I’m listening to anoise.org right now. The police have cleared the Times Square area of all pedestrians so that the delegates leaving their Broadway shows won’t have to see any protesters.

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We got home OK. We were near the end of the march, so we started around 11:30-12 at Christopher and 7th Ave and finished at Union Square around 5:30. Tired.

Gothamist Gazette has a group blog covering the invasion/convention, with the writers including our friend Jon Winkleman.

Here are more photos of our march across the Brooklyn Bridge today.

Here is the post James did, with a link to his gallery of photos.

who have added links to this site recently, don’t worry. I will probably calm down and write about things art-ish again once the evil Republicans leave Manhattan and go back to screwing us, financially and otherwise.

The Imagine Festival is a good place to find politically-oriented cultural events during this period, as is Joy Garnett’s weblog.

I’m following the progress of Critical Mass on anoise.org right now — streaming ant-RNC news all weekend.

Good background from Newsday on Critical Mass (emphasis mine):

Hundreds of bicyclists who flout traffic rules could face arrest tomorrow night when police crack down on an unauthorized ride through midtown.

The monthly ride, Critical Mass, has for years proceeded without police intervention even as thousands of riders blocked streets, ignored red lights and took up traffic lanes. Under the law, bicyclists must obey traffic laws, have a working bell and are banned from riding more than two abreast.

…

The ride is scheduled the last Friday of each month and is meant to encourage pollution-free transportation. It has no preset route, instead following the whim of its leaders, who are not chosen beforehand. It is slated to begin in Union Square at 7 p.m. tomorrow and end at a West Side bar.

A police spokesman would not say why officers avoided ticketing riders for the more than 10 years that Critical Mass has been holding rides. During a ride in June, 1,000 bicyclists took up both northbound lanes on Park Avenue on the way to the South Bronx, ignoring traffic signals. A few riders blocked intersections until the group passed through.

We saw this play last night at an undisclosed location. I love a play where “moderate” is an insult. Go see it! Here is a Salon article on it.

Restaurant Florent is having some fun during the convention:

You may have heard that the GOP is coming to town . . .

Well, instead of 4 days of gloom and doom, bitterness and outrage, don’t we deserve to have a little pro-active, pro-radical, pro-family-value fun of our own?

Pop into Restaurant Florent Monday, August 30th thru Thursday, September 2nd for “Counter-Conventional,” where we’ll protest with performances and pommes frites. There’ll be a different theme each evening, featuring our most popular Halloween and Bastille Day performers, and 10% of the dinner receipts will be given proudly to not-for-profit groups working to put our America back on track.

Monday night: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!
Featuring Mr. Murray Hill on the microphone and Lavinia Co-op To benefit the American Civil Liberties Union of New York.

Tuesday night: SEPARATE CHURCH AND STATE!
Featuring the revered Reno and the secularly spiritual sounds of Dirty Martini and Tigger. To benefit Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Wednesday night: MARRY THIS!
Featuring Frank DeCaro at the altar with musical guests Ami Goodheart and Daniel Isengart. To benefit Marriage Equality.

Thursday night: NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!
Featuring Mr. Murray Hill, Church Ladies for Choice, Ami Goodheart, and the World Famous BOB. To benefit NARAL NY.

There’ll be two (scheduled) performances each night, at 8:15 and 10:15. For reservations or more information, call 212-989-5779.

We hope to see you at Restaurant Florent, located at 69 Gansevoort, open 24/7, and, since 1985, the proud home of:
POLITICAL DRAG QUEENS
SUICIDAL LIBERTINES
SECULAR SURGEONS
TRANSVESTAL VIRGINS
LUNATIC RAVERS
STEROIDAL SAVIORS
TWELVE-STEPPING TWO-STEPPERS
INFIDEL LEPERS
SADISTIC HUMANISTS
LUNATIC SENSUALISTS
WONDERING JEWS
MULTICULTURAL VIEWS
LEFTIST RITUALS
&
DELECTABLE VICTUALS

New one! Click on the image for the rest.

David Rees’s new book, Get Your War On II, comes out September 7th.

There is no rally at the end, just… who knows with a crowd of that size?

From NY1 – there’s a video too.

The police waited 15 minutes before arresting them. Interesting.

A dozen AIDS activists were arrested outside Madison Square Garden Thursday afternoon after they stripped off their clothes and blocked traffic.

The men and women, members of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) said they staged the demonstration in front of the site of next weekÂ’s Republican National Convention in order to protest the Bush administrationÂ’s policies on AIDS.

“This protest is to tell the naked truth to President Bush and the Republican Party,” said ACT UP member Robert Dabney, who kept his clothes on to talk to reporters. “Our protestors are demanding number one that the president support full debt cancellation for the poorest nations in the world.”

The protestors were standing naked in the street for almost 15 minutes before police put them in handcuffs. Traffic, already slowed by sporadic closures in the area for security preparations, stood at a standstill in the meantime.

ACT UPers were also involved in the anti-Bush banner released in Grand Central last week.

Another cool protest today: a banner outside the Plaza Hotel.

I grabbed that image from the local NBC affiliate, which seems to have some good coverage of both protests.

Also, a new Quinnipiac poll says 71% of New Yorkers think protesters should be allowed to use Central Park during the convention. 68 percent approve of nonviolent civil disobedience!