With the DNC starting today in Denver, I almost wish I were still there. I have no desire to see the likes of Obama (or any other Democrats, for that matter), but I would like to be around to feel the atmosphere, to lock myself into a “free speech” cage and to gaze longingly at the Pepsi Center as I realize that with hockey season about to start, I won’t be there to see the Avs play.

I don’t know if I’m just more in tune with the news from Denver or if the city of Denver is far more fascist than Minneapolis, but I haven’t heard about many civil rights violations coming out of Minneapolis with the Republican and Ron Paul conventions in town. What I do know is that the city of Denver has cracked down on civil rights, abolished freedom and basically given its already questionable police-state force unlimited authority to stomp dissenters.

In fact, according to the Westword, which is the Denver Metro area’s biggest independent newspaper, the cops were overheard at an anarchist protest proclaiming, “I just want to shoot these motherf*ckers so bad!” It was a nice show of restraint on the part of the police to allow the pesky anarchists to continue living through the end of the rally. Unfortunately for the anarchists, the Denver police-state doesn’t take kindly to people who don’t believe in the police state.

The march ended roughly four and a half hours after it began, when police were able to box in the anarchists on Stout Street between 15th and 16th, forcing nearly half of the group to escape into a parking garage. The people that ran into the garage were pursued by officers on motorcycle and, later, several white police vans were seen driving into the building.

If you’d like to keep up to date on the latest civil liberties abuses occurring in Denver during the DNC, keep an eye on the Westword.