Thomas E. Foran, the U.S. Attorney for northern Illinois, says Chicago police have shown "wonderful discipline" in their handling of the Lincoln Park demonstrators during the Democratic Party's National Convention.

Foran is either stupid or a liar.

Or maybe he's been wandering around in the wrong park.

Chicago's police, for his information, have been beating innocent people with, to coin a phrase, reckless abandon.

I have always been under the impression–and maybe Foran can enlighten me–that when three or four policemen beat someone bloody, it should be for something serious enough to require an arrest.

They didn't arrest John Linstead, a Daily News reporter, after they split his scalp, clotted the blood in his leg, and left him lying in the street.

The club-swingers were so modest they didn't wear name tags or badges. Their modesty is much like that of the thief who wears a mask.

In general, the biggest threat to law and order in the last week has been the Chicago Police Department.

They have made the streets on the Near North Side unsafe for law-abiding citizens.

I've lived in this city all of my life. I've never been robbed, mugged, or seriously threatened. I've walked in Negro ghettos and tough white neighborhoods–even the mayor's racist neighborhood.

The only time I've run to save my hide was Monday night. A group of Chicago police were after me. My crime was watching when they beat somebody who didn't seem to deserve it.