Some events for today:

• Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, ABC's George Stephanopoulos and others discuss "urban politics and the Republican Party" at New School University (55 W. 13th St., 8-10 a.m.)
• Former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry moderates a WNET Channel 13 discussion called "Red God, Blue God: The God Gap in Presidential Politics" (450 W. 33rd St., 10 a.m. - noon)
• Batting practice and barbecue at Shea Stadium (11 a.m. - 2 p.m.)

(from National Journal)

Here are our pictures from the Planned Parenthood concert, Stand Up for Choice, at the Beacon Theatre (74th and Broadway) tonight. It was a great show. Joan Osborne, Moby, Patrice, the house band (GE Smith), Lewis Black and Lou Reed were the standouts. They came together at the end to sing the Buffalo Springfield song that begins "There's something Happening Here...." Moby opened his set with Neil Young's "Four Dead in Ohio."

A delegation of Republicans for Choice was present and they were duly applauded and saluted. The goal of Planned Parenthood now is to pass a federal choice act that would codify Roe v. Wade. That way, even if Bush wins, and gets to appoint three more Supreme Court justices who would reverse the decision, (three on the High Court already lean that way,) they would be powerless in the face of a federal statute. The Planned Parenthood spokespersons talked about the war on choice and said we are in danger of losing this freedom. So go help them out if you can.

Ok, now the pictures:

If anyone is the personnificaton of the opposite of freedom, it's former federal prosecutor and Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Herr Guiliani is a more apt name for him. How could anyone just not want to retch listening to Guiliani tonight as he tried to sell himself and the Republicans as the party that would bring freedom to the world.

Guiliani cleaned up the streets in New York by arresting the poor, the homeless, the squeegee cleaners, the mentally ill and the addicted. Yes, New York became cleaner, but at what price? At the price of freedom....which he now fraudulently pretends to champion. Sickening.

Here's what the New York Times said on April 7, 2000 (available at Lexis.com)

Atrios, Brian and Tom of Campaign Desk , Markos of Daily Kos , Matt Yglesias, Jerome of MyDD --we're all here at the Tank with our laptops--the Wi-Fi works great, there's pizza, beer and cokes, and its so much more relaxed than the Fleet Center. No security police, no long wait lines to get from point A to point B, no repetitive theme songs blaring and we can have actual conversations.

When the speeches start they will be displayed on the wall. But, by then we'll be gone. We're heading to the Planned Parenthood event featuring Moby, Lewis Black and others.

Best t-shirt tonight: "No Bush, No Dick."

For anyone who's interested, here's where the Repubs will be congregating tonight--before heading to the Garden:

• Karl Rove parties with the College Republicans at Windfall Bar and Grill (23 W. 39th St., 5 p.m.)
• Grover Norquist hails pols who've signed his tax pledge at the New York Yacht Club (5 p.m.)
• Ed Gillespie is the guest of honor at Guastavino (409 E. 59th St., 6 p.m.)
• Wachovia serves up cocktails for Eric Cantor at the New York Public Library (5th Ave. & 32nd St., 6 p.m.)
  *Newsweek takes over the Four Seasons Grill Room (99 E. 52nd St., 6 p.m.)

(from the National Journal Convention Alert)

TalkLeft and the TL kid will be blogging from The Tank in about an hour.

It was only a matter of time. Remember, this is the city Rudy Guliani cleaned up by throwing the little people in jail--from National Journal Convention Alerts:

The New York City Police Department has evicted street vendors from 24 square blocks in the vicinity of Madison Square Garden. In banning street sales between 27th and 35th streets, from 6th to 9th avenues, city officials say they acted out of worry about pedestrian traffic. Vendors note that other businesses were not shuttered, and complain that the GOP is costing them money. "We've got to pay the rent at the end of the month," grumbled hot dog vendor Abdul Prince. "Mr. Bush is not going to pay the rent."

For up to date coverage of the protests, check out the Nation's New York Minutes--Street Heat.

Say hello to Culture Kitchen with up to the minute scheduling events:

At 4pm is the Shut-Up-Athon and at 8pm is the Evildoers remix at Postmasters Gallery (19th Street, 9/10 avenues). There's a big bloggers event with John Perry Barlow, Wonkette, Jeff Jarvis and others at PS 122 and a whole lotta parties throughout the week as well. And we need guerilla dancers for Barlow's gig.

I'm going to be wandering around the streets for a few hours. Here's an open thread for convention-related thoughts.

[For new readers, please refrain from name-calling and profanity, and if you post urls, please put them in html format.]

I really hadn't planned on listening to, let alone writing about the Republican Convention speeches. I have a particlular visceral dislike for Rudy Guliani, who speaks tonight. I'm much more interested in what the Democrats' response will be and in any security and law enforcement issues that arise.

But here's a heads-up for those of you who feel compelled to watch: The speakers are expected to be far more moderate than the very conservative delegates to whom they are speaking. The Republican platform is very conservative on social issues like gay marriage and abortion. Mainstream media is predicting tension between the delegates and speakers on these issues that may become evident during the speeches.

There was no such disharmony during the Democratic convention. The speakers and the delegates (with rare exception) were one.

Unable to portray itself as a party of unity, the Republicans now say they are a cohesive unit "under a large and diverse tent." I don't think you will see any dissension during the speeches. Republicans are too good at hiding the truth.

Joshua Kinberg of Bikes Against Bush was showing his technologically equipped bicycle to MSNBC's Ron Regan when he got arrested. Reagan tried to tell the cop that Kinberg didn't do anything illegal while he was being interviewed, and that since the cop arrived in the middle of the interview, he couldn't have seen what he claimed to have seen, which was Kinberg's bike streaking white chalk messages on the pavement.

Kinberg spent more than 24 hours in jail and then returned to Herald Square where the MSNBC team is headquartered, to blog his experience for Hardblogger, including a description of his stay at "The Tombs."

For journalists covering the convention, don't think NYPD's finest will give you a pass. The National Journal convention alert wants you to know that if it happens, help is a phone call away--24/7:

There already have been more arrests in New York than during the entire Dem convention, but to date no reporters have landed in the can. Just in case, though, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has arranged legal help for credentialed press covering the convention. Attorneys from Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz, LLP will be available via the 24-hour "Media Hotline" to offer cost-free legal advice and representation with regard to convention access and coverage. The hotline phone number is (212) 850-6122.

What would a political convention be without the party brass trotting out a few families of the 9/11 victims? The Democrats did the same in Boston, to a lesser extent. Here's what's on the agenda for tonight, strategically placed to precede Rudy Guliania's speech (from the National Journal Convention Alerts.)

Although they weren't on the official program released Sunday, three family members of the Sept. 11 victims who are sympathetic to President Bush and Rudy Giuliani will precede the former New York City mayor's speech on Monday night. GOP sources tell National Journal's Convention Daily that the individuals are Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was a pilot on American Airlines Flight 77 when it struck the Pentagon; Deena Burnett, whose husband Tom died on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside; and Tara Stackpole, whose husband, Capt. Timothy Stackpole, was a firefighter who died at the World Trade Center.