One follow-up that should be noted here on Negroponte...the CIA police officer (and that's how he identified himself), when asked why he was detaining this one activist was told that "Negroponte wanted someone arrested for this." Whoops, John, in this one case the MPD decided that every so often the political speech laws cannot be trumped by an illusory reference to national security.

Also, I want to say that when the minutemen types talk about law, talk about obeying the law, as a means to justify bigotry inherent in the law, we should know that something is strange about our system of government. When one goes on to realize that the laws on the books that do seem to defend the rights of people are thrown away as easily as an old newspaper, one again realizes that it's not moral righteousness behind either the laws or our system of government. What's going on is a defense of the status quo, especially the rights of the rich. The minutemen are pissed that the rich want to ease the racist immigration rules, not understanding that racism has merely been a tool to keep people divided in American history, but instead of going at the rich, going to the home of Senator Frist, for instance, they go after the poorest of the poor in the name of LAW. But, as they are finding out, law in the context of our government is a mythical idea used merely for social control. In the hands of a man like Negroponte, it doesn't even apply, if he can convince enough other people in power that their safety is at stake. When the myth of this country plays out against the reality, it's funny to see the myth sometimes when like it did last night in the end. But, it's nothing any of us can count on, and we must take up some kind of resistance against it. At the very least, last night was sure an education for the liberal neighbors who got to see a small taste of repression tactics firsthand. They weren't around to see the happy and lucky conclusion.

If we hadn't been there for our friend, those chants by the freepers to send David Barrows to Guantanamo might not have been as far-fetched. If you had been out there in those streets and witnessed what I had, you wouldn't have thought it was as crazy as it sounds on paper.

And, even so, we are encouraged to go back.