The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) is running a poll on the question:  "Who should pay the bill for police overtime and other costs stemming from last month's anti-war protests at the Port of Tacoma?"  --  The choices:  --  (1)  The Port of Tacoma;  --  (2)  The military/U.S. government;  --  (3)  The protesters.  --  Karma Tenzing Wangchuk wrote in to propose a more sensible question:  "Who should pay for lawless assaults by riot squads upon peaceful demonstrators?" ...

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Comment

WHO SHOULD PAY
By Karma Tenzing Wangchuk

News Tribune (Tacoma, WA)
April 1, 2007

http://community.thenewstribune.com/?q=node/12030#comment

We all pay, but very few of us have had the chance to decide whether or not our ports shall be used to support an illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation. All branches of our federal government have either conspired to go to war based on lies or colluded with those who did so. The judicial branch is utterly compromised (think: Alberto Gonzales) and Congress has mostly been a willing partner of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, Wolfowitz, Rove, Perle, and the other thugs who have killed so many in the name of a nation the world once loved as a land of liberty. Not even voting has proven effective: Bush stole the 2000 election and probably the 2004 election as well.

So what is left for those of us who want our nation, states, and communities to stand for something greater than international thuggery? Many feel that nonviolent civil disobedience is a viable option. Thus the 14 days of action at the Port of Tacoma in March, where only the riot teams were guilty of assault.

Those who risked arrest at the port did so on behalf of all of us who truly believe peace is possible -- possible, but not likely if we continue to put up with liars, scoundrels, and false patriots.

Who should pay for lawless assaults by riot squads upon peaceful demonstrators? Surely not those who have this nation's, and the world's, best interests at heart.