<a href="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/peace_rally_ny.jpg"><img src="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/peace_rally_ny_tn.jpg" alt="Peace Rally - New York" class="frame" align="left"></a>As you're no doubt aware, yesterday marked the largest number of people ever to march in one day, all over the world. They were marching to prevent war in Iraq. The Sunday Blick (a paper in Switzerland) trumpeted 10,000,000 total from the headlines (<iq>Mehr als zehn Millionen gingen für den Frieden auf die Strasse</iq> (More than ten million march for peace in the streets) from <a href="http://www.blick.ch/PB2G/PB2GA/pb2ga.htm?snr=46282">Alle gegen den Krieg</a> in the <a href="http://www.blick.ch/">Sonntags Blick</a>. The New York Newsday only mentioned <iq>millions</iq>, with the NY estimate at <iq>[t]ens of thousands of demonstrators</iq>. They also mentioned that the numbers were <iq>100,000 by police to 250,000 by a spokesman from one of the rally's organizers</iq>. The numbers are just all over the place, but I think I know why. Take a look at the photo to the left. This is a shot of the crowd in New York yesterday (or one portion of it, since the police managed to pen protesters into different clumps, thereby preventing a true show of the number of people that turned out or as Jimmy Breslin put it in <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nyc-bres0216,0,6342154.column?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dspan%2Dheadlines">Walking Along Streets of Peace</a>: <iq>Because of the Police Department's reprehensible pens, the crowd was separated so that there was not one clear picture of an enormous group that would cause politicians here to faint.</iq>). Make an estimate of the crowd size; I would say there are probably about 10000 people pictured. Now, imagine you're a NYC police officer. If you're imagining really well, then, all of a sudden, the picture magically seems to contain only about a dozen people. It's remarkable, isn't it? Let's try another expiriment. Imagine you're a protest organizer. Now the picture, amazingly, holds about 4 billion people. It's amazing, isn't it? So, the breakdown for the world demonstration yesterday was: <ul> New York - 250,000 (police estimate = a couple o' dozen) London - 1 million (police estimate = 230) Rome - 2 million (police estimate = 450) Rest of world - about 7 million (police estimate = a couple o' thousand) </ul> Jimmy Breslin also had these choice words for Mr. Bush himself: <bq>War may be a great favorite with a Texas Theocracy, with a president who speaks in the first person more than anybody we have had in decades --- "I'm sick and tired of waiting? --- and who calls on God to bless the country as if no other people made in the image and likeness of God are alive on earth.</bq> <a href="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/media_sheep_ann_telnaes.jpg"><img src="{data}/news/old_attachments/images/media_sheep_ann_telnaes_tn.jpg" alt="Media Sheep - Ann Telnaes" class="frame" align="left"></a>Meanwhile, though not a unique day by any means, the US media continued its own march (click image to left for larger view). Unfortunately, they and their corporate, and, in turn, military, masters, aren't going to deviate from the script that the Bush monarchy has laid out and will doubtless do everything they can to belittle the amazing voice heard yesterday. And, remember, if anyone needs stickers, signs or just ideas for the next protest, your one-stop shopping center is definitely the <a href="http://www.gwbush.com/store/">GWBush.com store</a>.