I have been sick of it for quite some time. I was raised to be a 'get involved' kind of woman, which does go against our cultural mores that remind us to 'mind your own business' (though I take that to mean to pay attention to your business as much as don't pay attention to others). What is difficult, what is painful, IS to take responsibility, including a responsibility for NOT voting as an example. By not making a decision, you're effectively making a decision, and people fail to accept, or outright reject, the idea that by taking such a course of (in)action, they are, in their own way, effecting an outcome. Such a simple concept, but it hurts, because then we'd have to say, "We made a mistake." Well, Californians aren't afraid to say we've made a mistake, just look at Gray Davis! Now, admit we made a mistake with the Governator....?

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"Now, admit we made a mistake with the Governator....?"

A huge mistake. For the record, I voted for McClintock.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

I don't know if there was a video of this yet or not, but there was a group called 'Recreate68' that was protesting at the Civic Center Park that started getting a bit out of hand and ran out in the street and made a barricade shouting something like "these are our streets!" while blocking all the cars. Then a bunch of riot police shot tear gas (I think) into them and started firing rubber bullets at 'em. They then made a circle of van's around em so no one could see in. I am not sure what happened next because I was actually on my way to a Ralph Nader debate, but those police really seamed to use a hell of a lot of force on a group of what looked like 18-25 year-olds. I have never seen the DPD act anything like how they acted this week. Not to mention how the city of Denver actually handed out movie tickets and such to keep downtown clear of as many homeless as they could. Just kind of seems like they are hiding their problems instead of solving them. There are a few more examples, but I will leave em out unless you guys wanna hear em.

I think there are more than one policing department handling security for the DNC in Denver. Either way, a significant number of them are behaving like THUGS. With whose approval or by whose direction? Or, are they always like this? In other words, Pigeon, YES! If you've got more to bring to the table, bring it, please.
Me, too! And I got Dave to vote for him, and my dad. Couldn't get my mom to vote for him, or either of my sisters. Oh well.

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No matter which party is in charge, the police are ruthless, remember, these police are remnants of the Bush regime. Seems like every 4 years the police acquire new powers, they especially got more under Bush than any before him, although they always have been brutal. Most police are adrenaline junkies, ex football players, bench jockies getting their revenge. "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play". It's easy to be tough when you have all the odds stacked in your favor. Just watch "Cops".

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

There's a ton of videos of that from the ground perspective but this one is the only one from above.. YouTube - DNC 2008 (Riot - 8/25)

YouTube - DNC Protests: Police slam CodePink protester to the ground
Here's the CodePink clip for those that haven't seen it..

Sure, I'd personally love to hear anything else- been watching this stuff all week.. the police state was just itching to get a chance to beat and arrest people.. I honestly think the amount of cameras kept them in check from doing even more..

I have never had any problems with the Denver PD before, and yeah you are right I am sure the majority of them were not actually from Denver considering the amount of police (I mean there were all over the place). Usually the police in that area don't even bust people dealing weed in the park. Hell, I have seen a police officer walk right past a drug deal and not even care to stop 'em. There were even some Westboro baptist protesters in the park, but they were pretty much ridiculed the entire time there were there. Seems like the policed favored the Westboro baptists because as soon as people started to voice their opinions about the Westboros, the police stepped in and started bassically assaulting harmless people just sharing their opinions. The funny thing is, the police were arresting the people spreading the message of love, while leaving the hate-mongers to themselves (regardless of them not having a permit to protest). There was also something called the "freedom cage" (ironic eh?) which was just a parking lot of the Auraria campus that is located in a very low traffic area that is basically out of the way of everything. They forced the protesters into this cage and kept a spotlight on em the entire night, which in my idea is sleep deprivation torture. There was also a funny incident where a protest group goosestepped behind a group of democrats marching to Invesco field. There were also a few marijuana rallies during the DNC where Medical marijuana patients were given some free weed and some other goodies. Despite all the negative stuff that I have talked about..it was still a really good experience to see and be a part of. I just wished that I could have gotten tickets to be a part of the actual convention, but at least I got to see Rage Against the Machine for free .

Sweet... overall for the whole week it seemed pretty good and it sure could have turned out worse..

I know there were other officers there to help the Denver PD, however, the guy who pushed the CodePink chick down was verified to be with the Denver PD though they wouldn't release his name, he's under internal investigation.

How was the Rage show? I was disappointed to hear afterwards they didn't hold their ground to hand off a letter to Obama.. the accounts I've heard said they told anyone willing to be arrested to be in the front because they weren't going to move, then the cops came asked them to move and within 10 minutes they moved..

Wish I coulda been there.. thanks for exercising your rights man.

Oh, also it is funny how the group Recreate68 are being called Anarchists which isn't true at all. They are just a group of proactive young adults who want to get back to the way thing were in 1968 politically. Their entire message is one of love, but they are being treated like terrorists and hate-mongers.

The Rage show was awesome, they really know how to get a crowd excited. Well, the police really didn't ask them to move they basically showed up and started shouting "MOVE!" then when they wouldn't they brought out the tear gas, mace, rubber bullets, and started beating and arresting the people that refused. There were even some innocent bystanders that got in the way of the pepper spray, etc. There weren't just a handful of police either..there were a whole lot of them in full riot gear and on horseback. Afterwords they fenced off the whole park and had guards on each end to make sure no one got in.