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Okay, it is my new mission in life to learn to post photos on FR. I have in front of me 28 great photos of the rally yesterday (courtesy of photogirl) and no way to post them! It can't be that difficult. I've worked with very complicated GIS software, so I should be able to handle this, but right now I feel like a moron. We are never going to attract other Michigan Freepers to come to our rallies if we can't make it interesting by showing photos. Come on Michigan people!

Some thoughts about yesterday:

Although it was balmy weather compared to the sub-zero temps during the Feb. 15 rally there were far less peaceniks (about 500 compared to 1,500 in February). However, they were also a lot more aggressive.

At one point a 19-year old girl was standing next to me. She leaned over and told me that the guy standing next to her had just told her that if he had a bomb on him he would use it to blow us all up. (He was a middle-aged white guy with a 6-7 year old boy with him.) Of course if he really meant it he would have made a bomb and used it. The Anarchist Cookbook is still available is it not? He just said it to shock her. Fortunately she was a fiesty, quick-witted girl and took it is stride. It just angered me that he would say such a thing to a young girl.

Apackof2 and I noticed a CBS/CNN reporter and cameraman watching us. When we looked at her though, she quickly turned her back to us and covered her face with her hair. We went up to her. I said "you aren't biased or anything are you?" To which she replied "oh, do you want to be interviewed?" Apackof2 began talking to her on camera while some of us stood behind apackof2 holding signs aloft for the camera. Then some moron started swearing really loudly. He told his friends that if they swear, the reporter would not be able to air the interview. We quickly squeezed him out though. Photogirl jumped in front of him with her "bombs away" sign.

Another poignant moment was when I noticed a group of 8-10 biker dudes standing on the corner across the street from us. The police told me they were veterans so photogirl and I walked over to ask them if they wanted to join us. They said no because they did not like the way the peaceniks were getting in our faces and thought they would end up getting into a confrontation so they left. We gave them some fliers about next week's rally. Maybe they will show up with a couple thousand other biker dudes!

Several times we had very radical peaceniks come up to us trying to start fights. The police quickly moved near to where we were standing because they obviously noticed the situation was getting very tense. A couple times I noticed the peaceniks were trying to encircle us. One guy, a skinhead, weightlifter type, kept staring at us. He looked really evil and mean and gave me the creeps.

I also noticed there were a lot more Middle Easterners at this rally (around 75-100). Some were with the peaceniks but a group of 6-8 who were standing near us appeared to just be taking it all in.

Probably the incident that stands out most for me was at the end of the rally when a Middle Eastern man and woman walked past me. The woman was wearing traditional Middle Eastern clothing with the scarf, etc. and was following a bit behind her husband. As she passed by she read my sign (actually jaysgirl's sign) which showed a picture of Bush in a flight jacket and said "we will not falter, we will not fail...". The woman then looked me right in the eye, smiled and gave me the thumbs up. It gave me chills. I smiled back at her and gave her the thumbs up too.