Discussion of The Denver Doo Doo Accord is burning up the web-o-sphere! Read about it at Michelle Malkin's blog, the Denver Post, 5280 Magazine's blog, the Slapstick Politics blog, and, of course, The Drunkablog.
Also, The Rocky Mountain News' story about the accord that was placed on the paper's site Monday has been replaced with an updated version that includes no mention of the accord. (Not that they credited Westword in the original anyway.) But we have the text from it after the jump.
Sign on to the accord here.
DNC protesters offer Denver a "doo doo" treaty
By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
Originally published 01:38 p.m., August 4, 2008 Updated 03:49 p.m., August 4, 2008
Representatives of three groups planning protests during the Democratic National Convention will be signing what they're calling a "Doo Doo Accord" in advance of a City Council meeting where an ordinance that would ban protesters from carrying certain items, such as buckets of feces, is up for final consideration.
The groups — Unconventional Denver, Re-create 68 Alliance and the Alliance for Real Democracy — are calling the accord a "Non-Pooliferation Treaty."
"We're hoping this puts everything poo-related behind us so that we can focus on the real issue, which is the fact that the Democrats are part of a crappy system oppresses and coerces communities into a capitalist economy and undemocratic government," Ben Yager, a member of Unconventional Denver, a group of self-described anarchists, said in a statement.
After they sign the accord, the groups said they will attend tonight's council meeting and "offer the city the opportunity to sign on so that all sides are in agreement and can move beyond the constipating public discourse on feces and urine."
Protesters opposing an ordinance that would prohibit people from carrying items that could block access or deter police during the DNC are also planning to express their opposition with theatrics when the council takes up the ordinance on final consideration.
The ordinance would make it illegal to carry items such as chains, padlocks and noxious substances, such as buckets of urine and so-called feces bombs, if the intent is to use them to obstruct streets, sidewalks, buildings or emergency equipment, or hinder crowd control measures.
"I think some people are just going to talk about how foolish (the ordinance) is, and I think some people will want to have like a symbolic showing of how foolish it is," Glenn Spagnuolo, an organizer with the Re-create 68, said this morning.
When Spagnuolo was asked if that included bottles of what looked like urine, he said: "We're a law-abiding group, and if (a bottle of urine is) going to be illegal, we need to turn it in somewhere."
However, Spagnuolo said, the protesters' plans for theatrics "may get changed because of security, but that's the intention."
"Folks may be wanting to make sure that they abide by the laws in the city of Denver and may be asking the City Council where they should be turning their urine in that they've been storing up, apparently," Spagnuolo said.
Spagnuolo was referring to a story about the ordinance that appeared in the New York Post in which Councilman Doug Linkhart was quoted as saying that a source told him that he knew of a home where protesters were storing urine in preparation for the DNC, which runs from Aug. 25-28.
Spagnuolo said he wants Linkhart to disclose his source. He called Linkhart's comments "irresponsible and slanderous."
"We want an apology or he should resign from being a council member (for) engaging in this type of fear mongering in our community," he said.
Linkhart confirmed the report, but he said he didn't have first-hand knowledge that protesters were storing urine.
"I was just quoting a firefighter," Linkhart said. "I trust him. Don't we all trust firefighters?" The council is holding a one-hour courtesy public hearing on the ordinance. The council meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m., is in Room 450 of the City and County Building downtown.
