Protest in Portland
Aug. 22nd, 2002 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusI'm sitting here 700 miles away from my home town of Portland, listening to the KBOO webcast coverage of a protest. Bush visited Portland today to discuss his plans for getting rid of all those damn trees as part of his War on Evil. Or something like that. There was a protest, of course, which started out peaceful until the cops started tear gassing and clubbing the crowds. KATU has TV coverage already up on their web site. KBOO has people who were there calling in and telling their stories. It's all about the same - the protest was peaceful until the cops started swinging. Looks like the Portland police weren't willing to attack the crowds unless they turned violent first, so they had to bring in State and Federal police.
Difference between Portland cops and state cops: Portland cops have their names and badge on the front of their uniform, and you could see their faces. State cops have no visible identification, and wore the riot helmets so you couldn't see their faces. The US government says three total are hospitalized. The KBOO reporter is one of them, and says there were three others where he was. Does the government just think we're retarded or what? Why don't they ever release the real numbers? This administration just seems to have to lie about everything as a matter of course. I swear, if they said the sky was blue, I'd have to go out and check.
Apparenlty, we entered Iraq yesterday. Congress told the president he can't invade Iraq without discussing it with them first. They specifically forbade this act, and he did it anyway. Are they now going to finally grow the balls to stand up to him? This man is worse than Nixon. He seems bent on deliberately destroying our country. I know that sounds hyperbolic, and normally I wouldn't attribute to malice that which could adequately be explained by stupidity. And our president shows no end of stupidity. But surely he can't be st
The guy on now took a rubber bullet in the elbow. What the fuck were they doing shooting bullets, rubber or any kind, into a peaceful crowd? Since when do Oregon police use rubber bullets anyway? It sounds fairly harmless, but people are routinely maimed or killed by them. They're dangerous, sometimes deadly. Which is why they don't generally use them on protests. At least, not in the US. Their frequently used in Israel and Saudi Arabia, and El Salvador.
The police maced the channel 2 cameraman. That was a bad move if they wanted to keep it quiet!
Let's see how much of this actually makes it to the national news. Generally, they keep the more disturbing parts out of the news, and spin it to make it look like all the violence was the fault of just a few rogue protesters. Although there didn't seem to be much reciprocal violence or vandalism from the protesters, so it might be hard for them to make out like that's what happened.
Difference between Portland cops and state cops: Portland cops have their names and badge on the front of their uniform, and you could see their faces. State cops have no visible identification, and wore the riot helmets so you couldn't see their faces. The US government says three total are hospitalized. The KBOO reporter is one of them, and says there were three others where he was. Does the government just think we're retarded or what? Why don't they ever release the real numbers? This administration just seems to have to lie about everything as a matter of course. I swear, if they said the sky was blue, I'd have to go out and check.
Apparenlty, we entered Iraq yesterday. Congress told the president he can't invade Iraq without discussing it with them first. They specifically forbade this act, and he did it anyway. Are they now going to finally grow the balls to stand up to him? This man is worse than Nixon. He seems bent on deliberately destroying our country. I know that sounds hyperbolic, and normally I wouldn't attribute to malice that which could adequately be explained by stupidity. And our president shows no end of stupidity. But surely he can't be st
The guy on now took a rubber bullet in the elbow. What the fuck were they doing shooting bullets, rubber or any kind, into a peaceful crowd? Since when do Oregon police use rubber bullets anyway? It sounds fairly harmless, but people are routinely maimed or killed by them. They're dangerous, sometimes deadly. Which is why they don't generally use them on protests. At least, not in the US. Their frequently used in Israel and Saudi Arabia, and El Salvador.
The police maced the channel 2 cameraman. That was a bad move if they wanted to keep it quiet!
Let's see how much of this actually makes it to the national news. Generally, they keep the more disturbing parts out of the news, and spin it to make it look like all the violence was the fault of just a few rogue protesters. Although there didn't seem to be much reciprocal violence or vandalism from the protesters, so it might be hard for them to make out like that's what happened.
