Jan. 27th 2007 DC Demonstration Report and Pictures
UPDATED AT END,1-28-07 11:20PM
UPDATED AGAIN AT END, 1-29-07
3RD UPDATE AT END, 1-30-07 10AM
(CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE AND CLICK AGAIN TO MAKE EVEN BIGGER)
Being in a bit less pain than last night I decided we would go down and join the Demonstration against the American-Iraq War. I'm so glad we did. Solidarity, Speaking out and Marching for Peace were the order of the day. This was the best On Message demonstration against this War that I have participated in. This was my 6th and Lil Joe's 3rd. I had a feeling it was gonna be a bigun and I wasn't disappointed.
We left around 9:30 and stopped of at the Burger King at Route 17 off of Interstate 70 about 10 miles west of Frederick Maryland. Frederick is a Republican City and it's
newspapers reflect that fact. Most of the papers around DC including the Washington Post by and large have ignored the many demos, even the biguns. I was surprised to hear CNN's Jack Cafferty twice mention the planned Demo in positive terms earlier this week.
While waiting for our order of sausage biscuits to be filled at the drive up window I was also pleasantly surprised to see the Frederick News Post's headline.
Usually I park at the Twinbrook Metro station to take the train in to DC for the demos. For some stupid reason I parked at the Shady Grove Metro, which is the North end of the Red Line. In an effort to go up to the tunnel into station we were met by such a large crowd that I estimated it would take at least an hour to board a train.
We backtracked to the car and went down to Twinbrook which is 2 stations closer. Much to my pleasure the Metro was running some trains from Shady Grove without letting people board from there, so our train was not packed. We hooked up with the Green/Yellow line at Gallery Place and boy oh boy was it crowded there. People chanting, signs and good feelings filled the Metro. Arising above ground at Archives we found the area just crawling with fellow protesters. People coming from every direction. We headed down 3rd and made a left at Madison. We climbed the steps of the National Art Gallery to rest and plan our next move. I also called Robert Rouse of Left of Centrist to see if I could hook up with him.
Lil Joe says Hello from the steps of the Gallery.
Two Fine People against Bush. Now tell me the truth, who would you most likely entrust to watch over your child, these Two Fine People or George and Laura?
I forgot where they hailed from. They were most pleasant to meet.
After repeated calls back and forth, Robert from Left of Centrist came out of the crowd near the stage so we could meet. We only had a few moments to talk because he had to get back to a friend who had come down from Fort Wayne with him. She is blind. But obviously sees a lot clearer than Bush People! It was a pleasure to meet him and I look forward to seeing him again someday.
It was such a beautiful day in DC, the Moon showed up.
I wanted to be near the front of the march and I was successful. You can see the front as we head up Capitol Hill.
We Stand Up to Bush. Now if we can only get the Capitol inhabitants to do so. Someone on the return trip on the train told me that one of the groups had made a Spine that was quite long. Something akin to one of those Chinese Dragons seen during one of their festivals. I hope to see a pic somewhere of it.
Impeachment? Hell Yes!
Lil Pretty in Pink for Peace. Her and her sisters(?)to the right had the the sweetest voiced chant of all I heard."PEACE NOW!"
This is looking down Capitol Hill after a 3rd way up. The people are coming up from the street on the left.
This is looking down Capitol Hill after we looped back. This U-Turn of the March was to cause problems later on. People got real jammed up, and people started coming up from this side too. When we got down a bit and turned around and looked, it was all jammed up. This was not the Organizers fault. Only late yesterday was the March Route posted online, because the Police decide were we can March. They were trying to protect the South side of the Capitol, because that is were people who work(term used loosely mind you)at the Capitol enter and leave their parking area. Later someone told me it was opened up. I was thinking that the Police wanted to cause trouble because of the loop back March Route. But if they did open it up, maybe they were just being stupid by trying to U-Turn 10's of thousands of people and corrected that mistake.
Two of Boston's Finest came down to Speak Out.
This was taken about two hours after Lil Joe and I started marching. Thousands of people still coming!
I usually try to do a good estimate of the numbers of the crowd. What with the pain from the kidney stone and being with Lil Joe, I cannot give an honest estimate.
Later some said the Organizers were claiming 300,000. I said I didn't think there were that many. They then said that people were packed on the Mall all the way back to the Washington Monument. If so, then 200 or 300 thousand most likely did show up.
Some people just stay on the edge of the crowd and don't march. They just have picnics with their posted signs. From what I saw, my best Guesstimate is that there were around 50,000 people. From previous experiance the correct number is somewhere right between what the Orginizers say and what the Police say it was. So maybe tomorrow we'll have a better idea. DC wasn't the only place Demos were held. All across the Nation people gathered to Stop this Insane War and Bring Our Troops Home.
And We Will.
The next DC Demo is planned for March 17th. That will be the 4th Anniversary of the Official start of the American-Iraq War. People are planning to encamp for three days at the Pentagon. If they do, I intend to come down for a day. I'll bring cookies and other yummies. If you come, I'll share.
Peace. Bring it On.
UPDATE:
Melissa who came by and commented has some great pics that you can find at her place Left here.
Dusty made a fantastic video of the DC and Palm Springs Protests that you can find Left here too.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Mary who also came by and commented, was at the DC Demo along with a brood of younguns. Her post and pics are a must see.
Robert of Left of Centrist has returned to Ft Wayne and his post is also very worthy of your time. You also get another pic of me and Robert together.
3RD UPDATE
I forgot to mention that a contingent of Iraq Veterans Against the War were at the Demo. For those with ears to hear, Paddy over at John's shares this Youtube (They Speak for Themselves) Video. It should be required viewing for all of Congress and the Misadministration.
UPDATED AGAIN AT END, 1-29-07
3RD UPDATE AT END, 1-30-07 10AM
(CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE AND CLICK AGAIN TO MAKE EVEN BIGGER)
Being in a bit less pain than last night I decided we would go down and join the Demonstration against the American-Iraq War. I'm so glad we did. Solidarity, Speaking out and Marching for Peace were the order of the day. This was the best On Message demonstration against this War that I have participated in. This was my 6th and Lil Joe's 3rd. I had a feeling it was gonna be a bigun and I wasn't disappointed.
We left around 9:30 and stopped of at the Burger King at Route 17 off of Interstate 70 about 10 miles west of Frederick Maryland. Frederick is a Republican City and it's
newspapers reflect that fact. Most of the papers around DC including the Washington Post by and large have ignored the many demos, even the biguns. I was surprised to hear CNN's Jack Cafferty twice mention the planned Demo in positive terms earlier this week.
While waiting for our order of sausage biscuits to be filled at the drive up window I was also pleasantly surprised to see the Frederick News Post's headline.
Usually I park at the Twinbrook Metro station to take the train in to DC for the demos. For some stupid reason I parked at the Shady Grove Metro, which is the North end of the Red Line. In an effort to go up to the tunnel into station we were met by such a large crowd that I estimated it would take at least an hour to board a train.
We backtracked to the car and went down to Twinbrook which is 2 stations closer. Much to my pleasure the Metro was running some trains from Shady Grove without letting people board from there, so our train was not packed. We hooked up with the Green/Yellow line at Gallery Place and boy oh boy was it crowded there. People chanting, signs and good feelings filled the Metro. Arising above ground at Archives we found the area just crawling with fellow protesters. People coming from every direction. We headed down 3rd and made a left at Madison. We climbed the steps of the National Art Gallery to rest and plan our next move. I also called Robert Rouse of Left of Centrist to see if I could hook up with him.
Lil Joe says Hello from the steps of the Gallery.
Two Fine People against Bush. Now tell me the truth, who would you most likely entrust to watch over your child, these Two Fine People or George and Laura?
I forgot where they hailed from. They were most pleasant to meet.
After repeated calls back and forth, Robert from Left of Centrist came out of the crowd near the stage so we could meet. We only had a few moments to talk because he had to get back to a friend who had come down from Fort Wayne with him. She is blind. But obviously sees a lot clearer than Bush People! It was a pleasure to meet him and I look forward to seeing him again someday.
It was such a beautiful day in DC, the Moon showed up.
I wanted to be near the front of the march and I was successful. You can see the front as we head up Capitol Hill.
We Stand Up to Bush. Now if we can only get the Capitol inhabitants to do so. Someone on the return trip on the train told me that one of the groups had made a Spine that was quite long. Something akin to one of those Chinese Dragons seen during one of their festivals. I hope to see a pic somewhere of it.
Impeachment? Hell Yes!
Lil Pretty in Pink for Peace. Her and her sisters(?)to the right had the the sweetest voiced chant of all I heard."PEACE NOW!"
This is looking down Capitol Hill after a 3rd way up. The people are coming up from the street on the left.
This is looking down Capitol Hill after we looped back. This U-Turn of the March was to cause problems later on. People got real jammed up, and people started coming up from this side too. When we got down a bit and turned around and looked, it was all jammed up. This was not the Organizers fault. Only late yesterday was the March Route posted online, because the Police decide were we can March. They were trying to protect the South side of the Capitol, because that is were people who work(term used loosely mind you)at the Capitol enter and leave their parking area. Later someone told me it was opened up. I was thinking that the Police wanted to cause trouble because of the loop back March Route. But if they did open it up, maybe they were just being stupid by trying to U-Turn 10's of thousands of people and corrected that mistake.
Two of Boston's Finest came down to Speak Out.
This was taken about two hours after Lil Joe and I started marching. Thousands of people still coming!
I usually try to do a good estimate of the numbers of the crowd. What with the pain from the kidney stone and being with Lil Joe, I cannot give an honest estimate.
Later some said the Organizers were claiming 300,000. I said I didn't think there were that many. They then said that people were packed on the Mall all the way back to the Washington Monument. If so, then 200 or 300 thousand most likely did show up.
Some people just stay on the edge of the crowd and don't march. They just have picnics with their posted signs. From what I saw, my best Guesstimate is that there were around 50,000 people. From previous experiance the correct number is somewhere right between what the Orginizers say and what the Police say it was. So maybe tomorrow we'll have a better idea. DC wasn't the only place Demos were held. All across the Nation people gathered to Stop this Insane War and Bring Our Troops Home.
And We Will.
The next DC Demo is planned for March 17th. That will be the 4th Anniversary of the Official start of the American-Iraq War. People are planning to encamp for three days at the Pentagon. If they do, I intend to come down for a day. I'll bring cookies and other yummies. If you come, I'll share.
Peace. Bring it On.
UPDATE:
Melissa who came by and commented has some great pics that you can find at her place Left here.
Dusty made a fantastic video of the DC and Palm Springs Protests that you can find Left here too.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Mary who also came by and commented, was at the DC Demo along with a brood of younguns. Her post and pics are a must see.
Robert of Left of Centrist has returned to Ft Wayne and his post is also very worthy of your time. You also get another pic of me and Robert together.
3RD UPDATE
I forgot to mention that a contingent of Iraq Veterans Against the War were at the Demo. For those with ears to hear, Paddy over at John's shares this Youtube (They Speak for Themselves) Video. It should be required viewing for all of Congress and the Misadministration.
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