The Sunday convention-center scene was likely just a preview of what's to come this week, but there was plenty to mull over while walking around. A brief sampling of posters, brochures, pamphlets, banners, and costumed pigs and sprinting toilets inspired passersby--if for only a moment--toward causes against torture in China, to tax meat, to create a drug-free nation, to create a free-marijuana nation, to believe in God, to not believe in God, to believe in God but think he (or she) should have nothing to do with government, to support single-payer healthcare, to oppose soda pop, to prevent running water (thus, a jogging toilet), to stop Alzheimer's, to stop breast cancer, to stop the war and instead make love, make out, make pumpkins(?), to not vote for Obama ("No-bama," that is), and to vote for Obama, who might or might not be my homeboy. When I heard a visitor ask, "What's up with the big, blue bear?" that stands peering into the convention center, I thought, "He's just trying to avoid eye contact with all the activists so no one hands him a flier."