I’m reading about how yesterday’s marches/protests/demonstrations had little to no effect on much of anything.
Here in Seattle, the numbers were in the 25K range, although I’m sure the organizers doubled that figure. What I saw in the arial shots from the news copters was a half mile line of people who, as they were coming down 4th Ave in Seattle, all could have extended their arms and done the whirling dirvish.
What I saw in the ground shots was pure opera. I could almost hear the camera directors remarks to the operators as they switched from camera to camera:
Director: “Camera two, pan left and up. Switch to camera four. Camera four pan up and right. Camera three can you please focus in on that group with the American flags? Camera three, I asked for American flags. Camera three?”
Camera Three: “What American flags?”
D: “Over to your right, Camera Three”
C3: “Those are counter-protestors”
Yes, there were SOME people in the march carrying the Stars and Stripes, but I saw many, many flags from Mexico and Brazil and every Central American country in between, as well as a couple from Europe. But you had to look for American flags by finding a group of them. There were very few individuals with them around.
It seemed almost, Organized?
About the only thing disrupted by the rally/march here in Seattle was traffic.
The organizers waited to start the march until around 1530PST or so, therefore putting them in downtown, blocking the on-ramps to the freeway, for the beginning of rush hour. A small number of bus routes were also cancelled/re-rerouted to try and avoid the march itself.
When the ‘on-the-ground’Â news reporters were waiting for the march to reach them, they’d interview ‘The Man On The Street’ and ask their opinions. Mostly what they got was people angry that they didn’t know how they were going to get home because their bus routes were cancelled/re-routed, but eventually they found their sypathetic soul.
Of course, the guy had pre-positioned himself at the Federal Building (the ending point of the march) and put his “Amnesty” sign back up to his shoulder when they were done talking to him.
All I know is that I woke up around 1500 and was hungry. All the talk about illegal immigration (a phrase that none of the personell at the big three stations used, BTW) made me think of making a run for the border.
So off I went to Taco Bell. To say the wife was pleased when she woke up and found fresh tacos that she didn’t have to cook, would be a mild understatement.
BTW, not a Mexican to be seen in the place.