the prisoner exchange

They are getting us down. To stay sane I want to lighten up a little bit…

Yesterday we took our George and Dick puppets on a long walk to the county jail to offer a prisoner exchange for the 200 plus people who had been arrested the day before.

That was me inside of the Cheney costume flicking off the camera.  Along the way we were cheered by many bystanders and glared at by some.  We stopped outside of Comedy Central’s RNC headquarters to see if Jon Stewart would send a correspondent to accompany us.  We received no response except jokes form the security guard.  At the front of the jail we were met mostly by riot police and national guard, when a couple dozen of them rallied to get in our way.  They looked too serious for our jokes and when we thought they might arrest us we gave up and walked home, because no cabs would pick us up.   It’s tough being a white collar criminal these days.

This morning Evan (Nick’s father) and Mark, both of whom traveled from Vashon to join us this week, entered the house laughing.  Evidently they had been at a local venue having a beer last night when the building was surrounded by police.  It is the kind of place where activists and artists like to kick back. Outside, while trying to leave, the police asked to search the truck that we carry all of our puppets in.  Evan and Mark explained that they only had puppets in the back.  The police poked around a bit and then said “OK, you guys are fine.”

The kicker was an article in the Twin Cities Pioneer Press this morning in which the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office tried to explain the raids this week by saying that they were at the culmination of uncovering a year long conspiracy to disrupt the RNC that included among other things to-absurd-to-be-true the use of large puppets to store dangerous materials to be used in the street.  And the most dangerous elements, they imply, are groups from out of town.

Wait a minute…WHAT?  Officers you couldn’t be serious, could you?

And for some even less serious news, have a look at yesterday’s dispatch from inside the convention.