War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!!!

Despite a steady rainfall, yesterday from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time, close to 100 people in small, isolated Willimantic, CT participated in a protest rally on the fifth anniversary on the start of the Iraq war. The rally took place at the intersection of Main and Jackson Streets, near what we informally call the Frog Bridge.

On Sunday, a bunch of us had gathered at the Wrench in the Works Collective up the street to make props. They included a 10-by-7-foot cardboard mouth, complete with blood-drenched fangs, with the words "WAR MACHINE" painted above the upper lip. Into the mouth we threw oversized dollar bills and a mannequin dressed in Army fatigues, among other things. In return, the mouth spit out oversized oil cans that bore such brand names as "Persian Gulf," "Ammobil," "Gunoco," and "Texxon."

We also had two protesters on stilts. One was dressed like Uncle Sam, except that she wore a skeleton mask and carried a faux scythe a la the Grim Reaper. She also had oil cans (real ones this time) tied to a string around her neck and periodically simulated drinking from them. The other stilt-walker was dressed like a hideous, nightmarish clown, but with a ten-gallon hat and a six-shooter. Gee, who could that have symbolized???

Somebody else brought a bullhorn, which I used to lead the throng in a rousing chorus of Edwin Starr's "War." Only I knew the lyrics, but my brother and sister pinkos were familiar enough with the song to shout "War!" and "Absolutely nothing!" at the appropriate times.

A half-hour before the rally, a couple of dozen folks gathered a mile or so up Main Street at Memorial Park for a march to the main event. Unfortunately, I couldn't participate as I've been having lower-back problems lately. I was at the rally, though, and damned glad to be part of it.

Sad to say, I've no doubt we'll be doing something similar on March 19, 2013.