What impresses me so much is how colorful it all is, what an assault on all the senses.

A woman in a gigantic turben, walking with her arms outstretched and her thumbs pointed down. A tall, lanky boy with no front teeth buying his fellow protestor a popsicle from a street vendor. Drummers pounding out neverending beats, with protestors tap dancing and hopping and swaying. The hovering helicoptor clamoring overhead. Kids taking turns climbing up into the leafless tree to hold up signs that say "Fund Schools Not War" and "Disarm Israel." Organizers with little girl voices calling out the next destination for the march in giant megaphones. A group of Clockwork Orange rogue boys, with their canes and happily mischevious glares. Buddhists, bums, hippies, drifters with giant backpacks, the unicycle guy in the blue body suit, marketing people passing out chewing gum samples, the highway patrol harrassing homeless men, feminists, camera operators, mothers of Marines, reporters, tourists snapping pictures, kids with handkerchiefs over their faces, and of course, the expressionless faces of the San Francisco police.

What's interesting to me is this is such a different crowd than the ones that turn out for the organized Peace Rallies leading up to the war. Those were a lot of professionals, seniors, families — people who legitimately were against the war and were trying to make their voices heard. They're not out there today. The spirit of these protests is being dampened by the fact that many of the people out there are just trying to cause trouble. There's such a melting pot of agendas out on that street today.

I moved around a little and watched. When the line of police were instructed to do a left face and marched in formation down the street, I decided it was time to go back inside.

My favorite of all the protest signs I've seen in the past few days:

"Unfuck the World."

Yeah.