Three Years and Counting

On Saturday, March 18th, I joined a few thousand of my fellow San Franciscans down at Civic Center to do one of the things that we do best: protest the war. We gathered in the morning at Civic Center, marched a few miles through the Tenderloin, downtown and South of Market areas, then made our way back to Civic Center for more speeches and drum circles and socializing. Here are some of the pictures I took during the day. As always, click on the pictures for larger versions.

Can't we all just get along? I must have seen well over a hundred cops just on the eight-block walk down the street from my apartment. There was only one misdemeanor arrest all day, however.

The prevailing sentiment of the day.

People of all ages, flavors and persuasions attended. One thing most all of them had in common was opposition to the war and animosity to the man occupying the White House.

The fellow on the left, right after I snapped this picture, pointed to his friend behind the sign and said, "Doesn't he look just like Donald Rumsfeld?" The guy did, sort of.

Banjo Man can be seen at just about all the SF protests -- also at the annual Bluegrass Festival and most every major sporting event in the Bay Area, from Giants and A's to 49ers and Raiders and more. He's been a fixture at these gatherings for as long as I've lived here.

Not everyone there had exactly the same agenda.

The words just beneath the photo of Iraqi children with drawn-on berets and mustaches reads "Iraq is not a country of 23 million Saddams."

This fellow asked me for the URL for this site so that his mother could see this picture. I hope they both like it, especially since I cut off the top of his head.

...And the back of his shirt.

...And his friend's shirt.

Just another peace-head.

"The United States of Aggression: One Deception."

There were quite a few veterans and families of soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan there.

Simple yet eloquent.

Tortuous yet eloquent.

The sign reads "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

Peace is patriotic.

...And many patriots agree on one thing.

Only in San Francisco: Politics and garlic fries.

There were lots of creative signs...

As I said, the sentiment of the day.

The one on the left says "Have faith in cynicism and disbelief."

In any language, he's dangerous and deadly.

"An imminent threat to democracy." Maybe we should take preemptive action against him? Oops, too late.

Here's one reality show that needs to be canceled, and quick.

Picasso's "Guernica," now on display at major protest marches near you.

Every good march needs a horn section.

Great sentiment, but again, it may be too late.

Can we quarantine the Mad Cowboy?

Maybe if we had Jack Abramoff lobbying for peace, we'd get somewhere with this administration and their rubber-stamping cronies in Congress.

All over town, people turned out in their windows and on balconies to see the passing parade. Virtually all of them waved and offered encouragement as we walked by.

His ribbon reads "Love America: Impeach Bush." Funny, but I don't recall seeing too many of those on SUVs lately.

The veterans' contingent: Proud to have served their country, angry at Bush for sending young men to their deaths and creating a new class of scarred and wounded veterans under false pretenses.

Preznit AWOL: 'nuff said.

I think I know what they're trying to say.

After we got back to Civic Center, there was a panel discussion with some of the principal architects of the war. For some reason, the statements that they had made in 2003 didn't really synch up with the reality of the situation -- or even their own more recent statements -- today.

He probably can't spell it right either.

Even war protesters like an ice cream now and then, especially after a hot day walking the streets of the city carrying a big sign.