"At Both Conventions, a Band Salutes Anarchy" is the attention grabbing headline the New York Times went with today, but that's not the only conclusion you could draw from the high profile role that Rage Against The Machine took in Denver and St. Paul. A longterm commitment to social justice is more the way I'd put it, although I see the false Anarchists! bugaboo is getting better traction in the mainstream press. On the bright side, at least the public demonstrations are finally getting some ink in newspapers outside of Minneapolis

Check out Rage guitarist Tom Morello, in this interview conducted a few months ago as we were just getting started here at GRITtv.

Morello was in the middle of his Axis of Justice tour, donating box office proceeds to local issues at every stop -- Road Recovery, Sweet Home New Orleans, Amnesty International, Iraq Veterans Against the War.

From mpetersonMN on YouTube, here's the Rage Against The Machine acapella performance outside the state capital building in Minnesota. The band was kept from the stage by law enforcement, so they waded into the sea of people in front of the stage and rocked the house through a megaphone. Things wind up with a rousing group chant of "f* you, I won't do what you tell me."

Then, most of the crowd merged with the Poor People's March; what happened next is reported here. Hint: lots of tear gas.

Jay Smooth
of Ill Doctrine
on Sarah Palin and
Hateration in the GOP dancerie...

Smooth is founder of New York's longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI's Underground Railroad.

A report published in the Minnesota Independent details the continued assault on peace activists and protesters in St. Paul. As the convention came to a close some three hundred protesters were arrested including a number of journalists and photographers. In addition, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism under Minnesota's version of the Federal Patriot Act.

Join Laura Flanders, Naomi Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Flanders, Roberto Lovato, and Malia Lazu on Saturday, September 13 at Cooper Union in NYC for a discussion of what's at stake in the 2008 election.

Chris Hedges, Elizabeth Holtzman, John MacArthur, and Judith LeBlanc on the Democratic Party and whether it is time to break ranks.

Dave Zirin, author of A People's History of Sports on sports, politics, and everything in between.

Originally broadcast live 8/28/2008 from Denver CO on the last night of the DNC, Free Speech TV "Crashing The Party" Laura's cohost is Ashara Ekundayo, Free Speech TV's The Activist Studio. Our panel is INCITE!'s Lisa Calderon, Steve Cobble, from the Institute for Policy Studies, and Shireen Mitchell of Digital Sisters.

Monique Harden of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights on why governmental accountability has been missing from the 9/11 and Katrina recovery efforts.

Last night in what may be his final major speech Bush took a swipe at the “angry Left,” saying that if the Hanoi Hilton could not break McCain’s resolve, “you can be sure the angry Left never will.” Given just how unpopular Bush is, the angry Left refers to nearly 80 percent of the population.

In selecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain is dusting off an old GOP tool: the estrogen guard. Slap a friendly, female face on a hard core-conservative political platform, and pray to the heavens that he pundits and the public will only talk about gender. It worked for George W.