"See if you can dodge this, you draft dodger!"

From For a Last Hurrah, Protesters Give Bush the Boot by Dana Milbank:

And so they assembled yesterday on Pennsylvania Avenue, outside the White House gate, to take a few final shots. Literally. They assembled a pile of clogs, boots, flip-flops, slippers and pumps, and, in celebration of the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush in a news conference Sunday in Iraq, they tossed the footwear at a man wearing a papier-mâché Bush mask and a prison uniform.

"Here's my goodbye kiss, George!" shouted Medea Benjamin, coordinator of the Code Pink activist group, as she hurled a shoe, missing her target.

"For your greed! For your politics!" shouted fellow antiwar activist David Swanson, aiming a pair of clogs at the Bush figure.

"See if you can dodge this, you draft dodger!" contributed veteran Jim Goodnow, launching a pair of boots toward the Bush character's head.

The Bush figure dodged, weaved and taunted: "I can take it! I can take you all on!" But then somebody hit him in the crotch with a sandal, and he fell to his knees.

Read the rest here.

McCain Thinks He Gets It

If one hundred more years of war is the “it” that John McCain is selling, I don’t want “it.” Senator McCain, how do you propose to pay for "it"?

From Antiwar Protestor Disrupts McCain Iowa Rally by Michael D. Shear:

An antiwar protestor interrupted Sen. John McCain's rally Saturday morning, prompting a lecture from the Republican presidential nominee about the need for both parties to work together to solve America's problem.

As McCain began his speech to about 1,000 people, a young woman was hoisted onto the shoulders of some friends right in front of the main bank of television cameras.

She held up a poster that said "War is over" but her sign was quickly ripped down by people in the audience. She then held up her hands in the "V" symbol for peace and yelled, "We want peace!"

McCain stopped speaking and at one point tried to speak to her, saying, "Hi." The audience quickly started chanting "We want John!" and continued until the woman was pulled down from her friends' shoulders and escorted out.

McCain then offered a lecture about bipartisanship.

"There's a perfect example of some people that just don't get it," he said, prompting huge applause from the crowd.

Read the rest here.

McBush - The Two Headed Devil

A few interesting personal observations on The Republican National Convention from Zombie Robot Frosting.

From Protesting the Republicans by William Hessian:

The Republican National Convention (RNC) came to my state, and thought that we were just going to sit back and let that happen. Nope. We were going to make signs, march, yell things and protest. So we did, and I did.

The nights before the convention I created my McBush outfit. Claws, two headed Bush McCain devil heads.

We chanted "stop using fear!" when we passed groups of police holding weapons. Most of them were behind fences, holding tear gas bazookas or batons. The cops were everywhere. I saw hundreds of them, most in full riot gear. The protest was extremely well organized and quite peaceful. The four hours I spent protesting I did not see any damage of property or violence of any kind. Apparently the Anarchists after we went home did some damage and arrests were made. Too bad they made it out to be worse than it was on the news. Only a handful of young kids did any damage, the rest of the 20 thousand protesters did it in a very organized manner.

Read (and see) more here.

The American Police State

And the Right has the nerve to label the Left as communist, while the Right uses Stalinist tactics more and more every day.

From Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis by Glenn Greenwald:

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

Read the rest here.

There is also more here and here.

And Emptywheel makes an excellent point:

If the Bush DOJ approved the use of terrorism techniques to prepare for the convention--in spite of the fact that such an approval would violate DOJ guidelines--we'd have a crystal clear example of why it is inappropriate to interpret terrorism as broadly as the Bush Administration has been pushing to do.

The Republican National Convention is off to a great start, before it even begins.


Update 08-31-08:

Glenn Greenwald has more. The FBI is involved in this. From Federal government involved in raids on protesters:

Any rational person planning to protest the GOP Convention would, in light of this Government spying and these police raids, think twice -- at least -- about whether to do so. That is the point of the raids -- to announce to citizens that they best stay in their homes and be good, quiet, meek, compliant people unless they want their homes to be invaded, their property seized, and have rifles pointed at them, too. The fact that this behavior is producing so little outcry only ensures, for obvious reasons, that it will continue in the future. We love our Surveillance State for keeping us safe and maintaining nice, quiet order.

What's next? The Republicans deciding that Bush gets to stay in power for another year or more because of all the National Security threats we face?

First they will cancel the Republican convention. Then will they cancel the election?

Déjà Vu Review

From A melange of music and message by Jon Bream:

I cry at movies. Sappy songs make me cringe, but sentimental movies cause me to tear up. I'd be ideal for a test audience for the Hallmark Channel.

To my surprise, I pulled out my hankie twice during "CSNY/Déjà Vu," the new documentary about Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 2006 concert tour. I wasn't getting misty-eyed for "Wooden Ships," "Teach Your Children" or other nostalgic songs.

My eyes got wet when a California single mom talked about losing her son in the Iraq war to friendly fire. Tears of joy ran down my cheek after seeing a young Marine from Ohio play his punkish songs on acoustic guitar for his fellow soliders in Iraq and later perform them in a U.S. hotel room for an audience of one -- Neil Young, who raved about the serviceman's songwriting.

Read the rest here.

Mr. Bream concludes his review with this:

Too bad all this conflict comes too late in the film. It might have seemed manipulative to inject this controversy earlier, but, frankly, it's the only real surprise in "Déjà Vu." Otherwise, when you watch the rest of the movie, you probably realize that we have all been here before.

And that is what is truly sad. We have been down the anti-war road way too many times before.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Maybe we should fall. Then maybe we could find something better. I’m very tired of America being so divided, and everyone hating one another.

From Neil Young's anti-war documentary by Tim Cooper:

In the most memorable scene, hundreds of audience members walk out of a show in Atlanta in protest at the quartet encouraging them to sing along to Young’s song Let’s Impeach the President. It is compelling footage: as the lyrics are displayed on a giant screen, a chorus of boos swells, competing with the more fervent fans’ mass sing-along, and angry punters start to leave. Seemingly oblivious to the almost comical irony of leaving a Freedom of Speech concert in protest at the singers expressing their own freedom to speak out, they air their fury on camera as they leave. “Neil Young can stick it up his ass,” fumes a female fan; “Sonofabitch — I’d like to knock his teeth out,” a red-faced man declares. Young seems unconcerned. “Well, they were speakin’ out too,” he chuckles behind his shades. “They were just saying ‘F*** you, I don’t wanna have anything to do with this guy crossing my line.’ ”

Read more here.

“ Seemingly oblivious to the almost comical irony of leaving a Freedom of Speech concert in protest at the singers expressing their own freedom to speak out, they air their fury on camera as they leave.” I like that sentence.

Pete Seeger Is Still At It

Pete Seeger claims he is not a pacifist. I did not know that he had served during World War II.

From At a Roadside Vigil, an Iconic Voice of Protest by Dennis Gaffney:

Asked whether he thought that protesting by the side of the road would help end the war, he said: “I don’t think that big things are as effective as people think they are. The last time there was an antiwar demonstration in New York City I said, ‘Why not have a hundred little ones?’ ”

He said that working for peace was like adding sand to a basket on one side of a large scale, trying to tip it one way despite enormous weight on the opposite side.

“Some of us try to add more sand by teaspoons,” he explained. “It’s leaking out as fast as it goes in and they’re all laughing at us. But we’re still getting people with teaspoons. I get letters from people saying, ‘I’m still on the teaspoon brigade.’ ”

Bush Just Pisses People Off, Doesn't He?

The worst part of it is that he is oblivious to it all, and doesn’t care.

From Brits give Bush hostile send-off:

President George Bush had come to say goodbye to Britain, but hundreds of protesters had come to say good riddance to President Bush.

Up to 2500 demonstrators held a boisterous rally in London's Parliament Square as Mr Bush dined nearby with his British counterpart.

Protesters blew whistles, banged drums, and voiced their opposition to the war on terror.

A few belted officers with placards and tried to breach a police cordon set up to block them from getting near Downing St, where Mr Bush arrived for a private dinner with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Demonstrators chanted "Bush - terrorist" only about 250m away from where the President and PM were eating, and police made 25 arrests.

Most were there to say goodbye and good riddance to Mr Bush, and some had a message for his successor as well.

"This is also a signal to the incoming president that the people of this country are absolutely against this illegal war and destroying civil liberties," said Sarah Cox, a 71-year-old retired teacher who carried a Bush effigy bearing a cowboy hat, toy pistol and miniature missile.

Read the rest here.

And there is also George Bush in Britain: Police investigate anti-war protests.

George W. Bush. Can’t you just feel the love?

War Profiteers On Welfare

From Anti War Protesters Arrested in Burlington by wdh3:

According to a statement released by the protesters, they were there demanding General Dynamics "stop giving campaign contributions to the politicians responsible for regulating it, stop making Gatling guns, missiles and other weapons of mass destruction and give back the 3.6 million dollars in Vermont tax breaks General Dynamics received in 2007". I don't know about you, but that last line sure caught my attention: $3.6 million in State subsidies and tax breaks?

"This corporate welfare in the form of tax breaks belongs to working Vermonters, not a war profiteer which made $27 billion last year, and who's stocks have tripled while the Vermont economy has tanked," said demonstrator Jonathan Leavitt. "While our state struggles with Jim Douglas' budget cuts and layoffs, gas prices, affordable housing and lack of health coverage, war profiteers like General Dynamics steal tax breaks from working families. We're here today as Vermonters to say no more handouts for war profiteers."

Protesting The Protesters

Are we all terrorists?

From Demonstration Targets Anti-War Protesters by Nyier Abdou:

When peace activist Medea Benjamin stepped to the podium at the annual New Jersey Peace Action dinner yesterday, she already was known as co-founder of the human rights organization Global Exchange and the women’s anti-war group CODEPINK.Yesterday, Benjamin received another title: terrorist.

“The original Medea murdered her children,” read one protest sign outside The Regency House hotel on Route 23 in Pompton Plains, where the dinner was held. “Medea Benjamin is murdering ours.”

Some 18 people from groups that oppose anti-war protests as “anti-American” hoisted signs condemning CODEPINK as supporting terrorism.

“I’m here to support our soldiers,” said Beverly Perlson, founder of the group Band of Mothers. Perlson, whose son served four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, flew in from Chicago to attend the rally in Morris County. She said CODEPINK protesters, who have agitated for the closure of a military recruitment center in Berkeley, Calif., are not just “anti-victory,” they are “pro-defeat.”

“They want to see us lose. I don’t understand this,” Perlson said, after a heated exchange with CODEPINK supporters. “I’ve been referred to as the mother of a terrorist. … My son isn’t a terrorist.”

“My son isn’t a terrorist.” After all, he is only following orders. He can’t possibly think for himself, or can he? He can’t possibly act as an individual, or can he?

What does America stand for? Liberty, freedom, equality, independence? Why do we allow government institutions, such as the Pentagon and the armed forces, to take these rights away from our citizens. Aren’t soldiers citizens first? American soldiers cannot think for themselves without fear of harsh punishment. Where are their freedoms that they are supposedly fighting for?

“Support the troops” is bullshit! What the troops are doing is wrong and the system that is in place that tells us that it is wrong to criticize them is wrong as well. This system is just a twisted mechanism that uses twisted logic to get United States citizens to support something that they don’t want to support. It is the same twisted logic that is keeping George W. Bush from being impeached. An immoral action by a moral person is an oxymoron. A moral person cannot commit an immoral action. As soon as the action is committed the person is no longer moral. The reverse is impossible. In other words, a moral person cannot make an immoral action into a moral one. This is what we are trying to do by “supporting our troops.” The United States is conducting unjust, illegal acts in Iraq and Afghanistan and every American soldier is a part of this. They are all responsible. As individuals they are making a conscious choice to place their own careers above what is right. Either that or they have been misled or are morally bankrupt. They should all stand up to George W. Bush and stand up for what is right, and stop being pawns in Bush’s war games. A truly courageous soldier would not stay in Iraq or Afghanistan.