THE March -- THE Evening

Wow again! Holy smoke! What an event it was this evening, with talks and Q&A with both Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern. It was very dicey even getting to this thing; the downtown St. Paul streets were a traffic horror, as you might imagine. Police all over the place, tons of pedestrians, dump trucks parked so as to funnel traffic this way or that...very tough to get to the parking ramp I was aiming for. But I finally made it and found the Lowery Theater. A very cute, funky little theater space in an old downtown building, only a few paces from where my daughter Danielle works. I'd never actually heard of the place! Anyway, they did not have food as promised (the caterer couldn't get there!), so I ran across the street to a Starbucks to grab a sandwich. What a scene that was!! Half a dozen or so press and/or bloggers at tables furiously typing away, downloading video, tables littered with coffee cups and notes, who knows what!

I was tired, so I can't really capture everything that was said in the lecture portion of the evening, but here are some bits and pieces. Ritter recapitulated much of the talk I caught on Saturday (see previous post), but in this one he seemed to emphasize the growing new cold war with Russia. Though he is very concerned about the drumbeat for war with Iran, he seemed to think that was now almost a distraction from efforts to re-demonize Russia, and he expressed his great fear that there were those in our current (and possibly a McCain) administration who actually believed in preemptive nuclear war with Russia. He said that. He believes that. And this man is not some tin-foil-hat guy!! So...yikes!!! I would point out that such a scenario, if it were to come to pass, could happen sooner rather than later, because right now Russia is not the superpower the Soviet Union was in its heyday. Right now we actually do have an edge, and it's actually tempting to think we could pull it off. Insanity, no? but... ?

McGovern was even more powerful in his presentation. He started by informing the audience that today is the 69th anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the nazis and the beginning of WWII. And then he proceeded to point out the similarities between our eroding freedoms here and the way it went in nazi Germany. He then recited, in German and then in translation, a poem by a martyred German churchman who's name I alas cannot recall (not Dietrich Bonhoeffer), which basically said that though he resisted the nazis and spoke up, he did too little too late. McGovern then directly challenged all of us there, even knowing it was a room full of activists, to do even more. In fact, he then informed the room that Amy Goodman, the host and producer of Democracy Now, was at that moment in jail...and suggested that we go to that jail and...well, what? Something! (I was just -- i.e., 10:30 p.m. -- informed by the Ramsey County Jail that she was released "several hours ago.") He said that the erosion of the independent media was perhaps the gravest sign of a slide towards a nazi-like regime.

During the Q&A I asked whether both gentlemen were worried there might not be an election, or, if there was one, that the elected president might not actually be sworn in. Ritter answered assertively that there would be an election and a new president. He also said that if such a thing were prevented, he believed the firefighters (he is a volunteer firefighter in upstate NY), the police, and many others would actually rise up in armed revolt. But he reiterated that he was confidant the election would happen. McGovern, on the other hand, expressed some doubt. At first he sort of echo'd Ritter, suggested that the military would not let such a thing stand, but then expressed concern about a trend he felt he saw towards loss of integrity and dishonesty in the military, citing as a current example the hedging by the air force about the number of civilians killed in a recent bombing in Afghanistan.

A woman made a statement in response to Ritter's pitch about the Constitution (see my previous post about him). She said she'd lived in Germany for awhile and that they had a provision in their constitution outlawing preemptive war, and suggested that we ought to not necessarily think our Constitution was the end-all-and-be-all of constitutions, but look at some other nations' constitutions. I think she really was just advocating for having such a provision in our Constitution (which, of course, could be done through the amendment process). But I mean to tell you, this set Scott Ritter OFF! He went OFF on her, shouting that basically there was no greater constitution than our own and that to think otherwise was almost disloyal. I thought he came close to calling her a traitor! But then he went on, and basically said he thought that before we looked to other constitutions we as a polity should become conversent with our own, and that our Constitution provided ways to be amended, and that once we Americans were all literate about our own Constitution, we might look at others. So in the end I think he got her point, but, WOW, did she ever push his buttons! I think she was stunned. In fact I think everyone was.

After the Q&A there was a break, and then the cabaret part of the evening commenced, but I was tired so I decided to leave. I walked around the corner towards the ramp where I'd parked, and, looking down the street, saw light glinting off of helmets, and heard protesty sorts of sounds. So of course I had to go take a look! This was at the intersection of Wabasha and Kellogg Boulevard on the riverfront, just a few hundred yards down from the Xcel Center. When I got down there, I found an absolute armed camp! There seemed to be several hundred police, many in full riot gear formed up in ranks. Behind them was a phalanx of horse-mounted police, perhaps 20, in a line. I could hear chanting, singing, haranguing, etc., but couldn't really see anything. I asked a bystander what was happening and he said some women in pink (surely CodePink gals) had blocked the intersection, but had now been pushed back by the cops. This was a very tense situation for awhile, and the assembled force was overwhelming and very intimidating. Whether you agree with CodePink or not, you have to admire their courage. They have more guts in their pinkies than I have, period!

While watching the scene, I got to talking with two other guys that were hanging around. (There were a lot of bystanders watching.) One turned out to be a young Ron Paul supporter; the other was a delegate to the convention from Texas! I should mention that I was still wearing my "Impeach Bush and Cheney" t-shirt from earlier in the day! But the three of us had a very amiable conversation, and it was interesting to just listen to the delegate talk about various aspects of the convention, the naming of Sarah Palin, etc. How cool!

After perhaps a half hour or so, the demonstrators dispersed on their own, and eventually the police dispersed as well and the streets were re-opened. I hung around a bit longer just watching delegates (who, believe me, were watching me with my t-shirt!) hanging out in front of the Crown Plaza hotel right there.

I was really struck by how exciting this whole thing was. Good thing I can siphon some of that excitement off in this blog so I can get to sleep!