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TechnoratiPolice Raid RNC Protest Sites in Twin Cities
Ramsey County authorities conducted raids across Minneapolis and St. Paul Friday and Saturday as a pre-emptive strike against disruptive protests of the Republican National Convention.
![[St. Paul police officers attempt to gain entrance to a house on Iglehart Ave. Saturday. Sara Coffey with the National Lawyers Guild was stopped outside the house, handcuffed and detained. She helped police negotiate with those inside. (David Joles, Star Tribune)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/0831-01a.jpg "0831-01a.jpg")
Five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.
In a statement Saturday morning, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the St. Paul raid targeted the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group he described as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists...intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention."
"These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said. Deputies seized a variety of items that they believed were tools of civil disobedience: a gas mask, bolt cutters, axes, slingshots, homemade "caltrops" for disabling buses, even buckets of urine.
But the raids drew immediate condemnation from activists and St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, whose district includes the former theater at 627 Smith Avenue South, which was rented by activists as a gathering space.
"This is not the way to start things off," Thune said Saturday morning. "This is sending the wrong message. Regardless of how you feel about these people...they had a right to be there."
On Saturday afternoon, law agents surrounded 951 Iglehart Av. in St. Paul where members of I-Witness Video, a New York-based group that monitors police conduct during protests, were staying. They were detained and handcuffed but eventually freed without charges.
At a news conference Saturday, Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of the protest groups, described the Friday raid and an earlier one Thursday that evicted a demonstrators' camp on Harriet Island as "terrorism" intended to divert attention from issues the protest groups are raising and cast the news as police versus protestors.
Thune was especially critical of Fletcher for taking action within St. Paul city limits.
"I'm really ticked off...the city is perfectly capable of taking care of things," Thune said. "If they had found anything that could have been used to commit a crime they would have arrested somebody."
165 Comments so far
Show AllIt's official. We are living in a police state run by both Democrats and Republicans.
What has happened in this country and around the globe in
terms of population surveilance has been conducted by gov-
ernments for along time. While not a technological genius
myself, the hoarding of knowledge/information toward those
who tow the corporate/government line-never questioning un-
fair or unjust laws, rules, or actions of government is the
best way of surpressing dissent amoung the so-called crude
masses.
When one questions the malevolent money-controlled totalita-
rian, then the lies that destroy you will be inescapable.
Government isn'r fully transparent when the simple act of pro-
test can prompt brutal police action without solid prima facie
evidence to secure a legal warrant.
Just because one chooses disagrees with the status quo, dosen't
mean their beliefs are illegal, immoral, unethical, or insane.
It's being tagged with an aforementioned unjustifed label that
lead individuals and groups to protest their government.
I personally, don't give a flying coitus if a group or individ-
ual agrees or disagrees with me. As long as that group or indi-
treated me with the same non-violent civility that they would
damm well want for themselves, we have no problems. I'm not look-
ing for approval in all the wrong places.
I hope all the bullies who believe in this socially acceptable,
but illegal form of violence toward dissent die of the same col-
lateral damage that occured to the Native-Americans, African-Ame-
ricans, and Japanese-Americans. The same collateral damage that o-
ccured to the Iraqis civilians and countless others in this world.
Wishing for someones physical demise isn't illegal and dosen't con-
vey intent to commit an act of violence. So, this government can take
FISA, the Patriot Act, and all of their other predetory legistslation
and shove it so far up their ass, that they shit murderous lies for
the rest of their life. No more politeness to murders. Fuck You and
fuck whomever taught you to act perniciously toward decent people.
All these raids and I still don't see any one asking the right questions. "What are they afraid of from peaceful protesters?", "Why do they want to protest? What's wrong?", "If we don't want them to protest ____ event, why don't we listen to their concerns first?" It especially saddens and infuriates me that the police willingly go along with it. They have far more in common with those they are detaining than those who bidding they are doing.
Police are just public employees, like so many other State Workers. In the new Fascist system, however, the police are treated as the favored child. Usually these are people who probably had zero power as real children and now as adults strive for power and are currently being given everything at the expense of other State agencies. In this case, in recent budget cuts in CA., all State employees incomes were to be reduced to the Federal minimum wage until the politicians could balance the budget. However, Police and all other arms of Law Enforcement were to retain their regular wages throughout the crisis. In an age of Budget-cuts, The police are given fancy equipment and lots of immunity. As social agencies close there is a correlation to the increased need for law enforcement. Sig Heil!
Indeed, Herbalist. What could they possibly be protesting? I have always been particualrly confused by the harrassment of people whose mission it is to feed hungry people. Feeding hungry people has been considered revolutionary for some time now, apparently. That is WHAT Food Not Bombs does. They feed hungry people. The other things they do are to give homeless and disenfranchised people a place to meet and be a part of a community. They are radical BECAUSE they meet a community need? AHA! They also provide free reading materials to help empower marginalized people.
UCPD and Feds Raid Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley
Wed Aug 27 2008 (Updated 08/29/08) UCPD And Feds Ransack Berkeley Activist Community Center
On August 27th at around 10:30am, 5-6 police officers from three agencies made their way into the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, broke down every door, and confiscated all computers on the property. Computers taken included those used by the Slingshot Collective and East Bay Prisoner Support. Police also broke into cabinets, cut locks, and went through mail.
People arrived after being informed of the situation, and demanded that the police show a warrant. The police said they would show one once they were done, and they did. Both CopWatch and The Berkeley Daily Planet were there to cover the incident. The raid was conducted by the UC Berkeley Police, Alameda County Sheriff, and the FBI. The police stated that the computer equipment "may have been used to commit a felony." This is the first time there has been a raid since the infoshop opened 15 years ago.
That is Startling, mimrevolution. I have been to the Berkeley Long Haul on many occasions when they were doing their usual service of feeding the low income hungry people of Berkeley. There is also a free reading room. Meals are cooked there daily for Food Not Bombs. Wtf? Dennis Kucinich was right, "Wake Up America!"
If these groups were a threat, the authorities could have overtly kept track of them. They had enough police and military personnel. Intimidation should enrage EVERYONE.
Of course it should. One of the major reasons that it does not is that the norm has been shifting so radically. Political norms are reflected (and also established) in the boundaries of permissible discourse.
The "war on terror" is a war on dissent, far worse than any "red scare" of the past because it is justified by unconstitutional legislation that neither candidate opposes. Here is a stark reminder that our constitutional republic is in meltdown mode. This is a good time to read Noami Wolf's "The End of America" if you haven't already.
www.renovationpress.com. WYSIWYG
Naomi Wolfe...Brilliant Intellectual...
Advice to Gore...Wear Earthtones and be an Alpha Male...c'mon
I think that both parties are pushing to get Obama elected. Why? I think it is to fool the American people into thinking that they still have a real choice as to who runs this country and that their vote still counts . WRONG!
This is absurd to the extreme, but..the only reason I can think that both parties woudl do that is that, the US is SO messed up fro teh 8yrs of neo-cons, that whoever wins is going to have a catastrophe on their hands that wil take more than one term to clean up!
May I ask what you are basing that little gem on?....
McCain has a better than average chance of beating Obama
McCain is a true Moderate....Sarah Palin is a true reformer...against a Guy with the thinnest resume' in Presidential History...who made us wait a breathless week to announce...Joe "Hairplugs" Biden?...color me underwhelmed
If my primary choice was Obama...Hell...I'd look at Nader/Mckinney too
(But I assure you...I am going to run, not walk, to pull the handle for McCain)
The moderate McCain of 2000 wouldn't even vote for himself in 2008. What has Palin reformed? And you should know that the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, served only two years as a congressman from Illinois before becoming president in 1860. That's less than Obama has been senator (elected in 2004).
May I suggest you read some history which you will find in something called a BOOK which you can buy at BOOKSTORE or check out at your local LIBRARY. That might require you to leave your TV tuned to Fox News but you can get a toilet-load of Limbaugh on your radio along the way.
hahahah
McSame is whatever McSame needs to be today go grab the Oval Office...he is an Alzhiemers riddles chameleon with zero morals but HUGE ego and ambition. Palin is a corrupt McMilf who lied her very first statement on the national stage, about the bridge to nowhere that she SUPPORTED.
If Palin was injured in a car accident tomorrow, McSame would have another clueless ultra right wing she-devil clone of her to take her place in a heartbeat..just like he did with his dying wife (the sick bastard)
Someone had better pull the handle for McSame..I doubt his Mr Burns-like arms can pull it for himself
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
snowwolf...WAKEUP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!!!!!!!!
Wide awake...had coffee...Voting for McCain
need I say more.......
The police used to arrest after the act. How the hell they knew what protestors were up to do is beyond sanity. Then again, the US police are used to shoot first, then ask questions.
Patriot Act and FISA--thank you , both parties of brown shirts!
ST. PAUL -- An anarchist group threatening to crash the Republican National Convention has taken to the airwaves. Ironically calling themselves the “RNC Welcoming Committee,” members of the group shared plans to wreak havoc during the RNC. Their plans include blocking bridges into St. Paul.
Those plans, called “Swarm, Seize and Stay,” call for members to try and cut off convention-goers and delegates from the arena.
Stoopid Stoopid Stoopid....I promise this does not demonstrate the intellectual superiority of your arguments
Of course, upon hearing the news of the events at Lexington and Concord, King George probably had a similarly stupid and closed minded view of events too...Great company you keep, Wolfie....
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Oh...you're Revolutionaries?...How Cute
Did it ever occur to you that they might have had someone undercover in there and were trying to prevent a tragedy?
This is a Presidential Convention...you don't think they are using every security measure known to the trade?
You guessed correctly--there was a spy. Are they in here? Hello? DNC--THANKS for FISA
Snowmutt retorted:
"you forgot the Caltrops....
I have several pair in my Garage...next to the Snow Chains"
What? Two pieces of re-bar welded together? Who cares? Maybe they're tripods for construction. Maybe they are metal shop projects. Welcome to the imaginary dog-eat-dog "Call of the Wild" world of Snowwolf and his "United Police States of America."
You mean after tearing the house apart and looking for kiddie porn, this is all these storm troopers could come up with?
Gardening tools and some re-bar? No Drugs? No Guns?
Man, you are one sick pup Wolfie to allow citizens to be harassed in this fashion for saving your pathetic azz from despotism.
I think you should move to North Korea. You would fit in better there. They don't let you have pointed objects in your garage or meetings; and you should feel safe at night under the watchful iron boot of Little Kim; your hero.
I'll be in the kitchen microwaving some popcorn and waiting for the upcoming hilarity
There's the real issue. You approve of an offense against liberty because your perceived political opponents are the victims, not you.
This is the attraction of neoconservatism. It taps into an inchoate rage among the weak-willed.
Neo-liberal fascism is what it is--and it is MORE frightenign , because you believe that you can somehow trust these people more. Perhaps we have seen the enemy and he is us.
As if it really makes any difference, you intellectual urchin, "neo-liberal" and "fascism" are two mutually exclusive terms. Putting them together makes as much sense as saying "pro-semitic nazi."
So what's your best example of this "Neo-liberal fascism" ?
Namaste
Snowwolf studdered:
"Ramsey County sheriff's deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today."
A machete, hatchet and several throwing knives
a gas mask and filter
Empty glass bottles
Rags
Flammable liquids
Homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)
Metal pipes
Axes
Bolt cutters
Sledge hammers
Rapelling equipment
Kryptonite locks
Empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields
Material for protective padding
An Army helmet.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Snowmutt, you idiot, you just described every garage in America!
you forgot the Caltrops....
I have several pair in my Garage...next to the Snow Chains
and its stuttered not studdered
Uh-huh. And therefore the right to peaceably assemble may be infringed when the target has different political opinions than yours.
C'mon Dude...I am cueing you up to agree with Me...and I'm getting the impression you don't
if one of these Kids gets hurt...its on you...not me
(Evidently Churchill got it right)
"A young Conservative has no heart, an old Liberal has no head"-Winston Churchill
if you truly ARE a professor then I assume you've read my previous posts....
They most definitely have the right to peaceful assembly and redress of grievance...please point out where I said they do not
they DO NOT have the right to destroy things that DO NOT belong to them
are you saying they do?....I don't recall that one in my copy of the Bill of Rights
"they DO NOT have the right to destroy things that DO NOT belong to them"
Wow I wish that the Republicans, Democrats, and Corporate executives would take your advice...
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Yeah, I read your lip service to the rule of law. I also read your excusal of its naked violation. That fig leaf fell off.
Preventive arrest is the issue here. When actual destruction of something occurs, we'll talk about it then. Right now we're at the level of thought crime, making your position more aligned with the Soviet Union, Mao, etc..
I hate to break it to you, but my dad has most of the items on that list just hanging out in the garage -- axes, machete, army equipment... hell half the stuff they found they probably dusted off in some far corner of the basement.
Notice, it doesn't say how many they found too. Saying that someone has empty bottles, flammable liquid and rags sounds, well, inflammatory, but my guess is that probably about 50% of commondreams readers have all those items in your house right now too.
And since when is a gas mask a potentially violent item? It's completely obvious that it's only use for protection, when the police attack protesters.
And, I'll add, I consider myself a pacifist, but lets get real - if you think that the American fascist war machine is going to be disassembled, and all of our troops returned home from Iraq without so much as breaking a window, then you've really got a screw loose.
Right on...
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Man, I cant WAIT for these lawsuits..... the politicians of Ramsey County are gonna look like Prince in his old old assless pants after the lawyers are though with them....LOL
those brownshirts "cops" were partying like its 1939..oh yeah!
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
rumiluvMartin Luther King, in his second to last speech before the FBI killed him stated that the most important right (yeah i wrote it down at the time) is the right to protest for rights. Now Namaste is absolutely right that our anger must be transformed into love. And, then that love must become nonviolent action. The seminal book of what we're up against (especially Obama; & what helps explain some of his disappointing positions) is James W. Douglass' JFK and the UNSPEAKABLE, Why He Died and Why It Matters. JFK chose universal love and brotherhood over the cold war and nuclear obliteration. For that, he was killed by the CIA, as was everyone who might testify, unless they buckled under to fear. This book must be read and spread as widely as possible to, along w/our actions, to pressure Obama ( counterpressure th $ from the right(wrong). JFK, as Obama is now, was constantly facing fire from the right (& th mainstream media, tho now it's much worse). So, vote for Obama and keep up your activism, then upstart it. Advice to Obama, promise Nader voice/accsess to his adminisration.
I hate to say this, because I am largely with you--but--you are way off on JFKs record-I loved him , but he got us 1000x more involved in Vietnam. MLKJ had quite aq few faults. To say the least. MY POINT IS, that , whenever you set someone up (like I feel many people are doinG WITH oBAMA)to be your savior--they will ultimately fail. Obama cannot make world peace, end race prob. in the US, etc. amd I think it is disengeuous of some in the DNC to assert that he can or will.
Thank you ___ r u m i l u v ___ August 31st, 2008 10:02 pm
for re-affirming our destiny ( and/or choice to die ).
Namaste
"JFK chose universal love and brotherhood over the cold war and nuclear obliteration"
He did?
I kinda remember being afraid we were going to die that day during the Cuban missile crisis. But we didn't. I know Kennedy was part of precipatation, but was he part of the solution?
Joe
Yes.
Evidence suggests that Oswald was working for J. Edgar -- under direction from JFK -- to discover evidence to dismantle the CIA.
Can you imagine a more powerful method to tell J. Edgar that the CIA was "off-the-table", than to frame his lead undercover operative ( working under JFK's orders ) as the JFK assassin ? ( Talk about placing the horse's head under the blanket )
Do you remember how our military flew over Cuba, after provocations had already escalated ? That was similar to the aearlier "Bay of Pigs Invasion", as both were movements against JFK's self-consistent position ( which was to destroy the out of control CIA ).
Namaste
Well, I guess I'm behind the times. I thought it was quite clear from the evidence that Kennedy was involved in planning and executing the Bay of Pigs invasion (over the objections of the CIA.) We certainly know that Kennedy stated that he would much prefer a dictator such as Trujillo to a Communist such as Castro.
But the "universal love and brotherhood" is really too much. Kennedy increased military assistance to Saigon throughout his term, was probably instrumental in bringing about the assassination of Diem, and authorized terrorism against the civilian population in South Vietnam including the use of napalm.
Then why did he directly order the termination of promised air support, in the middle of the landing / invasion, that directly lead to the death of most of the participants on the exposed beaches ?
Why did he do that, if he supported them "all the way" ?
THe CIA has had its way with truth for fifty some years, and I doubt just everything that they've ever said. Their profession is to make the truth appear a lie, and lies appear the truth.
As far a being "behind the times", one can read all sorts of varieties of history, and a real scholar may still discover many places ( far too many ) where the "official" record is inconsistent and contrived.
Namaste
I'm certainly not defending the CIA which has been and is an odious institution. However, it is not the official CIA version of history nor that of their lackeys that I read if I can help it. To say that they've changed all the official records and made numerous historians (and witnesses) into bumbling fools is not very convincing.
The thing about making Kennedy into some kind of a saint is an exercise in convenience, not in truth. He was a cold warrior who didn't hesitate to order assassinations and, as I mentioned, terrorization of civilian populations. It is true that he (or his advisors) also had other, more peaceful, plans to spread the wonders of U.S. corporate culture. The Peace Corps, for example, was one way to prepare cultures for life under the umbrella of global capitalism while benignly (it would seem) destroying local cultures.
As far as ordering the termination of air support...could be Kennedy's incompetence which has also been widely documented.
I should have read on--you made my point SO much better than I. LOL I'm not all that articulate--but, if I tell you I'm going to do somethng--I will!
KDelphi -- You write your posts in your own inimitable way, and I look forward to them with pleasure.
The cowards Bush and Cheney are no doubt relieved , and the convention organizers are relieved that the destroyers of Brand Republican won't be sullying their "festive" occasion in St Paul. The convention delay is either craven and cynical, or a feint before the next sucker punch. Internal Republican polling may have them wondering if it's time to put an end to what's left of this messy Democracy business. They have all their ducks in a row for declaring martial law, and all they need is an incident to "legitimize" it. FASCISTS ARE REPUBLICANS IN A HURRY! Or maybe the neocons will all just move to Dubai with Cheney. We should be so lucky.
I heard Nazi Germany started out this way.
Actually, Nazi Germany started out with thuggish protesters (called "Brownshirts") battling the police and established political parties in the streets.
Same ol same ol.
You can bet that the __powers-that-be__ had a large portion of responsibility in making that happen and grow.
You absurdly make it appear as if it were some emergent human rights grass-like movement, when it was an orchestrated, hierarchical, and violent power grab ( from an elected gov't ), of which USA financing by Prescott Bush ( shrub's grandpa ) and many Wall-eyed St. bankers were a crucial element. They had the lovely situation of profiting from both sides of the war to be, while simultaneously aiding the USA out of the depths of our "Great" Depression.
Was it worth it -- in no way shape or form !
Namaste
Dude, WHAT are you going to do when Bush leaves office? Who will you hate? Who will you have to blame EVERY problem in the world on? Sheesh, get a life.
Who is blaming every problem in the world on Bush? I believe folks blame specific problems his administration is responsible for on him... which I don't need to repeat here. I am sure you are aware of them.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Hate is as hate does.
It's you who are filled to the brim with hate, and respond to reasoned arguments with emotive dalliances.
Bush is only a recent figurehead of the cold deadly iceberg of deceit and corruption, and your pseudo-outrage hides nothing.
I imagine that you're equally as good at "life telling" as "truth telling".
Namaste
We can only hope ALL the citizens of Minnesota are as incensed as we are and take to the streets. This should be the trigger.
Will Barack Obama criticize these gestapo tactics? No. ( and the sad thing is, he's a lawyer)
Barack Obama was for single payer before he came out against it.
Seems to be this is just the vast machine working to get Obama elected. After all, why would the RNC want this kind of stuff going on, unless they also want Obama to be elected.
That sounds crazy but Bush has certainly done his part to make McCain look bad, negotiating time tables for Iraq withdrawel, negotiating with Iran, etc. And we are really a 1 party system, with 2 colors, blue or red. After 8 years of red its time for the blue to give hope and change, thats the rules. After 8 years where blue does not deliver, then it will be time for 8 years from the red to not deliver on it's promises. Wash, rinse, repeat. The fact 29 Republican congressman are leaving office means they know it's time to pass the torch to their blue colleagues.
The fact that nothing like it happened at the DNC convention, or at least it was not reported, and the fact that there has been little evidence of any protests in this country suggests it is a staged event.
As an earlier commenter mentioned, many organized protests have government agent provocateurs leading them. They are willing to take a hit ( a night or two in jail-no record) for a fee, and their followers that they gather are patsies that they set up and get hit with much harsher fines/time. This is especially the case when there is violence or a conspiracy to commit violence. This is likely the case here with this group.
Fear is a useful tool, and in this case the purpose may be to scare some people into voting for Obama, and also to discourage any "real" protests.
They might also want to test how much they can get away with. Each test becomes bolder and bolder, unless met with resistance or failure.
Today, politicians no longer promise a better life for the citizens, they simply promise to make the nightmares not so bad, in exchange for people staying asleep. Of course, for those who might dare wake up, be forewarned, the nightmare is worse than you think.
"...the nightmare is worse than you think" Is that the...American Dream?
There is no longer any America, let alone an American Dream. That is now a myth, the Dream ended in 1963, and the beginning of the end of this Dream was in 1913 when we passed the Federal Reserve Act. Today we are just selling off our assets to the rest of the world so we can be merged (this may or may not require a 3rd World War). The end of America took a bit longer than the dream, and we expired when WTO and NAFTA were passed.
On 9/11, our demise as a sovereign nation was celebrated by the global elite with the symbolism of the twin towers falling (economy) and the pentagon being hit 60 years to the day after the groundbreaking began for it's contruction. It also signalled our entry into the One World Government which basically exists today, except for a few stragglers; we just are not being told yet.
There are Americans who you elect to Congress and as president, but they are loyal only to the Globalization process and One World Government. Virtually the entire non-elected government which really runs the show are controlled by globalist institutions such as the CFR and Trilateral Commission who have one mission, One World Government (and it won't be a Democracy). The provisional government leadership are simply pawns. The real power is executed by the Shadow government, and it is global, not local.
The police state grid is global and is so extensive now that we are in effect in 1984. It's not coming, it's here, they are just in a testing phase to work out the bugs. Every piece of personal information is being collected and is sent to a centralized database. Surveillance cameras and biometric information and software to identify you based on an image from video captured in public or even at home are being installed. GPS from cell phones and your cars allow your location to be tracked. RFID's in your id cards will transmit your information. Cash will soon be eliminated and only electronic credits will be accepted to purchase anything, and credit can be placed on hold for those who break the rules and speak what must not be spoken. Your computers hard disks are searched when you are online to determine if you have unacceptable material which can then be downloaded. Offline activity is logged by keyboard loggers that are downloaded automatically. Cable boxes are being equipped with hidden cameras and microphones. Internet and telephone communications are intercepted, copied and stored. Trigger a flag and it gets reviewed by a security officer. All of these are being hooked up onto a grid of super computers and an army of agents so each individual on the grid can be tracked and monitored by the vast machine. If you want to fly, by next year airlines will have to get DHS approval for your travel. Displease the machine and you are grounded.
Of course, with this kind of power, it will be just a matter of time before they decide who can marry whom, who can have children, who can raise their children, who can go to school, who can live where and work at what job, and who should live and who should die (Stalin said if you don't work you don't eat, Mao sent the old people to Happy Homes where they were put to sleep forever).
But if you stay asleep, you can at least pretend and you can hope every 4 years, and call your leaders "shtoopid" when they execute their plans perfectly while pretending to do what they promised, and always failing due to some accident, coincidence, incompetence or just bad luck. Don't wake up, you can do nothing now. If you act like a good citizens who does not question authority, things might be ok for you. Even in Nazi Germany, Stalins Soviet Union, Maos China, those who did not think or question did ok, as long as they were the right race or religion, and read the right books and said the right things. So just forget you read this. May you have many Sweet Dreams.
yes, you are correct. this is where it is, where it is going and probably has been the case since the end of the 2nd world war. long protracted global development that favors the powerful, while recklessly disregarding the rights and welfare of the many.
if you think about it, w/ the use of aptitude tests in school and the intense observation and record keeping that occurs in schools, i'm fairly certain the local and federal minders can use markers to identify the possible political trouble makers years ahead of time.
---------------------
"Put young children on DNA list, urge police, · 'We must target potential offenders'
Teachers' fury over 'dangerous' plan"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/16/youthjustice.children
"Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to Britain's most senior police forensics expert."
(please read the entire article)
----------------------
there's a hitch, when you educate the peasants to operate the machinery (computers) required to maintain the system - you've created the lynch pin that potentially undermines the entire superstructure. our children's consciousness is our hope.
institutions arise to become something else - empire is never static, it's constantly changing.
the new global order will arise, and it will fall when the people of the earth - united (black,brown,white, yellow) - refuse to accept the conditions imposed upon them, when they fight for the basic rights articulated by documents like the universal declaration of human rights.
it will be the first global revolution (actually an amalgamation of struggles that have been occurring since we left the savanna 2 million years ago), the people will develop the humane structures after the gods of money and greed have been dethroned. it will happen, it is happening.
it will not happen at the ballot box, and it will not happen exclusively in the US, removed from the other earthlings.
we do live on one planet and it's time for us to unite w/ our sisters and brothers in darfur, in bolivia, in venezuela, in zimbabwe, in iran, in russia. it is time for us to get over our nationalist hang ups and and recognize our humanity.
we need a global government that is responsive to the people and that recognizes the truth, that we should treat others w/ love and respect.
the fascists have set up the structures - it's up to us to transform/mutate those structures into institutions that are responsive to the people of earth. (through old fashioned organizing - one to one in affinity groups, not tied exclusively to electrical networks) to make this happen...we must reform the UN, ICC, IMF, World Bank, WTO or replace them w/ a global institution that recognizes environmental concerns and the fundamental rights we all are endowed with. it's not just possible - it's actually likely.
it won't happen overnight (perhaps not in our lifetime) but a better world does await us here on earth...
the demonstrators in st paul are leading the way...
...peace...
the fundamental reason why systems cannot remain static...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism
Marx’s clearest formulation of his "Materialist Conception of History" was in the 1859 Preface to his book A contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, whose relevant passage is reproduced here:
"In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter Into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or — this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms — with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure. In studying such transformations it is always necessary to distinguish between the material transformation of the economic conditions of production, which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophic — in short, ideological forms in which men become conscious of this conflict and fight it out. Just as one does not judge an individual by what he thinks about himself, so one cannot judge such a period of transformation by its consciousness, but, on the contrary, this consciousness must be explained from the contradictions of material life, from the conflict existing between the social forces of production and the relations of production."[1]
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...peace...
a link to new surveillance technology that can be used to monitor dissent...
"New Spy Software Coming On-Line: "Surveillance in a Box" Makes its Debut
by Tom Burghardt"
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9983
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"You've heard of the FBI's "Quantico Circuit" and were outraged by illegal warrantless wiretapping by Bushist minions. To no avail, you flooded Congress with emails and phone calls, angered by the bipartisan "FISA Amendments Act of 2008" and the swell party thrown by AT&T for "Blue Dog" Democrats in Denver this week for the convention.
But just in time for a new administration (and the bundles of cash always at the ready for the expanding homeland security market), comes a complete "surveillance in a box" system called the Intelligence Platform!
According to New Scientist, German electronics giant Siemens has developed software allegedly capable of integrating
...tasks typically done by separate surveillance teams or machines, pooling data from sources such as telephone calls, email and internet activity, bank transactions and insurance records. It then sorts through this mountain of information using software that Siemens dubs "intelligence modules". (Laura Margottini, "Surveillance Made Easy," New Scientist, 23 August 2008)
New Scientist reports that the firm has sold the system to some 60 countries in Europe and Asia. Which countries? Well, Siemens won't say.
However, privacy and human rights advocates say the system bears a remarkable resemblance to China's "Golden Shield," a massive surveillance network that integrates huge information databases, internet and email monitoring, speech and facial recognition platforms in combination with CCTV monitoring.
Designed specifically for "fusion centers" or their European/Asian equivalents, the Intelligence Platform promises to provide "real-time" high-tech tools to foil terrorist plots before they're hatched (or keep tabs on antiwar/antiglobalization activists).
The latest item in the emerging "intelligent" software niche market, Intelligence Platform has been "trained" on a large number of sample documents to zero in on names, phone numbers or places from generic text. "This means it can spot names or numbers that crop up alongside anyone already of interest to the authorities, and then catalogue any documents that contain such associates," New Scientist avers."
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...peace...
What a great concept, __ M i M i C c S __ as you stated "Cable boxes are being equipped with hidden cameras and microphones. "
__ placing a personal DVR ( to pause, record, and rewind my life ),
__ inside of my TV's DVR.
Those cable folks are always so dedicated to upgrades in my service
Namaste
This might make sense if there was ANY press coverage.
CNN, NYT, etc
for every person illegally arrested and detained, ten thousand will take their place tomorrow, including me...
Don't break anything that isn't yours and I will defend to the death your right to be there
SnowWolf, you amaze me in a bad way. You try to come off as so rational and balanced and upright, but in the end you are a staunch defender of the illegitimate status quo. Your armed thugs of capital can blow the WTC, murder hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, foster war in Russia, and break into peaceful people's homes, but all you can worry about is a few windows that might break (quite possibly by agent provocateurs...) in a totally overdue protest! Somehow, you don't see the tripling of gas prices as breaking something. You don't see the groundless detention of dissenters as breaking something. You don't see the rape of Iraq as breaking something. You don't see this latest cop action as breaking something. But, oh, some grafitti on the local mercenary recruiter's office? That merits all the force of the law!
Having said that, I also strongly advise against any illegal activity. The police are obviously looking for a reason to exercise their tasers - or worse - and the last thing we want to do is give them that reason. A single tossed bottle could trigger a cop riot that will leave the protesters severely bloodied, and you can bet that the press will not blame the bullies in riot gear for what transpires.
Finally, let me again stress that protests not coordinated with organized labor action will not be effective. Alas, their current mis-leadership has the hands of labor tied! As I always conclude, it is thus the building of communist political leadership for labor that is the key to the harmonious and propserous world of the future.
Frankly you lost me at Bush blew up the WTC...
I don't generally debate "Truthers" as I've found you're all way overdue for a little "check-up from the neck-up" as they say in the biz...
(if you REALLY believe that why aren't you running, screaming for the Airport to get out of here?...I mean if he did it to them, he wouldn't hesitate to do it to you ...right?)
you have a right to protest...I also believe that everything you THINK you know is wrong...but if you want to walk around with big paper machet puppets and your "I love Fidel" sign...feel free
I will say that the people who truly ARE making a difference in this world carry M-4 carbines with laser sights and drive HMMVEE's...but if you prefer the views of Rosie O'Donuts, the World acclaimed expert in Steel Manufacture and Tensile Strength during high heat application...well...she would definitely know
Go to the protest...have fun...march...chant, achieve some new level of cosmic consciousness ...do whatever...but if it gets stoopid and the Cops deliver a facefull of Pepper Spray with an AFFF firehose and play EL-Kabong on your brain housing group assembly parts list with a riot baton....I get to say:
Told ya so
Yes, I've seen summaries of the blue ribbon committe findings on the 9/11 incident, etc. This essay is not about that incident so I will keep it brief. For anyone who is willing to take their head out of the 'can't and didn't happen here' sand for a few moments, I have two words: Building Seven.
Take a moment to listen to the Larry Silverman interview that is all over the internet, and then tell me that nothing fishy went on at the WTC. We are/were clearly lied to on that count, so the other ocean of suspicious circumstances screams out that the horrible day that made the oil magnates rich beyond comprehension came from the very top of our so-called society - which just happens to be ruled by oil men.
In a world made surreal by your heroes ,Bush and Cheney, where torture is a fact of life, where the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens and the destruction of a legally constituted sovereign nation because our President lied his ass off it is understandable when some folks are willing to accept impractical theories.
I took the time and effort to study ( from a laymans perspective of course) the construction prints of those towers, and I read the opinions of architects and engineers on the subject. As the site was Port Authority land there were waivers granted in the design and construction that did indeed lead to their demise in the fashion we saw.
But I do not fault those who draw other conclusions, after all, look inward, SnowWolf, at your own reprehensible defense of those who try to undo all that Jefferson and Madison created and understand that there are many opinions available in a truly free nation, even such as yours.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
As the site was Port Authority land there were waivers granted in the design and construction that did indeed lead to their demise in the fashion we saw
That sounds reasonable...and I believe you...a lot more than the controlled demolition scenario...
Built on unsuitable ground?...not quite to specs?...wouldn't surprise me (Look at the Leaning tower)...New York is quite a hotbed of corruption where High-Dollar real estate is concerned...
Perhaps you could clarify something for me...I have read elsewhere that originally the Steel had a protective coating that was taken off as part of an asbestos removal project...and that also affected the integrity...do you know if thats true?
Well said. { __ R e d T i d e __ September 1st, 2008 12:21 am }
Namaste
I am glad they are stopping them before anybody on either side gets hurt...you know my stand...dissent is Patriotic (though sometimes misguded) until you start destroying private property....then it becomes simply crime
You are arguing for preventive arrest. That is fundamentally at odds with our Constitution and with anybody's understanding of liberty anywhere.
Lip service to the right to dissent while advocating its opposite is hypocritical, unConstitutional, and unAmerican. I do believe you, though, when you claim to be glad.
Um...what sort of Professor are you again?...I am willing to bet its not Constitutional Law
We have undercover agents in all sorts of groups nationwide...and when they are about to pull some bad illegal stunt and we have all the evidence necessary, they are arrested and "Frog Marched" (I have NO idea what "Frog-marched" means but I've been cracking up over it since I heard Joe Wilson say it),,,Frog Marched out to the Paddy Wagon
is that not "preventative arrest"?
My professional discipline is irrelevant here, and since it's obvious what sort of student you are, I'm not inclined to divulge personal information.
"Probable cause" is history since the passage of the Patriot Act. If you're arguing for its repeal, fine. Currently, we live in an era where "all the evidence necessary" may be none at all, so your argument that yesterday's illegal COINTELPRO tactics are somehow rehabilitated for today, well, that's just wacky.
In any case, you and I and all readers here know that legality isn't the real issue here; it is rather the naked abuse of power, so that your ilk might "crack up over it" and dissent might be discouraged.
Is destroying public property OK? If as the owner of an industrial facility has some strikers killed by the police (it's happened) and the strikers respond by vandalizing the owner's precious capital, is this not a rather mild response to such an outrage?
Why is "property" more important than flesh and bone?
I don't want to see anyone hurt (on either side) or anybody destroy anything...you know you hurt your own cause when they show destruction on Television....it only makes you look like Vandals and doesn't bring anyone to your point of view
Think Ghandi and MLK
and as the Son and Grandson of Union Members yes...I know its happened...
The idea of course is to harass, harass and harass the protestors, to suppress decent and discourage people from protesting in the future..
The robo cops that carry out such tactics don’t have smarts to realize that in the end they are signing the death warrant of democracy by their actions.
Descent is the foundation of democracy.. Without it their is none.
We are fast becoming a facist state.
Yes...I'm sure it was a peaceful assembly for dissent...shame on those Pigs
"Ramsey County sheriff's deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today."
A machete, hatchet and several throwing knives
a gas mask and filter
Empty glass bottles
Rags
Flammable liquids
Homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)
Metal pipes
Axes
Bolt cutters
Sledge hammers
Rapelling equipment
Kryptonite locks
Empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields
Material for protective padding
An Army helmet.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_10344356
All charges were dropped, Snowblind, does this not speak to both the intent and the overreaction of the police? I do understand that you are an ideologue and trapped in a defense of the indefensible, a pity you are not on the side of truth and justice but defend totalitarianism instead. Its all right, though, there are many who will fight this battle for you.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
OH SH_T - Machete ( had one - chain saw worked better) - Hatchet (had one - chain saw again) Throwing knives ( bought two late 50S - Still have one - other missing but I ground the ser # off) Gas mask ( didn't they live in a hippy house?) Glass bottles ( broke over the bar - legal now) Rags ( oh sh_t) Flammable liquids. (emptied gas can out by well) Hamemade wha (can't run fast enough) Metal pipes ( hidden under sink and faucets) Axes ( see 1&2) Bolt cutters ( should be regulated and sold through bolt cutter shows) Sledge hammers ( see bolt cutters) Rapelling equipment ( sounds like rope) Kryptonite lock (They were obviously planning on locking the cops in) Plastic shields ( holloween? you might have something here) Protective padding ( see rags - It's coming all together now) Army helmet( should be outlawed worldwide)