Sadly, there is nothing new about the outrageous police conduct in and around the GOP convention. Reports of protesters being attacked, informants placed in their ranks, a country at war in Iraq, warring on anti-war protesters at home...As we begin to approach the 50th anniversary of the war in Vietnam, it feels like deja vu right down to the candidate the GOP will nominate this week -- a man who spent his youth training to bomb cities in South East Asia and still believes we should have done more of it.

Also sadly, there is nothing new about a hurricane striking the Gulf coast in and around New Orleans on Labor Day weekend. For all the thumbs up the evacuation plan has received from the media there were still homeless and poor people left stranded. And while most levees stood, the reality is, the plan to rebuild and reinforce the levees isn't set to be completed until 2011, a reminder of the low priority given a region known for hosting parties, and poverty.

From bad to worse, from the streets of Minneapolis to the Gulf shores our government is acting shamefully. Remember 1972? McGovern v. Nixon? A dove versus a hawk. A protestor versus a thug. We are there, again. War and violence have been an issue in every American election of the past 75 years. Those who've served as our public conscience throughout have always been silenced and stereotyped and beaten. It's our chance to stand together.

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