I love these images--thanks for posting.

But why does the guy in the 5th pic down look like he's picking his nose?

It looks like he's wiping a tear, to me.

The marches have been well coordinated.

"...marchers’ cause is self-evidently just..."

Not so fast. Do you know what there cause is?

Well coordinated indeed, and an inspiration for all grassroots organizing.

Uh, and I guess I didn't get the memo until about a week ago, but do democrats stand for widening the scope of immigrants allowed to work in the US now? Because, there go the hispanics for the republicans, I guess (though outside of Florida, since when have republicans cared about the Immigrant Voter anyway?), but there also go all the middle American voters and fringey-types who rightly believe that America should put actual Americans first. America already has some of the most progressive immigration policy in the world (try to become a citizen of France tomorrow). Why are we doing this? Though it's hard to argue with the magnitude of the recent demonstrations, I'm a little heartbroken that this arguable issue is what we're latching onto these days.

What are you talking about--Republicans aren't the one's who held up the passage of reform legislation--it was Harry Reid and his merry band of obstructionists.

There's no way in hell Democrats are going to make inroads with Hispanics on the immigration reform issue--your commentary is fatally flawed.

Hispanic voters know a thing or two about economic bootstrapping, and they're not going to fall prey to the Democrats "victimization" strategy; Hispanics, like many immigrant groups buy into the "American Dream"--they're not craven to the social welfare programs as many people (on both sides) stereotype them to be.

Try again.

We have a few pictures from today's march online at metroblogging seattle. By morning, I should have some video clips from ron sims's address and the blue scholars performance.

We see the large support for immigrants correct? Then why is the government even bothering with their stupid bill? Obviously, a large quanity of the US is supportive of immigrants and only those who don't support them are those assholes who think they are stealing the good jobs. Give me a fucking break.

The Republicans posit that this bill protects the American worker by cutting the neverending and abundant flow of cheap, economy-undermining labor into this country. How nice. How thoughtful.

It's true that most industrialized countries have some sort of protectionism in place to protect their workers. My God! Try to get a work visa in the UK or France or even Canada! Even if you are an American who won't work for slave wages! Those systems work because of geography. They don't border a comparatively poor, Third World country like Mexico. The real solution must, of course, come from Mexico. It needs to get its corrupt act together and build a supportable, multi-layer economy that can support its people with a decent, living wage. And frankly, the Mexican people need to get hip to the idea of sustainability and stop the population machine (I think we can also blame the Catholic Church generally and the Pope specifically).

And as far as the immigration bill protecting the American worker? I agree with what was said on a recent "Real Time with Bill Maher." If Congress really wanted to protect the American worker, it would raise the minimum wage to a livable amount. No one can live independently on $6 an hour. It's such a fucking joke (one that isn't very funny). The minimum wage has been in steady decline in real dollars since the late 50s and early 60s. It's a national embarrassment. And with a livable minimum wage the issue of cheap labor would be mute because there would no longer be cheap labor undermining the economy.

...and of course by mute I meant moot. I really shouldn't post in the early AM.

What are you talking about--Republicans aren't the one's who held up the passage of reform legislation--it was Harry Reid and his merry band of obstructionists.

Ah yes. Better to let your GOP cohorts add poison pill after poison pill to ensure the McCain-Kennedy bill doesn't pass, correct? Whine all you want, but the fact of the matter is that the GOP controls the Senate. If they were *truly* interested in passing bi-partisan reform legislation, they would have no problem actually doing so.

Wow. I had no idea how many conservatives frequent the stranger's blog.

"Actual Americans first"?

"Stop the population machine"?

Gross.

I don't know how close some came to the march, but it literally consumed our entire block for most of the afternoon yesterday. I was at work, but my financee works from home and snapped a bunch of pics, some of which are up on Seattlest here: http://www.seattlest.com/archives/2006/04/10/latino_a_gogo_in_the_central_district.php

I wish every neighborhood in Seattle could have the hundreds, possibly thousands, of people come by their houses like this regularly, to jolt them out of their complacency. We literally had people standing on our sideyard, IN our backyard, on our front sidewalk. It was fantastic.

In other incendiary issues, it was a bad day for at-grade transit.

I'm still confused by the statement "We see the large support for immigrants correct?"

15 or 20,000 is not particularly large, however exhilarating it may have been for the participants. Compared to the number of voters, it's trivial.

And there is no evidence that large rally turnouts mean vote preponderance. Quite the opposite, in fact. Most Americans don't really care who's marching, or for what; and of those that do, the ones that reflexively vote AGAINST whatever the marchers are FOR is much greater than the other way around.

What's really sad is that neither side, Democrats or Republicans, guest worker advocates, shoot-em-at-the-border kooks, or yesterday's marchers, are saying, or even interested in, the truth.

It's unfortunate that you can't say there's a legitimate problem with the amount of low-wage immigration (which depresses the incomes of the poorest Americans, including other immigrants, by 8%) without being accused of being a racist.

It's also unfortunate that you can't realistically describe the assimilation process of previous generations of immigrants, going back more than 400 years, at all, because the right-wing kooks won't allow a real discussion.

It is interesting, though, to see the Republicans AND the Democrats fracture across the grain for a change. McCain and Kennedy vs. Bush and Feinstein makes for an interesting mashup.

I hope it doesn't bite the Dems in the butt in November. Public opinion is pretty solidly with the close-the-borders crowd, however many marchers there are.

I can't tell you how much I hate agreeing with Republicans about anything. It is truly and deeply painful. My only consolation is that I don't agree with Bush himself.

I think it should be easier to get into this country legally. A lot easier. But. If you get here illegally, you should be treated like the criminal you are, and shipped home as soon as you're discovered, with a bill for your airfare. And you sure as hell shouldn't have access to state benefits paid for by law-abiding taxpayers.

Ow, it BURNS! WAH!

Violet, is your enthusiasm for going after illegals tempered at all by the fact that if all 11 million of them disappeared today you would starve? That's where your food comes from.

Entire industries are built around illegal immigration, which provides a virtually infinite pool of almost-free labor that's terrified to say anything about anything and thus can be treated like a pure commodity.

Illegals pay those taxes too, as well.

This is what I mean: everybody's got a knee-jerk reaction on this issue that's uninfluenced by reality.