Motivation.

And if I, a starving grad student (do you know what overnight shipping on ducks costs?!) can donate, you people can too, so get on it.

Wow. #2 is probably the most influential push for donations I've ever read.

I only did it so I could lord it over the rest of you.

Duck tongue $7.15 a pound? IN TWO POUND BAGS?

I think my boss is remitting an unusually large number of my expenses. The address is Lizard..etc at unfogged com?

That is her email address, yes.

Their other options are unclear? We are not in China.

Fuck off, dd.

You must really dislike him, ben. You skipped the syntax and went straight for the invective.

I guess that Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was arrested. She got out within a few hours, but she was arrested, because they were asking about her two producers who were being held. Because of the holiday they were going to be held even longer. 36 hours without charge, but the clock started on Tuesday even though they were arrested on Monday.

Thanks for posting this, LB, and for all the good work of Frowner, mnpln, etc.

Don't thank me -- Frowner's actually doing work, and Emerson twisted my arm into getting the post up. I put thirty seconds into coming up with what I thought was a funny title, but that's it.

Duck tongue?! wtf? If this some kind of delicacy like chafinches eyebrows or something?

I'm in. Kick down, people!

The link in 1 is very depressing. Not surprising, really, but depressing.

I'll pony up when I get home to the computer with all my PayPal stuff on it.

Has the ideological purity and tactical prudence of these jailbirds been ascertained? They're not a bunch of DFHs or Black Bloc'ers, right?

Donation made.

Duck tongue is good chinese food, maybe not on the english menu though.

Chaffinch eyebrows suck balls.

18: a logistical feat of some difficulty.

Halibut cheeks are an Alaskan delicacy.

I just donated.

20: Many years ago I was out on a date with an exchange student from Japan. He ordered the whole fried fish of some sort and when it arrived commented that old men in Japan think the eyes are the best part. "That's just gross, though," he said. "Everyone knows the best part is the lip," and then he started sawing away at its lower lip with a knife and enthusiasm. I wasn't grossed out, I mean, whatevs. It was just... different.

Halibut cheeks are friggin' delicious.

Yeah fish cheeks are great; what's the big deal, here?

Sorry, Ben, but not every reader is an ultra-liberal demonstrator fighting "the man." For the rest of us, reading a post intro implying that jailbreak is someone's best option in a US prison is more of a turn-off than hearing a straightforward appraisal of what's going on.

These people honestly need/deserve help and kudos for helping. But "their other options are unclear" is still bullshit and unnecessary.

A scoffing "this ain't china" isn't a whole lot better, you know.

And the Patriot Act abuses have begun.

Thanks to everyone who's donated money! I've been praising Unfogged to the skies to my bookstore and my connection at Coldsnap.

You know, the great thing about this week (which has had some pretty fucking serious lows, though) is how much solidarity people have shown across the center/liberal/left spectrum. Everyone has been really decent and good about understanding how much the police have amped up the violence far over and above anything rationally necesary to clear the street.

As I type, they're gassing the "No Peace for the War Makers" march. I spoke to a friend today--a lawyer's daughter who was working as a legal observer--who was grabbed by the cops out of the crowd before Monday's march even started and charged--totally falsely--with felony property destruction. She hadn't done anything at all except tell the cop what her "Coldsnap" armband meant. Now, she's a person I've known a while and there's absolutely no way she is lying or was breaking anything. She was in jail for two days and has a felony charge.

A thing to remember when you read about this stuff--a lot of the charges are lies. There was a little, a very little, property destruction. Some that I saw seemed to be by an undercovers; some I suspect was not. But for the most part, these crazy charges are absolutely false.

Also, people I know but who were to my certain knowledge not at the protests are being charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, basically because they organized the framework (not the specific actions, the framework) of the protests. Now, this is absolute bullshit--I know these people. One of them I don't like much, another I respect a lot although we don't always see eye to eye politically. They are under no definition terrorists--except under some Newspeak "anyone who facilitates dissent" definition. And if they cops really believed that they were terrorists conspiring to do real harm, why weren't they stopped? If what we're saying is that the cops were just letting something really sinister play out...well, that's ridiculous. The cops are using these stupid laws and public paranoia to railroad people.

It's crazy here. It's been a crazy week and an intense summer. It seems stupid to say that a week has been really life-altering, but this week has.

Thanks again, Unfoggers, for standing by the dirty hippies.

I want to thank John Emerson, especially, for putting up the fine collection of links at Seeing the Forest early on. They helped a lot of people online get up to speed on what was happening.

I'm a little steamed at the lack of attention in many liberal quarters, but not terribly surprised.

Best wishes, Frowner! Keep reporting.

Thanks again, Unfoggers, for standing by the dirty hippies.

What's the point in being the comfortable if you can't chip in when someone else is getting afflicted?