The Wake

As you may recall, the Minneapolis City Council just passed an ordinance concerning protesters’ rights at the upcoming Republican National Convention. The new ordinance replaced already existing laws that banned police use of rubber bullets, barred confiscation of cameras and recording devices and prohibited police targeting of activist groups.

When the new law left all these clauses out, Green Party council member Cam Gordon tried to add them back in amendments, and finally succeeded — at least partially — to pass them Friday. Now rubber bullets are again banned and all camera confiscation must hold up to the …

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Council Member Cam Gordon

Right before an important vote concerning protest protection at the upcoming Republican National Convention, an early morning attempt to speak out at a Minneapolis City Council meeting against the resolution led to the forced removal of an activist from the council room Friday.

Jude Ortiz, a member of Coldsnap Legal Collective, stood in front of City Council members and read a “Reprobation for the City of Minneapolis” criticizing last week’s committee passing of a resolution promising to ban police use …

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Police use rubber bullets at 1999 WTO protests in Seattle

A handful of activists and future Republican National Convention protesters attended a Minneapolis City Council committee meeting Wednesday to support Green Party council member Cam Gordon’s June 20 proposal banning police use of rubber bullets at upcoming RNC protests this fall. Unfortunately for those planning to protest in St. Paul this September, Gordon’s reformed motion was vastly different from what he proposed …

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Ah, Cedar-Riverside. The mere mention of that hyphenated name is enough to get a rise out of most Minneapolitans, not to mention the ones who actually live there. It is a divisive area, a place that has been characterized as both a colorful ethnic melting pot and a miniature gangland; the last “real” corridor of the city and a bullet-riddled death trap.

This long-running debate is even more pertinent to students at our fair university, whose daily travels often take them within a stones’ throw of Riverside. For many U students, the area has long been a source of confusion and …

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Since George Carlin recently died, I figured it’d be best to post some clips of him discussing issues relevant to this blog. In the first clip he talks about the absurdity of the American Dream. In the second, he chimes about why he doesn’t vote. (”If you vote, you have no right to complain!”)

I’ll preface my writing with a little about the basis of my traveling. I’ve developed a travel philosophy. The gist of it is, be as social as possible when you’re out living or traveling through new places. People are far more receptive than you’d ever imagine. Obviously, there’ll be encounters with non-responsive parties, but you can never let that deter you. They could be behaving in that matter for any number of reasons, and to allow such a response to lower your confidence is asinine. By starting casual conversations with the occasional stranger, or furthering your familiarity with a mere …

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Monday night I flipped on CSPAN and saw Ohio Rep. and former Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich presenting a 35-count impeachment bill against President George W. Bush. As you can note from the various times Speaker Nancy Pelosi has to bring the House under order during Kucinch’s reading of his bill (Kucinich: “The House is not under order!” Pelosi: [grueling sigh followed by annoyed taps] “Please proceed”), the rest of the House doesn’t seem to give two shits about “the Gentleman from Ohio’s” plans.

So what’s the point …

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The day’s finally come. Hillary’s out. Obama’s in. And he’s made Black History before Hillary could make Feminine History (actually Hillary’s made plenty of Feminine History with her campaign – but, truth be told, both have also made straight-up general history). The Democrats are officially unified, even if I’m reading New York Times stories that say some former Clinton supporters are now donating money to the McCain campaign. While pundits may argue that the Obama vs. Hillary fiasco officially came to a close Tuesday when the Illinois Senator finally got the magic number of …

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Here’s a shameless plug for a magazine we worked on at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Comm. In the battle of wine vs. beer, who wins? Head over to Digest Mag to find out.

Sometimes it seems like winos run the world; they even get better movies, à la Sideways. When you see beer in popular culture, it’s a bunch of frat boys doing keg stands or sad saps in sad bars. I don’t want a wine list longer than the Yellow Pages. Hand me a Surly, Fat Cat or Mothership and bring a few friends. …

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The damned, dirty Minnesota grouch Mike Hatch

They’ve done it again: MinnPost is raiding former Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch’s political image as a public servant for the down-trodden, or, to put it another way, reaffirming Hatch’s public reputation as a hot-tempered, hypocritical bastard.

Here are some excerpts from Eric Black’s old-fashioned investigative report that give us an idea of Hatch’s would-be DFL-minded personality:

Hatch took over an office that had been known, under his predecessors, as a national model among AG offices, for striking an …

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Here’s an entertaining video montage of news anchors (and Dan Marino) losing their cool. I jacked it from Steve Perry at Minnesota Monitor, and he jacked it from Gawker. I guess jacking shit is part of the online game.

[Note a young, sleazy Bill O’Reilly at the 1:00 minute mark]

My night out on the town with my Japanese and Polish friends was a smash. We hit the Karaoke bar with full force. Everything from The Rolling Stones to Madonna was performed with mild and expressionless enthusiasm, with the rest of the patrons laughing drunkenly all the while. Karaoke is a very communal experience. It’s a great look into Japanese culture, as its serves as their primary source of recreation, according to my doctor friend.

After the bar closed, we went down to a Shisha Bar (or Hookah bar in the states) and ordered up some Strawberry flavored product. Along …

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http://www.myspace.com/joeylinello. Go there. NOW!

Do Not Enter
Do Not Enter
Do Not Enter
interstates, rail lines and this
river of locks are containment
incarnate.
Do Not Enter! on your own volition.

Corpus:
Where exploring the interior of the battle scared tree
in the park near Franklin Avenue
injects life after the lightning strike.

Where highways do not
lead to my city’s heart.
They pump madness
molasses
leaving soupy trails
of purple and red through the drain pipes
and stick
with the road searing sunlight.

These river flats are not just scenery,
but a landscape where homes used to be
denied
the fertile soil from the Spring
floods to feed the gardens for the Bohemian families
flattened via eminent domain circa
May 24th, 1923.

And every steaming automobile …

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If you remember back to 2004, you might recall that a few photos leaked from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Humiliation, shock and embarrassment were felt nationwide as we looked on in horror, watching our American values destroyed by a few amateur digital photos. While we were busy trying to forget, Errol Morris was just starting to get his hands dirty, investigating and tracking down the elusive soldiers central to the controversy for his new documentary Standard Operating Procedure (which opens Friday May 23 at the Landmark Lagoon Cinema).

Oscar award-winning documentarian Errol Morris sits down with The Wake …

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