Sick of Bush

Another day, another rally/march. Will it do any good? Who knows? Certainly for the people who participate it is an uplifting experience. It's always good to be reminded that others share one's own qualms and commitments. Still, it's very much a mixed bag. So many of those who show up at these events are people one would really not want to be associated with, but then again, non of them are as repulsive as Condi, Donald Rumsfeld, or Dick Cheney. I'll break bread with a schizo ex-hippie vegan anarchist any day before I would pretend to normal social relations with the Bush administration neo-con goon squad. The "freaks" who show up to protest at least have some sense of human decency and a concern for others. Whereas empathy is not something that has ever troubled the Bush gang.

Today's protest in DC was interesting on many fronts. The turnout was very good. The police elected to present a much lower profile than normal. The physical site was dramatically expanded to include both the elipse behind the White House as well as a large part of the Washington Monument grounds. But there were problems as well: fences and barracdes at arbitray points made movement in the area difficult, no bathroom facilities were provided (people had to go a half mile over to the mall to the those set up for the National Book Fair), and unexplained delays and cancellations of Amtrack trains from New York threw the schedule way off - since speakers and participants were stuck waiting.

And being a total spoil sport I have to ask, isn't it possible to line up some good speakers? The people who appear at these rallies mostly have no business being in front of an audience. I don't care how significant they may be as an organizer and supporter of good causes, if they don't know how to handle a microphone and deal with an audience they shouldn't be there. It brings everyone down to have someone they don't know shouting unintelligiable words into a feedback suffering mike. With the exception of Jessica Lange, Jessie Jackson, and Cindy Sheehan, most of the speakers were worse than useless. And of course this is all complicated by having two different groups (International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice)with somewhat differing priorities in charge of the arrangements.

Still, it was good that it happened. Now we just need more of the same on some regualr basis. PRESSURE is required, and it needs to be applied ALL THE TIME.

As the chant goes - "The People, united, will never be defeated." And I believe this is true. But the "people" are not yet united. We're getting there, but not yet.