OFFICIAL DNC thread

[Duke]

So I watched day 1 or whatever it was of the Democratic National Convention today.

I know it's difficult to believe, but for those who missed it, they really did bring out the retards. Playing baseball.

Either I was supposed to think that John Kerry singlehandedly makes it possible for mentally impaired kids to play baseball, or I'm supposed to think that he thinks it wise to give a tard a bat.

Note: Yes, I think that mental handicaps are the saddest thing in the world too.

~D

[Ulysses]

Not being retarded!!!!!!!!!

Oh, man. That's a good one.

[natedogg]

Lay heavy money on Kerry right now. I think the lines are -105 on Kerry.

Then wait a few days. Like the morons they are, the public will react to the convention and Kerry will climb. Bet heavily on Bush, you'll probably get +115 or so.

Ideally, the GOP convention will have the same effect on the morons and you can dump more money on Kerry if he drops to +115 after the scintillating Dick Cheney swings millions of voters to the right.

natedogg

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

The weirdest aspect of this convention is the horde of annoying Falun Gong people hanging out around Faneuil Hall distributing literature.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Clintons speech was on point.

[adios]

With all the hand wringing about Bush protest zones I thought that those that condemned Bush would show the same outrage at the protest areas set up at the DNC. Not a peep though, am I surprised? Nope.

from the article:

Woodlock said he had initially assumed that activists were exaggerating when they likened the protest zone near Canal Street to an internment camp. But he said that after touring the area for 90 minutes Wednesday, he concluded that comparison was "an understatement."


They're friggen cages for cyring out loud.

Judge deplores but OK's site for protesters

Judge deplores but OK's site for protesters

author: Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
A federal judge yesterday upheld a fenced "free speech zone" for protesters near the FleetCenter during next week's Democratic convention, even though he said he agreed with critics who likened the cramped space to an internment camp.
A federal judge yesterday upheld a fenced "free speech zone" for protesters near the FleetCenter during next week's Democratic convention, even though he said he agreed with critics who likened the cramped space to an internment camp.

US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ruled that the controversial protest zone wedged under abandoned Green Line elevated tracks could not be expanded or relocated because of limited space near the arena and security concerns.

"There really isn't any other place to go," Woodlock told several antiwar activists who gathered with their lawyers and government officials in his courtroom. "You're stuck under the tracks."

Though he ruled against the protesters, Woodlock called it "irretrievably sad" that post-Sept. 11 security threats and raucous antiglobalization protests in recent years have made tight restrictions necessary.

After the judge raised concerns about whether the protest zone met building codes, city officials agreed to create a third exit from the space and said police will allow only 1,000 people, not the 4,000 originally proposed, gather inside at one time. But several activists insisted that they are so disgusted with the designated protest zone that they have no intention of using it.

In a partial victory for activists, however, Woodlock ordered the city to allow protesters to march past the FleetCenter on Causeway Street on Sunday at 2 p.m. The city wanted to divert the marchers when they got within a block of the center.

The city's refusal to let protesters march on Causeway Street and the setup of the designated protest zone had prompted two lawsuits, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild. The protesters range from a city bus drivers' union to a pro-Palestinan organization.

Jonathan Shapiro, one of the lawyers for activists challenging the protest zone, said he was outraged by the judge's refusal to open it up or move it, but said his clients have no time to appeal. Earlier, he told the judge that the enclosed area will convey that occupants are "wild people who need to be confined in what looks like a maximum-security prison, Guantanamo Bay, or a zoo."

Mary Jo Harris -- legal counsel for the Boston Police Department, which oversaw the design of the protest area -- said Woodlock recognized that the city had a difficult job balancing the free speech rights of protesters and the problems of limited space and potential violence.

"It's a pity that we're hosting a Democratic National Convention where, because of the actions of a minority of people [at past political events], we have to plan for acts of violence that put both delegates and law-abiding demonstrators at risk," she said. "That is sad. But we're a police department, and we have a duty to protect."

Woodlock said he had initially assumed that activists were exaggerating when they likened the protest zone near Canal Street to an internment camp. But he said that after touring the area for 90 minutes Wednesday, he concluded that comparison was "an understatement."

The zone covers 25,800 square feet, according to the city's latest measurements, smaller than officials previously said. It is a rectangle bordered by cement barriers, a double row of chain-line fencing, heavy black netting, and tightly woven plastic mesh. Coils of razor wire line the train tracks, which slope downward to 5 feet, 9 inches above the ground.

"One cannot conceive of other elements [that could be] put in place to create a space that's more of an affront to the idea of free expression than the designated demonstration zone," Woodlock said.

Nonetheless, Woodlock said that unruly demonstrators at other political events have made the precautions necessary to foil protesters who might hurl objects at delegates arriving on buses.

Boston Police Superintendent Robert Dunford has pointed out that violent protesters used slingshots to fire ball bearings at police and conventioneers during the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles.

Assistant US Attorney George Henderson told Woodlock in a private conference that Secret Service agents had gathered intelligence about similar possible threats by protesters at this convention, which begins Monday. But Woodlock said the information did not affect his decision. The allegation was briefly disclosed in open court yesterday, but federal officials refused to elaborate.

The judge at one point dangled the possibility of widening the zone by about 20 feet into an adjacent parking lot where dozens of buses carrying delegates will arrive. But city officials said the buses will need 36 berths to unload passengers, and that would make expanding the protest area impossible.

More than once, Woodlock called the dispute over the enclosed protest area a "festering boil" and indicated his sympathies for the activists.

But the activists later dismissed his laments.

"We don't need tears," he said Steven Kirschbaum, a member of the Coalition to Protest the DNC, which prevailed in its effort to march on Causeway Street on Sunday. "We need justice. We challenge the very notion of a protest pen."

Tania Vamont -- a 24-year-old graphic designer from Cambridge and a leader of the Bl(a)ck Tea Society, a group that calls itself antiauthoritarian -- said: "I'm deeply saddened that [the judge] acknowledged that it's worse than an internment camp, but `that's OK because that's what our world is like today.' "

Her organization was one of three that obtained city permits to use the protest zone and sued after the barriers went up this week. The other two groups were United for Justice with Peace and the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Awesome speech. The best convention keynote I've heard in a long, long time.

[ThaSaltCracka]

His contrast between his admin(and the democratic party) and Bush's(and the republican party) was especially effective IMO. Plus his line "When I was in office the Republicans hated me, but as soon as I got out of office and started making a lot of money, they did everything to keep me happy(tax cut)". Then when he started saying what programs were cut so that he could have his tax cut, was priceless. I always liked Clinton, and that speech just reaffirmed that for me.

I also thought Gore had a good speech too, very positive(for the most part) and unifying. Def one of his best speeches in a long long time. I was also glad they let Carter do all the Bush bashing. Hilary's speech was weak though.... she yells entirely to much.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

The difference is, you're voting for Kerry and I'm not. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[ThaSaltCracka]

to be honest with you, I am leaning torwards Kerry, but ultimately I am undecided. You never know.... I plan on watching both conventions to see what they both have to say.