Many responsile thinkers – including hte host of this blog – gave level-headed commenary ,and were supportive of the Seattle process. I think that irresponsible thinkers played a godo role as well.

No protestors trigger cop rampages any more than crazy wives trigger wife beaters.

Good call. Gloria’s been on a roll, and that’s an excellent bill that, unfortunately, the union will kill whoever is necessary to make sure it ain’t passed. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)

And trashing Starbucks storefronts helped do that in … what way, exactly?”

The WTO continues to meet, I’ve noticed. Way to go, guys.

“It put trade back on not just the left but liberal agenda. People talked about capitalism again. Neoliberalism was discredited in the public eye. Clintonism and Rubinomics died.”

Oh yeah?

http://www.pollingreport.com/trade.htm

Q: “Do you see foreign trade more as an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports or a threat to the economy from foreign imports?”

A: in 1992, 48% said “threat”, in ’94, 38%. In January 2000, just after the Battle in Seattle, 35%. Yep, that’s some real voter outreach you got there.

According to an NBC/WSJ poll, in Dec 1998, 32% of Americans said foreign trade was good for the U.S. economy; in May 2000, six months after the Battle in Seattle, the figure was 34%.

Wow, what a huge impact you guys had on public opinion! Too bad it went the opposite direction you were hoping.

As to the other numbers you find there — Americans by and large go more protectionist when the economy is underperforming. If Americans are becoming more sensitive to global environmental issues and scrutinizing the behavior of MNCs, attribute it to level-headed commentary from responsible thinkers, not to trashing storefronts and triggering cop rampages.

Are you the Forest Carter that wrote The Education of Little Tree?

this is true. Whither the RCP?

Totally tangential, but since Carter #4 also noted “Hollywood fantasies” as regards a “new chief with a funny accent” – a reference which in my studied ignorance of LA, I didn’t get – it got me musing on what should be clear to any sentient human being. That serves well as a description of GWBjr taking the saddle in 2001 and attempting to face down evildoers like the Hollywood guys do it. (“Wanted Dead or Alive”, “Bring It On”, “Mission Accomplished”.)

And we don’t have to wait for that particular sitcom to surface – the adventures of Little Bush will be premiering in June on Comedy Central.

(I can’t wait for the GOPers current efforts to invert that script, i.e. the progression from doofus pol to dumb television show, by going all Fred Thompson on us in the next months. The punditry could dub the Republican 2008 campaign – as a sequel to the roust of 2006 – “Die Harder”. Thompson is the closest thing to Ronald Reagan they’ve got – i.e. he’s noted for being both lazy and shallow but is quite capable of playing President before a credulous audience. And unlike Bush, I think his geniality is authentic and not compensation for insecurities or a thin veneer covering a mean spirited little shit. I’m wary of folksy Southern white guys of Thompson’s vintage but his shtick seems about as genuine as it gets. )

Anarcahists are harmless dudes but they are infiltrated.

First of all, much admiration to you for having made it to Baghdad to support your daughter. Very cool.

But about the rest of your post. So, because we are heartbroken and enraged at the daily devastation that is Iraq, we should ignore what happens closer to home and make no attempt to fix the problems in our cities? What kind of whacked logic is that?

I was very sad to see a couple of people with bandanas over their faces, bandit-style, on some video captures from the demo. Their intentions are totally athwart those of most of the other demonstrators, eg the families who were present. I don’t know many immigrants here who would see it as positive to be masked at a demo. In many cases it’s masked thugs, mixed with their counterparts in the “police”, who caused them to immigrate in the first place.

JC, by the way, you’re totally out of touch with what most of the immigrants who are demonstrating really want, and what terrible outcomes a large-scale violent confrontation between the LAPD and a group of immigrants would cause in this city. Do you see any irony in your defense of the “Black Bloc” when, at the original demo, most of the crowd chose to wear white?

I didn’t see it myself, but in my Baghdad hotel, my military friends were talking about your commentary on the Virginia Tech massacre. You were right on then. You scoffed at the piddly tally of 32 dead, compared to the daily devastation we see every day in Iraq. Why are you so moved by mere bruises and broken wrists now? Clearly none of the women, children and journalists battered by the LAPD in Douglas MacArthur Park will feel any of their injuries in a few months. Their assaults occur every day in Iraq to the gazillionth power. Testimony to their sacrifice are the body bags–not the pointless civil suits that will be filed by greedy, windbag lawyers trying to make a buck off a few rogue cops.

This was the clear impression of the reception to modern and enlightened training. Tomes have been written on good police training strategies which are very insightful but useless unless the “culture” changes. As long as police leaders extol the undercurrent of “local forces of occupation,”as long as a militaristic character is promoted and an “us vs. them ” mentality is promoted by the leadership, “peace” officers will continue to be at war with the lower economic classes of any urban area…and will continue to be seen as body-guards and protectors of property-over-life. Believe me, the police culture in Los Angeles is convinced that the middle and upper classes knows with certainty who pays its salaries and benefits. Maybe this will always be so. Fifty years years ago it was as it is today and different media types wrung their hands,too.

Rumors are a cop was knocked off his motorcycle. This sort of thing does cause most cops to over-react. But then, when have they ever needed a good excuse.

I think what happened is most of the protestors did not understand they were being told to disperse and go home. The cops assumed they all knew they had been told. Things got ugly, as they usually can, especially with cops, when two sides are not communicating.

I think Marc will be paying more taxes next year to pay off another big Court Fine LAPD is going to get for this one. In fact, it seems the minute LAPD gets one fine paid for them, they run out and incur another. The Judge should consider 45 days in the clinker for some of them this time.

Give them the Hilton repeat offender treatment. Not the Hotel kind of course, the Paris kind.

JC: Blame the wifebeating on the woman who gave the husband road rage on the way home. What can a poor boy do?