Friday, January 21, 2005
The inauguration blues
The inauguration. Wish I was there. Not the event itself - the anti-Bush rallies. They sound like tons of fun.
Lastly:
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"Armed with signs reading: 'It's not a mandate when you cheat' and '51 per cent is not a mandate', thousands of protesters turned out for demonstrations..."That seems like pretty tough onus to satisfy. You cheat to get 51% of the vote so you can get a democratic mandate, but after you get there you're told that 51% is not a mandate either. What is a mandate? I'm not sure, but if it's not 51% then 49% sounds even less like it.
"Bill Hollenshead, a 45-year-old accountant from Pennsylvania attending the DC Anti-War Network's protest, said he came to Washington to 'show Bush that not everyone agrees with him, because he doesn't seem to understand that'."Having just directly participated in the presidential election, I'm sure that Bush has some inkling of that. There was that Kerry fellow, for starters, who disagreed. OK, at least on occasions. And then there were...
"Mr Hollenshead said he was not a traditional activist, but he decided to take part in the protest because 'I'm against everything that Bush is for and I'm for everything that he's against'."President Bush is against cutting off children's ears with chainsaws. He's also not a great fan of peeing in your soup. Oh, and he is not in favor of executing Mr Hollenshead. Over to you, Mr Hollenshead.
"Garrett Meigs, 23, of Ithaca, New York, said he came to Washington to 'show the rest of the world that many Americans are opposed to the Bush agenda'."Sadly, having been delayed in traffic, Garrett Meigs missed the election by two and a half months.
" 'I can't believe people of my generation allowed for this to happen again,' said Kathy Liggett, 52, of Indiana, recalling the Vietnam War era. Ms Liggett, whose son is a marine stationed in Fallujah, slammed the conflict in Iraq as an 'unjustified war', sporting a button saying 'Bush lied; people died' and holding a sign reading 'Iraq: Arabic for Vietnam'."Actually, Iraq is ancient Persian for Lesser Iran.
Lastly:
"A small group of Bush supporters who had entered the park, only to be shoved out by demonstrators, shouted 'Four more years', waving four fingers in the air as they left."Could this be the same incident as this?
"When the Bush supporters arrived, about 20 black-clad, self-described anarchists emerged from the crowd, shouting profanity and epithets and demanding that they leave the peace rally.Anarchist: Arabic for idiot.
"When the Bush supporters refused to leave, the anarchists tore the sign out of the Bush supporters' hands and stomped on them. When ProtestWarrior leader Gil Kobrin objected, several male anarchists knocked him to the ground, kicking him in the back and punching him. Other anarchists punched and shoved Kobrin's 12 colleagues.
"After D.C. Antiwar Network members broke up the fight, the Bush supporters heeded their order to leave the park."
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