Not really.  It's hard to do a live blog from Ecotopia.  But I've done the drill, so I know what's going down.  Here's a short chronology so far:

SUNDAY, 6PM

I'm listening to Ian Masters Background Briefing on the podcast, and he's in a conversation with the famous Tom Hayden. They're  bemoaning  the threat that the LAPD is posing to the Occupy.  At 12:01AM, the eviction notice will be given to all the Occupiers.  Mayor Villagairosa says so. Masters and Hayden make the call for as many people as possible to turn out in front of LA City Hall for support.

SUNDAY, 11PM

I go to the Occupy LA site on Facebook, and click on the download for the live stream. No cops anywhere.  Really bad cell phone pictures of people meandering around. The thing that's worrisome is that there's a cultural stew of people there, and it's bubbling.  No mellowness like the Occupy Portland or Eugene folks.  I know that there's going to be trouble.  This kind of feral-festive, edgy party atmosphere reminds me of the conditions just before  the Rodney King incident in '92.

Anyone who lived in Los Angeles during the Rodney King or Watts riots probably knows the feeling, too. The media reported both incidents as " a black thing."  This could not have been further from the truth, had you actually been on the ground.

Under bad conditions like these, Los Angeles is a tinderbox of many diverse cultures, and different elements come together in some poisonous ways to make mass mayhem possible.  Why was it, during the Rodney King riots downtown, the TV cameras recorded drunk USC frat boys throwing street bins through the Los Angeles Times doors and windows?  Did you see the Koreans with shotguns on the roofs of their liquor stores?  How about the upper class black kids in fancy cars who cased neighborhoods for the looters? Why was it the Times reported on Page 17 some days later that the arrests showed 1/3 white, 1/3 black, and 1/3 Mexican?  Somehow, none of this made it through the filters of the mass media's reporting on "the black thing."  As they say, Los Angeles is a 'Merkan city.

SUNDAY, midnight  

The party is continuing.  There's a  couple hour old TV feed of an interview with the LAPD watch captain.  He's saying that the cops won't be massing until around sunrise.  That's good news, I think.  Regular working hours for everyone, and the party hardiers who came down for midnight fun will be back in Yucaipa or wherever they live by now.  So, only the hard core people who want to (or have to) be arrested will be at the encampment.

I  feel sorry for the homeless people who'll be trapped there. Drugs, crime, and mental illness are no doubt represented at the campsite, and this gives Villaraigosa the excuse to call in the cops.  But still-- it really chews on me that the vast majority of homeless people are camping there because they have no other alternatives.  The social safety net has been cut enough so that the OLA site is a helluva lot better than sleeping in some goddamned hobo jungle. Occupy Wall Street.

MONDAY, 4AM

I wake up with my usual pain, and I blog this.  Future postings as I get around to it.

MONDAY AFTERNOON, 2:30

I dropped by at the Occupy LA Facebook page.  If the encampment ends today, it looks like it ends with a whimper instead of a bang.  Since midnight, the police presence has been very low key and surprisingly mellow for the LAPD.  Cops seem to be more concerned about keeping traffic in the streets flowing than pushing out protesters.  People are still camping out in front of City Hall.  Legal eagles for the OLA have filed injunctions to be able to continue camping.  My mayor's Facebook page says that she's been in conference calls with other OWS cities to trade tips for best police practices.  LAPD must have learned something!

LATER IN THE WEEK

I pull up Occupy LA's Facebook page the night the cops take down the camp. The police start grouping at 10:30PM, and the operation goes on until at least 5:30 the next morning.  Plenty of time is given for people who don't want to be arrested to leave.  One videographer is in a band of marchers who go down the streets away from the encampment site.  Even while they're chanting, there doesn't appear to be any specific direction to their marching.  Their numbers dwindle, and it's sad to see the crowd dissipate.

Another videographer shows the cops occupying the Occupy site.  They're standing at twenty foot intervals all over the park, not doing anything.  Another video shows a cop with an M-16, but this is a member of LAPD's SWAT team, and he definitely looks out of place.  He's certainly not used to having multiple cameras and lights pointed at him, and he looks confused and a little frightened.  Other shots interview the people who are there to be arrested.

All in all, it's a very low key operation on the part of the LAPD.  Later, when I see a segment of Fox News, it's so dramatic as the TV bimbo talks about the 200 people being arrested.  As usual, the national news coverage doesn't appear to do justice to the free range videographers on the street.

Men in hazmat suits go through the camp.  Looks to me like a cheap stunt on the part of the city government.