Did anyone go to the 4th of July Parade in downtown Anchorage today?

[snowbear]

Diane and Latseen Bentson were selected to be the first participants in the parade.

Well.. second if you count the kids holding up the banner with the year of the parade, etc. on it.. but they were the first "official" participants and it was great to see them!

Looked like either a local Veteran or maybe one of Latseen's buddies who pushed his wheelchair through the parade, and Diane walked along side him. She is a beautiful lady!

Next in line after Diane and Latseen were a group of local Vietnam Veterans which included Tony Knowles.

The parade was longer than last years... Great job on all the floats, etc. ~~

[cleofus1]

1. i'm so lame

my wife had to work and me and the kids stayed home and did laundry and watched the "monk" marathon on TV...

so how did latseen look?

[Camp_Democracy]

2. did Diane get a chance to speak?

I want to know where she stands on the issues. There are five people running in the democratic primary and she seems to be getting preferential treatment but I can't really find a damn thing about where she stands on the issues.

Is she going to bring the troops home?

[newyawker99]

3. Hi Camp_Democracy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I don't know about officially...

But I heard her speak at a peace rally last year (before Latseen was injured) and she was VERY much against the war. At the time, she was extremely upset that good body armor etc. was not being provided for the troops.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Larissa, in case you missed it...

please check out my photo essay about our parade...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1568090&mesg_id=1568090

[snowbear]

6. Thanks for the AWESOME photos Blue!

I never seem to go over to the GD section of the forum, so I didn't see them.. You should post them at the Politics section as well!

Another thing that was "very progressive of Anchorage", was to have the Anchorage Police Department (in an extremely fancy rig) pulling the "Diversity Float" (one of the diversity floats, there were 2 or 3 of them.

I walked the entire route, from the start of it at 9th & I to the end of it down by the inlet (I couldn't get a clear answer from anyone on where it ended and had to meet my kid at the end since she was in the parade).. so I just walked the route.

One thing I noticed was that EVERYWHERE Mayor Begich's limo went to, he was loudly applauded by the crowd. Not one negative remark the entire route.

Did you notice who was driving his limo? Nick Moe, who ran against him in the election!!

When they went past Nick's family, they were all there with their Nick Moe for Mayor 2006 signs, and I heard one of the kids saying to the mom, "Hey, why didn't you change the 2006 to 2009"?

The mayor gave the Moe family a big thumb's up suggesting that he agreed with him; that he's going to make a great candidate.

... (next time )

Great parade!

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I KNEW that kid looked familiar...

I just couldn't place him. That's great. Okay - I'll post in GD:Politics, just for you. :)