Century City is the Qattar of Los Angeles, an expensive inhospitable island fortress of concrete rising out of the surrounding suburban-style sea of tree-lined streets and cul-de-sacs, protected by their permit-only parking signs. G.W. Bush is hardly the first politician to appreciate these anti-democratic amenities, but as America's first anti-elected "President" he is clearly the most appropriate to ever perch here.

Everything about the location screams out against the politics of masses and the politics of the street. If one could raise an entire generation in surroundings like this, the spiritual heirs of B.F. Skinner must surely believe, then it would be possible to entirely erase all memory that plutocracy and democracy are not one, but are in fact the bitterest of enemies. A raucous, diverse, but too-small band of serveral hundred protesters gathered there today to keep the memory of that enmity alive. There were people of all persuasions from anarchist, and socialist through several shades of green on into Democrats and Libertarians and even some stealth republicans trying to tout a local candidate-without mentioning party affiliation.

The signs, proclaimed a diversity of causes and slogans-"No More Scorched Earth Politics," "Stop Nuclear Power," "Corrupt Idiot," "No Drilling in Eel River Basin," "Green Power, Clean Power," "Supreme Injustices," No More Tax Cuts for the Rich," "Bush Get Out" (Against a hand-drawn outline map of California), "Stop Bush" (on a red octagon), "Save The Earth-Impeach the Toxic Texan & His Gang," "No Nukes, No Coal, No Diesel, No Drilling," "Bush=Fraud & Greed," "Spills Kill-End Offshore Drilling," "See What Happens When 2 Oil Men Run the Country," "Bush, Cheney: Fossile Fools," "Extortion Texas Style," Wake Up America, Bush Stole the Election," "We'll Move On When bush Moves Out," "Hail to the Thief," "Gray Davis Is A Traitor," Power to the People," "No Nukes," Money For Education, Not Yachts," "Save Our Roadless Areas," "Stop Price Gouging By Bush Energy Cronies," "Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal-It's All One Attack," "All Your Hemisphere Are Belong To Us," "Bipartisan? Yeah, Right!" "One Nation Under Fraud-Florida, Electile Dysfunction," and many more. There was even one with a footnoted dictionary definition included: "Bush Energy Policy Is Archaic* (* Archaic-old fashioned, pertaining to more primitive or ancient times).

In time it became clear that the police were unconstitutionally preventing protesters from occupying the sidewalk outside the hotel where Bush was to be. (Security concerns *can* be used to close such a sidewalk, but not to keep protesters out while letting other pedestrians use the sidewalk.) A series of skirmishes ensued, including one in which James Lafferty was ticketed while trying to get the police to explain their actions. Lafferty, the Executive Director of the Lawyers Guild, is a member of the legal observer team and was wearing his identifying green hat at the time.

In another incident, James Rowland Roberts of Pomona was given a ticket for being about a a foot and a half off of a curb, at a time when a number of officers were shoving people around and preventing them from using cross-walks. I was at first prevented from getting over to see what was happening with Roberts. Two police officers, badges #13832 and 2792, both prevented me from crossing on a green light, offering no explanation whatever for their actions in preventing me from using the public streets.

Finally, Lafferty, who had continued to negotiate in an amazingly calm and good-natured manner, organized a test contingent of demonstrators, who entered the sidewalk in front of the hotel in the midst of three busloads of captive corporate reporters, who were being herded into the hotel along the same sidewalk. The vast bulk of demonstrators soon followed, and it was immediately obvious that all the previous police restrictions were pointless and indefensible. There was no danger to anyone or anything, except the illusion that all is well in America and the people couldn't care less.

But police weren't quite finished. An announcement came that the motorcade was leaving from a side entrance. Most demonstrators went around the side to confront it as it left. At first the police simply blocked off the driveway, not allowing any pedestrians to walk past. But then, without explanation they demanded that everyone move back about 40 feet or so, to a point even with a stairway that had no rational relationship to anything. Given the erratic and unconstitutional behavior of the police throughout the day, this order seemed arbitrary and unlawful on its face, and the crowd, with this reporter on the front line, resisted the order, giving way only slowly and grudgingly. Two police officers hit me with their batons in the process. Officer Strogatz (Badge# 11296) hit me first several times in the ribs with his baton lengthwise, followed by officer Hall (Badge# 13945) who hit me four or five times with the end of her baton. Another officer, possibly officer Flores (Badge #12842) tore a "Stop Bush" sign from my hands and tossed it on the ground. He was not arrested for petty theft or ticketed for littering.

Unfortunately, I was parked some blocks away on Olympic, which has no parking after 3 PM, so I was unable to stay for the end.

I'm especially elated over the Impeachment sign, a fore-telling sign of the looming impeachment of shrub whose Bush league war crimes against our environment and humanity do meet the intended Constitutional standards of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Id like to start in on those P.I.Gs you mentioned,but,no drilling...OK.

Ill go light a fire under a bush,instead.

I was at the Century City anti-Bush protest today. One thing that impressed me was the wide range of groups which stood together on the Avenue of Stars without ideological bickering among themselves. Protesters are realizing that the real enemy is not each other but the system. This is a harbinger of much bigger protests to come.

And the corporate media said someone infiltrated the "event" going on inside. I am elated at the warm welcome we were able to give our appointed president upon his first visit to our fine city.

The cops where I was didn't hassle anyone, but I've seen LAPD better organized at past protests in The Hotel Reagan Built.

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