Only YOU...

As I write this, the annual Rainbow Family Gathering is being set upon by US Forest Service and other police forces in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest for infractions such as gathering without a permit and having muddy license plates.



Women are being chased, thrown to the ground and dragged by USFS cops on horseback, charging through Rainbow Family camps, video cameras are being seized and smashed by USFS cops -- even as the Forest Service celebrates its 100th anniversary with a big PR exhibit on the National Mall, at the Smithsonian's annual Festival Of American Folklife.

Roads are being blockaded in and out of the Monongahela National Forest by US Forest Service police, and gatherers are being ticketed en masse; the USFS has set up an impromptu "court" at a "Nature Center" in Monongahela.

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The Colonist: Knocking the Cover Off It for DC Statehood

So, anyway, just to recap: we pay more taxes here in DC than many actual states, and have lost far more citizens in places like Vietnam and Iraq. For many a decade now, this city, its citizens and its alleged government have been the Feds' test bed for its policies in places like El Salvador, Palestine, and Baghdad, and the IMF/WorldBank's policies in places like Indonesia and Africa.



No control over our budget, no ability to collect taxes on outfits like the World Bank, or on all the suburban yahoos who roll across the river to Washington Nationals home games and kiss off and spit on any folks from DC who show up to publicly speak out on this predicament.

And, oh, yeah; it's just been leaked that the current budget estimate for shoving an entire neighborhood across the river and building a brand-new monstrous stadium for the ex-Montreal Expos to continue to play suck-ass ball in is now in the billion -- with a "B" -- dollar "ballpark".

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