Peacethugs

[Soldier4Christ]

Brothers and Sisters,

These fine young people in the Boy Scouts are good news, and I wish that we had more of it. I'm proud of them, especially considering that previous negative actions toward them didn't ruin their attitudes or wishes to help. These Boy Scouts are giving us all a lesson that we need:   DON'T GET DISCOURAGED - KEEP TRYING!

This same message applies to Christians directly. We should keep trying and never allow the devil to discourage us. There is work that GOD wants done, and we can do it, regardless of the difficulty we might face in serving HIM. HE is worthy!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Favorite Bible Quotes 189 - Isaiah 12:2-3 Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength
and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy
shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Amen!

[Soldier4Christ]

Tacoma Peace thugs vandalize Army recruiters, then brag about it

Domestic attack

A short time ago we responded to threats to our soldiers with a mass rally at the Tacoma recruiting station. SDS led this attempt to interfere with the rights of our soldiers to do their jobs. We stopped them! On Friday they attacked the recruiting station with rocks in a clear and deliberate (yet fruitless) attack of sedition.

I found this report at the Tacoma SDS website that clearly states that they work with the attacker.

This was done in solidarity with the Northwest's current resistance to port militarization.

They also threaten more attacks.

    For the forces of order who attempt to strike fear into the hearts of our comrades down at the port–we have a message for you:

    Get out of Cascadia, or face imminent retaliation.

    We will strike again.

Seattle’s Indymedia site had a video of a peace thug saying that maybe someone "would plant something".

Thugs!  And proud of it!

They promote peace just as islam does.

[HisDaughter]

Tacoma Peace thugs vandalize Army recruiters, then brag about it

Domestic attack

A short time ago we responded to threats to our soldiers with a mass rally at the Tacoma recruiting station. SDS led this attempt to interfere with the rights of our soldiers to do their jobs. We stopped them! On Friday they attacked the recruiting station with rocks in a clear and deliberate (yet fruitless) attack of sedition.

I found this report at the Tacoma SDS website that clearly states that they work with the attacker.

They also threaten more attacks.

Seattle’s Indymedia site had a video of a peace thug saying that maybe someone "would plant something".

Thugs!  And proud of it!

They promote peace just as islam does.

I didn't hear about this.  Was it today?

They promote peace just as islam does.

You hit that nail on the head! 

[Soldier4Christ]

It supposedly happened at the Tacoma Mall on 1 Aug. The information I posted here was just put up on the internet on 3 Aug, it was posted on the site where I saw it just yesterday. I don't know why it has taken so long to report on it. The web site I saw it on usually has things like this posted within minutes of it happening. This was a continuing action by this peace thug group that also called for people to harass all Military and their families at the same mall back on 15 Mar 2008 when they attempted to shut down the entire mall.

[Soldier4Christ]

RNC Accuses Obama Bundler of Supporting Iraq Insurgency

The Republican National Committee (RNC) published an update at its BarackBook.com website yesterday that accuses Barack Obama presidential campaign bundler Jodie Evans of supporting the insurgency in Iraq.


    Evans is co-founder of the so-called antiwar group Code Pink.

    The RNC quoted a January 15, 2006 column by Robert Novak that said,
"Code Pink, At A Mock War Crimes Tribunal In Istanbul June 27, Signed A
Declaration That The Iraqi Insurgency 'Deserved The Support Of People
Everywhere Who Care For Justice And Freedom.'"

    Evans represented Code Pink at the mock war crimes tribunal. In
addition to expressing Code Pink's support for the insurgency, Evans
published a statement from Istanbul personally endorsing the insurgency
that has killed thousands of American troops and free Iraqis:

    "We must begin by really standing with the Iraqi people and defending
their right to resist. I can remain myself against all forms of violence,
and yet I cannot judge what someone has to do when pushed to the wall to
protect all they love. The Iraqi people are fighting for their country, to
protect their families and to preserve all they love. They are fighting for
their lives, and we are fighting for lies." (AlterNet, June 26, 2005)

    Evans has a close relationship with the Obama campaign. She hosted
Obama's first Hollywood fundraiser in February 2007, along with Steven
Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and her ex-husband Max
Palevsky.

    According to Evans' Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, Evans is on a
first name basis with Obama and discussed Iraq policy with Obama at another
Hollywood fundraiser on June 24, 2008.

    Evans is listed on the Obama website as having bundled between $50,000
and $100,000. She has also contributed the maximum $2300 to his primary
campaign, according to FEC records.

    In addition to supporting the insurgency in Iraq, Evans recently
expressed her agreement with Osama bin Laden's reasons for attacking
America on September 11, 2001 in an interview broadcast June 3, 2008:

    Jodie Evans:..."We were attacked because we were in Saudi Arabia, that
was the message of Osama, was that because we had our bases in the Middle
East, he attacked the United States."

    Paul A. Ibbetson: "Do you think that's a valid argument?"

    Evans: "Sure. Why do we have bases in the Middle East? We totally
violated the rights of that country. Why do we get to have bases in the
Middle East?"

    Also in that interview, Evans said Code Pink's goal is to "undermine
the war effort (of the United States") and that she wished Saddam Hussein
was still in power.

    Toward that goal, Evans has worked with the governments of Saddam
Hussein (in 2003), Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers, as well as
pro-insurgent elements in the Middle East.

    While supporting the Iraq insurgency abroad, Evans has led a campaign
against the Marines at home in Berkeley, where Code Pink has called the
Marines "assassins" and she has likened the Marine recruiting office to a
"porn shop."

    The Obama campaign has rejected two requests by pro-troop organizations
that Obama renounce Evans.

    Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com, an
independent grassroots group comprised of veterans, military families and
other patriotic Americans, issued the following statement applauding the
RNC and reiterating the call for Obama to renounce Evans:

    "Barack Obama has said he knows he needs to earn the trust of the
military. When he speaks before the Veterans of Foreign Wars today, he
could take a giant step toward earning that trust by renouncing Jodie Evans
and her bundled campaign dollars and denounce her support of the Iraq
insurgency.

    "The RNC is to be commended for speaking out against Evans. We hope
that they too will join the call for Obama to renounce Jodie Evans."

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

ON THE SURFACE, Obama appears to change when public opinion demands it. Does this mean that the REAL Obama actually changed, or did he just pay some lip service to change? The REAL Obama has already shown himself, and he won't change. Obama is a RADICAL regardless of what he says. Everything that's revealed about Obama is RADICAL! I'LL GO AHEAD AND SAY IT - OBAMA IS ANTI-AMERICAN. Quite a few people holding public office today are anti-American in many ways.

Let's tell things the way they are:  quite a few folks with BIG MONEY can't stand our foundation, our history, our Christian heritage, our Christian ways, or anything Christian. We are currently watching tremendous efforts to shove GOD completely out of our country. Many of the efforts are obvious, open, and blunt. Some of the efforts are more of a stealth variety, and they have to be before they get in office. In the meantime, there are small armies of fruitcakes with tons of money to do everything in their power to end our way of life. If it's moral, decent, or Godly, they want it GONE! THIS IS WHAT OBAMA REPRESENTS!

[Soldier4Christ]

Clash with university over beliefs strands student
Seeking resolution of master's degree work at Temple


A university student who challenged his school's "speech code" and won a ruling in federal court that it was vague, overbroad and stifled student speech, including his Christian views, is continuing his battle with Temple University because the school has – three years after he completed it – declined to provide a grade on his master's thesis, thus effectively denying him his degree.

The Alliance Defense Fund recently announced that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had affirmed the district court victory by Christian DeJohn, who is a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

The ADF handled DeJohn's successful request in the courts for a permanent injunction against Temple University's speech code, and after a district judge sided with DeJohn, the appeals court confirmed "speech cannot be prohibited in the absence of a tenable threat of disruption… Furthermore, the policy's use of 'hostile,' 'offensive,' and 'gender-motivated' is, on its face, sufficiently broad and subjective that they 'could conceivably be applied to cover any speech' of a 'gender-motivated' nature 'the content of which offends someone.'"

Continued the appeals court ruling, "This could include 'core' political and religious speech, such as gender politics and sexual morality… The policy provides no shelter for core protected speech."

DeJohn's career, however, is not advancing as he planned. He told W ND the judge's order did not include instructions for Temple to grade his thesis, so more than three years after he completed it under school supervision, it still sits.

DeJohn now is serving at Fort Meade in Maryland, and told WND how the problems developed. He said he was enrolled at Temple in Philadelphia, but left about seven months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because he was deployed to Bosnia.

While he was in Bosnia, he started getting anti-war e-mails, called "teach-ins" from Richard Immerman, chairman of Temple's history department. DeJohn responded with a request that the e-mails be stopped.

Then when he returned from active duty and tried to re-enroll in Temple as a graduate student, he was told he had been expelled because he had not asked permission to leave the university.

DeJohn produced copies of his written request, with copies of his orders to deploy, and officials then attributed the situation to "computer error." He eventually was allowed back into school and worked on his master's degree in American and Military History.

However, two professors whose classes he took, Gregory Urwin's "Comparative History of Modern Warfare" and Immerman's "American Diplomatic History," included diatribes against President Bush, the military and the war, he said.

During the course of those lectures, DeJohn expressed his opinion.

He also finished his thesis, "The Sherman Tank in World War II: For Want of a Gun," in 2005 following payments for "thesis guidance" to the school, but he claims because of the dispute, the school simply declined to address his project.

However, Ray Betzner, a Temple spokesman, told WND the court simply did not rule in DeJohn's favor on the issues regarding the thesis.

"In short, his academic performance just wasn't good enough," Temple attorney Joe H. Tucker, Jr. said. "It had nothing to do with his First Amendment rights and everything to do with Temple professor's academic freedom to grade a student's poorly written, poorly constructed … thesis."

However, the primary reader of his thesis, Dr. Jay Lockenour, was ready to sign off on it but when DeJohn needed a secondary reader, Urwin refused to approve it, DeJohn said. He said Lockenour apparently believed it would be resolved, and advised him to register to graduate in May 2005, but it didn't happen.

Despite those circumstances, DeJohn said Temple reported to his student loan companies that he had obtained a diploma, causing his loans in the amount of $50,000 to default, damaging his credit.

DeJohn said he believed Temple had initiated a campaign against him, punishing him for openly discussing his opinions while he was a student. He even wrote to Temple's president, David Adamany, seeking his help regarding the obstacles he was facing.

Subsequently, when asked under oath if he was aware of DeJohn's dilemma, Adamany denied being aware of allegations about violations of academic freedoms. DeJohn, also under oath, produced copies of their communication. Shortly thereafter, in a front page story in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan. 20, 2006, Adamany announced his resignation. Betzner insists that he "retired."

DeJohn eventually sought help from Accuracy in Academia and a Pennsylvania state representative, and later followed the discrimination complaint filed by the Alliance Defense Fund.

But even today, DeJohn's academic status remains in limbo because his status of his thesis hasn't been resolved.

And the campaign apparently even has gone beyond that. DeJohn reported when he applied for a job as historian at The Army Military History Institute at The Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania, Urwin apparently e-mailed one of his former students who worked there, saying that he understood that DeJohn had applied for the job. He stated that all veterans are mentally imbalanced because they have been trained to kill by the Army.

DeJohn said he never even was interviewed for the post, but under a Freedom of Information Act request, he obtained documents showing that he was rated No. 1 out of 62 candidates for that position.

[Soldier4Christ]

Recreate ‘68 threatens Democrat convention in Denver

Recreate 68 is an "organization" (I use that term loosely as nothing is actually organized but rather a free-for-all group of chaos) that is threatening to recreate the situation that occurred at the 1968 Democrat National Convention. They call themselves an "alliance". All of the supposed "peace protestors" of the anti-war groups are getting together to recreate the 1968 protests. For those that are not aware of what the 1968 protests in Chicago at the DNC was like it was complete uncontrolled mob action with riots. There was a whole lot of damage and many people hurt. Recreate 68 has promised that the 1968 protests will “look like a small get-together” compared with the havoc that will erupt in Denver.

Recreate 68 demonstrated in Seattle during the traumatic and destructive 1999 World Trade Organization protests there, and it plans a “massive presence” in Denver. In Seattle, protesters barricaded intersections, kept terrified delegates holed up in their hotels, and drove the mayor to declare a state of emergency.

In addition to the authorities having to deal with Recreate 68, another anarchist group, Unconventional Action, has vowed to “target” fundraisers, delegates’ hotels and the city’s transportation system.

In Minneapolis for the RNC, Recreate 68 plans to:

    …employ a three-tiered direct action strategy to disrupt the RNC. The tiers are organized in order of priority according to the number of participants; if a small number of participants show up, only the first tier will be carried out, but if the numbers are on hand, all three tiers will be in effect.

    Tier One: Establish 15-20 blockades, utilizing a diversity of tactics, creating an inner and outer ring around St. Paul’s Excel Center, where the RNC is to take place.

    Tier Two: Immobilize the delegates’ transportation infrastructure, including the busses that are to convey them.

    Tier Three: Block the five western bridges connecting the Twin Cities.

What is the purpose of their protests? It is to:

END THE OCCUPATIONS ... (a) march to end all illegal imperialist occupations in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Hawaii, North America, and others.

Yes, you read that right ... including the occupation of places such as the U.S. including Hawaii ... not by terrorist muslim organizations but by "illegal imperialist". In plain terms that means our current government and they are ready to invoke violence in the name of "peace".

Recreate 68 includes groups such as CODEPINK, the Green Party, Tent State University, the Denver International Socialist Organization and Iraq Veterans Against the War, Students for a Democratic Society, United for Peace and Justice, and many more such groups. Some of these groups claim to have splintered away from Recreate 68 and vow a peaceful protest only. We'll have to see how true that is since CODEPINK is one of those groups and they have a large record of violent protests.

[Soldier4Christ]

Anti-war protesters march to Pepsi Center

More than a thousand protesters marched to the gates of the Pepsi Center today, temporarily closing down access to the site of the Democratic National Convention. Protesters from the Recreate 68 anti-war rally and march briefly sat down, but dispersed peacefully when police asked them to disband. There were no arrests.

Police officers, some on mountain bikes, some on horses, escorted the marchers from the steps of the Capitol down Colfax Avenue and Speer Boulevard to the Pepsi Center.

"No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA," some marchers chanted as they walked in the bright, noonday sun.

Organizers reconsidered at the last moment not to march across Civic Center, which had filled with conventioneers, marketers and opportunists with booths and tents. Instead, they marched under police escort down Colfax Avenue to Speer Boulevard, then turned left on Auraria Parkway to 9th Street, where the march ended.

Recreate 68 and other protest groups said months ago they would occupy Civic Center park in violation of the host-committee permit. Recreate 68's Larry Hales says early threats to take Civic Center were meant to start a dialogue (to get attention).

Officials estimate up to 1,500 protesters took part. Despite taunts and threats made to police, no one was arrested and the marchers disbanded 30 minutes after arriving on Auraria Parkway.

Earlier today, at a speech at the Capitol rally, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan urged a crowd of 500 people to support alternative candidates.

"It's been three years since I camped out in Crawford, Texas, and the country is still mired in war in the Middle East," she told the cheering crowd on the west steps this morning.

Sheehan, whose son was killed as a soldier in Iraq, became known as the "Peace Mom" after she camped for 26 days outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, hoping to get an audience with him.

"Neither Republicans nor Democrats represent the people," she said. "They've taken away more of our freedoms.

It's now easier to spy on us. (Admitting they have something to hide?)

"This convention is sponsored by AT&T. What does that tell you?" she said to wild cheers.

"Denver has partnered with the Democrats to create a fascist police state. Now we have free speech in cages. We are not animals."

Although she purchased property in Crawford, she now lives in San Francisco, where she is running against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in the House of Representatives. "I believe my campaign is winnable," Sheehan said.

Just before the protest began, organizers prepared puppet heads of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Folk musicians warmed up the crowd with live music as the rally began at 9 a.m.

Recreate 68 co-founder Mark Cohen called presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama part of an imperialist system.

Ron Kovic, the anti-war activist whose paralyzing injuries in Vietnam were chronicled in his book "Born on the Fourth of July," told the crowd, "We refuse to be silent ... we are going to speak our minds. The whole world is watching."

At one point, demonstrators confronted a Fox News camera crew, screaming that Fox is biased in its coverage. Amid chants of "Fox has got to go", and "Fox, go home," state troopers moved in and separated the most vocal protesters from the camera crew. That same crew was confronted again at the end of the march on Auraria Parkway. Police ushered the crew away.

Green Party vice-presidential candidate Rosa Clemente told the crowd that "hip-hop" culture has not gone away. Basically campaigning for herself instead of condemning the war, Clemente chided the black and Latino media for ignoring her campaign, as well as that of Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who was in the crowd.

[nChrist]

It sounds like they've loosed an army of NUTS on Denver, and the NUTS want to run the country. They call Obama an Imperialist, so can you imagine what they would be like?

WOW! I'd heard something about the Green Party, but I really had no idea. My first thought involved cartoon characters, and I really couldn't get past that point. I'll be holding my breath to see how many votes they get. They're giving sociopaths a bad name.      

[Soldier4Christ]

100 protesters taken to temporary center

About 100 protesters were being processed early today at Denver's temporary processing center in a former warehouse.

Depending on their charges, they should be processed by 4 a.m. or 5 a.m., said Capt. Frank Gale of the Denver Sheriff's Office.

"It's working exactly the way it is supposed to do," Gale said of the facility.

If the detainees have the resources, they could post bond, Gale said. Others could end up being taken back to the main jail.

About 7 p.m. Monday, riot police using pepper spray forced a couple of hundred protesters out of Civic Center and then blocked them before they could reach the 16th Street Mall.

Police surrounded the protesters along 15th Street between Court Street and Cleveland Place and then moved up reinforcements, including at least two armored vehicles.

Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the convention's Joint Information Center, said one officer fired pepper spray during the initial confrontation near the City and County Building and one officer fire pepper spray on 15th Street. She also said one officer fired pepper balls in once instance, but wasn't sure of the timing.

She said an officer fired the first spray when several of the protesters charged toward the police line, which had been set up to protect the roadway and prevent any movement toward the pedestrian mall.

Police processed detainees until nearly 11 p.m. using tables set up along Cleveland and loading the detainees onto sheriff's buses for transport to the center.

Larry Hales with the activist group Recreate 68 said his group did nothing wrong Monday and had a permit for the Civic Center gathering when police closed in and created havoc.

Hales said that if they are not released by the morning, the activists will protest outside the police headquarters.

"I'm a little in shock," said Joey-Kenzie, 21, of Denver, after spending about 90 minutes in the crowd of people pinned in by officers in SWAT gear.

Kenzie said she wanted to leave but police had surrounded the group and there was no way out.

"At one point we didn't know what we were going to do, we were going to get arrested or maced," said the recent Community College of Denver graduate.

Kenzie said police never asked for her identification.

"I haven't been able to vote for a president yet, but this was an epiphany," she said. "My freedom of speech was suppressed."

Protesters and police had originally lined up across from one another in front of City and County Building about 7 p.m., the police wearing their full riot gear and holding batons, chanting "move back, move back."

Police used pepper spray before the mass of marchers moved back across the park and were cut off by police behind the Sheraton Hotel.

One protester said police had used the spray "like a supersoaker" in front of the City and County Building. Pepper spray was used again on 15th Street.

A police spokesman said that they had massed their forces in the park based on intelligence about the protesters' actions.

One demonstrator, who would not give his name, said the confrontation began when "a bunch of us were supposed to have a direct action march."

Paralyzed anti-war activist Ron Kovic, who was not part of the march, had talked to protesters on the mall outside of the police parimeter."I came out here for my concern for you," Kovic told them. "We're not going to let them stop you. We're not going to let them intimidate you. But we are emphasizing peace and nonviolence. We don't want trouble in Denver tonight."

Curiousity seekers stood outside the police cordon, outnumbering the marchers.

Protestors told reporters they were a mix of Tent State participants and those identifying themselves as anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-war individuals.

The group split, with officers surrounding and detaining the group on 15th Street, while others were pushed back by police toward Civic Center. Once the police organized their lines, the distance widened.

Police officials asked RTD to shut the 16th Street Mall bus shuttle service shortly after 7 p.m., said RTD spokesman Scott Reed. The mall service resumed around 9:30 p.m.

Sam Harper, 36, of Eufaula, Okla., said he was here to protest the war, but he wasn't prepared to be injured.

"When I saw the tear gas, I split. I don't need to get beat down," Harper said.

The detained grouped chanted in unison: "Who screams? We scream."

Some in the crowd outside the police lines, which included onlookers and media, chanted: "Cops here. Bombs there. U.S. out of everywhere."

"Speech is free. Let them be."

"Show me what the First Amendment looks like."

"Let them go."

"Watch out! They're gearing up," some in the crowd shouted, as officers donned gas masks and other protective equipment.

A girl warned anyone with contact lenses to get out of the area.

"The spray will fuse your contact lenses to your eyeballs," she said.

A protester named Timmy said he had slipped out of his all-black outfit and then slipped outside the police cordon.

"We want freedom from oppression," he said. "We want direct democracy where communities are allowed to make decisions based on our own abilities. It takes bottom-up organizing to make change; it doesn't take a leader. We want cooperations, not capitalism."

Meanwhile, in Skyline Park near 18th and Arapahoe, about a dozen people sat surrounded by police, apparently in custody.

[Soldier4Christ]

Code Pink protester still in jail after skirmish
'There's been hundreds of contacts with officers that have gone very well'

A Code Pink protester shown on video being shoved to the ground by a police officer's baton and later hauled away remains in jail on a charge of interfering with an arrest but should be released tonight, Code Pink officials say.

Alicia Forrest was arrested outside Civic Center after confronting officers and asking them questions about another arrest they were making, said Sally Newman, legal liaison and spokeswoman for the group.

"She was one of a number of people trying to find out where this person was being taken," Newman said. "They just arrested her along with him."

The video shows an officer quickly shoving Forrest with the length of his baton, forcing her to the ground with a smack. Later, as she was speaking with reporters, the video shows police coming behind her and dragging her away.

Lt. Ron Saunier, a police spokesman, said the 30-second video is “kind of jumpy” on his computer and doesn’t give the full context of the situation.

“Just shown in that context, you don’t get what the whole dynamics or the full situation is,” he said.

Richard Rosenthal, Denver’s independent monitor, who saw the video online at the request of the Rocky, said the incident warrants additional review.

“Obviously, looking at that, I’d want to look at the use of force report. I’d want the department to look and evaluate,” he said.

Rosenthal declined to share his initial thoughts on the officer’s actions.

“I can’t do that,” he said. “My job is to maintain objectivity until the completion of an investigation. What I can say is I think that that warrants additional review … But I have to maintain objectivity on anything because you can’t rush to judgment.”

Code Pink posted a $500 bail for Forrest, and the group expects her to be released in four to six hours, Newman said.

"It's really frustrating that we have this incident of violence now," she said.

Forrest is consulting with an attorney from the People's Law Project, which has been representing protesters arrested during this week's Democratic National Convention.

Saunier said he recommends that the protester contact the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau or the Office of the Independent Monitor if she feels that the officer used unnecessary force.

During the DNC, officers have had many interactions with protesters and overall, police have reacted professionally, he said.

“There’s been hundreds of contacts with officers that have gone very well. We may have an isolated instance here and there and the department is committed to fully looking into those instances, and if it’s deemed inappropriate, we’ll take the appropriate actions,” he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Flammables, duct tape,
knives and urine, oh my!
Police raid uncovers 'RNC Welcoming Committee'
weapons stash meant to disrupt GOP in Twin Cities

Police in Minnesota raided a building in St. Paul and several homes in Minneapolis last night, confiscating materials believed to be stockpiled for protests, vandalism and riots by an anarchist group calling themselves the RNC Welcoming Committee.

Five people were arrested and more than 100 handcuffed, questioned and released when a Ramsey County police force – assisted by the FBI, Hennepin County, and Minneapolis law enforcement – executed a search warrant against a group considered a threat to launch violent protests during this week's Republican National Convention.

Ramsey County Sherriff Bob Fletcher read from a statement this morning, describing the RNC Welcoming Committee as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists who are intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention.

"These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said.

Fletcher's statement also included a list of items found in the searches, including PVC pipe, chicken wire and duct tape – believed by police to be intended for locking protesters together in human barricades called "sleeping dragons" – five-gallon buckets of urine, throwing knives, flammable liquids, homemade caltrops (devices used to puncture tires, presumably bus tires), bolt cutters, sledgehammers, protective padding, and plastic buckets cut into shields.

A video claiming to advertise for the RNC Welcoming Committee's upcoming protests was posted on YouTube, showing a masked female running through streets to the lyrics, "One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha," and distributing riot gear and homemade bombs from materials such as those found in last night's raids. The group did not respond to WND's request that it confirm authorship of the video, though the group's name and website are featured prominently throughout.

Both the video page and the group's website link to another group's stated plan for disrupting the RNC, which includes establishing blockades around St. Paul's Excel Center (where the convention is to take place), immobilizing delegates' buses and blocking the bridges that connect Minneapolis to St. Paul.

"Those plugging into this strategy," the plan states, "will be free to shape their actions as they see fit, using the tactics they consider appropriate."

The RNC Welcoming Committee released a statement late Friday, criticizing the police action.

"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 group said.

RNC Welcoming Committee member Tony Jones read from a statement calling the raids and effort to "derail RNC protest organizing efforts and to intimidate and terrorize individuals and groups converging on the Twin Cities to exercise what are supposed to be their basic civil rights."

St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, whose district includes the building rented by the RNC Welcoming Committee, joined the criticism.

"This is not the way to start things off," Thune told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "This is sending the wrong message. Regardless of how you feel about these people … they have a right to be here."

"To me," Thune told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "this smacks of preemptive strike against free speech."

St. Paul Mayor Christopher Coleman, however, defended the motivation behind the police action.

"We have worked very, very hard to make sure we've protected people's right to exercise free speech," Coleman told the Pioneer Press. "To pick up a protest sign, that's fine. If you're here to pick up a brick or some other instrument, there's a problem."

The Pioneer Press reports that the five people being held in jail are under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder and conspiracy to damage property and that the St. Paul building that the RNC Welcoming Committee was leasing, found following the raid to be in violation of fire code, has since been turned back over to the property owner.

[Soldier4Christ]

250 arrested after rioters smash windows
Protesters at Republican convention set fire, slash tires

An Associated Press photographer and a Democracy Now! TV and radio show host were among those arrested at an anti-war march on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Both were released hours later.

Police said Tuesday they arrested 286 people during Monday's event. Most of the estimated 10,000 people in the march were peaceful, but small groups that police said numbered about 200 broke windows, slashed tires and harassed delegates.

A different group, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Committee, was going ahead with a planned march on Tuesday. This committee obtained a permit for its march, though spokeswoman Cheri Honkala said the group would deviate from its permitted path to go by the county jail where some of those arrested Monday were still held.

The committee is separate from the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group of self-described anarchists who vowed to keep up their street protests all week.

AP photographer Matt Rourke was covering the protest when he was swept up by police moving in on a group of protesters in downtown St. Paul. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was arrested as she asked police in riot gear about the status of two producers who had been arrested, one of whom she had heard was bleeding. The producers also were released later.

David Ake, an AP assistant chief of bureau in Washington, said he was concerned by the arrest of Rourke, a Philadelphia-based photographer.

"Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage," Ake said. "Photographers should not be detained for covering breaking news."

Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, said Monday night that no charges against Rourke were anticipated. Rourke, held on a gross misdemeanor riot charge, was released early Tuesday.

Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties, Democracy Now! said in a statement. Democracy Now! said Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on a felony riot charge while Goodman was charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer.

All three appeared on Goodman's show on Tuesday and recounted their experience. A video of Goodman's arrest, aired on her program and also posted on YouTube, shows her begging police not to arrest her before being taken away in handcuffs.

Court proceedings moved slowly Tuesday morning as at least 22 people facing misdemeanor charges had refused to give their real names, said Dave Gill, a Ramsey County public defender. Only two people had gone through initial hearings by midday.

[Soldier4Christ]

'Peace' protesters at RNC welcomed anarchists
Violent rampage grabs spotlight during anti-war demonstration

The spokesman for the coalition of 130 groups engaged in a "peace" protest outside the GOP convention yesterday told WND he had no problem joining forces with activists as extreme as anarchists, but it was anarchists who, nevertheless, grabbed the headlines with a violent rampage resulting in at least five arrests.

"We're glad they have come to speak out at the RNC," Mick Kelly told WND prior to the anarchists' attacks, which included smashed cars, punctured tires and bottles hurled at police, who arrested at least five.

"A diversity of views is, in fact, welcome when we're united about opposing the occupation of Iraq and demanding peace, justice and equality," said Kelly, spokesman for the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, which included a Teamsters union branch, the ANSWER Coalition and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

You're concerned about how extreme some of these groups are?

"Not at all," he replied before the march, as a group of anarchists milled about near his media tent in front of the Minnesota capitol building.

At least one anarchist – or "anarchist-syndicist" to be precise – told WND before the march he was, well, kind of against using violence to accomplish his aims.

Cameron, a 20-something barista from Mankato, Minn., who laughed as he was asked for his last name, explained he subscribes to a branch of anarchist philosophy that takes a more pragmatic approach, regarding anarchy as utopia but recognizing it probably will never be achieved.

"It's kind of the activist anarchy," he explained. "Basically it's saying you make immediate changes when and where you can. I might advocate universal health care; the next day I might advocate immigrant rights. It's social Darwinism is what it is.

Recalling the anarchist rampage at the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999, Cameron was asked if he advocated violence to help bring about his ideal world.

"No sir," he replied.

But he qualified his answer when asked if he identified with the Eugene, Ore., anarchists that smashed storefronts in unprepared Seattle, bringing an ugly, early end to the WTO meetings.

"A little bit," he said. "I understand their anger.

"I don't think destruction of property is violence," he quickly elaborated. "Hurting other people, that's violence … when you make a big deal about smashing windows when there's a big war going on, or killing tens of thousands of civilians, if not hundreds of thousands, it's the pot calling the kettle black."

Starbucks was one of the targets of the Seattle rampage, but Cameron said he serves coffee at an independent local shop in Mankato.

In St. Paul yesterday, with police on high alert with a fully equipped riot team, some anarchists reportedly started a trash bin fire and later tried to block a major intersection. Police dispersed the group, firing two tear gas canisters at the fleeing anarchists. Another mob, of about 100, threw garbage in the streets and at cars from a trash bin they commandeered. Blogger Jim Holt of Gateway Pundit reported his bus was hit by sandbags thrown from a highway overpass.

While destroying property is a simple, straightforward endeavor, describing what an anarchist America would look like proves more difficult.

For starters, there would be no president or Congress.

"There's no hierarchy," Cameron said.

How do people, uh, organize themselves. Can you get sewer and water?

"You work together," he said. "Groups of people all over have been providing basic services for each other before creating a military state. Always, people who don't understand it compare it to total chaos and a lack of organization and community. But it's really an absence of the state, and allowing people to collectively organize among themselves."

Cameron's colleague standing nearby, Colin from Milwaukee, chimed in, pointing to the Rotary Club as a helpful example.

"The last time I checked, they don't have a military presence, and they seem to organize just fine," Colin explained.

Asked if there's an example from history of a successful anarchist community, Cameron pointed to the Spanish Civil War, when thousands of anarchists in Catalonia and Barcelona rebelled against the regime before being dismantled by the communists.

Cameron said that while he has many communist friends, he isn't one, because "they don't have such a great track record."

What's your track record?

"Well normally the anarchists tend to be the soldiers, like the Russian revolution – that was mainly fought by socialists and anarchists, and in the end, the Bolsheviks took us over, and they threw us in jail and they killed us," he replied.

"The same thing happened in Catalonia … and in all of Europe during the 1800s," he said.

Is that an inherent problem – that the neighbors who are more organized are always going to wipe you out?

"That does tend to be a problem," he said. "We just hope to get stronger.