The President (or the President-Elect) won't think you don't love him if you get out in the streets and demonstrate. Sometimes he needs that "pressure" to get Congress's attention and action. When the AFL and CIO asked Roosevelt for what became the Wagner Act, he said "Go in the streets and make me do it." And they did. When Martin Luther King asked Kennedy for the Civil Rights Act, JFK said "I have an election coming up. I can't initiate this Act. Make me do it." So King and his people went to Birmingham and got busy. We all love Obama to pieces, but he might appreciate a little heat from us now and then. Walter Ebmeyer. www.richaredifferent.wordpress.com.

Thousands of people attend anti-war demonstrations in US
New York, Jan 28, IRNA

US-Iraq-Demonstration
Thousands of people on Saturday staged demonstration in several American cities, including the capital, in protest at war-mongering policies of the US President George W Bush.

The demonstrators called for an end to Bush's approach toward the war in Iraq and stressed the need for urgent return of the American troops to their home country.

The demonstrators shouted slogans such as, "We do not want another Vietnam".

In Washington, the crowd heard speeches by more than a dozen veterans, anti-war activists, religious leaders, Hollywood celebrities and political leaders like Jesse Jackson, a longtime African-American civil rights activist . . .  Read more…

Greensboro, North Carolina has a rather shaky history when it comes to police-protester relations. The cops apparently couldn't decide who they disliked more in 1979 when a Kluxer/NeoNazi group went up against the Communist Worker's Party and stood back to observe while nine people were shot dead. But oh they're right on the ball when Dear Leader's tranquil soul might be disturbed:

...members [of The World Can't Wait NC] clashed with police during a downtown protest against President Bush in January. Seven protesters were arrested at the rally after they confronted plainclothes officers with the Criminal Intelligence Division who were photographing protesters and the license plates of cars. The protesters faced a variety of charges, including assaulting a public official, inciting a riot and carrying a concealed weapon.

So the ACLU has filed suit to find out just exactly what written guidelines are in place telling cops what to do in such circumstances. Turns out....there aren't any. The policy, it appears, is Make Shit Up As You Go Along. Read more…