This is What Democracy Looks Like

I headed downtown to San Francisco yesterday, while nursing my St. Patrick's Day hangover, to participate in the protest of the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Pictured above is what puts the PT in PTCruiser. I'm a big advocate of public transportation, not just for the benefits of the environment but for my own health benefits as well. Anything that gets me out of the car and pounding the pavement is a good thing in my estimation.

There was no shortage of protestors there, and many different causes, from the Green Party backing their latest candidate to a group pushing for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal. But everyone was ultimately there for one thing...to show the world that we are sick and tired of the Bush administration putting our country in the position of being the most deplorable war-mongering nation on Earth.

We currently live under a government that has no problem with sending one of our most precious resources, our young men and women in uniform, to die in a war based on lies against a supposed enemy that was never a threat to our nation to begin with and which has proven to have had no ties whatsoever to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In the meantime, the real enemy goes freely about the world making videotapes and organizing for their next attack on us, unhindered, while here at home, our government can't even pull its collective head out of its own ass long enough to deal with a natural disaster inside our own borders.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day out and there was a multitude of protest signs. I really enjoy seeing the homemade signs. They show what people are really feeling in their hearts. Most of them are very creative and some of them are flat out hilarious.

And as with any organized event in downtown San Francisco, there were many unusual characters. Here are a few that I got photos of...

This guy actually was giving out free food, mainly to get people to come over and look at his political cause, although to be honest with you, I don't remember what it was. But then, I didn't partake in any of the free vittles, so I don't really feel so bad.

Some of the photos you can click on to get a larger image. I took all of the pictures myself with the exception of the one at the top of the post, which I swiped from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Even though I enjoy going to these anti-war rallies, I sincerely hope that I don't have to go to another one next year to commemorate the fourth anniversary of this nation's atrocities. But if I do, I'll take pictures and post them here. Thanks for reading, everyone.