January 20, 2005

I've just returned from the Inaugural parade and, as promised, here are a few pictures from the event. I have to warn you now that I'm a bit disappointed with the pictures that I ended up with - I didn't have a chance to get very many before my batteries died, mostly because my friends and I were having plenty of fun making fun of the "protestors," most of who I'm sure didn't have to worry about taking "vacation time" to attend the event.

On our way to the north 14th street entrance (the public entrance, for those without bleacher tickets) we ran across these folks staging a "die in" at 16th & H.

I'm not sure what their point was - going by their signs, I think that they were some sort of sexual deviants lusting after the President ("F*CK BUSH"). Interesting thing about this picture is that while there are maybe 20 spectators, 4 of them have professional looking cameras and are actively taking close up shots. Hmm. If these "reporters" were choosing close up shots so that they could later make it look like the demonstrations were a lot larger than they actually were there was really no need - if there is one thing that this event had plenty of it was dirty protestors.

One guy passing by called out to the perverts, "keep fighting the good fight!" (And he was serious, not joking.) Keep fighting WHAT good fight? Since when was laying down "fighting?" As soon as I'm done with this piece, I'm gonna go "fight" on my couch and watch the Inauguration coverage that I tivoed.

On the way to the gate we saw this lovely family of three, a father and his 2 sons aged maybe 12 and 8:

Yep, that's right - this guy has his 8 year old son wearing a sign that says "Dismantle the Empire." Where is 'Child and Family Services' when you need them?

I'd like to say that I feel sorry for the kids, and I do, but I think I feel even more sorry for his unwitting protestor:

Man, and I thought that I hated people who dressed their dogs up in sweaters!

Here's a young man with a question for the President:

His sign asks "BUSH, How many Iraqi soldiers, women, civilians, and children have you killed today?" Then says "Which Dicatorship will you invade next?"

Answers: 0, and Iran. Any more questions?

You know, I'd like to ask this "protestor" a question of my own: Confused but well-meaning protestor, how many soldiers, women, civilians, and children have you SAVED today? From how many have you lifted the yoke of oppression? To how many have you given the same civil liberties you take for granted? Answer: take a guess.

When we got in line to get in, there were maybe a few hundred people in front of us. Soon thereafter, though, hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of "protestors" stormed to the front, yelling, screaming, cutting in line. These people pretend to be for rule of law, but they can't stand in line like everyone else. Here's a view of the crowd behind us.

Note the huge "F*CK OFF BUSH" sign in the background (a popular message with these people, I might add) and the "blue zone" sign to the right. There were a lot of these "blue zone" signs, and there were many other signs about the "blue." You know, I'm still a bit annoyed that no one seems to understand that blue is reserved for the incumbent party while red is traditionally the color of the challenging party. Gore was "blue" in 2000 because the Dems were the incumbent party. Bush 41 was "blue" in 1992 because the Republicans were the incumbent party. The 2004 election saw the Dems retain blue because the media and these so-called passionate political activists don't have the first damned idea what they're talking about.

We finally got in and opted to stand on a hill, behind a fence, which really hindered my ability to take any decent photos. I wish this one would have turned out:

This one had a sign that read "What's next, Kevorkian for Surgeon General?" Funny, I thought - this same fellow probably thinks that Kevorkian is wrongly imprisoned and that he "did nothing wrong." Hmm. On a related note, I also saw a sign that said "Alberto Gonzales, Butcher of Baghdad." WHAT? Now that one I just don't get - as much as I hate to encourage uniformity, maybe this fellow should have just stuck with the ever-popular "F*CK BUSH."

About half of the crowd where I was standing was "anti-Bush," and this yahoo was the loudest of the lot.

He spent so long booing in this "thumbs down" pose that I began to think that it was all was capable of - but boy was I wrong!

Yes, that's right, this fellow can point UP as well! And who says that America's schools are failing?

There were a lot these signs as well, bearing the "not in our name" message:

Most of them were carried by people that I'm pretty sure weren't old enough to vote and/or have never paid a dime of taxes in their lives. "Not in your name?" OK, sport. It's not in your name if you're not paying for it. When your parents stop claiming you as a dependent, maybe then you'll have standing to make that demand. Until then, might I suggest that you change your sign to read "Not in my Mommy and Daddy's name?"

You may have read stories about the protestors knocking down fences and getting pepper sprayed - it happened right here, directly across the park from where I was standing.

Yeah, that's the best picture that I got of it. These people were chanting "let us in, let us in!" and were knocking down fences and throwing things (mostly snowballs) at the riot police. First, they could have gotten in, just like everyone else, all they had to do was go stand in line. Second, do they really expect to be taken seriously, throwing things at police, knocking down fences, trying to start a riot? They should have been arrested. And snowball or not, for throwing anything at a police officer they should be put in prison.

Well, there you have it - those are the best of my not-so-great pictures. My camera died soon after that, we didn't get any decent pics of the parade, and we actually left pretty soon after the President drove by. (Which is before the parade even got started)

Oh, I do have this brief video that I took while standing in line, just as the crowd began its rush of the gate. About 14 Megs, 1 minute long. I really did a terrible job of keeping the camera straight.

Posted by jkhat at January 20, 2005 07:08 PM

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