A Shit Ton

Two thousand pounds on a late afternoon, and I found him out.
I exposed his exuberance as a lie.

Guiltily I corrected an inaccuracy, I would have loved to accept.
But what then would truth be to me?

An abstract bullshit term like uh huh and no no?

Maybe, but transparency is a lark.
The only vehicle we can rely on in an untrustworthy universe.

I say what I say like a flood gate in a hurricane.
Open lines make every body/any body free.

You won't see Newton cloaking his three laws.
Are you a lark or an owl?

Forgive me for my transgression.
A keeper of truth must be fair and not fair weathered.

Will I Will I Will I wake up early or go to bed late?
I will swoop down upon my prey following the three laws of motion.

Square and Fair.

None But Shining Hours

The world is in chaos. Or has it always been?

This weekend, amid stock markets plummeting and politicians seizing I watched the warm crackle of a fire and listened to the gentle lapping of a great lake. I ate cookies. I picked Apples!

I don't need much to be content. Oh, but I have so much.

No One Said it Would Be Easy

I want to go kayaking on some white foamy rapids. I want to sleep in an unsafe place. I want to not worry about stupid things and stupid people (stupid in my own juvenile pouty perspective). I want to go to the suburbs so I can finish painting my picture of the beginning of the universe (yes, I will post when I finish I'm so proud!). I want to carve out big paper board murals for my living room. I want to fix my bike and go on long derives with S. I want to take that cheap train to Denver with T. and fall asleep every night on the observation deck. I want to throw up from laughter. I miss making getting dressed fun. I miss being ridiculous without any kind of substance. I miss climbing trees. I miss solo dance parties. Have I lost myself? I should go and find her.

This weekend I experienced a most killer spontaneous dance party and I think it might have been a great start...
Anywho.

This week boss lady is out of town and I am playing single mom. Single moms of the world I feel for you. I am bored out of my mind and television is making me go blind. Rachel Zoe is the worst person I've ever watched on television in my entire life. Also, the boys and I were out walking tonight and they recognized the golden arches, they are two and a half. Ew.

Go fall! Go Cubs! Boo, Wall Street Bailouts.

Sometimes I really have to resist the urge to run.

The Problem of the Soul

I need me some new adventures.

9/11/2000000000000000008

Is this a national holiday now? Everyone's talking about celebrating our country and commemorating. I'm all for remembering a rough time in our history, but I'll take this time to say, "HEY, get involved in your history."

Track (check up on) what's going down in your government with a really neat website called, Open Congress. You can read about all the crazy shit that's being passed in congress and who sent the okay! Do you like Obama, see what he's voted for, what about Palin or Mccain? Check it out and get educated.

Today I'm reading about how the gov' is turning into the thought police! Watch out for H.R.1955 coming to an activist group near you! Don't let this administration and those to come fear monger any longer!

DIY Terror

I am an American shotgun maker.
I'll shoot you dead.
I want to grab you from the top down.
Trickle effect never took and the city kept sleeping.

Don't say we never told you.
I don't believe in touch downs grand slams or commas.
I believe in you.

,,

I'm on Fire

I now understand my high school writing teacher's lusty attraction to "The Boss." I feel strange and womanly.

and this is this is this

Today I signed me and the boys up for a mom and tots class. Talk about surreal.

At the moment I can't get enough:

a) Microwaved brussel's sprouts.
b) Natural History, by Dan Chiasson.
c) Numi Chinese breakfast tea.

Mmmm

Tonight T. and I drank cinnamint tea and talked of the phenomenology of change while the first chills of fall tickled our noses pink. Tomorrow morning when I ride my bike to the train station, it's going to be 47 degrees. Ouch.

Also, I am making a new vow to write for at least 30 minutes straight a day. I've got a little notebook, and damn it I'm going to use it.

Three Parts All the Outrage- Part II

Still following the action in St. Paul. Their hasn't been any more violence from the protesters, of course I can't say the same for the law enforcement. Media, protesters, legal, and volunteer medical still being targeted by law enforcement.

As of today over 400 people have been arrested including professionals of the media, nuns, and war veterans. That seems to be an obscene number of arrests for a largely peaceful group of protesters.

Here is an awesome eye witness account from a non-partisan member of the contracted media and his account of the goings on of the actions and attitudes of law enforcement. Click Here!

Basically the main reason for today's post was to speak about the gravity of what's going on and my position concerning it all. Another long one, but I think a lot needs to be said.

Why Protest the RNC at all?

If the GOP wants to sit around and stroke each others wieners all week so what? Why waste time and resources we could be using more constructively to protest about how much we disagree with republican policies?

Protesting the convention wasn't all about the republicans. It was about protesting a war that's costing tax payers trillions of dollars and thousands of innocent lives, it was about protesting an administration that shows a flagrant disregard for the wishes of it's people, it was about protesting the people who put policies in place that answer to big corporations instead of the needs of their people. It was about exercising our rights as participants in a democracy to voice our grievances. Lastly it was about showing solidarity with the other people of this country who don't want to see money and lives wasted on the quest for cheap oil and big money.

Direct Action/Peaceful Protest vs Violence/Property Damage

Disappointingly but not surprisingly their was a lack of coverage of these historic protests on major (ie corporate owned) media outlets. Why is that? Nearly 30,000 people from all over the country came to march against the war. Everyone in Minnesota knows what is happening, but no one else in the country really does. That in itself is a problem.

The little coverage that is taking place is narrow minded and one sided. Many of the articles don't focus on the 30,000 people of all groups, ages, and nationalities converging on an issue, but the literal handful of "anarchists" that caused property damage.

Which leads me to expand upon the idea of acceptable protest actions that is well augmented by a quotation from well known civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr.

"We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."

We have a duty as freedom loving Americans to check our government and speak up in a way that can be heard when we are unhappy with how things are going. When our government doesn't listen we must get creative. Unfortunately some people get angry instead. Am I angry that police tried to silence my voice at the protest hell yeah! You should be too. Did I want to break a window or two? Hell yeah. But I didn't because as angry as I was/am I knew that it would only lead to more problems. Some people have been trying to make their voices heard for a long time to no avail. Those people are frustrated and use property damage as an outlet to get their voices heard.

While I subscribe to creative direct action (blocking intersections, sitting in front of buses, banner drops etc.) as most protesters some people choose to act in a way that will call more attention to their cause. The Black Bloc anarchists that were responsible for the minor damage in St. Paul do not wholly represent the definition of anarchism or the definition of direct action. While I understand their actions to be statements of anger towards the current state of our government it is frustrating that their violent acts are the only instances that are being covered in major media.

The participants of the protests this week are a diverse, well-coordinated, de-centralized group of people working together peacfully to voice their opinions about a war the American people never wanted, but will be paying for, for a very long time. The actions of the police not only from Minnesota, but various towns (they were outsourced) and agencies, brought to light the a vast discrepancy in protocol and how they actually behave on the job.

Even if no one reads this blog, I think it is my duty to publicly condemn the actions of our country's policymakers and law enforcement for treating the voices of their people with violence and disrespect. I would like to publicly congratulate all the groups (far too many to name) for standing up in the face of oppression for what you believe to be the best thing for the country and the people living in it and fighting abroad.

P.S. Here's another silly article written in May about the FBI trying to find moles in"preparation for the RNC." Ha ha, all that money (acccording to CNN the twin cities received 100 million dollars of tax payer money for the convention) intel and we still managed to shut down the streets!

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
~Louis D. Brandeis

Three Parts All the Outrage

Grab your reading glasses and hunker down for the longest post I've had in a long long while, I promise it will be an interesting ride.

Part I: My Experience at the 2008 Republican National Convention

S. and I boarded a bus headed for St. Paul Monday at 2 a.m. We traveled with the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War group. The group was a diverse bunch of old, young, black, white, Hispanic, Indian, and everything in between. The ride up was peaceful and motivating albeit lacking sleep ( boo ).

Our bus was one of the first to arrive and we noticed an extremely heavy police presence as early as 10 o'clock. Officers were stationed at every single intersection and we estimated there to be at least 3 officers for every pedestrian on the street. Despite our solidarity with the permitted marchers we linked up with a group that needed help with a planned demonstration. Seeing as how I could not get arrested due to a date with some babies the next day we agreed to help when needed and maintain a safe distance as legal observers.

The group we were working with planned to create a "lock box" where people tied, taped, and connected each other to make a more secure barrier to block an intersection where delegates would be arriving.

Sitting feet away from a squad car that sat at the corner of the six way intersection the demonstrators planned to block, we felt aimless and a little anxious wondering how the five or so protesters we were with was going to pull this off. Eventually, two of the demonstrators approached an officer and asked directions to the march when out of the bushes, off of bikes, from across streets and over walls approx. twenty demonstrators swarmed the intersection quickly attaching themselves securely to one another.

I was pleasantly surprised. Their group was well organized and everyone fearlessly worked together connecting and planting themselves in the intersection. Within seconds traffic was stopped up with angry Minnesotans honking up a storm in the midday heat. Within minutes additional squad cars arrive. At this point officers were non-aggressive allowing me to stand with them and listen in on their plans as to what they were going to do about this little problem. After a while I was bored of shuffling around and feeling brave so I offered water to the people blockading the street. They all seemed to be very congenial and peaceful people that had passionate views about the state of our government, and we all quickly became friends.

Approximately twenty minutes went by and traffic had to be re-routed (success). Many angry cars had to be turned around and we witnessed a semi hopping a median (dangerous AND illegal). Additional squad cars arrived and what appeared to be a horse trailer... the total number of police on site was approximately 10-15. Rumors of teargas floated around so we decided to forgo our legal observation stance in order to ensure the safety of our new found friends. Armed with vinegar, water, goggles, and bandannas we outfitted the demonstrators prepared to withstand teargas.

Across the intersection some people were illegally being searched so I walked over to make sure they weren't being bullied and in the process I got bullied by an officer in full riot gear screaming at the top of his lungs for me not to cross the street. Of course I crossed the street, but eventually I turned around when they let the kids go. Another officer tried to give me some advice to stay out of the street for my own good. While non-aggressive I told him that I wanted to make sure my friends were okay and was not willing to comply. He then told me to open my bag. I was caught off-guard by this seeing as how I was clearly only an observer mostly standing on the outside and making sure of the safety of the people protesting. Without my consent he grabbed my bag and opened it, which is illegal because I didn't consent to a search and he didn't have a warrant (know your rights!). Of course he didn't find anything except for a water bottle and three disposable cameras.

Pissed off I walked back to the group.

A small meeting was held including the people in the lock box and the other twenty or so loose demonstrators blocking the road and it was decided that the "loose" demonstrators would head downtown towards the march. The walk was very long and sweaty but spirited and mischievous while still remaining completely peaceful. We stopped at a coffee place to fill up our water bottles and headed back out. Six of our demonstrators saw an opportunity to further delay the convention and sat down and locked arms in front of a chartered bus carrying delegates.

Unfortunately this is where our peaceful day gets a little dicey. Police officers storm the six kids yelling and spraying their faces with pepper spray. No warning was given before the pepper spray was used within inches of the face. The officers then dragged the kids across the concrete separating them and putting them face first on the ground. They cuffed them and then continued to step on the backs of the demonstrators to hold them down. The demonstrators were then lined up and sat on the curb.

We requested an ambulance be called for one of the demonstrators who badly reacted to the pepper spray and then we called the legal network set up to help protesters against such things.
An ambulance was called twelve minutes later. The awesome legal team showed up before the Minnesota medics!

Long story long, it was my first brush with police brutality and I am appalled! Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg. While we were trying to maintain contact with our friends in custody and make sure their personal belongings (ie car and cellphone) were taken care of a few miles away chaos was ensuing.

Splinter groups from the PEACEFUL permitted march broke away and clashed with cops prompting a police state where officers tased, tear gassed, rubber bulleted, and used something called concussion grenades. Yes, their was mild property damage (a few broken windows and flat tires ... no really that's it), but the level of brutality and disregard for civil rights was completely unacceptable. There are multiple reports of credentialed journalists being arrested for absolutely no reason, except for the simple fact that they were reporting! Here is a prime video example:
The woman being arrested is Amy Goodman. According to Journalist Mike Burke, "Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism’s top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent criminal charges and threat of charges are a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists." This isn't the only journalist arrested. An AP photographer was arrested along with many others members of the NON-corporate media.

This is the United States and our voices are being silenced by force. As of right now over 300 hundred people have been arrested and the numbers are growing. I just received a text message from organizers that policed just snatched someone out of the PEACEFUL March For the Poor, and is now arresting them. If you'd like up to date messages on the things that are going on text Follow RNC08 to 40404. For more contextually full updates click on this link to go to INDYMEDIA.ORG.


Now Some Visual Candy:





Thank goodness for independent media! Like I said that's only the tip of the iceberg, youtube RNC08 protests.