It Was A Peaceful Protest

Denise and I had lunch at Fred’s in Nevada City on Saturday, ignorant of the fact that it was March 19 and there were rallies planned all over the country, marching for peace and protesting the war in Iraq. Now, I know I’ll be taken to task for this piece of satire, but I can’t help it. Funny stuff just happens to me all the time…

The demonstration in Nevada City was quiet and orderly… In fact, when I returned with my camera to document the event on the Broad St. overpass ten minutes later, it was over. The only evidence that an anti-Bush crowd had been engaged in a struggle against war, corporate greed, and poverty, were the three late-model Volvos left at the scene by lunching activists.     
I stepped out in the street to snap some photos and was almost run over by a distracted Woman in Black, speeding away from the peace vigil, while lighting up a cigarette and lining the pockets of “big tobacco.”

I don’t know how the Nevada County contingent can hope to put an end to war and US hegemony with such little commitment and energy. When I drove by the first time, there were only a few dozen folks out on the bridge and they pooped out fairly early. To be fair, I heard a couple of busloads of the faithful headed to San Francisco to join the festivities down there (which also seemed pretty lackluster compared to former years). There was also a scheduling conflict, which I discovered as I drove by the Miners Foundry. It’s not a good idea to have two major events vying for the attendance of the same demographic group.

Who knows… maybe the folks on the bridge had been there since sunup and were exhausted from hours of awareness-raising. Or, perhaps they had simply gone to lunch and returned by the thousands after I (and my camera) had gone home. In any case, it was a solemn, dignified exercise of free speech.

3 Comments

  1. Levi Nunnink said:

    George Bush, you think you can send our brothers and sisters on your hate-driven oil crusade? Well the true citizens of America won’t stand for it. If the weather is pleasant and the forecast doesn’t call for showers, we will take to the streets and raise our voices of protest!

    Our blood boils with each new act of barbarity committed in the name of fighting ‘terrorism’, and if the Mind Body Spirit Health Fair is not occurring (and is not catered by Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins. Yum!) we will stand as a silent black thundercloud along the Broad Street Bridge.

    George W., Dick Cheney, Rumsfield, you may think you can spread violence and destruction but we have our voices, we have our bodies; we will raise our voices against you; our bodies will line the streets for days, clothed in black. (Unless no one else wants to do it with us. Then we’ll call it quits in time to catch lunch and maybe even in time for Desperate Housewives!)

    Shame on you Mr. Bush!

    March 21, 2005
    Reply
  2. Anonymous said:

    I wonder how they were planning to get to S.F. Hmmm…. maybe in a CAR that uses OIL.
    -Roz

    March 21, 2005
    Reply
  3. SkiTheStars said:

    What, use a car ?

    Those are suicidal devices, killing 40,000 Americans every year. The should be outlawed, here and now. very deadly transportation system, no wonder the rest of the Galaxy has us quarrantined, only only flies by every now and then to see how we are doing. Deer generally don’t stop trains and flip them over, a la 49 the other day, the NCCN was a very good idea.

    A better idea is to standardize various models of undercarraige and motive systems, and have people buy detachable passenger compartments, which can be loaded on trains for long hauls, say LA or Salt Lake, without the weight of the engine, etc. Where to go to the bathroom. Funny, people in small light planes and astronauts solved that years ago.

    If we’re going to prevent people from legally overdosing on barbituates, surely we should stop them from driving cars !

    BTW, if God is already going to toast non-believers for non belief, then shouldn’t they be allowed to legally overdose, when the body gives more pain than staying alive brings pleasure ? What’s God goona do ? Can’t punish them twice as hard, since He’s already punishing them forever anyway ? Freedom of Religion means having the freedom to chose an exit strategy to match one’s own religion, or lack thereof.

    April 20, 2005
    Reply

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