protesters out en masse in the streets of san francisco today. are other cities around the country like this? i haven't been to any of the peace rallies or anything, but this one was right outside my office building so i couldn't resist checking it out. protesters shut down market street (which, for non-san franciscans, is the major street that runs into the financial district). several of my coworkers who come into work on the bus had to get off the bus 10-15 blocks away and walk in because the buses couldn't get through. my lovely bart wasn't affected because it's below street level, but all traffic was stopped on the surface level. interesting. they had police out in full riot gear, including a number on horseback, in paddy wagons, etc. for a while people were congregating in the intersection of market and new montgomery, until the police threatened to arrest anyone in the street. however, they started blockading the intersection by standing *in* the intersection and forcing people onto the sidewalks... but that was still blocking the intersection so traffic still wasn't getting through. oh well. they made a number of arrests-- evidently so many that they needed more space and started using muni buses to haul people away.

in one sense, i'm proud of my fellow americans for getting out there and getting their voices heard... but at the same time, it's all so damn hopeless because it's falling on deaf ears in the white house. shrub has made it abundantly clear that he doesn't give a flying flip about what american sentiment is.

the thing is, i fully support our troops out in the middle east. they're out there fighting for their country, trying to preserve our way of life and eliminate possible threats to such, but i'm sure they would much rather be home with their families. they don't want to be there; they're just doing their jobs. it's a good thing they are, because there are lots of us who don't want that job. it's got to be such a tough position for military personnel-- i guess you never actually want to *have* to utilize your war training, but they are prepared to do so if necessary. i'd just rather we bring them home... i hope this doesn't turn into another vietnam. we have very little global support, we're fighting on foreign soil, and we're jumping the gun on our actions. i really hope there's more going on than the public knows about, because otherwise this whole thing seems very scary, and very risky.

the appointment has been made, by the way. duna will be put down tomorrow afternoon. sad, sad day :(