Let's hear it for sanity!

Our little Saturday satellite sanity rally [how's that for super alliteration?] didn't draw the crowds I was happy to see at the parent rally in D.C.

But there was a pretty big crowd at the Texas capitol building, with lots of sanity-seekers enjoying the great weather, watching both local and national speakers and musicians, and displaying clever sign-making skills. In the picture below, you can see the jumbotron upon which we were able to see the on-site speakers better as well as the Washington folks for extended periods. Technology is amazin', is it not?

The Austin American-Statesman quoted the rally leaders, who said they counted more than 5700 people there, noting that it was the biggest turnout for a capitol grounds rally since 1984. [We tried to think what might have been protested or supported that year, that would have attracted such a gathering, but couldn't come up with anything. Any ideas?]

We took a city bus from my son and daughter-in-law's house to the capitol grounds, and were pleased to share the bus stop with another group of rally-goers. Solidarity! Fortunately the bus detours in place due to the UT football game later in the day didn't interfere with us arriving downtown just as the speakers were getting warmed up.

It became apparent early on that rally-goers' signs were a highlight of the whole confab, and Hal and I both took lots of pictures of them. There were some professional-looking messages (like the one up on the right touting the "Coffee Party Austin" answer to the tea party and the one on the left supporting medical marijuana) but the most entertaining ones were home-made (like the others in the left-hand shot: "Paved Roads are Socialism" and "It's OK to be Smart.")

Here are some more of my favorites:

2 generations of tie-died who are "Almost Sane" (plus a girl with mouse ears?)

the one in between the two you can read has something to do with "dogs and cats, living together...."

"Real Patriots Can Handle a Difference of Opinion" and "Governing > Winning" (although, of course, you have to win in order to govern, but it's a laudable sentiment)

there were some that were just too creative for me, but Star Wars references always resonate

Here was my favorite (with another good one in the background that you might not be able to read: "Volume + Repetition ≠ Truth"):

And I thought it was kind of neat to see this cannon fulfilling the much more desirable function of bike rack, than what it was originally made for. "Park bikes, not war"?

I'm not naive enough to expect sanity to suddenly break out across the land, but was encouraged by the turnouts, the variety of generations represented, and the politeness. They ran out of kolaches, but no one rioted.