I loved in the linked article about the 'sleeping dragons' etc. that the police officers experience breaking them up came from his "homeland security" experience.

If the sleeping dragon is a tool for non-violent protest then why is homeland security so highly trained in taking care of it?

We need to secure the nation ideologically.

J Thompson's rant about legal protesting is a joke.

Tell that to Rosa Parks and Gandhi. . . . extreme examples, sure, but I think they are valid. Injustice calls for civil disobedience.

The whole idea of a free speech zone is an afront to democracy and only one of many ways to manufacture consent and lay the drapery of democracy over our apathetic asses.

"I am sooooo inconvenienced by these people's ideas jarring me out of my soft bourgeois world .. . ooohhh, I just hate them! Why can't I just climb and not think about anything beyond the rock, braah."

LOOK OUT!

Whew, just missed.
musta been an IFB

That would be: improvised feces bomb.

Maybe but it'll be hard to find a time. My evenings are pretty much busy through the end of the month, after that I'm moving to downtown. If we want to have a rager at my studio (once I find one that is) I could show you my sweet d-town crack circuit.

The thing with protesters in general is that they are protesting to people who they know they can't change their minds. The goal though is to get the proper coverage in the media so others' will see the protest and be swayed by it.

Throwing poo probably isn't the best way to go about it.

J Thompson's rant about legal protesting is a joke.
Tell that to Rosa Parks and Gandhi. . . . extreme examples, sure, but I think they are valid. Injustice calls for civil disobedience.

What Rosa Parks and Gandi did is different.
And you know it.

Double post deleted.

Guess I gotta start leavin the urine bomb at home... damn.

Lets hold a protest against banning carabiners!

And we could try this whole, positive message thing, and bring lots of fluffy dogs and candy.

Josh ~ thanks for the detailed reply -mui comprehen-day

happy 8-08-08 Shawn (and everyone) - looks like you're sending that "photo-linking" technique pretty solid now.. :)

J. Thompson, you wrote:
"The reason these things have been banned is that they have been used in the past by some of the same protest groups and similar protest groups.
The Urine and feces bombs, generally, are used to provoke the police into taking action. The idea being that they are playing on emotion and hoping to invoke an inappropriate response."

You make it sound like this is common. But can you find a single link of this actually happening anywhere? Specifically, which protest groups do you think have used this "generally" as a tactic.

(I don't have much sympathy for these protesters, and no connection with them, but I'm curious to see if you can back up your assertion.)

Not to pick any fights here, but does anyone else think it's odd that the Demonstrators are being kept so far away from the people who will attend the convention? Barricades, air conditioning units and generators all stand in the way of the protestors from being seen or heard. The part I think is funny, is that most of the Dems in power started out as protestors, and now they can't be bothered by the sights and sounds of a protest line?