Attended the October 26th Rally Against the War in downtown PDX. Since there were cooresponding events in Washington D.C. and San Francisco, the prospects for a large gathering were on my mind. Oddly enough, many of the usual suspects (i.e. - the marching band and Not in Our Name crew) were not present when I arrived, and the demonstration (which started at Pioneer Square) was largely spontaneous.

In the end, the group of 200+ demonstrators rallied behind the lead of a small black-clad group carrying a banner that read "No War but Class War" - and took to the streets, briefly blocking traffic and lending an interesting independant vibe to the event. The march ended up in front of the Federal Building and then stopped again briefly near the Court house, where a large anti-war banner was hung from a nearby tree. From there the marchers headed toward Pioneer Place, where a small part of the group decided to enter and protest inside the mall.
Those that made it inside were escorted out by security....

The Pioneer Place incident was emphasized by the Oregonian (that and the visit to local recruiting office near Lloyd Center) the next day.
Since the gathering was smaller than the last, the story was buried on page 5 and painted largely as a disruptive and radical gathering. Unfortunately, that's what I've come to expect from The Oregonian....partisan news. Their reporting on the rest of the nationwide protest was just as weak.

What a week. Not sure if I got any rest on our vacation or not.

Over the course of four days, we spent time at Bend, Crater Lake and Newport....and finished with a drive up the coast. All told, about 900 miles of driving. Bleah. Still, the spots we drove to were well worth the effort. I'm just a little tired from all the effort.

Returned home mid-week to the usual chaos. Ended up getting sacked with food poisoning on Thursday, but managed to survive the ill-will that it produced.

So much for slim margins. Senate collapsed under pressure last week and handed W the keys to the car. Now all we have to do is wait. Will we see war before the November elections?

Bet on it.

In other news....

About to take off for my 1st anniversary with my bird. Can't say where we're going....it's a secret. Hopefully it will make up for the low-budget honeymoon we put together last time around.

So much to write about this past week...

Marched with about 6,000 other protesters in downtown Portland last Saturday. It was a much larger gathering than expected, and I believe it is a harbinger of things to come.

The police were well-behaved, as were the protestors. Lots of public support from passers-by, some of whom joined the rally right off the street. It was great to see fellow citizens standing up for what they believe in - with many of them protesting in public for the first time. Unfortunately, I think we can look forward to much larger expressions of dissent in the future - as those in power appear intent on starting a war.

Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed the War Powers Resolution - giving the President unrestricted power to wage war on countries that he deems a threat to the United States. The past few days have seen the rise of fear-based, pseudo-factual war chanting. Those in opposition are fighting the rush to war, but the goals of the Bush administration seem to be pre-ordained.

Democrats are defecting to avoid looking soft on terrorism and the media is making it seem like a done deal.

The House has essentially ignored the will of the American people who have repeatedly expressed uneasiness with the march to war. It's up to the Senate now. My guess is that the Senate will fall in line behind the President, by a slim margin.

This is somewhat amusing.

Iraqi officials have suggested that Bush and Saddam have a duel.....as in draw swords or twenty paces and fire. They have also suggested that Dick Cheney should go up against one of two Iraqi vice-presidents.

Dare I dream?