Protests in Minneapolis

First, I learn that sheriffs in Minneapolis are engaging in href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html">preemptive
detention of persons suspected of planning protests.
 Then I learn that the Federal government href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html">is
involved.  Then I learn that the FBI was recruiting
informants (plants) to, among other things, href="http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/21/in-minneapolis-vegan-terrorist/">attend
vegan potlucks.



Imagine that, the FBI sending a plant to a vegan
potluck.  Talk about unscrupulous.



It is all coordinated by a  href="http://minneapolis.fbi.gov/taskforces.htm#joint_terrorism">Joint
Terrorist Task Force.
 Perhaps the Federal agencies provide grants to the locals to
do this
kind of thing.  Probably they each get a tin badge and a box
of Cracker
Jack with a secret decoder ring.



Then, I learn that the href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/1/update_democracy_now_s_amy_goodman_sharif_abdel_kouddous_and_nicole_salazar_released_after_illegal_arrest_at_rnc">arrested
rel="tag">AMY GOODMAN!   This is bad.
 It's like arresting href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi">Aung
San Suu Kyi.  First, eliminate the dissidents.
 Second, try to figure out how to run the country.



Then, to top it off, I learn that a multi-agency swarm of cops swooped
down and stopped a couple and their 17-year-old daughter, along with
their dogs and chickens, and towed away their bus.  



href="http://flickr.com/photos/diversey/sets/72157607029623608/with/2812914936/"> alt="Permibus Seizure" title="click"
src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2812963150_f6961dc55b.jpg?v=0"
border="0" height="333" width="500">



The bus, by the way, is the Permibus.
 As in href="http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/index/"
rel="tag">Permaculture.  They drive
around the country, giving workshops on topics such as organic
gardening and raising chickens.   href="http://pics.livejournal.com/permibus/gallery/00010tdf">Here,
you can see a photo of them making books by hand.  



They may be resourceful; they may be revolutionary, in a way.
 But they sure are not terrorists, or even protesters.
 They put seeds in dirt.  That is what they do.
 Put seeds in dirt...

The photo above is linked to a Flickr set.  The photos in a
different set show at least seven patrol cars and two unmarked police
vehicles, plus a motorcycle cop.  When asked to explain this
bizarre event, the police said it was a href="http://quinceurbanhomestead.blogspot.com/">routine
traffic stop.  

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/2813031488/in/photostream/"> alt="routine traffic stop" title="click"
src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2813031488_6a17b6de9a.jpg?v=0"
border="0" height="333" width="500">



It's pretty obvious that that the police involved here are totally
devoid of clues.  They do not know what they are doing.
 they should not be allowed to carry guns.  Instead,
they should all be sent off somewhere to learn how to grow tomatoes
without fertilizer, and to raise chickens. 



Then they can get their tin badges and secret decoder rings back.



What would they learn by raising chickens?



Let's imagine that we are raising chickens for the purpose of getting
eggs.  We want the most productive hens, of course.
 Knowing a little about evolution, we keep track of which hens
in the coop lay the most eggs.  Then we breed those hens, and
stock the coop each year with only the descendants of the hens that
produce the most eggs.  What happens?



What happens is that the productivity goes down,
year after year.



Why is that?



It turns out, that if you want to be the most productive hen in a coop,
the quickest way to do that, is to peck the hell out of the other hens.
 Its called "henpecking."  So by selecting the hens
who lay the most eggs, we are not selecting the most
productive hens; we are selecting the nastiest
hens.  



Evidently, this is how our law enforcement agencies work.