Can you imagine the scope
and scale of the theft that will take place with the bank bailouts?
For four generations now, the Bush family has been involved in supporting the
country's enemies (most notably the Nazi Party in Germany) and robbing the country
blind. The family was directly involved and profited from the Savings and Loan
scandal of the 1980s and has participated in security fraud as well. With this
understanding as a background, the Iraq War can be viewed as their "masterpiece."
The Bush family and its associates have stolen countless billions of dollars
in the course of the war. In fact, one of their motivations for pushing the
war in the first place was the opportunity for theft.
Chances are the destruction of World Trade Tower Seven, the home of crucial
and now lost forever SEC and other federal law enforcement evidence and case
files was carried out to cover their tracks. Why isn't the news media pointing
out that the last time we had a banking system collapse that enriched
a bunch of crooks, a Bush was in the White House running the show?
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/307.html
John McCain wins in November???
Some Israeli officials have been threatening to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Are these threats empty or loaded? Will Israel strike before the US elections in November? And will there be an "October Surprise"? Answers to these questions and more, on Link TV's Mosaic Intelligence Report.
Robert Scheer - author of "The Pornography of Power" - responds to the question of how the Vietnam and Watergate era differs from today, especially with regards to how the media frames current events. http://www.truthdig.com/
Its being described as the largest government intervention in private markets since the Great Depression. The Bush administration has asked Congress to swiftly approve a massive $700 billion package to rescue the crippled financial institutions on Wall Street. Some analysts say the final cost to taxpayers could top one trillion dollars. Over the weekend, the size of the proposed bailout grew as the Bush administration said foreign banks, including Barclays and UBS, should be eligible for the bailout. http://www.democracynow.org/
Everyone is talking about the US economy, but is anyone paying attention to the issues in the Middle East? Will these be topics in the first presidential debate? And what's in "Bush's laundry list?"
Answers to these questions and more, on Link TV s Mosaic Intelligence Report.Presented by Jamal Dajani
Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview
Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.
Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain's running mate.
Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
Video of Kalnins and Palin from June 8, 2008 (via wasillaag.net):
Palin's address, much of which was spent reflecting on the work of the church in which she grew up and was baptized, underscores the notion that her world view is deeply impacted by religion. In turn, her remarks raise important questions: mainly, what is Palin's faith and how exactly has it influenced her policies?
A review of recorded sermons by Ed Kalnins, the senior pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God since 1999, offers a provocative and, for some, eyebrow-raising sketch of Palin's longtime spiritual home.
Op-ed's $3 trillion Iraq war estimate doubted by Pentagon
• Story Highlights
• In Washington Post, economist figures Iraq war will cost $12 billion a month
• Pentagon spokesman says $3 trillion "seems way out of the ballpark to me"
• White House spokeswoman says she doesn't know where figures come from
• Nobel Prize-winning economist, former CFO at Commerce Department wrote piece
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Bush administration officials Monday expressed doubt about an economist's column published over the weekend saying the war in Iraq will cost the United States more than $3 trillion.
That number "seems way out of the ballpark to me," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
"I'm not an accountant. I'm not an economist. And I think that those who are have questioned the methodology of this particular survey," Morrell said.
The op-ed piece published in Sunday's Washington Post was written by Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton. The co-author was Linda J. Bilmes, a former chief financial officer at the Commerce Department who teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
The two say the war is running a tab of $12 billion a month -- $16 billion including military action in Afghanistan. And, they maintain, the economic downturn resulting from it is likely to be the greatest since the Great Depression.
"That total, itself well in excess of $1 trillion, is not included in our estimated $3 trillion cost of the war," the column said. "Others will have to work out the geopolitics, but the economics here are clear. Ending the war, or at least moving rapidly to wind it down, would yield major economic dividends."
Morrell said Monday the Iraq war has cost the United States $406.2 billion through December 2007. "I think they [Stiglitz and Bilmes] throw everything in the kitchen sink into the survey, including the interest on the national debt," he said. "So it seems like an exaggerated number to us."
The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and antiterrorist efforts abroad could cost $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an October 2007 estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. More than 70 percent would go to support operations in Iraq, and the figure included the estimated $600 billion spent since 2001, Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag said in testimony before the House Budget Committee that month. That estimate also included projected interest, because the government is borrowing most of the funds required.
Stiglitz and Blimes' op-ed said that because Bush and Congress cut taxes after going to war, despite the massive deficit, the war had to be funded by more borrowing.
"By the end of the Bush administration, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan plus the cumulative interest on the increased borrowing used to fund them, will have added about $1 trillion to the national debt."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino refused Monday to dispute the numbers contained in the piece.
"I don't know exactly where he gets all of it," she said. "I think that some of the things that he looks into in terms of veterans care, that we're going to take care of our veterans in the future -- absolutely, those types of things have to be included, but it's very hard to anticipate, depending on conditions on the ground and circumstances, how much the war is going to cost."
Modern equipment for U.S. soldiers, with technology that saves lives, is expensive, she noted.
"I don't think anybody is arguing that our men and women who are out there on the battlefield shouldn't have access to the MRAP [mine resistant ambush protected] vehicles," she said. "Those vehicles are very, very expensive. But they have helped save lives and prevent injuries. And that's just one example of the many things that we are spending money on."
Morrell noted the Pentagon still has a $105 billion war request for Iraq and Afghanistan pending in Congress.
"We here in this building are certainly doing our part to try to calculate as best we can, for the Congress, for the American people, what we think this is going to cost, even as the Congress has failed to provide us with the money we need to fight the war," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada also addressed the piece in his floor remarks on the budget Monday.
"Seven years into the Bush administration, tax breaks for big business and the super-wealthy have combined with a $12 billion per month war in Iraq and cuts to investments in our workforce and infrastructure to create a budget deficit of more than $400 billion and a national debt that has grown by $3 trillion," Reid said. "The result? An economy that is failing millions of American families."
-------------------------------
Don't want to argue as well but I personally don't see any positive impact for this war other than enriching military contractors.
They make billions selling bombs, vehicles, planes, missiles, etc. If there is any positive...for me, it is clouded by;
3,990 fatalities,
29,395 wounded, and the
$400 Million dollars per DAY
that MAYBE could be used better here. These fatalities and wounded numbers will keep growing per day too. Want to thank our troops?
Giving them more bombs or better guns is good...BUT bringing them to safety of their home and their family is better. JMHO.
__________________
Dario :) Austin, TX USA
"Pictures in your mind are memories" - Kathryn O., 3.5 years old
Winter Soldier: Eyewitness Accounts of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Submitted by John Stauber on Tue, 09/23/2008 - 19:28.
Two years ago, public revulsion against the Bush Administration's unnecessary and disastrous attack and occupation of Iraq resulted in the Democratic Party taking control of the U.S. Congress. But Nancy Pelosi and the new political leadership backed down before President Bush and refused to withhold funding for the war, while rhetorically denouncing it and thus playing to anti-war voters. The liberal lobby group MoveOn spent tens of millions of dollars on anti-war advertisements and door-to-door canvassing events as part of its partisan campaign to blame the war on the Republicans, while letting Democrats off the hook for giving Bush all the money he wanted to continue the occupation into next year.
Today, as the 2008 election approaches, worry over Iraq has slipped down the public's list of concerns while more immediate economic issues and the spectacular collapse of the Wall Street investment banks take center stage. However, one anti-war organization has proven especially tenacious, independent and committed to immediately bringing home troops from Iraq and making good to the Iraqi people, while taking care of the soldiers who fought the war. That organization is the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) composed of about a thousand soldiers who have recently served or are still serving in the U.S. military.
IVAW has provided the courageous and true leadership that partisan lobbies like MoveOn lack, opposing the war-funding politicians of both parties. When the Democrats nominated Barack Obama in Denver, IVAW was there in the streets demanding a meeting with Obama's people to press for an immediate end to the occupation. During the Republican Convention, as John McCain was talking from the stage in St. Paul he was confronted by a lone soldier, IVAW's Adam Kokesh, calling from the balcony and waving a sign of protest against the war. TV cameras briefly broadcast Kokesh's protest, but quickly pulled away from the young soldier in the black IVAW tee shirt calling out to McCain.
Last March the IVAW spent its own money and time to organize an historic event, the Winter Soldier hearings held outside Washington DC, where soldiers testified to the atrocities and war crimes they witnessed or personally committed while in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emotionally moving and carefully vetted truth telling lasted for days. Thanks to Aaron Glantz, Aimee Allison and others at Berkeley radio station KPFA, the IVAW testimony was broadcast live and is today available free online for anyone to hear.
To its disgrace, most of the mainstream corporate media ignored the hearings. The hard facts of the Iraq war, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, the millions driven from their homes, the thousands of American dead and tens of thousands wounded, are simply not deemed appropriate and newsworthy by American news media. Indeed, the U.S. media has pushed Iraq to the back pages and off the TV tube.
Not to be deterred, the IVAW continues to organize local and regional Winter Soldier hearings. I will be speaking at one hearing in Madison, Wisconsin, this Saturday, September 27, addressing the propaganda role of the U.S. media as a cheerleader for war. Available at the conference, hot off the printing presses, will be a new book that is the official account of IVAW's brutally honest and deeply moving testimonies. Winter Soldier, Iraq and Afghanistan was written by the Iraq Veterans Against the War and independent author and journalist Aaron Glantz.
This book reflects the IVAW belief often expressed by executive director Kelly Dougherty that "the only way this war is going to end is if the American people truly understand what we have done in their name." It's filled with gut wrenching personal stories and histories from the women and men who fought the war and still fight in the occupations. A collection of testimonies, the book is itself one single testimony to the powerful truths of soldiers facing up to a war millions would rather ignore and that the corporate media and political establishment does not want to honestly discuss. This is a very important book, one that every American should read and share. America owes an unpayable debt to its soldiers, especially its anti-war soldiers in the Iraq Veterans Against the War who do not back down to political gamesmanship from either political party.
In early 2002, the Pentagon began cultivating retired military officers who frequently serve as media commentators, so that they would help make the case for invading Iraq. The pundit program continued -- promoting the Bush administration's stance on the Guantanamo Bay detention center, warrantless wiretapping and other hot-button issues -- until the New York Times exposed its existence in April 2008. The Times had obtained 8,000 pages of documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. Shortly after the Times story ran, the Pentagon made the same documents available on its website
However, the documents released by the Pentagon were formatted in such a way that text searches could not be performed on them. This made systematic analysis of the information nearly impossible. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a non-profit organization with a mission of exposing media spin and government propaganda, worked to make this information fully accessible to anyone with Internet access.
The Pentagon pundit documents
CMD has made text-searchable versions of the Pentagon pundit documents available:
on SourceWatch, CMD's collaborative encyclopedia of the people, issues and groups shaping the public agenda; and
Note that the easiest way to search for a term across all of the Pentagon pundit documents is to go to this page on Scribd.com and use the "Search within the Pentagon pundit documents Group" option in the left sidebar.
Reporting on the Pentagon's pundits
The following are CMD reports on and analyses of the Pentagon pundit program and documents:
campaign:For God's Sake, Save DarfurWe have a unique role to play in generating the personal, congregational, and political will necessary to empower and convince President Bush to lead boldly in bringing an end to the genocide. »take action
28 million people in the world today are slaves: held against their will, forced to work under someone else’s rule, trapped in an endless cycle of control, abuse, and injustice. Some are born, live, and die as slaves. From sex-trafficking to forced labor, across Asia, Africa, and Europe to the United States, slavery thrives. Poverty is the consistent soil in which this horror flourishes. Three billion people today live on $2 or less per day; less than the price of single-shot latté. People inside and outside the Church live this vulnerable, daily nightmare. The 2008 Global Church Conference focuses on slavery in the context of poverty. We will be hearing from Christian leaders from the Majority World who will help us to understand, to engage, and to respond to these realities as an expression of following Jesus Christ.
Want to get a feel for the GCC? See a
video from last year's conference (.mov or .flv).
Co2 to the atmosphere
is clearly Man-made. Burning fossil fuels is one of the main sources of
energy for most countries, coal mine is also a big business in countries
like china were coal mines are opened every single week, cars doubled
in numbers thus doubled its annual emissions in most developed countries.
This may be the most selfish, insensitive, self-serving act that the human
population has done to its planet, one that will go down to history. In
the bible, the Lord ordered noah to build an ark to accomodate his family
and animals (2 of each kind), for he will flood all of earth to cleanse
the land of sin, after the flood, God promised not to flood the earth
again out of love for his people, this is a very good example of how evil
acts could kill us in so many ways, but now this flood will come back
if we don't change our ways, and there's no Ark to save us. The only thing
that could prevent this disaster is our God-given skill and our ability
to survive and our ability to change, yes change, change our lifestyle,
change our ways. Scientists predict that within 30 to 50 years,
when the ice in the polar regions melts due to
global warming most low-lying cities will be under water, some important
life-giving rivers will dry up like the amazon river, which is home to
a gazillion species of animals, polar bears will die-out due to ice-melt,
fishes will also die out, because the ocean absorbs most of the Co2 and
they can only absorb as much, the ocean will heat up and marine animals
will die. Tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons increase in strenght, size
and consistency. Most countries experience drought but others will also
experience flooding, these are just appetizers, the main course is about
to begin if we don't do nuthin'
Global
Warming, Poverty and Global Health
Global warming is connected
to the deterioration of health conditions and the increase of diseases
especially among the billions of people around the world who live in
poverty. These three--environment, health and poverty--are inseparable.
Global warming is connected to the deterioration
of health conditions and the increase of diseases especially among the
billions of people around the world who live in poverty. These three--environment,
health and poverty--are inseparable.Global warming and care for the
environment are, much belatedly, getting the attention they deserve.
Foot-dragging by the U.S. government is being countered by initiatives
by private individuals such as Sir
Richard Branson, who announced this week that he will fund development
of alternative fuel for jetliners, and public initiatives by many governments
around the world, such as California's emission control laws. The local
NPR station reported that Al Gore is training 1,000 volunteers this
weekend to take his message about global warming to the grassroots.
I hope this attention translates into long-term problem-solving and
that care for the environment is not the cause de jour, receiving
attention one day and fading shortly after. The survival of the planet
is too important to be treated like another election issue, here today
and gone tomorrow, and so is combatting global health problems and poverty.
The connection between global warming, poverty and health must not be
forgotten. These three are so intertwined it's hard to separate one
from the other.
Dr. Paul Epstein of the Center
for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard Medical School,
explains how wetter, warmer weather results in a favorable environment
for disease-bearing insect pests to thrive. As a result of warming in
mountainous areas, mosquitos have moved to higher elevations, bringing
with them diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus,
he writes. In this audio
interview he explains that malaria is now present in the mountains
of Ethiopia as well as in Nairobi, Kenya and Harare, Zimbabwe, high
altitude cities once malaria-free.
Extreme changes in weather patterns such as heavy rains that flooded
Mozambique in 2000 resulted in a five-fold increase in malaria. The
rains provided breeding grounds for insects and drove rat populations
from nests and into sources of drinking water, polluting the water supply.
Weather changes also alter the balance between predators and prey that
keeps disease-bearing pests in check. Drought in the western U.S. in
the mid 1990s reduced the population of snakes, owls and coyotes that
keep the rat population in check. Monsoonal rains broke the drought
and provided rat populations with abundance of pinion nuts and other
food sources that resulted in a ten-fold increase in rats. Out of this
extreme weather fluctuation the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a deadly
disease associated with rat feces, nest debris and contact with the
rodent itself, emerged from the increased rat population.
Malaria alone consumes 40% to 50% of public health expenditures in some
developing nations. Survivors are often too sick to work productively,
if at all, increasing the burden of poverty. Add to this dilemma the
policies
of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank requiring
developing nations to privatize many government services, including
health care. The poor can't afford fees so they don't take advantage
of the limited health services that are available, adding to the decline
in productivity among workers, increasing poverty and the spread of
infectious, untreated diseases such as tuberculosis, for example.
For people of faith in the Judeo-Cristian tradition the biblical understanding
of the earth is that it is sacred creation. We are instructed to steward
with care. This biblical wisdom is more relevant than ever. The life
of faith is about holistic understanding of our place in the universe
and our purpose under God. Nothing could reveal faithfulness more than
to give urgent concern and action to care for the earth, heal the sick
and bring justice to those trapped in the bonds of poverty.
Many religious groups such as The United Methodist Church have significant
presence in the developing world in the form of local churches, health
clinics, mission hospitals, and schools and universities. But they often
lack resources to attack problems at a scale great enough to significantly
end long-standing problems. Partnerships with others to achieve greater
coverage of health services, environmental protection and economic development
should become part of an urgent response. Viewed holistically, each
part of the attempt to reduce global warming and human suffering from
poverty and lack of health care represents faithfulness to God who created
us, gave the earth and told us to thrive upon it. zassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
News \ Bush Administration Sued to Force Polar Bear Protection
Bush Administration Sued to Force Polar Bear Protection
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—) SAN FRANCISCO— Monday the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sued the Bush administration for missing its legal deadline for issuing a final decision on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming. “The Bush administration seems intent on slamming shut the narrow window of opportunity we have to save polar bears,”? said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition seeking the Endangered Species Act listing. “We simply will not sit back and passively allow the administration to condemn polar bears to extinction.”?
Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea ice for all of their essential needs. The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice pose an overwhelming threat to the polar bear, which could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to global warming.
The groups filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling the administration to issue the final decision on polar bear protection immediately.
“The Endangered Species Act is absolutely unambiguous: the Fish and Wildlife Service was required to make a final decision months ago. Now it’s up to a federal court to throw this incredible animal a lifeline,”? said Andrew Wetzler, director of NRDC’s Endangered Species Project. “We need urgent action from this administration to protect the polar bear and reduce greenhouse gas pollution, not continued delay.”?
Noting that the federal government initiated lease sales to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea earlier this month, Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace USA, said: “Our lawsuit has forced the Bush administration’s hand on the issue of global warming like no other, even as it rubberstamps drilling rights for Big Oil in pristine polar bear habitat. If the federal government is really serious about protecting the polar bear, then its next steps will be to cancel lease sales in the Chukchi Sea and immediately implement a plan for deep cuts in U.S. global warming pollution.”?
Since the petition to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act was first filed in February 2005, new science paints a dim picture of the polar bear’s future. In September, the U.S. Geological Survey predicted that two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population would likely be extinct by 2050, including all polar bears within the United States. Several leading scientists now predict the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer by 2012.
Shrinking sea ice also drastically restricts polar bears’ ability to hunt their main prey, ice seals. In the spring of 2006, scientists located the bodies of several bears that had starved to death. Unprecedented instances of polar bear cannibalism have also been documented along the north coast of Alaska and Canada. Listing the species would guarantee that federal agencies will be obligated to ensure that any action they authorize, fund, or carry out will not jeopardize the polar bears’ continued existence or adversely modify their critical habitat, and the Fish and Wildlife Service will be required to prepare a recovery plan, specifying measures for the bear’s protection. The government has received 670,000 comments in support of protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God." In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will." Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there. "Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan." A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet. Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.
"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said. "I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God." Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's running mate. Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin's comments.
"I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God." The section of the church's Web site where videos of past sermons were posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that the site "was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in the last few days." http://tinyurl.com/67b7n8 More at http://www.theuptake.org. Delyla Wilson tours the country with her family in the "PermiBus," a mobile permaculture demonstration. The group is in the Twin Cities to teach people about sustainable living practices. On the evening of Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 the bus was pulled over in what police eventually described as a routine traffic stop. After detaining the bus occupants, the police decided the bus was a commercial vehicle and impounded it for inspection, leaving the family and their guests stranded and homeless. The police allowed the Wilsons to remove their dogs and chickens, but were not allowed to retrieve their computers or any other belongings, including their daughter's shoes. This incident ended a day that saw multiple pre-RNC raids, which some legal observers believe is a coordinated pre-emptive effort by local and national law enforcement agencies to chill RNC protest action. Video by Chuck Olsen of The UpTake: http://theuptake.org Photos by Tony Webster, used with permission: http://www.tonywebster.com TC-IMC Newswire Illegal Police Raid on Anti-RNC Convergence Space in St. Paul Illegal Police Raid on Anti-RNC Convergence Space in St. Paul
[TC-IMC Update 2 AM - Web media takes notice: TC Daily Planet: Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting, Minnesota Independent:
Rumors circulating of possible police sweeps in Minneapolis this weekendhttp://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/aug/illegal-police-raid-anti-rnc-convergence-space-st-paul At 9:15 Friday night, the Saint Paul Police entered all doors of the RNC Convergence Space in St. Paul, MN with guns drawn. The Space serves as a community center and organizing space for the upcoming protests against the Republican National Convention. At the time of the raid, people were sitting down to dinner and watching a movie.The police presented no warrant at the time of the raid, but claim that they have a warrant to search the space for "bomb-making" materials.
No "bomb-making" materials were found. Rather, the police barked orders for everyone, including a 5 year old child, to get on the floor with their faces to the ground. Everyone inside was put in handcuffs.
In the hours following, the police photographed everyone inside the space and recorded information from their Identification cards. The police took all personal laptops and hard drives. One female activist was sexually harassed by a cop who groped her crotch. At around 11pm, after a crowd had gathered outside the space, the police began releasing detainees one by one. Corporate media showed up eventually. By midnight, the last detainees were being released. As of the most recent reports, there have been NO ARRESTS.
The police are claiming that the space must be closed down due to "fire code" violations. According to City Council member Dave Thune, the police do not have the authority to enforce fire code. Only the Fire Department has the power to enforce this code. The following statement has been released by the RNC Welcoming Committee, which organized the space:
PRESS STATEMENT FROM RNC WELCOMING COMMITTEE AFTER SHERIFF AND SPPD RAID OF CONVERGENCE SPACE
Assitant Police Chief Bostrom has talked about the St. Paul Standard, and on the anniversary of last years’ critical mass police riot, we saw its true face. The ramsey county sheriff’s dept and the SPPD raided the RNC convergence space and detained over 50 people in an attempt to preempt planned protests of the rnc on Monday. Looking for items found in any twin cities house like jars, paint, and rags, this attempt to portray us as criminals and destroy our credibility has already backfired as evidenced by the masses who have come to support us.
We are now accused of a simple fire code violation -which is outside the scope of the sheriffs department and clearly not justified provocation for a forceful raid with guns being drawn. Children and elderly people were inside the convergence center when the police violently busted down the doors. The police may claim that the raid was executed according to protocol - however, the violence inherent in this action may only be a hint of the violence to be expected on Monday and beyond, and is only a hint at the violence perpetrated daily by the police.
The convergence center is simply a gathering place and is not used for illegal actions - it is a place for workshops and trainings. Tonight we were watching films and sharing food. This action will not deter us from our plans to protest the RNC on September 1st. We want to invite all people who oppose this police oppression to join us on Septemeber 1st. See you in the streets.
Denny Carr, MFA
Photographer and Video Artist
BIKE !!!! hase lepus trike (stroke-paralysis)
age 61 eco-friendly no-car
"I am a stroke survivor and deal daily with a speech disorder called Aphasia. This disorder is a result of my stroke in 2005. I am thankful God has given me the ability to express myself through my images and films." For more information, visit these websites: http://www.azimagery.com/
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