Julie Quantum Leaps

Eclipses signify beginnings and endings. For me, it was my first protest. So of course, I will write all about it.

Bush, and I later found out Rove, came to Bellevue to speak at a GOP fundraiser for Congressman Dave Reichert, who’s up for re-election next year. Reichert is on the Homeland Security Committee, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Science and Technology Committee. He is also a ranking member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment. Suddenly King County seems less safe than it did before I read that.

Anyway, I only found out about Bush’s visit last week. The turnout of protesters wasn’t overwhelming. Depending on who you talked to, it was either depressingly disappointing or a really good turnout. Personally I think it was a bit of both. It was a nice turnout but it really could have and should have been much much bigger.

The media said there were 400 or so protesters. I’ll take their word for it because I suck at estimating people. I do know that all 4 street corners of the intersection of Bellevue Way and NE 8th were full of people with signs and banners and balloons and bullhorns, etc. The fundraiser was held at the Bellevue Hyatt, which is kitty corner from Bellevue Square, the city’s big mall. For those not from around here, Bellevue is a rich (read that: snobby) city. It has a mean household income of $94,756 (compared to the national mean $62,556), and the median home price is $405,000. Bellevue is home to several billionaires, including Bill Gates and Craig McCaw, both of whom have hosted the royalty (the Prez or VP) in their respective homes.

While chants of impeachment and “Bush out now!” filled the street corners, it was business as usual inside the mall and surrounding (19 in a 2 block area, to be exact) restaurants. Well, except for Joey’s which was behind the barricades. I heard that people choosing to dine there during the President’s visit had to stay inside the restaurant for the entire duration until Bush left.

There were lots of different groups protesting, but all except for a few Reichert or Bush fans, wanted the same thing: Bush Out Now. I discovered an interesting thing. I thought that people who had enough brains to realize what’s going on with our Government, and enough balls to stand up and tell the world about it, would not be sheep. I was wrong.

The street corners were full of protesters, but I knew Bush wouldn’t be coming through that intersection. I knew Bush wouldn’t be coming through the front door. I figured they would escort him in through the employee entrance which is obviously on the backside of the building.

I mentioned this to several people and everyone agreed with me. They also said if others went down the side (where no protesters were), that they would also go. What the hell? Are we all supposed to wait for some non-existent protest leader to do the thinking and lead the way?? Fuck that. I grabbed the friend that I had met up with there (his first protest also) and we headed down Bellevue Way. The street was blocked off as well as the sidewalk on the Hyatt side, but the opposite sidewalk was free and clear, and I do mean clear.

The way to the employee entrance had a concrete barrier across it, so it was pretty obvious he wouldn’t be coming in through that way. We stood and looked around for a bit. The big white elephant, that oddly enough I hadn’t even noticed till now, was this big semi-truck parked on the street next to the Hyatt. We asked one of the State Patrols what was in it, and he said they didn’t even know. They had wondered the same thing and were only told that whatever was in there was needed and that it was a good thing to have it there. He stepped back to his post, and we contemplated what could be in there. Surveilance equipment? Riot equipment of some sort? Hell, maybe it’s empty and that’s what they’ll load up people into when things get ugly and they need to cart them all off to the FEMA facility for holding. I’m pretty sure it was surveilance equipment and they probably zoomed in on every face in that crowd and checked them against their database. I tried to steer clear of obvious cameras but just being on that street corner gets you filmed. There are quite a few traffic cameras alone. Quite a few times, one of the officers would whip out a video camera and start scanning the frontlines of the crowd, filming.

From where we were standing, the street behind the Hyatt, NE 10th, looked like it was totally blocked off but I wanted to see what was going on back there, so off we went to the Bellevue Way/NE 10th intersection.

As I thought, the street was blocked off, as well as the Hyatt side sidewalk, but the opposite sidewalk, again, was free and clear. Well hell! We’re going down there and check it out!

There were more vehicles back here, a Seattle squad car and “paddy wagon”, some SUVs with govt. plates, let’s see… what’s that behind the bushes (pun unintended)? Ohhhh…. that’s where the Storm Troopers are. You know, the officers with the riot gear on. They were keeping them out of sight until they were needed. Of course I knew they would be present, but that first view of them is just wee bit intimidating. *gulp*

The whole length as far as the eye could see of NE 10th had orange cones down the middle. My friend and I agreed. THIS is where he’s going to come in. So, instigators that we are (at least that’s what I was called later, while retelling the story), we headed back to the crowds to tell them to come around the back. A couple others had the same idea and were notifying others, too. By the time we got back to NE 10th, the sidewalk was FULL. Woohoo!!

As we staked out a spot, I heard someone yell “where is mein fuhrer?” We stayed at the fringes of the crowd. My rule, that I quickly adopted the moment I had gotten to the protest, was to always have an “out”. I kept very aware of what was behind me, and made sure I was at no risk of getting blocked in by protestors or police.

The police quickly moved more officers over in front of where the crowd had moved to. I’m sure they had been going along thinking they had it made since nobody was back there and they were all out front. Then **cue the Imperial March music from Star Wars** along came the storm troopers and positioned themselves in front of the crowd at the intersection where Bush et al would be passing through.

We waited… and waited. My friend said it was the most exciting time he had ever had being bored. Nobody knew exactly what time Bush would be arriving for security reasons. Then everybody paused and looked at each other saying things like “there he is”. The loud chopping of a Homeland Security helicopter beat through the air commanding attention. It circled the Hyatt 3 times to scope out the crowds, and let me tell you, that thing was loud, and I’m sure they have the muffler off on purpose in situations like that. Then it flew off.

Sure enough, shortly after that, along came the motorcade, with 50 motorcycle cops, a few ambulances, a bunch of press vans and the usual black SUVs, etc. People yelled and chanted and booed as they all rushed past.

Then it was over. People dispersed, leaving very few on the sidewalk. My friend and I looked at each other. Now what? That’s *IT*? How… anti-climactic. We felt like we should stay but there seemed nothing to stay (in that location at least) for, so, like the others, we headed back to the front.

Phew! People had gone back to the front and stayed. Granted, it was obvious that quite a few people had left, but many stayed. For awhile it was a more relaxed atmosphere. The “big event” of Bush’s arrival and passed. Not all were satisfied with letting things fizzle out. I contemplated leaving, myself. It seemed more to me like networking time for everyone remaining.

We were talking to the leader of one of the impeachment groups when people started running off around the corner (up NE 8th) like something bad was going on. The leader headed that direction and my friend said we should be safe with the leader because all her friends were lawyers and politicians, so we headed that way close behind her. I looked up ahead and I saw a sea of people with the leaders of the group arm in arm coming our way.

I stopped in my tracks and turned on a dime. Nuh-uh not me, I’m not getting caught in the middle of that. I found a curb to stand on, with nobody behind me, to get a little height, and started filming. The group turned the corner and went right up to the barrier and started yelling. I believe one guy yelled something about requesting that the cops step aside so he could make a citizen’s arrest. Naturally, they did not.

**cue the Imperial March music again** In came the Storm Troopers. Twelve of them. They apparantly travel only in dozens, kind of like eggs. In they marched, wearing head to toe black riot gear except for the eye-catching bundle of white zipties hanging by their knee, slapping against their leg like some kind of perverted jingle bell that can’t help but catch your eye. And in that moment you can’t help but imagine that things have gone horribly wrong and they’re zipping one of those puppies onto your wrists. Yes, they may wear them there for convenience sake, but make no mistake, they are nearly as intimidating as the big sticks they wield.

Things got noisy for awhile and in came another dozen Storm Troopers. It was a little surreal, 24 officers in full riot gear lined up on a street corner in wealthy upscale Bellevue. I did feel safer here than I would have had it been downtown Seattle. Bellevue has a little more open space, it’s not blocks made of solid street-to-street buildings with no escape routes, and you also don’t have the sort of normal unpredictable street atmosphere.

It had been hours and I needed to find the little girl’s room, so we crossed the street and found one, and got some iced drinks at Starbuck’s while we were there. When we got back to the corner, it was nearly desserted compared to when we left it not 10 minutes ago. Apparantly everyone had gone around to the side where the loading dock is, and what was Bush’s entrance/exit. The sidewalk up NE 8th on the Hyatt side was open but barricades were between the sidewalk and the road. The “Troopers” were still at the corner, and my friend started heading towards it. I stopped him.

“No, no, no, no, no. That breaks my rule. There’s no “out” going that way. The only out is into the street. We’ll go across the street and head down that way.” When we got down there, a lot of people were leaving. Bush had left already. There were “Troopers” however, on the protester side of the barricade, but these guys were holding their big sticks (and I do mean big sticks as in baseball bat kind of sticks, not little billy club kind of sticks) in one hand and the other hand cradling it… you know, like how you hold a stick and sort of hit it into your other hand over and over. Yeah like that but they weren’t hitting it, just holding it.

That honestly made me pretty nervous. There was no separation between “them” and “us”, and the “us” people were young and some were calling them pigs. It was not a situation though and it was dispersing even as we got there, so really, nothing to see, thank God.

This group came out in dark suits and ties and someone wondered if they were Secret Service, but then we saw how young they were. Young Republicans? That was our guess. They were kind of creepy and I saw a couple of them in a picture in the newspaper and they were right next to Bush practically drooling at being so close to him.

So that was the end. My phone/camera didn’t die till the very end. Did I mention I love my phone? I’m still converting and editing the video that I took down there and will post it when I finish.

Finally, I will give some awards here…

Best Prop – The flag-draped “coffin” (representing the thousands of US Soldiers being brought home in flag-draped coffins that the press is forbidden from showing us) that was being carried around, crossing the street, etc. by “pall-bearer” protesters.

Best Costume – The girls in the evening gowns wearing a sash that reads “I MISS AMERICA”

Best Sign – “George Bush is a Lying Sack of Shit”.