The Try-Works

In case you ain’t heard, Public Enemy’s playing for R68 on Monday.

Update:  There’s a certain amount of irony in T.A.R.D.’s headlining band, ain’t there?  Y’know, seeing as how they’ve made an entire career of melding heavy metal and hip hop in a fashion that would’ve made Elvis envious.

Of course, it’d already been done, and been done better.

Update II:  Alright, to be honest, I like Rage Against the Machine, but what the fuck?  I mean, you have a choice.  You can play with Dead Prez, Public Enemy, Ward Churchill, Pam Africa, Kathleen Cleaver, Fred Hampton Jr., Ida Audeh, Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente, etc., etc.

Or you can dick around with FBI Instructor Mark Rudd, Safety Inspector Supreme Ralph Nader and a bunch of fucking college dropouts. 

You do the math.  David Horowitz would shun T.A.R.D. as fucking lame.

Adam Jung’s been trolling around here bragging about his association with Vernon Bellecourt.

Which led me to ask the following:

Were you aware of Vernon Bellecourt’s order of the rape and murder of Anna Mae Aquash? Or his attempt to assassinate Russell Means, Ward Churchill, and Glenn Morris — precisely because Churchill, Means, and Morris, amongst others have been very vocal about Vernon Bellecourt’s proclivity to rape and murder? Or his part in the smear of Ward Churchill in 2005? You know, the year in which you were working with him?

You’re gonna be real popular in Denver.

Which was followed up by long-time Try-Works commenter (and guest poster), Law Professor:

Three simple questions for you, Mr. Jung.

Ready? Okay, here we go. First question: Which of the following is a nonviolent act?

A) Ordering the kidnap, rape, and murder of an American Indian woman.

B) Doing the voice-over in a Walt Disney movie.

C) Ordering the murders of your political opponents.

That’s right, Mr. Jung. The answer is “B.” This leads us to next question: Which of the following individuals is associated with “B”?

A) Vernon Bellecourt

B) Russell Means

Right again, Mr. Jung. This answer is also “B.” So, here’s the final question: Which of the two have YOU been associated with over the past few years?

Funny, we’ve yet to hear an answer from Mr. Jung.

The mighty James Benjamin found a couple of tidbits about the Colorado Greens which he was kind enough to leave in the comments.  The first being a piece from the co-chair of the Green Party of Colorado, which Dr. Benjamin titled, “McKinney isn’t whitebread enough to be a Green.”

I am the co-chair of the Green Party of Colorado, but I am not supporting Cynthia McKinney for President.

Colorado Green Party candidates this year are exceptional and I support them whole heartily: Bob Kinsey for U.S. Senate; Art Goodtimes for San Miguel County Commissioner; Scott Zulauf for Jefferson County Commissioner; Jerry Lacy for Custer County Commissioner; Joe Calhoun for Congress-CD 2; and Tony D’Lallo for State House District 34.

There have been internal Green Party controversies involving the Green Party of Colorado and the McKinney presidential campaign that have raised very serious concerns for me — structurally the McKinney campaign is disorganized, uncommunicative, and there have been incidents of a dismissive attitude towards state and local Green Party groups. These failings in operation are seriously at odds with the Ten Key Values that make the Green Party distinctively different from the major political parties.

There are more importantly real issue oriented reasons why I believe the nomination of McKinney and her vice presidential pick, Rosa Clemente, was a mistake by the national convention of the Green Party of the United States.

In politics and running for office, one cannot stop other groups or organizations from expressing support or opposition to your candidacy or cause. In this Republic where free speech is enshrined as our first freedom in the Bill of Rights, people and groups have a right to say what they think and believe. However, one also has the right to choose with whom one decides to associate.

The Cynthia McKinney campaign cannot stop the Workers International League from endorsing her … but McKinney has decided to embrace that recommendation and publish it on her web site. This is also true of the Workers World Party.

[snip]

This is plainly and simply unacceptable to me.

I believe that there are indeed politically and socially disaffected and alienated Americans who should be reached out to and encouraged to participate in our democratic process — the two afore mentioned groups, however, are not part of the ‘oppressed’ or ‘forgotten’.

My goal has always been that the Green Party could become in time a major principled, progressive mainstream political party in the United States of America. The commitment of Greens to a more inclusive democracy, to a broader, pluralistic Republic, to politics free from the taint of big special interest money makes the Green Party uniquely different from the Democrats. The Green Party’s commitment to non-violence and rejection of militarism and nationalism as an organizing principle for the country makes us radically preferable to the Republicans.

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, however, appear to be moving the Green Party I believe in, in a very different direction. To put in glibly, but honestly — I don’t know what a ‘hip hop’ political party is.

Furthermore, even passing references to violent revolution are anathema to me. This is NOT Green, it is uncivil, and for a vice presidential candidate, Ms. Clemente does not seem to know the difference between radical, reactionary, and being gratuitously inflammatory.

Dr. Benjamin also gave us the following:

Chandler also has a history of supporting some pretty right-wing efforts targeting undocumented immigrants, as well as using right-wing rhetoric, albeit of a “populist” variety in discussing undocumented immigrants. It’s time for the Greens to purge these goons like Chandler from positions of leadership, for the sake of actually becoming a real opposition party rather than a party of aging upper-middle-class white hippie wannabes.

Normally I’d try to add something.  But in this case, why bother?

Update: Dr. Benjamin has posted a wonderful long piece on the Colorado Greens and T.A.R.D. over at his place.  Get thee the fuck over there and read it.

Can you believe I ain’t used that title yet?

Anyway, the following from Steven Argue, on Santa Cruz Indy Media.

Protest plans have been in the works against the Democratic National Convention (DNC) for some time now, with organizers opposing the Democrat Party’s policies of war and occupation, backing of continued corporate policies that cause global warming, and their attacks on immigrants.

The people who have been organizing the protest schedule formed a coalition called Recreate ‘68. A rightward split has occurred in this coalition, and another group has also been formed called the Alliance for Real Democracy. The Alliance for Real Democracy is organizing their own separate events, one of which is a reception for Democrat Party delegates complete with drinks and BBQ.

The Alliance for Real Democracy is made up of the Colorado Green Party, Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, the American Friends Service Committee, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Colorado Street Medics, and Students for Peace and Justice.

While the Alliance for Real Democracy consists largely of white liberals who are trying to influence the hopelessly corporate run Democrat Party, Recreate ‘68 is made up primarily of minorities, socialists, anarchists, communists, and other radicals who have fewer illusions in reforming the Democrat Party and who instead want to organize the power of the people.

Glen Spagnuelo, spokesperson of Recreate ‘68, says he’s not bothered by the formation of the Alliance for Real Democracy, because both groups oppose the war in Iraq and neither is advocating a violent protest.

Yet, the Alliance for Real Democracy has gotten extensive coverage in the corporate media of Colorado for their violence baiting Recreate ‘68. The stand of Recreate ‘68 is, however, one where they simply explain that they are not planning violence, but if the police attack them, they do not disavow the right of protesters to self-defense.

As Benjamin Whitmer of Denver explained in the letters column of the Rocky Mountain Times in a June 5, 2008 letter entitled, “Re-create 68 members aren’t violent extremists”:

“I’m a little confused as to the media’s portrayal of Glenn Spagnuolo and the members of Re-create 68 as violent extremists. Though Mr. Spagnuolo is getting painted as Vlad the Impaler with a bag full of severed heads, I’ve yet to hear of him engaging in a single act of violent protest. Moreover, I’ve attended several Re-create 68 meetings – meetings which, it’s worth noting, are never without a media presence – and have yet to hear a single suggestion of violent protest from him or from anyone else attending.

“The controversy seems to stem from Re-create 68’s refusal to disallow the right to self-defense to its members. Re-create 68’s explanation of this refusal is clear. There will be people protesting with Re-create 68 arm-in-arm with their children and elders. In large part, these will be representatives of communities which have most suffered from the never-ending betrayal of the Democrats. To attempt to deny them the right to defend themselves is to deny a fundamental human right.”

Yet, the Alliance for Real Democracy is demanding everyone roll over and die when and if they are violently attacked by the police, and painting those who do not have such a commitment as “violent”. The coverage their denunciations have received in the corporate media play into the hands of government attempts to deny permits, and, ultimately plays into the hands of police violence if the government does decide to physically attack these protests. In fact, the Alliance for Real Democracy’s denunciations of the right to self-defense and denunciations of Recreate ‘68 as “violent” creates a ready made excuse for the police and government that may actually cause police violence.

In addition, the Green Party of Colorado has issued false statements to the press and all over the internet claiming that Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will not be participating in the Recreate ’68 events. Here is one such statement from Dave Chandler, co-chair of the Colorado Green Party, Green Party candidate for U.S. Congress in the Seventh Congressional District, and supporter of a Denver ballot measure that would seize the vehicles of illegal immigrants:

“Cynthia McKinney, Green Party candidate for President, and Rosa Clemente, Green Party candidate for Vice President are NOT participating in any Recreate ‘68 activities. Both candidates, and the Green Party of Colorado, are refuting this announcement and are stating that neither candidate, nor the Green Party of Colorado, are in any way associated with Recreate ’68, nor will any of their candidates be speaking at or attending any event, nor are they in any way associated with the group Recreate ’68.”

This is a blatant lie. Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente will be speaking at the Recreate ’68 events.

The rest.

Anyway, there’s a reason I hate these T.A.R.D. motherfuckers so much, and it’s exactly shit like this.  Examples abound that I have neither the time nor the inclination to post about, the latest and greatest being lying asshole Adam Jung  of Tent State feeding 5280 some horseshit about R68 expecting no more than a couple of hundred people, and offering no events.  Not surprisingly, given that 5280 is essentially a protracted restaurant brochure, the drooling fucking idiots on their staff bought Mr. Jung’s line of shit.

Just saw the following at the WCSN site.  Heh.

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente Announce Their Participation in Anti-war, Anti-human rights Abuse Events Before the DNC
August 14, 2008

As the United States activated Navy ships and the Air Force to begin an airlift of non-specified goods into the former Soviet state of Georgia, and military exercises began in the Persian Gulf near Iran, I received communications from certain individuals among the Colorado Greens who were organizing campaign support events there, suggesting that I not participate in an anti-war program being organized by other individuals in Colorado.

Perplexed, I began to do my research to understand the nature of the fissure that I seemed to be placing myself in the middle of. The communications to me about not participating in one of the scheduled events became more and more shrill. The events ran through August 26th. When the lineup of speakers, including Rosa and me, was announced for the events in question, I received multiple communications stating in various ways that the sender from the Green Party of Colorado, was on the verge of desperation over the matter. Within a few hours, I was reading messages stating that the Green Party of Colorado would be ruined if I participated in the End the Occupations/End the War march and rally slated to take place on the morning of August 24th on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol, or if Rosa participated in a Freedom March and Rally for Human Rights and Political Prisoners at Civic Center Park the following day.

An article appeared in a local Colorado newspaper stating that Rosa and I would not appear at the events for which we had been scheduled. Rosa responded to our Colorado Green Party contact that yes, indeed, we were appearing at the two events. Both Rosa and I then received messages demanding to know by a time certain what our plans were, and asserting that the Green Party of Colorado would be totally ruined if we associated with the group sponsoring the events. In addition, we were told that at least one resignation and sustaining membership would be tendered to the Party, and that Rosa and I could expect no support on the ground in Denver from the Green Party of Colorado, including a planned fundraiser and a place to stay.

Without receiving any additional response or information from either Rosa or I, the correspondent sent a message informing us that all Green Party of Colorado events previously scheduled for us had been canceled. Further, the message stated that ballot access petitioning by Green Party of Colorado would cease in neighboring Wyoming and that all efforts would be made to remove Rosa’s and my names from the ballot in Colorado. The message also noted that the Colorado delegation overwhelmingly supported Elaine Brown at the Green Party Convention.

With the e-mail messages flying “fast and furious,” I hope I have mentioned the highlights of this episode in somewhat chronological order. What Rosa and I would like to address now, is the ideological and rational order that produced this outcome. At the very first Green Party debate held in San Francisco earlier this year, I pleaded for unity of action and purpose as we face the challenges that confront us as a country. Rosa and I are proud to join with others who are sick and tired of war, occupation, human rights abuses, and the continued incarceration of our political prisoners. We are proud to join with others who are willing to do something about it. In the context of activities in Denver, that means cooperating with some organizations new to us and others with which Rosa and I have had a long-standing relationship. Let me explain some of those relationships.

I am proud to have received a Backbone Award from the Backbone Campaign, one of the co-participants of the anti-war, anti-occupation events in question, according to the organizers.

Rosa and I are pleased to have received the endorsement of M-1 of Dead Prez, who put out a video of endorsement and is rallying other conscious Hip Hop, Generation X voters to the Green Party with Rosa and I as its nominees. Rebel Diaz was on the stage with Rosa as she accepted her Green Party nomination for Vice President. Both Dead Prez and Rebel Diaz are participating in the events in question, according to the organizers.

Fred Hampton, Jr.’s mother, a victim of COINTELPRO, came to Georgia in the mid-1990s to help me gain reelection after a malicious redistricting case that went all the way up to the Supreme Court. Ward Churchill has traveled to my Congressional district to educate my former constituents on the COINTELPRO of yesterday and the COINTELPRO of today. Natsu Saito introduced me to other victims of COINTELPRO. I asked Kathleen Cleaver to co-author a report that was submitted to Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time of the World Conference Against Racism, on the unsolved murders of Black Panther Party members who were victims of COINTELPRO. Fred Hampton, Jr., Ward Churchill, Natsu Saito, and Kathleen Cleaver are all participating in the events in question, according to the organizers.

As a Member of Congress, I supported the release of all political prisoners and welcomed information from the American Indian Movement about Leonard Peltier. I have at many times in my political career been allied with the ACLU, and have always supported Pam and Ramona Africa and the MOVE Organization. The American Indian Movement of Colorado, King Downing of the ACLU, and Pam and Ramona Africa of MOVE are all participating in the events in question, according to the organizers.

Mumia Abu Jamal has endorsed the Power to the People Campaign and my Green Party candidacy. According to the organizers, Mumia will transmit a message to all of us participating in the events in question.

Finally, I have appeared on various stages with many Palestinians; I have proudly spoken at rallies organized by Larry Holmes. Debra Sweet with World Can’t Wait was among the very first to my knowledge to organize around impeachment as an imperative and I support hers and all other impeachment groups in their efforts. And finally, I have known Ben Manski for a long time as a socially conscious activist who is also a member of the Green Party. According to the organizers, a Palestinian refugee is slated to speak at the events in question, as well as Larry Holmes, Debra Sweet, and Ben Manski.

Rosa and I have not been given any rational, ideological, or strategically-acceptable reason by the Green Party of Colorado to dissociate ourselves from the movement that this country so desperately needs and that these individuals and organizations participating represent, as we all attempt to hold the Democratic Party accountable for its complicity in all of the crimes of the Bush Administration. Therefore Rosa and I will keep our appointments in Denver and we hope that the members of the Green Party of Colorado will attend our sessions and listen to what we have to say. I have faith that by taking principled stands against war and occupation, human rights abuse, the prison-industrial complex, and in support of freedom for political prisoners, the Green party will emerge stronger.

Cynthia McKinney
Green Party Nominee for President of the United States

Rosa Clemente
Green Party Nominee for Vice President of the United States

Looks like there’s a new Harry Crews documentary out.  About fucking time.

And speaking of which, I’ve got some thoughts on Larry Brown upcoming.  For as much as I’ve been reading him, I ain’t been posting about the motherfucker nearly enough.

Theodore Roethke — The Saginaw Song

In Saginaw, in Saginaw,
The wind blows up your feet,
When the ladies’ guild puts on a feed,
There’s beans on every plate,
And if you eat more than you should,
Destruction is complete.

Out Hemlock Way there is a stream
That some have called Swan Creek;
The turtles have bloodsucker sores,
And mossy filthy feet;
The bottoms of migrating ducks
Come off it much less neat.

In Saginaw, in Saginaw,
Bartenders think no ill;
But they’ve ways of indicating when
You are not acting well:
They throw you through the front plate glass
And then send you the bill.

The Morleys and the Burrows are
The aristocracy;
A likely thing for they’re no worse
Than the likes of you or me,—
A picture window’s one you can’t
Raise up when you would pee.

In Shaginaw, in Shaginaw
I went to Shunday Shule;
The only thing I ever learned
Was called the Golden Rhule,—
But that’s enough for any man
What’s not a proper fool.

I took the pledge cards on my bike;
I helped out with the books;
The stingy members when they signed
Made with their stingy looks,—
The largest contributors came
From the town’s biggest crooks.

In Saginaw, in Saginaw,
There’s never a household fart,
For if it did occur,
It would blow the place apart,—
I met a woman who could break wind
And she is my sweet-heart.

O, I’m the genius of the world,—
Of that you can be sure,
But alas, alack, and me achin’ back,
I’m often a drunken boor;
But when I die—and that won’t be soon—
I’ll sing with dear Tom Moore,
With that lovely man, Tom Moore.

Coda:

My father never used a stick,
He slapped me with his hand;
He was a Prussian through and through
And knew how to command;
I ran behind him every day
He walked our greenhouse land.

I saw a figure in a cloud,
A child upon her breast,
And it was O, my mother O,
And she was half-undressed,
All women, O, are beautiful
When they are half-undressed.

From the Rocky Mountain News.

Tent State University is saying good-bye to City Park.

The protest group, which had until 5 p.m. today to submit a detailed plan to the city of Denver in order to obtain a permit to assemble at City Park during the Democratic National Convention, has decided to move elsewhere.

The group’s new location will be announced this afternoon.

The group of mostly college-age demonstrators had initially wanted to camp overnight in the park, sparking an outcry from neighbors and concerns from city officials. Overnight camping isn’t allowed in Denver’s urban parks.

In recent weeks, Mayor John Hickenlooper said on a radio show that he wouldn’t allow the group to camp overnight.

The mayor also jokingly said that the city might turn on the sprinklers in the park if the group didn’t comply by the city’s 11 p.m. curfew.

Jojo Pease, a spokeswoman for the group, said organizers made the decision to go elsewhere after holding more than 25 meetings with neighborhood groups, the Denver Zoo, police, city officials and others.

“Organizers feel that listening to concerns of the community that you’re going into is something that we need to do because one of our biggest problems with the government … is that they don’t listen to us,” she said. “So, for us to not listen to what other people are saying would be completely hypocritical. In light of that and in light of other events that have happened … we have decided to move to a different permanent area.”

The new area will be announced at a 1:30 p.m. press conference at City Park.

There are fuck ups the world over, but Mr. Jung Is a fuck up of the magnitude that usually ends up getting involved in a land war in Asia.  Think about it for a minute.  The fucking idiot’s been putting out a national call to action for months now, hustling his ass to get protesters to show up in City Park, promising a Resurrection City and alternative university, national music acts (Jello Biafra!), spots for the Truthers and other idiots to huff paint, the whole nine yards.  (Expect the links to disappear shortly.)

Only to pull the plug two weeks before the convention.

Does anybody really believe this wasn’t an attempt to deliberately sabotage the protests?

Anyway, let us recap.  Recreate 68 has the permits.  They have the space for the meals being served by Food Not Bombs, for the People’s Law Project, for the Colorado Street Medics, and for the sundry other groups pitching in, all of which they’ve been helping to coordinate for over a year.  They have the musical acts and the speakers (look for that list on Monday).  They’ve done the logistical planning, and they have the only site in town from which to kick off any protest of more than 50 people.

Adam Jung?

He has a tent.

I can’t wait to hear his alternative.

Update:  Well, I’m almost impressed.  According to the Rocky’s updated article, Mr. Jung and the city pulled a fast one, foregoing the permit process, and installing T.A.R.D. at Cuernavaca Park, within sight of the Pepsi Center.  Wonder if they’ve arranged a backroom parade permit as well?

Ah, it’s good to be a pig.

Update II:  Alright, this is getting ridiculous.  Seems like T.A.R.D.’s plans are falling apart faster’n they can make ‘em.  This from the Denver Post.

For a couple hours Friday afternoon, it seemed a compromise had been reached that would allow thousands of protesters under the banner “Tent State University” to demonstrate all day in a city park and camp at night at the Denver Coliseum.

That was until the protesters learned the cost.

Tent State organizer Jojo Pease said it was only after a Friday press conference with city officials that she learned the group would be charged $1,000 a night to camp in the Coliseum parking lot.

“It would be our responsibility to pay it,” Pease said. “There won’t be camping at the Coliseum.”

Instead, the group, which Pease said may number 10,000, will spend its days at Cuernavaca Park and nights inside the official protest zone at the Pepsi Center.

Demonstrators will be allowed to stay overnight, but will not be allowed to pitch tents in the zone. Pease said it may work out that the protesters sleep during the day at nearby Cuernavaca, then protest all night outside the Pepsi Center.

“We anticipate a lot of Red Bull will be involved,” Pease said.

The group is also hoping that local residents and churches provide places to sleep for those who prefer not to stay mostly awake for four days.

Even though plans for the protesters to use the Coliseum parking lot for camping may never come to pass, Cuernavaca Park will give them an alternative to their original plan for using City Park. That many protesters at City Park had caused concerns for nearby residents that will disappear along with the protesters.

City-owned Cuernavaca Park is within the “extraordinary event zone” for the convention, meaning the city will provide water and portable-toilet facilities there. If a tent city had been set up in City Park, protesters would have needed to plan for water and toilets.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Jill McGranahan of the Denver Parks Department said before the protesters rejected the $1,000-a-night offer at the Coliseum. McGranahan could not be immediately reached Friday evening for comment on the Coliseum change.

City Councilwoman Carla Madison, who represents the district around City Park, said earlier Friday that moving the protesters to Cuernavaca is a “huge relief” for her and her constituents.

“I really think it’s great,” Madison said. “It will work out a lot better for them (demonstrators).”

The demonstrators will be at the Coliseum on Wednesday Aug. 27. They’ve paid rent that day to host a concert while buses shuttle protesters down to the Pepsi Center for the night of the nomination.

Beyond that, they can use Cuernevaca park from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., but won’t be able to camp there overnight.

“This will not paralyze us,” Pease said. “This was our decision.”

Update III:  I’m curious as exactly what permits T.A.R.D. has for Cuernevaca park, by the way.  According to PoliticsWest:

The first park in the Denver lottery is for the City of Cuernavaca Park. Re-create 68’s affiliates have locked up the park from Aug. 23, Saturday, through the 26th.

Stand for Peace got first dibs on the 23rd. Bring Them Home, which is part of Tent State University, took the 24th. People’s assembly took the 25th; and Carnival for Participatory Democracy won the 26th.

“We’re satisfied so far,” said R-68’s Glenn Spagnuolo, whose group has been seeking permits to protest in city parks and streets during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 25-28.

Separately, an anti-abortion group that wants to hold a “Pray and Worship” event won first dibs for the Cuernavaca park for Aug. 27th, 28th and 29th.

Some great quotes from Glenn Spagnuolo, reacting to U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger’s decision to wipe her jackboots on the rights of Denver’s citizenry.

From the Q&A:

“We’re saying we’re not going inside that freedom cage, and we expect to be able to go to the Pepsi Center. We’re going to push that limit. Yeah, absolutely.”

“I heard some other liberal groups talking about the fact that they wanted to go in there and hang out and camp. My suggestion is just shut the door behind them and lock it because they’re part of the problem also. We’re not going in that cage. If anything, if we went in that cage, it would be to tear it down.”

“I always go back to Franklin - Benjamin Franklin - who said that if we’re willing to give up our civil liberties for security, we don’t deserve either one. We need to find that balance and right now the scales aren’t balanced.”

“I was sad because I watched the constitution be used as a doormat on the front steps of the federal courthouse. It saddened me to see what was happening in my country … But it gave me more energy to fight this because it’s the right thing to do.”

Question: How many people do you expect?

Answer: “It’s hard. People don’t RSVP for a revolution.”

Question: Doesn’t wearing a black T-shirt with the silhouette of an AK-47 feed into the fear that you blame the city for?

“I’m not going to lie. There’s a section of Re-create 68 that are more militant minded than other sections. But we’ve agreed that we are going to tamper down our militancy and act in a nonviolent way because right now nonviolence is the best weapon afforded to us.”

“They’re the fear mongers. When (Denver City Councilman) Doug Linkhart is talking about protesters smearing themselves with feces so the police don’t touch them, that may be some sick S&M fantasy he has in his mind, but it’s definitely never entered our minds.”

From the press conference:

“The city and the mayor … laid down for the democratic party.”

“The federal court and the laws in this country have moved so far now to the right and the democratic party has assisted them in this move that every American citizen should be concerned about the embarrassment that happened in the courtroom the other day.”

“The city in their closing arguments made a point (to say) that we were not willing to negotiate with them on certain issues, and they’re right. We believe the constitution is a nonnegotiable document, but unfortunately they believe that document does not apply to the protest that’s happening in the streets. So we’re not going to file our appeals in the federal court system. We’re going to file our appeals in the city of Denver.

“We’ve said this time and time again, do not blame us for the confrontational situation that is being created by this government and this local administration. We have tried everything we can to make our protests as legal and as nonviolent as possible, but the city has taken every step they can to make this a confrontational situation.”

“We’re going to vote with our feet and we’re going vote in the streets. We’re going to take our marches right to the gates of the Pepsi Center, and we’re going to push the limits of that security zone because sooner or later, at some time or another, Americans need to start resisting and say no, enough is enough. We’re going to stand up for our rights. We’re going to stand up for what this country was originally founded on. We’re going to fight for our civil liberties, and if that needs to take place in the streets of Denver, like I said a year and a half ago, this will become ground zero for the fight over our civil liberties.”

“We don’t want this confrontation. We want to be able to exercise our rights as peacefully as possible. But when they’re creating a situation where they’re training every day for violence, when they have the national guard put on call to come out and surround the Pepsi Center … you ask me about confrontation? You should be asking the city about it.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to remain nonviolent, but like we said from the beginning, we’re not going to roll over and just let you take our civil liberties away from us neither. We’re going to come out and we’re going to protest. I mean, people told Martin Luther King … that he wasn’t allowed to march over that bridge into Selma, Alabama, but it didn’t stop Martin Luther King from marching for his rights.”

They’re all good, but my favorite’s the one about Adam Jung and the morons over at T.A.R.D. deciding to make the Freedom Cage their new home.  Which if you think about it, is a pretty fucking good metaphor for their DNC organizing thus far.

Westword calls bullshit on the moronic house-of-urine rumor that the pigs have been trying to spread.

Last month, councilman Doug Linkhart told reporters that the Denver Fire Department knew certain demonstrators were collecting liquid human waste to douse police with during the Democratic National Convention at what he referred to as a “house full of urine.” This last phrase couldn’t help making a splash, with even the New York Post leaking information about it. But as Jared Jacang Maher documents in the August 7 Westword, Linkhart’s assertion is based on information that doesn’t pass the smell test.

Westword quotes Linkhart’s source, a DFD union representative who says the story got rolling after he shared an anecdote with the councilman — one sparked by an incident that took place way back in May, when the rep and other department personnel gathered near a Park Hill station following a meeting.

“This car pulls up and there’s some kids in there who needed directions to the highway to get back to Boulder,” says the rep, who describes the three individuals in the vehicle as looking like possible activists. One of the trio mentioned that they’d been at a nearby DNC protest-planning session, where someone had asked them to urinate in a bucket that could be used to drench cops at the convention. According to the rep, the comment was so offhand that ” we didn’t think anything about it at the time. We didn’t get the license plate or anything, and we never asked where the house was.”

The rest.

Y’know, it’s only a sign of how fucking dumb the news media is in our fair cowtown that no one else has called this steaming sack-o-shit story out for what it is.  It was dumb enough that the local media reported with a straight face that protesters were planning to throw urine and feces at cops — something which there’s not a single, verifiable report of having ever happened in any demonstration anywhere.  But to pass off a tale of a whole batcave of bodily fluids takes a special kind of fucking moron.

The kind usually found huffing paint and masturbating over the corpse of a roadkill cat.

That’s what I like to see.  Go fucking get ‘em, Mr. Spagnuolo.

An organizer for one of the groups planning large-scale protests during the Democratic National Convention says they won’t appeal a federal judge’s decision to restrict access to the Pepsi Center in court but that they will make their appeal “in the streets of Denver.”

Glenn Spagnuolo of the Re-create 68 Alliance protest group said today that demonstrators still intend to go to the Pepsi Center.

“It was a very adverse decision where the federal courts are willing to throw away people’s civil liberties in the name of security,” Spagnuolo said.

Attorneys for the protest groups said today they will not appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger. They also are dropping challenges to restrictions at Invesco Field, which was scheduled to go to trial next week.

. . .

Protesters are holding a press conference on the steps of the City and County Building this afternoon to announce how they “intend to move forward,” he said.

“We’ll file our appeals in the streets of Denver,” Spagnuolo said. “We intend to march, and we still intend to go to the Pepsi Center.”

Spagnuolo said protesters decided to wait to make an announcement until they had time to talk to their attorneys.

“We were waiting to make any statements until we had a conference meeting with our attorneys today,” he said. “We wrapped that up, and we’re going to be discussing the ramifications of (the judge’s) decision and what Re-create 68 is intending to do as far as appeals or what may happen in the streets.”

Keep reading.

The Denver Post reports:

A federal judge has ruled that the city and county of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service do not have to alter their security plans for the Pepsi Center portion of the Democratic National Convention.

Advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a lawsuit against the government challenging security restrictions during the DNC and arguing that their free-speech rights were going to be infringed upon.

“The defendants have shown that the restrictions are content-neutral, that they are narrowly tailored to serve important governmental interests and that there are adequate alternative channels by which the plaintiffs can communicate their messages,” U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger wrote in her 71-page opinion. “Thus, the plaintiffs have not shown that their First Amendment rights will be infringed nor that they are entitled to any injunctive relief.”

The rest.

I’d be lying if I said I was surprised.  I mean, it’s awful nice that the kindhearted folks in Recreate 68’s legal team have done their thing, but expecting the courts to find in the favor of the Constitutional rights of the people in this day and age makes as much sense as expecting Mr. Obama to end the Iraq war.

I’ve said this from the get-go, but the reason I’m interested in R68 ain’t because I think they can provide a model of free speech rights to the citizenry via the courts.  Not anymore than I think there’s a prayer in hell of influencing Obama into adopting a new foreign or domestic policy.

The reason to protest Obama is because he’s fucking inseparable from his Republican counterpart.  The reason to ignore the courts is because they’re irrelevant when it comes to Constitutional rights.

This is where I was going with Uncle Tom’s quote.  Constitutional rights ain’t contingent on what some shitheel judge says.  That goes for the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and every amendment thereafter.  We have rights which ain’t bound by any pig, judge or otherwise.

Update: It’s come to my attention that the last paragraph of the above made no fucking sense, so I cut it.  In my defense I was, well, drunk when I wrote it. I could, of course, forswear blogging while drunk, but then I’d have to read the local papers sober.  And that’s not a sacrifice I’m will to make for you, dear reader.  It’s just not.

From RAIMD.

Have at it.

Um, target practice?

A family wants answers about what happened to their son that left him hospitalized.

Early Saturday morning, police found Mace Hutchinson, 16, underneath an overpass.

Hutchinson ended up in intensive care at a hospital.

His parents believe the actions of Ozark Police officers contributed to his injuries and slowed doctors’ abilities to speed his recovery.

“We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit,” said witness Doug Messersmith.

Messersmith and his wife were the last known people to see the 16-year-old boy walking, shortly before their phone call to 911.

“He looked a little agitated but, other than that, he didn’t look to be falling down drunk or anything like that,” said Messersmith.

By the time officers arrived, the teen was off the 30-foot overpass, lying on the shoulder below along U.S. 65, with no good explanation as to how he got there.

“According to the doctors, all injuries are consistent with a fall,” said his aunt, Samantha.

Mace’s dad believes it was just that, a fall, not a jump. The question is: why?

“They tested his system. He was clean of drugs and alcohol. We don’t know why unless just being in shock and the whole thing in itself caused him to forget everything,” said Hutchinson.

His aunt says he is undergoing major surgery for a broken back and broken heel.

While he was lying on the ground, she wonders why Ozark Police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times.

The rest.

Glenn Spagnuolo responds to this fucking stupidity in the only way appropriate.

The Denver City Council tonight may get its first glimpse at what a bottle of urine looks like.

Protesters opposing an ordinance that would prohibit people from carrying certain items that could block access or deter police during the Democratic National Convention are planning to express their opposition with theatrics when the council takes up the ordinance on final consideration.

The ordinance would make it illegal to carry items such as chains, padlocks and noxious substances, such as buckets of urine and so-called feces bombs, if the intent is to use them to obstruct streets, sidewalks, buildings or emergency equipment, or hinder crowd control measures.

“I think some people are just going to talk about how foolish (the ordinance) is, and I think some people will want to have like a symbolic showing of how foolish it is,” Glenn Spagnuolo, an organizer with the Re-create 68 Alliance protest group, said this morning.

When Spagnuolo was asked if that included bottles of what looked like urine, he said: “We’re a law-abiding group, and if (a bottle of urine is) going to be illegal, we need to turn it in somewhere.”

The rest.

Comments?

A US man has been rejected in his bid to become a police officer for scoring too high on an intelligence test.

Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took an exam to join the New London police, in Connecticut, in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.

But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

The rest.

Update: And that almost explains this.