The Denver "Police" Department is on a harassment spree against Occupy Denver.

[starroute]

13. Who put the word out that Occupy was fair game?

I've been reading some of the accounts by European Occupiers of their activities, and it doesn't seem to be like this. The only countries where the repression is coming down this hard are the United States, Britain, Australia, and to some extent Canada. Am I missing something, or is there a concerted effort among the English-speaking nations to not let rebellion get even a toehold?

And how is it being coordinated within this country? You've got to know the police wouldn't be pulling this sort of crap unless they'd been assured they could get away with it. So where is the world coming from? And why are so many Democratic mayors complicit?

These are a lot of really nasty questions, and I'm afraid that the answers are even nastier. I can remember a little bit of what things were like during McCarthyism, and I've read a fair amount about the abuses of the Espionage and Sedition Acts and the Palmer Raids and what happened to the Wobblies. I know what this country can be like when anyone stands up to Wall Street and the warmongers -- and it makes my blood run cold to think about it happening again.

The only positive conclusion I can reach is that this kind of abuse has to be addressed now, as loudly and publicly as possible, because if people start to take it as normal and acceptable, it will only get worse.