Secrets of the City

Thanks to @jeremyywang for the following tweet: One step closer to equal rights for zombies… Appeals court gives new life to local ‘zombie’ suit | StarTrib http://instapaper.com/z31qcwrL

Apparently, it’s OK to be a zombie in Minneapolis after all.

The U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday released a ruling in favor of a group of zombies who say they were wrongfully arrested while protesting consumerism during the 2006 Aquatennial. The ruling reanimates the group’s federal lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and its police, seeking damages of at least $50,000 for each person arrested.

Go zombies!

And I’m off to Donnie Dirk’s Zombie Den this evening for a celebratory Strongbow.

We’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember?

Thirteen people — nine of them from Minnesota — were arrested at the White House on Tuesday for staging a “die in.” Among their acts of protest they read aloud the names of 77 Minnesotans killed in the war. And for this.. they spent the night in jail. Am I missing something? Surely there is more to the story.

Here’s a first-hand account from Sue Ann Martinson.

For the action we had cardboard tombstones with the names of 77 Minnesotans who died in the wars and we read the name of each, plus remembering the Iraquis.

Then we threw peace-decorated shoes at a End the Occupation sign that Coleen had brought along. We have great video of that.

Finally the 13 laid down on the sidewalk and we walked around them singing until the police told us we had to leave or be arrested. They took the arrestees away in paddy wagon.

Ahhhh. Still.

I mean… LOOK at them! It’s like arresting your grandmother for taking you to a crafts fair.

Yesterday afternoon, protesters took to the streets in downtown Minneapolis to decry Obama’s recent decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. The response — police on bikes, police on horseback, police on foot, and police in vans (notice the plastic cuffs). The result — 11 protesters arrested for unlawful assembly. (And I thought we were allowed to protest in this country.) To be fair, the 11 protesters were supposedly arrested after they sat down in the middle of the intersection at 10th St. S. and 3rd Ave. S.

Thanks to @webster and @tcimc for great live coverage of the protest.

UPDATE: More detailed report from The Minnesota Daily (via TC Daily Planet)

UPDATE #2: Police questioned for not stopping protest earlier (via Kare 11)

As Jason’s Station has reported, today a number of “tea party” protests will be held across the state. Because many of us MNspeakers love movies, I thought I would discuss this by citing movies with similar themes, plot lines or connections. Please try to follow the cinematic spirit of this thread in your comments! The tea party movement got its inspiration from an on-air rant from CNBC’s Rick Santelli that reminded me of this scene from “Network.”

While bloggers on the right and left argue wither this movement is real grassroots or astroturf, I thought of two movies that showed the dark side of a populist political action, the Capra classic “Meet John Doe” and “A Face in the Crowd.”  Of course, organizers hope to keep this events nonpartisan and focused on issues like the national anger the AIG bonuses stirred up. Perhaps showing this Disney film about the original American protestors would help.  Personally, I prefered this darker Disney tale of Revolution.

Any other movies come to mind?