The police in this country have a documented history of infiltrating organizations and instigating riots and vandalism in order to marginilize them.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/will-authorities-stage-riots-in-denver.html

I am sure this will happen in Denver, too.

are gettin' serious chubbies at these developments.

About 15 minutes ago on Hardball, Chris Matthews was interviewing three women who described themselves as Hillary supporters who were voting for McCain. The second one launched into a tirade about how she had a report from a former Senate investigator that proved that Obama attended a madrasah as a Muslim.

I haven't really kept up with the PUMA movement except in broadstrokes; is this their complaint? Are most of them this nutty?

As a proud life long Oregonian, I'm glad we still have enough crazy, anarchy prone freaks to export them nationwide. Portland isn't "Little Beirut" to the Bushistas for nothin'.

They are so just so unruly, you can't count on them to not cause a scene on the public sidewalks, let alone govern the country.

As Mayor Daley said at the '68 Chicago convention (about the city police): "Their job is not to incite disorder, it's to preserve disorder."

Apparently the Denver police are well-prepared for disorder. But who is going to incite it? Hmm. Who wears bandanas these days?

I live in Denver. I must admit, I have never been in a city that has hosted a large national political convention, so I'm not sure what the police presence has been like in the past. But, it is truly weird and creepy to see Suburbans driving all over town with 15 cops wearing riot gear and holding assault rifles clinging to the sides. I live in a neighborhood about 20 minutes from the convention site, and we saw one of these attack cruisers drive by the local farmer's market yesterday. Is the same thing going to happen in Minneapolis?

If the police don't change their tactics, this militaristic-feeling spectacle is going to turn into one of the hot right-wing stories of the 2008 convention. We'll have to wait and see.

Who wears bandannas these days? I give up. Who?

I don't know anyone who wears bandannas these days. So whoever they are must be nefarious.

I hope that Joan can get to the bottom of it, since she is the one who mentioned it in the first place. The price of bananas these days can't be all there is to it.

But if I had to guess, it would be someone who was trying to dress up like an old hippie. Or a pirate. From what I've seen on Halloween.

That's what I really want to know. A reading American can see clearly that the parties are not indistinguishable, but hold very different positions on key issues. A thinking liberal can surmise that from their own perspective, the Democrats range (depending on how liberal one is) from the Good Guys to the Less Bad Guys.

I assume that the amount of coverage devoted to the police force in Denver means that there is significantly more of it than at other national conventions, and I'm wondering why that is. More, I'm wondering why the Democrats think they need it. Are there so many extremists that they feel threatened enough to request all these cops on the streets?

I guarantee the woman who Chris Matthews talked to, who spewed the "obama muslim" shit is definitely a Republican plant. It's bullshit. I hate the mainstream media who are doing everything they can to perpetuate these lies and be as negative about Obama as they can. As soon as Biden spoke, it was all negative all the time. But they try to be "soft" negative, so it's presented in a way that seems "thoughtful."

NO HILLARY SUPPORTER IS VOTING FOR MCCAIN.

Funny how out of the thousands of people in Denver, these stupid bitches got on TV. I wonder how that conveniently happened??

Anarchists wear them - not as a hair accessory, but over their faces. Haven't you ever been to a protest? ;-)

maximillianw wonders if security for other political conventions has been as bad and predicts that it will become a big issue.

Yes, it was at least as bad in New York at the RNC in 2004, and, no, no one cares.

So anarchists protest a two party system of government...or government in general. Of course the democrats will be blamed for bringing in "loonies" when they protest the democratic convention and will be blamed for disrupting the republican convention.

Anarchists hate the democrats less. The KKK hates the republicans less. It's stupid to hold the parties responsible for their fringe not quite supporters.

It's called "security culture." The Democrats are one so-called wing of one party. This party stands for predatory capitalism and endless war. That's plenty of reason to do a lot more than protest. Fight the state, not its wars.

www.infoshop.org

(A)

If I had a nickel for every time I heard some punk "anarchist" say they are going to change the world and fight "the man".....Puuuhhhllleeeeeasseee! "Fight the Power" this week, chumps, and I'll take my coffee black when you get back to work next week. Sorry to break it to guys, the world has been set in motion and anarchy's not on the menu.

Blue Bandanas = Crips

Yellow Bananas = Yummy! Especially if they are cheap.

Did anyone notice the placard in the top right photo? It says "Homo Sex Is Sin". Does that sound like a Democrat or a Republican plant? You decide.

Not too many Democrats out in the streets of Denver this week. They're all inside with their nice corporate goodie bag (compliments of AT&T) at the 100 million dollar stroke session. Take a look at Jeremy Schahill's piece on Democracy Now yesterday to get a look at what is happening outside.

Let's see. This Party and the eventual nominee is about "change?" For whom? About what kind of change? Where is the indignation that people cannot freely protest, the press cannot ask party go-ers why they are attending a party for AT& T, and a bunch of other facist stuff.

I mean, we all know Colorado, where prosecutors plead out cases left and right and have very little trial experience (remember Jon Benet anyone?),the home of Columbine, and that littel southern neighbor, Colorado Springs, is the home to the nation's right-wing lunatic fringe.

Why on earth would this Party decide to go to Colorado? Did they run out of liberal states?