It was a moderate protest, to be sure, but a significant one for good reason. The protesters have decided to be a bit less polite.
It's been my contention that until protesters are willing to defy authority and move outside of the proscribed protest pens created for them by law enforcement agents, that no one will pay attention. So 150, peaceful protesters were arrested after Cindy Sheehan encouraged them to lay there bodies down and to be more agressive in their protests. And the story was printed nationwide. The press is more than willing to print whatever el presidente says, without question or comment, but it's been impossible to get them to pay attention to protest.
It's at the essence of civil disobedience to be willing to be arrested for the sake of a moral cause. It's what Thoreau wrote, and what Martin Luther King and Ghandi practiced.
I say this as a moral coward myself. I've not lain my body down for the cause, but watching the actions of Code Pink activists, and those who protested in Washington yesterday, is an inspiration.
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