Tao’s 2 Cents

It’s taken awhile to actually get situated and to the point where I’ll get to do some of the political things I’ve been itching to but unable to do over the last few years. I found a job doing web design/programming at a place just outside of Baltimore. That’ll take most of my weekdays but most protests are on the weekend anyway and I wouldn’t have the funds to go without a job anyway.

One thing that was frustrating at first was that it was actually hard to find out anything about protests on-line. Just doing a search for events or protests or marches in D.C. doesn’t actually come up with any useful information. Then once I found one, actually from a webpage I found on a flyer, I started finding tons of them.

The first one that I’ll be attending, which I found out about through the e-mails I get from impeachbush.com. It’s set for September 15th and timed to coincide with General Patraeus’ Iraq report to congress and should therefore get some actual coverage(at least on this blog).

One interesting thing that I did manage to find on-line was that the city of Washington is fining a group called ANSWER who is organizing the protest, for putting up flyers that are perfectly within the legal restrictions on flyers. They’re trying to fine them $10,000 with the probability of additional fines in the future. It just sounds like a group of powerful people in government<cough> are trying to silence dissent. How unamerican of them.

If you’d like to help out ANSWER then you can send a letter to stop the repressive fines. Virtual activism can’t hurt but I sometimes seriously doubt how seriously its taken by the people receiving inbox loads of the same e-mail with a different name attached.

Another protest I simply found out about by flyers taped to light poles around Baltimore. It’s also an anti-war rally in D.C. on September 29th. Actually the event runs from September 22nd-29th. They’re planning to set up a city in front of congress for a week. They’re slogan is “occupy the occupiers”. Not bad. If you’re interested in more info go to www.TroopsOutNow.org.

By digging through the TroopsOutNow page I found several other sites with upcoming marches and protests. One of them is on October 22nd in D.C. with the slogan “No War, No Warming“. They’re tying together global warming and the war in Iraq. I can’t imagine that’s too hard to do on a number of levels, oil being the most obvious.

The other protest is on October 27th and its actually part of at least 10 other major demonstrations around the U.S. It’s being put on by the United for Peace & Justice organization. One of those demonstrations is in Washington but it doesn’t say where the others will be.

My plan is to take my digital camera(s) and to interview people on why they’re attending and what they’d like done. I’ll probably take some videos while I interview them too and post those. I really just want to give it as much coverage as possible, even if that only includes my mom and dad <dorky wave to the parents>. It makes feel better, it makes me feel involved. I don’t like being an armchair quarterback as they say. I’ll put my time and energy where my mouth is.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Protest, War, Media, Awareness, Politics. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.