Today's Austin American-Statesman...

If you look on the front page (I couldn't find the shot on their website), you'll see a guy holding a big sign that says "IRAQ WAR: WRONG WAY." About thirty yards behind him you would see me, if he wasn't in the way.

I was only there by accident. I took the bus to Guadalupe to get some books from Brave New Books (A great store, but the selection is highly specialized - you'll find books there you won't find anywhere else, but don't go there looking for Stephen King), then decided to tour my old stomping grounds downtown. There was a place I used to panhandle on 6th street, so I walked past it and gave some change to the guy sitting there (His name is Eric), then decided to walk to Luke's apartment, about a mile and a half away.

Those protesters were on the bridge, with about twenty cops (no riot gear - they probably don't like the war, either) watching over them. I'm not a big fan of cops. Cops can bind your hands and take you away forever. They can shoot you and get away with it, under the proper circumstances (for instance, if you don't like having your hands painfully bound behind you with the cuffs locked down hard between the joint in your wrists with the backs of your hands together before they throw you in a concrete cage). They would probably taze you, though. Know this: It is better to kill a man than to take away his dignity. All the non-lethal methods so favored by law enforcement are designed for exactly that purpose. They can control you, and take away your right to fight to the death for your freedom. Take a look at the "crowd control" technology available today.

There were no clashes, though. Not even the appearance of the threat of one. Like I said, the cops probably hate the war, too. Everyone was chill - they were having a good time. As I was crossing the bridge I said hey to the protesters, and they asked if I wanted to join them. So I hung out for a minute. No big deal, I was just one more body present, but I think that's what it's all about. In a majority rules society, it's all about how many like-minded people you can get in the same place at the same time.

I don't feel like it accomplished anything, though. Everybody hates the war. Even the poor misguided souls who think there's some reason for us to stay even one more day hate the war. It's not like they're out there swaying the opinions of people who already agree. I feel like something more meaningful. I feel like getting about a hundred thousand people to surround the White House and the Capitol Building and just sit down. Sit down in the streets, and nothing moves in Washington until some things get sorted out. Bring the kids, let them run and play. Bring some barbecue grills and some coolers and some music and tents and just chill in the streets of Washington, D.C, shutting it down.

I doubt the city would issue a permit for that kind of thing. "We want to assemble in the streets and shut down all traffic until government of the people, by the people, for the people means something again, and we'd like a permit." A protest permit can be easily acquired, it seems, but I just don't see that one happening. The rules would have to be bent. The Constitution (actually the Bill of Rights, but they go together like peanut-butter and chocolate), defines our right to peaceably assemble. The Constitution doesn't give us that right, or any others. We're born with our rights. The Constitution just recognizes them. It being a right means you don't have to ask.