The Uptake

http://tiny.cc/F74Ja

elephantdung, you dont bother to do any research or read any articles. Go read the Wash Post article about Goodman being arrested. And your demands that we answer YOUR questions will continue to be unanswered because they are not worth answering. Instead why dont YOU ANSWER when it was you stopped being a fascist?

-Instead why dont YOU ANSWER when it was you stopped being a fascist?

druidbros-

And please provide video.

We're waiting....taptaptap

Thanks very much for the You Tube hints- it worked perfectly.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=29751

All of you getting all up in arms about this are really making something out of nothing. The police overreacted, of course, but it was all an honest mistake. They thought there were going to be riots! Is it their fault they were wrong?

It's not like anyone was killed, anyway. Or even shot. Just think of how much worse it could have been. The right thing to do is work within the system, make sure those protesters have their day in court, and maybe that a police chief or two get the appropriate dressing-down for all the tear gassing.

Forget the protesting and agitation — obviously now is not the right time for that. This was an isolated incident and the workings of the legal system will ensure that by the time the convention is over and tempers have calmed down, those protesters will have their free speech back and nobody will have gotten hurt.

As for the "slippery slope" argument, how can anyone take that seriously? If what's going on in Minneapolis were really part of some larger crisis the way Glenn Greenwald would have you believe, this wouldn't be such a shock, would it?

I mean, get real. If the cops in America were doing this on a regular basis, there wouldn't be all this "oh how horrifying" hand-wringing, would there? All of you conscientious liberals would be thinking of whatever other past events had already gotten your attention; resulted in massive civil rights suits and huge political upheavals against the city governments in question; and forever reminded those who would rule of the cost of trampling on the liberties of private citizens in America.

Clearly none of that has happened, because I don't see mayors and city councils quaking in their boots over the prospect of further harmless misunderstandings like the late unpleasantness in the Twin Cities.

Instead, just focus on how unfortunate all this is, how shocking and unforeseeable, and how you sure do hope that those protesters eventually get the charges mostly kind of dropped and the whole thing swept under the table. Because it's an isolated incident, that's never happened before, and if we all try to be reasonable and meet the powers that be half-way, it won't happen again.

You are welcome. Glad to help.

The decidedly testy Elephant-guy quiveringly writes: "That's where a nice 20 ga. with a short barrel would be handy. Because I wouldn't shoot some punk in the back for breaking a window. But if a gang of protesters were throwing bricks, bottles, pipes, bombs, whatever at me, then I think I just might fire." Now, that's the problem with people like you who think, or rather, don't think, about stuff very deeply. The problem is people like you who put themselves and their "value" at a premium. This can be defined as "sociopathic behaviour". Those who see themselves at the center of the universe. Exceptional beings. This kind of person - the sociopath - should never be armed. Period. Especiallywith a firearm (actually I don't think anyone 'needs' a gun -- hunting is a mental illness, gun collectors had some deep sexual problems, and those who need 'em to protect themselves are basically spineless idjits, but I digress). As you yourself freely admit, without a gun, you're a coward. This applies to most of people who think / don't 'think' like you. People who pack are, well, just very weird. These are people, such as yourself, "who just might fire" if you felt yourself under threat. This is always followed by a big "IF". "If I was threatened" (SOP military rules of engagement, BTW -- waste anything that you perceive to be a threat, you will not be prosecuted -- the U.S. military trumps anything on planet earth). Which leads to the folly that Americans seem to think is normal. Preventative / pre-emptive military strikes against 'potential' threats (actually, anyone who might be cutting in on America's 'action'). Because we are exceptional, we reserve the right to 'take out' (now there's a term that clearly shows the value of life) anyone that we even perceive to be a threat. And here's what happens, elephant -guy. Suppose I was armed and I see someone with a short-barreled anything -- such as yourself -- looking like 'you' were a threat, I'm not going to hesitate to take that fool out. And so it goes. Tit for tat.

BTW -- under what conditions do you define 'a punk'. In my estimation, and much to my embarrassment, the current C-in-C is what I would call a punk, whereas the VP is more what would be termed a thug. But that's just me.

Look at the video kimocrossman put up, Ms. Goodman explains what she was doing and what happened in a bit of detail. I don't think you have a minority report on this.

As for your drooling over shotguns to make you a big man in the face of a ridiculous fantasy about being assaulted by everybody who ever done wrong, that's what that is, a fantasy. You're the last person I would trust with gun ownership, now that you've told us all how much you'd like to use one on another human being.

Cruelty and fantasies about taking violent retribution don't make you a man, they make you inhuman and deluded.

Don't know how involved they'll want to be, but I have rec'd numerous emails from both Glenn and Jane, with fundraising requests, as well as calls to action. I suspect that between them, they have an extensive email list.

Hmmm. I'm also on a ton of their email lists but have not received anything about fundraising for THIS crisis. Well that's okay. Glenn knows how to reach me and also knows I'd move heaven and earth to help. I could drive to the Twin Cities in 7 hours (and even have an activist friend to crash with there), so don't think I have not considered it.