I’m really annoyed right now. Really, really annoyed. I want to hit someone, but unfortunately, I believe non-violence is a more effective means of making your point.

Maybe I’m the only one, these days -- ever since the unfortunate World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle, where people close in age to myself felt there was something to be gained by protesting violently in the streets, something has been lost.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not discouraging today’s self-absorbed people of my age from leading demonstrations and speaking out en masse on issues that actually matter, but getting violent and antagonizing cops? What’s to be gained?

Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday was just celebrated. This is a man who’s never, ever been replaced since his horrific death at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1968.

If there ever were a man that knew how to bring change in modern United States history, it was he.

Non-violence. Peaceful protest.

So why the fuck am I watching footage of these idiotic assholes behaving like children and throwing themselves at cops in Washington D.C. today, supposedly protesting the inauguration?

I’m watching closely, noticing a clear pattern. There is a line, apparently, that protesters are not permitted to cross over. Protesters are throwing themselves over that line, and the cops are retaliating, roughing up the offenders.

How hard is it to follow instructions? I did not vote for George Bush, you couldn’t pay me to, I think the Florida fiasco will some day be revealed for what it was, but the truth is, the man has been placed in power, has been inaugurated, and will be our president for the next four years, unless it’s revealed that he’s shtupping Condi Rice, which – don’t laugh – could happen.

This is not to imply that thousands of those that did protest were not peaceful, are not involved in the real, day to day business of positive change in the nation, but I'm seeing far too many idiots, many of whom look not a day older than 18.

Enough! If you think you’re somehow making a difference by antagonizing slap-happy District cops, think again.

Make a difference by acting like a goddamn grownup – fight for the rights of the underprivileged, get active in the scores of struggling neighborhoods all over this nation, do something lasting, for God’s sake. Screaming and shouting, hitting and spitting are so, playground.

Protest is a beautiful thing, when done peacefully. The peaceful will always win the fight.

We won’t die with Bush at the helm. The idiot might run our economy into the ground, but in our ever-lengthening history, nothing significant has ever happened to change our basic way of life, save economic well-being, which is just a fact of life. Things change. There are good times and bad. How much does a president have to do with that? And a 50/50 Senate – don't think there won't be battles Bush will have to overcome to further his agenda.

Reagan might have tried to kill us all, but look – imagine! We’re still alive! Besides, the Gipper’s karma seems to have caught up with him since he left office.

In regards to the Supreme Court -- we've survived conservative judges before, and we'll survive them again.

Call me crazy, but I believe that if Bush really stole the election, he’ll get what’s coming to him, in time. And hey, guess what! There’ll be another election in four years.

Or did you forget that.

Do you honestly think Gore could have stopped a recession?

What are you, an idiot?

Email: davidr@lifeingotham.com

Next Update: 1 February