Editor And Publisher reported yesterday that charges will be dropped against journalists recently arrested at the Republican National Convention.

The mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, had the following to say regarding the decision…

“This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. At the scene, the police did their duty in protecting public safety. In this decision, we are serving the public’s interest to maintain the integrity of our democracy, system of justice and freedom of the press.”

Flat out – either I’m on Crystal Meth or Chris Coleman is. What sort of moron claims that arresting and charging journalists was done to ‘protect public safety’? Unless, that is, they happen to be representatives of foreign interests that are using their position to cause unrest.

There’s no doubt that the arrests have become an embarrassment, but I personally don’t think that it should be overlooked that directives most likely came down from ‘on high’ with regards to procedure. And now, in the wake of it all, Coleman has the audacity to claim that the charges are being dropped to protect the sanctity of the First Amendment.

What happened in St. Paul was unabashedly autocratic. The only place that the First Amendment was allowed to be exercised was inside the Xcel Center, where the country’s major media giants were, for the most part, helping to contribute to the further diminishment of the Fourth Estate’s integrity.

Prior to learning that two of her colleagues were in dire straits outside of the Xcel Center, Amy Goodman was constitutionally as safe as houses. Until, that is, she decided to leave the convention floor, go outside, and attempt to find out what was going on. After that her First Amendment rights were as useful as used toilet paper.

The integrity of democracy? Given what occurred, that’s rich coming from anyone in a nation that’s spent the last seven years supposedly delivering democracy’s ‘advantages’ by way of Hellfire missiles.

September 20, 2008 10 Comments

Palin’s record as a reformer is starting to crumble as the media begins to seriously examine the realities of ‘the Barracuda’s’ political career. From Think Progress…

“In 2000, Sarah Palin, as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired a Washington lobbyist to secure federal earmarks for her community.

This is not totally atypical in her state. Alaska’s government receives more money per capita in federal earmark money than any other state, despite being the only state in the union with no income tax and no sales tax. They fund their government primarily with petroleum money, and recently distributed oil profits to its citizens in the form of rebate checks.

But even in her heavily earmarked state, Sarah Palin was the earmark queen.

From 2000 to 2003, she secured over $27 million in earmarks, averaging $6.7 million in federal money every year for her town of about 6,700 people.

An analysis of the databases of Taxpayers for Common Sense by Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Scott Lilly puts these numbers in perspective…

–$50: The amount the average state received in earmarked funds, per capita in 2008

–$506: The amount received by Alaska’s citizen per capita in 2008, represented by the Senate’s earmarker in chief, Ted Stevens, ten times the national average

–Over $1000: The annual amount received per capita in Wasilla between 2000 and 2003, twice the 2008 Alaska state average

Some of these earmarks drew the scorn of Senator John McCain. The LA Time reports that, “three times in recent years, McCain’s catalogs of ‘objectionable’ spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time — Sarah Palin.”

Lastly, speaking of ‘Barracuda’, when Heart found out that the Republicans had used their song at the RNC without asking permission, well…

“Ann and Nancy Wilson are pissed at the Republican Party and have fired off a cease and desist letter to the McCain/Palin campaign.

Specifically, the Heart women are upset that the GOP has used their classic “Barracuda” as a theme song for Sarah Palin. TMZ obtained a statement from Heart’s rep, who says “The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission.”

The statement goes on: “We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.”

We’re told Ann was watching TV today and heard the song at the convention when Palin was touted.

UPDATE: Twenty minutes after we posted this story, the GOP ended the evening after McCain’s speech with the song, “Barracuda.”

It’s not the first time that it’s happened either.

September 7, 2008 34 Comments

The following (mostly audio) is what Democracy Now’s Nicole Salazar’s camera captured during her arrest in St. Paul where she, along with producer Sharif Kouddous, were covering protests outside the Republican National Convention. After hearing about the incident, Amy Goodman left the convention floor and went to where Kouddous and Salazar had been arrested. She was then promptly arrested herself.

September 3, 2008 21 Comments

Things in Minneapolis are getting out of hand, and the militancy involved is something that Americans should be informed about. I fully understand that many people have preconceived notions about protestors, that some are hippie throw backs and others are little more than pseudo-anarchists looking to cause trouble, the latter of which is certainly true, but the truth is that those bent on confrontation with authorities are actually in the minority. In many cases, the authorities are just as responsible for placing people in situations in which they feel threatened, act in defense of themselves out of fear, and are then subsequently dealt with forcibly by law enforcement.

If exercising your Constitutional rights makes you a ‘hippie’, then I guess it’s safe to say that some of the most predominant activists in America are ‘hippies’. Daniel Ellsberg, an ex-Marine who once worked for The Rand Corporation and the Department of Defense in the 60’s, and was one of the authours of what would later be known as The Pentagon Papers, would be among them. Ironically, there was once a time when he was considered one of the most noted Hawks in Washington.

I have a hard time picturing Dr. Martin Luther King as a hippie, not to mention Frederick Douglas or Horace Greeley, but if the shoe fits…

That said; amongst those arrested today were two Democracy Now! producers and veteran journalist Amy Goodman…

“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.”

[…]

“Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a “peace officer.”

Also arrested was Matt Rourke, a photographer for the Associated Press. CNN political commentator and Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute, Donna Brazile, was also hit by pepper stray while walking to the convention.

Below are two videos. The first is via the San Francisco Chronicle, who interviewed Goodman shortly after her release. The second is of her arrest.

September 2, 2008 24 Comments

Security was tight during the Democratic National Convention, but not so tight that the Republicans are going to tolerate being ‘out done’. As Glen Greenwald reports, things have been transpiring in Minneapolis prior to the RNC that take the cake…

“Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.”

I awoke this morning to a photograph of a US soldier in full combat gear standing in downtown New Orleans. As some of you are aware, that city has been ordered evacuated due to the approach of hurricane Gustav. Given the federal government’s completely incompetent response to hurricane Katrina, it only stands to reason that the Department of Homeland Security is going to take preemptive measures to help secure the city and aid in the evacuation. But even given that, there’s still something about the image of a soldier holding a combat weapon in front of an army vehicle on the street of a city in a free society that disturbs me (even though I have seen it many times in Europe).

August 31, 2008 28 Comments