Republican Convention

Facts from someone who was there, for example?

NYC will be lucky if it fares no worse than Seattle.

Activists losing faith in WTO inquiry that meets in private

Friday, July 28, 2000

...At a City Council meeting yesterday, about 20 activists representing Capitol Hill residents, churches and liberal organizations such as the National Lawyers Guild carried signs with messages such as, "Where is Our Full Public Disclosure?"

They complained that panel members are getting a one-sided perspective on what transpired on Seattle's gas-filled streets because they seem to be interviewing police and government officials, but not activists. Their concern is that the panel will not delve deeply into whether police actions violated citizens' rights.

But because the panel has not met in public, the activists don't know who's been interviewed, said Councilman Jim Compton, a member of the panel. He said his group is examining all the questions raised by activists.

Compton said police officers and others refuse to meet publicly.

"Some interviews could not have been done in front of the public because they would not have been as candid as they were," he said.

Compton noted that the panel has determined that warnings given by police before they discharged tear gas were "flawed, to say the least."

And lest anyone think the group will not take constitutional issues seriously, Compton noted that panelists include Eric Schnapper, a noted civil rights attorney, and Tim Burgess, chairman of the city's Ethics and Elections Commission.

what else do you want?

I have no desire to see my beloved NYC trashed, as was Seattle, by a bunch of neo-anarchists, eco-terrorists and leftist wilders.

However, I do believe there are those that hope there will be enough violence to draw in the police so that pictures of riot squad cops clubbing young people with batons can fly throughout the world.

Wish me luck.

It was you, FINN, who said:

Quote:

I have no desire to see my beloved NYC trashed, as was Seattle, by a bunch of neo-anarchists, eco-terrorists and leftist wilders.

However, I do believe there are those that hope there will be enough violence to draw in the police so that pictures of riot squad cops clubbing young people with batons can fly throughout the world.

It dawns on me that YOU are the one who hopes that will happen.

It is a false dawn that provides your enlightenment.

You want there to be conflict. You want there to be as much partisanship as possible. You don't want people to get along. It is certainly obvious that you have made an effort to be as nasty as possible to me. This time, you've gone too far.

Presumably you can support this conclusion with something I've actually written, rather than merely your mindreading ability.

I find it extra-ordinary that you would say that I must wish "for more mayhem to come down on NYC." You don't know what you're talking about and I cry foul.

Of course I am not accusing you of wishing mayhem on NYC. I am merely pointing out through sarcasm where your skewed perception of the trashing of Seattle as a boon rather than a blight on the city can lead.

I have never said I wished for anything bad to happen and what a nasty piece of work you are to suggest it. What I did was to report that Seattle was NOT trashed and that the physical damage was done in a very small area by a very small troupe of anarchists... widely reported here if not in whatever nasty part of the planet you're on.

I've already provided a number of sources that reported the extent of the damage as being well beyond what you would have us believe. So maybe nasty part of the planet is much broader than you would imagine,

I have been consistent in saying that New York will be lucky if she fares as well as Seattle. You have proven yourself to be someone who enjoys imagining all the nasty things that "other" people might do.

Imagined nasty things? Like what: Throwing chairs through plate glass windows, setting cars on fire, throwing bottles and bricks at police? You must be right, there is no precedent for such acts and so they must be the product of my own paranoia.

I leave you to stew in your own nasty juices.

Those that imagine the worst would do the worst.

Perhaps you will recall that this sidethread began with the assertion that I hope there will be violence at the Republican Convention. If so you'll note that I didn't make the dramatic gesture of "Crying Foul!" and launching into a diatribe against my accuser. Of course if you feel inclined towards such theatrics your welcome to them, but I invite you to come down from your high horse and participate in a discussion.

I'm not connected to any political party, and would not stick myself anywhere on the left to right spectrum.

I believe in truth and freedom, and base all my thinking on that. My background is science, as opposed to superstition.

I hope you got to see some of those folks on Seventh Avenue, they looked like America to me. Working people, students, old folks, together on the street, using the two oldest vehicles for change that humans have ever used: their voices and their feet.