RNC protest crosses Fort Road (Popularly known as West 7th Street)

Well, I have seen evidence of police brutality here...



but nothing, specifically, of protester unruliness, other than Tim Sherno claiming that the 5 Eyewitness News Team's camera had been spray-painted. Despite the running camera, there was no evidence of this crime in action. I haven't been much of a conspiracy-theorist since my college days, but...with all the video on the news and on youtube, is there any extant footage of protesters actually damaging any property or committing any crimes? I did witness Amy Goodman get arrested for asking police a question:



but other than that, I saw no malfeasance.

This from the New York Daily News:

Alan Rybak, a real estate agent from Lakeville, Minn., stood along the protest route carrying a sign that read "Support Our Troops."

"I'm here to support our troops and to tell (protesters) to get a job and go home," said Rybak, a Republican Party activist.

Hi, Alan! I'm a mom of three, a protester, and I have a job! Heyyyy, how 'bout that? The other people I knew at the protest were also gainfully employed. See, it was Labor Day, so a lot of folks had the day off and didn't actually have to be at their jobs. I, however, left the protest early because I had to work on Labor Day, since the RNC was in town and all. Oh...what's that? What were you doing on Labor Day? Oh, you had the day off and you decided to protest? Ohhhh, interesting! So you're a scumbag protester too? Maybe you should go back to Lakeville and work a little harder selling homes unethically, dickhead!

While on Fort Road, visit the Minnesota Children's Museum

Riot on the West End

"Riot"? Hmm. They make it sound so cool. Now that they put it that way, I'm kinda sad the crack house across the street is gone.

They neglected to mention that one of the perpetrators (the driver of the Cadillac) was charged with 5 counts of attempted murder. The end.

From Fort Road, signing off.

St. Paul Blog

New blog I dig, digable kids:

St. Paul Real Estate Blog Stuffs

I mean, it's not new, but it's new to me. As the title says, it is ostensibly related to real estate but also contains tidbits about all things St. Paul, including arcane facts about why the city is laid out in the odd way it is, and pictures of the West End and pictures of downtown from the West End. To the average man, downtown makes a more interesting photograph. Sort of. To the thinking man, the West End has an amount of intrigue matched only by a chapter of Dashiell Hammett.

Good-bye, Smokestack

Big news day. The old Xcel Energy coal plant smokestack was demolished. I feel the following video is a perfect way to capture the essence of the implosion and the West End in general:




We'll miss you, giant unsightly cement tower. Cough. Cough.

From Fort Road, signing off.

Beer sale

The young gentlemen across the street had another party last night. I heard one of them yell, "Dude, the liquor store in Lilydale's sellin' 24-packs of Coors for $16!" About eight gentlemen then piled into their vehicle and peeled off. Bravo, gentlemen, bravo!

A party; hot dogs

The people across the street from me had a little party today. Beer, hip-hop, grillin', and looking under the hood of their '80's Chevy. They were examining that car for a mighty long time.

Chris and Rob's Chicago Taste Authority opened in the former Villa Roma spot, Fort Road and Michigan Street (whose sign I featured here). Just so you know. I look forward to the opening of Jean-Luc and Pierre's Paris Taste Authority next month.

From Fort Road, signing off.