Attended the vigil in Davenport today.

My wife and I. Must have been @ 50 or more. We started at the Border's bookstore corner facing west bound traffic. After about 1/2 hour some of went catty-corner ro face east bound traffic. There was a counter protest that numbered 2 people. At one time their numbers grew to 5, but the young men had better things to do after about 5 minutes. Maybe they went to sign up for the Army?
Had tons of folks honking in support. We had the very rare display of hate. When that happened I'd shout "join the Army and prove yourself"
One humorous incident. At a red light one young man in the passenger seat of an old beater (@an 85 olds) was screaming and red in the face. He was going nuts. One of ours went out to talk to him (despite our pleas not to). The young man threw open his door and started to lunge from the car but his seat belt jerked him back and hung him. Then the light changed and the honking really began. The driver pulled away with his buddy screaming and halfway out the door. By God he showed us!

I was there, too. At one point I counted about 80 people, so it was a nice turnout. I liked the diversity: from the Tibetan monk to the strolling guitar player, from the young people to the vetaran activists, we were all united for our cause.

A funny side story - when I was taking my signs back to my car, Counter-protest Man with Large US Flag was trying to get his flag into his SUV. He dropped his cell phone, then his grocery bag. I put down my bag of signs and asked him if he needed help. He said "I think I've got it", and then after a pause ..."but thanks for asking." I told him he was quite welcome and walked to my car with a smile. It kind of felt tlike that old Looney Tunes cartoon with the sheepdog and the wolf - remember "Goodnight, Sam." "Goodnight, Ralph"?

I had a really nice time, and it sounds like you and your wife did, too.
My sign said "Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Blood". I wish I had known you were there, I would have loved to have met you.

Peace,

Maggie

She has some health problems. I was on the corner turning to the theaters with a pink lettered "PEACE NOW" sign. We kind of muted the so-called counter-protest. Those 2 people. I am sure most traffic thought they were with us. One guy - in a big SUV - drove up close to give us the finger and shout some oscenities and then did the same to them.
Did you see the three strapping young war supporters that could only handle about 5 minutes? Thought that was a real chuckle also.

Flexing their muscles and strutting around, they really didn't last very long at all, did they? ;)

I'm sorry to hear about your wife's health problems, but glad she made the effort to come. I hope she came home feeling as hopeful as I did - I love gatherings like that. So many strangers, yet I feel like I'm standing with my best friends the whole time.

I'm driving over there. Will have buttons and brochures to distribute and am going to get some signs ready tomorrow. Starts at 5. Have no idea how many will be there but I think it will be well worth it if I can help the organizations there.

I could not make my hometown one here in Davenport, but I am going to try and make IC. One question, will there be any signs available? I may be the worlds worst artist and would like to at least hold a sign. If I am able to make it up there, I'll be a fat bald guy with a ball cap on, gotta keep my head warm. It is at the ped mall, correct? Anyway, I may look like some kind of outsider among all those young people, but I am anti-war. Thanks and hope to see you Monday.

Iowans for Peace. You can google it and they have a place in a church where some people are gathering before the march and you can possibly get one there. If this doesn't work, PM me your email address and I can send you the notice they sent me with the details. I don't have that up right now. Anyway, it's good you can make. I am still trying to contact them about the brochures and SDS buttons I hope to distribute. (They might not quite approve of that!) O yes, I might not fit in either due to age.

Some sign ideas have been suggested to me. I'll just pass them on:

Who would Jesus torture?

Stop the trillion dollar war!

I'll look for your SDS signs.
Ah - SDS brings back memories.

but have to keep an eye on the weather since it is rather a lengthy drive for me.

I would say around 150 people were there. My sign said "Who Would Jesus Bomb." There were some good speakers, including an Iraq War Vet. It was very cold, but a good experience.

The best sign I saw was one that said "Blind Faith is not Patriotism."

It seemed the crowd today in Ames was nearly the size of the crowd we had last night at the John Edwards fundraiser in Story City, which was packed far beyond the fire safety level. (By the way, Edwards gave a superb speech). The headcount last night was 350, so I would think the rally today in Ames was closer to 300, 250 minimum.

They had 300 at the rally last year, and they were hoping for at least that many this year. I think they got it, but I will let you know if I hear a more accurate headcount.

The Iraq War Vet, Jesse Dinsdale, is the son of Sue Dinsdale, who is a longtime peace and Democratic Party activist. Jesse was certainly a highlight, and Bob Anderson (former Lt. Gov.) also gave a good wrap-up speech. The Ames High students did well, also.

The channel 5 news in Des Moines had nice coverage of the marches and rally, and they estimated the crowd as over 300, which is probably about right. I would guess 300-350.

They showed a great shot of Dan Rice, one of our newly elected City Council members, and they had a nice, short interview with Jesse Dinsdale, the vet who served two tours of duty in Iraq.

I wasn't able to attend the march, but made it to the rally. Someone who was there the year before said there were a lot more there last year, but I thought it was a good crowd.