lagilman | "What did you do in the war, auntie meerkat?"

And so yesterday the Guy and I headed downtown to attend (first) the Stand with America rally

A lot of good speeches about how this isn't a "union thing" but a "working person's survival" thing, some of the usual over-the-top rhetoric, but a really good crowd-rousing experience wherein blue collar, white collar, union members and management actually got together for one common cause:

There were about two thousand people filling the square - and confusing the hell out of tourists riding the hop-on hop-off buses. Unlike the other nationwide protests of the day, ours started at 11, not noon, so that many of us could head a few blocks over to support Planned Parenthood and protest the defunding of Title X.

(G, walking over, noted that the second rally looked more organized. "Do mot mess with Planned Parenthood," we informed him. "The GOP has forgotten what really pissed-off women can do." And children, there were some mighty pissed off people, male and female, out there yesterday.)

The crowd was about 70% female, and ranging in age from babes-in-arms to grandmothers in wheelchairs, with the guys mostly in their 20's to 50's - most but not all there with women. I don't have an official estimate of the crowd, but (knowing how large the space is) I wouldn't be surprised if we were close to the permit's limit of 5,000 bodies there. About the same number of uniformed cops visible as the earlier rally, but we spotted a few solitary guys who kinda screamed "undercover cop" loitering with casual intent (actually, one of them we kept an eye on thinking he was either a cop or someone looking to cause trouble The "does not belong" vibe was strong in him.).

A few anti-choice protesters showed up, carrying their own signs, but there wasn't any trouble that we saw - it would be a very very stupid person who tried to start anything there, even without the cops. This isn't about abortion. This is about pushing back to when women were second-class citizens. No rights, no options, no hope. Hell no.

And then we headed off to Les Halles for Irish coffee and a late lunch, where the waitress -- proud of us, apparently -- laid on with a rather heavy hand of Irish. Virtue is its own reward, but fresh-made whipped cream in your coffee is nice, too.)

It was the kind of day that leaves you feeling both worried and hopeful, angry and proud. And glad that I got out and stood up and made my voice heard.

(More photos at my flicker site)