Real America? And I’m not part of that? And people that don’t AGREE with you aren’t real Americans???? WTF?

Man, this smacks of 1950’s rhetoric.

Thank you Jon Stewart.

Ditto from me. Fuck all y’all.

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Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?

Palin: Well, let’s see. There’s, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …

Couric: Can you think of any?

Palin: Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I’m so privileged to serve, wouldn’t be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.

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Here’s a couple of mine that pop into my head straight away. The election coup of 2000. Capital Punishment. ESPECIALLY a case that wound me up when I was 23 and let myself get wound up and was stupid enough to think that caring could actually change things. Herrera v. Collins. Rehnquist’s majority opinion held that a claim of actual innocence based on newly discovered evidence did not state a ground for federal habeas relief.

Can I be Vice President?

What pisses me off about Palin isn’t just the creationism and her vindictive actions when in office or even something I just found out, that when she was mayor, her town charged women for the rape kits. What pisses me off is she is so fucking dim on the issues.

I’m not smart about all the issues. Most people aren’t. But we’re not running for office people!

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Not sure if this clip of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton will play outside the US… NBC has forced it off of you tube… so I have included the NBC transcript below.

FEY AS PALIN: “Good evening, my fellow Americans. I was so excited when I was told Senator Clinton and I would be addressing you tonight.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “And I was told I would be addressing you alone.”

FEY AS PALIN: “Now I know it must be a little bit strange for all of you to see the two of us together. What with me being John McCain’s running mate.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “And me being a fervent supporter of Senator Barack Obama — as evidenced by this button.”

FEY AS PALIN: “But tonight we are crossing party lines to address the now very ugly role that sexism is playing in the campaign.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “An issue which I am frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about.”

FEY AS PALIN: “You know, Hillary and I don’t agree on everything…”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: (OVERLAPPING) “Anything. I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.”

FEY AS PALIN: “And I can see Russia from my house.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “I believe global warming is caused by man.”

FEY AS PALIN: “And I believe it’s just God hugging us closer.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “I don’t agree with the Bush Doctrine.”

FEY AS PALIN: “I don’t know what that is.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “But Sarah, one thing we can agree on is that sexism can never be allowed to permeate an American election.”

FEY AS PALIN: “So please, stop photoshopping my head on sexy bikini pictures.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “And stop saying I have cankles.”

FEY AS PALIN: “Don’t refer to me as a ‘MILF.’”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “And don’t refer to me as a [flurge]. I Googled what it stands for and I do not like it.”

FEY AS PALIN: “So we ask reporters and commentators, stop using words that diminish us, like ‘pretty,’ ‘attractive,’ ‘beautiful.’”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “‘Harpy,’ ’shrew’ and ‘boner shrinker.’”

FEY AS PALIN: “While our politics may differ, my friend and I are both very tough ladies. You know it reminds me of a joke we tell in Alaska…”What’s the difference…

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “Lipstick.”

FEY AS PALIN: “…between a hockey mom…”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “Lipstick.”

FEY AS PALIN: “…and a pitbull?”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “Lipstick.”

FEY AS PALIN(AFTER A BEAT): “Lipstick. Just look at how far we’ve come. Hillary Clinton, who came so close to the White House. And me, Sarah Palin, who is even closer. Can you believe it, Hillary?”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: (AFTER A PAUSE)”I can not.”

FEY AS PALIN: “It’s truly amazing and I think women everywhere can agree, that no matter your politics, it’s time for a woman to make it to the White House.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “No. Mine! It’s supposed to be mine! I need to say something. I didn’t want a woman to be President. I wanted to be President and I just happen to be a woman. And I don’t want to hear you compare your road to the White House to my road to the White House. I scratched and clawed through mud and barbed wire and you just glided in on a dog sled wearing your pageant sash and your Tina Fey glasses.”

FEY AS PALIN: “What an amazing time we live in. To think that just two years ago, I was a small town mayor of Alaska’s crystal meth capitol. And now I am just one heartbeat away from being President of the United States. It just goes to show that anyone can be President.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “Anyone.”

FEY AS PALIN: “All you have to do is want it.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: (LAUGHS) “Yeah, you know, Sarah, looking back, if I could change one thing, I should have wanted it more.” (RIPS OFF PIECE OF PODIUM)

FEY AS PALIN: “So in the next six weeks, I invite the media to be vigilant for sexist behavior.”

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “Although it is never sexist to question female politicians credentials. Please ask this one about dinosaurs. So I invite the media to grow a pair. And if you can’t, I will lend you mine.”

FEY AS PALIN: And as we say in Alaska…

POEHLER AS CLINTON: “We say it everywhere…”

FEY/POEHLER: “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!!!

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PRESS STATEMENTFor immediate release:Friday, September 5, 2008Contact: AIUSA media office202-544-0200 x302

Use of Force Against RNC Protesters “Disproportionate,” Charges Amnesty International

[London]–Amnesty International is concerned by allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008. The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.

The organization’s concerns arise from media reports, video and photographic images which appear to show police officers deploying unnecessary and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons on non-violent protestors marching through the streets or congregating outside the arena where the Convention was being held.

Amnesty International urges that an inquiry be carried out promptly, that its findings and recommendations be made public in a timely manner. If the force used is found to have been excessive and to have contravened the principles of necessity and proportionality, then those involved should be disciplined, measures put in place and training given to ensure future policing operations conform to international standards.

Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on peaceful demonstrators and journalists. Amnesty International has also received unconfirmed reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations may have been ill-treated while held at Ramsey county jail.

Amnesty International is also concerned at reports that several journalists who were covering the RNC were arbitrarily arrested while filming and reporting on the demonstrations. They include host of independent news program Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, and two of the program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were both allegedly subjected to violence during their arrest. A photographer for the Associated Press (AP) and other journalists were also arrested while covering the demonstrations.

Kouddous described his arrest to media, “…two or three police officers tackled me. They threw me violently against a wall. Then they threw me to the ground. I was kicked in the chest several times. A police officer ground his knee into my back…I was also, the entire time, telling them, ‘I’m media. I’m press….,’ but…that didn’t seem to matter at all.”

Amnesty International recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protestors may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction. However, some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. These stipulate, among other things, that force should be used only as a last resort, in proportion to the threat posed, and should be designed to minimize damage or injury. Some of the treatment also appears to have contravened U.S. laws and guidelines on the use of force. The U.N. standards also stress that everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information, please contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302 or visit our website at www.amnestyusa.org.

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Politico’s Roger Simon has a fantastic article:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Sarah Palin hit the nail on the head Wednesday night (and several in the audience wish she had hit some reporters on the head instead) when she said: “I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”

But where did we go wrong with Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways:

First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.

Second, we should have stuck to the press release stuff like how she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (after she supported it).

Third, we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”

Why go there? What trees does that plant?

Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.

Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.

Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.

Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)

The official theme of the convention’s third day was “prosperity,” but the unofficial theme was “the media are really, really awful.”

Even Mike Huckabee, who campaigned for president this year by saying “I am a conservative, but I am not mad at anybody,” discovered Wednesday night that he is mad at somebody.

“I’d like to thank the elite media for doing something,” Huckabee said, “that, quite frankly, I didn’t think could be done: unify the Republican party and all of America in support of John McCain and Sarah Palin.”

And could that be the real point of the attacks on the media? To unify the Republican Party?

No, that is simply the cynical, media view.

Though as Lily Tomlin says, “No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”

I couldn’t resist that. For which I am sorry.

© 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC

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Great article in Twin Cities Indy Media:

I’m not an anarchist. At least I wasn’t one of the kids running around the Xcel Energy Center in black handkerchiefs during the St Paul RNC. Nor did I store my urine in a bucket for a week to throw on delegates, and I didn’t break any windows either. But, I was one of the people detained by police on Monday. One of my co-workers even saw me on the Channel 11 news, zip-tied like a hog, being led away walking backwards by two riot police. I’m assuming that he knew me well enough to reason I wasn’t there with violent intent, but asked nonetheless why I went to downtown St Paul that day. I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t give a good answer to why I’m now in an FBI database. “I wanted to take pictures” and “I wanted to see it for myself” was what I managed. Then he asked why I was arrested. I had a much clearer answer for that.

After sitting at the entrance gate (which is where I got to see Sean Hannity get yelled at from 5 feet away) and seeing all there was to see, I ventured down to the river walk looking for a route to Harriet Island where a concert was going on. I took that route because it seemed every other way was closed, and the police were directing people down that way. After doddling for a while taking pictures of the coast guard boats with dual M249 mounted machine guns, I continued on until just about by the Wabasha bridge our large group of meandering sight-seers and concert goes were confronted by a huge line of fully geared-up riot police. I’m not trying to say a criminal element was for sure not present in the crowd, but at that spot, at that time there didn’t seem to be anything even remotely violent going on. People calmly walked up to the line of officers and asked what was going on, or how they could get around. They were met with unhelpful answers or simple outstretched arms signaling to stand away. I saw it as a photo opportunity. After a few minutes people started to pool by the police line. This seemed to happen naturally as this was one of the only thoroughfares to get around the Excel Energy Center. People were starting to get frustrated and demanding to know what was going on. This is when the full police line started advancing on us, including horse mounted police and officers with non-lethal weapons drawn. I would like to make it clear that at this point there were no directions from officers given to the crowd. There was just a very large slowly moving line coming towards us. At this people stated yelling again, demanding to know what was going on.

The line pushed us back maybe a hundred or so yards and stopped, still no directions were given by officers. No order to disperse. So rather dumbfoundly a few hundred people stood around either confused, or yelling questions at police. It then came to the attention of the people standing by me (east closest to Wabasha Bridge) that another line had formed behind us to the west, maybe one hundred yards back. We were literally enclosed by hundreds of riot officers in lines to the east and west, and by the river to the south (don’t forget the coast guards) and a few officers filling in the railroad tracks to the north. We were like mooing cattle being corralled. People asked if they could leave only to be told to get back. One of anarchists in the signature black handkerchief started dancing in the street in front of the cops, peacefully I might add. Another photo opportunity. Then things began to feel really bad. Guns were still drawn and still no orders given. I called my girlfriend to let her know what was going on, and that I was scared I may not be going home tonight.

While still on the phone with her, an Officer began to yell, “Get down on the ground and put your hands on your head! You’re all under arrest for felony conspiracy to commit riot!” My girlfriend heard this over the phone and I can only imagine her response. I promised I’d do what I was told and that I loved her. Then I quickly hung up and put my hands over my head. I won’t go into detail, but most, if not everyone I could see from the ground was peacefully complying. I didn’t hear any yelling, gunshots or pepper sprayed screaming. Maybe it was because the world seemed to be closing into a very small area immediately surrounding me. I don’t know how to describe the feeling that day other than it sucked something very fierce. I don’t care who you are, or how much guts you think you have, hundreds of riot cops ready for whatever comes are scary as anything I’ve ever seen.

My arms went numb holding them over my head. Eventually an officer made it over to me. “Are you going to co-operate?” I was asked. I thought, do I have any other choice? I nodded and said yes. I was patted down, zip-tied and told to stand. I was only asked what I had in my pockets. I guess they trusted me enough, and didn’t even bother taking out the camera or phone out to make sure they weren’t a grenade or something. Being led away walking backwards, zip-tied, facing a felony was the second scariest thing in my life. “Why couldn’t I leave? Why couldn’t I leave?” I asked to no response. I was feeling humiliated, and worked out other questions. “God, don’t you love America.” Asking such questions while facing felony charges for simply walking down the street makes you feel a little better. I know this now. Don’t ask me why, I can’t answer.

I was led over to the curb where others were sitting awaiting processing. The police where actually nice after the initial tension was gone. Me and another detainee joked with the officers holding us. One even loosed my watch for me after it began digging into my cuff. This continued for a while they went down the line taking names, addresses, phone numbers and drivers licenses. By now I was thinking this was really messed up. They had all this information from us, but still had not yet once went through my pockets to verify I didn’t have a weapon. When they processed everyone in my small group we were told to stand so we could be cut free and released.

We were told this was our lucky day, no charges. At first I felt so relieved that I wasn’t charged or held longer, that I almost forgot that I was now in an FBI protester database for sure. As we walked away we were told that if we were caught anywhere downtown in the next week that we would be arrested. As I walked down the railroad tracks, and had a chance to reflect, it was immediately clear to me that the only thing they wanted from most of us was our names and information. I went though the entire ordeal with nothing more actually searched on me than my wallet, and we were never once told to disperse or face arrest.

So I thought about the original question my co-worker asked, “Why did you go down there?” and when the next coworker asked I had a much better answer. Thinking about the huge lines of police and being humiliated on TV, I answered, “Because I had a right to be there.”

They looked at me like I was an idiot for getting involved. I don’t know how to explain that either, but I believe it in my core. I didn’t go to protest, or for any other reason but for the right to be there. And the fact that nobody seemed to “get it” made it all the more important. After thinking about it more, that’s the scariest thing to me now: You’re government can arrest you for walking down the street, and nobody seems to care.

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AP/Matt Rourke The last image found in Matt Rourke’s camera before he was hauled off

Fantastic article in the Minn Post about Matt Rourke, the AP photographers arrest.

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