Thursday, March 18, 2004

Was driving by the Federal Building in Westwood and saw some sort of demonstration on the lawn. Looked like a photo op, so I stopped and snapped a few.

NBC 4 - News - Protest Against U.S. Presence In Iraq Planned In Westwood: "Protesters plan to line up 550 pairs of combat boots to represent U.S. military deaths in the conflict, and thousands of men's, women's and children's shoes will be used to represent the estimated 9,000 Iraqi civilians killed in the past year, organizers said.
Members of the two organizations sponsoring the event will read aloud the names of U.S. military personnel and Iraqis who have died, and high school students will speak about their concern regarding military recruitment at their schools."


I'm not a big fan of protests (chanting and signage isn't about to change my mind on anything) - but installation art is another matter. Not much of a crowd at the hour I stopped by, and the dozen or so journalists in the crowd were the majority.

I didn't take a pic of one guy who was being interviewed by the press - some dude in a wheel chair. I later found out that it was Ron Kovics, the Vietnam vet who's story was turned into "Born on the Fourth of July". How was I to know? He didn't even remotely look like Tom Cruise.

Word is that on Friday, tomorrow, Howard Stern supporters will have some sort of pro-free speech rally to keep him on air. It'll likely draw a larger crowd than the one today.