13 hours till blast off. I made a page here where I will attempt to photo blog (phlog?) the event. Theoretically I should have wireless data service the whole way. But who knows? This is my first experience with the sidekick outside of NYC.
Busy night tonight making final preparations. This has turned into a really big production. Complete with media on one of the buses. But you can get the scoop (almost) live if you check in here tomorrow.
Best of luck tomorrow. I'll be following your page.
Wish we were there... brimming with pride that I have such fine & mighty friends.
Thanks you guys. Not sure we're fine or mighty, but we are on the bus. I'm afraid I can't explain how interesting it's been watching the professionals who are in charge of this work their magic. Very instructive. Sort of like a mini MBA course.
On the other hand, remind me to never volunteer for a mid level political position again...
Hopefully it will be worth it tomorrow.
Good luck Jim. (Mission Impossible pun not intended)
dont forget the inflatible dolls to help beef up the head count. or maybe a couble of life size corona cut out display models
That's a good idea Bill. Instead we all marched around in circles, which might have amounted to the same thing.
Keep your day job. You will never make it as a reporter.
Thanks for the report! I saw no references to pepper spray or rubber bullets so I guessed everything was calm. The organizers placed the number of protestors at 200,000. I've also seen "tens of thousands." Strangely, the National Park Service "no longer keeps counts" of the size of Mall rallies. Must have been some budget cutbacks. I'm sure they weren't deliberately directed to stop the tallies by the current Administration...
I honestly have no estimate on the number of people. 200,000 seems high. 10,000 seems low. But how can you say?
Police presence was remarkably light (like we saw here in New York.) I'm guessing there were many first time protesters. Lots of what might be called "ordinary people". I didn't see anyone trying to start any problems. No police in riot gear. No protesters in masks.
The vibe was very peaceful on both sides.
The authorities always used to get slagged for underestimating protest crowds, so I think they just decided to stop doing it, instead of giving the opposition (who always overestimate) another point to argue. I believe they dropped the counts during the Clinton years, but I'm not completely sure. I am sure that the mainstream media didn't consider it a sexy story. Here's the standard AP report, and here's a narrative with a bit more perspective.
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Busy night tonight making final preparations. This has turned into a really big production. Complete with media on one of the buses. But you can get the scoop (almost) live if you check in here tomorrow.
- jim 10-26-2002 2:02 am
Best of luck tomorrow. I'll be following your page.
- tom moody 10-26-2002 2:21 am
Wish we were there... brimming with pride that I have such fine & mighty friends.
- frank 10-26-2002 5:49 am
Thanks you guys. Not sure we're fine or mighty, but we are on the bus. I'm afraid I can't explain how interesting it's been watching the professionals who are in charge of this work their magic. Very instructive. Sort of like a mini MBA course.
On the other hand, remind me to never volunteer for a mid level political position again...
Hopefully it will be worth it tomorrow.
- jim 10-26-2002 6:21 am
Good luck Jim. (Mission Impossible pun not intended)
- steve 10-26-2002 7:28 am
dont forget the inflatible dolls to help beef up the head count. or maybe a couble of life size corona cut out display models
- bill 10-26-2002 7:09 pm
That's a good idea Bill. Instead we all marched around in circles, which might have amounted to the same thing.
- jim 10-27-2002 1:12 am
Keep your day job. You will never make it as a reporter.
- jeanne 10-28-2002 7:25 pm
Thanks for the report! I saw no references to pepper spray or rubber bullets so I guessed everything was calm. The organizers placed the number of protestors at 200,000. I've also seen "tens of thousands." Strangely, the National Park Service "no longer keeps counts" of the size of Mall rallies. Must have been some budget cutbacks. I'm sure they weren't deliberately directed to stop the tallies by the current Administration...
- tom moody 10-28-2002 9:33 pm
I honestly have no estimate on the number of people. 200,000 seems high. 10,000 seems low. But how can you say?
Police presence was remarkably light (like we saw here in New York.) I'm guessing there were many first time protesters. Lots of what might be called "ordinary people". I didn't see anyone trying to start any problems. No police in riot gear. No protesters in masks.
The vibe was very peaceful on both sides.
- jim 10-28-2002 9:39 pm
The authorities always used to get slagged for underestimating protest crowds, so I think they just decided to stop doing it, instead of giving the opposition (who always overestimate) another point to argue. I believe they dropped the counts during the Clinton years, but I'm not completely sure. I am sure that the mainstream media didn't consider it a sexy story. Here's the standard AP report, and here's a narrative with a bit more perspective.
- alex 10-28-2002 10:25 pm