8/20/2004 09:22:06 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

For the upcoming Republican National Convention, the NYPD have decided to pioneer advances in crowd control

The department recently bought two of the 45-pound acoustic sound machines for $35,000 apiece, and plans to mount them on Humvees posted outside Madison Square Garden. It would mark the first time the instrument — which can beam sounds for 300 yards or more — has been used by a civilian force.

The protester's response, (be sure to read it with the appropriate whining lisp)

Still, Bill Dobbs of United for Peace and Justice, which has planned a massive anti-war demonstration on the eve of the convention, called the sound system "a potential Big Brother nightmare."

Police "are trying to use technology and machinery to control every aspect of life on the street, rather than relax a little and let a part of democratic society unfold," he said.

This is clearly a person who a) has never even read 1984, and ought to refrain from "Big Brother" references, and b) thinks that technology allowing for clear and distant communication somehow impedes freedom. Both are interesting assessments from someone representing a communist front group (specifically, the Communist Party - Maryland, Communist Party - New York, Communist Party- Central Indiana, and Communist Party USA).

Mr. Dobbs must be really, really upset at the telephone and what it has done for freedom. Doubly so with things such as walkie talkies and smoke signals (which have the added benefit of polluting the air).

The groups represented by United for Peace and Justice are the heirs of the old-style socialists and communists deposed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The difference is their potential for power, not their desire for it. Where Lenin's riot tactics worked, and the Bolsheviks were able to rise out of the murky soup of post-imperial politics in Russia and seize control of the government, the groups protesting in New York are destined to fail. The US government is strong, and legitimate, and these groups are intimidated by powerful bullhorns.

Make no mistake that these people's goal is the complete overthrow of the United States government. When they speak of regime change, they are talking about the United States Constitution, not the George W. Bush presidency. They should not be allowed to fester and gain strength anywhere, especially not in New York, the financial center of capitalism, the economic ideology the member groups of United for Peace and Justice are sworn to destroy.

|||109301370635301669|||Protesting Guinea Pigs