A Photo I took earlier today in the Men’s Restroom at Jumbalaya in Danvers, Massachusetts near my office is the Lead Editor’s Pick today on Text America.
And how cool is that!
I am so hungry for a positive surprise. I am so hungry to hear a politician, a statesman, a business leader surprise me in a good way. It has been so long. It’s been over 10 years since Yitzhak Rabin thrust out his hand to Yasir Arafat on the White House lawn. Yes, yes, I know, Arafat turned out to be a fraud. But for a brief, shining moment, an old warrior, Mr. Rabin, stepped out of himself, his past, and all his scar tissue, and imagined something different. It’s been a long time.
Read the rest at the New York Times
This last week, President George W. Bush spoke at a fundraiser at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, where he delivered this speech.
As I was staying downtown that afternoon, a counterpart and I walked the four blocks from our hotel to the “designated protest area” to check out the protests.
Other images available in my picture gallery.
My observations… About 500 people overall, 4000 were predicted by anti-bush groups here. I’d say 100 were pro-bush, 400 were anti-bush, but that’s a non-scientific estimate.
Protesters comments ranged from “bush is a liar” to “free the haitians” to “free the palestinians’, and so on. Pro-Bush folks mostly had “college republicans for bush” and “Bush / Cheney” placards.
The rudest nastiest protesters were the union workers - they were in the face of the college republicans, cursing, and screaming.
The funniest protesters were the “Billionaires for Bush” - you can see their website here.
Police were there in force, but not quite the overt presence I was expecting. We did see one counter-sniper team on the roof of a nearby building, you can see that in a couple of the photos.
All in all quite an entertaining experience.
Firefight in Fallujah. I was wondering how this was going to go. The Army pretty much stayed clear of the town, letting the IP deal with local discontent. The Marines went on patrol through the town center, and one died in an ambush. But when a Marine gets killed in an ambush, no one should be surprised when 300 other Marines show up to ask how it happened. And they’re pissed.
From Lex
As Waldron prepares to play for the Class A championship today, people in the community of 800 are expressing their support by wearing T-shirts and painting their faces or, in the case of Penny Hensley, her barn.
From the Indianapolis Star