More Pictures from the Peace March

Great photos!!!

And check here for live streaming video from the concert and people being interviewed by Amy Goodman and Laura Flanders...

http://www.wusatv9.com/#

(Many thanks to Bobmorr from DU for that!)

Looking great!

I am in Dallas right now, spared from the hurricane, awaiting the connecting flight to DC.

It's a shame I missed the march, but I definitely look forward to the concert tonight, and the activities tomorrow and Monday!

Karen and the gang, be prepared - I am coming! :)

Boots Kirby--The Coup being interviewed behind us--he says that what is meaningful about activism now is that we are all activists--the activist is no longer the "other guy"--no one has to learn Marx or Bakunin--this country is here for all.

Just got a call from the kids in Tucson.. They said that the protest there had at least 100 people, I'd like to hear from others what happened in your town today

Hello from the concert--Amy Goodman is interviewing Cornell West across from where I am sitting, Steve Earle is singing.Karen just came back, and is going to boot me back on the IRC.

Posted by: AllyMcLesbian at September 24, 2005 05:14 PM

Safe travels, Ally! You're going to have a great time!!!

Here's a good article from MSNBC...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9463993/

However, note that MSM cameras were no where to be seen today...A march with 300,000+ people isn't enough for them to cover... Sheesh!!!

My niece e-mailed me from Watsonville. They had a rally today at noon and have buses going up to SF for the rally this afternoon. She is President of the Aptos HS Peace Club. Figures--she's a child of Hippies.

Anyway, I am in awe of everyone there today. It must be an incredible energy rush to see all those people out there.

Stormy Spins in a Vortex
MAUREEN DOWD
NEW YORK TIMES
September 24, 2005
[subscript -- thanks, Christine]

WASHINGTON -- Stormy was testy. He had put aside the guitar and packed his slicker. The First Weatherman was working hard, man, harder than he had in years, even spending nights away from home - and Barney - in strange places.

And still the pesky press was painting him as a storm groupie, racing Rita to Texas just to score a windswept backdrop to recapture his image as protector.

Stormy preened for the cameras at FEEBLE FEMA headquarters in Washington yesterday. On CNN, a bilious image of a hurricane spun next to his head. You could imagine the little hurricane trailing him through the rest of his presidency, like the storm cloud with a lightning bolt that always trailed Joe Btfsplk in "Li'l Abner."

He said he was jetting to San Antonio to check out "the prepositioned assets" and then riding out the storm watching "the interface" between the military and state and local authorities at Northcom in Colorado. But David Gregory at NBC quizzed W. on what good he could really do in Texas: "Might you get in the way, Mr. President?"

Stormy didn't like that. "One thing I won't do is get in the way," he
snipped.

Mr. Gregory, part of a newly amped-up press corps, followed up: "Isn't there a risk of you and your entourage getting in the way?"

Now Stormy let off a little high pressure. "There will be no risk of me getting in the way, I promise you," he said dismissively.

The smart aleck reporters didn't understand how crucial it was for the president to intertwine, inter alia, with the interfacers. So W. explained it again: "See, Northcom is the main entity that interfaces - that uses federal assets, federal troops, to interface with local and state government. I want to watch that relationship."

But soon the San Antonio leg of the trip was scotched amid fears that Stormy would really be interfering more than interfacing. And besides, the weather was too sunny there for poses in foul-weather gear.

Stormy is like his dad, Desert Stormy. They both love wardrobe calls: cool costumes, sports outfits, presidential windbreakers, "Top Gun" get-ups, weather gear.

But leadership is not a series of costume changes. The former Andover cheerleader has been too reliant on photo-ops, drop-bys and "Mission Accomplished" strut-bys, rather than a font of personal knowledge.

What Katrina exposed was a president who - remarkable as this may sound - seemed bored after his re-election, just as Bill Clinton had drifted after his re-election. Before the Monica scandal broke, Mr. Clinton's aides had to beg him to call lawmakers on the Hill to support his own legislative agenda.

Before the Katrina scandal, W. had lethargically wandered the country, lifelessly promoting his Social Security plan and an energy bill that did nothing to solve the energy crisis, and endlessly vacationing in Crawford.

He campaigned as a strong daddy who would keep us safe, but then seemed lost when his daddy figure, Dick Cheney, kept vacationing as Katrina exposed a grotesque rescue apartheid in New Orleans.

The more tuned-in W. is now, the more obvious it is that he tuned out as New Orleans drowned. There is a high cost for presidential learning curves.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in Bosnia before Bill Clinton got it right in Kosovo. A lot of elderly hospital and nursing home patients died in New Orleans before W. could pay attention to Houston and Galveston.

On Wednesday, Stormy tried to make one of his strained linkages, this time with Katrina and terror. The terrorists, he said, were "the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it," while he is the kind of person who looks at Katrina and tries to energize himself to deal with natural disasters by thinking, What if this had been done by terrorists?

On Thursday, he tried to move past the image he had projected of a lost boy wandering alone in the storm, and stood at the Pentagon flanked by his war council, talking about how he was moving to "develop a secure, safe democracy in Iraq." Unfortunately, the Saudi foreign minister was in town dropping a bomblet by saying that Iraq was going down the tubes, a judgment other Sunni Arab leaders had been conveying privately.

After his Pentagon remarks, W. looked at his vice president for approval and received a proud, avuncular smile that said, "You're the Man."

But before he chases any more wind tunnels, Stormy should heed the Bob Dylan line: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." ++

Go figure... Sky News in the UK does a report about the pro-peace events in DC, but our own MSM tv does very little...

From DU:
It started off well, it was the second item behind Rita, it talked about how huge huge it was, and how the public is turning against Iraq. They interviewed Cindy and gave her a lof credit.

Then they mentioned the lack of media coverage because the US media was covering Rita.

They also said Bush wouldnt be bothered by the public, only his own party would make him change his stance on Iraq.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4874025

William Pitt at t r u t h o u t reports on media blackout...

Blackout
By William Rivers Pitt

Saturday 24 September 2005 5:11 PM

I am receiving reports from a variety of sources that this march has been virtually blacked out by the television media. CNN threw that big number out earlier, and Headline News made mention of it, but that's all. The hurricane is dominating the news, and even C-SPAN has Generals on talking about predicting hurricanes and storm response.

As frustrating as this is, I can understand it. Rita was a bad storm, made all the worse by Katrina. The oil infrastructure just took a beating, and water is flowing back into New Orleans. Besides, these TV yahoos have never covered these protests with any kind of accuracy or interest before, so why should today be any different?

Psssst ... we are the majority now.

http://www.truthout.org/campcaseydc.shtml

I've been watching CNN on and off today to see what coverage they've had on the march, and they've virtually ignored it. No, this storm wasn't Katrina, and didn't deserve the coverage that Katrina got. I'm from the Gulf Coast, and even I'm getting weary of CNN covering every hurricane 24 hours per day- I can only imagine what people from other parts of the country are thinking. Also, the coverage has been largely focused on the "military" response to the storm. It's almost becoming a flag waving event- CNN is reminding us of how truly "ready" we were for the storm this time- sucking up and working hard to help Bush out with his failing ratings. Yes, there will be some flooding from this storm- there almost always is with a hurricane. But there was no massive loss of life as there was in Katrina, and this event just pales in comparison. CNN is virtually ignoring all the other news- the Peace march, Bill Frist's problems with the SEC, the conflict between the British army and the Iraqi police force. This is about boosting Bush's ratings. He has the press back in his pocket now. It's really sickening.

Thousands protest the Iraq war
SF also crowded with Loveparade revelers
Kathleen Sullivan, Chris Heredia, Janine DeFao and Todd Wallack, Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, September 24, 2005

(09-24) 13:19 PDT San Francisco (SF Chronicle) -- Thousands of people gathered in San Francisco and the East Bay today to urge the U.S. government to pull out of Iraq, joining other anti-war protests around the country.

Elsewhere in the city, tens of thousands of people were expected to groove to the sound of electronic music along Market Street. And tonight, thousands more are expected to rock-out to Green Day, the punk band born in the Bay Area, at SBC Park.

Thousands of anti-war protesters gathered at Dolores Park in San Francisco to prepare to march against the U.S. presence in Iraq. Some said they have been actively protesting the war for months or years.

“I write letters,’’ said Isabelle Corkins, 47, who was at the park with her husband and 4-year-old daughter. “This is the only thing left that gives me a sense of doing something.”

A student form Laney College in Oakland prepared to help carry a procession of black coffins, built to represent Iraqi children who have died in the conflict.

“The idea is that we will stop protesting just because the war is continuing, but we won’t,’’ said Maryjane Jota, 20. “Just because it’s old news, doesn’t mean that it’s old news to the people who are dying.”

Douglas Fisher, 61, held a large rainbow flag that said “Peace” in Italian. He said he got the flag in Sicily, and has taken part in several peace marches to oppose the war.

“Somebody said it was a great day for a march,’’ he said. “I was thinking it would be great if we didn’t have to come down here anymore.”

Along a grassy median on Dolores Street, people set up 40 large placards marking casualties from the war. Each poster carried 60 photos and drawings — for 2,400 in all, representing American soldiers who have died in the war. (The U.S. military estimates that more than 1,900 soliders have died in Iraq, and thousands more have been wounded.)

Jim Haber, 43, said the posters were designed to “show the human cost of the war.” The protesters began marching shortly after noon to Jefferson Square Park via Church, Market and Turk streets. They carried signs expressing outrage at everything from the war in Iraq to President Bush to the treatment of Palestinians. One man, dressed as Uncle Sam, carried an American flag with a peace sign where the stars would normally be.

A smaller protest was also held in Walnut Creek, where about 250 to 300 people gathered at the Bart station and began marching at 11 a.m. to Heather Farms Park, where a rally was planned.

The demonstration drew a wide range of people — from seniors to kids— holding peace signs. Many drivers honked as they drove by marchers on Ignacio Valley Road.

A 52-year-old lawyer said he joined the protest because of her outrage at the federal government’s sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina. Faith Brewer said she thought the problem was exacerbated because too many resources were diverted to Iraq.

“Too many people died in New Orleans, because of the war in Iraq,’’ she said.

Brewer said she was particularly motivated to march in Walnut Creek, her hometown, because people think of it as conservative.

“People tend to think that nobody here is against the war in Iraq — that all the leftist, peaceniks are in San Francisco,’’ she said.

Others held signs supporting peace and a pull-out of Iraq. On said “Moms against the War.” Another read, “Bring the troops home now.” A third said “Peace is Patriotic.” Unlike some other war protests, the focus appeared to be squarely on Iraq.

Several police officers accompanied the crowd on bikes and on foot, but said they didn’t expect any problems.

Some counter protests were also expected, either in Walnut Creek or San Francisco.

Meanwhile, thousands of electronic music lovers gathered along Market Street for the 1 p.m. start of the city’s second annual Loveparade.

The parade, featuring 24 floats with more than 200 disc jockeys from as far away as Israel, was expected to head slowly along Market Street, ending in a massive dance party at City Hall and the surrounding Civic Center Plaza.

An estimated 30,000 to 35,000 people showed up for the festival last year, and organizers hope to double that tally this year.

Loveparade was first launched in Berlin in 1989, with the idea that techno music would help bridge the cultures of East and West Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While the Berlin event is now defunct, other Loveparades had popped up around the globe, including Mexico City and Tel Aviv.

The San Francisco event — which includes not only Euro-inspired techno music but hip hop, house, jungle, funk, progressive and trance music — has continued the theme that music celebrates diversity, promotes tolerance and fosters community.

“The music sort of joins everyone together,” said parade spokeswoman Jennifer Manger. “If we can put all the music in one place, we can join those subcultures together in a community of love.”

The Green Day concert was expected to begin at 7 p.m.

Here is AP's take on the days event
I found the last line a bit remarkable, 300,000 people and only 2 arrests.. either this was an extremely peaceful group.. or cops have changed since my day !

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050924/ts_nm/iraq_protests_dc

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at September 24, 2005 06:44 PM

I know, Linda... I even called CNN and left a very nasty voice mail. Ended by telling them that their lack of coverage of important events like the pro-peace march continues to make them irrelevant.

WE are the media now!

I am troubled by some of these photos, and the themes being presented... This is my blog entry from January 18, 2003, which was a day of protesting against the Iraq war (before it began).
http://warconservative.blogspot.com/#105353789332380457
I noted there some things that myself and other war opponents hoped would change, with respect to the composition and tactics of these antiwar events and activities... but I fear that they may have not.

From a photo I saw from today's march...

I can't believe we still have to protest this crap

Posted by: Aakash at September 24, 2005 07:10 PM

AsKash, it is sad that many other issues appeared to hijack the pro-peace march. And it's especially sad that the only tv coverage was from CSPAN and they showed all the splinter groups speaking. But I have been to a major protest or two in DC before and it's very typical that other groups try to get in the act. We have to remember what the common messages are...

Troops Out NOW
Peace NOW

I had another thought today about the hurricanes. Since it's our government that has decided not to allow people back into their communities after a storm is over (for sometimes days), who is going to pay the motel bills for all those families who had no relatives to go live with outside their area? It's been precedent up until Katrina that inland communities did not evacuate during these storms- now they're evacuating places like Houston en masse. The financial costs of evacuating can be astronomical for a lot of families. $2000 from FEMA isn't even going to come close to covering it all. And now they're making military controlled zones of those areas after the storm, for days and maybe weeks at a time. Does FEMA plan to compensate the refugees in full for their motel bills during the time that they're not allowed to go home? I doubt it. My feeling is that if an area is not likely to flood during a storm, it should be the right of the homeowner to make a decision to stay in place until it's over. We stayed during Ivan, we used our generator after the storm, we drank bottled water, like everyone else in town, and did just fine. We were also home immediately after the storm to make repairs to our home and help our neighbors with theirs, which speeded up the recovery process immensely. It was hot, sweaty, miserable work, but it fostered a spirit of community like no other event ever could. Are we now required to over-react to every hurricane that hits the Gulf? Evidently CNN now plans to over-react to every hurricane that hits our coast. Katrina was one thing- this is another altogether. We're not used to Katrinas down here, but we're extremely used to hurricanes like Rita. This is just overkill. And it's cover for CNN to ignore the real news of the day. I'm sure Georgy is extremely happy about this storm. And I'm just not happy about anything that makes Georgy happy.

Rather pathetic crowd for the "major" event of anti-war movement.

Ed R-
Former Physics Professor

Posted by: Edward at September 24, 2005 07:38 PM

Um, Prof., just how many pro-war people were there??? We heard there were about...5.

300,000 plus is pathetic??

Former Physics Professor

Posted by: Edward at September 24, 2005 07:38 PM

Cause & Effect

It's ain't rocket science, doc.

Edward--Were you there?

We were.

The energy was palpable--the focus clear.

Were you there in the anti-war days of Vietnam?

I was--the energy was palpable and the focus was NOT.

Big difference today.

That last post was from me!

We are home now and ordering pizza (THANKS ABQ JOHN) and Chinese--rum and cokes from Marjorie G.

Tired but glad for the energy we encountered, spread around, and benefited from.

Enjoy yourselves this evening, Karen, Dick, and friends. thank you for your coverage of events today. Hope you have another great day tomorrow!

The past three weeks have tested our nation and revealed the strength and resilience of our people. Americans have the determination and the will to overcome any challenge from man or nature. The courageous spirit of America will carry us through any storm, and the compassionate soul of our nation will help us rebuild. Thank you for listening.

Guess who made that statement today?

Posted by: monkey at September 24, 2005 08:03 PM

Who was listening...

The only thing I want to hear him say is "please except my resignation". You all will have to tell me if that happens because I refuse to listen to anything he says.

monkey- er, was it Georgy? I don't know, but quite frankly, it had to be someone who was supremely arrogant about being an American. We might be able to overcome pretty much any challenge from man, but Mother Nature is another thing altogether. Anyone who thinks he can conquer nature is a damned fool. I'll never forget the newscast a few years ago showing a man in Missouri sandbagging the Mississippi River and saying "We're gonna beat this thing. With enough determination, we can beat anything." That was just before the river flooded the whole place. Nature is ALWAYS in control. The rivers and the storms and the earthquakes will always have their way- things like Katrina are good for us in the long run. They destroy our illusions of power and immortality. (That is , for normal mortals. Not for George W.- He will always be delusional. That's why I figure it's him who made the statement.)

Prolly Peggy Noonan wrote it though.

From the aerial shot provided by Reuters I'd guess between 2 - 4,000. My question is what is happening to the anti-war movement?
Ed R-
Ex-Physics Professor

Didja count heads Ed?
Since you're an ex-professor- it would give you something constructive to do with your time.
Why not count heads and come back in a couple of months to report to us on the exact number.
Then I'd be interested in what you have to say.

I haven't had a chance to read the above posts so my apologies if this has already been mentioned...

To my frustration, I have yet to see one second of the DC march televised or even mentioned on MSNBC, CNN or Fox. They have been covering the Hurricane non-stop all day.

Sadly, I also channel surfed briefly at the 3 major network news stations here in NY during the 6:00 PM news. They too didn't say a word about the March.

Thanks to the DCP for posting updates as to what is happening, otherwise, I wouldn't even know there was a March today thanks to the pathetic performance by the American news media.

Hey Ed, here's the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/antiwar_movement

It says tens of thousands, but if you'd like to count heads in your aereal shot, feel free.
We'd really like to know what your final count is.
We'll expect you back in a few weeks.

“55,000 Gather To Hear Bush In West Chester
Biggest Crowd Of The Campaign Gathers To Rally For President

POSTED: 3:48 am EDT September 27, 2004
UPDATED: 5:39 pm EDT September 27, 2004

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP – Organizers were hoping President Bush’s visit to West Chester today would draw the largest crowd of the campaign, and it did – by a longshot.

West Chester Police is estimating the crowd at 55,000 - and that estimate may grow before Bush takes the podium after 4 p.m.”

“West Chester Township, formerly known as Union Township, is a township located in the southeast corner of Butler County in southwest Ohio, one of thirteen townships in the county. It is situated between Sharonville and Monroe, about 18 miles north of Cincinnati. Exits 19, 21 and 22 off Interstate 75 serve West Chester. As of 2000 the population is 42,764 which includes the population of the unincorporated places of Beckett Ridge, Olde West Chester, and Wetherington.

Ed, you're not counting. You're posting news articles that are over a year old. The times they are 'a changing Ed. We're the majority now. Most Americans now say Iraq was a mistake. Live with it. And for God's sake, start counting those heads. I really do want to know what the final count for today's rally is.

Ed--The number was far higher than your estimate--the march itself was completely filling over a mile of street and sidewalk and then there was the concert crowd.

The concert crowd may have been what you saw--at the beginning, most were still marching and they missed the first two acts.

By Joan Baez's set, the crowd was quite large, and it only grew in that area.

Also, there was another deomonstration over by the WOrld Bank and that may have been smaller.

Shows you just can't make a judgement based on a limited perspective. More research may be needed for a valid conclusion.

Karen, Current Professor

hey prof... check this article out...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050924/ts_nm/iraq_protests_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 100,000 protesters flooded Washington on Saturday to stage dual demonstrations against the U.S.-led war in Iraq and economic globalization, before coming together to demand that President George W. Bush bring troops home.

~snip~
The crowds swelled throughout the day, and by late afternoon organizers of the anti-war demonstration said 300,000 people had assembled -- exceeding an anticipated 100,000.

One needs to ask at what time of day the picture was taken and of what location...

Karen,
All I can do is work with the information given. The post I tried to put up had a link of what 55,000 looked like and reuters and Ap shots looked to be a fraction of that.

I don't know the reason. Hence the question?

Ed R-
Ex Physics Professor, now the humble creator builder of KidSafe Playhouses.

Posted by: Mary from Manhattan at September 24, 2005 08:23 PM

Mary from Manhattan:

CNN had a brief bit on every half hour of the peace demonstartion in Washington D.C. today.

It is showing a picture of the huge crowd outside
the White House.

Edward may have a point on crowd size. There are lots of people but 100,000 ? I think all the news articles are feeding off one another. Al Jazera posted that there were over 2,000.

I thought there was another protest going on this weekend besides the war protest. Anti globalization/imf ??

Koa,

Yes, and that one was blocks away and would not appear in any of the photos you saw. They were pretty isolated--the streets were blocked off by large trucks across them.

The march and concert were pretty spread out--it would have been difficult to get a shot with everyone.

Still the streets were full.

read the article in the link above koa flea... try to be a little bit more educated before you comment...

As the professor himself said... he did not know when the picture was taken or of what activity

Was Maxine Waters the only politician that went ? What about Hillary ?

Posted by: Koa Flea at September 24, 2005 09:15 PM

Ah, and where was the president? Oh yeah, in a bunker in Colorado, I forgot...

Koa Flea, you miss the point. Today wasn't about the politicians it was about the people.. the mothers of the ones who have died in this mess.. and the ones who are sick of being lied too. America has always been about the people

the landscape was larger than expected the horizon spread far across the vast expanse of LAWN. the grass is growing well, the greens and the blues harmonized with the shiny tang of a new bumper for the family. Everything seems so right, feels so right, I'm safe, safe and well. We all protested today- the war- I hada dream that someone was chasing my mother, trying to kill her. sweet dreams folly -friend- furry bloody.

Some of the people in the photos look pretty radical. The guy wearing the shirt "Free Palestine" will be accussed of being an anti-semite. That sign, "Land of the greed home of the stupid" surely is not speaking about the majority of people in our country ?

Via AP News from the DC Chief of Police himself...

The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, "I think they probably hit that."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050924/ap_on_re_us/war_protest_22

And then there's this article from Reuters...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050924/ts_nm/iraq_protests_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 100,000 protesters flooded Washington on Saturday to stage dual demonstrations against the U.S.-led war in Iraq and economic globalization, before coming together to demand that President George W. Bush bring troops home.

~snip~
The crowds swelled throughout the day, and by late afternoon organizers of the anti-war demonstration said 300,000 people had assembled -- exceeding an anticipated 100,000.

One needs to ask at what time of day the picture was taken and of what location...

Radical...

You mean like leaving over 40,000 of your statesmen to die with their babies in their arms...??

You mean RADICAL like THAT?

Posted by: Koa Flea at September 24, 2005 09:21 PM

Oh I don't know, "Land of the greed home of the stupid" pretty much describes the current regime's base to me...

The trolls can't deny there was a huge event.. so their only option is to make it seem less huge...

[Edited.. keep it clean please]

"Ah, and where was the president? Oh yeah, in a bunker in Colorado, I forgot..."

Who the f^%$ cares about the president. We should have had some representation. If we can not have any progressive politicians take a stand what good are they. They should be proud to be with the people that elected them in the first place.

On that I will agree with you KOA flea but it seems too many of them were concerned about being connected to some of the more "out there" constituents who showed up. And worried about what the neo-con PR machine would do with footage like that at election time.

This graphic speaks for itself...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4875724

after all, never forget what they did for Michael Dukakis... and he was just the start of a long line of nasty neo-con spinning and twisting

Hey everyone, we had a great time at the march today and wish you all could've been here. Lots of people, many signs, etc. It was impossible to be in all the cool places at once, there was so much happening.

We're just all kinda relaxing right now. Is there a troll here?

I think all politicians should be worried about 2006 - especially the neocon hypocrites who say the Dems are "tax and spend" when they themselves are "spend and defer".

The day of reckoning is on the horizon.

madame defarge, this event will have images that can be USED. Why should anyone be giving right wing radio their talking points for next week ? I am part of a large Union family and when they see people with anti-semite slogans they will cringe.

Again, unhappily, you have a point KF but life is like that... when you're digging a hole with a Caterpillar bulldozer you're much less discriminating than when you're digging with a shovel... but you dig it a whole lot faster..

dwahzon, exactly "after all, never forget what they did for Michael Dukakis..." I am concerned because "some of the more "out there" constituents who showed up" will diminish the meaning of the rally.

Posted by: Koa Flea at September 24, 2005 09:33 PM

I understand...there are always extremists in any march. But of all the posters from the 300K+ people there, why focus on only the negative anti-semitic signs? There are plenty of photos around to prove that the majority of the people there were there for one reason only, which wasn't anti-semitic. And we can't help what the MSM or the RW will use. They're desparate and extremely biased.

So show your family photos from here and if you need others, let us know...we have links to lots of them.

As Karen or someone said... stay focused...

peace now

end the war now

After the right wing radio talkers spin todays event all next week, I think we would have been better off "digging" with a shovel. If we had some elected representation on the ground it would have marginalized the "out there" types. The elected representation would have been the focal point instead of the "out there" types. This is "Marketing 101" weither we like it or not.

EXTREMISTS?!?!

WTF!?!?
Have you gone MAD? Just because someone has a "Free Palistine" T-shirt means they are practicing what?

Come on...

You can do it...

FREE FU%#$%NG SPEECH IDIOT!

Gezzus..

We either believe in the rights of all or we believe in NOTHING!!!

You guys did a great job of capturing the hugeness of the crowd. I was overwhelmed by it.

Posted by: Koa Flea at September 24, 2005 09:44 PM

Nice UK email addy...

So what exactly is your interest in being such a negative vibe merchant?

koa, there's a lot of people on daily kos who agree with you... you might want to go check them out here

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/24/115058/569

and the others here...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/24/194635/940

but we're done debating it here...

It is what it is.

I have never talked about politics when I went to college and I sure do not talk politics with anyone at my job. My focus at this point on the war is to help the Iraqi people. Does anyone think we can still get world involvement at this point to help the Iraqi people as we leave Iraq ?

Boy, now that's an interesting one... Too bad you weren't around to ask that question earlier.

whoops hit enter too soon...

there might have been some people available with some valid insight on that point.

But they were at the march and they've all crashed now.

dwahzon, Thank you :)

dwahzon, Thank you for the Kos link.

You're welcome... when you come back... one of our DCP'ers who's away sick right now also comes from a big union family. You might find you have a lot in common.

Hello,

I am here in Washington. I too felt uncomfortable that the message was getting diluted with pro-palestinian , pro-hatian demonstraters. But I saw thousands upon thousands of people who were here for only one reason-to end the war in Iraq. After today, I wonder what is next? Will the message be as scattered shot as it has been for the past several years? Or will we be able to focus on the task at hand? And as I see it, that task is changing Congress in 2006 in order to prevent Bushco from perpetuating the disasterous path our country has been put on. Does it matter if the "winners" are Democrat? Not to me. But if they are, and they can stop the megalomaniac from destroying our country, so much the better. But, until the disparate organizations can focus on the main goal-we will not succeed.

Sign at protest:

Yee-haw is not a foreign policy

Posted by: oncall at September 24, 2005 09:59 PM

You are so right...

it's focus, focus, focus

on 2006 Congressional elections...

AND

election oversight officials in all the towns, cities, counties and states.

Yee-haw is not a foreign policy

Posted by: oncall at September 24, 2005 10:02 PM

Also a popular bumpersticker in Austin...;-]

The DCP lounge is hopping with post-march chit-chat... come on in

http://www.democracycellproject.net/chat/index.php

The good news: I've arrived in DC (Rosslyn in Arlington to be exact). I'll head for the Operation Ceasefire concert in a few minutes.

The bad news: My hotel's wi-fi is flaky and doesn't cover my room, so I have to step out into a corridor to blog.

I'll try my best to keep up anyway. See you all tomorrow!

Have fun Ally!! Good to hear from you.

A member of our group made a list of the great slogans on signs. I'm going to ask him to type up the list for us and post around.

I felt some really strong encouragement from today's march. There were young, old, teenagers, and so many people who wanted to speak truth to power.

I believe the message we all have to make together is that the representatives and our government belongs to us and the way we hold power is to show we care.

We will not ignore bad behavior from our paid servants (yes, they are indeed paid servants--paid from our tax dollars) and we will be so clear in our message to them.

Then we will turn around and speak the truth to the public and keep the message going.

Truth to Power,
Integrity,
Accountablility,
Protecting US!!!

Having major trouble connecting to the Net... I give up for the night. I'll head for Operation Ceasefire after a shower.

New visitor to IRC FricO just passed this link along... there's some great pictures here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4875929&mesg_id=4875929

For Madame, Matey!

For the pirates out there:

Another pirate for peace says, "Bush must walk the plank!" (From the video of today's march.)

I thought I was done for tonight, turned on the tv just randomly, looking for something to distract myself; these were the words I heard:

"Our country is in danger not just from foreign enemies. But above all from our own misguided policies. This war must be ended and in my judgement, it can be ended. And it does not involve giving up, but it does involve not continuing to follow the bankrupt policy we're following at the present time."

From one of the speeches today? No, it was Robert Kennedy, speaking during the 1968 primarys.
Funny, the more the world changes the more it stays the same.

Posted by: suz at September 24, 2005 11:00 PM

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr! Aye, aye...bring out the plank!

We just finished watching Miso' film from today--it was so heart-warming to see the throngs of witty and determined people again.

I do want to discuss what we should be doing next -- many were talking about this today. But for the moment, we will all drift into happy satisfaction for jobs well done...

sorry--I am not suz; I am me. I am tired. I will stop now.

I just got back from D.C.

It was really hard to get a figure on nubmers, because we were never all together--the rally, march, peace festival and concert were all over--from the Washington Monument to the White House. So things were scattered, but there were clearly hundreds of thousands--truthout reports that C-Span estimated 500,000.

I'd say about a third of the people missed the rally because of the public tranportation difficulties. Seems the entire metro train was full of peaceniks. And what a great group of fellow Americans we have! No violence. Only really nice, patient people who are very upset with Bush. People who want peace in the world. You gotta love it!

I met Karen and Dick very briefly. They were hangin' with the press--saw Amy Goodman there.

Missed Joan Baez at the concert (we were still marching), but heard some band (don't know who, I'm out of it), then listened to speakers Julian Bond, Jim Hightower, and Cindy Sheehan...Then Steve Earl played and we had to leave for the long trip back but apparently the concert is still going--up to 1 am or something I heard.

Cindy Sheehan is so gracious--saw her waiting in line to use the port-o-potty and I took her picture right outside it--she was nice enough to smile even then :-)

Peace and love all you DCPers

Thanks for filling us in Beth... sounds like a great day!

Your welcome, dwahzon. Sorry my typing is so bad, I'm pretty exhausted.

Looking at the photo of the women above, I know I saw that crew, but didn't know who they were! I especially remember seeing the woman wearing the rainbow peace flag as a cape...

It's a great crew, but there were hundred of thousands of great people there!

This photo says it all... Sweet dreams to everyone tonight!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4876844

I gave up on the Operation Ceasefire concert as well... I need laundry and rest so that I can prepare for tomorrow's jampacked schedule.

Operation Ceasefire should still be going on now. Le Tigre takes stage a bit after midnight.

I'll see everyone tomorrow. Thanks for all your hard work today.

It's been a wonderful day and evening. Just want to say welcome to all the new people who've stopped in to share the march experience with us.

And most especially to say thank you to madame defarge, ladytechie, Truth Shall Prevail, Sandy, Karen, Suz, Larry and Dick for all the wonderful pictures and help on the blog and irc.

And to all the marchers in DC today, thanks for representing the majority of Americans who couldn't make it there today.

Thanks for posting the march pics. It's great to see so many turned out.

However, I watched the ANSWER rally and felt it strayed too far off message. Their last rally did as well. Instead of focusing on Iraq, every group with a gripe got 5 minutes and the list of speakers was waaay to long. I'm not saying the US should not get out of Palestine and the Phillipines or free the Cuban 5. I just don't want to hear about it at the Get Out of Iraq rally.

Focused messaging is important. Thank goodness what little coverage MSM did give of the anti-war events primarily focused on the march.

Sweet Dreams, all.

Thank you for doing an admirable job today.

Our world is a bit safer because of you.

We're so proud!!!

Good morning all...Wow, what a great experience yesterday!
When we got on board the metro to DC, there were three polished people with pro-war signs who got on with us...but by the second stop, the train was full to overflowing with peace ralliers who made the pro-war folks so uncomfortable (in a very non-confrontational way) that they got off. Well, more room for the peace folks, who continued to stream aboard. It took a long time to get into downtown because of track work on the trains. Every stop we pulled up to, there were crowds of people waiting to get on - all peace ralliers.
When we finally arrived downtown, we stopped at a bus map to get our bearings. Two young women came up to us and said, Where are you headed? To the rally, we said, and they said - just follow the crowd. We looked up and there were thousands of people streaming toward the Ellipse. You really could just follow the crowd, it was like swarms of bees to honey.
The crowd we joined was incredibly diverse; what struck me was how much of mainstream America was part of the crowd. Of course an event like this will always draw the fringes and the "anti-everything" folks, but I saw a heck of a lot of just plain folks hailing from all over the US, even Alaska.
The rally was crowded and rather chaotic; there wasn't much of a stage to speak of and by the time we arrived, the speakers were talking about all sorts of pet peeves beyond the war and sounding rather hysterical. Long lines of people carrying names and pictures of the dead US soldiers snaked through the swelling crowd. We were all eager to start marching and it was long past the time we were supposed to step off, but even though we saw people streaming out of the rally area, the rally continued and they hadn't announced for us to get marching.
We found Karen, who is an incredibly sweet woman, and the rest of the DCP gang, and finally we decided to head down to where the march was supposed to start. The crowd pressed in around us as we grabbed backpack straps to stay together. We didn't seem to be moving at all. After a while, a parade and drum corps that reminded me of New Orleans mummers' parades came through; even though we were crowded, we parted and let them wind around us. Finally we began to shuffle forward at an incredibly slow pace. We heard later that there were so many people, the entire parade route was filled and the reason we were so crowded was that the beginning of the parade was returning already and getting stuck with those of us trying to start marching. We were shoulder to shoulder all the way to the White House, slowly shuffling and loudly chanting. The city seemed empty except for protesters and bored policemen. Even though we were moving very slowly and it was very crowded and we weren't sure what was taking so long, everyone stayed mellow and there were no clashes.
The media was pretty non-existent too, although we were all taking pictures of each other and several people had video-recorders. I did see a couple people who were from Italian TV recording the action.
There were bands, drummers, mimers, actors, singers, puppetteers, and folks with bullhorns. Some people carried coffins and others carried large US "peace flags". The more enthusiastic kept chants going...we stuck with basic ones most of the time like hey hey, ho ho, Bush and Cheney have to go.
Once we passed the White House, the crowd moved a lot faster and thinned out some. A lot of people were tired (it had taken two hours just to move a couple of blocks), hungry, and thirsty. People stopped at some of the few open cafes to grab a bite or rest their legs. We stopped after a while to take pictures and sit down, but the crowds just kept coming. One police officer we talked to estimated half a million people. We sat down by an engraved quote from MLK Jr in 1963 where he talked about participative democracy and I thought it was particularly apt.
As we marched by the FBI building there were a hundred or so pro-war protestors separated from us by a line of police. It seemed like a tawdry nod to reality-shows because it appeared the only point of them being there was so they could shout at us and vice versa. They fit the stereotype of angry white Republicans and a few of the peace ralliers called the recruiting office and suggested they come sign up the pro-war folks...many of whom were prime enlistment age. Several of them had signs that said something to the effect of, if you pull out now then our soldiers are fighting for nothing...and I thought, exactly - does it suddenly mean they are fighting for something if they stay and keep dying? I avoided the fray but a lot of people went over there to vent their aggressions (verbally of course).
We saw a lot of interesting signs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, pins, you name it. A lot of the signs were explicit in language and at least one was downright pornographic but nobody seemed to take offense. We were all rather angry but it was a controlled anger and luckily it didn't get directed at anyone there, really.
After we finished marching, the concert had already started. We said hi to Karen and Dick in the press tent and headed for the DCP table. A bunch of us kept the table manned and did the grip-and-grin while I headed off to find food and water. There were plenty of porta-potties but whether it was a problem with the permit or the planning, there was no food and no water available. We eventually ended up at one of the permanent little cafes down by the Smithsonian and brought back water for everyone.
The music and speakers were certainly a diverse group. It started to look like Woodstock, with people camped out all over the lawn in front of the Washington Monument and rings of pot smoke rising. The speakers from the stage urged everyone to stay all night but as it got towards night time, the music was geared toward a younger crowd and we were tired and hungry, so we headed off to Karen's for dinner.
It was funny how everyone just took up residence in Karen's house and she didn't seem to mind at all. Even the cat was used to visitors and took us all in serenely. People started loading pictures on the blog and adding their thoughts while we ordered in pizza (thanks abqjohn!) and Chinese food. Why the pizza, which was ordered from across the country, took much less time to arrive than the Chinese food was beyond us.
More and more people kept arriving, many more than had been in our little marching group earlier. I got to put faces to a lot of the names on the blog and it was great to meet everyone. We had to take off soon after the food arrived in order to drive back but even though it was a long day, we left feeling energized.
Now we just have to make sure that our government hears our voice. This is truly the voice not of the fringe, but of mainstream America, and it says unanimously, These liars must go.

Now, it's my turn to join the activities and get my voice heard.

I am about to set out for the Mall right now. I'll get there after a quick breakfast here in Arlington.

I'll have a camera so that I'll be able to contribute lots of pictures to this blog - and my own blog. I hope to take lots of photos - and inspirations - today.

If you are coming to the Mall this morning, I will see you then!

Washington Post interviewing Hugo Chavez

Reportedly, Venezuela is buying MiG planes, as well as rifles, from Russia. Why does Venezuela need these?

Who told you that I am going to buy MiGs? I am going to buy rifles, that's true. Our rifles are very old. Venezuela does not have spare parts or the workshops to maintain our equipment. It is high time for us to replace our old rifles. We could not buy rifles from the Americans because of the poor relations we have. We did not like what they had to offer in Europe because of the prices. We liked the Russian rifles. They are to defend our country. We are threatened by the empire.

Is the U.S. the empire?

The government of the United States, that's the empire. We have evidence that there are plans in this country to invade Venezuela. There is a plan called "Balboa." Our intelligence found this plan, and everything is spelled out there -- the target is Venezuela. They have even calculated how many bombings they should do, how many soldiers they will require. We now have the counter-Balboa plan. I hope that this will never happen because you're going to regret it. There will be such havoc in the whole hemisphere if this happens. The United States invaded Iraq, but Venezuela is not Iraq. The price of oil would shoot up and reach what -- $100 a barrel?

Continues

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092400016_2.html

Ummm and to whomever deleted the war porn story..

The Nation is also running thier own article about it.

This story as they say, has legs.. as Disgusting as that may be... it is STILL completely relevent. Even if blacked out, something awful is happening. And it's not going away.

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20051010&s=the_porn_of_war

Too funny on Meet The Press this am when Russert asked Maureen Dowd:"Can Bush get his support back now with "rita"? Dowd replied:"No,now he's running around like a CNN weather man."
Some good points Friedman made,and I only hope the DLC was "listening". Worth a transcript post here.

So...

When me and Rossi tried to tell you we had gang rape pics from Abu Ghraib that were being uploaded onto American PORN websites...

WHAT EXACTLY did yall think we meant by that and why was it OUR motives and resources that seemed to be the issue?

koa flea- just re-reading some posts from last night. You object to a t-shirt that says "Free Palestine" beause the wearer might be perceived as being too radical, yet you quote Al Jazeera's figures on the size of the crowd at the rally. There's something that just doesn't jive there.
And are you implying that we should screen the people at the peace rallies so the right wing press doesn't object to any of the slogans on the t-shirts there? Sorry, but we're through being politically correct to please the Rush Limbaughs of the world. No more wimps allowed in our party- fish, cut bait, or get out of the boat.
Your posts are interesting though- I'll say that for them.
And Christy- I'm finally agreeing with you on something, but don't get mad. I'm beginning to think you're right about the military take-over of New Orleans. They could have allowed the citizens in the higher areas of that town back a long time ago. Something is very strange there too. Now Gov. Perry is telling the people of Texas not to go home yet. I've lived through enough hurricanes to know that getting home as quickly as possible after the storm is imperitive if you want to save your property from looters, or the even worst hazards of a hurricane, like MOLD. Maybe Bush is building up our military in Louisiana and Texas for some other reason. You may just be right.
Gotta go now before you get mad at me for agreeing with you :-) But I do.

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at September 25, 2005 12:05 PM

Gee don't hurt yourself.

The only reason you ever disagreed with me in the first place is because you don't like me. And somehow thats supposed to make me what?

Wrong...?

EXCEPT................

EXCEPT.............

EXCEPT......................

At some point I will become bitter enough to start telling people I TOLD YOU SO.

No, it won't help, but it just may make me feel better about all of it.

ohhhhhhhhhh boy,

I am so proud of everyopne who went the pro-peace rally, it was a great day for our country.

And we need to keep the fight up against the corporate media and their blackout of the event.