"It's 2003 and the country is divided evenly for and against the Iraq War. Damascus, a dive bar in San Francisco's Mission District, becomes the unlikely setting for a showdown between the opposing sides. Tensions come to a boil when Owen, the bar's proprietor who has recently taken to wearing a Santa suit full-time, agrees to host Damascus's first (and last) art show by an ambitious artist longing to take her act to the high-wire by nailing live fish to the walls as a political statement" -- p. [4] of cover.