Skimping on bread and circuses, the Bloomberg administration offers protesters buttons and discounts not to do anything too distracting: Law-abiding protesters will be given buttons that bear a fetching rendition of the Statue of Liberty holding a sign that reads, "peaceful political activists." Protesters can present the buttons at places like the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Sex, the Pokémon Center store and such restaurants as Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too and Applebee's to save some cash during their stay. If only the Romanovs had thought of this. "It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday, when he announced the program at NYC & Company, the city's tourism office, which will distribute the buttons to all comers to its Midtown office. Protesters can also get the buttons from groups that have a legal permit to rally. But Mr. Bloomberg conceded yesterday that not everyone who wore a button would be strictly vetted for his or her peacefulness. "Unfortunately, we can't stop an anarchist from getting a button," he said, though he doubted any of them would want to wear one. Anarchists aren't the only ones amomg the overwhelmingly violence-rejecting protesters who'll be rejecting the impiratur buttons as well. I can think of some things Mayor Bloomberg could do with those buttons...