BREAKING NEWS: Police Surround Washington DC Hotel

Washington DC under siege by protesters surrounding the Ritz-Carlson ... the police have the doors & gates blocked to keep the protestors outside, where the police think they will storm the hotel!

Arrests have been made already ... amongst them AFL/CIO & SCIU officials -- but the reporter wasn't clear whether it was the police that arrested them, or if it was the protestors who seem to be making some - or trying to make some - citizen arrests on the Health execs (more on this farther down)

Protestors & police are both trying to keep the media back -- the police I think in hopes that the media will go away and the crowd will disperse since most just want to be on tv ... the protestors because the media will catch (a) the true size of the crowd [like they did the 'million man march'] and (b) it will catch the questionable activities [such as at the RNC convention in St.Paul]

so what is going on inside?

AHIB (American Health Insurance Providers) is meeting inside.
also inside are: health care providers, health care lobbyists, Wal-Mart senior people for health care, corporation ce's for health care

What are they doing in there?

They are trying to enjoy a luncheon. and yes they can hear the protests but they are continuing on with what they are doing .... the protestors aren't stopping them. but I have not heard about what they talking about - whether it is what to do if the bill passes or how to prevent it from passing.

So when did this all start?

They were wilded up by Howard Dean at the very beginning at the main meeting place (Dupont Circle) this morning -- yeah you remember that Democratic Presidential candidate by his scream at a rally.

Dean also came right out and said that this bill should be pushed thru by Reconciliation - if you haven't heard a definition of this yet, it basically means that the Senate ignores the rules set forth by our Forefathers and pushes the bill thru with only 51 votes instead of the constituionally required 2/3 majority. It is a senatorial act that is supposed to be only reserved for measures to balance the budget, not pass law.

So who is in the crowd?

They are from a group called "Health Care for America Now" and from the main Unions which Obama has been kissing-ass with .... AFL/CIO & SCIU ... as well as several regular people who have been drawn in. There are protestors there dressed completely in pink, so I'm thinking they are from Code Pink [that nutty group that was protesting in front of the recruiting offices in Berkeley and were granted a perminant parking space in front of the building & allowed to use blow horns]

What do they want (besides the obvious Health care reform)?

well they have 'warrants' that they want to serve on the executives of these health insurance agencies for "crimes against health care" .... yeah -- can someone tell them that when they pull boneheaded moves like this The People stop listening and write them off as nut-cases???

So there are protest signs -- what do some of them say?

• "Another _American ???? _ Public Option" {the 'American" and another illegible word were hand scrolled, on an otherwise professionally printed sign, upon a white strip which was obviously glued to the sign -- have to wonder what it was originally meant for, but at least they are practicing recycling, right?}
• "Thank You" ... I'm not joking, one person had a big blue placard that simply said thank you on it.
• "Reform Now ... Insure People. Not Profits" being held up by hand, no stick
• "Listen To Us NOT ...." big red sign, cut off by angle of shot ... can't tell you who they aren't supposed to listen to.

Reported by commentator signs:

• "Another Person for Public Option"
• "I Kill For Profits" guy dressed supposedly like an executive
• SCIU signs
• "Congress Listen To Us"
• "Corporate Lobbyists Win, We Lose"

Fox News caught one rather large woman on tape (someone should tell her that under the Obama bill, she would be penalized for her weight and recieve less coverage than anyone else) who was just coming to the protest ... she arrived with a group of those people - all wearing dark blue shirts with a logo across the front ... it was hard to read but it said 'reform ... care .... now" I think ....

but what drew my attention to her wasn't her size ... nor the difficulty she had taking steps which was obviously not made easier by her weight ....

it was her back pack -- which had yellow caution tape of some sort stick out its top and hung down her back. Yeah .... wonder what that is for? If any of you have ever gone into a hardware store you know this stuff is sold by the roll and that it comes in many colors and with different sayings ... I have no idea what this one says on it -- but it is obvious that she got this tape second-hand and that it wasn't still on the roll.

So where do they go from here after the luncheon?

No one seems to know ... they are thinking that when the media leaves the crowd will simply disperse and not be heard from for the rest of the day until the next big get-together.