Cheers, shouting, whistling.
The volume shot up when the Speaker of the House took to the podium.

I’m sure this speech and the response will get lots of attention.

Eric Beyer, a Honolulu artist and activist, is here in Denver to join the protests.

Beyer here as a representative of World Can’t Wait/Hawaii Chapter.

“There’s going to be a lot of different demonstrations,” Beyer said. “I see myself taking part in a lot of outreach, getting people further educated about what’s going on.”

“Many people think the Republicans are the worst ones,” Beyer said. “In fact, what we seen the Democrats doing is similar to what the Republicans are doing. They’re marching in step.”

“We can see that in the ongoing pledge to support the war in Iraq and push for war against Iran. There aren’t many Democrats pushing against it in a serious way. Obama hasn’t. There’s still a push for futher military involvement in the Middle East.

Beyer wants Democrats to do more than just promise peace.

“Until they actually act on their promises for making this better, all the talk about hope, I think its important that people are on the streets to show the world that there are people in this country who are opposed to what our government is doing,” Beyer said.

Beyer said he moved to Hawaii from Chicago in 1998 to study art at the University of Hawaii. Beyer, who graduated in 2005 with a specialization in printmaking, now works as an educator for the Domestic Violence Action Center and teaches art classes for the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Beyer said he attended the Republican national conventions in both 2000 and 2004, and was one of those caught up in a police sweep while at the GOP convention in New York, where he was held in what he calls “Gitmo on the Hudson”.

“The police used orange construction netting and basically just blocked everybody in the area, and anybody caught was arrested,” Beyer said.

Beyer said he was held for about 24 hours, while several others from Hawaii were detained for two days.

Beyer said he doesn’t expect a repetition of what happened in New York.

“But with all the repression and the clampdown that’s been happening, you have to prepare for the worst case scenario,” he said.

“On the one hand, George Bush expresses concern about china’s human rights policies, but we’re seein the same thing happening in Denver and now it’s the Democrats doing in this time.”

There’s lots of blogtosterone here at the Big Tent. Hundreds of bloggers doing their thing. Speakers and panels are beginning upstairs, and I’m heading up there now.