There's a poster down at the Merc.... local grocery store.  Says this Saturday there will be a Peace march down in Albuquerque.  Sponsored by the Gray Panthers, La Raza Unita, Veterans against the War in Iraq, various other groups.

The theme's, Send Our Kids to School, Not to War, which tells a lot about what a tough time they're having getting their teeth into it.

I suppose it had to start locally somewhere, and that's probably as good a place as any. 

If everyone behaves themselves I'd look for it to be pretty much of a low-key flop.  Probably a couple of hundred folks with lots of different hair styles, tattoos and body-piercings, a few oldsters in varying degrees of physical decrepitness.  Someone with a bullhorn making speeches.  Everyone sort of at loose ends while they try to figure what they'll do next.

If the pro-war folks and the cops leave it alone, that's how it will stay.  It's a lot harder to crank up that sort of movement if there's no drama, no cops hurling tear-gas, no counter-group carrying signs calling them traitors, no fisticuffs, rock throwing, paddy wagons.

I'd figure this one probably won't see much of any of that.  There's not enough anger in the general population about the war yet to get the folks who look the same as everyone else out on the streets.  Only a couple of thousand US dead, tops. No draft to get the young folks worked up, make them feel it might be them has to go over there.  Mostly no parents who are concerned their own kids might have to go get killed over it. 

All in all, this war doesn't push enough buttons to arouse what Tricky Dixon used to call the 'Great Silent Majority', to get them feeling strongly enough about it to care much one way or another.  Nobody getting killed except volunteers, and not many of those makes for a fairly sanitized war, as wars go

It will take a long series of unlucky, angry events spread out over a year or two to really get things rolling, which probably won't happen.  The cops will probably behave themselves to keep it off the evening news, the pro-war folks will probably be somewhere watching a ball game or bass fishing.  Aside from a little flag waving and macho posturing they don't feel much stronger about it than the folks rallying Saturday.

At least, I'd say it probably won't happen if this weren't such an unlucky prez. 

Jack