(Note: link to video at the end of article. Also, to clarify my political perspective, my viewpoints are often contrary to those of some of the groups protesting at both conventions. But I am a strong advocate of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I couldn’t care less if the protests were for equal rights for lint and dust bunnies – people have the right to peaceably assemble and publicly dissent and reporters have the right to cover such events.)

It seems that many of my fellow Americans are caught up in the glamour and glitz of the DNC and RNC, as the two big political parties throw a massive hoedown for their supporters and financial contributors on the taxpayers dime. Unfortunately, for all the rhetoric of freedom and democracy going on inside the hallowed halls of either convention, the constitutional rights that We The People should be enjoying are being trampled on within eyesight and ear-shot of the very people who are proclaiming that they are here to protect our liberties. 

Events at the DNC have prompted the ACLU to issue a statement of rebuke of Colorado law enforcement. They charge that the police tricked people into pleading guilty by insisting that that they had to do so in order to post bond, intimidating protestors by saying they would be facing “years in jail” for demonstrating, “pre-printed” the arrest forms which led to false charges being filed (which caused many protestors to be charged with "begging, loitering and throwing stones and missiles," when they had not done so), not giving protestors the chance to disperse before arresting them, denied those arrested legal council, and even marched detainees into court barefoot and in leg shackles. 

Additionally, there were many reports of police using extreme and excessive force against peaceful protestors,  as well as the press. In one incident, an ABC reported was violently shoved across a street by police while he was doing a report, and then arrested for resisting arrest.

One would think that the television press would jump over these stories, but it was not to be. The only mention of protestors by the TV news channels (or, at least, the only stories that I personally saw) were focused on a groups of so-called “anarchists” shoving a Fox news crew around, a run-in between radio broadcaster and documentary film maker Alex Jones and Republican Part mouthpiece Michelle Malkin, and a gaggle of buffoons dressed in Harry Potter robes attempting to levitate the US Mint.  The impression this coverage would leave on the general public who believe that the broadcast media are the funnels of truth is that the protestors were either violent without reason, or that they were some sort of fringe-stoner-pseudo-hippies with no cause and bad fashion sense. 

Looking at the RNC, which has only just begun at this point, the trampling of our first amendment rights  have gone from bad to worse.

Before the RNC even started, the local police (led by the FBI) conducted a series of raids on home used as gathering places for protest groups. In many cases these raids were not accompanied by a warrant; in the cases where a warrant was issued, it was so erroneous as to be laughable.

In one case, a press release was issued by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, which claimed that those detained were “criminal anarchists” and indicated that "materials for bombs", "hazardous materials", “assorted edged weapons”, “wrist rockets”, and “large amounts of urine” were found on the premises. 

This release has been challenged by The Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), who are seeking a judicial review of the raid. An NLG spokesperson told reporters that police are actively attempting to prevent the demonstrators from exercising their right to protest given that no charges or official complaints have been filed.

“If they have evidence of a criminal act, then they should charge them,” Bruce Nestor said. “And if they can charge [them] with a complaint, then we will go defend that in court. But right now they are just holding them. You can’t just hold [them] to prevent  from exercising their free speech.”

Part of the NLG’s counter statement reads as follows:

“Three of the arrestees are life-long residents of Minnesota. Two previously worked in early childhood education and passed background checks to obtain that employment. All have extensive ties to Minnesota, including employment and family members. One is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. None of the six arrestees have ever been convicted of a felony or crime of violence. One person arrested on Saturday morning, August 30th, was previously detained on Friday night at the St. Paul convergence center where he was photographed and identified. Despite being labeled a “key member” of a “criminal enterprise” and a planner of a “criminal conspiracy,” he was released on Friday night even though Sheriff Fletcher had conducted a months long investigation, using informants, and presumably identified the “key leaders” who he claims were organizing riots and civil disorder.”

In other raids that were conducted, places that were being used by the Press as bases of operation were raided, and reports were detained and questioned, with one incident involved a crew from national radio show Democracy Now.

After the RNC had started, and the TV News was focused exclusively on VP nominee Palin’s pregnant and unwed 17 year old daughter and Hurricane Gustav, but missed the assault of –not one but - two AP reporter by the police in separate incidences. Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke was arrested on a gross misdemeanor riot charge simply for taking pictures of a protest, and AP photographer Evan Vucci, was body slammed, kicked in the ribs and then handcuffed by police, only avoiding arrest by showing his press credentials. “The police had pushed the protesters into a parking lot where they had police coming from all sides to encircle one area,” Vucci said. “Once they got all the protesters into this one parking lot they kind of rushed and arrested all the protesters in there.”

Commenting on these incidents, AP assistant chief of bureau in Washington David Ake said: “Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage. Photographers should not be detained for covering breaking news.”

Another incident involved the arrest of two members of the Democracy Now crew for taking video footage of a protest. When the shows host, Amy Goodman (a very renown, awarded, and credentialed journalist), questioned the arrest, she was in turn roughed up a bit and arrested. Although they were later released, they now face felony charges…simply for reporting the news.

 A statement by Democracy Now decried the following: “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.”

“During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, including a photographer for the Associated Press.”

Democracy Now has vowed to fight the false charges brought up against their new crew by local law enforcement, which they characterized as an intimidation of independent journalists.

All this being said, I must definitively state that among peaceful protestors there’s always a small contingent of people who are there for no other reason than to cause some sort of violent ruckus. In these situations, I have no problem with police making legitimate arrests, and courts making prosecutions ( In some cases, actual law enforcement officers were caught red handed dressed up as protestors - wearing bandanas over their faces - and acting as agent provocateurs, causing property damage and inciting violence in order to allow for a legitimate excuse for police in riot gear to swoop in and make mass arrests). But to harass, detain, and arrest legitimate protestors, as well as arresting press-pass carrying members of the news media, is not a legitimate use of police power . On the contrary, this is nothing more than an abuse of authority and an overt attempt to chill free speech and freedom of the press.

If I recall correctly, our government officially condemns places like China, Iran, Cuba, and the like for doing exactly what our own law enforcement are doing to us. How come no member of our government has spoken out publicly about any of this?

How come none of this has been broadcast on the TV news?

This is a sad state of affairs for our country. And does not bode well for the future of We The People.

Click Here for Video from the DNC

Click Here for Video from the RNC



 
 

I’ve been watching the news for the last few days about the situation in Georgia, and needless to say I’m quite alarmed at what’s going on there. Raising my level of alarm are the distortions and outright untruths being reported in the US televised news casts. These misrepresentations of the crisis are so blatant that the only possibilities are that TV news-room reports are the absolute worst reporters in the entire world and couldn’t get a story straight if they tried; or that, as many have suggested (and has been proven out by a handful of congressional investigations) that our media is more than a little controlled by the propaganda machines of the White House. 

 
The Russians are being portrayed as the aggressors in this military action, and the media is making it seem that they have invaded Georgia unprovoked. This is simply not true.

 
As someone who has been following this situation a heck of a lot longer than the last few days, let me build a brief timeline (note that this is a very brief overview):

After the end of the Cold War, Georgia became its own independent country. South Ossetia, a very small part of what was Georgia, declared that their people identified more with Russia than with Georgia, and declared their independence from Georgia. They later signed a treaty with Russia which cemented Russia as South Ossetia’s military protector. 

 Fast forward a bit: the US has been attempting to expand its missile networks all through out the Russian satellite states, including Georgia. Russia, of course, thinks that the US’s maneuvers are a slow-building act of aggression. In fact, the US and Georgia have gotten so cozy with one another that Georgia signed on to the “Coalition of the Willing” and sent troops into Iraq (which have, as of today, been recalled) to support the US invasion of Iraq; additionally, the US has been sending troops to Georgia and have had ‘war games’ right on Russia’s doorstep ( the last I heard was that we still have troops stationed in Georgia, but it could be that their pull out previous to the conflict was un or under reported, and I simply missed it).

A little over a month ago, Georgia began harassing South Ossetia by interfering with their power and water supplies (and, to my knowledge, the water supply in South Ossetia is still cut off). Russia responded by letting Georgia know that this was a mistake, and that Georgia needed to back off.

Then Georgia invaded South Ossetia (remember, they are a sovereign nation) and killed almost 2,000 civilians and a handful of Russian soldiers who have been stationed as ‘peace keepers’ in South Ossetia since 1992. The Russians responded by bombing the crap out of Georgia, and then proceeded to roll in tanks and infantry. Also note that there are reports that either American troops or American allied mercenaries may have been killed by Russian troops.

Now, let’s put this in perspective. When Iraq rolled into Kuwait, what was the American response? And, when we thought that Iraq had WMD’s and was massacring the Kurds, how did the US respond? If Cuba attacked Puerto Rico, exactly how do you think the US would respond? And do you think that response would be justified?

 
So this all brings us back to the question of why the American Media (and the BBC for that matter) are putting the spin on that Russia is the aggressor in this situation. Possibilities include:

1 – The prejudices from the cold war era have not gone away, and we are just used to seeing the Russians as the “bad guy”.

2 – The US is using Georgia to harass the Russians, in much the same way as when the CIA created Al Qaida (yes THAT Al Qaida) to attack the Russians in Afghanistan.

3 - The war in Iraq has been an absolute mess, and the US can gracefully bow out of the situation by stating that we’re worried about the “Russian problem”.

4 – The war in Iraq is soon to end, and the US is planning to maneuver into a new Cold War in order to continue the money flow to the companies that have been making record profits off of the Iraq conflict (this include defense contractors like Lockheed-Martin and Halliburton as well as oil companies – lets not forget that Georgia has an oil pipeline that is 30% owned by BP, and the conflict there can cause gas prices to rise even higher than they are now).

5 – In the last few years, the executive branch has written up a series of executive orders which would allow for the president to become a ‘dictator-in-chief” and declare  a national state of emergency and institute martial law (which would suspend elections, demolish the posse comitatus act, and probably initiate a draft). What better reason than an escalation of tensions with Russia.

6 – There is indeed direct involvement in Georgia by the US or it’s military, and this spin we see is preemptive, to ease the reaction  when this news comes out.

7 – The American media is simply the worst in the world.

 

Now I, for one, detest war…even while understanding the necessity for it in rare cases. But the Russian view is that Georgia went in and massacred 2,000 of it’s people, and is responding in kind. Remember when that happened to us after 9/11? Oh, yeah, we attacked Iraq instead.