JULY 4 PARADE IN BATH

We had 30 of us peace-niks in the Bath, Maine July 4 parade. The enormous peace dove was up near the front of our group and the Earth Mother puppet, carried by me, was near the back. In between we had banners and signs and some dressed as vegetables.

The white peace dove, our first time using it, was a beautiful thing to behold but was an engineering nightmare to put together. It took 1 1/2 hours and thank god for Mark Roman who bailed us out with his patience and skill in helping to make sense of the whole thing.

The response from the crowd was generally polite, some enthusiastic, but many just numb with no reaction. That is to be expected at such a "patriotic" feel good parade. Behind us were the local emergency vehicles - ambulances and fire trucks with their constant sirens blaring. A real drag. I can't see how anyone thinks that noise is fun.

Most of the more than 120 entries in the parade were dull and lacking in imagination. I've written in past years about how local business people use the parade to promote their products and services. What does pest control have to do with liberty?

Of course the idea of liberty (real freedom to think, assemble, speak out, free media) has been trampled and replaced with "support the troops" messaging by the military industrial complex. This blind patriotism has done much to destroy our country. It was heart warming though to occasionally see some in the crowd who really appreciated our group and who applauded us with vigor. We heard of only one person who turned his back on us as we passed by.