New York City Saturday seemed no different than it has on any other late summer weekend afternoon. Cabs were plentiful at LaGuardia at 4pm. There was no traffic getting into midtown. I didn't see any protesters.

At 7:00 pm, there was still no traffic in midtown. Nor at 9:00 pm. At 10pm, Ezra from Pandagon called to say there was a "Sleeping with the Enemy" party going on at the Tank, the performance art space where liberal bloggers will be headquartered this week. 42nd between 9th and 10th. It was a party for both Republican and Democratic bloggers.

Nic--the TL kid --and I headed down. No traffic getting there, even though security was heavy at Times Square. The Tank was packed. There was lots of beer, and you got to pick your color cup, blue if you were a Democrat, Red for Republican. The Tank has a wonderful outdoor interior courtyard with tables and chairs--with a West Village feel. Inside it is spacious and comfortable. It easily holds a few hundred people. The crowd was young--predominantly 20's--everyone talking politics and looking forward to the protests. Local tv news cameras were on site, interviewing participants.

We left the Tank around 11 and walked from 42nd and 9th through Times Square and back to 57th and 5th. Plenty of tourists, not a protester in sight. We started a game of "Count a Cop" on 42nd and 7th. By the time we got to 6th, one block, we spotted 20 uniformed cops on the block, some on horses, some in vans, some on the street. They were far outnumbered by tourists and pretty unobstrusive.

Midnight, we went out to dinner. At 1 am, I was back in my room, and I have to say, it was an uneventful day.

I'm staying right near Central Park, so that's where I will head in a few hours to catch the stray protesters who decide to go there after the march to Union Square. About a half hour ago, seven police vans with lights flashing but no sirens turned onto 57th from Sixth--looking like they were headed to the park.

Word on the march so far is its peaceful. Stay tuned.

Reality is setting in. So is the spin. TalkLeft's next post will be Live from New York... on Saturday Night. The Republicans will try and blame all protester problems on the Democrats, in an attempt to take votes away from Kerry. The media will trumpet the outrageous and extreme, not mentioning that any such acts have little or no connection to the vast majority of protesters who are lawfully and peaceably exercising their First Amendment rights of assembly and free speech.

Where will you get the truth? Hopefully, from the bloggers. TalkLeft will be there, in the streets, with camera and laptop and voice recorder. Even the TL kid has been drafted...he'll be a volunteer at The Tank, helping progressive bloggers with the inevitable computer problems that arise.

Reality also is setting in that as a self-employed person, taking a week off from work to travel across the country and report from the scene is going to wreak some financial havoc. If you are a frequent reader of Talkleft, please know that even the smallest of contributions will be sincerely appreciated.

The naked protesters from Act Up and the Plaza rappelers from Operation Sibyl spent very different nights in jail. The Plaza rappelers,--already being called "The Plaza Four" - had a rough time. They spent 25 hours in jail before being arraigned on "felony and misdemeanor charges of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass."

Mr. Maxit, 28, and Mr. Murphy, 31, who have been arrested at protests before, said it had been their worst experience in the criminal justice system. They said they were robbed of cash in the middle of the night while in a general-population holding cell next to the court. Mr. Maxit said a man had punched him in the face because he looked at the man after the man had instructed, "Don't look at me." Mr. Maxit and Mr. Murphy said they were shocked by other prisoners' drug use and felt too frightened to sleep. They complained about the correctional officers, calling them angry and uncaring.....Mr. Maxit and Mr. Murphy expressed regret at not being able to return to the Plaza for a warm bath and a good meal.

City jails, particularly those in which arrestees are housed together in large, communal holding cells, rank right up there with the worst. They stink beyond belief, are overcrowded and understaffed and filled with the mentally ill, the impoverished, the drug-addicted and other unlucky souls. There might even be a real criminal or two. Anyone who thinks getting arrested in New York will be an adventure should think again. It is far more likely to be a nightmare. And once you're out of jail, you have to deal with the courts. Being arrested and processed through the criminal justice system is a dehumanizing and demoralizing experience. Think long and hard before volunteering for it.

It sounds like the Plaza rappelers' arrest on assault charges may be bogus. Which brings the lesson home even more. If you're going to protest, realize that you may fall victim to unfair police action. If you can't imagine enduring the experience that befell the Plaza arrestees, stay out of the fray. Blog, take pictures and stay an observer. Weekend warriors may get more than they bargained for.

Update: If you see an injustice, record it. Pen and paper are fine. Cell phones are better.

A Web protest guide from Just Cause Law Collective suggests that protesters who see police brutality document it by leaving a detailed cell phone message for themselves or recording what they see on their portable music player.

The Manhattan District Attorney is predicting 1,000 arrests per day during the Convention. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is starting off Convention week with a light-hearted humor. How long will he keep it up? We'll track his comments periodically as the week progresses to see. So far, so good, but we're still in the pre-game period.

• "The city also has developed the Peaceful Political Activists program, where protesters who wear a special button or present a savings card will be given discounts such as $5 off admission at the Museum of Sex or up to 30 percent off at a restaurant. "It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach," Mayor Bloomberg said last week."

• On today's naked protesters: ""This is New York," he joked. "Of course we had naked people on Eighth Avenue."

• On visitors to Central Park Sunday: ""We welcome people to the park, and hopefully the weather will be good," Mr. Bloomberg said. "There's a lot of people in the park - there's roughly a quarter of a million people in the park on a normal Sunday afternoon - and this will just add to that. So it will be crowded but it will be a lot of fun."

After some protesters were arrested today following a police officer's fall through a skylight (after protesters warned him it was cracked) the tide may be turning:

• "If somebody wants to break the law, they're going to find that the N.Y.P.D. is going to enforce the law." "They're going to be arrested, and Bob Morgenthau, our district attorney, is going to prosecute them and take it very seriously," he said. "

The protesters have arrived in New York. Some are wacky and wild, New Yorkers seem to be amused, and Mayor Bloomberg is nonplussed. Let's hope it stays this way. -Don't miss this picture--

Mahablog found this CNN article announcing that United for Peace and Justice and the NYPD have reached an agreement. The Sunday march will be end at Union Square Park instead of Central Park. Here's the details from the UPJ website. Note that they are asking marchers not to break out in groups and head to Central Park. This is a good compromise. The march will go past the Garden. Some side streets will be blocked off to serve as feeders for the marchers. It's way better than the West Side Highway. If you're planning on protesting Sunday, please honor UPand J's agreement and stay away from Central Park[added: until the UP and J march has concluded.]

'Stand Up For Choice'! Urge the Republican Party to return to its traditional path of individual responsibility and personal freedom by supporting the right to choose.

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Monday, August 30th / 8:00 PM / New York, NY

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Confirmed Talent : Lou Reed, Moby, Joan Osborne, Cynthia Nixon, Kathleen Turner, Lewis Black, Michael McKean, Patrice O'Neal, Annette O'Toole, Giancarlo Esposito, Nellie McKay, Ollabelle, Suzanne Westenhoefer and...
the GE Smith Band.

Among the traditional protests scheduled for New York next week are these:

But not all the demonstrations will be unorthodox attention-grabbers. Among the more traditional acts of protest will be a parade of thousands of abortion-rights advocates marching across Brooklyn Bridge; the Hip-Hop summit's poor people's march to Madison Square Garden, where the convention is being held; the 5,000-strong permitless march of the poor being organised by a welfare mother from Philadelphia; and the huge demonstration planned for Sunday, which the demonstrators insist will be in Central Park and the New York Police are adamant will be on the West side highway, but which could reach a million-strong.

There will be a 1:2.4 ratio of law enforcement to civilians during the convention:

At least 20,000 security personnel, representing everyone from the Secret Service to civilian units of the Army National Guard, have been mustered. Given that the convention is expected to attract only 48,000 visitors, including delegates, lobbyists and journalists, this is the equivalent to one law-enforcement official for every 2.4 civilians.

If there is violence, it won't be tied to the Democrats:

With Kerry taking a moderate stance on the war, these demonstrations have little, if anything, to do with the Democratic party. None the less, many believe that whoever is responsible, a rash of violence so close to the election will once again benefit the Republicans.

The Republicans will spin it that way though. Don't fall for it.

A good ruling by Judge Ruckriegle in the Kobe Bryant case. There will be no video cameras allowed during trial testimony. Still photos will be allowed during opening and closing arguments and audio and videotaping will be allowed only during closing arguments.

For once, the prosecution, accuser and defense were on the same side. All opposed cameras in the courtroom. Jury selection begins Friday and trial testimony is set to begin September 7.

The Aspen Daily News is sticking by its policy of refusing to cover the case --it will only report the outcome when it's over. That's dumb. There are legitimate journalistic issues in the trial--such as the legalities and politics involved in raising a consent defense to a sexual assault charge--and in how courts handle high-profile cases.

Here's notice to TalkLeft readers that TalkLeft has been granted press credentials to cover the trial, and will report on major developments and perhaps provide a short daily trial summary with links to what I consider the better news articles. TalkLeft will not be all Kobe all the time or slack off on its regular coverage.

The New York Times reports that there may be as many as 250,000 protesters in New York for the Republican convention. That's mind-boggling from a logistics standpoint when you consider how many of them will be traveling to NY from other cities around the country. Where will they stay? How will they get around once they arrive? Who will feed them?

True, back in 1969 or 70, when masses of college students descended on Washington to protest the Vietnam war, we never thought about that stuff. I remember getting in a car with some students I didn't even know, having found them through a bulletin board of some kind, driving a few days from Ann Arbor, MI to Washington, and once there, sleeping in a kind of gymnasium, and having one of the best weekends ever. I marched, I met what seemed like a million sympatico souls, and it was an experience that probably contributed in large measure to my continued activism as an adult --and to my passing activism on to my child as a positive value.

Decades later, it's a little different. I've tried to think back to the Washington march days to remember whether any of us showered between leaving Ann Arbor and arriving back there days later. For the life of me, I just can't remember. I guess it wasn't an issue then. Now, it would be a big issue and I can't help but wonder, where will 250,000 visiting protesters to New York sleep, eat, cleanse and regroup when their energy sags and their funds are depleted? New York City is not Woodstock. The atmosphere will not be "We are all one." And camping out under the stars in Central Park is unlikely to be an option with New York's finest.

What do you make of this? President Bush will come to New York next week to make his speech Thursday night. But he won't be staying overnight.

But now it turns out that Mr. Bush may not spend a single night in the city that helped transform his presidency. At this point, the unofficial plan is for him to arrive in Manhattan sometime on Thursday, Sept. 2, the final day of the four-day convention, deliver his acceptance speech that night, then leave immediately for Pennsylvania. Campaign officials say that the schedule could still change, and that Mr. Bush may have a brief New York sleepover in the end. But either way, the incumbent president has no plans to visit ground zero, or to hang around in his room at the Waldorf-Astoria for days watching the party on television.

Not that he'll be missed, but still....if I were a Republican delegate, I'd be insulted.

It's enough to make you dizzy, but it has everything from where to find the best bathrooms to where the action is, courtesy of Theoria at Daily Kos.

Update: Skippy has some more tips for New York bound bloggers, inlcuding IndyMediaNyc, with almost one-stop shopping for protest news and activities.