I love New York!

Just off the red-eye from San Francisco: Gotham awaits.

Braced for a full calendar of dissent against the Republican National Convention, New York appears to be under near martial-law. At least a dozen National Guard troops, armed to the teeth, greeted me at the sleepy Jamaica Station near the Airport. Already in the City, nearly 300 have been arrested for cycling, nudity, trespassers a assorted other charges - and the convention doesn't even start 'till Monday.

Due to some pesky conditions of my own recent tusstle with the courts, I plan to lay relatively low, though rumors have been spreading that the famed and elusive "Great Dragon Puppet" (GDP, seen here in 2001) may have been roused from his nearly 3 year slumber, ready to roar back into action.

...

NYPD throws the book at RNC Banner Hangers
The four folks that hung this beauty in New York yesterday are facing assault charges because a cop cut himself on a skylight...

According to the New York Times, the NYPD are under orders to bring 2nd degree assault charges if an officer is hurt during an arrest. The assault charges mean that these four working young professionals could spend the next 25 years of their life in Jail.

As the protesters apparently had nothing to do with the injury, and even warned the now injured officer of the danger of falling, the chances of those charges sticking, one hopes, are slim to none. Let's hope that they have some good lawyers on it.

Just When You Thought it Was All Over...

I was nearly denied entry to Canada after landing at Vancouver International last night. Nearly three hours and $200 (CA) later, Immigration finally decided I no longer posed a threat to national security. Funny thing is that I've been to Canada, and to Vancouver International at least half-a-dozen times with zero hastily. Convicted trespassers, it seems, are not welcome company with our neighbors to the North.

Two questions worth asking here:

1. What threat do minor offenses in the U.S. pose to national security in Canada
2. Why did $200 somehow pay down that threat potential? Orwellian injustice? Maybe.

Of course the real rub is that people without the $2oo, or - worse yet - actually looking to make money in Canada, would be turned back immediately.

Unless of course those people were looking to make a whole lot of money. For the super rich, Canadian Immigration has crafted whole programs for worry-free passage across the border. I wonder if Ken Lay would have to shell out $200?

Ready For my Closeup...!

Nearly 6 months after the fact, the Seattle Police Department finally returned my stuff. Among other things, the "evidence" includes:

-This lovely portrait (8 hours in a holding cell can leave one pretty surley).
-1 laptop computer (ouch!)
-1 automobile registration (Idaho: Nissan, 1985)
-1 Delta flight voucher
-1 packet of dossiers on the Weyerhaeuser Board of Directors (a pretty surley group themselves).

Long Time

Many may wonder, "what the hell Brant--why no blogging lately"?

Well friends, the truth is that I've been up to my eyeballs in Weyerhaeuser. Some numerical highlights:

• 1000: Number of letters sent by RAN supporters to Weyerhaeuser, finally goading the lumbering logger to consult (*gasp*) with the Town Council of Pemberton, BC before axing one of the town's critical watersheds. Stay tuned for the outcome of the Sept. 14th meeting
• 200: Number of Trader Joe's stores that--as of August 13--will no longer be buying paper bags from Weyerhaeuser.
  
• 649: Number of Weyerhaeuser customers recently notified about BuyGoodWood.com a new website profiling Weyerhaeuser's destructive forestry practices and offering better alternatives.

So yes, I've been busy. Sorry.

There's a Rumble a Brewin'

It was a banner day for west coast forest activists today. Check out Remedy'sTreesit Blog for photos and a report on logging truck blockades in downtown (!) Eureka, CA. The bold action was taken to protest the ongoing liquidation of Californians last remaining old growth forests by Maxxam Corporation, a longtime enemy of forest-defenders (Read the press release from Northcoast EarthFirst!... or see the video). Maxxam's Pacific Lumber was made infamous most recently by financing a bogus recall election against a north coast district attorney after he called the company to task for logging violations.

In Alaska, Greenpeace threw up another one of their "forest rescue stations", creating a royal headache for loggers in the Tongass. One of their ships is also on the scende. Hopefully this station will last longer than their last one.

Meanwhile, blockades continue in the Biscuit timber sale in Southern Oregon.

Ya gotta love Summer.