i wish i still went to protests...

the roar of the crowd chanting "Hell no, we won't go" and "Bring That Leroy Brown,"...the smell of antipersonnel gas as I'm being whomped severely about the head and neck by the police and their truncheons...bullhorns and rubber bullets...fire hoses and firebombs...

yep, takes me back...

sadly, I can't go. give 'em hell, though.

You're thinking of Miami. This is D.C. we're talking about. Sad to say I've never had the pleasure of tasting the acrid smoke of antipersonnel gas or feeling the harsh smack of rubber bullets at any of the 4 previous protests I've been to in Washington. Actually, they've all been pretty civil, albeit very large and powerful.

Anyway, if you can't go, but you have a steady job and want to do something to support the anti-war movement, we could always use funds to make it possible for other folks to go who can't pay the bus fare.

Anyone else think it's a stupid idea to drive a bus across the country to protest a war based on our total dependence on and wasteful use of oil?

I made a few assumptions, did a bit of Googling and ran some numbers. Here's what I came up with:

50-60 people

@ $125 each

$6250 - 7500 for a full bus

bus gets 8 miles per gallon (less with people in it)

1,100 miles traveled

137.5 gallons of gas

$2.40 per gallon (on a good day)

$330 in gas

= around a $6000 profit (at least) for Mr. Ames, assuming no other services are provided. This does NOT take into account the rental or purchase of the bus.

Now, I have NO love of the current administration or the war, but a protest will do nothing at this point. Everyone is well aware that the American people are unhappy with the war. Guess what? Bush doesn't give a shit about the American people.

If you want to make a difference, become a life-long politician, while at the same time managing to hold on to your optimism for a peaceful future. Otherwise, vote as best you can and stay the hell out of Wal-Mart.

If you MUST shout and shake your fist, at least wear a suit and tie. Poorly constructed signs and amature puppetry will only out you for a fool.

Good luck.

(I'm guessing cross country bus rental's rather expensive. 60+ hours alone for a single driver--if that's legal.)

Never hurts to bring a nice vat of Vaseline for the pepper and the gas.

Smear a bunch around yer' eyes and mouth and up in yer' nose, toss on one of those fancy schmancy freedom fighter bandanas around yer' neck and you are set to get the crap beat out of you by riot police.

Good luck--keep yer' head covered.

Let's clear up a few misconceptions:

1) Yes, buses are expensive. Not just to run, but to pay drivers for (each bus has to have two) and to maintain. We do not own the buses, we rent them, and we did the best we could price-wise. "Mr. Ames" does not run a bus company, nor make a profit; he is an activist with not a large income who is putting his home equity line of credit on the line to make this trip happen. That's how committed some people are to the cause of peace.

2) 137.5 gallons of gas. Good, you can do math. Now use those fancy calculations to figure out how much gas a navy F-16 uses on takeoff. Then figure out how much is wasted by the war based on the constant use of armored vehicles and supply trucks to ferry troops and equipment around. If you want to see just how sick and wasteful this gets, I highly reccommend the documentary video "Iraq for Sale." Think of how much fossil fuels could be saved if the entire country stopped work and went into the streets to protest the war. That's what we're shooting for.

3) This is a more subjective area, but how many career politicians do you know who have changed this world for the better? You don't get to be a lapdog if you poke your corporate master in the eye. Now count the number of activists who took it to the streets. How about some examples... Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Susan B. Anthony, Nelson Mandela, the anti-Vietnam war movement, etc. (Yeah, they sure looked like fools, with their homemade signs and silly puppets.) If the people lead, the leaders follow - it's never worked the other way around.

Geez you people, get those sticks out of your asses.

ooohhhh PROTEST!!! (smacks head)

I was thinking RIOT!

Can't speak for the Air Force's F-16, but a Navy F-14 Tomcat typically will burn up about 9-12 thousand pounds worth of gas on a catapult assisted takeoff...

Wow, I wish I had this much time on my hands, gotta bring out the recycling and catch a bus to work.
Happy trails...

"There are over 2 million cars standing in front of red lights with their engines going. Then we have over 2 million times approximately 100 horsepower being generated as they are idling there, so that we have something like 200 million horses jumping up and down and going nowhere."
-- Buckminster Fuller

And I'm taking my Vaseline back.

sorry...i spent way too much time on an aircraft carrier in a former life. kind of a stickler for that type of specific information.

Tell ya what, though...what'd be more interesting than a line of buses traveling down the freeway headed for Washington D.C. would be a crowd of PEOPLE walking down the freeway heading toward Washington D.C.

Hey, if you're going to go, go all out...

see...what they do for refueling is they will launch a couple of tanker aircraft (KA-6D) ahead of the F-14 (or F-18, or E-6 or EA-6) launch cycle and plop them in a holding picket about ten miles off the launch zone.

After the Cat leaves the deck, he'll rendezvous with the tanker and "Texaco," topping off his fuel and heading out to on his mission. The carrier based tankers have the ability to refuel from 4-6 strike aircraft before he has to return to the carrier for a turnaround.

So, every launch cycle of strike aircraft would include a tanker, followed by 2-3 sets of strike aircraft and then a set of tankers to take care of aircraft on picket or launching out on mission.

Hope this helps.

adam, i think you're right. when we get trucks out to restock our warehouse, it normally takes a tandem team two full days to get here from california.

if there's only one driver, it takes longer due to DOT time restrictions on drivers of commercial vehicles. we got a truck on monday that was picked up in Oakland on thrusday.

hope rediguana's driver has at least two relief drivers on board.

Semi-sarcastic witty comment.

Naysaying, disparaging rebuttal.

Defensive, accusatory insult.

Red herring; non sequitur personal attack.

Last catty word.

muttered resignment

Bewildered interrogative of cautious curiosity.

Blase' indifference.