15,000 angry Americans protested the Bush inaugural cermonies, just in San Francisco, the local paper reported. Six Pigdog Journal staffers were on the scene...

Typing "Inauguration" and "Protest" into a search engine had led Pigdog editor Johnnie Royale to a bar on Saturday morning. As the cabal of disgruntled Pigdog voters assembled, marking pens and white poster board became slogan-bearing signs. And then, in viking helmets and Jesse Ventura t-shirts, we took to the streets.

A vast crowd had gathered around the Civic Center, American flags unfurled by a sea of protest signs, and their homegrown messages ultimately crashed the nationally-televised ceremonies. No matter who controls the airwaves, it will be remembered that tens of thousands of demonstrators assembled and paraded angry words through the streets.

Scribbling on a scrap of paper, I collected this yawp of history. Brace yourselves for an exhaustive list. Instead of holding their hands over their ears for four years and chanting "la la la la" every time Bush appears on television, these people were trying to change the world simply through the power of their slogans.

So what were these American voices saying? Some were threatening action and unrest....

I dissent.
He's not my president.
We will not forget.
Whoever they inaugurate, we are ungovernable.
Organize. Agitate. You're smarter than him.

Some reflected on what the election had meant for the country.

National shame
Voting is futile. You will be assimilated.
Saddest day in history
Argh
Shame.
National Day of Mourning

Other signalled their belief that this election was stolen.

Jail to the thief.
Gore got more.
Bush cheated.
Don't blame me, I voted with the majority
So help me fraud
Bush lost, fair and square.
(S)elected through racism and voter fraud
Jews for Buchanan.
Gore won.
Proud to be a sore loser.
Count me out.
I voted. I think.
Re-elect Gore
What a joke. W lost.
Got fraud?
Thou shalt not steal
It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes. Joseph Stalin.

Many had followed their nation's election process closely, and also felt compelled to acknowledge the role of the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision.

Supreme Sham
Supreme Injustice
One justice, one vote.

Some sign-carriers even delved into the chilling political-science implications of the election results.

Why are you pretending that there wasn't a coup?
Illegal election, illegitimate president
We no longer live in a democracy.
Without justice, there will be no peace.
Democracy? Stolen election
No consent for presidency by fiat.
Democracy? Hypocrisy

If the will of the people doesn't rule, who does? Many protesters felt the nation had surrendered itself to powerful corporations

This isn't a democracy, it's ruled by the dollar.
Bye bye, democratic elections, hello corporate state.
Bush. Serving white men since 1994
Empower people, not politicians
Bush is the illegitimate love-child of corporate America.

But as middle America stared at the nationally-broadcast cermonies, the newly-enthroned leader faced defiant mockery and derision from his subjects.

Spurious George
Banana Republican
Who let the dog out?
A thousand pints of lite
Drunk drivin' crack smokin' chimp
From oil rigger to election rigger
Resident Bush
Dumb son
Can Bush even spell women's rights?
The whole world is laughing.
At least Reagan could act

Others remembered the administration of Bush's father, and the catch-phrases of his predecessor, Ronald Reagan.

Read my lips - no new Bushes
Here we go again.
Monarchists for the Bush dynasty

There were, of course, a few puns on George W's last name.

We were BUSHwhacked
The only Bush I like is the kind I can eat.
Hey Bush, stay out of mine.

And some of them were simply uncategorizable

Bush: the other white president.
Filibuster for 4 years!
Feeble Republican Admin Undermines Democracy
Romans go home. Welcome Visigoths.
Bush: Making the world safe for demon-ocracy
I'm moving to Serbia

I want to believe that it all means something -- that a crowd chanting "four less years" has a mysterious power. Have they launched an omen for the future? Even newscasters reserve a certain reverence for words like "electorate" and "democracy." There's always the possibility that tens of thousands of people coming together creates more than just a large group of people....

Check it out yourself

dabble@pigdog.org