Pity Poor Sarah?

The Sarah Palin Pity Party is about to begin. Pundits and writers, voters, acquaintances, and just plain folks everywhere are getting out the crying towels and weeping for Sarah. What has she gotten into? Why is everyone picking on her? What happened to the "pit bull with lipstick?"


I love Rebecca Traister's piece in Salon today. Want to feel sorry for Sarah? Do you really feel that she's being treated unfairly? Traister pulls the curtain back and with piercing commentary speaks the truth:

Sarah Palin is no wilting flower. She is a politician who took the national stage and sneered at the work of community activists. She boldly tries to pass off incuriosity and lassitude as regular-people qualities, thereby doing a disservice to all those Americans who also work two jobs and do not come from families that hand out passports and backpacking trips, yet still manage to pick up a paper and read about their government and seek out experience and knowledge.

When you stage a train wreck of this magnitude -- trying to pass one under qualified chick off as another highly qualified chick with the lame hope that no one will notice -- well, then, I don't feel bad for you.

When you treat women as your toys, as gullible and insensate pawns in your Big Fat Presidential Bid -- or in Palin's case, in your Big Fat Chance to Be the First Woman Vice President Thanks to All the Cracks Hillary Put in the Ceiling -- I don't feel bad for you.

When you don't take your own career and reputation seriously enough to pause before striding onto a national stage and lying about your record of opposing a Bridge to Nowhere or using your special-needs child to garner the support of Americans in need of healthcare reform you don't support, I don't feel bad for you.

When you don't have enough regard for your country or its politics to cram effectively for the test -- a test that helps determine whether or not you get to run that country and participate in its politics -- I don't feel bad for you.

When your project is reliant on gaining the support of women whose reproductive rights you would limit, whose access to birth control and sex education you would curtail, whose healthcare options you would decrease, whose civil liberties you would take away and whose children and husbands and brothers (and sisters and daughters and friends) you would send to war in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and wherever else you saw fit without actually understanding international relations, I don't feel bad for you.

Yes this is the willful decision of Sarah Palin and John McCain. They chose this ticket and they are in the throes of the political "vetting" process of their own making. This so-called "political cauldron" is how our Presidents and leaders are formed. (Que up the Obama trials and tribulations.) I love the comment I read somewhere online yesterday. To the wingnuts:

"Before you ask for mercy regarding Ms Palin, please remove the knife from Obama's back. Oh, and send a note to Hillary apologizing for the "sexism" used against her for the last 20 years, before you cry "sexist" to any Palin critique!"

A guest blog from Michael Moore

Guest Blogger, Michael Moore, wrote an email today that warns about what's really going on in Washington today. Read it pass it on and DO SOMETHING! Here's Michael's letter:

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,

Michael Moore

MMFlint@aol.com

MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

Curses! McCain at the Debate

McCain lost it when Obama called him out on his recent Spain gaffe.. Watch this:



Didn't the FCC see or hear this? Did any MSM folks catch it? Is this part of the POW Pass that McCain carries with him? Hmmm... Amusing....

A Thousand Words

Political Fraud: Selling America a Bill of Goods

It's beginning to sound more and more like a Palin vs. Obama Presidential race. My biggest fear is that conservative and independent voters around the country will wake up on November 5 and find out, much to their surprise, that it's John McCain that won the office of President of the United States and only then will they wake from their stupor and see, and regret the silliness of what they've accomplished.

Talk about a bill of goods. The sales pitch that the Republican supporters swallowed hook, line and sinker is something to behold.

The Democrats used their meeting to tell a richer, more expansive national story, one more or less in tune with the party's platform and aspirations. In contrast, as we go to press, the Republicans are staging an elaborate fraud, the purpose of which is to divert the public's attention from their disastrous mismanagement of government and to deceive voters about their agenda. Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, admitted as much when he said, "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates." [The Nation Editorial Board - 8/3/08]

They are once again getting snookered by the pandering politicos who run the radical right. Evangelicals, ever the willing suckers, are getting sucked in yet again. Same thing with rednecks, soccer moms, and erstwhile social conservatives of all stripes. "Join us again, [wink, wink]. We'll string you along for another four years!"

I know that America is a nation of consumers and so should be a little more cautious about these kinds of advertising and aggressive sales pitches. This time, it seems as though simple brand loyalty has kicked into high gear and the whole Party has bought into the sales pitch and is now shouting together in unison this fantastic, unbelievably bloated, false, and expansive advertising campaign.

The upshot here is that nothing short of a divine thunderbolt will get through to these people. They were wrong about Vietnam, wrong about Reagan, wrong about Clinton, wrong about Gore, wrong about Bush, wrong about Iraq, wrong about McCain, wrong about Obama, wrong about everything important to the political life of the country. And they were not only wrong; they were, and remain, proud of being wrong. Remember Richard Cohen on Iraq? "You and your kind were wrong to be right; we were right to be wrong," he said. (Cohen--who, coincidentally, was also wrong about Clinton, Gore, Bush, Iraq, McCain and Obama--was quoting a French ex-Stalinist approvingly in that statement, thereby laying bare the similarities among power-worshiping courtiers across time, space and ideology.) [Eric Alterman - The Times, They Have A-Changed - The Nation 9/22/08]

Are there any educated consumers left? Do these Republicans understand the damage they are doing to the country? Have they no shame? Don't they understand that they are promoting a bombastic, wily, calculated, devious, overblown, scheming, empty shell of pseudo-conservatism wrapped in a sheen of falsehood and innuendo?

It's the masters of spin. Spin the news, turn truth on it's ear. Tell tall tales with wide-eyed fascination and call it truth. The tales and falsehoods are brazenly apparent and the Republicans are joyously and enthusiastically lying their fool heads off. It doesn't matter if it's national TV or the local newspaper. Lies, repeated endlessly, sell. Just ask a used car salesman. Have Americans ever bought a used car that the salesman REALLY wanted to sell?

Is anyone thinking of the United States of America? The Palin "bubble" is the conservative base getting excited about the return to the "Culture War." Social conservatives have suddenly found their "feminist" side? The word "sexist" has now been added to their arsenal of rhetorical bludgeons? This does the country any good?

The governor was aggressively marketed in terms of her maternity, yet questions about how she managed to mother five and lead the state were dismissed as sexist. The governor's two years leading Alaska, which in terms of citizens served is the equivalent of being mayor of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was said to be the linchpin of her appointment, but questions about her breadth of experience were dismissed as sexist. Her surrogates wanted the press to write about mooseburgers and ignore how the governor had once pursued the kind of earmarked federal funds she now insists are anathema to her. Conservatives have probably used the word "sexist" more in the past week than they have in the past 50 years. [Anna Quindlen, "Can You Say 'Sexist'? - Newsweek, 9/15/08]

"Drill Baby Drill" is all about Oil company profit NOT the welfare of the people. What is good about this for Americans?

...the dirtiest little secret in this dirty game is that Big Oil doesn't really want more crude coming to market. Oh, it does want the ANWR and offshore leases, because it wants to lock up and stockpile every last acre of public oil property before Bush-Cheney exit, stage right. But the Big Five (Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, Conoco Phillips, BP, and Shell) are siphoning enormous profits from our pockets by keeping supplies tight.

The Big Five control 55% of the U.S. gasoline market, and the top 10 control 81% of the market. It's in their self-interest to use their monopolistic grip to squeeze the supply line, which means squeezing you and me. When Exxon Mobil says it is eagerly searching for more deposits, it is talking about bank deposits, not oil.

Some focus on McCain the "War Hero." Wouldn't it be smarter to see if his "message" could at least be deciphered in a coherent way?

I should note that there’s nothing offensive about a political figure changing his or her mind once in a while. Policy makers come to one conclusion, they gain more information, and then they reach a different conclusion. That is, to be sure, a good thing — it reflects a politician with an open mind and a healthy intellectual curiosity. Better to have a leader who changes his or her mind based on new information than one who stubbornly sticks to outmoded policy positions, regardless of facts or circumstances.

So why do McCain’s flip-flops matter? Because all available evidence suggests his reversals aren’t sincere, they’re cynically calculated for political gain. This isn’t indicative of an open mind; it’s actually indicative of a character flaw. And given the premise of McCain’s presidential campaign, it’s an area in desperate need of scrutiny. [Steve Benin - The Carpetbagger Report]

Wouldn't it good for Americans to be able to trust this man's honor and dignity? Wouldn't it be good to know how this translates into real policies that will improve the lives of Americans? How is this tale of pandering and rhetorical gymnastics helping Americans improve their lives?

McCain has been mesmerized and overshadowed completely by the dazzling Ms. Palin! He's sold himself completely to the radical base of his party. He is deliberately confusing us, lying to us, and bringing only disgrace to himself and his Party. Who is John McCain? Does he ever speak for himself anymore? How is this good for America? Sarah Palin is NOT running for President! WAKE UP AMERICA!

Four Reasons to Vote for Sam Rasoul for Congress

Sam Rasoul is for Affordable Single-Payer National Health Insurance. I worry about health and heath care for myself and my loved ones more than any of the issues in this current campaign season. The Single Payer Plan endorsed by Mr. Rasoul expands and improves upon one government success story, Medicare. Single Payer is the same system our public servants in Congress get and it's the one system that will include everyone. Our Medicare system is a model that has been copied around the world as a total health care system that works! One such country is Taiwan, where 100% of it's citizens have health care at a fraction of the cost that we pay in America. The service is excellent, there is plenty of choice, private clinics, hospitals and health agencies are involved and with the government acting only to cap costs and administrate the program.

If you heard of a country that in 1995 introduced single-payer universal health care, with complete freedom of choice of doctors and no waiting lists, you would expect all the presidential contenders to be beating a path there to find out what was happening. After all, this is not Shangri-La. It is Taiwan, which also offers dental and prescription-drug coverage, and the choice between Chinese traditional or modern medicine, all for just over a third of the proportion of the GDP that the U.S. "system" costs. - Ian Williams, Washington Spectator

A healthy citizen is productive citizen, a healthy child is a child that can learn and grow. Health care for all helps our nation's health, our economy, and our national security.

Sam Rasoul is a fiscal conservative. A true conservative simply does not continually borrow money to support unnecessary and wasteful government spending. Not only earmarks are targeted by Mr. Rasoul, but he'd work on

"tax loopholes, unnecessary subsidies, limit influence of PACs and lobbyists, increased transparency in government and true campaign finance reform."

Mr. Rasoul is not only a fiscal conservative, but has managed to avoid any associations with the big money corruption that has tainted politics locally and across the nation. He walks the walk by accepting no money from PACs, lobbyists, special interests, or even the Democratic Party! His focus is on representing he citizens of this District as well as the American people. Here's a politician who is willing stand firm against "business as usual" and stand up for democracy and honest representation in Congress.

Mr. Rasoul brings the common sense of a private small businessman to the running of government. It takes an uncommon politician to pledge half of his salary to help children and small business. He will support two innovative ideas with that salary called FUTURECARE and FUTUREJOBS. These two programs are initiatives that will need to be developed, organized and implemented. Helping small businesses get started and improving accessibility and lowering costs of health care are programs that show Mr. Rasoul's commitment to Virginia and the constituents of the Sixth District.

I support Sam Rasoul's Energy Plan and most importantly his view that our dependence on Oil is a national security risk. American ingenuity and the "can do" spirit that we proudly claim as a part of our national identity can certainly achieve the goal of energy independence. Mr. Rasoul supports taking on this challenge with a comprehensive, pragmatic plan emphasizing clean energy, modern technology, and alternatives to fossil fuels.

Sam is a true populist. He's concerned about the citizens in the district. He's spent the past 14 months traveling throughout the District to meet his future constituents and find out about their concerns. I met Sam at a local coffee shop at a small gathering of no more than a dozen folks. His willingness to engage in conversation and discuss at length any issue that was brought forward impressed me very much. He cares about the issues I care about, he's a good man and he'll have my vote on election day.

Stealing from Democrats...Smearing Themselves

Republicans know good political strategy when they steal it... from themselves! I'm talking about messiah's, celebrities, family values, and job readiness, issues that Democrats have been hit pretty hard with this year. Eugene Robinson makes a timely point in today's WAPO editorial.

"Not that Barack Obama lacks a healthy opinion of himself, mind you. And no one wants the next president to be paralyzed with insecurity, or to doubt, even for a minute, that he's the right man for the job. But after ridiculing Obama as a preening celebrity, if not a self-proclaimed messiah, McCain is campaigning on a platform that can be summed up in three words: me, me, me."

McCain is electing himself. "Vote for ME! I'm not like those old Republicans. You know the ones we're running against in this election? I'm a maverick, I'm was a war hero, I'M the anointed one." As Robinson says:

"Much has been made of the fact that he's a Republican running on a pledge to clean up the intolerable, unforgivable mess created over the past eight years by a Republican president -- and, for much of that time, a Republican-controlled Congress in which McCain himself had great power and influence. It's amusing to listen to a man in his fourth term in the Senate (after two terms in the House) rail against evil "Washington," as if he weren't one of this modern-day Sodom's most prominent denizens."

Sarah Palin is the celebrity. She's fiesty and flashy, a dominatrix with as yet to be determined substance. She hasn't been tested in the national political cauldron, or perhaps she won't have to be tested, if, as Chucky Kraut says in his column this morning,

"...she too can neutralize unreadiness with star power.. "

There you have it! Ms. Palin can help McCain if she takes a page from Obama's playbook and uses her star power! It was Jon Stewart reflecting on the recent Olympic gymnastics competition, comparing it to the rhetorical acrobatics on display at the RNC that summed it up nicely...

"To see the Republican leadership and the contortions they are having to make with this Palin nomination, it's been fascinating to me."

Amusing.....

Seems that the Republicans are all for family values and identifying with the Soccer and Hockey Moms of the world until they are against it....

"Of course, Palin's handlers are being hypocritical: They want to focus on her family life and her identity as a hockey mom when doing so helps them and to push aside any story that mars this perfect picture. Conservatives are always against identity politics until they are for it."

Until she recently agreed to an interview with Charles Gibson, Palin hadn't been allowed to take ANY questions from the press ANYWHERE. Rick Davis said it was because of the lack of "respect and deference" to her as a woman and a politician. This of course is unprecedented in the world of presidential politics. As E.J. Dionne says in this morning's WAPO,

"Deference? That's a word used in monarchies or aristocracies. Democracies don't give "deference" to politicians. When have McCain, Obama, Biden or, for that matter, Hillary Clinton asked for deference?"

It seems that the Republicans are all for playing nice...except when they don't want to.

And finally: The Republicans are all over the Democrats for questioning Palin's readiness for the office of Veep and most importantly the Presidency. Seems that qualifications and experience aren't really all that important until they are. Again from Dionne:

"Nonetheless, what matters is not Palin's personal life but whether she is prepared to assume the presidency if called upon. The actions of McCain's lieutenants suggest that they know the answer. And they are doing everything they can to keep the media from finding it. "

Republicans can't help it. They are for family values, just don't ask and don't tell. They depend on the "Star Power" of their candidates, but will villify opponents for being "celebrities." They call Obama the "chosen one" yet their own candidate spends his entire stump speech anointing himself as "Messiah." They are proponents of change, just don't ask them to change anything. Hey at least THEY know what they're talking about..... Jason Jones:

"As we've learned this week, unlike Democrats, Republicans are patriotic, honest and decent."

Are We Safer Now? UPDATED 9/2/08

A chilling report from Glen Greenwald today (Sunday 8/31/08) documents his visit to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. He reports that as a part of the security apparatus, the local police with the help of the FBI have raided various headquarters, private homes, and meeting places of activist groups with plans to protest at the Convention. The raids were carried out using warrants to search for "fire and code violations." Never mind that the Fire Marshall was never notified, the fact that ONLY the protest groups that were legally planning to demonstrations were raided highlights the real intent. Here's a description of one of the raids:

"I heard somebody saying, 'They're coming, they're coming!' And feet pounding on the back stairs, pounding on the door saying they had a search warrant. They busted through the door. They've got their guns cocked at people." Sammy Schutz held tightly to five-year-old Gabe, who had been watching a video with his mother and father and about 20 other people when the police stormed into 827 Smith Avenue in St. Paul, ordering everyone down on the floor.

"All I could feel was Mama Bear - do whatever you want to do to me, but I need to get my son out safe. He was watching his dad get handcuffed. And he's saying, 'Mommy, mommy, why did they crash through the door?'"

Gabe's question remained unanswered. Ramsey County sheriff's deputies said they were executing a search warrant, but would not show a copy of the warrant to lawyers or reporters. More than a dozen police vehicles , almost all unmarked, and more than 20 sheriff's deputies and St. Paul police arrived at the building about 9:45 Friday night and were still there at 1 a.m., when I left.

Of course Minnesota Public Radio had it a little differently:

Authorities have searched several homes in Minneapolis and one in St. Paul Saturday ahead of the opening of the Republican National Convention.

These raids followed a search of a former theater in St. Paul being used by an anarchist group.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. — Police said the raids were the result of a long-term investigation into a group of more than 30 anarchists that call themselves the RNC Welcoming Committee. They said there were other groups, including Food Not Bombs, that were affiliated with the group, but those groups were not targets of the raids.

The searches were led by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office. Deputies coordinated searches with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Here's another report documenting a police raid on Food Not Bombs.

MnIndy RNC reporter Jeff Severns Guntzel is at the Minneapolis Food Not Bombs house, which was raided by police this morning. Facts are still coming in, but Guntzel says that at 8 a.m. neighbors near the home, located at 2301 23rd Avenue South, reported hearing a loud bang followed by yelling. A single police squad car was parked out front. When Guntzel arrived he saw eight or nine officers enter the house in what he says is a joint operation between officers of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, the Minneapolis Police Depatment, and the FBI. According to one witness who was in the house at the time of the raid, the action is related to last night’s raid on the RNC Welcoming Committee’s “convergence space.” Several other spaces have been raided this morning.

Here's an overview of what is happening in Minneapolis this weekend, again from Glen Greenwald:

Homes of college-aid protesters were raided by rifle-wielding police forces. Journalists were forcibly detained at gun point. Lawyers on the scene to represent the detainees were handcuffed. Computers, laptops, journals, diaries, and political pamphlets were seized from people's homes. And all of this occurred against U.S. citizens, without a single act of violence having taken place, and nothing more serious than traffic blockage even alleged by authorities to have been planned.

A man whose sister was one of those arrested at one of the raided houses in Minneapolis yesterday emailed me a photograph of her and her friend who was also arrested -- Monica Bicking (r.) and Eryn Trimme -- and he wrote this:

"They are still in custody. I've been told that the police have 36 hours to charge her, and that 36 hours starts after the labor day holiday, so they only have to charge her sometime Wednesday. It seems unlikely that they'd do anything to expedite her or Eryn's release."

The most disturbing aspect for me in the events over the weekend at the RNC is the involvement of the FBI and concerted effort by the Federal Government to systematically, transparently, and unapologetically shut down all planned protests. Evidently to our government, any and all protesters are suspected "anarchists" and should be rounded up and locked away to preserve the peace. Is there anything more disturbing than rounding up Peace Activists with a SWAT team? Could this very clear attempt at intimidation and suppression of the rights of American citizens be any more blatant?

The Message is clear. Do not protest, do not demonstrate, but stay in your houses and behave. Anyone who is caught protesting on the street or in public venues will be attacked, detained, and harassed. Anyone who tries to dissent or protest WILL BE ARRESTED.

A few blocks away, Dave Bicking says his daughter, Monica, was one of the five people arrested in the raids. He said he thought police were trying to discourage people from legitimate expression outside the convention in St. Paul, rather than fight crime.

"You know they're intimidating people from even coming to the demonstrations, so they're intimidating everybody, not just, you know, the anarchists or the whatever," Bicking said. "They're intimidating everybody when this news gets out from coming downtown to engage in even legally and permitted marches and the whole thing."

Chilling.

UPDATE 9/2/08

Amy Goodman, journalist and anchor for Democracy Now, was arrested when she tried to step in and rescue her producers. The headline from Democracy Now's website:

"Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC

Goodman Charged with Obstruction; Felony Riot Charges Pending Against Kouddous and Salazar."

Minneapolis police along with the FBI and the St. Paul police are rounding up protesters, entrapping them, using pepper spray, rubber bullets, and overwhelming force to deal with the peaceful protesters.

More updates here.