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My usual church service (when I attend) is at 10 a.m. We’re done and out the door by 11:30 a.m. Of course, that’s not enough time to drive from Tucson to Phoenix, but if I lived up there, it’s quite possible I could go to church and a protest on the same Sunday. Heck, if I went to the 8 a.m. service, I’d have plenty of time to drive to Phoenix.

But I concur, these folks appear to have a blind spot where scheduling is concerned. Not that anything else about this entices me to participate.

Can I say sumpin’? Can I ask sumpthin’? This Catholic is done with churchin’ about 9:15AM

Have you ever hitch-hiked?

All I am asking for is some brakes on this vehicle called America.

I am not asking nor telling anyone when to apply such brakes; just asking that there BE some brakes.

Speaking as a passenger, I notice we are picking up speed -perhaps we may go faster yet.

As a passenger, I have no say in where we are going, and I admit to casting a worried glance at the driver every once in awhile. And while I know our destination is End-O-Terrorism, USA, it seems to me that we are taking the curves awful-fast and disregarding the construction-zone slow-down signs.

As a passenger, I am both in admiration and also scared at how little our driver touches the brake pedal.

I get these flashbacks of hitch-hiking home from Quantico, VA to Chicago, IL and accepting any ride; more than once I found myself crawling out of a vehicle that had skidded & overturned on an icy Interstate. Drunk drivers, fried-chicken-eating drivers, dark, moody, sicko drivers, drunken blondes w/short skirts drivers, the right-reverend ‘I have a captive audience’ drivers.

I know it’s all my fault as a result of my desire to get from departure A to destination B, but the point I’d like to make is this:

In such situations, what are the choices? What are the options?

From my experience, I was always goal-oriented: get home. Perhaps, even harder was hitchhiking BACK to the Base; the time-element, the clock came into play.

Dimocrats? Repubs? Who gives a shit? They all tell you anything you want to hear. Exactly one year ago, Driver W was telling us that we would be drawing-down our troop-strength in Iraq at this point of time; instead, we are increasing it. Just another driver for a hitcher.

Operational-necessity- versus- strategic -outcome is the issue!

I know, I know: I should have bought a car for myself! But a Marine’s E-4 pay didn’t allow that.

All that I would like to have, is an awareness that the vehicle we are travelling in does indeed have operational brakes. I’m talking about foreign policy. Checks & balances.

The alternative, in the opinion of this hitchhiker, is the tyranny of any-given driver.

I’m sure they were going for the synchronicity of twelves (the date is 12/12, the announced time is 12:00, and who’ll wager that the recorded beginning of the protest, or else a moment of silence, is set for twelve minutes after the hour?), just as local Veterans’ Day activities were scheduled for 11:11am on 11/11. They hope to make the event look more Significant by so doing. People love meaningless numerical convergence. (Are they correcting for different time zones?)

Yes, this particular group of Democrats is obviously not composed of church-goers. It is my perception, though, that politicians and activists at either end of the spectrum only mention God when they think He will deliver votes.

Who do they figure is going to be at the State Capitol on Sunday morning to witness them? If a placard falls in the middle of a rally and no one sees it, does it make a sound?

“If a placard falls in the middle of a rally and no one sees it, does it make a sound?”

VERY GOOD!!!

OK, I knew when I wrote this there are obviously entire religions for whom the hour of 11am-12noon, or even the day of Sunday, is not a particular time of worship. But it’s been my impression it’s the predominant hour most American Christian churches have services, based on my experience living in 5 states. I also hadn’t consider the … significance ... of 12/12 at 12. I completely missed that, but I was immediately struck in the face by the conflict with the commom public perception of “church hour.”

However, I’m all in favor of people gathering in dissent at whatever time they choose. That’s why I’ve had an interest in photographing protest, going way back (in fact, note the second picture on that page). It’s a very American tradition, and my intent was not to knock the gathering, but what I see as an indicative timing error.

As is often the case, though, my reaction is probably the exception rather than the rule.

And I guess Democrats don’t watch football, either?

Football was the thing that immediately popped into my head as well. Why would you want to go stand outside in the cold for something so utterly futile, instead of sitting at home and watching a football game?

They had a better idea with the Concert for Change thing. At least you got some entertainment out of the whole enterprise.

Go Packers!

As for football, I would personally agree, but I don’t recall it being a common charge during the election that the Democrats weren’t courting a natural constituency of NFL fans.

And anyone who tries to bring partisan politics into my football is going to get clotheslined.

Go Falcons!

As importantly, why in the hell are they having a “You stole my vote” protest after THIS election? There’s no evidence of actual vote stealing!

There was a childrens’ story about this, I think. Something about a wolf. . .

And why the State Capital? Isn’t ignoring people outside the big cities even more of a problem for the Dems than religion?

And why every State? Nobody thinks that there was voter fraud in every State?

And they encourage people to publicize it with a CHAIN E-MAIL!

No part of this was a good idea. Now I’m starting to suspect that there was lots of voter fraud, if simply because the self-proclaimed “watchdogs” are so blindingly stupid that they couldn’t have stopped it.

Oh, thank god. After a little surfing through their site, it turns out it’s not the Democrats, it looks more like the GLibs. But that only makes me feel marginally better.

I was raised Catholic and Methodist (don’t ask) and my father was Southern Baptist, and no matter which church we attended on a particular Sunday, we were always done by 12.

Sunday MORNING, not Sunday NOON, is church time, you heathen!

;-)

I adore this comment from Daniel: “People love meaningless numerical convergence.”
I could almost fit that on a button.

Wow, Reecie and Mel, back to back. My Comment Cup runneth over.

And, Mel, your link to this article is the first link I’ve had to a political article I’ve written in about six months or so.

Thank you for waiting until after the election to do so.

Very funny Dude. You had posting priveledges on that blog for months, so I just assumed if you wanted to post something politcal, or cross post, you would.

I forgot to mention the reason Daniel’s comment cracked me up was because I was married on 8/8/88 at 8:00pm.

And the warm tones feel nice…

When I said “thank you for waiting until after the election,” I really wasn’t being sarcastic, I meant it. I got to the point I didn’t want to be caught up in what I saw going on around the political web. And I feared the day some screed I wrote would be Instapundited or something. I’ve come to feel I’m outside the current two party mainstream, and therefore pleased my linkage has been, too.

The most links I’ve gotten in the past six months has been for catblogging. And given the way I started, that just seems … right.

Thanks for the color commentary. And the date of your marriage is simply and superbly sublime, given that an eight sideways is infinity.