Saint Paul 2008

Evidently our local activists are dissatisfied with the treatment they’re receiving from the City ahead of the 2008 RNC Convention in St Paul. “It’s a convention, not a catastrophe,” warned Matt Bostrom, our Assistant Chief of Police. Alliterative assertions aside, we’re skeptical that many in the anti-war, anti-globalisation, anti-republican, anti-imperialism, anti-damn-near-everything movements are going to be happy with their perceived lack of special treatment. Boo hoo, my angry little friends; laws are laws, and you’re not above them.

Bostrom somewhat disingeniously denies anyone should expect the monitoring, surveillance, or infiltration of protest groups ahead of the convention, as it was recently alleged the NYPD did before the 2004 RNC convention. Reportedly calling such an operation both illegal and a waste of time, he added “We don’t go fishing for that stuff,” and said “We’ve got other things to deal with.”

Obviously, as SPPD Assistant Chief, he can only speak for the department. Don’t expect that to sit well with the anti-GOP crowd, who doubtlessly are already concocting grand conspiracies about how the FBI and Secret Service are plotting myriad rights-infringing operations against them. I just hope they come up with a cool name for the perceived injustices inflicted upon them, something along the lines of The Green Scare. Perhaps the Brown Hoopla?