Protest Dogs Bush & Co.

Like antibodies to a toxin in the body politic, Bush and his major minions draw protest when they venture out around the country. Not that they likely see the opposition, because local police are often hard at work to keep the public away from the powers.

In San Francisco on August 7, Vice President Dick Cheney addressed a business group at the Fairmont Hotel. Police used horses and barricades to control at least 300 protesters. Inside, five activists removed their corporate garb to reveal t-shirts reading "Cheney is a Corporate Crook" and "No War in Iraq". As they chanted their opposition, each was arrested and detained for several hours, but not charged.

More than a thousand Portlanders protested the President last January, and when he returned August 22, the numbers of dissenters taking to the streets more than doubled. Opponents of Bush's forests policy, suppression of civil liberties, and war plans were most prominent. At one point during hours of protest near a hotel where the President spoke at a fundraiser, police ordered part of the crowd away from barricades, then drove a patrol car into the pedestrian mass. Police followed on foot, pushing people with their batons, striking some, firing rubber bullets, and pepperspraying many others, including a family with young children who had asked in vain for police help to move away from the area of conflict. Secret Service agents were observed assisting police in targeting reporters, producers, and photographers for assault. Three arrests were reported.