Hard times, come again no more

As I got out of jury duty today, too late to try to join up with the Anti-Bush rally but not too late to swing by the Hall of Shame where Bush was speaking, I was walking back towards work heading west on Main St. The day was cold, the sky gray and the wind biting, as it often is along the river on winter days.

Main Street was blocked off and there was no sign of protestors nor supporters, who I suppose were corralled some place away from W's eyes. The police and secret service people were heavily armed and ready for whatever evil might come their way.

As I got past Ground Zero, a young man passed me carrying a "Bush is a War Criminal" sign. The police descended upon him and told him he couldn't walk on that block, he'd have to go some other direction. They were letting other people by, I'd just seen a man walking down Main with a large W in honor of his god, I suppose. He wasn't stopped.

The young man questioned, "Why can't I walk this way?" The cop just said, "Go that way" and pointed in the opposite direction. I turned and said, "What do you mean he can't go that way? Other people are! What law is he breaking?!" The cop just waved us both off, saying, gruffly: "That way."

The young man complied and I sadly watched him go in the opposite direction from which he was headed. I then continued on down west on Main Street towards my office.

By the time I got down to work, a motorcade passed me by and, as two black limos passed, I yelled SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!! to the blackened windows.

Truly a shameful day in these Fascist States of America.
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by Dan, who finds solace in his family and community, if not in his country