

So what do you think?

UPDATE: forgot the link

The First Fucking Ammendment / DNC protests

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Wanna see me get real angry? Fuck with my rights. Theres some shit going down outside the DNC that matters a whole lot more to me than the hot air coming out of the rich folks inside the DNC (although I heard Kucinich was good, from the Rude Pundit)

Ok I'm rewriting this, it was written originally with a lot of emotion and verbed versions of four letter words. Lets just take it slow, first off is the article that got me fired up in the first place. READ THIS SHIT PZ is a lot calmer than I would be if someone sent this letter to me.

Then there is the AP version of the story. Now this claims that the protesters were video taped charging the police, that does change matters significantly, then it is no longer a peaceful protest and the cops have the right to disperse it. I want to see the video.

So here is an example of a tense situation a couple days ago that did not end so badly, it gives a good idea of what the guy in the Pharyngula post was doing. It's worth a read.

And here is the same papers take on the events of that evening, while not nearly as harsh as the first account, it still sounds like the police were at fault. One important note here, eyewitness are not particularly credible, especially in an emotional situation, or when blinded by pepper spray. But if I was the guy who was pepper sprayed while trying to get to the bus, I would bring assault charges against the police. Then I'd probably want to move to a new town.

Here is a persons pictures from this event, they don't really tell much but they're interesting. Heres some pics from a person who agrees with the arrests. Pics from a protest without arrests.

A national Anarchist group, that's protesting at the DNC and other places. Apparently people are also pissed about the local secret prison, nick named "Gitmo on the Platte."

Heres some more, now this was a different event there was only one (or two) arrest. They claim the guy who was arrested hit a counter protester, if thats the case then fine, you can't hit people. The only problem being that the guy who was hit doesn't know if he was or not.

“If he hit me, I didn’t feel it,” Israel said. “But then again, I have a hard head.”

He is a bible thumper... nah that joke is too easy. Since its unclear if the guy hit him or not I'll just leave that alone. The more interesting question is the shouting match that led to the confrontation. Does freedom of speech include amplified speech? A normal shouting match is annoying and unproductive but perfectly legal and pretty much expected when you have protesters and counter protesters. But what about scouting matches with bullhorns? If I want to sit on the sidewalk with a freaking PA and scream about, well whatever, do I have that right? I'm really not sure. Then again I do know that the guy who cut the cord of bullhorn man was in the wrong, destruction of property, but should or can the cops tell bullhorn man to put away the bullhorn? Probably citing noise ordinances, or the need for the police to be able to be heard. I'm not really sure.

Heres a guys pics from this event, including the "assault" which the comments claim was friendly, a claim that I would doubt. Those two don't look like buddies, although there is a huge difference between touching an assault, it might be a loud place with bullhorn guy going, maybe he touched the other guys arm to get his attention so they could have a calm discussion, or maybe he swatted him, its a still photo. Actually in the picture both guys have there arms out almost to the other persons chest, to me it looks like people who talk with their hands, their obviously people passionate about their beliefs or they wouldn't be there, so they get going and their arms flail, lots of people do this, but who knows.

The cops did let people know what their rights are and what they can be arrested for, thats actually a really good idea. Some people think it was meant to discourage protesters but without reading the wording of it I'll just say that an outline of what will get you arrested is pretty handy. I wonder if it included walking past a protest en route to work? Theres one line in this that seems highly suspect to me,

Police are distributing a pamphlet reminding protesters of where they have a right to demonstrate but also warning them they can be arrested if they refuse a lawful order to disperse, even if they aren't breaking any laws.

So in other words the cops actually wrote a pamphlet that says you can be arrested even if you aren't breaking the law.... the founding fathers, real patriots, overthrew a government for shit like this.



Seattle Was A Riot - Anti Flag

Seattle was a riot, they tried to pin on us
But we didn't show up, with gas and billy clubs
An un-armed mass of thousands, just trying to be heard

What rights?

There was a time when the people of this nation, or at least an enraged few, cried out, "Give me liberty or give me death!" and they fuckin' meant it. They fought against the occupation of the reigning world super power, won, and wrote a constitution that expressly gave rights to the people. But the constitution is simply a piece of paper and no matter how important a piece of paper is, it alone cannot protect you. The defense of liberty is not a matter of laws it is an attitude, it is a commitment to stand up for what is right. Sometimes it means fighting a war, sometimes this means standing up for the rights of despicable people, sometimes it means telling the cops that they're breaking the law. There seems to be pathetically few people left willing to defend freedom. I'm not talking about soldiers, they are willing to risk their lives to protect freedom, although freedom has nothing to do with the risks they are taking these days. This country has sunk to the depths of apathy, today our cry is more like a whimper, "give me TV or give me pills." Where is Thomas Paine when you need him? He'd whip the shit out of our media folks. More likely he'd be working for mother jones, scraping by, unnoticed or ignored by the major media.

I pride myself on being reasonable, I don't much care for conspiracy theories. I saw a show about the moon hoax it asked interesting questions, then I went to Phil's site and found answers that were even more interesting, and sensible. The 9/11 conspiracies also ask interesting questions occasionally, but most of the answers are pretty damn obvious. So when people start saying how bad the country has gotten, I agree, but when they push too far I'm forced to say well, no it's not a fascist state yet. We don't live under martial law... well it would appear that MOST of us don't live under martial law. WTF?!?! Seriously we're trying to fix a neighborhood with M-16's? Are the dealers going to be a little more careful for the next few days? yeah. Is it going to solve a god damn thing? hell no. Especially because as the ACLU rightly points out, the searches are illegal therefore the arrest is illegal therefore those arrested are going to walk. This is part of why we are not yet in a police state. So its a stupid move because now these folks who were found with drugs and guns are going to end up back on the streets. Far far more importantly this must be challenged on the fundamental principle of the matter. People, even poor people, have fucking rights. The asshat in charge of the town may think that,

"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."

But he obviously fails to see that whither or not someone has a good reason to be out has no bearing on whither or not they have the RIGHT to be out. Not to mention that some people work late shifts and shit, something this guy probably isn't familiar with. I still don't think we live in a police state, but they are inching their way towards it every chance they get. We must fight back, we must not allow our great nation to implode, we must fight all enemies foreign and domestic, and right now I don't see any foreign threats that are even close to the threats I see domestically.

Obama and his Pastor

I'm probably not the best person to listen to this subject. I'm a white male atheist liberal Obama supporter I cannot claim to be neutral. I kept hearing about this and how anti-american it was and all that. I had pretty high expectations for these video's I mean they were being trumpeted as being quite insane. Then I watched one, and another and maybe I'm missing something but I don't get it. I mean yeah people don't take to kindly to saying that god has damned our country and should, but didn't falwell and roberston say almost the same shit, except with a whole lot more crazy? One crazy pastor says AIDS was a government conspiracy to keep the black man down the other says god made it because he hates gays, but apparently can't actually make them not gay so he creates a virus that initially runs rampant in the homosexual community but now is an epidemic in africa. Both are crazy, but at least the one has a little bit of basis in reality. As for anti-american, robertson suggested nuking Washington D.C. OK so he really just wanted a little nuke for Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood in D.C. where my sister used to live and apparently is where the state department is located, so he really just wanted to NUKE the STATE DEPARTMENT!?!?!?! Somehow that's not anti-american. Now I know the big difference here is that these two psycho's aren't preaching to to our president, but then again people who do listen to robertson now work in our government. I'm also going to link to Obama's speech, heard it was good, the rude pundit liked it anyway.

My only question left, will people now stop trying to call Obama muslim?

UPDATE: I heard a few people at work giving awkward ass opinions about this issue, they claim to like and support him but think that this is going to bring down his whole campaign. It got awkward when my co-worker said that people will think he's racist.... um... HE'S HALF WHITE!!!! Who the fuck is he supposed to be racist against? Remind me I seem to have forgotten does he hate people who look like his mom or like his dad?

Oh and as for the pastor hating america, he's a Vet, I know I know Kerry was a vet too and obviously he hated america...(birds chirping) but how about you ask Bobby Goodman if Jeremiah Wright hates americans?

Difficult Question + Florida Police = Taser

A college student had a few questions for John Kerry during a Q&A session. The first was a serious question about why Kerry conceded the day of the '04 election when there were still questions about disenfranchisement, then came a question about Impeachment of Bush, he probably should have stopped there because his final question was about Skull and Bones. So he might have put himself into the conspiracy theory realm but there is nothing illegal about that. Apparently the police thought otherwise as the proceed to apprehend the student. He failed to cooperate quickly enough with being arrested for asking a question so the police decided that for the safety of the others it was necessary to Taser this student after he was already held on the ground. He has been charged with resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace. Um he asked a question at a Q&A, how the fuck is that disturbing the peace? As far as resisting an officer, if someone tries to grab me for no apparent reason then expect them to resist. If the police had immediately said they were arresting him then they would have a legitimate point about resisting, but without the resisting they don't have a legitimate reason for arresting him. To Kerry's credit he is heard to say he's willing to answer the questions. I think if I were in his shoes I would have yelled at the cops, 1970's Kerry would have yelled at the cops, people mellow. He may have been able to do something to prevent this, but to be fair its one of those things that is so completely unexpected that I'm sure he was just stunned and unsure of what to do. I don't think they teach you this in etiquette class. So its a crazy ass incident, and the only concession I will make to the police is that the young man was uncooperative, then again anyone could see that what was needed was to defuse the situation not get physical. Fuck the police. Anyway heres the video including his questions.



And heres another one that just seems fitting.