Glenn Greenwald reports:

Beginning last night, St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 -- with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas canisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and balconies. Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and injured.

... Perhaps most extraordinarily, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now -- the radio and TV broadcaster who has been a working journalist for close to 20 years -- was arrested on the street and charged with "conspiracy to riot." Audio of her arrest, which truly shocked and angered the crowd of observers, is here. I just attended a Press Conference with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief John M. Harrington and -- after they boasted of how "restrained" their police actions were -- asked about the journalists and lawyers who had been detained and/or arrested both today and over the weekend. They said they wouldn't give any information about journalists who had been arrested today, though they said they believed that "one journalist" had been, and that she "was a participant in the riots, not simply a non-participant."

Tear gas has also been used.

Do you think maybe that events in St. Paul would have gotten more attention already if we weren't all distracted by the Palin circus show?

Update: Amy has been released, but her two producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, are still being held.

"I was down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when I heard that two of our producers had been arrested," said Goodman. "I ran down to Jackson and 7th Street, where the police had moved in."

Goodman said that when she ran up to find out what was going on, she was also arrested.

"They seriously manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. The top ID [at the convention] is to get on the floor and the Secret Service ripped that off me. I had my Democracy Now! ID too. I was clearly a reporter."

Goodman, who was released after being charged with a misdemeanor, said that Salazar had been hurt in the face, while Kouddous had been thrown up against a wall and hurt his elbow.

"Nicole told me that as they moved in on three sides, she asked them 'How do I get away from this?' and they jumped on her."

Both Kouddous and Salazar could be held for up to 36 hours.

"One of the police kept shouting at me 'Shut up, shut up," she said. "It was extremely threatening."

Update 2: Democracy Now! reports that both Kouddous and Salazar have now been released too. (H/t Kat)

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"The Sting" was one of those vinyls that I begged for and got some long-ago Christmas because the music was so tasty. Years come and go, and palates change, but striking up a little Scott Joplin can always make me smile.

His music has aged so well and still caresses the ear so easily that it's hard to believe it was almost exactly 115 years ago -- in a spot not very far away from where I am right now -- that Scott Joplin began to introduce himself to the wider world by playing outside the midway of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where (the story goes) his quieter music was often drowned out by John Phillip Sousa marches being performed by eight million piece brass bands.

Who knew it translated so well to guitar?

"The Entertainer" composed by Scott Joplin and played by Chet Atkins. In your face, Sousa!

Q: What do rightwing blogger John Hawkins and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann have in common?

A: Both have been bumped from covering the Republican convention.

Hawkins didn't get his application for media credentials approved, he says because of critical posts he has written which irritated the McCain campaign, particularly on immigration. AP reports that Olbermann has been re-assigned.

Keith Olbermann was pulled from St. Paul to anchor MSNBC's storm coverage from New York, with his seat beside Chris Matthews filled by David Gregory. Capus said political considerations had nothing to do with that move; Olbermann has been sharply critical of the GOP.

You believe that, right? Sounds to me like the McCain campaign only wants McFournier types in attendance.

Noel Sheppard at the rightwing News Busters site is oh-so disappointed about Olbermann's absence. So just to cheer him up here's some classic Keith from January -

I was asked to participate in E Entertainment's two hour documentary called 15 Most Shocking Political Sex Scandals at 5/8 PST-EST and 9:30/12:30 PST-EST tonight and I'm sure throughout the week. It was really fun to do and there are a lot of great progressive voices appearing on the special like---Lane Hudson, Rachel Maddow, Cenk, and Stephanie Miller too. I was able to talk about our very special friends like Jeff Gannon, Larry Craig, Clarence Thomas and a few others.

David Walker of NOLA has some more details...

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

We didn't have time this past week to say good-bye to the MSNBC program The Verdict, which will be replaced post-RNC by Rachel Maddow. Dan Abrams signs off on his program with one last Bush League Justice on the completely un-Constitutional signing statement.

This is nice to see.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in the brief statement.

It's a great day when The Palins and McCains both agree that women do have the right to choose. Here's the McCain camp:

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

Talk To Action:

Last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC's spectacle in Denver, the country's most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.

CNP members have included Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Grover Norquist, Tim LaHaye and Paul Weyrich. At a secret 2000 meeting of the CNP, George W. Bush promised to nominate only pro-life judges; in 2004, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told the group, "The destiny of the nation is on the shoulders of the conservative movement." This year, thanks to Sarah Palin's selection, the movement may have finally aligned itself behind the campaign of John McCain.

Though Dobson and Perkins reportedly attended the recent CNP meeting in Minneapolis, a full roster of guests would be nearly impossible to require. The CNP deliberately operates below the radar, going to excessive lengths to obscure its activities. According to official CNP policy, "The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs before or after a meeting." Thus the CNP's Minneapolis gathering was free of reporters. I only learned of the get-together through an online commentary by one of its attendees, top Dobson/Focus on the Family flack Tom Minnery. (Watch it here)

Minnery described the mood as CNP members watched Palin accept her selection as John McCain's Vice Presidential pick. "I was standing in the back of a ballroom filled with largely Republicans who were hoping against hope that something would put excitement back into this campaign," Minnery said. "And I have to tell you, that speech by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin -- people were on their seats applauding, cheering, yelling... That room in Minneapolis watching on the television screen was electrified. I have not seen anything like it in a long time."

Like I said yesterday, it appears the price John McCain was willing to pay to those he called "agents of intolerance" in 2000 was the choice of his running mate. How maverick-y.

And now since the "experience" meme has been undermined by his choice, the new narrative is that the McCain/Palin ticket represents "reform", which the media is only too happy to pick up and run with.

But the question must be asked: How is it reform to pander to the Religious Right?

Best McCain Analogy Evah...

From the comments on the Just Because McCain Says He’s a “Maverick” Doesn’t Make It So post:

fiver Says :

A high school friend of mine had an old Maverick. It had lots of miles and was pretty run down. It didn't always start in the winter, and it overheated pretty easily if you drove it to far. On the highway it generally pulled to the right, but it could change direction in an instant - almost so fast you couldn't remember the original direction.

Of course it used a ton of gas, burnt oil and created clouds of smoke. But every time my buddy got pulled over, he'd tell the cops the car had been towed and spent a long time in the pound. For some reason, that excuse seemed to work all the time…

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

As I was trying to get from one end of Denver's airport to this past Friday after United Airlines screwed up my flight completely, I literally bumped into Michael Steele with coffee in my hand walking to the gate. The news of the Palin VP pick was just announced on TV and I asked him if he was voting for Obama now. He said, "No way." I yelled that McCain just lost the experience argument that he's been trying to use on Obama.

He picked up his walking pace as I continued.

"She's got plenty of experience," he said.

"And it was a move to try and win over some fictitious Hillary voters and appease the religious right, but one problem was that nobody knows who she is."

"Everyone knows her," he said.

"Really? In what way?" I asked. "Do you even know who she is?"

He then ran away...

photo from Yuri Gripas/Reuters, found at Mock, Paper, Scissors.

Our best wishes and good thoughts go out to those displaced by Hurricane Gustav.

Open thread below...