Minneapolis does not win the "Best Host" award for its accommodation of out-of-town guests; even prominent journalists, like Amy Goodman, are being shown less than hospitable treatment at the Convention.

Goodman, investigative journalist and host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! program, was handcuffed and hauled off at the RNC for going to check on her producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar after hearing rumors that they had been detained. All three were covering the anti-war protests, which lead to more than 250 arrests as of last night.

But the arrests started even before the republican party started partying; many preemptive arrests were made of journalists and activists, like the NYC group I-Witness Video, which gained renown when they used video footage to expose police misconduct and perjury at the 2004 RNC, consequently overturning hundreds of arrests on video evidence. Needless to say, they're not on the Convention's good side, affirmed when police broke into their house from the neighboring duplex on a fishy warrant in order to intimidate and detain them.

While we're thankful every day for the civil liberties we do have as Americans, we can't help but think, doesn't this whole 'intimidating and arresting journalists who are documenting dissent' thing sound eerily familiar? Beijing Olympics, anyone?

Photo: Did this happen in Denver? We must have been too busy composting to notice.

UPDATE: Retrospective report: Protesters at the DNC weren't spared; Amy Goodman herself reported from the convention on 91 arrests and some pepper-spray action.