Bush Gardens+

Bush sets down in town tonight so he can address the Legionaries tomorrow. Security is tight so today they are having the “Stop the War” protests. GOP Utah wants to be sure that no negative PR will be evident for Bush Baby. I decided to make the scene at my lunch. I ended up staying longer then my hour so I am going to have to use a little annual but not too much. I know I talked about this a little at the last war rally I attended but why do all the weirdoes show up at these things? Every former hippie in the Intermountain Northwest goes to these things. Viet Nam somethings were everywhere. I swear these guys must scavenge DI’s and thrift stores trying to put together a uniform. I am always amazed and humored at these pseudo pacifists wearing anything which looks like a brete. One guy was walking round with an actual photo of him when he was younger and in uniform.

I was also surprised at how many American Legionaries were in the crowd—of course these were the strange Legionaries – but how would you know? Legionaries are pretty strange to start with. I guess for the most part, Legionaries are conservative. I mean that is why Bush would even dare come to this gathering. I mean when you add to the fact that Utah is one of the only states where, Bush’s ratings are still positive and you have a place where the President loves to come.

And crips! There crips everywhere. I used to have a pretty good handle on where the people with disabilities were and who they were. But I was astounded at how many faces I did not recognize—where are these folks coming from? Next time I am taking work brochures and passing them out and then I will be able to count the time as outreach. I really think there were a lot of fake crips there. Wheelchair and crutch users who love to dress up disabled. At least these folks were not hitting me up for money; though there were lots of white five gallon donation buckets floating round the crowd—these looked a little shady. But people with disabilities were definitely visible.

Like I said lots of security. There were lots more cops a this protest then the last, motors, snipers on rooftops and SWATS were everywhere. Little bunches of cop grapes were bunched up all over the County Building grounds, just standing round talking into their shoulders. Choppers were all over the sky. Some of the chopper might have been TV stations NEWS units but there at least one police unit and one olive drab huey slick buzzing the sky like huge dragon flies.

All in all this was a quiet protest almost like a circus. Some speakers and lots of local color; some musicians broke up the speeches and low drama. I did not see much media, some but not a lot. My new boss went and we hooked up, enjoyed the show and had lunch at BK—tjhis day was better the nusual.