This brings back memories of Critical Mass when bicyclists started riots on Fridays once a month at rush hour. Now there integrated in our local government.

What a bunch of pathetic punks.

Practice free speech, NOT assault and property damage.

So who will seize the opportunity to buy Portland for half-off?

The cream of Portland's weird crop: Ninjas, Conspiracy theorists and maybe two legitimate protesters. I love this city.

It would be hard to come up with a better way to drive the citizenry back on to the police's side.

I should think Walmart could run the city far better, and at a lot lower cost for those who actually are tagged to pay for city services. If Walmart gets old, we the electorate could switch to Les Schwab Tires. The latter really hustle for their paying customers.

Another idea would be to replace police officers with Robocops. You don't attempt firing the latter. Just reprogram or recycle them. One draw back to this idea would be the programming, it would tend to vacilate between favoring order and then favoring criminals (anarchy), and back and forth it would go. Maybe the more appropriate mantra should be keep Portland Running Like a Circus. Weird is to generic a term.

We could do worse, as the citizens of Moscow, most of Iraq, and Kabul know. A bunch of hooligans in black. Not much different than the aftermath of a British football game.

Geeze...the cops didn't shoot and kill any one this time???
Maybe it IS a conspiracy to get sympathy for the cops and the wacky "ninja kids" are really cops in disguise?!
In the SamRan twilight zone could anything be possible?

Another idea would be to replace police officers with Robocops.

I bet if ED-209 asked you to put your gun or knife down (no matter your mental state), you would do it!

http://toirock.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ed209.jpg

I bet if ED-209 asked you to put your gun or knife down (no matter your mental state), you would do it!

Yes, and if memory serves, you would still get shot.

I bet if ED-209 asked you to put your gun or knife down (no matter your mental state), you would do it!

Yes, and if memory serves, you would still get shot.

How is that different from the PPB?

The coverage I saw on last night's news was definitely predatory and vulture-like. A few very reasonable sounding protesters were inverviewed, some aerial views shown and the talking heads kept cutting breathlessly into other news bits to provide "updates" on a situation that didn't seem to be escalating as much as they would have liked in order to provide a really juicy "Breaking News!" report. Ugh. The impression I got was that it would have been a perfect opportunity for breaking and entering anyplace else downtown since all motorcycle, mounted and armed police officers in the inner city were escorting and watching the marchers.

I saw the mug photos of those arrested in downtown Portland yesterday, then I saw the mug photos of the militia terrorist folks arrested two days ago by the FBI. I gotta say, the militia folks look much less menacing to me. Probably more personable as well.

Nothing says civil disobedience towards law enforcement like the willful destruction of private property, which causes you to become a target of the law enforcement you're 'protesting.'

I remember when organized protests actually meant something. What a bunch of lazy whiners.

I gotta say, the militia folks look much less menacing to me.

There's that old saying about books and covers.

Not really sure whether it's rational to be more afraid of a bunch of weird-looking people who go up mostly unarmed against riot police in open demonstrations instead of nice, heavily-armed Christian folk who (allegedly) were planning to kill the families of officers and then use IEDs to ambush the funeral processions to kill even more officers.

Gotta go with "darrelplant" something on this one. Hooligans versus premeditated murderers

Hey. Where's the pic of the broken B of A window? those kids coulda looked all dreamy and flowery and sixties and smiled opaquely, and then broken a coupla more bank windows!

Then they would be protesting not just the police problem, but the way the banking people have screwed everything up from hell to breakfast.

(The hell to breakfast line was borrowed from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, seen recently in Ashland. Highly recommend it. I hope the expression can be used this way, and doesn't just refer to sex...)