Update on Colorado folks

Elderly women beaten so badly by the police that they had to be taken to the hospital? Serves those bitches right! See what the corporate media had to say about the events in Colorado:

March 20, 2007 - 1:24AM
Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial

Parade crashers
Free to speak; not free to disrupt

http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20365&template=article.html

Everything went perfectly as planned. For the anti-war war protesters,
that is — not for parade organizers. Just as the party crashers
anticipated, the news on Sunday wasn't about Saturday's St. Patrick's
Day parade downtown — which many people judged the best in recent
memory — but about the disruptions and arrests that occurred when a
handful of anti-war activists tried to hijack it for selfish purposes.
Photos of Colorado Springs cops dragging a woman over the pavement
made the coup complete, providing protesters not only with the press
attention but with the martyr status they obviously crave.


In the process, the city of Colorado Springs was made to look
intolerant toward free speech — when it was simply trying to uphold
parade guidelines and keep a non-ideological celebration of Irishness
from becoming a platform for political statements.


The cops might have handled the protesters more gingerly. A failure to
do so played right into their hands. But the bulk of the blame for
this incident rests with the agitators, who may have gotten a permit
to march, using a bit of subterfuge, but clearly acted in violation of
parade rules that bar demonstrations on social issues.


The police were asked by parade organizers to enforce the rules. When
some of the protesters declined to comply, they were arrested. If
arrested people flop down on the ground and play possum, they run the
risk of getting rugburn when they are forcibly removed. It's a real
drag, so to speak.


Members of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission say "peace" is
not a social issue, but they're unconvincing. A controversial war is
raging. It's a politically charged, and frequently partisan, issue.
And crashing the St. Patrick's parade constitutes an unwarranted
imposition on thousands of people who came to be entertained, not
indoctrinated.


"It is our goal not to turn this into a confrontational political
atmosphere," parade chairman John O'Donnell said. "It really is to
come and have fun."


It's true that politicians frequently march or ride in the parade.
This opens up event organizers to a charge of inconsistency. So,
perhaps it's time to ban politicians altogether — whom nobody comes to
see, anyway. This would draw the line against politicking more boldly,
for those who are tempted to bend the rules.


Distinctions can get blurred in situations such as this, so let's be
clear. Preventing a political disruption at a non-political event
isn't an infringement of anyone's free speech rights. The protesters
are free to say anything they want, in the appropriate setting — as
they did at an anti-war protest on Sunday, which anyone could attend
who was interested in hearing about the war. But they aren't free to
hijack someone else's event — especially one designed to be apolitical
— in search of a captive audience.


Even if commission members didn't set out to create a scene — and this
had the smell of a planned provocation — they had to be aware it might
occur. But as so often happens with political zealots, their thirst
for attention overcame all other considerations — including their
consideration for other people.