The G-8 protests are always particularly large and particularly pointless -- even for left-wing protests. However, I think this was so noteworthy in it's lunacy that it deserved a special mention,

The protesters, dressed as clowns and wielding blow-up dolphins, today "declared victory" against...well, who knows. The "movement" might be back on its feet, but it's still suffering a coherence deficit. In 1999, Wall Street Journal reporter Helene Cooper hit the streets of Seattle in an attempt to find the unifying theme amongst the anti-globalists; she found a burning desire for social change, though most were unsure of it's relationship to the WTO:

One day into the Woodstock of anti-globalization, Debbie Carlson, a bandanna-wearing member of a lesbian-activist group, can't get beyond a few sound bites to explain why she is out in the streets with thousands of other free-trade foes who are opposed to the World Trade Organization. "It's a general question of oppression," she says. But when asked, Ms. Carlson couldn't be more specific. Instead, she says: "The WTO doesn't care about women's rights.

PS: I wonder if there are any future Obama staffers pictured above? If there were, would anybody be surprised?