Long, Hot Summer

The Dowbrigade has never been afraid to admit he was wrong, which is a good thing
as this happens so frequently that otherwise he would live in a constant
state of fear. In our first posting on Blogging
the Conventions we assumed
that the Democratic version, in Boston, would be MUCH more interesting
than the Republican one, in New York.

Heavens! We were forgetting the other side of the equation, and after
noting that the most interesting blog stories would probably involve
juxtaposing the action and attitudes on the convention floor with the
corresponding
actions and attitudes of the protesters on the streets. Shame on us.

While Boston police are warily watching the anarchist organizers holding
nonviolent protest training sessions, how to get arrested without getting
hurt, protest tactics and street theater, the morality plays of our times, and
predicting that the hundreds of protesters will probably not want to
remain in designated "protest ghettos", in New York City, according to
the New
York Times, police are bracing for 500,000 to
a million organized and angry Americans on the streets
of the Big Apple at the end of August.

Obviously, the Republican Convention is going to be the place to be this
summer. Although the act on the convention floor will probably be completely
choreographed and predictable, the PROTESTS will be much more focused
and forceful. All the principle agents of evil will be there! Dick Cheney!
John Ashcroft! Karl Rove! 17 members of the Bush family! George Steinbrenner!

And a million crazed and outraged citizens running wild in the steaming
streets of the Big Apple, with every news outlet in the civilized world
covering the the story like makeup on Tammy Faye. We’re there, dude.

So, as we suggested at last Thursday’s Meeting, we need to start arranging
Mutual Blogging Services Swaps between New Yorkers and Bostonians. You
crash with us in July, visa versa a month later in August.  Net
access, Wi-Fi hotspots, sources and secrets could be exchanged. Anyone
interested?

Though the Police Department and many protest organizers have been
reluctant to predict how many people will ultimately turn out for protests,
estimates have ranged from 500,000 people to a million.

Six months before any delegate is to take a seat at Madison Square Garden, it
is clear that many groups are already planning strategy and activities. Labor
unions, environmentalists, self-declared anarchists and others who merely label
themselves as anti-Bush or anti-Republican are making plans to turn out. Barely
a week passes without several planning sessions in New York, focusing on everything
from housing and tactics to legal strategy and what to expect in interactions
with the police.

from the New York Times