I would have been more motivated to show up if the march had headed uptown rather than down from Union Square, toward Schumer's and Clinton's Manhattan offices, conveniently located a cozy block apart on Third Avenue, at 47th and 48th Streets respectively. But no, the peace movement, as usual, prefers to expend its strength against a target on which it can have no effect.
Press coverage, not surprisingly, was routine, and one can hardly blame the press -- there was basically no story, just the usual kvetching on a mass scale. If the march had gone uptown -- if a cadre of resisters had blocked Clinton's and Schumer's lobbies, or tossed blood on their doors -- I daresay that would have created more of a stir. If protesters had handed in signed letters saying that they would never, ever vote for Clinton or Schumer again, for any office whatsoever, that might have even gotten the Democratic Party's attention -- assuming, optimistically, that the capacity for attention still lies latent in that comatose creature's nervous system.
Oh well. A guy can dream. Wouldn't it be nice if we had an antiwar movement that really wanted to do something about the war -- a movement that would apply its strength against the weakest link rather than the strongest?
Comments (5)
storm hillary's bastion
sieze it
litter it with dove droppings
don't leave till
st hill
goes over there
to I-raq herself
and
like an anti joan
leads our helmet-kids
back home here herself
Posted by jsp | May 1, 2006 10:43 AM
Posted on May 1, 2006 10:43
Right after the USS Kerriere sank gracelessly into the mud where it was dry docked, I started urging people I know to re-register as Greens, for the dismay it would cause, or as anything but a donk.
The Dem party pros don't listen, but they can hear. They create election models and bow down before them. They issue fatuous Bulls while wearing stupid hats. They send horrible creepy people into the pews to extort the widows' mites and open the church after hours for those seeking indulgences.
It seemed like such an obvious thing to do the easiest possible thing: refuse. Surely the wonks would notice if people were genuinely sick enough to do something. Hundreds of thousands can rally, millions all told. A simple statement should follow naturally. Re-registering is a lot less fearsome than pepper spray, the urine stench of the cells and standing around in handcuffs while your paperwork gets "processed" at central booking.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | May 1, 2006 2:38 PM
Posted on May 1, 2006 14:38
Sadly, J.Alva, I think that a lot of people would rather risk being sprayed and cuffed than suffer the pain of being poo-poohed by their fellow pwogs as cranks, or hopelessly gauche, or whatever. I'd be the first to tell them that after the initial pain of getting that tag pinned to you subsides, it gets easier. It also gets easier and easier to rebut said tag as more and more of the disgruntled and disillusioned cross the line to join you.
But there's the conundrum. Once you've been demoted, nobody "normal" has to listen to you anymore. It's like a clan where you are permanently shunned but never officially exiled. You wander among the massed pwogs like that poor woman in Carnival of Souls, unwilling to admit to yourself that you've died. :p
Posted by alsis39.9 | May 2, 2006 2:53 PM
Posted on May 2, 2006 14:53
alsis :
"... wander among the massed pwogs like that poor woman in Carnival of Souls, unwilling to admit to yourself that you've died "
surely
YOU don't suffer so
THERE'S A CARNIVAL GOING ON ALL RIGHT
FULL OF HEE HAWS AND MUNCHED
PRICKLY PEARS
BUT YOU COULD COUNT
"THE SOULS "
LOST OR FOUND
ON ONE FOOT
Posted by js paine | May 2, 2006 3:50 PM
Posted on May 2, 2006 15:50
...THERE'S A CARNIVAL GOING ON ALL RIGHT
FULL OF HEE HAWS AND MUNCHED
PRICKLY PEARS...
Sounds like they're remaking Carnival of Souls with Jessica Simpson in the leading role. She'll probably do some musical numbers, too.
I need to get to work digging that underground bunker...
Posted by alsis39.9 | May 3, 2006 12:03 AM
Posted on May 3, 2006 00:03