Sorry to repeat myself, but i must say again that they are now doing in the united states what they are doing in iraq. intimidating the press so that coverage is not proper and information about policing actions is under control.

They shot a news cameraman in iraq because his camera looked like a bazooka, they said. They tank shelled a hotel known to host journalists. lots of instances like this.

I think a good point maybe coming out of this is that it might prompt some journalists/tv stations to do more coverage of police repression, like that CBS report about the cattle cages in denver:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEc3ejHIaM

I live in canada but im quite concerned about whats going on south. Other things coming from iraq: mercenaries deputized during the katrina mess in NO.

Im sure other people can come up with other worrying resemblances between military actions abroad and repression inside the united states.

I heard that they are now using CONCUSSION GRENADES. This must stop. These are American citizens, and this is my country. If this is not stopped now, and a deafening silence remains…we are then leaving the door open for a more dangerous, unnecessary and unconstitutional use of excessive force.

Like ants coming through the crack in the wall, if this is not squashed now, a beachhead will have been established and precedent will have been set. There will be no strength of authority left to change this lawlessness of a government out of control.

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

AMENDMENT l

Congress shall make no law respecting and 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 the redress of grievances.

Act like a-holes and you get treated like a-holes. It's as simple as that.

Average Americans will never know or care that this happened. As an experiment the other day in a public park I wore a T-shirt bearing the phrase "Bush Lied - They Died" in large print, plus in much smaller print the names of 4,100 soldiers who died so far. Note however that because the names were so numerous, they had to be in such small size print that no one noticed that they were there. They simply appeared as a blurred background. Anyway, I really wasn't perpared for people's reaction. I had honestly thought that Bush's lies were so much a part of the public record that everyone knew about them and accepted them. My small experiment shows otherwise. I was told point blank by strangers that "No, Bush did not Lie". I was threatened. I took off the T shirt. Sorry. I'm not brave enough to do that sort of thing. What should I conclude? Perhaps America is a fascist state because average Americans want it to be so, just like average Germans in the 1930's. This website may be a refuge for the few who think otherwise, but it is not a reflection of the sentiment of the country. And you want to know the really sad part? I live in Boston, birthplace of the American Revolution and supposedly the capital of democratic thinking in America. Words cannot express the deep, profound shame that I feel for the country in which I live.

Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."

To twelvepax: I've never read such conflicted, confused gibberish in my life. Go tell your momma she wants you--or read a book or something.

To Thomas More: To compare Amy Goodman, who sources her work and does some of the best balanced interviews in what remains of Amurkan journalism to a routinely un-sourced, lying Big Machine fascist pig like Bill O'Reilly really lowers my estimation of your intelligence relative to some of your other posts. What you offered up regarding Goodman is a slap in the face of a woman who has done and is still doing heroic journalism--most often receiving silence or open scorn from the "mainstream media." Her mistreatment by PBS' Charlie Rose when the pro-Iraq War jingoism was at its height was disgraceful. She was one of the ONLY broadcast journalists in the lead-up to the '03 Iraq invasion who covered the scientific, technical, IAEA, DOE and dissident UNSCOM weapons inspectors disputing Team Bush's bogus WMD claims.

To everyone else who posted on this topic:

The whole series of events leading up to and including these "preemptive raids" could not have happened without nationwide illegal warrantless surveillance and incestuous, POLITICAL federal-to-local police strategizing on a national scale as well. One of the first things Adolph Hitler did after securing martial law was to infra-structurally streamline and politically unify one smooth chain of information and command between the national Schutzstaffel (SS) and the local Gestapo (politicized) police. Bush Sr. (son of Nazi collaborator Prescott Bush) began this process in the U.S. with federal-to-local cross-agency meetings held in California in the early 1990s (San Luis Obispo, as I recall).

The propaganda element built into these raids was clearly also by design. They busted the "Welcoming Committee" anarchists early on and used the fear created by the laundry list of dangerous (and not so dangerous) protest equipment they publicized as a smokescreen to falsely justify the more numerous other raids on groups like the Glass Bead Collective, I-Witness, etc., who were in town as independent journalists (some with legal observers) to document how the police agencies interacted with lawful protesters. These journalistic and legal witnesses were the REAL target.

These independent journalistic "small fry" with their little hand-held cameras, laptops and cell phones may be the last line of information defense against the transformation of our country into a high-tech totalitarian State. Who else has spoken out more loudly to try to inform and, thereby, defend us against all the cost-plus high crimes and misdemeanors of the rogue Bush-Cheney maladminstration? Academe? Cable news networks? The Wall Street Journal? The New York Times? The Churches? The "Justice Department?" Amurkan Catholics of Paul Weyrich's ilk? So-called "Libertarians?" [The saddest, most silent and definitively hypocritical dolts of the lot--most of whom shiver, shake and rant like redneck authoritarians every time Team Bush or their intellectual drool bibs play the Muslim fear card.]

Most of the innocent protest groups, indy journalists and legal observers that were arrested in these raids were from out of State and were targeted before they entered Minnesota and arrested as they were still setting up and preparing for the protests. The Permibus post re this article is even more suggestive of PNT (preemptive national targeting). Call it "Driving While American." Efficient, convenient, intimidating, dilatory and effective.

The descriptions of un-uniformed men who refused to identify themselves referred to as Secret Service personnel in the jail (by corrections officers who DID identify themselves) yanking press pass credentials off reporters smacks of these "fusion center" strategies. This Brave New Secret Service is a disgrace to previous generations of Secret Service personnel to treat ANY journalists with such contempt--not just journalists of the most popular or unpopular political stripe at the time. The Secret Service has been politicized almost out of pre-2000 recognition by the Team Bush fascists. Their behavior during Bush-Cheney political rallies in the lead-up to the '04 "election" was already asinine and harshly bizarre. Arresting school teachers wearing T-Shirts that said things like, "Defend the Bill of Rights!" Gasp! How un-Amurkan!

Pathetic.

Oh yeah. I am reminded by one posting above of a 1968 conference of nationwide Underground and Alternate Press I attended in Washtenaw County on a farm outside Ann Arbor, Mich., when suddenly out of nowhere we were surrounded by a phalanx of sheriff's department people carrying shotguns (cannot recall if they were in full riot gear, with which I was then familiar).

They forced us all out to a yard near a cliff and then ordered us to separate out by sex, which reminded enough of us of the Nazis that we simply refused. Their pretext for this invasion: they were seeking an underage girl who had allegedly run away from home to be with her older boyfriend. I doubt she existed.

We all fear(ed) for our lives. In 1968, during the Nixon campaign, if the cops had massacred the Left Press outside Ann Arbor, they might have been seen as the good guys.

Be brave Amy! It is a lot worse today. We confronted them back then and "won." By no means am I sure of a similar outcome today.

-30-

As a 65-year-old former investigative journalist who covered "riots" and civil disobedience back in the 60s in at least three cities, and was tear-gassed and threatened with assassination by a police lieutenant, I smell a sea-change here.

Back then, if you had a PRESS PASS, for the most part you had access to interview just about anybody and to photograph at will, which I did. The police lieutenant who threatened me with "I'd like to put a bullet through your head" was the exception although he probably was expressing the desire of many.

Since then, most of the Media, which back then were The Press, have become toadies and sycophants, while the exceptions to this have been marginalized. Remember Dan Rather at the 1968 Chicago convention? If you had even been born then? Or were paying attention...

In the current context you can bet that Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! were targeted. This was not happenchance. This is a test of Resistance.
At the very least, contribute to the ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild. Then, act to decouple your local Law Enforcment agencies from all Patriot Act etc. enforcement actions by what is rapidly becoming a FASCIST central government.

And VOTE!

You have nothing to lose but your chains.

-30-

Humming on a rock here.

What kind of craven brute manhandles a 51 year old woman? What makes these cops better than the average mugger out there?

It always saddens me to see people of peace such as Amy Goodman and her colleagues treated with such outright hostility. No one who is actively anti-war deserves to be shouted at let alone have their nose bloodied. They deserve a handshake or a hug.

I mean, they weren't even fighting back.

Inciting a riot my left eye.

On the other hand, I'm inspired by their bravery. These three people are far more valiant than any pro athlete.

If only Goodman, Salazar, and Kuoddous and all their kindred were bulletproof, freakishly strong, and could fly. :(

I not a lawyer but I don't believe the there's any such thing as "Illegal Arrest". There are laws against aggravated assault (I'm sure they were armed), battery (pushing, shoving, "violently manhandled", handcuffing), filing false charges (perjury), and the subsequent kidnapping (holding for ransom, i.e. bail). I suggest she file criminal charges against ALL involved.
Until we hold these people accountable as individuals, they're going to hide behind the "good German" defense ... I was only following orders!
Does anyone think any of these charges would actually hold up?

I don't think they were targeting Amy or the independent press. Democracy Now! today told of a New York Post reporter who was similarly kidnapped, and we remember the ABC videographer kidnapped in Denver.

Is there a way to involve legislators? Article IV clause 4 of the Constitution states "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government" for what it's worth.

Is there a way to involve municipalities? These police were under orders from FBI and SS troops. Would city legislators sign resolutions that their police not cooperate with the feds in these matters? Are there any mayors who would directly order their forces not to comply with unconstitutional orders?

Bullshit article, the drawing of the wedge between local cop vs. shill spokesperson for the "left". Come on, "liberals". If you want to lead a pro-peace movement, you show us how to capture the hearts and minds of Joe Sixpacks, the city councils, a good portion of law enforcement (surprise, surprise, not all are Republicans). Drawing of the 'ol wedge so low...right on the streets. Even if you "win" a protest (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean), you don't stop a war.

I'm convinced more than ever now that Amy Goodman is either a shill, a poor leader, or genuinely part of some cult-like meme. The pro-peace people need to pull their heads out of their arses. A local cop has as much say in matters of foreign policy, D.C., etc. as any of us here do. Taking our argument to them is a complete waste of time. We should instead be cultivating goodwill, and taking the argument far higher up the food-chain.

I'd like to see the media-darling "liberals" championing a movement that brings ordinary people, local city councils, local law enforcement, even lower-level FBI, retired generals, veterans, and progressive populists of all stripes to the same page. This "nail me in the face with pepper-spray" martyr-complex defies analysis. Shill? Cult? Masochistic? Provocateur? WTF sort of leadership is this nonsense? If Goodman were leading us into battle on horseback, in ages bygone, we may as well point our muskets at ourselves.

Macy's might send them the bill for the broken window, too.

It is clear that there was severe criminal activity here. Capital and civil charges need to be pressed against the Minneapolis and St. Paul police, including:

Inciting a riot. It is the police who violently charged and assaulted innocent and peacable citizens, in order to create disorder and pandamonium.

Acts of domestic terrorism. The police (once again) have used violence and the threat of violence to affect and manipulate the citizenry of the US, a.k.a. terrorism.

Dereliction of duty. These police have taken their positions of public office and power, and through corrupt actions, done the very opposite to that which they are charged to perform.

Impersonating an officer of the law. These police have violated the civil and Constitutional rights of US citizens, and in doing so, have broken and negated their oaths to uphold the law and protect the citizens. They are therefore NOT sworn police, yet illegally wear the uniforms as if they were. They should also be prohibited from the police unions - legal daisy chains of whitewashing, wrist slapping, and other subterfuge which said unions present to the end of preventing police accountability.

Please add to this the specific acts of bodily injury and violations of civil and Constitutional rights.

These inappropriately uniformed thugs are not officers of any US laws, but are despotic thugs who cowtow to oppressiive tyrants and usurpers of our nation.

Mahalo, salud, lechiem,

- Tobias

excerpts from

What to Expect from the Conventions : An Analysis of the Strategic Opportunities and Challenges Presented by the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

posted at
http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/recentfeatures/whattoexpect.php

"Electoral politics dominates the imaginations of people in the United States to an unparalleled degree. Whenever the question of social change arises, one is always pointed to the ballot box: if you don’t vote, you can’t complain, which is to say, vote and shut up. One might argue that there is no more strategic target for direct action than the conventions, which represent the total hegemony of the two-party system. Even opposition to the excesses of capitalism can still be re-absorbed into electoral politics—one of the major issues at the WTO protests was that the WTO could supersede the “democratic process” of participating nations.

Only a direct attack on the electoral spectacle itself could reframe the terms of public discussion to foreground more effective approaches to self-determination. Powerful actions at the conventions could set a new tone for the coming years, setting a precedent for people using their own strength and energizing smaller-scale direct action organizing throughout the US.[3]"

---------

it means a lot of consciousness was raised amongst the participants (their families, supporters and friends) over 250 people were arrested (who have one hell of a good reason -violation of 1st amendment rights to assemble and speak), to continue the struggle - their courage is felt across the country - the tactics and discussions they used/employed can be mimicked in our communities.

---------

"Aside from the predictable criticisms, there are more substantive drawbacks to choosing the conventions as the site for a grudge match with hierarchical power. Successful mass actions can only be outgrowths from already thriving relationships and social currents; they offer the opportunity to measure our capacities, but it is unrealistic to expect them to produce powerful movements out of thin air. In this regard, it’s not promising that these mobilizations come after years without much direct action organizing, when few anarchists have had the opportunity to develop their skills or networks. A summer of direct action training camps cannot make up for this; highly publicized calls for buildup actions might have done the trick, but the conventions are only a couple months away as of this writing."

----------

--hence the crack downs. the organizers are on to something - their tactics work. the government knows this. the preemptive raids targeted logistical, legal support, journalists - and in a sense the people they targeted were national figures in this underground culture...

(remember the essay was written before this week)

-----------

"In the Twin Cities, on the other hand, anarchists are involved explicitly in every level of the organizing in a way we haven’t seen since the successful FTAA protests in Quebec of April 2001. The RNC Welcoming Committee, an explicitly anti-authoritarian organizing group, has for well over a year already, and has established relationships of mutual respect and collaboration with broader antiwar organizations throughout the region—an achievement that has eluded other anarchist organizers for years. We may not be blessed with an organizing group as creative and diligent as the Welcoming Committee any time soon—all the more reason for anarchists to take advantage of their groundwork.

The surge in anarchist traveling culture that coincided with the publication of Evasion is long past; nowadays most anarchists can only be away from their communities for limited periods of time, so they have to choose carefully which national events to attend. Most will probably choose the RNC over the DNC, deeming Denver a tragic but unavoidable missed opportunity."

__________

so who did they target? the successful organizers, the rnc welcoming committee (logistics), the successful cop watch people - i witness video(a nyc group that monitors police during protests) and of course lest we forget - the artists,

http://www.glassbeadcollective.org/info.htm
http://www.glassbeadcollective.org/projects/projection/index.htm

"About Glass Bead Collective,

Glass bead Collective (GBC), based in New York City, brings together individuals from diverse academic and professional backgrounds including video art, film, theater, architecture, photography, music, mathematics, fine arts and philosophy to create works which re-contextualize culture and the world in which we find ourselves today. GBC was founded in 2002 with a multimedia theatrical performance of Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit.

We have since produced various live art events and films experimenting with a multi-disciplinary approach to contemporary issues (mixing visual and literary narratives in real time) as well as created live visuals for groups such as Billionaires for Bush, The War Resisters, Brooklyn Media Lab, GRACE (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment) at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival among others. We have recently created a piece for the WORD_and_WORK section of Volume No. 9 of ART.ES, a Spanish art magazine published in Madrid."

---------------------

the follow up, in your face, your favorite person -amy goodman- is going to jail because of defending her reporters who were beaten by the police is just icing on the cake, liberals don't try to go and save your heretical marxian/bakunin friends... they're screwed... turn around, away from the sidewalk... now...

but she didn't, and one big positive from all of this drama, is that america's premiere progressive news team - editors and spokesperson- saw what we couldn't see on the outside, what only a few hundred experienced inside the jail. thank you democracy now, thank you amy, sharif and nicole.....

...peace...

it's gotten to the point that if you want real analysis of WTF is going on you have to go to the anarchists collectives themselves (where your vist will be traced by fucking god only knows (and i mean that - the computer will know, then tell the appropriate minder - wish i was making this up) .

this means that even reporters from such well meaning institutions as dem now, the nation, salon.com will have a decreased chance to monitor what is happening on the ground when these civil (ahem) insurections (lets be real that's what they are) erupt (almost always for legitimate reasons).

our access here at cd, will be muted - b/c i sincerely doubt the editors (good intentions/work and all) here want to post articles from those who advocate a different solution. everyone else is shut out accept the cops who do what ever they want to people - roughshod.

-----------------------------
----------------------------

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/action/dnc-rnc/

"Call to support political prisoner Jamal Holiday

Sample gets kicked on the street. From the open publishing newswire: On August 30th, around 4pm the Kensington Welfare Rights Union held an unpermitted march against the RNC. The March was named "The March for Our Lives: End the War at Home". The idea was that this march was to address the occupation of communities abroad AND at HOME. The unpermitted march was promptly met by police provocation. All individuals snatched were released within 8 to 12 ours of their arrest with no more than misdemeanor charges.

These snatches were clear provocations by the police to break up the march, isolate those willing to defend those arbitrarily detained, and provoke violence from the crowd. The crowd however did not respond violently..... until around 8:30 pm, when plain clothes Detective William Sample, drove his moped directly into the march running over several protesters. The crowd responded and several people pulled detective Sample off his moped, and beat him unconscious. no one was charged with the assault against Sample... local media repeatedly played footage of a young black man in a white t-shirt and ball cap kicking detective Sample on the street. 12-18 hours after the incident, an undercover NYPD officer picked up New York local JAMAL HOLIDAY, who was charged with the assault on Sample. Last I heard, Jamal's bail had been raised from $50k to $250k. Jamal spent his twentieth birthday in jail, and as far as anybody knows, he is still in. He is the only one still in.

I am concerned that our movement may have encouraged Jamal to be on the streets the day he was picked up and accused of this assault, yet there was no jail solidarity for Jamal. People had to fly home and go back to school or work including myself. It seems that the criticisms are true about our movement... descending upon communities and creating a false sense of empowerment, than skipping town only to leave open wounds for buzzard police forces to further oppress these peoples. We have just finished a film intended to raise money to this end , yet we don't know where to start. If anyone know's what is going on with Jamal, has information about a bail fund please post it widely.
thanks yo."

...peace...

To see the video that Nicole Salazar shot of herself being attacked by riot police, try this ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d9wmqO2Khw

----------------------------
"To know, and not to do, is not to know"

www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com

People...Democracy is lost. The US government has already gotten away with Iraq and 9/11. This lady is a journalist with a camera and she still was arrested and charged. We have no rights, there is no recourse, and they will continue to do WHATEVER they want. I chose to leave the country 8 months ago to Auckland NZ...and I will never move back to the US. Especially when you look at how Amy's being treated why would I? God Bless America...get out while you can people.

On a tangiential note to the already fascist actions against citizens:

POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS

Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have

At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94. Initially the police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people on the bus asked if they were being detained they were told that they were but police wereunable to provide justification. When asked why they pulled the bus over they refused to answer. After repeated requests to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop though he did not explain the reason for the traffic stop. The police then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound the bus in case they wanted to execute a search warrant later. After more than an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of their detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection. Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers, toiletries, and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed, leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and dogs, homeless on the highway.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080831125400727

once again, nothing new here. In 1999,NYC WBAI reporter Erroll Maitland was beaten severely over the airwaves while attempting to report on the police riot that occurred at the funeral of Haitian immigrant Patrick Dorismond, who was shot to death for defying an NYPD undercover drug sting operation on 33rd street in Manhattan. In addition to dragging out Dorismond's juvenile arrest records in order to vilify this victim of NYPD police violence, the Giuliani regime set up an "escort" of the funeral procession of Dorismond in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in a manner which only suggested to the participants the sort of shit the old Afrikaners regime in South AFrica had been getting away with in Johannesburg a short seven years before.

When I and a colleague went to Flatbush that day in order to assist in attaining legal assistance for members of the Haitian community who had been arrested at the funeral that afternoon, we were denied knowledge of the actual location of many of the detainees in question by the NYPD for several hours. Let me also point out that this sort of stuff went by completely unremarked upon by any "democratic" members of the New York city council that week.

This is an old, old story of what happens to all too many people of color and the working poor when up against the so-called justice system in the United States in recent years. I'm genuinely sorry for Amy Goodman, but I also think it is ridiculous it takes so many of us the arrest of a celebrity in order to notice an entrenched problem that many people have been talking about for many, many years now.

It is time to take back our country

ChrisII The only way to prevent further attacks on journalists is to hit the cities (and their taxpayers) who condone or promote them where it hurts most-- in the pocketbook. Everyone who was illegally arrested and detained should sue for at least $100 million. For their support of police intimidation, both Minneapolis and St. Paul should be bankrupted.

The arresting authority figures were not true law enforcement -- they transcended the law. They were thugs and behaving as gang members wearing the uniform and the people's entrusted badge of public law enforcement. They bring no honor or valor -- only the bullying of people and common vandalism to America. These are not heroes. Heroes and heroines always stand up for the everyday person!

In a world of "David vs. Goliath" -- these were the front line attackers for Goliath.

Be kind to those who read CD,and other sources, who don't know who Amy Goodman and DemocracyNow are:www.democracynow.org It's a good read/view website.

They are now doing in the US what they are doing in irak, targeting journalists. Lets hope they dont start killing them.

i find it very hard to keep my profane side in check on this one

i have seen the video of amy being thrown around like a common criminal and i felt the cops were like thugs and goons

brownshirts and jerks

amy - we love ya babe and i hope you are well

you showed guts and i respect you a lot, as do a lot of posters today and everyday

all the best amy goodman

cheers, b

First time reponse to any blog. CD is my favorite website and have been reading it for years. Just have to ask - What is "suspicion of rioting"???

Did the arresting officers not know if rioting was going on or not??

Seems to me only the PO's were rioting??

Too bad some demonstrators couldn't swing a citizens arrest.

What about throwing the thug dressed as a police officer to the ground in self defence?

Sorry Judge! I could not identify the man as a police officer because he was not "identifiable" NO NAME SHIELD!

He was an illigal combatent so to speak, No?

Snow Wolf, you would be in an apoplectic rage if anyone else had said about you what you just said about yourself.

These Fascist thugs aren't fit to wash Amy Goodman's feet!

In any country or government from authoritarian to democratic the state apparatus has the problem of how to deal with an intransigent enemy, its own domestic population. In a dictatorship they use violence. In a democracy they use what in more honest times was called propaganda.

The attack on the independent press was laid out in advance with the pre-emptive raids and the labels of "anarchist" leading to the justification of violence on peaceful protesters and independent media like Democracy Now and Eyewitness Video. Eyewitness Video was very effective in documenting cases of police brutality at the Republican convention in New York City back in 2004. The lessons from the New York convention were learned and were put into practice in St Paul. The attack is largely an information war on what images will be shown. The image war has backfired. The repercussions to the perpetrators these acts of barbarity will be up to us and if we exact a cost from these parties for their actions.

I, Ramsey the Rampager, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

First Amendment to the United States Constitution:

"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."

Looks like the enemy is domestic... and it ain't a little blonde hair news lady with her own news program.

For anyone in here who gives a dman--PLEASE read the article on the CD site about the Intl Day for Peace and protest against weaponsin space! There is a petition at nonviolence site at nenasili.cz.en. Its at the website. Lets show the world taht we can be a civilized naiton , when we try.

This Press Release stated:

"Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States."

Oh! if it only it were true! But SnowWolf's reaction is typical. I'm sure only a few USAns out of a thousand have even heard of Amy Goodman or the radio/TV program Democracy Now.

Snow Wolf,

Amy Goodman is a reporter who has risked her life a few times in pursuit of the truth in the most dangerous parts of the world - notably in East Timor - where when witnessing and filming the Santa Cruz massacre. She and co-reporter Alan Nairn were brutally beaten to an inch of her life by the US-supported Indonesian military thugs - the same occupation forces that a few years earlier murdered four Australian journalists in cold blood. She was filming and reporting teh scene of the massacre fully aware that her press badge would not protect her from a violent death in obscurity, as the MSM was completely ignoring the US-supported Indonesian occupation and genocide of the Timorese. This is the very essence of courage.

Please Google her name for more info.

I keep waiting for the Rove-Limbaugh trolls to explain how this story shows that we shouldn't vote for Obama.

The recent systematic targeting of the free (i.e. non-corporate) press by both federal and state forces is the clearest and most irrefutable proof of the growth of fascism in the uS.

q

This just proves the point. The last time Amy got seriously roughed up, was by Indonesia military wielding US made and supplied weapons while the were killing East Timorese “demonstrators” in a grave yard.

What did the pastor say? Ha Yes, “The chickens have come home to roost.”

It gives me no satisfaction to know that Karma is infallible. But I honestly hope America wakes up to see that it is starting to apply at home only what it has enabled abroad for many years.

These police and the authority supporting them is using terror tactics even in the governments own definition of terror. Why are not more Americans asking, “Who is the enemy?”

The WAR is ON! Bring it on POLICE STATE! Please do,,,,

I want you fascist NWO Neocon (Republicratshits) Fascist to go all out! I want voter intimidation, I want Constitutional violations of Peoples' Rights. I want you to show yourself,,,,,, I want you to get real violent! I want you to start shooting innocent people (in which it will happen), I want more house-breaking and more intimidation eveywhere,,,,,,

I want the Christian Right to show their evilness, their spitefullness, their self appointed vanity and rightenous...... (they already are in pushing for WAR with Iran)...... and to top it off the Christian Right and the fanatical Christian and Jewish dupes are so freakin ignorant they are going AGAINST all the moral principles they preach..... talk about Hypocrites!

I WANT all HELL to break loose! Because I am going to laugh my ass off, when the people of America start to kick your freakzoids ass! And TRUST me, YOU will LOSE! The Road to Hell will be paved with Neocon Fascists!

THERE IS NO FREAKIN BOOGEYMAN......

WAKE UP MAIN-STREAM MEDIA........ ooops,,, forgot that you all are still in your coma, or should I say "bought out Corporate ASSES!".........

Please pass the word!

And everyone,,, please tell any friends that you have that are policemen, law enforcement etc... THAT they need to start banding together in the lower ranks, learn what the Constitution and our Laws stand for,,,, (if they do not already) and then they need to start making precident judgements such as arresting those WHO issue UNLAWFUL, and UNCONSTITUTIONAL orders.

Coffeelover,,,,,, OMG I need another cup!

PS: The Neocon Fascist Freakzoid Homophopia Right Wing Asses do read these comments!

rosie2731

Bruce Nestor said the timing of the arrests was intended to stop protest activity, "to make people fearful of the protests, but also to discourage people from protesting," he told Amy Goodman.

No wonder they targeted Amy for arrest! She was "dangerous"!

I have to believe AMY and DEMOCRACY NOW were targeted. Where is the OUTRAGE that police do not have badges with their names on them? I thought it was the law.

Amy is being interviewed live right now - 12:15pm Tuesday - on Thom Hartmann's Air America Show.

I'm sure the Ramsey County Sheriff's office would like to hear comments about their approach to "law enforcement." The email address is:

ContactRamseyCounty@co.ramsey.mn.us

Well, had she questioned a policeman in Iraq or Afghanistan she'd have been shot. I suppose that does still say something good about the usa, you're not nearly at the level of the true barbarian - at home anyway.

These 'riots' that happened at the rnc; how many buildings were burned down? How many dead? Are the hospitals overflowing with injured? Can they really be called riots when the damage and injury figures are so low?

They didn't arrest Cindy McCain for impersonating Cruella Daville in that hideous yellow dress at the RNC podium? And they arrested a public TV/radio host with a program on 700 stations?

Take heart, ("my friends"), Republicans are getting dumber.

I wish that this was surprising. I bet no network journalists were arrested. Only those newspeople that serve the interests of the people as opposed to the power establishment would ever have anything to fear from law enforcement at a national party convention in ameriKa. What a great satan...er,i mean country.

Who the hell is Amy Goodman?