Uppity Wisconsin

It's been an exciting day. Lots of protests, lots of confusion -- things I've learned:
1.   Go with the flow
2. Things degenerate really easily.   The anti-war parade today (which was planned, and remarkably orderly, and not really all that big)seems to have made life pretty disorganized, shutting down the shuttles and a few streets (and for some reason or another apparently freaking out security so much that they stopped letting press into the Pepsi Center for quite a while).   I was shooed away by the police when I tried to take a picture of the pile-up of reporters at the entrance.   The Press credentials apparently didn't help.  
3.   Living in a police state is discomforting.   I don't have anything against the very large number of police who are milling around downtown - but it's disturbing to see people walking in a nice orderly downtown with assault rifles, and to see SWAT Team vans rolling around the streets, apparently looking for something to protect. Still, life has been pretty quiet in general. 

4.  When they say "the thin atmosphere will bother you and you should drink lots of water" they mean it.  I've been swilling down water like crazy - Beer is mostly water, right?

Tonight all the "young" folks seem to be out at Red Rocks for the big welcome concert.   I would have loved to go to the New Orleans benefit tonight, but it's a $500 fundraiser, and therefore was quite a way outside of my budget.