Notes that we can still use Hamm's without a permit for 24 or less, and we're offered Ecolab Plaza for a group of the original size. Hamm's is within the "soft perimeter."

Sara Coffey of the National Lawyers Guild was one of those arrested. They are directly involved. You should be able to find out from them, heh?

Well, the anecdotal evidence is that these buckets were: 2 found in the one house were actually water, sitting next to the toilets to use for flushing...ya know, 'cause of the low footprint habits of the occupants, and a third bucket on another premisis was urine, 'cause they had no toilets in the squatter house.

For many months the St. Paul City Council has talked a lot about accommodating protesters. I don't doubt their sincerity one bit. On the whole, the City Council, as well as the Mayor, are a pretty liberal bunch. That's especially true of Dave Thune, mentioned in the article. I would even characterize John Harrington, the St. Paul Chief of Police, as an entirely decent guy.

I think what is happening is that our local government is being steamrolled by forces greater than themselves. Note that the 'raids' were conducted by Ramsey County Sheriffs. I think county-level law enforcement, i.e.: Sheriff Bob Fletcher, is more than happy to participate in this sort of thing. And don't forget that we still have a GOP Governor who, despite being jilted by McCain, wants to see the RNC go off without a hitch.