much love to you 'mano...

LA cops only seem to pick on people who can't defend themselves. Guess that old joke isn't a joke after all. They did change their motto from 'To Protect and Serve' to 'We'll Treat You Like a King'. Just a bunch of fascist thugs. C.S.Lewis was right, it can happen here.

Your not the only 'mano. Venezuela is starting to look good right about now.

I've been on a snark-out. I got into it with a close friend of mine who was justifying the brutality in El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Disgusting.

Hey Nez. We'll catch you on the flipside real soon.

Cojelo con calma hermano! Nos veremos pronto!

Guess I should have kept reading. Don't worry about my question.

Guess I should have kept reading. Don't worry about my question.

I miss you already. We're all in bad shape nowadays - don't let the bastards get you down. Get well soon, dear.

Take heart -- there's been so much injustice lately it's hard to know what to scream at first. But I'm going to cite your May Day post on FireDogLake tomorrow night (Cinco de Mayo), if that's any consolation.

Don't give up on us - It seems since the WTO protests in Seattle police everywhere have become more and more brutal; repressing the people's right to assembly and speech at the government's wish. The US is getting so crazy (dare I say fascist?) - and freedoms are being taken away with no one noticing. I am afraid for what my country is becoming, every voice is needed to point the masses towards the light.

Brad Blog's got more citizen-journalist footage of the LA cops' May Day brutality: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4502

Take heart, Nezua. You're not alone.

Take your time, Nez. We'll all be here when you get back.

Man, I go out of town for a few days and all hell breaks loose. From what I saw, and this is on the Mainstream Propaganda outlets, the police started a riot at a peaceful demonstration. No mystery there at all. In my lifetime, we've gone from Camelot to Mordor. And that's the public face, not the hidden agendas.

...sometimes I feel like the only thing I can say is:

I know it's not nearly enough.

Ur... that was meant to be ‹3

Don't give up... people "get it". Some of the same, thoughtful people who were appalled when I suggested that a "nice boycott" and "God Bless America - We're nice immigrants" ralley wasn't going to accomplish much are now realizing the problems are serious, and that immigration isn't just a simple matter -- and that the proposed "sweep the problem under the rug and let the authorities take care of it" is biting them in the ass.

I really, really hate to say it, but having a FOX news crew roughed up may turn out to be a good thing. Yeah, I'm frustrated its not the top of the fold news around the country, but maybe we need to get whupped up the side of the head to finally come around to dealing with immigration and immigrant rights in a serious fashion. And, to understand that a creeping police state isn't some left-wing paranoid fantasy.

It's another "think locally, act globally" kind of thing. "Locally" for us means our own small corner of the blogosphero. Putting up a video of what happened in Los Angeles has been the talk of the vacationers in Mazatlan. It ain't much, but it's a start.

To be honest, the first place I looked to get a perspective I wanted when news of the LAPD's response broke, was here, but you had linked to someone else's footage, even though one could sense the despondency in that brief message.

Fair enough, it was very soon after. It actually made me wonder whether my expectations of you were unfairly grounded. Just because you have written so much about immigration issues, you've never declared it was your official duty to write or comment on every related thing that happens.

I'm pissed of that Imus is now attempting to position his hiring as a First Amendment issue, I'm pissed that the Vatican has compared Church critics to terrorists, I'm pissed that Karl Rove has been coaching DOJ employees on how to testify, and yes, I'm pissed that the LAPD behaved like they always have -- like racist goons with too much power and no ability to learn from past behavior -- not only behaving violently toward innocent men, women and children, but truly depriving them of their First Amendment rights.

But sometimes it takes time for these multi-occurences to percolate, until a coherent ability to express one's outrage manifests itself, avoiding a gut reaction that might be more real, but easier to dismiss as a mere rant.

I'm not suggesting a two-year silence, like the artists who said nothing about America for that long or longer, following 9/11, but in a world of multiple horror in multimedia format, 24/7, people sometimes need to step back and breathe in order to prevent the shit from sticking. So don't count out related commentary just yet.

But a bigger question remains. Was my reliance on your perspective fair, almost stereotypically assigned, or do you have the right and privilege to choose to ignore something that clearly is close to your heart and what you've already made abundantly clear? In other words, perhaps unfairly, I think the only unpredictable thing about your response was, at first, that you didn't really respond.

At first, that is.

I can understand why you are feeling despondent. But here's a little grain of sand to add to the others. People care and can see what's going on. My 79-year-old mother who lives in a teeny-tiny town in NE Minn called me the day after the protest and raged against the police who attacked the protesters with rubber bullets. She (and I) blames the current administration and Congress for creating such an "us-versus-them" environment. Just like with the war, the majority of people are appalled at the government's failure in nearly every area of policy.

Rather than becoming further divided we must build even stronger alliances among immigrant rights, labor unions, anti-war, environmental and health care activists, women and human rights "enthusiasts," you name it. We've seen that 200,000 is not enough. We have to hit the streets of Washington and elsewhere in the millions with our message of unity. What happened in LA was like throwing another log on the fire.

You play a role in building this solidarity. I'm a scandihoovian science writer living in the Midwest but I read your site because I believe your anger is righteous and you often make me smile because you're just so clever.

Except for the 23% who lack the capacity to see, think or question, we are all hurting. When you come back from your healing time, we'll be here.

ah Nez, I'm just now seeing this. I know, I know how tiring it gets. Take your time, be good to yourself. Be well, friend.