I am not sure I really want to blog about politics becasue really I think that everyone is welsome to theirs. BUT this past week the RNC was here and for me literally here as in a mile away from the house. We had helicopters flying overhead a LOT like 3:30 am whihc was so weird becasue our city is sort of known for rolling up the sidewalks for the most part by 6 pm on weeknigts although that is changing slowly.

I have truely lost faith in the city in many ways, we here in Minnesota tend to be a relatively peaceful lot and mostly our protests involve what I call the march chant and sway mootif. The peole running wild and smashing windows was not my experience of Minnesota protesting (not that I was out there because I must say thse days I think protesting is mostly futile)

Anyway I said months ago that the city's wifty plan to contain the protests by requiring permits and then herding even the permitted protests into a space far away from the Xcel center was made of fail. I mean really by trying to keep the protesters away from their targets, I think they made the situation worse. i am sorry that the city made that decision becasue really, I kind of feel like if you choose to be a deleaget to eitehr the DNC or the RNC, having to see protesters who disagree is kinda part of the process. I mean really none of the Republicans seemed surprised that there were protests ya know?

Anyhow, I am terminally ashamed of the arrest of Amy Goodman, It is gonna be a huge embarassment for the city for a good long time and deservedly so. Interfeing with the press reporting on an event likethe RNC and the accompanying prostest again seems like a bad plan. I think the police were all worked up and a few were really ready to go righteous on a protester, and any prostester would do. I know a couple of people who swear that they were in the peaceful part of the march and got maced anyhow and I am sad about that as well. We are a country founded on freedom of speech and assembly and have a long proud tradition of protest (Tea anyone?) I do blame the current administration for part of this becasue I feel like they have preached the "if you aren't with us you are against us" party line all too often. Sometimes a person just doesn't agree, I don't know when we had to move to open warfare against people who are fellow citizens who just have different opinions.

I know one friend who reads this blog who was a protester and another of my dear readers is rolling his eyes at that and a third has in the past and I fear in the future laid his life out there in service to this nation....and I agree with none of them all the time; I just don't necessarily think it is my job to change their minds. I mean if I want to chare a compelling argument with them I will (as some of you are aware) but in the end, I have my life lessons my beliefs my truisms and they have theirs, the fact that we can even have a dialogue about them sometimes is a banner event in and of itself.

I think we just need to learn to disagree like civilized people and if we can't do that, we need to learn how to fake it.