Just got back from a rally at the Phillip Burton (who had a thick FBI file just like Bella, "Big Hat, " Abzug) Federal Bldg. against the Patriot Act, with about 50 of the usual suspects, ACLU, ANSWER, NION, RCP both there as RCP and via their front group, "Refuse & Resist." The Refuse and Resist speaker had a Mao button on. For once, I kept my mouth shut, before I could her a ask a rude question about civil liberties of CCP cadre that joined during The Long March, pilloried during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as, "capitalist roaders." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/arts/design/07REVO.html , "Capturing the Cultural Revolution."
Henry Norr, the fired SF Chronicle reporter and an eloquent high schooler from Oakland High School, gave the best speeches. (BTW, Oakland High is hella' overcrowded, I used to sub there. And, it was in front of that school, that the bomb blew up in Judi Bari car. Also, Progressive Labor Party front group, "International Committee Against Racism, " once took a volatile situation among the student body and parents and made a full fledged riot out of it. Michael Pugliese