21st Century Protesting

It's not easy to protest these days in the U.S. - you're likely to be confined to a protest area that's a quarter-mile or more from your target, while supporters of the Bush regime/administration are allowed to get much closer to the president. Dissent may as well be a four-letter word to 'W'. That's why I was surprised that D.C. cops and the Secret Service let a small group of protesters - waving signs about religious freedom for Vietnam and Bush not negotiating with dictators - congregate in front of the Mayflower Hotel's side entrance (which is almost directly below my office window). These are the doors through which they shuttle VIPs such as Ariel Sharon when they're at the Mayflower.

Of course, they were later moved to the end of the block. And despite being on my way to 30, I'm not that old that I could recognize this flag, which protesters were waving, without some online searching. Perhaps the Vietnamese prime minister, who is meeting with our beloved president, is within the hotel?

They have now been moved around the corner, almost out of my line of vision, so that they can't even see the Mayflower doors. This is a group of 15-20 obviously dangerous protesters, waving menacing-looking flags. Ah, Democracy!

(You've no doubt noticed that any mention of the president includes an appropriate change in font size. I've decided that he just doesn't deserve the full-sized font when mentioned in my blog. I apologize if this makes it difficult to read, but it's the price that must be paid for freedom.)