AntiWar Activists Charged With Terrorism

It seems to me that kids and hippies who are patriotic enough care about how this country is doing and who disgree with our current foreign policy in a way guaranteed by the Constitution (peaceful demonstration) are obviously not terrorists. If there were plans to commit violence, the violence planned should be commensurate with a realistic definition of terrorism if the planners are indeed charged with such in a court of law.

Letting the police shoot pepper spray point blank at people who were peaceful, and who are in the streets out of high levels of concern for the country, as I have seen on YouTube at the RNC -
is not an "American" scene.

Modern Definition of Martial Law: Martial law is when military-like actions are taken upon a nations own citizens and constitutional and human rights are violated on a regular basis as part of a standard operating procedure (SOP).It is when you cannot protest without a "permit" and your freedom of speech is silenced.It is basically what they call a "police state". It is when the "police" are trained by and act like covert federal officials/military police rather than the civilian peace keepers they are supposed to be.

Iraq Veterans Against the War

You need to see this video. This is what a police state looks like, decorated veterans being subjected to this.

Iraq Veterans Against the War

photo credit: Jon Orlando
www.jonorlandophoto.com

10,000 people, led by U.S. Veterans, marched against the war Wednesday and the media couldn't leave the convention to cover it? Oy veh. From Iraq Veterans Against the War.

QUOTE IVAW members in Denver on Wednesday where they led a march of ten thousand to the Democratic National Convention to deliver a message to Barack Obama calling on the Democratic nominee to endorse the three main goals of IVAW: Immediate withdrawal, full veterans benefits, and reparations for the Iraqi people.
Following a packed show at the Denver Coliseum where Rage Against the Machine and the Flobots encouraged the crowd to join IVAW's march, two squads of 25 IVAW members each formed up outside the venue and began marching to the Pepsi center. The squads were led by members in dress uniforms and combat uniforms, with thousands of supporters marching behind them in support.
When they arrived at the DNC, representatives of IVAW asked to meet with Barack Obama to present their message. After negotiations with the
Former Texas Lt Governor Ben Barnes came out of the convention to accept a letter from the IVAW members. Jeff Key, a former Marine said the IVAW members intended to stay in place until a representative from Obama's campaign came out to talk with them.
"I'm a patient man. I'm not going anywhere,'' Key said.
Key, a former Marine from Salt Lake City, and Liam Madden, a former marine from Boston, were then escorted into the convention where they met with Phil Carter, head of veterans affairs for the Obama campaign. IVAW is now waiting for a formal response to their request address the delegates from the podium.
Lt. Vince Porter of the Denver Police Department said the department coordinated the meeting with the secret service and Obama’s office.
“The police in Denver have been exceptional and very, very supportive,” Key said. “This cannot be an easy job for them either, and they’ve just been incredible.” UNQUOTE

Bubba's Gunrack Bar & Grill on the DNC

From the hinterlands of the American landscape come Jackie and Dunlap.
NOTE: slightly off-color alert- Red State Update is a bit blue :P

Protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles

What the blue blazes is going on around here? God bless the ACLU ~ without them these people have no protection.

From The Raw Story, be sure and click on over and read it all.

QUOTE The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention. In the letter, obtained by RAW STORY, the ACLU revealed that the police refused those arrested access to attorneys. Police did not let detainees use phones unless they posted their own bonds, and even failed to provide shoes, in one case marching a protester into court in bare feet and leg shackles, according the ACLU. What's more, police are said to have tricked protesters into pleading guilty, by giving them the impression they had to plead guilty in order to post bond. This meant that no one was allowed to make a phone call unless they plead guilty, thus making it impossible for arrestees to even call a lawyer until admitting guilt. Most ominously, the ACLU letter claims that protesters were told they would be "facing 'years' in jail for a conviction of a single particular charge."" In fact, all the charges were municipal court violations that do not carry such penalties," the ACLU added in a footnote. UNQUOTE

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Gitmo On the Platte

FYI From CBS Denver, CO

Denver officials weren't planning to reveal details about where activists would be detained in the event of mass arrests during the Democratic National Convention until after the event had started, but those plans were quickly dashed last week when CBS 4News reporter Rick Sallinger not only revealed that protesters would be locked up in a city-owned warehouse, but he also obtained clear video footage inside the facility, a building that includes barbed wire-topped cages and signs warning of stun-gun use.

I reiterate, what on earth is going on here? What country is this, anyway?



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What Is Going On In This Country?

Banksy's Flower Chucker

From DOD exercises in Portland this week involving live fire and risky low altitude helicopter flights downtown to "protest areas" far removed from the DNC where the media is removed from the extremely repressive police actions ~ another story here ~ WHAT is going on around here? It certainly looks to me as though the poice are wishing to riot, perhaps the anti-war/anti-corporate protesters should just drop to their knees and pray, or to a half-lotus & meditate, for the Eastern inclined; or just smile and shine on, like crazy diamonds ~ and LET the police riot.

Seems as though Kucinich and Ron Paul would've been vastly superior choices for Dem and Repub nominations ~ at least the country would've been safe under their leadership.

Catholics, to your rosaries. Prots, to your Bibles. Jews, Buddhists and what not, to your own light-bringing ceremonies. This darkness must be dispelled. (Atheists, to your reasoning!)

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Preach It, Brother Dennis!

Whatever you think of Ron Paul's leftie buddy Dennis Kucinich, this will get you moving, for it is nearly impossible to argue with most of what he's saying. Wake up, America, indeed.

The DNC According to Dave Barry

Har de har har. For those who like their beloved hot-air liberals liberally lampooned, a chuckle or two. I have to admit that I do find myself quelling stray thoughts that Hil and Bill will still kill Big O's nomination, through subterfuge, tricky-dicking or swarms of ninjas.

From The Miami Herald.

QUOTE Sen. Clinton is scheduled to address the convention Tuesday night, when she will either call on her supporters to unite behind Obama, or attempt to snatch the nomination and escape with it by helicopter to a secret mountain fortress. ''We are fully confident that Sen. Clinton will do the right thing,'' stated a Democratic party official, adding, ``but we have a net.''

The Obama-Clinton tension is only one of the dramatic storylines developing in Denver. Another one is Obama's choice of running mate. Following days of feverish media speculation over a list of names that at one point included the late Hubert Humphrey and a probably fictional congressperson named ''Chet Edwards,'' Obama, in a bold move, went with the one name guaranteed to send an electric shock of electricity through the spinal cord of American politics: Joe Biden.

This choice not only virtually locks up Delaware's electoral vote (which it shares with Wyoming) but it also buttresses the Obama team with one of the Senate's most vocal voices. Sen. Biden is scheduled to address the convention Wednesday night from 8:48 p.m. until dawn. UNQUOTE

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