Who is the unmitigated ass, dillusional and infantile. Your infantile if you think that rioting isn't part of our nations fabric. I don't condon rioting or wouldn't partake. I am against it. But if the populace has the passion to be heard and the police arresting 245 peaceful cyclist yesterday)clash, well it is as American as apple pie. You are dillusional if you think there isn't reason for enormous concern about this administration. You need a reality check if you think your great volcabulary doesn't expose you.

And finally you are the unmidigated ass for trying to impose yourself on others activism in the most important election of our lifetime. At least these citizens are active.

"Hoping to turn the Big Apple rotten for Republicans, protesters are plotting enough mischief to try to ensure that delegates won't be wearing "I Love NY" T-shirts home from their party's political convention next week.

Groups called RNC Not Welcome, Counter Convention, Shut It Down NYC and No RNC Clearinghouse are using the Internet to orchestrate a living hell for the 5,000 or so delegates and alternates coming to New York City for the Republican National Convention."

These types of extremes are necessary to expose the extremes this administration has executed on our country. I wish them Gods speed and good luck. We are in a war for our country's soul.

Your infantile if you think that rioting isn't part of our nations fabric.

Part of our nation's fabric? No. Just a destructive activity indulged in by children who think they're making a statement. They are, it's just not the one they think it is.

I don't condon rioting or wouldn't partake. I am against it.

That's sure not what it sounds like. See next sentence for example.

But if the populace has the passion to be heard and the police arresting 245 peaceful cyclist yesterday)clash, well it is as American as apple pie.

No, it's criminal activity that does nothing to advance the causes of its perpetrators, and much to harm them.

You are dillusional if you think there isn't reason for enormous concern about this administration.

Please look back through my archives and explain to me where I don't think there's reason for enormous concern about the Bush administration. You will find this, this, this, and this instructive--for starters.

You need a reality check if you think your great volcabulary doesn't expose you.

Expose me as what? A person who reads? Is anti-intellectualism now an acceptable substitute for argument?

And finally you are the unmidigated ass for trying to impose yourself on others activism in the most important election of our lifetime.

I missed the part where I imposed anything other than my opinion. As I recall, I still have the right to do that outside of a certain radius around Bush.

At least these citizens are active.

Actively planning to do inadvertent real harm to their own cause, yes.

These types of extremes are necessary to expose the extremes this administration has executed on our country.

No. They're simply an excuse to vent pent-up frustration and aggression at a bunch of people whose only crime is being a GOP delegate for their community. I may not agree with their choice for president, but I'll argue that their participation in the civic process is far more constructive and useful than any of the so-called "activists" planning on playing puerile pranks in NYC.

If you want to expose the extremes of this administration, there are far more effective ways of doing so than stooping to their level.

you are right on all counts. ridiculous.

Excellent post, Catsy. You have expressed exactly my problems with the forms of "protest" that some on the left are resorting to, and contrasted it with more sane and effective alternatives. What's more, you did it in a much calmer and wiser way than I could have managed. Thanks!

This "unmitigated ass" is going to Philadelphia for the weekend to register swing state voters.

For the record, this reporter did his damnedest to get me to say something he could point to and say, "Look! These protestors are barbarians!" His question to me was: why target delegates? I had to answer the question. Why were my fellow activists going to be going to events attended by delegates? The only direct action I heard of all week was a delegate bus blocked by people in Abu-Ghraib type hoods.

Delegates, however, were confronted at many of their backslapping events by angry New Yorkers. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to address, face to face, people who are involved in making decisions that affect our lives. One delegate conceeded to a demonstrator, "you've got me wondering if maybe I am part of the problem." This is a hell of a lot more effective than voting in the days of Diebold, which isn't to say I am not voting, I AM voting, I just did not want to miss a chance to speak with people in positions of relative power.

No one broke anything. No protestors were violent. Thanks for your condescending pompous vote of non-confidence. I did see protestors beaten by the police on many occasion, and I was locked up for 28 hours in a bus garage for the heinous crime of standing on a sidewalk. I was put in a cell of wire fencing and razor wire, 20 paces by 36, with a hundred other women and made to sleep on a floor streaked with motor oil and transmission fluid (many people left with rashes) - only to have my charges dropped. Only have to my mayor say we were all guilty anyway and shouldn't even try to bring our cases to court.

I can't be responsible for what other people quoted in that article say, only for myself. And I am offended by your characterization of me as an "ass". I am not going to "stay away from New York City" because it is my home. I live here. And I have nothing to be ashamed of as to how I personally conducted myself. The New York Post, the most conservative paper in NYC, said the protest I led was the best of the convention. I dressed up as Paul Revere and led bicylists down Lexington Avenue to warn the city Republicans were coming. No one was arrested, no property destroyed, and most importantly no one got hurt.

This "unmitigated ass" is going to Philadelphia for the weekend to register swing state voters.

I applaud you. Been there, done that. We need more people out there doing the same.

For the record, this reporter did his damnedest to get me to say something he could point to and say, "Look! These protestors are barbarians!" His question to me was: why target delegates? I had to answer the question. Why were my fellow activists going to be going to events attended by delegates? The only direct action I heard of all week was a delegate bus blocked by people in Abu-Ghraib type hoods.

I don't buy it. Oh, not the part about the reporter fishing for controversy--that's easy to believe. What I don't buy is your justification for your response. He asked you "why target delegates?" Exactly what did you think he meant by "target"? What was the context?

If some hack exercising shoddy journalism unfairly lumped you in with the rest of the fools doing things like giving bad directions and impersonating volunteers, then you have my sincere apologies.

On the other hand, if the context is what it seems and you were carrying water for people being shitty to other people and calling it activism, then I stand by what I said.

No one broke anything. No protestors were violent. Thanks for your condescending pompous vote of non-confidence. I did see protestors beaten by the police on many occasion, and I was locked up for 28 hours in a bus garage for the heinous crime of standing on a sidewalk. I was put in a cell of wire fencing and razor wire, 20 paces by 36, with a hundred other women and made to sleep on a floor streaked with motor oil and transmission fluid (many people left with rashes) - only to have my charges dropped. Only have to my mayor say we were all guilty anyway and shouldn't even try to bring our cases to court.

I read about all that. I'm still holding out hope that a class action suit will get brought against the city, but it's a slim hope at this point.

It's a nasty story and I'm sorry you had to go through it, but it's really not germane to the point I was making.

Living in Seattle and having worked in downtown during the WTO protests, however, I'll keep my own counsel about the ability of police excesses and a few rotten "direct action" perps to turn an otherwise worthwhile demonstration ugly.

I can't be responsible for what other people quoted in that article say, only for myself. And I am offended by your characterization of me as an "ass". I am not going to "stay away from New York City" because it is my home. I live here. And I have nothing to be ashamed of as to how I personally conducted myself. The New York Post, the most conservative paper in NYC, said the protest I led was the best of the convention. I dressed up as Paul Revere and led bicylists down Lexington Avenue to warn the city Republicans were coming. No one was arrested, no property destroyed, and most importantly no one got hurt.

I'm proud of you.

I say that one hundred percent without sarcasm. If you're being honest here, then we need more people like you on the streets.

That said, however, if the shoe does not fit you are under no obligation to wear it. If you were quoted out of context by Mr. Dart, and have no truck with the kind of fools I was berating, then I apologize for lumping you in with the bad apples.