Could this finally be the beginning sign that the shrinking middle class and the working man have had enough, and are now ready to do something about it?

West Coast ports were shut down on Thursday as thousands of longshoremen failed to report for work, part of what their union leaders said was a one-day, one-shift protest against the war in Iraq.

Cranes and forklifts stood still from Seattle to San Diego, and ships were stalled at sea as workers held rallies up and down the coast to blame the war for distracting public attention and money from domestic needs like health care and education.

“We’re loyal to America, and we won’t stand by while our country, our troops and our economy are being destroyed by a war that’s bankrupting us to the tune of $3 trillion,” the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Bob McEllrath, said in a written statement. “It’s time to stand up, and we’re doing our part today.”

About 25,000 union members are employed at 29 West Coast ports, but the protest took place only during the day shift. A spokesman for the main West Coast employers’ group, the Pacific Maritime Association, said it appeared that about 6,000 workers did not show up for work, which meant that about 10,000 containers would not be loaded or unloaded from about 30 cargo ships.

In Oakland, Calif., some truckers who said they were angry about high gas prices decided not to cross picket lines at the port.

“I got here ready to haul,” said César Lara, 41, a resident of Richmond, Calif., born in Zacatecas, Mexico. “They told me it was a picket but if I wanted to go in I could. But I’m supporting them and to end the war.”

Several drivers said truckers were planning their own nationwide work stoppage in the next several days to protest record-high gas prices and surcharges.

Port shutting down, even if only for a matter of hours, cargo delivery trucks threatening to stop hauling, if all of this were to happen all at once, a vast portion of America’s basic day to day would suddenly stop. And if the people are going to make a change- it is this kind of bold action, action that has visible consequences, that will make the people in charge of big decisions sit up and take notice.

So is this a one time thing, or the beginning of a movement of the folks stuck under the thumb of the government and big business? That remains to be seen.

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There’s been much heat on China lately with the Olympics taking place there, and renued protests for a free Tibet, so with the Olympic torch passing through London security for the 31 mile stretch was heavy, but that didn’t stop some from trying to snuff the flame.

London police guarded the 31-mile route and escorted torchbearers as protesters of China’s human rights record and its involvement in Tibet tried to extinguish the flame, CNN reported.London police announced 15 arrests Sunday, but the relay passed by London’s Chinese embassy and the office of Prime Minister Gordon Brown without incident.

Brown noted the Dalai Lama resisted calls to boycott the Beijing Summer Games and refused to make a gesture of opposition against China during the torch relay.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg called the torch procession “wholly inappropriate,” saying “human rights are being systematically abused on an extraordinary scale in China,” the BBC reported.

There are also reports of a man attempting to grab the torch away from one of the carriers.  This is one of the more high profile events to take place in protest of China’s being tapped to host the Olympics since Steven Speilberg stepped down as one of the event advisors some months ago.  To date no athletes have joined in protesting the event, one which could carry as much political tension as Olympic events in 1936 when Berlin Germany played host. 

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