Mayday

A few photos I took of today's big May Day march are here. As expected, it was almost entirely an immigration march this year. It's varied a lot over the last few years. First we had marches full of anarchists and miscellaneous affinity groups, all protesting on their own separate issues. Then several local unions banded together to organize a more "respectable" May Day march, which seemed to work out quite well. This year it was overwhelmingly about immigration, with a few anarchists and art-bike types mixed in.



Our local Indymedia operation has a small article here, and some photos here. Here's an article from The Nation about the much larger marches in Los Angeles.

I'm actually not going to make this an immigration opinion piece. It's a complex issue, and I go back and forth about some of the particulars. Maybe I'll devote a post to the issue later on, if I have anything worth saying on the topic. But today we'll just move on to the day's other business.



Other business? Let's not forget: May 1st is also the three year anniversary of Georgie's big "Mission Accomplished" speech. He, and the R's in general, are now quiet as church rats about the once-celebrated aircraft carrier episode.

Editor & Publisher has a review of old news stories and quotes from around May 1st, '03, a time people once referred to as the end of the war. You have to read this stuff to believe it. I remember it well, and I'm proud to say I thought it was garbage from the beginning. Here's another page with even more fawning quotes. Chris Matthews has a lot to answer for. Once upon a time, I held out a slim hope that aging men wouldn't have to act out like that anymore, after Viagra hit the market. Didn't work, obviously. So what's it going to take? What kind of pill do we need, so that 50-something guys stop getting misty-eyed about sending 20-something guys off to die in pointless wars?

Here's a fascinating article by John Dean (of Watergate fame) about why Bush is increasingly dangerous.

And Rolling Stone asks whether Bush is the Worst President in History.

A rather biting piece wishing a happy 3rd birthday to Mission Accomplished, over at Sploid. A columnist for the Niagara Falls Reporter refers to this blessed holiday as "Mission Accomplished Day", or MAD for short.

Tom Wieliczka considers what Bush's next inept stunt might be, now that we're ramping up for war in Iran. That's an easy one: This time around, George gets to swagger around the glowing ruins of Teheran in an ultra-macho radiation suit, while the talking heads ooh-and-aah over what a strong, virile leader he is, and what a glorious day it is for "freedom". It'll be just like the last 3 years never happened.

tags= bush may day immigration mission accomplished