Keep One Thing in Mind Re: The GOP Convention in NY

Leslie Kagan and others have worked very hard to stage a legal, coordinated, and peaceful - although passionate - protest against the Republican platform. NYC and the feds, on the other hand, have worked every way possible to demonize protestors (in a way, you'll note, that did not occur with protestors at the DNC in Boston last month) and to force them into areas, and into possible acts of civil disobedience (BIG difference from cruel anarchy), that will make the public hate the protestors.

Fox News in NY, for example, has head headlines for days that "protestors are taking their hate for Bush out on this fine city". Bullshit.

We'll see a few people who do misbehave. But the people who are really sacrificing to be in NY to protest are people who will not cause harm, want peaceful solutions, and respect one another as well as the citizens of New York. They don't want to stop the GOP Convention, they just want to be heard, noticed, and not considered (as by Mr. Bush) "just a focus group of unhappy people".

I've met too many of these people since late 2001 to think 99.7% of people attending plan to do anything but hold peaceful demonstrations. This ain't 1968.