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protest 
Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 20:46:14 PM MST
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I was at the Democratic Women's Summit with a few hundred other women, a couple of blocks from the Capitol today. A newspaper reporter I know (I'll let him tell his own story) whispered to me there was trouble at Occupy Denver, and I jumped up, following Congressman Ed Perlmutter who was also on his way there. When I arrived, there were many hundreds of protesters and what looked like a couple hundred law enforement officers lined up combat-style in riot gear. The roads were blocked off near the Capitol, and there were dozens of police cars, ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
Congressman Ed Perlmutter made his way over to the State Patrol and started talking, shaking his head, nodding, looking very concerned. His animated but private conversation went on for some time. I glanced at twitter on my smart-phone, and read that some protesters had advanced to the State Capitol, prompting the police reaction. The crowd was indeed bi-sected by Broadway, with half being on the Capitol side of the street, and the other half in Civic Center Park.
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Mon Oct 24, 2011 at 10:20:39 AM MST
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 Now, I've gone over and over what a moron Michael Hancock is but this almost tops it all (it's difficult to top his justifying mayoral takeover of the public schools if this November's board elections don't land in-line with his privatization agenda...)
Over the weekend it was released that the City and County of Denver has spent $365,000.00 on trying to crush the Occupy Denver protest. I haven't seen any in-depth analysis of this number and I'm frankly shocked it isn't higher.
You'll recall that one of the first things Hancock did upon getting elected is hire his friends and give them all huge raises. Now he's whining about how crushing free speech is costing the city. He says:
"You can't plan for this," Hancock said at a community forum at West High School Saturday. "We're at a point in the city where we simply can't afford any major surprises."
But of course, you can plan for this sort of thing. It's very simple: don't crush free speech. See? Wasn't that easy? Here's another incarnation of that sentence: don't trample on the First Amendment because you're afraid of the message.
One of the expenses the brilliant Mayor has complained about is the trash. Specifically, the only trash issue he could cite was mentioned during the meeting between delegates from Occupy and the Mayor, Hancock murmured about the city having to clean up the wreckage the police created from destroying the protest. Can you believe the nerve?
Since Occupy Denver has occupied the park, they have created a place where anyone can find food, (shelter as long as the mayor doesn't turn the sprinklers on them), have a real security team, experience camaraderie and a community that is an alternative to one based on the isolation of American cutthroat capitalism. <-- frightening to the status quo because it is an integral part of a true shift away from our outmoded economic way of life.
Hancock and Hickenlooper are scared of Occupy because the message is antithetical to their life-long mission to cater to the 1%. If you were a frightened, unthinking and manipulative despot with the cops at your command, you'd probably crush the movement too. But since you're not, you should support it.
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Wed Oct 19, 2011 at 23:49:08 PM MST
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I'm proud to see that, like the Mayor of Los Angeles (which is more dangerous than Denver), City Councillor Susan Shepherd from Denver's District 1 came out in support of Occupy Denver. She echoes the sentiment she shares with Naomi Klein that "the Most Important Thing in the World Now" is the Occupy Movement.
Well, Shepherd said "country" and not "world" but whatever. We are the world, you know?
From Westword:
Westword: In other cities, such as Los Angeles, the Occupy movement has been publicly supported by city officials. Do you think that is a possibility in Denver's future?
Susan Shepherd: Honestly, I definitely wouldn't say that's an option so far. I'd like to think that it's possible, and I'd like to think that our leaders would focus on the message and what we can do to help rather than what we can do to police this.
It's an inevitable fact that change in this country has not happened by people acting legally, judging by all the people in the civil rights movement. And our founding fathers weren't acting legally when they founded this country. At this point, I'm going to focus on solutions that are not about breaking the lawm but focus on productive dialogue and case-by-case advancements. It takes both types of action.There's the pragmatics of their operation to consider, and I do think that the kitchen, that feeding people who don't have food, is an important one.
This movement has smacked Wall Street power upside the head harder than anything in a while so you will be able to gauge how brave, intelligent, and thoughtful elected officials are by their comments on the Occupy Movement.
So thank you, Councillor Susan Shepherd, for speaking up so intelligently about this situation. Thank you for not being afraid to do so. I'm sure you're going to get push back for it but I thank you for your courage and empathy.
This is a movement that is broad and overdue. There are many directions it could/will take and it will take the best and the brightest to keep it positive and effective. I'm proud to see Councillor Shepherd support it.
And here is a way you can help pressure Mayor Hancock and Governor Hickenlooper to come to the light. ;)
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Fri Mar 25, 2011 at 14:22:08 PM MST
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(April 4th, 5:30pm, City Park - promoted by Fong)
Dear Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,
Thank you for your assistance in bringing together workers from every walk of life: teachers, firefighters, police officers, government employees, nurses, union members, people of faith, civil rights activists, environmentalists and many others. Thank you for giving us a reason, and a renewed commitment, to publicly declare that we stand together in solidarity to protect the middle class, and to ensure justice for workers. Thank you for helping us find our voice for democracy, and our passion for equal opportunity to the American Dream.
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Thu Apr 22, 2010 at 00:10:08 AM MST
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Arizona's SB 1070 is some of the worst, most racist and counter-productive legislation in recent memory and people are speaking out against it and getting arrested for it. I want to show you some footage of that arrest, what an Arizona business and immigration attorney has to say about how this subsidizes racist lawsuits, and the list of only a few of the egregious points from the bill.
I would also like to note the acronym GIITEM for Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission.
From the fact sheet:
1. Requires a reasonable attempt to be made to determine the immigration status of a person during any legitimate contact made by an official or agency of the state or a county, city, town or political subdivision (political subdivision) if reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the U.S...
5.Allows a law enforcement officer, without a warrant, to arrest a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the U.S...
7.Disallows officials or agencies of the state or political subdivisions from adopting or implementing policies that limit immigration enforcement to less than the full extent permitted by federal law, and allows a person to bring an action in superior court to challenge an official or agency that does so...
8. Requires the court, if there is a judicial finding that an entity has committed a violation, to order any of the following:
a)that the plaintiff recover court costs and attorney fees;
b)that the defendant pay a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000 for each day that the policy has remained in effect after the filing of the action.
9. Requires the court to collect and remit the civil penalty to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), which must establish a special subaccount for the monies in the account established for the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission GIITEM appropriation.
14.Directs the person to pay jail costs and an additional assessment of at least $500 for the first violation or at least $1,000 for subsequent offenses...
18.Specifies that it is unlawful, if a motor vehicle is stopped on a street, roadway or highway and blocks or impedes the normal movement of traffic:
a)for a motor vehicle occupant to attempt to hire or hire and pick up passengers for work at a different location;
b)for a person to enter the motor vehicle in order to be hired by a motor vehicle occupant and to be transported to work at a different location...
29. States that it is not entrapment for law enforcement officers or their agents merely to use a ruse or to conceal their identities
30. Directs employers to keep verification records of their employees' work eligibility through E-Verify.
31.Establishes a class 3 felony for failing to:
a)verify employment eligibility through E-Verify or
b)keep records of verifications...
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