How frustrating is that to watch? "Just keep moving"? As if there is some sort of law against observing from a reasonable distance. There was nothing of a potential for interference with the proximity of those filming and protesting the bullying, this was classic bullying and adrenaline junkies getting their fix. This is a call to action to those who are against the militarized future of our Country to become more expansive, and more globally encompassing. Those bulls on the street did not get a direct command detailing the importance of quashing this pocket of vocal criticism as important and protective of the corporate industrial war machine, and it's benefactors, but that is precisely the intent through the workings of those appropriate pressures. And it is fallen to a panic and paranoia stricken public the defense of such freedoms in expression, the bastion of individuality and respect of personage. This fear ridden mass of easily distracted, ego-centric self-serving and self-defeating; undereducated, uninitiated, disengaged, channel flipping, superstitious, disenfranchised, falsely aspiring (in the sense of believing there is a possibility of transitioning to one of the elite, or smallest percentage of wealth holders, in the capitalist complex as it stands, and as it has for the better part of our Country's history) under achieving, declining of health and security, individuals, that make up the median populace of our society, these are the core of our direction, the residence of momentum both in political and economic (read socio-economic) shifts.

The heft of this weight, the reigns of it's control, is at the feet of idealists, of visionaries; it is at the feet of the mighty, and those of humility. It is put to those of a conquering instinct and those who favor benevolence. It is before a few who are involved, outside of the newsreel and beyond the thirty second spot for Michael Jackson's postmortem album/tribute, and the Sham Wow pitch following. This awareness of societal interchange, the call to engagement, it's about those who are vested, both in maintaining power and, conversely, in hoisting it's oppressive bloody claws out from one's chest. As is historically coinciding,the oppressed and exploited rarely achieve anything close to this without some (sometimes rather substantial) casualty. But it is the conviction of perseverance, the knowledge of right and justice, and frankly the absence of a superior value of loss to be had, that propels any such victories in the ultimate. And it is apparent now, that providing the initiative is imperative. If you believe in The Constitution or the values it pertains, if you have an opposition to rule you'd like voiced and defended, regardless of your idea on military campaigns abroad, we need to inundate the Rochester police with mailings, and we need to be audience, if not participants, when these and others' rallies are to be peaceably imparted. Find a way to get someone you care about to take a night away from American Idol, or Next Top Model, or watching cable news shows, and take your camera to where your brothers and sisters in liberty are participating and providing more inlet into our governance, where they are expressing hope and pushing for opportunity through a democratic voice.

And for Christ's sake. Don't let Glenn Beck and the friggin Tea-Baggers be the only voice they hear. Granted they have a right to voice their opinions. And one should investigate them to find out the value of their statement. As with all things big and small to do with living as a community. So if you have a voice, and an opinion, you can look for activities and groups that are trying to do similar things you want, or you can put the idea out there yourself and see if anyone's interested. Demonstrations are important in the political sphere, and actually have an effect when they are large enough or powerful enough. You don't need to have a violent agenda or message to intimidate the government, or more accurately, relinquishing the level of fear off of the public. The two things you need to demonstrate are a substantial number of people voicing the opinion, and an apparent level of organization. It is actually counterproductive to have a violent agenda when dealing with such a formidable, and crushingly so, opponent. As is evidenced within historical examples of dissidents in less than tolerant regimes (including I guess These United States at times) being brutalized, killed, and at times resulting in the same for their family. But in general, peaceable demonstration is something we should all want to protect without reservation. And engaging in it and providing some support, this should be an apparent responsibility of the informed. There is already someone of your counterpart making efforts through lobbying and behind closed doors to the effect of your detriment for their gain. It seems better to have stood at all, regardless of outcomes, in my sense of moral regard. Any thoughts on why we shouldn't all be protesting for something we want to see righted? Or why we shouldn't support this? In all honesty I want to see all of the wars ended as immediately as possible, no more than a few weeks or however long to make a safe exit, and to return our troops home. We can make an assessment of strategic goals from here without having troops in harms way. Easily we can monitor their activities offshore and via satellite. If their were an incursion necessary for any valid reason at all, how long really would it take to deploy into Afghanistan again, or Iraq in the least likely of all possibilities that we would have any legitimate claim of a reason to be there, as there never has been one, but if we needed to send troops in, how long would that advance take with our troop strength replenished, refreshed and at the ready? A few weeks? A month or two? Why hold out indefinitely when we don't even know what we are doing there, minus the admittedly next to impossible task of Nation-building. And who authorized that? I don't remember voting for someone to expand us an Empire. Why spend all of these hundreds of billions of counterfeit dollars when we can't stop the economic bleeding at home, and put people to work this instant? I'll tell you this much, it's not for our health.

Well that's it for the rant, time constraints and all. Just let me say this, if you don't want to vote, at least stand up for yourself and be counted, be heard. Hold a sign for these poor bastards, or at least a camera. It could end up being someone you know, someone you like, someone you love, or even you if you're out there in front. These bulls like to hurt people, and like to push them around and onto the ground. It's in their training, and if it's their calling, in their nature. But they have to measure the situation. They were taught to gain control of all situations, and if they cannot, get back up. If there isn't enough back up to make them feel secure, they make the cross from the sidelines less often and less brutally. The challenge is, how do we get people to engage, and in large enough numbers to make a difference?

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"A word to the wise is infuriating."
"No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master."
"In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity."
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
- The Immortal Hunter S. Thompson

That is just sick. What country are they in again? They arrested someone for swearing in public?

Into the trains, keep moving, like herding an animal. They say history repeats itself.

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wow. I'm just disgusted by what I saw. These police officers are bad people.

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Disclaimer: I do not buy, sell, cultivate, manufacture, or use any illegal substance. Any postings I make on this forum are purely for entertainment purposes. Any pictures that I may post have been created by artificial means from images gathered from the internet and other sources. Any statements made should not be considered truthful.

easy. the same way ghandi did...
peacefull mass civil unrest. people making themselves heard and never retaliating against the brute force of those in 'charge' (which should be us by the way)

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i think its safe to say martial law is already with us (you guys, but not only. this is global) it just hasnt been declared officially. though the patriot act and such BS basically can be interpreted as such...

what country was this again? pakistan or north Korea?

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this is why i reserve the right to bear arms...

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.. well... nazi germany it is then...

you have a point... still. thats war. i like to think theres always a reasonable peacefull way around that bit. but if thats what it takes...

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make no mistake my friend, there will come a time when you must properly defend yourself. and considering the times we live in, you cannot bring a knife to a gun fight.

i will not lay down and die for any man. only my wife and children.

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I think bringing guns to protests and escalating the violence by shooting back would make things worse.

i think he meant to keep at home...

not to take to marches with.. that would basically be an act of war.

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Now, for a far less popular opinion.

Did anyone notice that they had no permit?

You can't just decide to march, en masse, through the center of a major city, blocking traffic, making noise, disrupting commerce, etc, without your activities being halted. Or do you all think any crowd of people should be able to block any streets they want, whenever they want, for as long as they want? That's not democracy. That's anarchy.

If the knuckleheads would have simply done their homework and gotten a permit for a parade, none of it ever would have happened.

So, let me ask you this. When a person plays with a snake and gets bit, whose fault is that? Is it the snake's fault or the damned fool playing with snakes?

Another observation - that's nowhere near police brutality. They didn't even get warmed up. They didn't even do the legal brutality - the knees in the back of the neck, pepper spray, tasers, etc.

Frankly, the protesters look like a bunch of idiots and the cops were being pretty decent about it, considering the very real public safety issues and cops' general loathing of hippies and patchouli oil.

This reminds me of the dispensary busts in San Diego a short while ago. The cops moved some guy from his wheelchair to the back seat of their cruiser - relatively gently - and all the potheads on facebook started hollering "Police Brutality!" It was embarrassing to me, personally, and extremely insulting to true victims of police brutality.

I have an open mind. But, it's not so open that the wind blows through.

I believe in individual freedoms and the right to peacefully assemble. But, I also believe in an orderly, peaceful society with rules and regulations that protect public safety and the general welfare of the citizenry.

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-Michael

This just goes back to the fact that if you don't do it right you can't complain about the outcome. If you choose to go around the fact that you need a permit to march or assemble then want to argue about it when you are stopped, its your fault. The cops are doing a job, often not an easy one. I can understand the mentality of those cops to a point, knowing that people didn't obtain a permit to be there legally, they had to make sure that they were taken seriously when they told people to go home. Nobody will listen if you just kinda sit back and say "alright guys... lets go home now" so you need to be aggressive and loud sometimes to make sure your point hits home.

Having said that I believe in the right to peaceably assemble, its a basic part of our political system and should not be stopped. You do however need to obtain the proper legal permissions if you want to be taken seriously.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

Yeah, I probably would have left the scene when the cops showed up. I do not know anyone that wins the argument with LEO. Anyhow, I thought of this article today, I read last month at C4L about protesting, pretty good I thought.
"The Limits of Protest"
Campaign For Liberty — The Limits of Protest **| by Adam de*Angeli