Democratic National Convention 2008!

I'm pretty sure when crazy national shit like this happens in your backyard...you have an obligation to check it out. So, Co-Worker Michelle and I gathered our cameras and our senses of humor and took to the streets for a three hour walking tour of Capitol Hill and Downtown Denver!

When the first thing you see is cops in full on riot gear with shields over their faces - you know it's serious!

This is Civic Center Park - right across the street from the Capitol. The place was hoppin' with protestors and it seemed that most of them were being peaceful and keeping it real. When Michelle and I returned from our journey, we heard that two people were arrested after some anti-gay hater sauntered in yelling "Jesus hates sin". Last time I checked, Jesus doesn't hate.

For the most part, it was nice to be surrounded by people that felt so strongly for what they believed in.

It is, admittedly, a little daunting to see this many animated, fired up people...it's scary how incendiary that enthusiasm can be.



The puppet in the center-left part of the picture is Jesus.

These 9-11 conspiracy peeps were awesome. Some cameraman asked me some questions about who I thought was responsible for 9-11. After we walked away, Michelle got kind of freaked out about us being in a video. Whatev - 15 minutes, ya'll!




Political Mime.

Some people deal with the insanity by doing some public Tai Chi/Yogic breathing thing.
There was a lovely chanting/Oming sound as we approached them.

The traffic in Denver is crazy. Yesterday, a cab driver flipped me off.

Go with the flow/awesome lady - Co-Worker Michelle

Pundit in the sunshine...

We hit the 16th Street Mall to check out the mayhem there too. And Lordy, it's a ride!

Music x Politics = ugly dudes and bad haircuts.

Still, what a perfect place to rock out!


As usual, this stuff gets me pretty steamed, but everyone has a right to say what they feel is important. Even if all they did was drive around in mini-trucks wasting gas and grossing people out.

The only other thing I will say about this is: You can get your point across without these kinds of pictures.

There are people selling Obama stuff EVERYWHERE. Pins, t-shirts, visors, posters.

It was particularly nice to be out today - 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was declared in effect.

Labor pains for swanky Four Seasons!


Larimer St. is all decked out in flags...and I wanted this picture to be good, but then that little person's head got in the way.

As we got closer and closer to the Pepsi Center, where the REAL action goes down...it got weirder and weirder!

And then we realized, without credentials...you don't go past this barrier. We were still so far away from the Pepsi Center.

If you can't read it, it says: Welcome Sycophants

How could I pass up the opportunity to capture a man fluting away the afternoon!


Picturesque.

This was really the only spirited thing I saw happen today. As Michelle and I were trudging back - sweaty, sunburnt, and totally dehydrated...we saw a barrage of Anti-Choice people (and by people, I mean teenagers/adolescents) standing in front of restaurants with pictures of dead babies. It was sort of hard to deal with and makes you feel anxious and itchy to be involved. The guy with the backpack on couldn't help himself. He just started yelling. In a way, I wish I could have joined him.

This was more my scene - these people were screen printing shirts right there and encouraging folks to keep families together and promoting a reproductive revolution.


Politics. It's weird. It's important.

It's taken over my city. Pay attention - just like the Log Lady said, "Something is happening"...