Leaving politics out of it, the topic here is the size of a police force necessary to protect the public from criminals. This group advocates eliminating all police. Whether we like it or not, police are needed in our society. I have a real problem with any group that exhibits this kind of hatred for all authority. Methinks they protest too much.

to put it out blatantly i really do despise liberals, but i also despise a political system of liberal vs conservative.

i think the boxing in of peoples desires in such a way that creates a dichotomy is really counter productive. i am as opposed to obama as i was to bush and clinton and other ush and reagan. but i also understand that the president only has so much power.

it seems as if ya'll would be interested in maybe me elaborating on the ideas that me, and many of the people i consider my comrades, have.

as you have obviously read in our "what we are about" section of our newspaper, we are anti capitalist. tis does not mean that we are leninists, marxists, stalinists or what have you. i do believe in collectivizing, but not in a manner that is enforced by a larger entity such as the workers vanguard of the bolshevik revolution. i believe in the concept of free association, whereas an individual has the ability to associate with whichever life they choose. capitalism does not offer this choice, you pay to sleep, pay to stand, there is no option.

our critique is not naive, nor is it uneducated. i think that this tends to be the biggest farce about anarchists, that we are uneducated, immature or some dirty punks looking for the next high. i do not do drugs, i drink a beer here and there and my self education about anarchism, class struggle and self empowerment is through lived experience and study.

the reason i am so polite on this board is because i don't want to pre judge. there are certain comments made on this board and positons that seem to be held in common that i find to be atrocious but i would also like to create a discourse, even with those of you who may see what we want as a threat to your desires.

we are anti capitalist, this is not to say that we are anti work. if we do talk badly of work it merely means the concept of selling your time (your life) as a commodity. being a member of the working class i do know the value of a hard days work but i also know the disempowerment of management structures that ,since the 30's, have been restructured in such ways as to make it very hard for workers to have any clout in the workspace.

this is not the only problem. whether or not you will believe it, the nieghborhoods that i have populated since i was young have been centers of police harassment. if you believe this to be liberal posturing for an anti police ACLU claim,i would highly suggest you mull over the fact that we are not liberals and feel a large disconnection with the left.

in antioch, and many other places, it is standard for police to use you psychological wordplay to put themselves in a position to search you, enter your home and intimidate you. i have seen this happen in my neighborhood and it has happened to me. when you voice that you know your rights, or do not consent to a search, the most common response by officers is "what are you a lawyer? sit on the curb!". as they begin to tear through your belongings.

there have been simple noise complaints that turn into police forcibly entering a house with no probable cause and roughing up friends of mine. nobodys makes complaints to the department because they know it wont go anywhere.

i agree we cant live in a utopia, and i cant define what anarchism would look like, because it takes a collection of people to decide for themselves, i cannot implement horizontalism.

while we cant live in a utopia i will also bring up the fact that the FEW ,and very mild, accounts i have given about the police in general creates fuel for a huge distrust and dislike of police in this city especially. now multiply these accounts and how many times they may occur a day. so long as the police remain protectors of this system, and this system is characterized by splits between classes, there will be tension between those who are dispossesed at the bottom of this pyramid, and those on top. if capitalism is to exist we all must agree that it will continue to create poor people, middle class and upperclass people. if this happens tensions will continue to exist.

and 4antioch, i think we wouldnt be needed if the constitution was followed, but what we would also need is the FREEDOM to control our own neighborhoods. i think that you ,if you are arne simonsen (which if you are we definitely arent going to agree on many things), can understand the faith that has been lossed in the political arena by working class folks. its all bureaucracy and little ground is gained and party lines are being held its just a huge spectacle that i would never want to be involved in.

we honestly just want to build power within our community, which is not all of antioch. i have very little commonality with many of the folks in this town and i realize that economically and culturally i have affinity with the people around me. this is what is important to me. we dont want to be considered some political protest group, because protesting gets so little done and is a tactic that belngs mostly to code pink and the rest of the hippies.

it seems as if the world is changin even more and if you look at recent events in greece, france and other countries you will see what our future has in store for us. the stability of the 90's and early 2000's (generally speaking because the whole time there were still poor and working class people living pay check to pay check long before all of these political talking heads started crying about it) is gone. infinite growth if not possible on a finite planet. what we simply recognize is that the repressive actions of government are the only thing stopping this society from destroying itself. the biggest question is that: if society has come to this current state, would it be so bad if we began to dismantle that which we do not need? if we localized our resistance, our livelihoods and our desires.

what we want is the ultimate form of social libertarianism, rather than small government we want the localized control of our own lives.

@denver,

arnie did not loose, he got the trust of almost a third of antioch voters. the real losers is the community of antioch, since the 4 council members ignored the fact of 1/3 of the antioch votes, by selecting that lady parsons. this lady had no vote of any of the antioch people.

i wonder at what time she starts "finding" the money she promised to find.

and a big shame on all of the 4 council. they do not represent the interest of the antioch people.

when will the mayor start running the city? when will he be the "leader" he thought he is? rocha and moore running the show, and he is just sitting there starring holes in the wall.

even i thought at times our old major freitag was to aggressive, now i miss him allready.

i also wonder at what point the council will discuss in public where cuts have to be made. i would like to hear their position on those issues. no behind doors meetings anymore.

where is a list of the positions laid off, and what dollar amounts are "saved"?

we need to

sell the animal shelter

sell the water park

sell the marina

stop building that community center. that's a financial disaster in the making

any and all merchandise bought for the city only at antioch businesses

any and all projects awarded only to antioch businesses

the businesses who get an project awarded from the city, have to have antioch employees and residents only.

new hires for the city gov. need to be antioch residents only.

cut at least 50% of the supervisors, superintendents.

there are hundredths of thousands of dollars for consulting service in the proposed budget. no more consulting services.

no cuts for police

no cuts for services to antioch residents

create a volunteer organizer position

hire volunteers who jump in and help out to maintain all of our services

(i volunteer a day or two a month, to keep services to antioch residents going) how hard can it be to take a waterbill payment, or ride a riding lawnmover in a park...)

if those council members don't start to get active and start to represent the citizen of antioch, they need to be recalled.