Rallies and vigils and protests, oh my

It is now a matter of incontrovertible historical record that the Iraq invasion hasn’t worked out as well as the British invasion. The music isn’t as good. And there is the matter of the catastrophic carnage. You just don’t come away with the sense of two cultures dovetailing nicely.

But you’ve got to hand it to the president. It takes—well, Jesus, we don’t know what it takes, but it must be, um, special—to make the brutal, bloody tyranny of Saddam Hussein seem like a moot point. That’s where we seem to be at this moment, and perhaps we can all agree that it is, to put it in Northern California terms, hella fucked up.

So, this weekend, to explore our collective feelings about that fact and to commemorate America’s most recent foray into Iraq, there will be gatherings. We know: What kind of liberal rag would we be if we didn’t hook you up with the weekend’s most happening war protests, right? Well, look, you might prefer to go and protest the protesters. Your call. Here’s the info.

On Saturday, for $20, you can ride the Peace Action bus from Sacramento or Davis to San Francisco’s “Global Day of Action.” Call (916) 448-7157 for more information. Or stick around, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., for an assembly at the corner of Fulton and Marconi avenues; or from 5 to 8 p.m., at 16th Street and Broadway. Expect music, speeches, solidarity and leaflets. Bring signs. “Although our focus is to end the war, impeach Bush, and promote democracy,” said sponsors Stephen and Virginia Pearcy in a recent e-mail, “please feel free to draw attention to any injustice perpetuated by this administration: there are too many to enumerate here!” Call (916) 455-1396 or surf around at www.sacpeace.org for more.

And on Sunday, from 5 to 6 p.m. at the E Street Plaza in Davis, a bunch of peace-minded organizations will sponsor, appropriately, a peace vigil. Call (530) 756-6904 for more.