The Olympian is on the ground, but they are not as unbiased a source as you might think, and have failed to report on alot of the over the top use of violence against the protesters by police. Some of the protesters have made alot of mistakes and are not by any means all innocent bystanders, but the majority are exercising peaceful, if obstructionist means, as is their right. It’s a difficult situation here. The politicians are out of reach and on the other side of the country from us. Interrupting the flow of materials into and out of Ft. Lewis is the only local means of making this occupation more socially and financially costly to them.

I don’t know how effective they are being, and I certainly am not condoning any of the violence or intimidation - on either side of the lines - but having watched four years of a country sitting on its butt doing nothing about this horrendous occupation it is refreshing to see someone somewhere standing in the middle of it putting themselves physically on the line to say ‘this has to stop’.

Further, the Olympian staff certainly is on the ground, and they’ve reported considerable mindless vandalism, plus some physical intimidation of reporters and photographers by the “protesters.” The Olympian is on our side on this issue, but even if it weren’t there’s no excuse for that.

A good point was made on a local blog that we recently had elections for Port Commissioner. What did the activist crowd do to ensure an anti-occupation Commissioner was put in place? Someone who could fight to keep this crap out of our community. No one had even thought of it. I guarantee that is going to be hottest local race going in a few years if this occupation continues.

Sometimes things seem inexplicable until you really look at what’s happening on the ground, and suddenly it makes sense. Instead of looking at what the media is saying about the protesters, check what they are saying to the community.

You’re right, I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility. So far, though, I think that this sort of thing can be adequately explained by stupidity, or at least really poorly thought-out zeal. I have a hard time crediting modern “conservatives” with this level of subtlety.

IIRC there was plenty of agent-provacateuring in the runup to the ‘72 election, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it’s happening again.

The boneheaded choice of target is something only a moron or a conservabot could come up with. (But I repeat myself.)

I always referred to the perpetrators as “Asshole Activists” and told them “do me a favor and don’t be on my side.”