#OccupyMyStreet

Sitting in my office going "doy" over the Broncos' win Sunday when I hear screaming outside. Look out the window and this:


Apparently some kids were squatting in the abandoned house across the street (a place I've had occasion to write about before, when Crazy John lived there).

The woman with the bad case of knee-head was one of the squatters, and she would not settle down. Even with a face full of asphalt she kept trying to kick or otherwise bowdlerize the cops. She also had a very foul, if unoriginal, mouth--"fascists," "pigs," "nazis" (place "fuckin''" before each noun, of course). They had to hold her like that for at least 15 minutes while they waited for an ambulance. No, I don't know why they needed an ambulance. She was definitely fully conscious and appeared unharmed. Probably a mental health hold.



Naturally a crowd gathered. But it was very odd. So many white people:


Several of whom were shouting abuse at the cops.



Center guy was apparently one of the squatters. A cop yelled, "Hey, get over here!" but he melted around the corner of my house and down 27th. The cops didn't even bother to chase him (though they may have caught up with him later).



The big green-haired kid being escorted by the mini-cop (h/t Joseph Wambaugh) offered no resistance.

There were a lot of cops.





The guy on the left viddying the whole thing told me he was from West Denver Copwatch.

Guess they have a police scanner, because he was there filming before I heard a thing. Here's WDCW's account of the incident:

Please Post and Forward Widely

Background

Sunday afternoon a squat in the Jefferson Park Neighborhood of Northwest Denver was raided by over a dozen officers from District 1 of the Denver Police Department.
Witnesses report that the raid was very violent, with at least 8 officers repeatedly beating one of the arrestees, and eventually using paramedics to sedate them while they laid face down, bleeding, in the street.

Four people were arrested, one being sent to a hospital in an ambulance to receive medical care. As of Sunday night, three of the arrestees are facing 2nd degree Burglary (a class 3 felony) and $10,000 bonds. The fourth arrestee’s charges remain unknown because she is still hospitalized. All four have been active participants of Occupy Denver.

Of course. What's funny about this posting is that even though the copwatch guy filmed the incident, no video accompanies the post. Easy to figure out why: because then they couldn't lie about what happened. There was no beating, there was no blood, there was only one person lying in the street (the kicky chick), and if she was sedated, she was the only one who was.

In principle I have no problem with groups like Denver Copwatch. Cops can get out of hand, and Denver cops in particular have had more "incidents" than they should over the years. The problem is that Denver Copwatch is made up of rad-left liars and grievance-mongers who at the very least exaggerate any incident. Think Larry Hales.

Anyway, the place is boarded up now.

But wait! There's more! The next day I was doing chores out back when I noticed there was a cop car blocking the alley and police tape across both ends of the block. Bomb scare. Somebody found a suitcase lying in the street outside Crazy John's house and called it in. And after what went on the previous day the cops were taking no chances:


No kaboom.

Update: AP says two Occupy Denveroids were taken to Denver Health last night from Civic Center Park suffering from "symptoms of hypothermia." No kidding. The story also says "about 30" people stayed overnight without tents (the cops made them take them down) in heavy, wet snow. Sounds like fun.

Seen today

On a car in traffic: A black ribbon like the pink ribbons you see all the time. This one bore the legend, "Support Zombies."

I think the zombie thing is about over.

I do not need glasses

Goddamnit. The D-A-W is always going, "You want to use my [reading] glasses?" when I'm reading something just fine, if at arm's length. A couple of years ago I was in the doctor's office reclining on the table or whatever with my book and the nurse comes in and says, "You know, we could probably rig something up to suspend your book from the ceiling so you can read more comfortably."

Bitch.

See, back in the day I could have been a fighter pilot, if they went only by eyesight and not eyesight, intelligence, reflexes, intelligence, mathematical-type skills, good looks, engineering skills, intelligence, and George Bush.

Actually I could still be a fighter pilot, except for the above, and the fact that I've shrunk to 4'9" and couldn't see over the plane's dashboard (that's what it's called, right?).

There's only one thing I have trouble reading: the two-point type on the various bottles of yard poison a householder naturally accumulates. This has led to many comical episodes involving dead dogs and Peter Coyote in a hazmat suit.

But I do not need glasses.

Update: Yeah, I stooped to an easy "Bush is dumb" joke, though I know perfectly well that the smartest man in the universe, the SCoaMF, is, at best, exactly as smart, IQ-wise, as Chimpleron-X7, and that John Kerry was dumber. No links, look for yourself.

Fatso, Fatso Rizzo!

King of the Lard Countreeeeeee!

So what's been up with the gigantic mouldering mound of corruption? Who cares! The LAT, that's who.



Hot, hot, hot.

Update: Remember, the camera adds ten pounds.

"The whole world is--zzzzzzzz"

The Occupy Denver camp is no more.

Talk about goldbricking, maaaaaan

The Post: "Medical Marijuana workers unionizing":

The state's largest labor union today announced that it has hundreds of new members from the medical-marijuana industry.

Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said in a statement that the new members come from a "comprehensive cross section" of the industry. The union, which has 25,000 members statewide, said it would announce more details at a news conference Monday.

The union put the total number of jobs in the medical-marijuana industry in Colorado at 8,000, though it is unclear how it came to that number. . . .

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, everything . . .

Oh, and just for completness' sake, JWP's favorite vid, that "modern spiritual by Gale and Dale":

Lane sounds off on Occupy Denver

On KHOW. Ward Churchill's attorney David Lane weighed in on whether the state (city, whatever) can lawfully clear out the occupods. He doesn't think so, of course, unless typhoid or cholera is "sweeping" the camp. Craigie reads him the law. Lane questions what the meaning of "camping" is. Christ.

Lane also mentioned (as PB did today) that Patrick O'Rourke, the lead CU defense attorney in Wart's 2009 suit against the school, is one of the finalists for a state Supreme Court post. No chance (as PB also notes), but Lane added that if O'Rourke did indeed secure the spot, he would have to recuse himself (as two SC justices, according to Lane, already have) from the Churchill case, leaving only four justices to decide it. Bad for Lane: tie goes to the appellate court, which voted unanimously against Chutch.

"Police action imminent"

To get the occupods out of Lincoln Park across from the Capitol. "No details." Well, except that navy reservists are scheduled to have the park Saturday, some campers say they'll "fight" any attempt to get them out, and: "This morning was the first time the governor visited the growing tent camp from which the stench of urine has begun to waft onto adjacent Broadway."

That's odd. Not the urine stench, but the claim that today was the first time the Gov. visited the place. He at least strongly implied (see post immediately below) that he visited on Tuesday, saying he "went down there this morning," and saw only "eight or ten" tents.

In any case, what a (government-created) mess. If Hick had sent the cops in when there were just three tents, no prob. Now, no matter how things shake out, it's going to be nasty.

Update: KHOW's Dan Caplis, a law and order guy if there ever was one, thinks (and, obviously, hopes) the cops will move in tonight.

Burgeoning

The Post today: "Hickenlooper unsure about what to do about Occupy Denver protesters at Capitol":

Should they stay, or should they go now?

Gov. John Hickenlooper didn't give a clear answer to that question Tuesday when asked about the growing Occupy Denver tent camp on a grassy lawn along Broadway that is part of the state Capitol complex.

Interviewed on radio station KOA-AM's Mike Rosen Show, the Democratic governor and former Denver mayor said he was concerned about the illegal encampment on state property but didn't indicate that he was prepared to order the State Patrol to clear out the park. Patrol officials said Sunday that they had no plans to remove the tents. . . .

The governor seemed conflicted on the question of what to do about the tents, saying that he has "always supported the First Amendment" but had concerns about the camp.

"I will confess I worry about the precedent," Hickenlooper said. "If suddenly we have a park where people can camp out whenever they want, why not the next park and why not the park after that? And then suddenly, you don't have any rules."

In any case, the governor said, there weren't many tents on the lawn, saying: "I went down there this morning, and there were like eight tents, 10 tents. This is not a burgeoning metropolis of tents."

I was down there a couple of hours after the Gov. There are a few more than eight tents:






I counted about 50, and a guy calling in to Rosen right now says he counted 80 tents today.

Burgeoning. Not that I give a rat's ass, except for one thing: The occupods are getting special treatment. During the DNC when Chickenpooper was mayor of Denver, he vacillated on whether to allow those protesters to camp in city parks, but ultimately made the right decision, followed the law and banned them. Wonder what the diff is here (he asked rhetorically)?

Anyhow, pics:


Unusually coherent









Didn't finish the thought.






Left over from the Columbus Day protest Saturday.



Zen around the fake Liberty Bell.



Construction workers eating lunch and getting ready to kick some hippie ass, but mostly eating lunch.

Update: Rosen keeps referring to the gathering as a "shantytown," which, since there are no shanties, is inaccurate but appropriately scornful.

Occupy somewhere or other

Had to be doontoon today, so brought my camera to check out the Occupy Wall Street spinoff protest at Denver's Civic Center Park. It was, um, sparsely attended. One thing must be said: However misguided their various beefs, these people were nice. Friendly. Sincere-seeming. And if Soros is funding this particular protest--what a cheapskate. Pics, por favor!


Three tents. That was it. Still, how come they get to camp overnight in a city park when even R!ecreate !68 wasn't allowed to?


"This is recycled!" he said. I think it was an old feedbag or something.



Occupy my face.



Where's the peroration?



Radical doing the Frug.



This duffer told me he'd been there for three days. "When the snow comes. That's when we'll know how strong we are."



No Tina.



They had some stuff, and handed it out to bum and protester alike. (There were far more of the former than the latter.)



Bum.



The medic station seemed to consist mostly of those toothbrush-'n-paste combo packets, which, again, they cheerfully handed out to all--even the toothless.



The word "divided" seems to have caused some problems, while what we get when we mess with them was apparently left to the imagination.



Focus!



Don't think so. More like Day Five.



Protester reading material.



Dale Carnegie was there in spirit.



This guy was proud he'd snagged the Boy Scout Handbook.







Of course, I had to force Billy Bob to wow the rubes:


Hardly anybody noticed.

Update: The Post has lots of pics of the various protests around the country.

BTW, see how I'm linking to the Post? That's because they've ended their contract with evil copyright suit-filer Righthaven.

Update II: There's supposed to be a march tomorrow. The D-blog may or may not attend, he said wanly.

Update III: Forgot about this card a guy gave me:


What do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny?

Update IV (8 October): No way I'm going downtown. First, there's the "Rock and Roll Marathon" wending its way around town and which the Post claims will draw more than 17,000 masochists (doubt it; it's 40 degrees and cold-drizzling right now); then, to my shock (well, ennui) there's the Columbus Day Parade and Protest, which, who knew? Anyhow, forget it. What a clusterfuck.

How do they know me so well?

Three spam e-mail headings, the first from one "Solitair Hutchins": "My willie in your jaw, jgm!" The second, from Kwaku Anokye, makes nearly the same statement: "My penis in your jaw, John." The third, from "Lucja Piejko," probably explains the first two: "John in fancy girl stockings?" (Why the question mark?)