This interview with Carlo Garcia, an activist who protested at the DNC, was recorded shortly after his arrest. It has been embargoed until it could be reviewed by his attorney.
Excerpt: "One of the trustees who's an inmate who gets to clean up said that there was a riot, and I was like, no, there hasn't been no riot, it turned out that the police, when everybody got there, had thought that they'd come in to riot. So they all went down there in riot gear. They shut the jail down momentarily, which is crazy. There's a picture of it too, you see all the cops lined up outside the police station-- for Alicia and I. Which is crazy."
Amy Goodman, popular host of the DemocracyNow! program that airs on satellite, cable and other network feeds, including Channel 12 television in Denver, has been arrested at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. The DemocracyNow! team was filming tear gassing, pepper spraying, and firing of rubber bullets. The DemocracyNow! team was tear gassed and pepper sprayed, then arrested.
"There is clearly an intent on the part of law enforcement authorities here to engage in extreme and highly intimidating raids against those who are planning to protest the Convention... Targeting people with automatic-weapons-carrying SWAT teams and mass raids in their homes, who are suspected of nothing more than planning dissident political protests at a political convention and who have engaged in no illegal activity whatsoever, is about as redolent of the worst tactics of a police state as can be imagined..."
On August 27, the Denver Post reported that a protester was arrested "for dropping [a] bottle of feces." The Post's readers wondered how the fellow could possibly get that stuff into a bottle. The next day the Rocky Mountain News almost brought itself to the point of actually reporting that the substance was probably coffee with soy milk, as the arrestee had claimed. (Presumably the police were too embarrassed to actually admit this...) The News did report that Zachary Patrick Grey was not charged under Denver's absurd possession-of-noxious-substances ordinance.
If you'll pardon the pun, it appears that this dedicated and sincere Food Not Bombs fellow has had his reputation "soiled" by the charge. Having associated with a number of Food Not Bombs folks (and having subscribed to their global email list for several years), i know very well that they spend a considerable amount of effort understanding issues such as hygiene and contamination, so that the food they serve is as safe as possible. The idea that an FNB person would ever consider stuffing a bottle with such an unhealthy substance boggles the mind.
But let us contemplate for a moment the brave new world in which elected officials -- the "ruling" class of our society -- obsess with excrement to the extent that police fly to the conclusion a common public substance like coffee is really a personal private substance such as feces. This sort of obsession isn't an idle neurosis, it is a weapon aimed at dissidents who dare to speak openly about the sickness of such a society -- a weapon as revolting and obscene as Malaysia's practice of charging political dissidents with sodomy in order to damage their credibility.
An "unusual" judicial strategy "peculiar to the protesters arrested during the DNC" that appears to have been designed to force them to miss the RNC has been revised.
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Those pleading 'not guilty' avoid weekend stay
By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Friday, August 29, 2008
[excerpts] Denver County Court changed its process in the middle of hearings Friday morning to accommodate protesters arrested during the Democratic National Convention.
Protesters had come to court intending to postpone their return court dates so they wouldn't have to stay in Denver until next week.
Judges at first remained adamant that they could not divert from a process set up to handle mass arrests during the convention. The process required people who were arrested to come to court Tuesday to get a trial date if they pleaded not guilty.
[excerpts] DENVER, Aug. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Police officers use excessive force and brutality in arresting two young women, aged 17 and 15 years old, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver for peacefully demonstrating yards away from where Senator Obama is staying.
Also arrested was the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition of Washington, DC.
Jayne White, 17, and Julia Giacopuzzi, 15, both from Lake Arrowhead, California, were arrested in front of the Westin Hotel where Senator Barack Obama is staying while at the Democratic National Convention.
The two young women were arrested, without warning, while peacefully writing pro-life messages on the sidewalk in front of the Westin Hotel with sidewalk chalk where Senator Obama is staying.
Rev. Mahoney was arrested and threatened with a felony for leading the event.
After being arrested, the group was later released.
The group had received permission to sidewalk chalk from Denver City Attorney David Fine and Denver Deputy Chief Police John Lamb and had been "sidewalk chalking" for six days prior to the arrests.
Jayne White
Jayne White, age 17, was rushed from behind, physically forced to the ground, had a police officer dig his knee into the back of her neck, pulled her arms and cuffed her behind her back.
Julia Giacopuzzi
Julia Giacopuzzi, age 15, was rushed by a police officer, had her arms twisted behind her back, lifted up off the ground and then cuffed.
The videographer inquires at the police line, "why are we being contained?"
The policeman gestures upward with his automatic weapon as he responds, "you're not, you can leave." *
But the detainees are surrounded by overwhelming force, and there is no escape. A similar question at a different point in the line will elicit a similar response. To any free spirit trapped behind the lines, the tone is mocking, dismissive. To the protesters, journalists, and legal observers, the message is clear: your government's intent to control ideology is every bit as absolute as is its monopoly on force. As minutes pass into hours, the lesson becomes its own form of punishment.
In the streets of Denver, we have witnessed the systematic criminalization of any ideology that is not mainstream. If you dare to exercise free speech in the streets, then your government will make that the battleground between mainstream and "corrupting" ideas.
Political speech may be free when restricted to the realm of thought, but in this society, political speech is not free in the dimension of cost. Your "aberrant" ideology comes with a price which you will pay, personally. Via police phalanxes administering pepper spray and batons, via random, unprovoked arrests and the humiliation of detainees, the police force becomes the instrument of instruction: you are slaves to the system, and if you rebel, your dissidence will be punished.
[excerpt] DENVER (AP) — An ABC News producer covering the Democratic convention was pushed into traffic by a sheriff's deputy on Wednesday and then arrested, the network said.
Asa Eslocker was arrested on charges of interference, trespass and failure to obey a lawful order.
Activists at the DNC have noticed an unmistakable characteristic of police action relating to protests: a level of brutality and humiliation that appears so widespread, it must result from policy. For example, some arrestees have been tied to each other throughout their incarceration, and (according to the KGNU radio station) have not been allowed privacy even when using the bathroom.
George Zhibin Gu summarizes the history of China's Communist Dynasty:
(George Zhibin Gu of China is an author of several new books, including: 1. China's global reach, 2. China and the new world order, 3. Made in China.)
The past 60 years of China's Communist history can be divided roughly into two phases.
The first phase, between 1949 and 1978, was this: the Communist bureaucracy had totally destroyed society, the economy and the culture. This was done by a total bureaucratic monopoly over all of nation's wealth, labor, markets, organizations and institutions. Furthermore, it completely destroyed the free press and the law. But this unprecedented bureaucratic domination immediately produced unprecedented man-made disasters in world history, not just China's. The disasters include endless violence and terror, the creation of the state sector and people's communes, the total bureaucratization of media, education, and thought.
In the end, beginning in 1958, the regime wanted to have a total bureaucratic miracle in the so-called Great Leap Forward (1958-60), and record disasters emerged all at once. Record deaths of some 50 million people occurred in the period of 1958-62, killing some 50 million people by an unprecedented famine as well as a record oganized violence.
What is more, these unprecedented miseries turned out to be the very beginning of bureaucratic disasters. Worse than the famine, three bureaucratic wars emerged against society and the people in the period of 1959-78, which ended to destroy countless millions of lives, or even more, by organized violence, not to mention a near total destruction of culture, education, thinking, wealth and all other good things in life.
PETTUS, W. Va. – Early this morning two concerned citizens, Dea Goblirsch and Nick Martin, locked down to a drill rig on Coal River Mountain’s Bee Tree mountaintop removal site, effectively stopping blasting. Two others, Grace Williams and Laura Von Dolen, joined them in direct support, holding a banner with the message “Save Coal River Mountain”.
These nonviolent protestors have taken this action to bring attention to the extreme danger facing residents of the Coal River Valley from blasting near the Brushy Fork Impoundment. They plan to stay locked down until law enforcement removes them.
Resident of Rock Creek, W Va., Delbert Gunnoe, stated his concerns with the blasting, “You know when they put a blast over there, and it shakes the windows over here, at what, ¾-a-mile distance, imagine what it does over there.” Gunnoe continued, “if [the impoundment] did bust…what would be the destruction? The town of Whitesville would no longer exist.”
The four are fearful of the blasting that Massey Energy began in late October. These blasts are 200 feet from the Brushy Fork Impoundment, permitted to hold nine billion gallons of toxic coal slurry. The impoundment sits atop miles of hollow, abounded underground mines, further endangering its integrity. By Massey’s own estimates, roughly 998 people will die should the dam break. The emergency evacuation plan states that a 40-foot wall of sludge, cresting at 72 feet, will flow through the valley, reaching 20-feet-high about 15 miles down the road. Apart from the initial flood, the impact of this potential spill would be felt along the Coal River’s 88 miles.
The universities across the nation (and AG) do more for the fbi/cia than assist in the search for foreign terrorists; today our colleges and universities directly encourage their campus police and civilian employees to engage in unlawful intel operations against whistleblower
GERAL SOSBEE.
In November, 2009, the Texas Attorney General (AG) grants near blanket authority (in Case number OR2009-16316 & Case ID#367454) to the University Of Texas Police (UTP) and Harlingen, Texas (HTP) Police to withhold from Open Records (OR) disclosure the key data in their possession relating to Geral Sosbee. The AG also states in each opinion that the AG has no authority beyond the scope of the OR statutes. The AG thus hides from his responsibility as a citizen and human being for civil and human rights violations behind the the OR guidelines ( which are designed to allow the police to engage in witch hunts, stalking, harassment, fraudulent stings and other crimes as I have documented at many pages of www.sosbeevfbi.com.) I have also provided the AG with evidence of ongoing felonies against my person (continuing in Texas and other locations for the past decade); by the AG letters referenced above the fbi now gains the AG approval and authority to use UT employees (including UTP) in efforts to silence or kill me; see for example the specifics of some of my reports at
An Evening of Solidarity for Mutulu Shakur
Presented by Denver and Aurora CopWatch, Sisters of Color United for Education, and Denver ABC
Saturday, November 28th
Sisters of Color 2895 8th Ave, Denver, CO (8th and federal across the street from the bus yard)
7:30-12ish
Sliding Scale 1-5$ (if you ain't got it don't let it stop you from coming)
Teach-in by Professor Ward Churchill
Live Music by:
Mike Wird
Ietef
Debajito (of Debajo Del Agua)
Hosted by Shareef Aleem
Please join us on Saturday, November 28th to stand in solidarity with Dr Mutulu Shakur before his appeals hearing on Monday, November 30th at the super-maximum Federal prison in Florence, CO.
Dr. Shakur is a New Afrikan (Black) man whose primary work has been in the area of health. He is a doctor of acupuncture and one of the most prolific, committed and conscious freedom fighters and political prisoners to whom the Black liberation struggle has given birth.
Since the age 16, Dr. Shakur has been a part of the New Afrikan
Independence Movement. As a part of this movement Dr. Shakur has been a target of the illegal Counterintelligence Program carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (COINTELPRO). This was a secret police strategy used in the U.S. starting in the 1960's to destroy and neutralize progressive and revolutionary organizations. It is believed that Dr. Shakur's resistance to this program led to his arrest and trial.
Dear Radio Friend,
The latest Shortwave Report (November 20) is up at the website http://www.outfarpress.com/outfa... in both broadcast quality (13.3MB) and quickdownload or streaming form (4.9MB) (28:59)
(NEW! If you have access to Audioport.org there is a higher quality version posted up there {26.7MB} http://www.audioport.org/index.p...)
Water is essential, in various ways, to all human activity. Water is something that humans, literally, cannot do without. Every human needs water in order live and to have a good life. Societies need water in order to be provide for the survival of their populations. Usable water, as a resource, is finite and distributed unevenly across the planet. Most societies have difficulty providing water to their populations, especially in the Third World. The inability to access water is referred to as the water crisis.
LA VIRGEN DE LA GUADALUPE ES DE TODOS LOS MEXICANOS, NO DE LOS CURAS
La Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) no está de acuerdo en que los Mexicanos utilicemos a la Virgen de la Guadalupe, como sucedió en la marcha de SME el pasado 11 de noviembre (2009) por “manipular el sentimiento religioso”, se ha afirmado en varias ocasiones desde que concluyó la 88ª Asamblea Plenaria del CEM. Los curas, junto con los políticos y las grandes transnacionales se han adueñado de nuestro país y de nuestros símbolos.
¿Ya se les olvidó a los curas que la Virgen de Guadalupe es el único símbolo religioso auténticamente Mexicano? ¿Ya se les olvidó que ellos llegaron con Hernán Cortés a robar y a imponernos su cruz a sangre y fuego? La Virgen de Guadalupe es Tonantzin y es nuestra, aunque no les guste a los extranjeros como ellos.
Lo que los curas del CEM no quieren es que el pueblo Mexicano, unido al SME, siga la trayectoria de don Miguel Hidalgo y les arrebate la jugosa ganancia.
Yo les pido a los curas del CEM que ya no nos “salven”.
¡¡Larguense de aquí!! ¡¡Larguense!! ¡¡Larguense!! ¡¡Larguense!! ¡¡Larguense!! ¡¡Larguense de México y de todo este continente!!
Josefa Ortiz http://josefaortiz.hpage.com/sme...
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TAX EXEMPT SLUSH FUND CHARITIES(FOUNDATIONS) FOR OUR U.S. WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS WE ALL KNOW are QUITE COMMON AND COSTING THE U.S.GOVERNMENT BILLIONS IN POSSIBLE TAX REVENUE.
***MANY OF THESE SAME AMERICAN WEALTHY ELITE NOT ONLY HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER THEIRTX EVADING FOUNDATIONS BILLIONS,BUT ALSO FIND IT NECESSARY TO HIRE LOBBYISTS TO ATTEMPT THE DIRECT CONTROL OVER VARIOUS USES OF AMERICAN TAX PAYERS TAX $$$ ???
WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER OUR U.S.CONGRESSIONAL TAX DOLLAR SPENDING WITH THEIR BEHIND THE SCENE LOBBY MONIES... AND ARE CONTINUING TO DENY MIDDLE~CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS PROPER HEALTH ~ CARE , PROPER LEGAL PROTECTIONS IN AMERICAN FAMILY COURTS,CIVIL COURTS,& FEDERAL APPEALS FROM STATE COURTS. **THOUSANDS OF POORER AMERICANS ALL ACROSS AMERICA ARE LOSING PARENTING AND VISITATION RIGHTS WITH THEIR CHILDREN, ARE BEING FALSELY IMPRISONED, WRONGFULY EXECUTED,LOSING THEIR HOMES OR APARTMENTS ETC...
** IS THIS REALLY WHAT MANY SAY APPEARS TO BE THE FORMATION OF A NEW WORLD ORDER IN AMERICA THAT IS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK DOWN AND DESTROY AMERICAN FAMILIES AND ESTABLISHED FAMILY VALUES ACROSS OUR GREAT COUNTRY ???
<p>Compiled by <a href="http://www.nhgazette.com/">The New Hampshire Gazette</a></p>
<p>When an American male (or an especially belligerent female) makes the challenging transition from late adolescence into early adulthood, he is faced with many decisions. One certain, specific combination of choices will result in his becoming a chickenhawk: choosing to “support” war, while also choosing not to serve in the military. His motto becomes: “Let’s you and him go fight; I’ll hold your coat.”</p>
<p>Depending on external circumstances, such an individual may become one of three varieties of chickenhawk:</p>
<p>• If there is no draft, and the nation is at peace, the individual becomes a Common Chickenhawk;</p>
<p>• If there is a draft, and the nation is at peace, the individual becomes a Chickenhawk First Class;</p>
<p>• If the there is a draft, and the nation is at war, the individual becomes a Chickenhawk First Class with Distinguished Fleeing Cross.</p>
<p>We currently have 132 Chickenhawks listed in our database. Here they are, listed chronologically by date of birth. <a href="http://www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks/?sort_list=0">CLICK HERE</a> to see them listed alphabetically.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nhgazette.com/nominate/?id=-1&action=new">Nominate a Chickenhawk</a></p>
<p>posted by the <a href="http://wintersoldier.org">Thomas Paine Project</a> (FYI: the organization is run by veterans)</p>
Philip Giraldi on Antiwar.com produced an excellent article on J Street, the new “pro-Israel, pro-peace” alternative to AIPAC, which last month held its inaugural conference in Washington. [“My Problem with J Street,” http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/10/28/my-problem-with-j-street/]
The organization’s name, J Street, a lettered street which does not exist in Washington, DC, is presumably an effort to identify with K Street, which is considered the central location for lobbying firms in Washington, with the “J” presumably standing for “Jewish,” since “J” is not the only unused letter for Washington street names.
J Street has been excoriated by the neocons and other hardline Zionist rightists as being anti-Israel, while it has been hailed as a great hope for the future by many proponents of a more balanced, less pro-Israel, American policy in the Middle East. Giraldi, however, stands virtually alone in seeing things in a much different light. To him, J Street is “just another Israel advocacy group with a slightly more progressive and politically correct and therefore acceptable message.” In short, with its moderate, pro-peace image, J Street can more effectively promote the policies of the Israeli government, to the detriment of the Palestinians and the United States.