Paddy Wagon

Friday, May the second, a small group of us gathered at the corner just outside our building to await the shuttle bus. This is an end-of-day ritual... the shuttle bus takes us out to the parking lot so we can go home from work.

This particular day, there was a Prisoner Transport parked near where our bus usually waits. Then, the hippies came.

One was an older man in cowboys boots and a tie-dyed shirt, the other was a youngish lady. Looking like a couple of vacationing tourists, they laughed and pointed at the police vehicle. Then, the man stood in front of it as if it were a national monument, and the young lady took his picture. The two of them found great amusement in this.

A few minutes later, riding the bus to our parking lot, we passed by a crowd of demonstrators. This is a pretty rare sight for Tulsa. It was also a pretty pathetic sight, as there were only about a dozen or so people hanging around. They had signs that read "Impeach Cheney" and whatnot. That's when we realized what the "crowd" was for... see, Vice-Pres Cheney came to Tulsa May the 2nd to glad-hand a local group of Tulsa Republicans. The event was at the Crowne Plaza hotel, which is pretty much across the street from where I work.

That had to be where the two hippies came from, methinks. It was also the source of much amusement on the bus as we drove by. Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to admit the tiny group of 12-15 protesters probably didn't worry the Vice-Pres much. Somehow I get the feeling he's faced tougher crowds.