Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press. Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest. […]

Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, “Get down on your face.” You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing “Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?” She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amidst Nicole’s screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.

I was at the Xcel Center on the convention floor, interviewing delegates. I had just made it to the Minnesota delegation when I got a call on my cell phone with news that Sharif and Nicole were being bloody arrested, in every sense. Filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and I raced on foot to the scene. Out of breath, we arrived at the parking lot. I went up to the line of riot police and asked to speak to a commanding officer, saying that they had arrested accredited journalists.

Within seconds, they grabbed me, pulled me behind the police line and forcibly twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, the rigid plastic cuffs digging into my wrists. I saw Sharif, his arm bloody, his credentials hanging from his neck. I repeated we were accredited journalists, whereupon a Secret Service agent came over and ripped my convention credential from my neck. I was taken to the St. Paul police garage where cages were set up for protesters. I was charged with obstruction of a peace officer. Nicole and Sharif were taken to jail, facing riot charges.

The attack on and arrest of me and the “Democracy Now!” producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, “By embedding reporters in our mobile field force.”

On Monday night, hours after we were arrested, after much public outcry, Nicole, Sharif and I were released. That was our Labor Day. It’s all in a day’s work.

That’s an excerpt from Amy Goodman’s Why We Were Falsely Arrested. You can read the whole thing over at truthdig.

Here’s the video of her arrest:

(You can view more RNC videos here.)

Since there’s been precious little reporting of police brutality and repression in the msm, here are some resources y’all should check out:

Lindsay Beyerstein has a ton of photos - with firsthand accounts - up on her Flickr photostream, as well as on her blog Majikthise.

Lindsay, along with Jane Hamsher (who’s live blogging the RNC), is also talking about the raids and arrests on firedoglake.

Glenn Greenwald has been blogging the conventions, including police misconduct, over at Salon.

Over on Theuptake, you can view a live video stream from their reporters’ cameras at the RNC. (The Republican hack they’re interviewing at the moment is *this close* to making me vomit in my own mouth.)

Also check out Twin Cities Indymedia, indymedia.us and Green is the New Red for more.

And, of course, there’s also Democracy Now! and I-Witness Video.

Finally, pattrice jones offers a History of Activist Repression to give us all a little perspective.

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Tagged: 2008 elections civil liberties police brutality censorship first amendment protest activism dnc rnc democrats republicans st. paul minnesota democratic national convention republican national convention democracy amy goodman democracy now theuptake i-witness video indymedia msm video youtube politics repression journalism

I know I’m late to the party on this one, but I’m totally burnt out on politics and have only gotten around to watching clips from the DNC this week. (Seriously - the most political show I watched last week was E!’s 15 Hottest Political Scandals.)

Sigh. Blurb.

I fucking love this guy. I wish I could put him in my pocket and carry him everywhere. We could all use a little more Kucinich.

America, why is he not the Democratic nominee?

And DNC, why does your convention resemble a game show set?

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Tagged: dennis kucinich wake up america dnc democratic national convention politics 2008 elections video youtube

I spotted this note while driving home through town last week. It was tacked to a pole in the main intersection of Plattsburg’s “business district” - which is basically comprised of four small blocks. NYC, it ain’t.

Here’s an (admittedly blurry) closeup, in case you can’t make it out.

(More below the fold…)

Governor Palin is an active promoter of Alaska’s aerial hunting program whereby wolves and bears are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank.

* Palin offered a $150 bounty for wolves to entice hunters to kill more wolves in certain parts of the state, with hunters having to present a wolf’s foreleg to collect the bounty.

* She actively opposed a ballot measure campaign seeking to end the aerial hunting of wolves by private hunters and approved a $400,000 state-funded campaign aimed at swaying people’s votes on the issue.

* She also introduced legislation to make it easier to kill wolves and bears and which would have also removed the aerial hunting initiative from the ballot and block the ability of citizens to vote on the issue.

* The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.

* The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.

Video and talking points via Defenders of Wildlife, who has more.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare defenders of wildlife sarah palin 2008 elections wolves hunting aerial hunting alaska wildlife conservation video youtube

Via nihilix, who has more.

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Tagged: dnc rnc St. Paul Minnesota Denver Colorado democrats republicans police brutality repression activism civil liberties censorship democratic national convention republican national convention protest john mccain barack obama 2008 elections amy goodman democracy now

Regarding the ongoing [as in, right. now.] police raids on activists protesting the RNC in Minnesota, Glenn Greenwald writes:

So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protesters who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do. And as extraordinary as that conduct is, more extraordinary is the fact that they have received virtually no attention from the national media and little outcry from anyone. And it’s not difficult to see why. As the recent “overhaul” of the 30-year-old FISA law illustrated — preceded by the endless expansion of surveillance state powers, justified first by the War on Drugs and then the War on Terror — we’ve essentially decided that we want our Government to spy on us without limits. There is literally no police power that the state can exercise that will cause much protest from the political and media class and, therefore, from the citizenry.

Beyond that, there is a widespread sense that the targets of these raids deserve what they get, even if nothing they’ve done is remotely illegal. We love to proclaim how much we cherish our “freedoms” in the abstract, but we despise those who actually exercise them. The Constitution, right in the very First Amendment, protects free speech and free assembly precisely because those liberties are central to a healthy republic — but we’ve decided that anyone who would actually express truly dissident views or do anything other than sit meekly and quietly in their homes are dirty trouble-makers up to no good, and it’s therefore probably for the best if our Government keeps them in check, spies on them, even gets a little rough with them.

After all, if you don’t want the FBI spying on you, or the Police surrounding and then invading your home with rifles and seizing your computers, there’s a very simple solution: don’t protest the Government. Just sit quietly in your house and mind your own business. That way, the Government will have no reason to monitor what you say and feel the need to intimidate you by invading your home. Anyone who decides to protest — especially with something as unruly and disrespectful as an unauthorized street march — gets what they deserve.

Go check out the whole piece; it’s a must read, and well worth the forced advertising. And afterwards, since you’ve already suffered through the latest Toyota commercial, scroll through for Glenn’s most recent updates. It’s fucking mind-boggling, the crimes we allow our government to perpetrate against its citizens.

And if you think Obama will save you, think again. Remember, the man - giddy with the anticipation of unchecked presidential powers - voted in favor of FISA. On a more global level, the DNC also saw police repression and brutality against American citizens.

All of which is doubly infuriating after all the self-serving, racist/xenophobic hand-wringing over China’s civil liberties violations during the Olympics, as Glenn rightfully points out.

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Tagged: dnc rnc St. Paul Minnesota Denver Colorado democrats republicans police brutality repression activism civil liberties censorship democratic national convention republican national convention protest john mccain barack obama 2008 elections

This is part six in a nine-part series on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. A full TOC, complete with links for easy navigation, is included at the bottom of each post.

Spoiler alert: Danger ahead, oh the horra! Plot spoilers abound! If you haven’t yet read the book, consider yourself warned. In fact, back away from this blog asap, go borrow The Handmaid’s Tale from your local library, and come back when you’re done. We’ll still be on the internets, promise.

Hypocrites, Egotists & Apologists: Who’s Sorry Now?

This blamer was just a wee little babycake when Margaret Atwood was penning The Handmaid’s Tale. Yet twenty-plus years later, the characters and political climate still ring true. Has our society progressed so little?

Serena Joy, who receives relatively little attention in The Handmaid’s Tale, is perhaps the most engrossing character aside from Kate. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Beverly LaHaye, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly (she of “it is legally, morally, and technically impossible for husbands to rape their wives, because women have consented to a lifetime of sex-on-demand through marriage” fame) and the like. In “the days before”, Serena Joy was an evangelical preacher on the teevee. The type of woman who made a living by scolding other women for working outside the home. In other words, a hypocrite:

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LD and I have a tradition. Every year, I ask him what dishes he’d like me to make for his birthday, and every year - without fail - he picks mac salad.** That’s it. Just mac salad. A huge frikkin tub. Which he feasts on for like the next week.

And I have to admit, it’s pretty good. Probably not the healthiest meal I’ve ever blogged, but really effin yummy. Plus it’s a great dish to end the summer with.

Don’t let the photo scare you. I know it looks like some scary radioactive science project, but orange macaroni isn’t all that photogenic. That, and my gourmet food critic photographic isn’t all that gourmet.

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I’ve been sitting on this story for a few weeks now, trying to find the words to convey how furious, how disillusioned, how heartsick, these seemingly never-ending cases of police brutality (against non-human animals, against activists, against women, against people of color, against gays and lesbians, against transgendered persons, against bicyclists, fer chrissakes!) make me, but to no avail.

There just aren’t enough words in the English language to explain how cruel and unnecessary are incidents such as these:

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple’s two dogs and seizing the unopened package.

In it were 32 pounds of marijuana. But the drugs evidently didn’t belong to the couple.

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients. […]

A furious Calvo said Thursday that he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, are asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the July 29 raid.

“Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim,” Calvo said outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people. “We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us.”

Calvo insisted the couple’s two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them “for sport,” gunning down one of them as it was running away.

“Our dogs were our children,” said the 37-year-old Calvo. “They were the reason we bought this house because it had a big yard for them to run in.”

The mayor, who was changing his clothes when police burst in, also complained that he was handcuffed in his boxer shorts for about two hours along with his mother-in-law, and said the officers didn’t believe him when he told them he was the mayor. No charges were brought against Calvo or his wife, who came home in the middle of the raid.

The Washington Post describes the dogs’ murder in greater detail:

“My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs,” Calvo said. “They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don’t think they really ever considered that we weren’t.”

Calvo described a chaotic scene, in which he — wearing only underwear and socks — and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated for hours. They were surrounded by the dogs’ carcasses and pools of the dogs’ blood, Calvo said. […]

Moments later, just after he had undressed, Calvo said, he heard his mother-in-law scream that someone was coming toward the house. He looked out his bedroom window and saw officers in SWAT gear running across the lawn.

“I heard a loud crash and then ‘bang, bang, bang,’ ” he said, recalling the sounds of the police shooting the dogs. “I hit the floor.”

As the police came in, Calvo said, they shot his 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, Payton, near the front door and then his 4-year-old dog, Chase, also a black Lab, as the dog ran into a back room. Walking through his house yesterday, Calvo pointed out a bullet hole in the drywall where the younger dog had been shot.

“I understand they have a job to do, but it didn’t have to go like that,” Calvo said. He said the police could have knocked on his door and asked him about the package. […]

Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy said county police and the Sheriff’s Office had not notified his department of the raid. He said town police could have conducted the search without a SWAT team.

“You can’t tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn’t have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence,” Murphy said. “It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man’s dogs.”

As was the case with dear Jax and Scarlet, one of the dogs was shot as he ran away from the police officers. No warnings or deterrents were employed before the officers murdered two dogs in cold blood. All this despite the premeditated nature of the raid; given that the target was a public official, officers should have known that dogs would be present in the residence beforehand, and planned accordingly.

And, while I don’t think that public officials should be treated better than us lowly citizens, the simple fact is that they usually are. Thus, if something like this can happen to the mofo mayor, imagine how the cops might treat your dogs, or mine (or you and I, for that matter).

Rest in peace, Payton and Chase. It’s times like these, I wish I believed in an afterlife, or karma, or somesuch form of divine retribution.

His wife spoke through tears as she described an encounter with a girl who used to see the couple walking their dogs.

“She gave me a big hug and she said, `If the police shot your dogs dead and did this to you, how can I trust them?’” Tomsic said.

Blub.

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Another zucchini recipe!

I made this dish for the doggehs, but it will work well for humans, too.

Kelly’s Applekin Tofu Soup

Ingredients

Applekin Base:
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
2 cups apple cider or apple juice
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 talespoons ground cloves

Veggies:
1 pressed brick of firm or extra firm tofu, diced into 1″ x 1″ pieces
1/3 large zucchini (or 2-3 smaller, store-bought zucchinis), diced into 1″ x 1″ pieces
1/3 cup TVP

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