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More fun with politics and canned fruit
Sep. 7th, 2008 04:44 pmOkay, so the circus and its elephants have left town. A couple of the Minneapolis City Council members decided that bad things had happened and that the city should not investigate itself. St. Paul City Council is having trouble wrapping its tiny brain around the concept that anything bad happened. Both mayors are babbling about what a success it was. Guessing this is the precursor to Chris Coleman doing what most Democratic mayors of St. Paul seem to do and turning Republican so he can follow in the footsteps of Norm Coleman. No word on what the great big economic boost was to having these clowns here so guessing there wasn't one worth talking about.
The charges against most of the scary, scary 'anarchists' (the new label for anyone protesting apparently, regardless of actual political identity) have mysteriously gone from felonies to misdemeanors for lack of evidence. Big surprise there. This charge, incidentally, brings with it a fine of $2000 a pop for bail, regardless of what you were actually doing at the time of arrest. So those folks who got busted walking home, holding a sign or attempting to film or otherwise cover the events get to pay up too. Guessing that this $$ will be mostly nonrefundable and used to make up for the disappointing economic boost mentioned above. Also guessing that the big charges brought against 8 members of the RNC Welcoming committee are purest b.s. seeing as they have yet to make much of anything stick thus far. There are various horror stories about lack of medical treatment in jail, beatings and sundry other things. And charges are still pending against various journalists, including Amy Goodman, the Democracy Now producers, the Eye Witness video crews and others. http://www.democracynow.org/
My friend whose home was invaded so that the FBI and other law enforcement could target journalists says his house took some damage but that his neighbors are being very supportive.
It also appears that despite attempts at intimidation, the Dakota folks who occupied a sacred site down at Camp Coldwater on Monday were not physically harmed during their 4 day occupation - http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/05/18533302.php. Hennepin County has proposed putting in an office park on the site, which not only has historic and spiritual value, it's also been contaminated by the Bureau of Mines buildings that have been abandoned down there. In short, who wouldn't want an office park there? Oh wait...anyone with a lick of sense concerned about the rights of indigenous people and historic preservation in these parts? Looks like the comment period will be open on this soon.
After a week of protesting, contacting mayors, calling MPR on some of the crappiest reporting I've ever seen ("It's just so difficult to tell who's a journalist..." was one of the things that actually got said), donating $ where I could, massive shoulder pain and surviving the increasingly toxic day job, due to vanish any day now, I'm doing what I do during times of stress and getting all back to the land. The tally so far: fresh pesto, 4 jars of peach jam and 6 jars of spaghetti sauce. I suspect I'll be making soap before the week is out. Off to go finish up this round and maybe get some more writing done.
The charges against most of the scary, scary 'anarchists' (the new label for anyone protesting apparently, regardless of actual political identity) have mysteriously gone from felonies to misdemeanors for lack of evidence. Big surprise there. This charge, incidentally, brings with it a fine of $2000 a pop for bail, regardless of what you were actually doing at the time of arrest. So those folks who got busted walking home, holding a sign or attempting to film or otherwise cover the events get to pay up too. Guessing that this $$ will be mostly nonrefundable and used to make up for the disappointing economic boost mentioned above. Also guessing that the big charges brought against 8 members of the RNC Welcoming committee are purest b.s. seeing as they have yet to make much of anything stick thus far. There are various horror stories about lack of medical treatment in jail, beatings and sundry other things. And charges are still pending against various journalists, including Amy Goodman, the Democracy Now producers, the Eye Witness video crews and others. http://www.democracynow.org/
My friend whose home was invaded so that the FBI and other law enforcement could target journalists says his house took some damage but that his neighbors are being very supportive.
It also appears that despite attempts at intimidation, the Dakota folks who occupied a sacred site down at Camp Coldwater on Monday were not physically harmed during their 4 day occupation - http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/05/18533302.php. Hennepin County has proposed putting in an office park on the site, which not only has historic and spiritual value, it's also been contaminated by the Bureau of Mines buildings that have been abandoned down there. In short, who wouldn't want an office park there? Oh wait...anyone with a lick of sense concerned about the rights of indigenous people and historic preservation in these parts? Looks like the comment period will be open on this soon.
After a week of protesting, contacting mayors, calling MPR on some of the crappiest reporting I've ever seen ("It's just so difficult to tell who's a journalist..." was one of the things that actually got said), donating $ where I could, massive shoulder pain and surviving the increasingly toxic day job, due to vanish any day now, I'm doing what I do during times of stress and getting all back to the land. The tally so far: fresh pesto, 4 jars of peach jam and 6 jars of spaghetti sauce. I suspect I'll be making soap before the week is out. Off to go finish up this round and maybe get some more writing done.