http://www.alibi.com The Latest from the Alibi Staff en-us http://www.alibi.com/rss PHP webmonkeys@alibi.com http://alibi.com/index.php?story=xy_883&scn=blog&fullstory=y What are people doing farming cotton in NM? McCain came to Albuquerque. Obama is coming back. Clowns in cars took to the streets today. Mexico has a new legal system. Santa Fe has bees. Are we in a recession? Another hurricane is on its way. Europe probes space, asteroid. Packistan's election ends well. Mmmm, doughnuts. I want this thing! The MTV VMAs are tomorrow. People watch that crap? Sexy vampires, now there's something I can get behind. Album of the day: "Danzig" by Danzig. Weather: Tuesday looks fun. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:40:18 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-06 - record xy_883 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24526&scn=blog&fullstory=y With fiestas packing downtown Santa Fe and the New Mexico State Fair in full swing this weekend, it seems all other event planners (smartly) chose to save their shindigs for another time. So, no "Lost Luckies" today. Enjoy, instead, a webgame—my classic fall back. Orbitrunner—Since gravity and retrograde planets seem to be a hot topic of conversation here on the weblog, how about playing with both? Control the sun to keep the planets in a nice, tidy orbit without colliding into each other or flying off the screen. It's like playing god ... Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:18:36 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-05 - record 24526 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24523&scn=blog&fullstory=y ... someday. But this month brings its own harrowing prospects as Mercury goes retrograde on the 24 th . Your e-mail will crash. Your cell phone provider will give you grief. Contracts will fall through and innocent remarks be perceived as injurious slights. Basically, things are going to suck wherever communication, travel and scheduling are concerned until Halloween. (On the bright side: Though potentially painful, your old patterns of thinking are being shook up so they can evolve. Growth is hard, but it needs to happen.) Read all about it here. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:11:51 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-05 - record 24523 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24519&scn=blog&fullstory=y Election day: Nov. 4 Absentee voting begins: Oct. 7 Early voting ends: Nov. 1 Republican candidate John McCain: Wants a spoonful of apple sauce Democratic candidate Barack Obama: Really wants a cigarette Independent candidate Ralph Nader: Wants your sandwich Libertarian candidate Bob Barr: Wants Ralph Nader's sandwich Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:43:01 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-05 - record 24519 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24512&scn=blog&fullstory=y Abramoff gets four years in the slammer. Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain accepted the GOP nomination last night, amid [url]http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/conventions/27906539.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUJ[/url]technical difficulties. '70s rock icon Heart isn't happy about the RNC's use of “Barracuda” as Sarah Palin's unofficial theme song. (Van Halen's not too happy either, but for a different song.) Homeless sex offender registers with address of abandoned building, gets evicted. ( Journal link) Mayor Chavez' health-food kick may put blind vet out of business. (Another Journal link, sorry) Meanwhile, the U.S. jobless rate is at a 5-year high. Cheney visits the Ukraine, says the U.S. supports Ukrainian freedom and security (in the shadow of Russia). Pakistani officials say U.S. bomb killed five people in a missile strike on militant targets in Pakistan's border region. Tropical Storm Hanna is a comin'. Retired New Mexico major general suggests MaCain's support of the Iraq war could be due to a “lack of adequate psychological care” upon his return from Vietnam. Mapping the cancer genome. Real zombies to worry about. The world's first functional light saber. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:00:27 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-05 - record 24512 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24509&scn=blog&fullstory=y Here I am (marisa@alibi.com, 346-0660 x. 245) Stuck in the middle with you. The deadline is nearing. Why aren’t you going to vote? Post it here, call, e-mail. Make the subject field say “nonvoter” so I can fish it out of spam. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:22:54 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-04 - record 24509 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24507&scn=blog&fullstory=y Kristina is a proud Minnesotan, mom, wife, lawyer and dear old friend of mine. She's been extremely (ridiculously) well-versed in all matters political since I met her at Occidental College, where she and my sister were roommates. (Obama went to Oxy, too, by the way. We're a stately bunch.) After college, Kristina got married to her soul mate and finished law school. She and Eduardo had a baby (Johan) this year. I tell you all this, because Kristina called me up today and explained that, despite being the mother of an amazing kid, she was trying to counteract the onset of "momishness" by participating as a legal observer at the RNC demonstrations in her home town, the great city of Minneapolis, and St. Paul. High-wasted pants? Momish. (And an existential crisis Kristina’s not guilty of, to my knowledge.) Spraining your ankle? Could be momish. Choking on pepper spray? Nope. Definitely not momish. She's letting me repost part of her blog, Radio KBLA Live, here: RNC I spent Labor Day as a National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer at the anti-RNC marches and protests in St. Paul. Legal observers are not to participate in protests or actions, but are there to observe and document the actions (read: abuses) by police. I will post pictures once I get the ok from NLG-- since some of them may be needed as evidence, I don't want to do anything to break the chain of evidence or create anything to decrease the evidentiary value. As we headed toward the river in downtown St. Paul, we saw several young guys seated and handcuffed at the train tracks. One of them was clearly in distress, his face red and blistered, his eyes watering and he looked to be struggling to breathe. Their friend who had managed to avoid arrest told me they had sat down in the street, and police approached, telling them to get out of the street while spraying pepper spray at the same time. It took paramedics 20 minutes to arrive to begin cleaning the kid's eyes and face. The arrestees sat in the 90 degree sun, handcuffed, unable to wipe their brows or drink water. We remained at this scene for nearly an hour, taking pictures and trying to get information from the police: Us: Where are you taking them? Police: Jail. Us: What jail. Police: Jail. After some time, the police officers moved the arrestees to "the shade" -- an area behind a fence where we could no longer access the arrestees or observe what was going on. There didn't seem to be many trees in the "shade," but just a fence to keep the arrestees from talking to their friends or us. Before they were taken away, one of the arrestees, a young red-headed kid, said to me: "NLG? Can you take a picture of my face, so they'll know I was taken?" I did as he asked, and thought, is this Chile circa 1973? The disappeared? Good god. I should note that the majority of police officers present at this scene were from Milwaukee. Only one St. Paul cop. And he was the one who responded to our questions, and acknowledged our presence in any real way. The others refused to say their names and seemed to do all they could to cover up or hide their badges. We left a couple of our NLG colleagues to continue trying to observe what was going on, and walked along the river to try to catch up with the march. We never did see the main march and rally, because before we got there, we happened upon the anarchists. Now, mainstream media has described the break-away marchers and anarchists as violent and out of control. Believe me, the majority of these people are skinny teenagers in dresses and pink wigs; black bandanas and patches on their jeans; dred-locked and weapon-free. They are not dangerous. However, they were outside the perimeter/parameters of the "approved" protest. As we arrived, they were in the street, dancing, milling about. Ironically or not, this was taking place in front of the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Elementary School. We saw some cops in shorts ride by on bicycles. Two protesters tipped over a garbage can. I braced myself for arrest and perhaps violent over-reaction by the police. Nothing. I waited. Nope, no officers did anything about the tipped-over garbage. I wondered why. We continued up the street that hugs the river, and saw why. The National Guard had been called in. The military and the police were assembling their riot gear. The military formed a shoulder-to-shoulder chain, fully armed, ready for combat. With the kids in pink wigs. These anarchists were not breaking windows, not throwing bricks, jars of urine, or anything else. They were just there. At that point, an officer picked up a megaphone. His voice came through scratchy and unclear. I heard the words "final warning or..." but nothing else. Some minutes later, I asked some non-anarchist protesters (a middle-aged mother and her teenage daughters wearing Abercrombie and peace-sign earrings) what they heard, and they confirmed that all they heard was his voice, but could not make out the words. Soon enough, a vehicle that looked like an ambulance arrived at the scene. Instead of paramedics came more police officers. It was not an ambulance, but a vehicle carrying tear gas, smoke, pepper spray, and rubber bullets and guns. "Non-lethal" weapons. The line of police approached the small group of anarchists. I felt afraid, not of the anarchists, but of the riot-gear-laden armed paramilitary that was sent out to "protect" us from them. At that point, a plume of purple smoke rose up. The sound of rubber bullets being shot filled the air. As I tried to get close enough to the violence to record what was going on, my stupid right ankle that has failed me on so many occasions twisted and I fell to the ground. I sprained my right ankle and got a nasty cut on my left knee. Damn. I hobbled to a bench and found some medics. Once they were done helping a kid who had been pepper-sprayed clean his eyes and face, they wrapped my ankle and bandaged my knee. Knowing I was unable to run if necessary, I suggested to my comrades that we make our way back to the muster site. As we made our way slowly through downtown St. Paul, we saw the broken Macy's window. Yes, someone broke it. One person. Not "the anarchists." One person. We continued to walk, and our eyes and faces began to burn. The pepper spray and tear gas had traveled a long way, and worried I wouldn't be able to run if I needed to, we found a taxi and got a ride the rest of the way. That evening, Eduardo had to carry Johan into the house because I didn't want to get chemicals on Johan if any remained on my skin. I felt a rush of emotions. Proud that so many people came to protest and resist the RNC. Ashamed at the over-reactions, abuses, and violence by law enforcement. Inspired to fight even harder for Obama. After having some time to reflect, I think one of the main reasons the conflicts between protesters and law enforcement have been so numerous and confrontational goes back to a flaw in assigning officer duties. On Monday, as we exited the highways, I saw lots of officers from all over Minnesota directing traffic and guarding bridges. Officers from Minnesota know Minnesota and know Minnesotans. They are (somewhat) politically accountable for their actions and they (hopefully) became police officers to serve Minnesota and their communities. Yet, there they were, acting as glorified traffic lights. By contrast, the officers I saw approaching, arresting, beating, spraying, and shooting marchers were from Milwaukee, Chicago, Tucson, and even L.A. These out-of-state officers are from larger, more violent cities with long histories of aggression with the people in their communities. They will leave St. Paul on Friday or Saturday. They will have face no accountability for their actions while here. They are the ones who should have been directing traffic, while officers from St. Paul, Elk River, Richfield, Bloomington, and other local cities should have been interacting with the protesters. On the way back to Minneapolis with Sarah and Charlie, we dug through my CDs and ended the day in just the right way. This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Red Wood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters This land was made for you and me. And even the anarchists. In their pink wigs and black bandanas; physically abused; handcuffed and arrested; charged with "presence at an unlawful assembly." This land was made for you and me, and them too. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:58:42 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-04 - record 24507 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=xy_882&scn=blog&fullstory=y On Tuesday the rock group Rage Against the Machine was geared up to perform a "secret" set on the lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol after the headlining performance of Anti-Flag at 6:30pm. But police suddenly shut the concert down, despite the fact that the festival had a legal permit until 7 p.m. When the angry crowd’s chants of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me" failed to start the show, frontman Zack de la Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello hit the streets and performed an a cappella version of "Bulls on Parade." You can read more about it here. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:06:16 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-04 - record xy_882 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=xy_881&scn=blog&fullstory=y I bought a bunch of bananas this weekend, and after bringing them home I noticed a tiny banana tucked in between two regular sized ones. I'm curious about what it tastes like but I'm nervous about eating the mini banana. Will it be bland or a super-concentrated flavor blast? Update: I couldn't wait any long and had to peel it. The peel was tough and the banana looked normal. But when I looked closer it had a red tint to it. I cracked it in half (it snapped like a green bean) and it has a freaky red center. It smelled like a regular banana, but I didn't have the guts to taste it. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:36:50 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-04 - record xy_881 http://alibi.com/index.php?story=24497&scn=blog&fullstory=y "What do you think of when I say 'business?' You there in the back. A building? Ok. A building with a sign? Now we're getting somewhere. Think of the word 'busy.' Does it remind you of anything? You in the green shirt. Exactly. It sounds like the word 'business.' Which is what we're here to learn about. So, we have busy, business and building. Any others? Butler? Mmm, no, but that's a good guess, and ‘guess work’ makes for good business. Have you heard the expressions 'good business' and 'bad business?' How about 'monkey business?' Or 'he really gave me the business.' Have you heard people refer to 'the business end' when they're talking about, for example, the barrel of a gun?' That’s business, too, but not the kind we’re here for! Everyone here has seen a business card, I’m sure. A business card is sometimes called a ‘calling card.’ And that’s no coincidence because ‘calling’ is another word for someone’s ‘profession’ or... Anyone? Exactly. Business. And it doesn’t stop there, because good business also involves calling people. Now, even if you started a business all on your own, it would still be considered a ‘company.’ It’s called a ‘company’ because when you’re in the building, and assuming you’re doing good business, you’re going to be calling people - even when you’re busy. Well, that about wraps up our first lesson. Next time well tackle the concept of the ‘business meeting.’ But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! Until next time. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:49:08 -0600 alibi.com - 2008-09-04 - record 24497