Check out Rob Morse's latest column in the San Francisco _Examiner_. It's available on-line at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/16/morse.dtl

Here's an excerpt from it:

"The Democratic Party brought its convention to a town that looks about

as democratic as Chile in the bad old days. As Hayden put it, 'They

declared martial law to allow people to protest.'

"It's very scary here, and not because of some nasty-looking kids with

spiky hair and black clothes.

"Downtown L.A. looks like it was captured by thousands of Robocops. The

sirens and helicopters never stop. Give the demonstrators credit. They

came to talk about injustice, and Los Angeles showed us what a police

state looks, feels and sounds like."