"So," he said, "which rally is this one?"

Steve Twomey and Carol Morello comment on a series of protests this weekend past in Washington DC. My favorite:

Folks rallied against all sorts of alleged corporate injustice on the streets outside the headquarters of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both at 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. They protested Citibank, derided Coca-Cola and held signs that read "Starbucks" with a thick red line through it.

Except, Starbucks had something they needed: bathrooms.

Or, to be more precise, the Starbucks at 18th and H had a bathroom, a women's room, because the men's room was locked and no one had a key. So protesters of both sexes had to wait in 20-minute lines, where they talked about corporate injustice, universal health care and why there were no porta-potties.

Was this a conspiracy?

"This could be a police tactic," said Wellington Lyons, 19, a student from Middlebury College in Vermont.

At least Starbucks had air conditioning. And double mocha lattes. And Al Green on the speakers.

A police tactic! Lovely!