As some of you may know, I work on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Capitol Police. Washington, D.C. is a huge magnet for crazy people. I see them all the time. Most of them are the homeless but often they are the protesters. Today was just one of those days.

I will refer you to this CNN Article.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/22/capitol.hill.arrests/index.html

I saw these weirdos getting arrested. Unfortunately, I did not see anyone dressed up as a polar bear or George Bush. The Constitution grants you the right to assemble and protest. However, blocking access to a government facility will get you arrested. I'm sure these hippies are probably screaming about some violation of their rights. From what I saw they were not violated. They were prohibiting people from getting to work.

One hippie was handing out fliers discussing stopping the war and global warming. He tried handing me one and I politely told him I did not care. He looked at me as if I struck him in the family jewels with a blunt object. He then said, "You don't care?" I then politely said "Nope, I don't." I really don't. I'm not all that partial to cold weather so any warming would be nice. I have also lost interest in the war. I would love to see our troops come home but I know that will not happen any time soon. I am a realist. It amazes me that these people actually think marching on Capitol Hill is going to accomplish anything. Most of us around here see them as a nuisance. I'm sure the government feels the same way. Their voices are not heard. Protesting did not stop Vietnam and I seriously doubt it will stop the Iraq war either.

I guess at the end of the day the hippies will feel they accomplished something. But in the grand scheme of things they basically wasted a day of their life and now have an arrest record. I wish it were as simple as mounting a protest march to get the government to change their thinking but the reality of things is it isn't that simple. You just have to hope the next bunch of people to be elected don't have their head up their asses and actually want to do good for the American people.