My Rally of Restoration

Saturday, for those living under a rock or playing a little too much Halo: Reach, was the Stewart/Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear, and I couldn't miss a chance to be part of a cool rally in which nothing mean or aggravating was said.

The rally was sweet, featuring The Roots doing a nice four-song set and some solid comedy bits and pre-taped spots to keep the people livened up. I was supposed to meet a couple groups of friends, but sadly a technology black hole was in effect down at the Mall, so I instead was left to fend for myself amongst 200,000 people. Thankfully, the people I ended up nestled next to were all cool folk, some environmental tech students, some funny hippies and some girls who all decided to dress up like Rosie the Riveter for Halloween (you can see them in the photo ... they did well with the costumes). Good times.

As a whole the rally kicked ass because Stewart and Colbert made some great jokes, and at the end Stewart made a simple, poignant speech that was all about coming together and stopping the bullshit division that the media keeps pushing and that politicians don't help themselves but propagating. It's a vicious circle, and yes I blame the politicians first and the media second, but it's infected our everyday lives and I appreciate the way Stewart reminded everyone that in the end we're all trying to get things done and it's not worth hating each other during the journey.

Here's a brief video I took to give you a sense of the size of the crowd and the vibe. I was all the way near the back of the crowd and it's still damn huge. Way to go, America, showing those posers Palin and Beck what kind of movement you can create when you put sanity instead of crazy.