<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>A MILLION MOMS STAYED HOME http://www.sierratimes.com/
For those who might question my integrity, I stand by my earlier estimate of the Million Morons March at 40,000. The numbers reported by the
state-sponsored Front groups are so inflated they shocked even me. To claim 100,000 would have mere puffery, but the 500,000 - 750,000 claims made after the
rally were an affront to anyone who has ever attended a big DC demonstration. Moreover, it is an affront to all those who have drawn a crowd that large because
they deserved to -- starting with Martin Luther King, Jr. Then there were the anti-war rallies, the abortion marches on both sides, the AIDS march of 1993 and
the Million Man March.
These past accomplishments of true grass roots sentiment are imprinted on the minds of all who were there, and cut across all political views and
socio-economic groups. When a demonstration is called over an issue that truly strikes a chord in real people, they come. And they will suffer through
difficulties in public transportation, sold out hotels, and much else to be there.
When they get there, the city shuts down. You cannot get a seat in a restaurant, you cannot get a hotel room or a parking space, vendors run out of soda, the
Metro's are jammed, and sometimes you cannot even find a bathroom.
But that did not happen on May 14. And anyone who has been around during one of the truly great demonstrations knows that. The crowds of May 14 were
not even as large one sees after a popular sports event. Other events, even exhibitions that were around for weeks, had a greater presence.
The one that comes to my mind is The Quilt. The Quilt extended for several city blocks and held such spectacular sadness that viewers were moved to tears. As
a whole, it brought home the hundreds of thousands of needless AIDS deaths, but was even more awesome when looked at closely. Each square was a carefully
designed and thoughtful tribute to a victim -- a favorite T-Shirt or tie, a sheet of music, a card sent to a friend. And there were hundreds of thousands of them.
When I came to see The Quilt on it last full viewing, I walked for many blocks and was one of tens of thousands -- while it was there for several weekends.
Shame on the Million Moms for aping exhibitions like the Quilt and the Vietnam Memorial with their display of cards. But did you include Tyisha Miller
amongst your dead? She was only twenty, shot by police as she awoke from sleeping in her car with a tiny pistol clutched in her hand on a desolate road in
Riverside, CA. What about the 17 children killed in Waco Texas, though not shot directly, who were incinerated in their home with federal guns trained on them
to prevent escape? Was there a card for them?
Yes, it is a terrible tragedy that so many teenagers (not children) have died for any reason. And had they marched against the true culprit, the government's failed
War on Drugs, I would have proudly taken my place among them.
It was a government sponsored rally, like in Cuba and Red China. When the impetus for a rally comes from the government and not the people, it shows. They
all had matching purple printed T-Shirts (that we could not afford in the Vietnam days) and stories high, stadium-like video screens of the speakers and singers.
This was Hollywood and Madison Avenue at its finest, selling America on victim disarmament over the bodies of misguided youth.
The emotion was not there any more than the numbers. Those that came were lackluster in their support. It was just a Sunday afternoon on the mall. Even
Hollywood has now learned that true grass roots sentiment cannot be copied, cannot be acted, and cannot be advertised.
Shame on you.
Bob Hunt, who kindly accompanied me to observe the other group, fully concurs in my assessment, as did two of my colleagues who were in D.C. for unrelated
business. One of them -- who had attended the Million Man March -- told me that he got on the Metro at 1:30, saw none of the crowds you would see at rush
hour or after a sporting event. He believed that the Gay Pride parade of just a few weeks ago exerted more of a presence on the city.
In my report, I described the Million Moms as packed into the few blocks closest to the Capitol. It was those few blocks of heads that made the news footage
used to justify these outrageous numbers. One assumes, with the monument in the background, that the mall was filled. And the mall alone holds 200,000.
They did not fill the mall.
Look at my pictures of the back of the mall. They were taken at about 1:30, when the march was at its peak. Look at the shadows. The Clintonistas packed their
puppets into a few blocks of the 14 block long mall that did not even extend to the Smithsonian Institute at 8th Street, nor did it begin at the reflecting pool.
Photographing this group from a few feet above the front row and panning back reveals a sea of people with the monument behind them, creating the false
impression that they packed the mall.
My estimate is also confirmed by the D.C. Metro statement that the ridership went from a usual 170,000 to 250,000 an increase of 80,000. As I did not see any
busses directly around the mall and knew that busses were used, it was apparent that people were bussed to the Metro stations. If people went both ways, the
additional number of persons riding is 40,000 and of them about 3,000 attended the Second Amendment Sisters rally.
One more real life example. Union Station is only a few blocks from the mall. After the S.A.S. march, my friends and I went into a large restaurant there and got
a table. There were only a few other groups seated there. Then, the music got loud and we moved upstairs.
No waiting. No mobs. No serious D.C. demonstration.
Millions of Moms stayed home.[/quote]
For those who might question my integrity, I stand by my earlier estimate of the Million Morons March at 40,000. The numbers reported by the
state-sponsored Front groups are so inflated they shocked even me. To claim 100,000 would have mere puffery, but the 500,000 - 750,000 claims made after the
rally were an affront to anyone who has ever attended a big DC demonstration. Moreover, it is an affront to all those who have drawn a crowd that large because
they deserved to -- starting with Martin Luther King, Jr. Then there were the anti-war rallies, the abortion marches on both sides, the AIDS march of 1993 and
the Million Man March.
These past accomplishments of true grass roots sentiment are imprinted on the minds of all who were there, and cut across all political views and
socio-economic groups. When a demonstration is called over an issue that truly strikes a chord in real people, they come. And they will suffer through
difficulties in public transportation, sold out hotels, and much else to be there.
When they get there, the city shuts down. You cannot get a seat in a restaurant, you cannot get a hotel room or a parking space, vendors run out of soda, the
Metro's are jammed, and sometimes you cannot even find a bathroom.
But that did not happen on May 14. And anyone who has been around during one of the truly great demonstrations knows that. The crowds of May 14 were
not even as large one sees after a popular sports event. Other events, even exhibitions that were around for weeks, had a greater presence.
The one that comes to my mind is The Quilt. The Quilt extended for several city blocks and held such spectacular sadness that viewers were moved to tears. As
a whole, it brought home the hundreds of thousands of needless AIDS deaths, but was even more awesome when looked at closely. Each square was a carefully
designed and thoughtful tribute to a victim -- a favorite T-Shirt or tie, a sheet of music, a card sent to a friend. And there were hundreds of thousands of them.
When I came to see The Quilt on it last full viewing, I walked for many blocks and was one of tens of thousands -- while it was there for several weekends.
Shame on the Million Moms for aping exhibitions like the Quilt and the Vietnam Memorial with their display of cards. But did you include Tyisha Miller
amongst your dead? She was only twenty, shot by police as she awoke from sleeping in her car with a tiny pistol clutched in her hand on a desolate road in
Riverside, CA. What about the 17 children killed in Waco Texas, though not shot directly, who were incinerated in their home with federal guns trained on them
to prevent escape? Was there a card for them?
Yes, it is a terrible tragedy that so many teenagers (not children) have died for any reason. And had they marched against the true culprit, the government's failed
War on Drugs, I would have proudly taken my place among them.
It was a government sponsored rally, like in Cuba and Red China. When the impetus for a rally comes from the government and not the people, it shows. They
all had matching purple printed T-Shirts (that we could not afford in the Vietnam days) and stories high, stadium-like video screens of the speakers and singers.
This was Hollywood and Madison Avenue at its finest, selling America on victim disarmament over the bodies of misguided youth.
The emotion was not there any more than the numbers. Those that came were lackluster in their support. It was just a Sunday afternoon on the mall. Even
Hollywood has now learned that true grass roots sentiment cannot be copied, cannot be acted, and cannot be advertised.
Shame on you.
Bob Hunt, who kindly accompanied me to observe the other group, fully concurs in my assessment, as did two of my colleagues who were in D.C. for unrelated
business. One of them -- who had attended the Million Man March -- told me that he got on the Metro at 1:30, saw none of the crowds you would see at rush
hour or after a sporting event. He believed that the Gay Pride parade of just a few weeks ago exerted more of a presence on the city.
In my report, I described the Million Moms as packed into the few blocks closest to the Capitol. It was those few blocks of heads that made the news footage
used to justify these outrageous numbers. One assumes, with the monument in the background, that the mall was filled. And the mall alone holds 200,000.
They did not fill the mall.
Look at my pictures of the back of the mall. They were taken at about 1:30, when the march was at its peak. Look at the shadows. The Clintonistas packed their
puppets into a few blocks of the 14 block long mall that did not even extend to the Smithsonian Institute at 8th Street, nor did it begin at the reflecting pool.
Photographing this group from a few feet above the front row and panning back reveals a sea of people with the monument behind them, creating the false
impression that they packed the mall.
My estimate is also confirmed by the D.C. Metro statement that the ridership went from a usual 170,000 to 250,000 an increase of 80,000. As I did not see any
busses directly around the mall and knew that busses were used, it was apparent that people were bussed to the Metro stations. If people went both ways, the
additional number of persons riding is 40,000 and of them about 3,000 attended the Second Amendment Sisters rally.
One more real life example. Union Station is only a few blocks from the mall. After the S.A.S. march, my friends and I went into a large restaurant there and got
a table. There were only a few other groups seated there. Then, the music got loud and we moved upstairs.
No waiting. No mobs. No serious D.C. demonstration.
Millions of Moms stayed home.[/quote]