By: The Arch City Madman

We live in interesting times. The recess for members of Congress, especially the democratic members, has not been a relaxing time.  There have been numerous town hall meetings that have been testy in the eyes of the organizers including Arlen Spector (PA), Steve Kagen (WI), Russ Carnahan (MO)….I could go on and on.

Since I am The Arch City Madman, I have to highlight events going on here in the St. Louis region.  On the evening of August 6, Rep Russ Carnahan held the second of his Town Hall meetings to discuss the Health Care plan.  His first Town Hall meeting was not to his liking – those in the audience didn’t buy his bilge hook, line and sinker..  The August 6 meeting was a little different.

Mr. Carnahan called in some “help” from the SEIU union members to act as security guards (we all know how unruly the citizens can be) and “control the crowd.  There have been reports that there were reserved seats for those from the SEIU Union and “Organizing for America” (www.barakobama.com).  So much for concern of the opinion of average Americans.

An incident occurred outside of the venue after the event was over.  From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

St. Louis County police say six people were arrested. Two of those were arrested on suspicion of assault, one of resisting arrest and three on suspicion of committing peace disturbances. Carnahan was gone when the ruckus started.

Kenneth Gladney, a 38-year-old conservative activist from St. Louis, said he was attacked by some of those arrested as he handed out yellow flags with “Don’t tread on me” printed on them. He spoke to the Post-Dispatch from the emergency room of the St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, where he said he was waiting to be treated for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face that he suffered in the attack. Gladney, who is black, said one of his attackers, also a black man, used a racial slur against him before the attack started.

“It just seems there’s no freedom of speech without being attacked,” he said.

Below is the raw video of the incident:

The website Missourah Blog wrote this about the incident:

What I can tell is that a guy walking 10-20 feet ahead of us said to the guys in purple shirts (SEIU members, as I understand) “you attacked him!” and “you’re going to jail!”

The guy who said he was attacked (light brown short sleeve collared shirt) said he was just out there selling something (I think “Don’t Tread on Me” flags).

I think it is interesting that the instigators of the attack were not normal attendees to the event – they were from the SEIU Union.  I call them Union Thugs and I think the term fits well for this occasion.

Now that we have a black American being beaten by these Union Thugs, will this get press coverage?  I’ll guarantee that it would be a front page top of the news hour story if that same black American was beat by a group of conservatives.  I look forward to seeing if MSNBC decides to cover this story.

Over and Out.

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