We were at the march today with possum (Jerry Northington, kos blogger who is running for Congress in Delaware) and other Kossacks as they protested the war and demanded impeachment.  The crowd was larger than I had expected -- easily over 100,000.  It's 2:30 am and I marched for miles today, so I'll let these images speak for themselves.

Join me after the jump.

I mentioned the GAO Report and some other evidence to the contrary.  He became interested, and finally said, "Maybe what we need is Alice's Restaurant?"

It's been several decades since I thought about those lyrics, but he was right.  He asked me to send him an email with links to the information I mentioned.  So in the interest of passing it on, here's what I wrote him:

In contemporaneous articles, the BBC reported that

In a nutshell, the U.S. say it was an accident, the Italian government says the survivors' version of events does not tally with the official U.S. version, and the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, has suggested her car was deliberately targeted. Even more troubling, however, are Italian reports that the car was shot from behind, not from in front, as asserted by U.S. authorities.

(more after the fold)

I attended the march in Washington on Saturday.  While I was inspired by the immense turnout of people of all ages and walks of life, I was appalled at the manipulative and fundamentally dishonest way in which the march was billed as a grassroots action to end the war and then deliberately played out in front of the media as something quite different.

"Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm..."
— from Bush-Cheney campaign ad "Wolves"

The Ohio election is finally behind us. Now that Bush has been sworn in, I have stopped actively following events in Ohio. Like millions of other Americans, I still believe that in 2004, our democracy was raped in broad daylight. And not just by Bush and his henchmen. It was a bipartisan gang-bang.

Although we focused on the state of Ohio, it could have been another state. The election in New Mexico, for example, was a cesspool of dirty tricks. At first, I was perplexed that Democratic Governor Bill Richardson resolutely stonewalled the recount effort in his state — even after personal appeals by Kerry and McAuliffe to allow it. But people on the ground in New Mexico tell me there's plenty of evidence pointing to fraud in down-ticket races. Those are the ones that allegedly could embarrass Richardson. Well, that's all behind us now. We'll continue to work hard for electoral reform — but now the battleground is Congress and our own districts, not Ohio.

Or so it seemed until January 18th.

The patience and calm of this writer are certainly commendable.  However, for those who are unwilling to wait serenely for that great day a-comin' — when Democrats are back in power, and eager to reform our whole broken, corrupt electoral system — here is a preliminary list of counter-coronation events that that will occur in D.C. and across the nation:

It is a basic principle of fair competition in sports, that when a foul is called, the clock is stopped while the foul is addressed.

What would happen if a player committed a foul, the referee blew his whistle, and the offending team simply ignored it? What if the team that cheated was called by the referee on foul after foul, but the people controlling the clock and scoreboard never allowed the play to stop and ultimately the cheaters were declared the victors?

Something so viciously unfair would likely trigger a violent reaction from the fans. They wouldn't get over it. They'd get fighting mad. All hell would break loose.

Perhaps you think ordinary Americans care more about the outcome of a game than they care about democracy.  If so, you are wrong.

I am a registered Democrat and have voted consistently for Democrats for over 20 years.

I am very concerned about the clear evidence of widespread suppression of the African American vote in Ohio and elsewhere. I am also alarmed at the passivity and silence of Democratic leaders in response to the many other kinds of electoral irregularities that have surfaced since November 2nd, 2004.

I ask you to go to Columbus, Ohio, on Election Day and stand in line at polling stations in Black neighborhoods and see for yourself what actually  happened.  When you do, you will understand.