Truthout blog reports from DNC for 07-25

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.truthout.org/tdcc1.shtml

I am standing inside the now-infamous Free Speech Zone outside the convention site. It is every bit as intimidating and confining as the pictures make it out to be.

Any liberal protesters coming in here tomorrow are in for an added surprise. Right now, the protest cage is filled with anti-choice protesters. They are scrawling anti-abortion slogans all over the ground in chalk. If it doesn't rain, all the messages will be here in the morning.

...more...

[kentuck]

1. Thanks Will !

Those are the types of reports we need - those that will not be reported by the majors. It gives us a good idea of whats happening outside....

[MuseRider]

2. Hi Will!

I have been reading these and it is interesting. Thanks for this for those of us far away. Be careful and have a great time.

[Mara Steele]

3. How bizarre...

Stay safe, Will... Thanks for the report.

Makes me so mad...

[bloom]

4. thanks for the news.

sounds like fun.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Great!

Heartens me to hear about the Iraqi War Vets. The fact that the Marine Sgt. knew the war was about Oil--says it all,doesn't it?

[G_j]

6. almost like being there..

thanks Will :hi:

[LibDemAlways]

7. How predictable....

anti-choice protestors in the pen -- protestors that will be seen in the pen on every network so America will see how the Democrats treat good God-fearing Christians. Who let this happen?

[nofurylike]

8. thank you, our eyes and ears and our voice!! n/t

[VolcanoJen]

9. Keep blogging, Will!

Thank you for your up-to-the-minute accounts, for those of us living vicariously!

The AP has begun reporting about life inside the FSZ, without really mentioning the FSZ itself:

Protesters Clash Near Dem. Convention

[MaineDem]

10. Great work, Will

I would love to be there and then again I'm glad I'm not. The pens and cages frighten me. Im old and I remember Chicago '68.

Love the blog entries. I look forward to more as the week goes on. Stay out of trouble. :)

[NecessaryOnslaught]

11. Bookmarked

Good chit, magn. :toast:

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Look, about the "Protest Pen"

I was at the Dem. convention in 1996. My girlfriend at the time was far enough to the left that I was, apparently, a "raging moderate" or "sellout", depending on how you slice it.. (for instance, I was going to vote for Clinton, again) Well, we were in Chicago, and she wanted to hear Delores Huerta speak, so we went to the Free Speech/Protest Zone then. And Believe me, I felt out of place. I'm, like, uh... I support the guy. Don't agree with everything he's done, but he's a damn sight better than Dole/Kemp Dole/Pineapple or Roll Hemp or whatever you want to call 'em. So, we hung out there for a while, in the midst of about 60 or so hard-core anti-choice goons... With a few left-leaning folks as well. It was weird.

But my point is, none of this is "new".. not the "free speech zones" or having the anti-choice nuts kept in there, or any of it. It's not new, and if you were going to be "shocked, just shocked" by any of it, the time was probably about a decade ago.

[RoyGBiv]

16. Thank god...

I've been harping this for the last two days.

The only "new" thing about protest zones is the way Bush has used them selectively against only certain groups. There's a case about this working its way through the court system as we type.

All this outrage at the DNC is completely misdirected.

[WilliamPitt]

17. .

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. excellent!!!

[MoonRiver]

14. Thanks!

Seems the nuts are in season and fully ripened. :eyes: Hope it rains.

[Meldread]

15. Aye, Thanks!

I agree with saywhat, let's hope it rains.

[3 Cents and Change]

20. Who cares?

Why do you want rain? Let them have their voice too. Nobody listens.

[proud patriot]

18. Thanks for report William

:hi:

[JDPriestly]

19. Wonderful report

How refreshing to hear what is really going on and not just what the powers that be want us to hear. Keep up the great work.