This is a gross sign of the times. During the last Republican National Convention, protestors weren’t allowed near the building. This year, those protesting the Democratic National Conventions were relegated to a cage. This year’s RNC removes any ambiguity that we live in a police state. 300 people were arrested on the first day, including journalists.

We are now living in an age where journalists, members of the press, those trying to protect our freedom of information, freedom of the press, are being unlawfully and illegally detained. The message is clear: if your perspective contradicts that of the corporate owned media, if you attempt to provide any objective truth from the ground of these conventions, you will be arrested.

Rule one: Democratic countries don’t illegally arrest members of the press; only totalitarian regimes do this in an attempt to control the flow of information. This is what a police state looks like. It’s looking more and more like this State.

Seriously, what is going on with this country?

ST. PAUL–Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar’s violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, “I’m Press! Press!,” resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

On Tuesday, Democracy Now! will broadcast video of these arrests, as well as the broader police action. These will also be available on: www.democracynow.org

Now, those who disagree with the government will likely not protest for fear of being arrested. If one is arrested, it impacts their ability to get a job or receive loans for education. If you’re charged with a felon, you can’t even vote. All this seems pretty ideal for the maintenance of a police state. Citizens need to start reacting to this stuff. It’s getting disgusting.

This film is disturbing. According to the New York Times piece on the incident, a police officer body-slammed a cyclist and then arrested him for assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. Someone taped what actually happened and exposed the officer for being an abusive, lying, ex-football asshole looking to crack some heads for kicks.

A New York City police officer was stripped of his gun and badge on Monday after an amateur video surfaced on the Internet showing him pushing a bicyclist to the ground in Times Square during a group ride on Friday evening.

The cyclist, identified in court papers as Christopher Long, 29, was taking part in a monthly ride, called Critical Mass, that often draws hundreds of riders. In a criminal complaint against Mr. Long, the officer, identified in the court documents as Patrick Pogan of the Midtown South precinct, says that the cyclist rode straight into him.

According to the video, the officer clearly attacked this kid.

Mr. Radhuber said Mr. Long had not been weaving in traffic, as Officer Pogan alleged. “There was no traffic behind us — there was no traffic to weave in and out of,” Mr. Radhuber said. “The police officer looked to see who he was going to pick off.”

There were no cars in the video and Long was clearly riding along like the other cyclists. So the moral is, justice can only be served as long as everyone is video-taping everyone else.

Today’s Democracy Now! has great commentary on it - skip ahead and stop around the 25 min mark.

Oh, and did I mention the cop is only 22 years old?

This happened a while ago, but she is finally pressing charges.

Here’s a bit of good news.

LOS ANGELES, California, February 4, 2008 (ENS) - A federal court today struck down a waiver issued by the White House that would exempt the U.S. Navy from complying with environmental law during sonar training exercises off southern California.

Sonar kills whales. It causes whales to bleed from their ears and eyes. It is illegal to use sonar in whale habitats, but Bush wanted to exempt the Navy (those using sonar the most) from any restrictions, evoking threats to national security and patriotism.

Frankly, I’d rather live in a world with whales, not one that deliberately and systematically destroys them.

This is messed up.

What does one say to a young woman gang raped by men paid by us to work for a company from which our vice president profits, men who have yet to be charged with any crime, a company yet to make amends in any way, and a presidential administration effectively granted immunity by our representatives in Congress?

Last month I wrote about a B-52 bomber that accidentally mounted 6 nuclear warheads and flew across the country. Though my initial post sparked some controversy, digressing into a conversation about the existence of nuclear weapons, I still think the missing nuclear weapons was irresponsible and, frankly, scary.

I was happy to read yesterday, “The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after.” Infact:

Three colonels, a lieutenant colonel and 66 other personnel were punished following the incident at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, on 29 August.

“In the countless times our dedicated airmen have transferred weapons in our nation’s arsenal, nothing like this has ever occurred,” the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations said.
Gen Newton said the “unprecedented string of procedural errors” had begun with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded onto the wing of the B-52 at Minot.

“We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken.”

In my book, “proper corrective action” would be to disarm all nuclear weapons, as there existence is unacceptable. Kill the precedent. Nobody should have nuclear weapons.

The focus of this demonstration is how this weapon will be used in military situations, but you know it won’t be long before this machine shows up at protests. I apologize for the lame intro for this video.

Many of the last several protests, such as the recent APEC demonstrations, were a joke. Protesters are gated off, sometimes as much as a mile or so from what they’re protesting. Now they’ve got this thing?! Exactly how can anyone meaningfully protest anymore? How can anyone be surprised when riots break out?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
John F. Kennedy

September 9, 2007: Dale Mills from Human Rights Monitors says there is evidence that about 200 officers removed their ID badges - so they could not be identified for complaints of assault during the APEC rally in Sydney.

18 people were arrested during APEC demonstrations on Saturday with Police accused of using excessive force. A 52-year-old man spent 22 hours in jail after being arrested for jaywalking before a motorcade on Friday…

The Bums Not Bombs protest was kinda funny though. Effective? Not so much.

Sydney, Australia

Potential troublemakers have been blacklisted. Police were given extraordinary powers to stop and search people in the street. High school students were warned that their parents would be told if they skipped school to protest.

Officials in Australia — which prides itself on a long history of liberal democracy and respect for human rights — have gone to unusual lengths to make sure world leaders at a summit in Sydney this week are not bothered by unruly protests.

I liked this quote myself:

“The reason why we have this security clampdown in Sydney, the reason why people have been inconvenienced, is because people in the past have practiced and … are threatening violence,” Howard said this week.

To place the emphasis of violence on the protesters is to undermine the widespread violence necessary for APEC to exist and function. But to be a little more explicit with this violence, the police want a court order to change the route of the march to avoid protesters.

“If they are going to be idiots and want to take the police on, then they are going to face the consequences.”

So protestors are promised violence if they merely want to be noticed by those attending. Bush, Hu Jintao, Putin, and others can go about business and not for a second do they have to believe there is any diversity of opinion.