I just got that in an e-mail.

Didn't look like she was obstructing anyone to me, unless asking questions is some how considered obstruction.

This annoys me, this is why the police are quick to manhandle people because people do not comply with simple instructions. When an officer tells you several times to get back on the sidewalk, you should probably GET BACK TO THE SIDWALK. If you continue to be in an area you're not supposed to be, they will arrest you, they will manhandle you - because you're NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE.

Oh don't get me wrong-I've had plenty of arguments with police (the chief of police of South Pasadena thinks I'm an asshole and even sent me a personal letter because I am *very* vocal about my rights and question their abuse of authority) - but there are still lines you should not cross. Unless there is more to this video were are not seeing - she's in the wrong. She could have been on the sidewalk(as instructed) and continued to argue/question the officer, he can't do anything if she's on the correct side. I'm all for her questioning them, but he couldn't do anything to help her anyways - she should have been asking for a watch commander (my new favorite line when speaking with officers on a power trip) who has real authority, instead of crossing that line (imaginary or literal)he's protecting - which he kept saying not to cross.

It seems to me that her exit is impeded by a car and and the police themselves. Amy Goodman is one of the few truly independent journalists in our country. The fact that she and her producers were arrested is outrageous.

If you have ever listened to or seen her show "Democracy Now!," you'd be enlightened on topics that are rarely covered in mainstream media. She's a brave and intrepid voice who doesn't cower to anyone. Need proof? Check out her conversation with Bill Clinton on election day in 2000 to see what I mean. Or, for that matter, check out any number of her shows. (It's airs weekdays in LA at 9am on 90.7 KPFK.) This would never happen to any number of correspondents from CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ect.,. And from what I can tell, her arrest has barely made a blip in the mainstream media. I can only imagine the fall-out if this had happened to Anderson Cooper.

How is it that whenever Our Government gets together Our Constitutional Rights are trampled on and nobody really cares? What happened to the right to assembly and the freedom of the press? If you've ever been to the DNC or RNC you would, or, more likely wouldn't, see the "Free Speech Zones." They are cordoned off areas far from the delegates where people are allowed to assemble and protest any number of things. (Forgive me for being naive, but I always thought our whole country was a "Free Speech Zone.") If you are outside of this zone because you even look like a protester you could be arrested. The fact that this happened to credentialed journalists covering the RNC is disgraceful to us a country.

If journalists being arrested for covering real news doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. We as a country keep being spoon-fed 'news' without really trying to find or get to the bottom of the real issues that effect us. Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! cut through the corporate sponsored bullshit to give us real, non-ironic, in-depth perspectives on what is happening here in the US and abroad. These arrests only symbolize the thin shreds of our Bill of Rights and how far removed we are from the democratic society we are supposed to be.

Why did they let her out? Honestly, I think I truly understood how much of a moonbat Amy when she started giving the 9/11 Troof movement so much air time.

Didn't know you were a Troofer, jrb. That kind of explains a LOT.