A battleground state

"Inviting as many as 20,000 guests to Minneapolis and St. Paul for the convention will have an incredible economic impact. People will stay in hotels. Go out to dinner. Spend money. Shop. And return home with wonderful stories to tell about Minneapolis-St. Paul."

Jeremy Hansen, spokesman for Mayor R.T. Rybak
September 28, 2006
After the Twin Cities were awarded the convention

1) this is a great photo
2) don't get right of assembly or speech confused with desire to provoke, intimidate, or humiliate
3) where is the line for authority then specifically in this case, are there not adequate places to protest?
4) i hate getting speeding tickets too but I don't think there should not be a speed limit

Hey kids, did I ever tell you about the time I was in St. Paul, MN and got a bucket of urine dumped on me, and then shot in the face with tear gas?

Good times.

That photo is amazing. I was about a block away at Fuji-Ya right before this happened. We came out of the Daily Show taping (which was actually locked down for about 15 minutes after the taping ended) and found ourselves pretty much surrounded by police and protesters. So ... refuge in Fuji-Ya, I guess. I ordered a glass of water in return for their protection, so I think we're all good.

Later, as we waited for a cab a few blocks away from the fracas a lone 20-something female walked by on her cell phone and I overheard (and I quote, because I recorded it into my cell phone right after I heard it): "Those cops are f***ers, we weren't doing anything wrong." She was nearly in tears and obviously shaken up.

A minute later, a riot geared cop walked up to me, my wife and our two year old daughter (we were far away from the action at this point, picking her up from a babysitter) and said (again, a direct quote): "You're going to want to move into the lobby if those crazies start moving this way."

So, two sides of the story there, I guess. F***ers vs. Crazies. How's that for a two party system?