I wanted to go to the big march on Washington this last weekend. I wanted to take Clementine. As much as I liked the idea of taking her, however, I just didn’t think that she could handle the 12 hours on the highway. So, we didn’t go. A few MM.com readers did, however, and it sounds as though they had a great time. (The images above come from Oliva.) And, here, in case you didn’t see it, is a clip from Bob Herbert’s op-ed in today’s “New York Times”:
…You can say what you want about the people opposed to this wretched war in Iraq, try to stereotype them any way you can. But you couldn’t walk among them for more than a few minutes on Saturday without realizing that they love their country as much as anyone ever has. They love it enough to try to save it…
The goal of the crowd was to get the attention of Congress and persuade it to move vigorously to reverse the Bush war policies. But the thought that kept returning as I watched the earnestly smiling faces, so many of them no longer young, was the way these protesters had somehow managed to keep the faith. They still believed, after all the years and all the lies, that they could make a difference. They still believed their government would listen to them and respond…
The public is way out in front of the politicians on this issue. But the importance of Saturday’s march does not lie primarily in whether it hastens a turnaround of U.S. policy on the war. The fact that so many Americans were willing to travel from every region of the country to march against the war was a reaffirmation of the public’s commitment to our peaceful democratic processes. It is in that unique and unflagging commitment, not in our terrifying military power, that the continued promise and greatness of America are to be found.
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Some video of the event can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPqoodWESg8
I’m sure it was a great event, but some of the people featured in this video imho aren’t doing the movement any favors. Maybe it was just that the people playing drums and blowing into sea shells made for more interesting shots, but it gives the impression that it’s just the fringe that wants us out of Iraq and that’s not the case. I’d like to see more footage of vets and families talking about why they came. I’m sure they were there too. Instead what I see primarily are images of shirtless men with bloodshot eyes and the occasional miserable looking paranoid.
At one of the large demonstrations here in NYC before the invasion of Iraq, the “NY Post” found a dozen Raelians; and emphasized them to show that anyone who disagreed with Bush was a loony.
Most of the coverage I’ve seen of the march in DC was about what celebrities were there.
Don’t blame the drummers!
Are the Raelians the ones that use prostitutes to lure men in at Star Trek conventions?
I know the Raelians only from their bogus claims that they were cloning humans. Please tell us of your adventures with prostitutes at the Star Trek convention.
I was right. The Raelians do recruit strippers and use sex as a recruiting tool.
Here’s a clip from one of their sites:
I had heard that the Raelians enjoyed their nookie, but didn’t know the details. They sound like a jolly crew.
I do have some of their early books, in which the Elohim of Genesis are depicted as little gray aliens with facial hair. That seems as good a guess as any.
Anyone want to buy one of my new “Raelians give the best lap dances” thsirts?
Were the Raelians wearing clothes in New York? The news agencies in California wouldn’t go anywhere near the naked Raelian anti-war protest a few years ago.
I’m sure the Raelians kept their pants on for the NYC demonstrations. The tabloids were working overtime to depict all demonstrators as nutjobs, and would have trumpeted any nudity.
Meanwhile, the Raelians are again raising a stink by going back to their original symbol: a swastika inside a star. They claimed they were using the swastika in its pre-Nazi sense — it is, after all, an old symbol used in India for centuries. They did change it (to a spiral inside a star) after they realized using a swastika these days is a bad idea. Now they’ve gone back, for some reason. Oh, those Raelians.
I can think of no better combination of elements to build a religion around than stripping and cloaning. I defy anyone to pick a better set.
It depends on your demographic. The Shakers did well with celibacy and furniture design. It wouldn’t hook me, but I guess they knew what they were doing.