For The Next Few Days This Blogger Will Be "Gone Fishing" (For The Republicans Who Are Running This Country Into The Ground)

Photo by John Hoff

It finally seems to be kicking off...the excitement, the spectacle, the party in the streets!

No, not the Republican National Convention. I mean, rather, the protests, the direct action and activism ASSOCIATED with the Republican National Convention...

My friend Alice Battey is unable to come to the protests because her mother has cancer, and has been very ill for a while, but some weeks ago I told Alice, "A lot can be done by email, by blogging, by putting footage up on Youtube that friends can send to you with a cell phone. If you have to stay behind the front lines, you can still play a valuable supportive role."

Well, it is through an email from Alice that I've found out about a police raid on 627 Smith Ave. in St. Paul, so it appears the excitement expected at RNC 2008 is FINALLY kicking off.

So you might be thinking...wait a minute, doesn't Johnny Northside LOVE THE POLICE and loathe PROSTITUTES AND CRACK HEADS and cry out, all the time, for LAW AND ORDER?

Absolutely. But North Minneapolis is in its current state because of woeful oversight of the mortgage industry by two Republican administrations. I prefer the ideals of the Green Party and do not like what the Republicans have done to our nation and North Minneapolis. I love and respect the police, but it is vitally important at this juncture of history to be out in the streets creating a more compelling spectacle than RNC 2008.

For that reason I am dropping most of my routine activities for the next several days, however long it takes to see the fat, gray Republican backside swaying its way out of town and the street protests triumphant. (I will note, however: I respect John McCain as a warrior and I refuse to personally diss the man, even while I find it necessary to participate in the street protests)

You should do the same. You should stop reading this blog, drop everything, and make your way to 627 Smith Ave. in St. Paul, or whatever intersection has word of the most important action, or you should play a supportive role via internet for the next several days. This is one of those rare moments when our nation's history is undoubtedly being written, and what we do in the next few days will determine what, exactly, is written.

Here are some planned protests I know about: STUDENT STRIKE! Thursday, September 4, 11 AM walk out of class and go to State Capitol by any means. 12-4, anti-war festival, rally and theater.

September 4, 4PM, Really at the State Capitol followed by a March to the XCel Energy Center.

FREE BUSES, Sept. 1, 10 AM, Sept. 4, 3 PM, at the following U of M Campus locations.

1.) East Bank Behind Coffman Memorial Student Union, 2.) West Bank outside of Rarig Art Center, 3.) St. Paul campus outside the St. Paul Student Center.

ALL OUT!!!! ALL OUT!!! ALL OUT TO PROTEST THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION!!!!