November cannot come soon enough!

The news this weekend is grim for proponents of democracy. Thank you, Dr Momentum for Twittering about this.

Apparently the GOP can't stomach the idea of protesters spoiling their party in St Paul by highlighting the failures of the current administration. This weekend, St Paul Police raided homes of potential RNC protesters. Police surrounded one house for two hours while they waited for a warrant, informing residents that anyone who attempted to leave would be arrested

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, really. According to MN Blue, a site which follows Minnesota politics, at recent Republican national conventions, police have been overstepping boundaries, using violent crowd tactics on peaceful protesters resulting in rightfully huge damage judgments. An update to the story on MN Blue describes items confiscated from raided homes. MN Blue questions whether there was just cause in these cases. And, also questions if those who were harassed really are the individuals they should be worried about.

At least we'll have less GOP posturing to put up with as the result of Gustav barreling into the Gulf Coast. Bush and Cheney are passing on the convention because of the impending hurricane. Maybe we'll get lucky and the two of them will go down there to witness the potential destruction first hand? Doubtful, but I can dream can't I?